Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in Families.
10 Useful Tips for Traveling with a Baby
If you’re reading this, you probably have a baby at home. So congratulations on your new arrival! But it’s no secret that having a baby with you can make certain activities more difficult. Traveling is certainly one of those activities. You shouldn’t let that stop you from going on family trips, though! Read on for ten tips for traveling with a baby.
By Sherry Campbell8 years ago in Families
Congratulations It’s a Girl and She Weighs One Pound!
We had just gotten back from vacation and it was the start of a new year. I hadn’t gotten my period in quite a while, but that was nothing out of the ordinary for me. But something was just not quite right, so I went to see my doctor.
By Emily McCardle8 years ago in Families
The Bayou and the Clutter, Part I
You could see the whole bayou from the rocking chair on the porch. The blue sky was tinged gold by the setting sun, the narrow waterways rippling in the soft breeze. This was the best time to sit on the porch. No sun to beat you down, and the breeze washing away the remaining heat. It was comfortably warm, and it was beautiful. It’s the only thing she missed when she left. Sitting in the rocking chair on the porch, watching the bayou pull the cover of night up to its chin.
By Charlie Sourire8 years ago in Families
Dealing with Grief
From the age of eight, I’ve had an understanding of what ‘grieving’ was. Unlike my classmates who had only ever experienced death and grief in a film, I was hit full force with it. The hardest part about it all was I knew it was coming. Even though I knew what was only around the corner, you weren’t what I expected at all. You broke me.
By Chloé Downeycain8 years ago in Families
An Embarrassing Story
Let me just start this funny short story off by saying, I'm really awkward. Like, way worse than even Princess Anna of Arendelle (from Frozen) awkward. I'm also really clumsy. Horribly clumsy, even. My dad used to call me Grace as a kid, simply for the blatant fact that I was so ungraceful. That's the truth. I'm quite familiar with tripping, and falling, and running into people, but one day, I had to go and be clumsy in Disney World. Yeah, I had to go and mess up the happiest place on the whole earth.
By Lena Reynolds8 years ago in Families
Why Do We Leave Mementos?
My high-school-age son had an old Casio keyboard. It was handed down to him by his grandmother when he was small. He composed some of his first tunes on it. He played sing-along songs for his little sister. He sang to me, accompanied by that little electronic piano. When our family home was foreclosed, my son took his keyboard deep into our woods, propped it against a tree, and left it there. It was the day all of us became briefly homeless. No other place else could be called home by any of us, for a long time after that.
By Sarah Terra8 years ago in Families
Losing a Loved One
The death of a loved one is possibly the hardest thing a person will ever have to go through in their lifetime. There are so many books to assist you through your grieving. When a loved one dies you receive all kinds of advice from people offering words of encouragement to help you heal from your loss. The grieving process, or ten steps you will go through when left behind, I believe is different for everyone.
By Jodi Roberts8 years ago in Families
Cloth Diapers Update
This post is for all of my mothers who follow my blog. If you a frequent reader of my blog and have read my original post: Why we switched to cloth diapers; you are aware that my family made the switch to cloth diapers a year ago. I wanted to give you an update and discuss: the reality, struggle and real talk that comes from using cloth diapers.
By That Broke Bohemian8 years ago in Families
Evan
Everything changed when Evan was born. Things changed for me more so than anyone else, including Evan's own parents. She was our mother's fourth child, and she was her father's seventh child… but she was my first child. Her conception was a failed attempt to bandage a broken marriage, and thus her arrival into this world was something I had been dreading as the big sister who was left to clean up the messes of our mother; yet when that day came on July 23, 2008, the pure joy I felt was such that Evan's birth bandaged my broken adolescent heart. While her mother was on an operating table getting her tubes tied, and while her father was at the bar getting drunk, it was me who stood at the window of the nursery. I looked at Evan in awe from behind the glass. I remained there alone, watching her well after our other family members had dispersed. I couldn't even see her face, but to hear her tiny cry and to see her tiny body was enough. All my twelve-year-old self could think was 'That one is mine.' When my mother was finally back in her room after her procedure, the nurses brought my new baby sister in. I nervously walked up to her crib with eyes wide open. I saw her sleeping face for the first time, and she was simply beautiful with brown skin and curly black hair. You would think I had all the secrets of the universe swaddled up in my arms the way I slowly, delicately picked the little bundle up out of the crib. But instead, it was Evan, and if I had to choose, well, the universe could keep its secrets because I had something greater.
By Ashton McHatton8 years ago in Families
