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By not your average mom Every Labor Day Weekend since I was kid, I have gone to the Goshen Fair in Goshen, CT. It’s an agricultural fair where they judge chickens and rabbits and cows and horses and pigs and pumpkins and other vegetables and they have rides and games and horse pulls and tractor pulls and tons of food and […] The post Welcome and embrace the changes! appeared…

By Jamie Some people love wine. I definitely appreciate it, but I’ve always been more of a beer girl. That’s why I was so excited when we went to Bend, Oregon last summer. (I’m a little devastated that I lost all my photos on my phone from that trip… alas, only Instagram images are left. ) Bend is a small town that has sort of become our Beer capital at…

By not your average mom Dear Teachers, In this era of Common Core and parents who don’t fucking get it and testing pressure and all the other bullshit that makes your job really frustrating and thankless and oftentimes, nearly impossible, I just wanted to let you know something. We have six kids attending public schools this year. We have a […] The post A Big F*cking Thank You appeared first…

By not your average mom I’ve been doing a lot of thinking over the past couple days now that (ALL!!!) the kids are in school. Going from all cylinders running to downshifting to a lower gear takes some getting used to. And I’m not complaining at all. It’s just a big adjustment. I spent a good part of the first […] The post Slow Down. Evaluate. Prioritize. Begin. appeared first…

By not your average mom There is a vineyard in my town. It’s 1.7 miles from my house as the crow flies, and a 3.3 mile drive. And in the seven years I have lived here, I’ve never been there. Until today. Today I went there with a bunch of friends to surprise another friend for her birthday. It was […] The post Do you need a therapist? appeared first…

By not your average mom It’s Friday night, the day got away from me, my house is still a shithole, and I haven’t even thought about dinner. As you know, I have a new male contributor who is writing a post for me each week. His name is Renick. If you missed that whole thing, please read this. So anyway, […] The post 90% do it and 10% lie about…

By not your average mom Today I sent my baby off to kindergarten. It was a day I’ve been dreading for a long time. Even the thought of seeing her walk up the steps of the bus drove me to tears. Until about six weeks ago. This summer just destroyed me. And it wasn’t even a bad summer. Nobody got […] The post The Relief is Real appeared first on…

By not your average mom This year we have a kindergartener, first grader, second grader, fifth grader, sixth grader, and high school senior. We’ve got at least one kid in each school in the district. And each of those six kids is different. Some are strong students, some are not so strong. Some are well behaved, some are not so […] The post To My Kids’ Teachers appeared first on…

By Jamie Aly Brothers is a single mother of two beautiful boys. Aly is also like most parents and became completely overwhelmed by her childrens’ unexpected (but totally normal), defiant behavior at the grocery store the other day. However, unlike the majority of us, who just try to get over it quietly and privately, Aly decided to share this real moment with others. Source Her caption on Facebook expressed the…

By not your average mom It’s back to school time. It’s exciting for kids because it’s time to reconnect with old friends and make new friends. It’s exciting for parents because, well… duh. But back to school time also means some other not so exciting things may be happening. And it’s only a matter of time before you hear those […] The post Two words you never want to hear…

By Jamie Leave it to the internet to try to shit on something positive. You may have heard that Alicia Keys announced that she was completely over makeup back in May, but I don’t think anyone realized how serious she was until she followed through with a completely bare face at the VMAs. Check her out- And that isn’t even “no makeup, makeup” – she’s got a totally bare face….

By not your average mom I’ve been counting down the minutes until the kids go to school tomorrow. So have the girls. They are super excited. But Number 6 is fighting it every step of the way. Every morning he wakes up, asks how many more days there are until school starts, and then as soon as I tell him, […] The post This is going to be harder for…

By Jamie Model Carol Trentini is making news this week for gracing the cover the September issue of Vogue Brazil while breastfeeding her baby. In the gorgeous images, shot by photographer Zee Nunes, Trenton was captured at seven months pregnant and two months postpartum for the photo series. The model was extremely appreciative of the magazine’s willingness to put a breastfeeding mother on its cover. When she shared the cover…

By not your average mom If your school district is anything like my school district, once those teacher assignments come out for the upcoming school year, the feeding frenzy begins and people start interrogating everyone who has a kid older than theirs about teachers. There are always those teachers that everyone wants to get. There are the teachers that nobody […] The post We Were All New Once appeared first…

By Jamie The importance of sensory play was first introduced to me when one of my children was diagnosed with Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD). In fact, SPD is so common that I’m sure I have it, and there is a good chance you do too! However, today we’re talking about sensory play, which benefits everyone, not just those with SPD. Sensory play is such a crucial part of development for…

By not your average mom We are three days away from the first day of school. And I can’t wait. I’ve made some comments about how I may be looking forward to Wednesday more than I’ve ever looked forward to any day in the history of my life, and I’ve been met with people who can totally relate, and then others who […] The post On Wednesday I’m gonna party…

By not your average mom This was going to be the summer. I was going to have a garden to rival all gardens. I was going to basically live off the land. I was going to produce so much shit from my garden I’d be able to have my own roadside stand. Or maybe even a booth at the farmer’s […] The post If “to plant a garden is to…

By not your average mom By Renick Morris My wife and I have been married for thirteen years and what I know is that while I am still learning to speak Female, I am more fluent than I was back in the beginning. I wouldn’t consider myself an expert by any means, but I have learned a couple of things as […] The post Renick’s Perspective — 4 Ways to…

By Jamie Hey everyone! Sorry for these sporadic updates. I’ll get more consistent, I promise. I have been so busy that I haven’t had a lot of time to spend at the computer, and when I finally sit down to write something, I’ve been overwhelmed and don’t know where to begin. But… I’ll try right now. Also, excuse the typos or grammatical errors here…. I’ll never get this out if…

By not your average mom We are approaching another school year. And for me, between homework and sports and the musical instruments and everything else, weeknights are particularly busy. And that makes dinner times challenging sometimes. So this year I really wanted to make better use of my crockpot. I really do love my crock pot. But for me, a lot […] The post 50 Mom Tested and Mom Approved…