What is the best parenting advice you’ve ever received?

The best parenting advice I ever received was that everything is temporary. The good times, the bad times, potty training, first day of school, sleep training, learning to tie shoes, learning to drive, choosing colleges. Don’t linger in any single phase because there is another coming up right behind it that will be just as wondrous (or frustrating!). Fully experience every moment and appreciate it for everything that it is – full of love, miraculous and fleeting. It can help you cope better with the inevitable tough times, and reminds you to appreciate every single second of the good ones. Take time, pause, breath in deeply, and experience every wonderful smell and taste and feel of the child in your arms.

There is a very simple book that my stepsons gave me one Christmas titled “I Love You Forever”. It makes me cry EVERY SINGLE TIME I read it (which they find quite amusing, by the way). It tells a story of a mother’s journey through her son’s life, watching him grow as she ages, and holding him every night until one day he holds her. It illustrates the advice above, and whenever I read it to my son, I inhale more deeply and hold him a little longer.

How did you choose your children’s names?

With both of our younger children, on the day we learned the gender of the baby (20 weeks), we left the doctor’s office and went directly to lunch. We went to the same local restaurant, found an outdoor table and began looking at name books. We asked other customers their names, their children’s names and even polled the wait staff! They all enjoyed sharing their names and stories, and being a part of our joy and process. Tyler’s name was relatively easy. We loved it as soon as we considered it – the sound of it on its own and with his last name, partnered with his older brothers’ names, etc. With our daughter, Cadey, we chose a name that we created. My mother’s name is Kay, and her maiden name was long and started with a “T”. When she was growing up, her family called her “Katie”, which was effectively Kay + T. We wanted to create the same sound for our daughter’s name, but yet have it be her very own. We toyed with different spellings, and once we landed on “Cadey”, we knew it was perfect. Thanks for the opportunity to relive that magical time!

Thanks to Kim for being our Customer of the Week!