Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in Families.
Mommyhood Rants
I'm sure we all have had those days where we feel like we've had zero sleep and you're full zombie status. That is the boat I'm in today. My son does pretty well through the night. He just whines a bit but usually falls right back to sleep. However, with our super mommy powers we hear every noise they make regardless of how small it is and, at least for me, I jolt awake and have to check on him. I'm not one for crying it out, even though I do know that is some mother's preference. More power to you who can cross that bridge and conquer it! I am a bit envious but I still just don't have the heart to let my baby cry himself into exhaustion because even if I try to sleep through it, I hear EVERYTHING.
By Nicole Hallman8 years ago in Families
Becoming a Cancer Mom
Let’s face it: being a mom is hard. Whether you are a working mom or a stay at home mom, it’s hard. Five years ago I took on this task and gave birth to my first born: eight pounds, fifteen ounces. Healthy baby boy. For three years, I worked little jobs, but nothing serious. Then we got pregnant with our second, and I became a full time, stay at home mom. Awesome right?! It was. Then, March 13, 2017, our lives changed forever.
By Jessica Phillips8 years ago in Families
Best friends not Lovers!
How many times you see yourself in the friend zone? I see myself all the time! I know right, and its difficult because they're almost all the time your best friend or a close friend. The worst is when they make themselves available all the time and lead you on.
By Liliana Duarte8 years ago in Families
The Rebel
Shelves span the length of my bedroom concealing the grey of wall, thick with leaning books and mismatched baskets. My clothes reach out, stretching like cotton arms toward carpet. Resting above this organized chaos, two large cork-boards brim with photos. I think of the pinned pictures as recent, although they arenʼt anymore, and I know a slightly younger version of me looks out. Itʼs the face of a white-blonde boy, my brother, revealing how much time has passed—braces have now corrected his crooked grin, flat hair replaced with untamed curls.
By Suzanne Barber8 years ago in Families
Why I Would Put My Child in Daycare Even If I Didn't Work
I sobbed, like most mothers out there, all the way home the first time I dropped my son off at daycare. Ugly, can’t catch your breath sobs. When I was leaving and was holding back tears, a woman made a comment “First time huh?” I could only nod. While it was a day I still wouldn’t go back to, how oddly grateful I am that my husband and I were forced to be put in that situation where our son had to go to daycare.
By Tiffany Williams8 years ago in Families
Why the Belchers Are the Family We Should All Aspire to Be!
I assume you know the FOX animated show Bob's Burgers, and if you don't, you are missing out! This Emmy winning cartoon centers on the life of Bob Belcher and his family, who work in his burger restaurant, appropriately named Bob's Burgers, as they all try in their quirky mundane way to get their spatula off the ground and make a name for themselves.
By FloralFawn .8 years ago in Families
They Say a Picture Says a Million Words
Three years, $30,000+, and a mother who chose a drug-dealing, wife-beating husband over her own flesh and blood fresh out the womb. That's what it took for my dad to get custody of me, and for what? A better life? There is always someone with a life worse off than you, right? That's what they told me growing up, as if it was their way to tell me to just be happy with what I have. Growing up, it was mostly my dad and those around him until my stepmom came in to take the role of "mom." Even then I got the occasional reminder that there was, in fact, another lady I was supposed to call "mom." That term meant shit to me growing up because I never really knew who to call mom. The biological choice was awarded custody of me because in NYS, any mother can get custody of their kids and good luck getting it from them. You could be a horrible mother, crack head of all crack heads, child beater of all child beaters, and you still have custody somehow. It's unbelievable. Trust me. I know because I was the child in the middle for years and years. My Bio mom, whom we'll call Susan for (ID protection of my profile) wanted custody of me for one reason and one reason only: DSS. And for those of you who don't know the abbreviation, it stands for Department of Social Services, AKA food stamps and free rent give away center. To her, I was a meal ticket and free housing. To this day, you'd never believe me when I say she'll admit to that very fact. I vaguely remember the good times, but for some unknown reason, no matter the age, I've always remembered the bad. I remember standing under the doorway and this unknown man throwing dagger knives above my younger sister and I. He thought it was funny as he held a cigarette in his teeth and laughed, throwing another. I remember waiting in the window on nights of school concerts with a "guaranteed promise" she would show up to support me and enjoy what I worked so hard for. I remember being late to those concerts because I was so sure she was coming. I remember being young on Christmas day waiting with my dad at Stewart's Shop for over an hour for her to take me for a holiday and her not showing up. My dad called and called and there was no answer until she picked up only to say she wasn't showing up to get me. Tears in your only child's innocent, yet desperate eyes. How do you fix it? You can't. She's going to remember every single bit of it all. Even the free milkshake the ladies gave me to cheer me up didn't make it better. It merely coated the way back to my car seat for the ride back home. I remember all the promises of spending the weekends with her and "no gas," "no money," and the no to anything excuses for years and years. I remember the anger you caused me and the depression that consumed me over the years. I remember the damage you did to me because you weren't the mom I needed you to be. I needed you there for a lot of things and you weren't anywhere in sight. I fought with my dad to defend you and told his wife she wasn't my mother when all she tried to do was raise me into a proper woman. For years, the fighting went on and so did the oncoming damages that are now what have scarred the only relationships I have left with my dad and stepmother. I fought so hard and so long with someone who could care less I was even breathing.
By sara sullivan8 years ago in Families
Motherhood at Its Finest
As a new mother, there are a thousand challenges I never thought I'd ever have to endure. I always used to be one of those people who would say, "I'm never having kids. I'm never getting married." Well, here I am, 24 years old, and I now have been married twice and have a beautiful baby boy. I wouldn't trade the life I have now for anything even though I didn't think I would cut it for motherhood.
By Nicole Hallman8 years ago in Families
My Brother Is Autistic
There are two moments in my early childhood that would help define who I would become. 1. The day my baby brother came home, that night we had spaghetti for dinner so for ever his nickname would be "my little ghettie". This was the moment I would become a big sister. My job was to love him, protect him and teach him. Though I was only three I took my new job very seriously and I loved my baby brother. 2. The day my parents came home from a doctor's appointment and my mom uttered three words that would change our lives forever "Scotty is autistic".
By Nica McLaughlin8 years ago in Families
The Day My Grandpa Left...
Kendrick Campbell I remember every other weekend you would pick me up from my house and always tease me about taking forever. When I would climb in the backseat you would hand me a bag of candy. You always knew my favorite. We would sing songs all the way down to Riverdale Road. You would show me the "shortcut" way to skip out on the nasty traffic into I-15.
By Kaitlin Campbell8 years ago in Families
