Growing Your Family

August 30 is National Grief Awareness Day. Twin Cities Moms Blog contributing writer, Trista Rakow, is bravely sharing her story with us today about loss and how it's impacted her as a mother.  Life has certainly handed me an assortment...

I’m a classic middle child in my family - but also a little bit of an oldest. I had the unique position when I was growing up that, for a lot of the school weeks during the year, it...

Every mother’s breastfeeding journey is different and unique. And I wish someone had said that to me before I began my own journey. Before I was even pregnant, I knew that I had to breastfeed. All the women I knew...

Here are some tips from KinderCare experts that will help parents combine learning and fun, no matter where your family’s summer adventures take you: Heading to the beach or river? Read the tide chart together. Reading the tide chart gives...

I am currently pregnant with our 4th child, and this pregnancy has been tough. With it comes not only new thoughts and emotions surrounding what it will mean to raise four kids, but also new physical symptoms from another...

The last biological son I gave birth to was 9lbs 10oz so when the nurse told us we were being discharged the day after we met our daughter (who weighed a whopping 4lbs 10oz!) we begged her to let...

Mental illnesses are not dependent upon any outside life conditions or events. Somehow I let that lesson slip after the birth of my daughter, despite having dealt with depression and anxiety for most of my life. Knowing I was...

She is wrist deep in the dirt, pushing it aside to make room for her plants. I watch her tickle the ends of the roots, just like I taught her, and like my mother taught me, before placing them...

Worry. It comes with the motherhood territory. At least, that’s what we’re told, and it’s true to some extent. But sometimes, it’s more than just worry. Intense, chronic anxiety can turn your life into a living nightmare. I was fortunate...

The first sign was my tired jaw. It must be from pushing during labor, I thought. I didn’t know it was because I spent what little sleep I was getting with my jaw clenched tight. When I started to fear...

Priscilla Anne, my beautiful daughter, was born this past August at Roots Community Birth Center in North Minneapolis. My birth story actually starts a few years before my daughter was born. The seeds of education, my own awareness, and...

It was a summer night and we were watching The Incredibles at the park. I got up to go to the restroom and realized my stomach was being pulled down, which had never happened. When we returned back home,...

It was a Sunday morning around 5:00 am; I woke up needing to go to the bathroom so badly. As soon as I was done, while walking back to the bedroom, my water broke! Omg! It's time!  At 38 weeks,...

Birth stories are amazing and horrifying all at the same time. I have a love-hate relationship with them. Hearing people's stories almost always make me terrified to have another baby. But then, somehow, they also reassure me that mamas...