We’re women – and we might be crazy. More on that later. We’re also mothers – six kids between us, ranging in age from 4 to 29 years old. That means we’ve changed more than 15,000 diapers, been through over 40 first (and last) days of school (from preschool to college), dealt with countless fevers, ear infections, cases of strep throat, 50 (oh, who are we kidding – more like 500) “Can you sleep with me…just for a little bit?” nights, and more than 950,000 smiles that would melt your heart. It also means we’ve experienced too many times to count where we’ve thought, “I have a wonderful life, and I want control over how I live it.”  → Read More

Many report how joyless they feel. Their calendars brim with activities, juggling product launches, organizational audits and transatlantic flights with much-needed “vacations” or rugged retreats to find the genome of their soul. For all this activity—however important or rewarding or “fulfilling”—the news I often hear back is: I’m overwhelmed. I’m exhausted. Or simply: I don’t know what gives me joy anymore. Here’s how you can change all of that:  → Read More

I remember exactly what I was wearing when I walked into the Kroeger supermarket in Little Rock, Arkansas to buy light bulbs: dark blue jeans with two vomit stains from my 8-month-old, a black t-shirt with rice cake droppings and my hair was pulled back with two hair clips, Melissa Gilbert-esque Little House on the Praise style.  → Read More

When my neighbors in Oakland tried to set me up with their friend Ken in 2004, I declined. I found out later he’d declined too. We were both mid-thirties and focused on our careers, settled into the decision not to marry or have kids. Then we got to talking at a party hosted by my neighbors. We got engaged on our third date and had a daughter in the first year of being married. She’s now seven and, though she rolls her eyes at it, we call her by the nickname Bean.  → Read More

As a single mom with a blog, and what some have referred to as, a bold personality, I am used to being asked a lot of questions that border on brash. Everything from the older woman in the elevator looking at her watch, and then looking at my toddler, then me, and saying, “My, my, my…isn’t coming home from preschool at 5:30 a mighty long day for such a little girl?” to the well-intentioned yet always insulting, “Why are you still single?!?”  → Read More

While some women are trying to burst through the glass ceiling (and we celebrate their successes and root for them from the sidelines), others are just struggling to make ends meet and put food on the table. And when some are fortunate enough to have the choice, they simply don’t want a corner office – or the pressure, responsibility, and hours that comes with it.  → Read More

I have been reading a lot about “Leaning In” and “Opting Out” lately and debating the merits of working motherhood vs. staying at home. There are countless factors that play into every woman’s decision but recently I found there are two main factors that weigh on my mind: daycare costs and income disparity.  → Read More

Due dates are a funny thing. They are completely made up and only five percent of women deliver on their due dates. But in the US there is this huge emphasis placed on this made-up date and when the day comes and goes with no baby everyone wonders what happened. In fact, 20 percent of women in this country just schedule their babies – either an induction or a cesarean section – to accommodate their busy schedules.  → Read More

But fast forward to today and although women make up slightly less than 50% of the workplace, women have plateaued. We’re still less than 20% in CEO offices, Congress, executive roles, numbers that haven’t moved much since 2004. What is going on?  → Read More