Same as the last two years, I am not writing my blog right now because I need to navigate the twins returning to college. Unlike the last two years, I didn’t aim to rerun a post from the same date, years earlier. Instead, I used a random date generator, and then took the closest post to that date, which is why you may see posts about winter in the middle of the summer.

I scheduled these posts so the blog wouldn’t be empty, and I could have space to process my feelings. A cop-out, but forgive me. Having them go is really, really hard. I need mental space to feel what I am feeling, help the kids through the transition, and sit in the quiet for a moment on the other side.

I am well aware that our brain often processes things through our particular lens.

We were driving by a billboard that read something akin to this…

Oh, I thought, after all these signs advertising the hospital as a beacon for those suffering a heart attack or experiencing cancer,* I’m glad they’re also touching on pregnancy loss with this big billboard about D&Cs.

Read the whole post here.

Same as the last two years, I am not writing my blog right now because I need to navigate the twins returning to college. Unlike the last two years, I didn’t aim to rerun a post from the same date, years earlier. Instead, I used a random date generator, and then took the closest post to that date, which is why you may see posts about winter in the middle of the summer.

I scheduled these posts so the blog wouldn’t be empty, and I could have space to process my feelings. A cop-out, but forgive me. Having them go is really, really hard. I need mental space to feel what I am feeling, help the kids through the transition, and sit in the quiet for a moment on the other side.

It circles through the ALI blogosphere, after a pregnancy is achieved, after a child is adopted, after a person decides to stop treatment and live child-free, after a surrogate gives birth, after and after and after all of the afters that follow wherever place your journey began. Every blogger has a start, a place that is comfortable, a place that they know and others know them, and their blog fits snug around them.

Then the story continues, and you step away from the beginning into the next turn in the journey, and you fear that others will not be able to find you because you are no longer where you used to be. Where you started.

Read the whole post here.

Same as the last two years, I am not writing my blog right now because I need to navigate the twins returning to college. Unlike the last two years, I didn’t aim to rerun a post from the same date, years earlier. Instead, I used a random date generator, and then took the closest post to that date, which is why you may see posts about winter in the middle of the summer.

I scheduled these posts so the blog wouldn’t be empty, and I could have space to process my feelings. A cop-out, but forgive me. Having them go is really, really hard. I need mental space to feel what I am feeling, help the kids through the transition, and sit in the quiet for a moment on the other side.

Why yes, that is a human tooth inside a ring. Isn’t that what everyone has on their desk?

Wait, let’s start over.

Last week, I noticed that the ChickieNob’s tooth was loose. For whatever reason, this one milestone didn’t bother me at all. I wondered if it was the milestone itself or the fact that it is the first one we’ve hit since giving away most of our baby things. You would think I’d be more of a wreck. But I was really excited to play tooth fairy.

Read the whole post here.

Same as the last two years, I am not writing my blog right now because I need to navigate the twins returning to college. Unlike the last two years, I didn’t aim to rerun a post from the same date, years earlier. Instead, I used a random date generator, and then took the closest post to that date, which is why you may see posts about winter in the middle of the summer.

I scheduled these posts so the blog wouldn’t be empty, and I could have space to process my feelings. A cop-out, but forgive me. Having them go is really, really hard. I need mental space to feel what I am feeling, help the kids through the transition, and sit in the quiet for a moment on the other side.

It began before it began. The twins were climbing out of the bathtub, scrubbed and ready to watch the opening ceremony for the winter Olympics and I knew I had to explain it now, when things were quiet, rather than when the words were spoken before the ceremony. Because you knew the words were going to be spoken before the ceremony.

“You might hear tonight that a boy died during practice today. He was doing the luge and he fell off and hit his head and the doctor couldn’t fix him.”

They froze as if I had just told them that I was going to be giving away all their toys. “Was he doing bad listening?’ the ChickieNob finally asked.

“No. He was doing everything right, but sometimes accidents happen.”

Read the whole post here.

Same as the last two years, I am not writing my blog right now because I need to navigate the twins returning to college. Unlike the last two years, I didn’t aim to rerun a post from the same date, years earlier. Instead, I used a random date generator, and then took the closest post to that date, which is why you may see posts about winter in the middle of the summer.

I scheduled these posts so the blog wouldn’t be empty, and I could have space to process my feelings. A cop-out, but forgive me. Having them go is really, really hard. I need mental space to feel what I am feeling, help the kids through the transition, and sit in the quiet for a moment on the other side.

At lunch time, a bunch of ALI bloggers got together in the lobby so both BlogHer people and Chicago people could see each other. We had Cecily, Julia, Emily, Aurelia, Kate, Kathy, Briar, Magpie, Alexa, and Me. Later on, Jenny, Amalah, and Gwen stopped by. It was so much fun and I loved getting to spend time with everyone. This is why I go to BlogHer—to get to see the people I read.

The Bloggess is also one of the people here with Nora’s head so…here, Nora, your head was at lunch too. And you thought the mozzarella salad was delicious.

Read the whole post here.