#motherhood

#motherhood

Some of us want to raise kids who never know a moment of discomfort; some of us are focused on raising kids who achieve all their dreams, no matter how much it costs. Some of us just want to be present and engaged, filling our kids with core memories, and some of us just want to go to bed every night knowing we did our best to keep our kids healthy, happy, and safe that day.

Now I have to learn to do the hardest thing a parent has the privilege of doing and let you go. No, it's NOT forever, but it's the end of one big chapter, so - yeah - I'm going to cry. (I'm also 100% percent going to sit on your Dad's shoulders to work on the lighting in your dorm room.) I love you, Monkey. Always No matter what,

Sasha Bonét's matrilineal memoir, " The Waterbearers," traces the lives of her mother and grandmother: powerful, complicated women whose personalities have been shaped by the rough edges of American society. Mothers, she suggests, can pass on both grace and grief. The flow of the bayous of Houston, where she grew up, remind her of "the way my mother and grandmother pour into me, and I into my daughter; the valuable and the harmful, the minerals and the mud."

In 2019, Locke's first memoir, From Scratch, became a Reese's Book Club pick and, soon after, a global hit miniseries on Netflix. We all fell in love right along with her as she recounted her life with Saro, the beautiful Sicilian man she met while studying abroad in Italy in college. But life is full of challenging transitions. As we discovered in the book and miniseries, while Tembi and Saro's love for each other seemed transmutable from day one, it would ultimately have to take another form following his death.

"Oh, for sure," adding, "I'm exhausted. I'm completely wrung-out and tired."

I think for my kids, they were asking me, I was telling them about adoption, and I thought, 'How do you tell that story to your kids?'

That not your [family member]'s formula entered the vernacular in a 1988 US car ad, when it was directed at dads: Not your father's Oldsmobile. Now, though, it seems mostly to have defaulted to mothers. It's a lazy marketing brag or headline, a shorthand for new, directional and disruptive, and I've started to hate it. I'm not usually actively angered by reflexive sexism and ageism; I tend to let it wash over me in a dispiriting wave.

Sarah McLachlan's singing voice is one of the wonders of the pop music world. It has alternately belted out and whispered hit songs ("Adia," "Building a Mystery") as well as the most devastating Disney song of all time (Randy Newman's "When She Loved Me" from "Toy Story 2") and is a pristine musical instrument. It can elegantly vault octaves, scoop notes without a croaky glottal fry and crack words into multi-note, velvety yodels. It can be breathy and ethereal or a searing flamethrower - and she transforms into an angelic chorus of one when she tracks layers of her own harmonies.

Look, I don't claim to have all the answers, but as a millennial mom of three who feels a little flustered every morning when she opens her eyes and imagines what's out there in the world, waiting for us that day, I do have one: Everybody has their secrets. And I don't mean super dark, dastardly secrets, but just little things. Like when you told your bestie it was fine for her to cancel on you again, but really you went home and cried.

In a birthday post for her 15-year-old son Draco, McKellar, 50, included a handful of images of the two of them through the years - from pregnancy until now, when Draco towers over her. But what really stands out is the fact that as you watch baby Draco turn into a lanky teenager, McKellar looks almost exactly the same for a decade and a half.

Camilla Luddington is one of those people who always seems to look flawless: on our TV screens, as Dr. Jo Wilson on Grey's Anatomy; on our social media FYPs, where we laugh over relatable reels of her and her husband; in clips from her podcast with former Grey's costar Jessica Capshaw. But sit down with her for 10 minutes, and she'll be the first to tell you she is *not* as put together as she looks.

I'd spent a year getting pregnant, then unpregnant. I'd wake in the middle of the night and remember: heartbeat, heartbeat. At times, I felt absurd for my grief. I couldn't ascertain what the metric of a mother was, what goalpost had to be met. Had I met it? Surely grief like this love like this had to be more deeply earned?

Garth shared the behind-the-scenes of the move-in journey on social media, posting a video on Instagram capturing the entire process of turning Fiona's dorm room at school into her "home away from home." In the video, Garth and Fiona hauled her belongings from the car into the dorm room before the main event: decorating. "Come with me as I help my daughter move into her freshman dorm," Garth said in a voice over. "I can't believe this moment is finally here."

Here's the truth: I don't prioritize friendship in this season. Not because I don't like you. Not because you're not amazing, but because my time is my most expensive currency. And if I give you any of it, you're a big freaking deal.

I just wanted to hang out with my brothers more, and this seemed like the easiest way I could get in there. I wanted to make him proud, but if I dropped that ball, I was dead to him.

Moms may feel safe to cry in the car because it's one of the few times and places we may actually be alone and fully free from the demands and expectations of other people, whether that's kids, partners, coworkers, or even just strangers on the street.

"I remember going in to see my gynecologist with the reports and I was like, 'can you just explain to me? So, there was no baby?'"

Sex remains a vital part of my happiness, yet balancing motherhood with self-care makes it challenging to find the mood for intimacy. Scheduling intimate moments aids in rekindling desire.

Even though it was challenging at times, having kids gave me perspective about what was important in life.

The documentary on Chile's prison system reveals the challenges faced by women who are mostly mothers, blending their personal experiences with the struggle for dignity and connection.

Kwon offers a tender and introspective body of work shaped by the emotional landscapes of home, motherhood and migration, exploring moments that fill everyday life.

Reality of traveling with twin toddlers. Hilary Swank shares her family travel experience with two-year-old twins, Aya and Ohm, showing how she manages airport challenges.

Audrey Ingram describes her transition from a law career to writing as a significant and fulfilling shift, driven by personal aspirations and the influence of motherhood.

Yasmin Khan's emotional moment during a cooking segment illustrated the stark reality of the famine in Gaza, connecting personal struggles with a global crisis.

My mother confided in me that she never really enjoyed being a mother, despite loving me and my siblings. The day-to-day experience was overwhelming and exhausting for her.

Maternal rage can be understood as a reaction to unmet needs, structural abandonment, and the impossible demands placed on mothers, especially in the early stages of matrescence.

Anna Friel portrays Anna Mitchell, a mother dealing with profound trauma after her brother is released from prison and assaults her young son. The narrative explores her struggle with trust and the impact of this betrayal on her mental state.

"Hey, you know what's f----- up? The phrase 'bounce back after pregnancy.' Here's the problem: Every single person I've seen grow a human being and pop 'em out have rebounded in their own time."

During long night shoots, a sense of giddiness emerges around 4am, making the experience memorable. Celebrating the 40-year anniversary of such projects is special.

The realization that my mother-in-law doesn’t owe me anything was freeing. It prompted me to let go of my expectations and appreciate her choices.

Each jumping spider must learn to stalk and pounce - they don't use a web to catch prey. To make the next generation of killers-in-training, she'll need a mate.

I walked to the coffee shop down the street and realized I was wearing only the baby in the carrier on top. No shirt. No bra. Just the baby.

"It's a funny position to be in, because in my generation of artists, with people like Jeff Koons, their prices were much higher."