I don't need a greeting card holiday to celebrate the mothers in my life. Except I kind of do, just because normal, everyday life sort of swallows me whole a lot of the time, and I barely have time to wash my hair and give each of the little people...

Dear Baby Girl,

You are my very last baby, and a few weeks ago, you turned one. Since you are still just crawling and standing, not yet brave enough to raise your foot and project forward into toddlerhood (thank goodness), I still get to call you a baby....

I'm still not used to using the words, "my daughter." After three boys, I thought that the universe and I had come to the agreement that I was to be solely a boy mom, my future bound with lightsabers and shiny athletic shorts and LEGOs from here to eternity.

But...

My house will never win a contest for tidiness or organization. Like, ever. I feel very much like a modern-day, yoga-pantsed Sisyphus when it comes to my domestic duties: I roll my boulder up the hill every day, only to have it roll right back down, and tomorrow, I will...

This post is the fifth in the series "This Is Childhood," which captures moments in our children's lives, from age 1 to 10.

Five wears stickers on his shirt, which is getting to be too small and bares a wee bit of belly, Spider-Man light-up sneakers, and a...

One Saturday morning about five years ago, I took all my boys to the baseball field to sign my then 5-year-old firstborn up for spring baseball. While I struggled to decide what size hat and tiny baseball pants he would need so I could complete the forms, a few of...

The piece of paper sat on the kitchen counter for days before I even noticed it. It was a permission slip. With three school-age children, our house sees many permission slips, but I didn't happen to notice this one because it did not come out of one of the boys'...

An inevitable part of being a parent never enumerated in What to Expect When You're Expecting is learning how to take a comment. For some reason, the possession of offspring in a public place makes parents an open, unfortunately slow-moving target to whom strangers may give advice, chastise, praise and...

Earlier this week, I went out after I put the baby down to sleep. I drove to Lowe's to look at washers (because a household with four children and a broken washer is a very scary place to live). The poinsettia plants were half-off and wilting from their perches outside...

This morning, my husband dropped my oldest son at school early for a student council meeting. I didn't get a chance to say goodbye to him.

I dropped my youngest son at school next. He scampered out of the car and was off with his friends before I could say...

I did it.

I scheduled a photographer to take our family holiday pictures. I warned her to get sleep the night before and to eat her Wheaties that morning. I somehow convinced all three boys to put on the "fancy" shirts (read: they have buttons and collars) I bought for...

I have been very lucky. I have had the choice to breastfeed all of my children. Not everyone has the choice; not everyone wants the choice. But, though I have had my own share of hurdles in the adventure that is motherhood, nursing is something that has been relatively easy...

In an effort to become more of a free-range mom, I recently started allowing my oldest son, Mason, to ride his scooter around the block to his classmate's house in the evenings. They play in his classmate's yard, and my son has to be home by six. One night, however,...

Le week-end dernier, ma famille et moi nous sommes rendues à l'anniversaire des 16 ans de ma nièce la plus âgée. Mon frère et ma belle-sœur avaient organisé cette fête depuis des mois et souhaitaient que ce soit une surprise, ce qui comprenait une photo dans un photomaton pour chaque...

Lo scorso weekend sono andata con la mia famiglia al party per i sedici anni della mia nipotina più grande. Mio fratello e mia nuora avevano programmato il tutto da molti mesi, volevano che fosse una grande sorpresa, e avevano persino preparato una cabina fotografica per gli ospiti.

Sono arrivata...

El fin de semana pasado viajé con mi familia para asistir a la fiesta de cumpleaños de mi sobrina mayor, que cumplía 16. Mi hermano y mi cuñada llevaban muchos meses planeando la celebración, que querían que fuera una gran sorpresa, y habían incluido una cabina de fotomatón para que...

Last weekend, my family traveled to attend my oldest niece's Sweet Sixteen party. My brother and sister-in-law planned this party for many months and intended it to be a big surprise, and it included a photo booth for the guests.

I showed up to the party a bit late and,...

What I would like to tell my son's new fifth grade teacher:

Hi, I'm Allison. This is my son, my oldest child. He's in your class this year.

At the risk of sounding like "That Mom," I want to tell you there was a time -- a time not...

I am a new mother to my first and only daughter. She is what I call our pink caboose, a little sister to three boys ages 9, 8, and 4. Having ridden this motherhood rollercoaster for nearly a decade, I have changed and been changed immensely since the first time...