Family

“G, look at you, only 3 months old!” as I showed my daughter one of my favorite pictures of her as a baby. “Am I Black or White?” she asked, with her big brown eyes staring up at me.

I’m half Italian. My grandparents immigrated to the U.S. before my dad was born. Although we are Americans first, my dad always instilled a strong Italian pride in me as a child. As an adult, I’ve consistently seek ways to connect with my Italian heritage. That’s why it’s so surprising it’s taken me nearly a year to get to the North End Boston.

We are all busy. When I tell people I work full-time as an Assistant Dean at a university and I also have a blog and two kids under 6, they don’t know how I do it. Well, I honestly fail quite a bit. What I’ve found that works is a lot of organization and not much downtime. That’s why it’s super important to me to find products that make my life easier. It is a constant struggle to keep my home, office, car, and life clean and organized, but some products just make it a lot easier.

After a long day at work, I hurriedly rush into my kids’ preschool, only to find them covered in slime. I’m tired. It’s been a long day. Now I get to help peel slime off their hands, clothes, arms, so they won’t taint my car with that sticky messy stuff. Don’t get me wrong, I loved playing with slime when I was a kid and I think it’s cool my kids like it too. I just don’t love the clean-up afterward. But they love slime so much, I’ve pulled the 11 coolest slime recipes I could find.

In my house, Easter generally centers on my kids, their Easter baskets, and the little Easter egg hunt I always put together for them at our house. I also like to cook a nice meal, which we usually eat in the mid-afternoon. This year, I’m taking Easter up a notch and thinking about the other people in my life who I want to share the Easter spirit with. Even though Easter is usually about the kids, there’s no reason we can’t make it more about our family and friends who we love. With family and friends in mind, I’m sharing some Easter basket ideas for all the people in our lives.

I never planned to write this, but it’s time I share my #metoo story. 16 years have passed and I buried it deep down inside of me, more than a decade ago. Only a handful of people know, and I didn’t see a reason not to keep it that way. All of that changed last fall when the Me Too Movement went viral.

Raise your hands if you’re one tired mama. I know My hands are high above my head right now. Despite my best attempts at getting enough sleep, there are still nights where I struggle. Now that my kids are finally out of diapers and completely potty trained, there aren’t many night-time events anymore. That’s been huge for my sleep quality, but there are still nights when one of them has a bad dream or they need to use the potty (and must have me tuck them back in). You know how it goes.

Do you celebrate Valentine’s Day? We don’t usually do much, besides getting the Valentines ready for the kids’ school friends. Every now and then, I’ll make a Valentine’s Day-inspired dessert. Another way I get my kids involved is by making Valentine art and crafts for preschool kids. My kids are at the age they really love doing arts and crafts. On the weekends, my son often asks me if we can do an activity – which usually entails painting or play dough.

Not too many things in nature are as beautiful as the falling of the first snow of the year. Then, reality sets in. But before you have time to complain, to dread the shoveling and the slush, you see the world inside of a snow globe. It is quite, magical, serene.