Abby Off the Record — The scoop on life, writing & raising kids

Approaching a Problem from a Different Direction

April 15, 2013

Last year, my older son started kindergarten. He went from a small preschool where everyone knew his name to a big, urban elementary and middle school. There were a lot of changes, but the biggest one for me was the drop-off and pick-up. Gone was the carpool lane where you could drop off your kid [...]

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Why I Had 7 Heart Attacks in One Week

April 12, 2013

First off: I did not really have any actual, medically defined heart attacks, so you can all relax. Heart health is no laughing matter, but I had to get you to read this post somehow, didn’t I? And I DID suffer many, MANY instances of panic and terror this week, thanks to my wild children [...]

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3 Things I Wish I Knew Before I Had Kids

April 10, 2013

I feel like these days it’s pretty hard NOT to know the scoop on what awaits you during pregnancy, childbirth, and beyond. After all, the tabloids are chronicling expectant moms’ Kate Middleton’s and Kim Kardashian’s every move. (And pound. Poor girls.) Reality shows abound — “Teen Mom,” “A Baby Story,” and my personal favorite, “I [...]

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A Second Chance at Childhood? No, Thanks

April 5, 2013

The boys raced down the hill towards the train station. It was a miniature train, wooden seats and open sides, that made a short loop around the nature center we were visiting with their grandparents and aunt. It was a bright, warmer-than-usual spring day in Massachusetts, not too crowded. We all found seats together, and [...]

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Oh, Yeah, I Forgot: My Life’s Crazy

April 3, 2013

So I’m back from a 4-day trip up north to visit family over the Easter weekend. Our journey involved 2 kids, 1 dog, and a vehicle stuffed full of snacks, blankies, DVDs, coloring books, and more electronic devices than you can shake a (memory) stick at. BTW, we used them ALL. Family roadtrip brought to [...]

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Flashback Friday: Spring Musings

March 29, 2013

While I spend the long weekend celebrating Easter with family in New England, please enjoy this post from my archives. The scenery looks a little different this year, since we got SNOW on Monday!! That crazy Mother Nature. Spring Musings My days may be filled with drama and stress and bodily fluids, but they are [...]

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For Writer-Moms Who Struggle with Guilt and Expectations

March 27, 2013

She had me at “Groundhog Day.” A writer for one of my favorite blogs, Just.Be.Enough, wrote about the internal tug-of-war she’s having trying to reconcile her urge to be a writer with her stay-at-home-mom circumstances. I, too, have written about how the life of an at-home mom feels eerily like that ‘90s movie where Bill [...]

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Parenthood Is the Cure for Perfectionism

March 25, 2013

When I’m not reading novels or essays, I read a lot of celebrity interviews. (That Jennifer Lawrence is a breath of fresh air, isn’t she?) One question that always cracks me up is when the interviewer asks an actress — and it’s only women who get asked this question — some variation of, how do [...]

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Artist or Businessperson?

March 22, 2013

As long as I can remember in my adult life, I have grappled with two sides of myself: artist vs. businessperson. It’s why I gravitate towards people with offbeat careers and too many tattoos while still maintaining a (neglected) LinkedIn profile. It’s why I have two sets of business cards and two websites. It’s why [...]

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Nesting or Nuts? How Pregnancy Turned Me Into an Old Lady

March 20, 2013

Everyone knows that when a woman is pregnant, the nesting instinct kicks in, right? The urge to cook, clean, decorate… Well, that’s not exactly how it happened with me. MY nesting instinct turned me into a senior citizen. Seriously, I was one afghan and a pair of dentures short of being a Golden Girl. Read [...]