Everything You Need to Know for the First 15 Years of Motherhood: An Extremely Abridged Guide

The best advice I got on my wedding day had nothing to do with the vows, the flowers or the groom for that matter: A friend who had been married years earlier whispered in my ear that I should make sure to pee before putting on my dress. It hadn’t crossed my mind before, but I did what she said and once I was strapped, locked and loaded into 50 pounds of lace, silk and crinoline, I realized that it would have taken an army of bridesmaids to help maneuver me through that otherwise unremarkable activity. That was 20 years ago and I have always been grateful for those simple pearls of wisdom that helped me to avoid unnecessary difficulties and frustrations. My children are teenagers now so I’ve collected quite a few of those pearls over the years. Here are the ones that I’d like to whisper in every mom’s ear:

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9 Real Mom Fails

Recently, I’ve been thinking about all of the ‘mom fails’ I have committed. I’m sure you have your own list as well. These fails bring guilt into our lives and torment us day after day, causing us to wake up every morning with a new mission to be a “better mom.” We stress about things such as making sure our kids eat nine servings of fruits and vegetables every day, or reading 20 minutes with them every night. Don’t allow them to eat sweets and only use detergent specially made for kids’ clothes. But honestly, I think there are bigger problems, ‘real mom fails’ that we all should be aware of…

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Life as a Mother and Author

Life as a mother is not easy. I know because I raised two boys. One is 27 and the other is 18. When my oldest son Danmario was in daycare, he had an incident that pushed me over into the writer’s world, something I wanted to do as child. It’s such an accomplishment and such an incredible and rewarding feeling, seeing your literary works come to fruition.

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I Did Something Right? Wonders Never Cease!

As mothers, we are always second-guessing ourselves. Did we do this right? Could I have done something differently? Did I handle this situation correctly? It’s no wonder that when we do something right, we’re surprised! And what’s really crazy, is that we are probably doing a lot more right than we give ourselves credit for. But it’s so hard to realize that when our kids aren’t necessarily ‘happy’ with us all the time. I’ve always felt that if my kids were happy with me all the time, then I probably wasn’t doing my job correctly. After all, this is not a popularity contest, it’s motherhood. Here are some ideas shared with me that, after looking back, the mother (or father) felt they did the right thing.

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Mother’s Intuition: God’s Gift of a “Sixth Sense”

Mother’s intuition. A sixth sense. A gut feeling. No matter how you refer to it, we’ve all heard stories about it. And for good reason — there really is such a thing! So why don’t we listen to that intuition when it speaks to us? I have no idea. But the following two mothers learned the hard way what happens when we ignore our intuition.

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Things That Run My Day…and Ruin My Day

Every day that I have with my family is a blessing and a day worth living. I am a thankful gal and even in my darkest most stressful moments I remember that things could be so much worse. We don’t have to hide in caves, we are not persecuted for our beliefs, and we don’t drink out of the same watering holes as the local livestock…so yes things could be worse…waaaaaay worse. Now that we have established that the following ARE in fact first-world problems if there ever were any, here are my keys to life with littles. These things make or break me on a daily basis…

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Other Mothers’ Regrets: Tough Lessons from Which We Can Learn

‘Regret.’ What a sad-sounding word — and for good reason. Gosh, if we could just avoid some regrets, “What a Wonderful World” (as Louis Armstrong sang) this would be. But relax, a couple of mothers have shared some of their regrets with us; if we take heed, maybe we can avoid making the same mistakes.

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4 Ways to Shrug It Off and Laugh at Yourself

Have you ever left the house without something that you were supposed to have, like your wallet or your keys? Perhaps you were on your way to the grocery store and realized you did not have your shopping list. I can relate to both of these and I am sure you can relate to one or both as well. Recently, I believe I set the Guinness world record for mommy forgetfulness.

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