Carnegie Hill Mom

Have you ever noticed how kids vie for your attention at the most inconvenient times? Ridiculous, rude or lazy demands irritate me and often get ignored. But there’s one type of request that I feel horrible brushing off: story time. “Mom, will you read this book to me?” “Arrgh, there’s too much going on right now,” I say while the kitchen timer beeps, my one-year-old practices standing on the edge of the couch and my three-year-old sings, “I need a wipe! I need a wipe!” “Mom, can we read this book?” “Sorry, sweetie. There’s no time. We’re trying to get out the door.” “Mom, what does this say?” “I can’t see what you’re reading,” I yell from the shower. “Ask your brother.” My new year’s resolution is to create more opportunities to say yes to my kids , especially regarding their hunger for reading. It might mean planning an extra five minutes of wiggle room in our morning routine to save time for a book. It likely means reducing screen time (...

The true sign of a veteran traveler is the ability to roll with the punches that holiday travel throws your way. An involuntary bump taught me to hope for the best but pack for the worst. It all started when we didn’t bother with online check-in the day before our flight, knowing that we’d need to see an agent at the airport anyway to get our infant-in-arms boarding pass. Southwest also lets families board between the A and B groups, so the exact boarding position printed on your boarding pass doesn’t need to be an A to get seats together. While my husband returned the rental car, I took my time getting our four kids through security and the bathroom and snagged some empty seats by the window so we could watch the airplanes before I asked the gate agent for a stroller check tag. That’s when the agent informed me that they didn’t have room for our party of six on the flight. If you tell that to a mom who has spent that last several hours exerting ridiculous amounts of em...