Midlife Mothers Archives - Page 7 of 16

50 Is The New 40

by Maggie Lamond Simone

They say 50 is the new 40.

I’ve been hearing that more and more lately as my half-century mark is winding down its tenure. Most of my friends are saying it with a kind of trepidation in their eyes, a hopeful “please don’t freak about this – you’re not going to freak about this, are you?” sense of panic lingering just behind their encouraging smiles. Most of my friends are younger than me, because their children are friends with my children, and I started … late, let’s call it.

The truth is, I have been kind of freaking out about this. It simply doesn’t seem accurate. I remember clearly when my mom was this age, and I remember it clearly because I was pushing 30 myself. In contrast, my oldest child is pushing puberty. Our combined hormones could generate enough power to light a small town. And I’m happy when I remember his name. […]

Gray Matter

by Deatra Haime Anderson

I’m of a certain age (okay, I turned 50 last August) and have been battling gray hair for at least 10 years. It all seemed to start innocently enough … a few hairs here, a few there, and then before I knew it, it was much more than a few and I didn’t think twice about coloring it.

There are two camps when it comes to the gray hair thing: those that embrace (and rock) it and those that well … don’t. I’m definitely in the latter. I look fairly young for my age (really! I’m the lucky recipient of great genes and plumpy skin) and am sure gray hair would age me. And the thing is, I just don’t want to look older. I have a seven-year-old daughter and even though I usually am the oldest mom at the park (I once had the lovely realization that another mom was exactly half my age), I’m vain enough that I don’t want to look like the oldest mom at the park. […]

Mom on the Edge of…

by Maureen O'Neill Davis

I used to think I was an average mom, raising children under exceptional circumstances. I mean, I married at age 37 and became a mother for the first time at age 39. The word of my first child’s birth came during a month of enduring four major hurricanes and merely a few hours after being notified that our IVF procedure had failed.

I went from trying to become pregnant to having a baby and crafting a nursery, in 15 days. Nine months later, family circumstances gave way to my getting (and later adopting) two more young children. I went from zero (kids) to three in 18 months. I believe that’s a bit exceptional, and, perhaps, even a dash of the life of an “over achiever.” But, it seems that today, that’s how women our age do it, isn’t it? […]

Travelling With a Toddler

by Ellie Stoneley

Driving down to the airport, the nervous queasy feeling grew and grew. By the time we arrived, I’d quite happily have turned around and sat in traffic for another 4 hours rather than face the security queues and the stress of flying 12 hours with a toddler on my own.

I was prepared, I had the bare minimum in my hand luggage. Only, the bare minimum when you’re flying with a toddler is quite a lot. Here’s what I’d brought:

nappies

wipes

changing mat

extra vests

extra tights

extra outfits (all in case of catastrophe or flight delay)

small pyjamas

tiny cardigan (because it gets cold on the plane)

book with pictures of baby animals

stuffed giraffe

blankie

clean knickers for me

change of outfit for me

I put Hope in her buggy for check in. Joy of joys, the lovely lady on the desk was far less terrifying than her red lipstick and slicked back hair led me to believe. She blocked out the seat on the plane next to me. As the flight was fairly quiet, she also confirmed that the baby was small enough still to have a sky cot. […]

New Mom, New Year, New Beginnings

by DeAnna Scott

Courtesy, DeAnna Scott Photography

This is my 46^th New Year and my 1^st as a mom! As I hold my daughter Phoebe, I start thinking about all the firsts that we, as a family, have to look forward to this year. It is all so joyously overwhelming! My twins will learn how to crawl and then walk; say their first words, and maybe join them together to make sentences. They will learn how to hug and kiss. And, most exciting of all, they will turn One! Oh yay, a birthday party! For these reasons, I embrace the New Year like I have never in my past 46 years – with a new gratefulness and excited anticipation. […]

Tips for Raising An Only Child (Part II)

by Serena Kirby

Undoubtedly the most noticeable drawback for the young ‘only’ child is the absence of a sibling playmate. This often leads to heightened demands for parents to be the child’s primary playmate. As fatigue can be a major factor for older mothers of a young ‘only’ child, life can be a whole lot more tiring if your only child’s world revolves totally around You. […]

Becoming Jewish

by Janice Eidus

The first time my husband and I (both middle aged) gazed at the photograph we’d been sent of the black haired, ten-day-old baby girl who we were in the process of adopting from Guatemala, we instantly fell head over heels in love with her. And we knew we wanted to raise her to be Jewish, something neither of us had predicted.

I’d grown up with atheist, left-wing parents, lifelong, fiery champions of the oppressed, via civil rights and union activism. They considered themselves Jewish – and were sensitive to anti-Semitism — but didn’t celebrate or observe any Jewish customs or traditions. When asked directly about their Jewish identities, they declared themselves, “Atheists first, Jews second.” […]

Through the Eyes of A Midlife Mother

by Shana Sureck

Everyone was having children. Except me. Co-workers. Friends. The teenagers I taught in an afterschool program. The moms at the mall who yanked at their children’s arms and made them cry with curses and slaps.

I received birth announcements. Baby shower invites. I wanted to celebrate and feel joy for my friends, but each new announcement brought a yearning for what I couldn’t have. […]

Doing a Little Less, Imperfectly, At Midlife

by Andrea Lynn

My friend’s mother just had a heart attack. A small one, and she’s recovering well. But besides the shock and concern my friend has for her mother, she’s lost her mother’s help with her two children, and her life has quickly become that much harder.

Like me, my friend is a Single Mother by Choice, having arrived late to motherhood without a partner. She had two children using an anonymous donor, and her parents have been supportive in both emotional and practical ways. Until the heart attack, her mother drove her children to many after school and weekend activities, enjoying the time with her grandchildren and helping close that gap all working parents feel between the end of the school day and the end of the work day two hours later. […]