This story from a British woman whose au pair, hired to give a mom a break, became pregnant reminds me that I've not done an update on our similar situation here in a long time.

To recap for those not familiar with the saga of Catherina ...

In October of last year, an assistant who'd pledged to stick with me for the duration of a book-writing stint I committed to because of said pledge left me high and dry by quitting on a Monday morning via a text message.

After interviews... more

In a recent blog about how fond I am of my readers I wrote about enjoying the back-and-forth that has developed between me and some very special people who I'm now lucky enough to know because of my blogging here.

One I feel very close to now, after months of getting-to-know-you gradual unwrapping of layers of comments and emails, is a woman I will, for the sake of this post, call T.

T often leaves very thoughtful and insightful comments on the blogs and adds much to the dialog that is... more

When Mark and I began our first adoption journey, like many people new to the concept I had the idea that it was girls that were most likely to be needing homes and families.

The UK's Channel 4 production, "The Dying Rooms" swept the world, and the terrifying view into the world of unwanted little girls in China convinced many that boys had it easier and were far less likely to be in orphanages.

For many reasons ...... more

Here's a question for Boomers to think about, especially those of us with small children:

How much of a commitment are you willing and able to make to help your aging parents?

Or to put it more bluntly:

How much of your lifestyle do you potentially give up so your mom and dad can lead the kind of life you ... or they ... think they should lead?

These are being asked in USA Today, and should... more

As I mentioned briefly, the 29th of May brought the debut of my assistant, Catherina''s baby. (I'd give the link for my short announcement, but apparently it was so short that there's no way I can call the story up to get a link. Strange ... )

Holly, for one, has been patiently awaiting details, so here are some:

The little... more

Catherina had her baby today!

It's a boy, as expected, after a very easy labor and delivery ... although she's not into looking at it that way yet ... and mother and baby are doing very, very well. Father has survived the experience.

More details to follow!

A few months have passed, so I've overcome the trauma of Cj's attempt at preschool ... sort of ... and have been thinking of trying it again.

She so loves going to Sam's school, happily running in, meters ahead of me, then waving her way along until she reaches his classroom. With a shout of, "Brother!" she runs into... more

It's been a while since I've written about my assistant, Catherina, and it's time for an update. Because I'm of a certain age ... so conserving of my energy ... a mom to two little ones, work at home and have a big house in the back of beyond in the bush in Seychelles, I both deserve and need someone to help me around the house, with the kids and to run errands. We hired Catherina back in October, not knowing that she... more

Continued from here ...

Groups like MomRising, with their documentary film "Motherhood Manifesto", are turning the feeling that women are often discriminated against because they are mothers into a movement of 1960's war-ending, civil-rights-victory proportions.

Their numbers are rising, and house parties arranged as viewing sessions for the film, followed by no little discussion... more

Being a full-time mother is one of the highest salaried jobs in my field, since the payment is pure love. ~Mildred B. Vermont

That may be all well and good, but love don't put toast on the table, as good old Granny Gladys used to say. Many of us need to be gainfully employed. Whether we're working hard for the money, or fulfilling needs to express ourselves, fly with our own wings ... whatever ... a lot of mothers have jobs.

As older mothers, it's likely that some of us have established our careers, climbed the ladders we... more