July Introductions
Hi! For those of you who are new around here, I’m Amy Julia. This community grows almost daily, so here’s a short introduction. My husband, Peter, and I met in…
There Can Never Be Too Much Delight
Marilee and I were driving to soccer practice the other day (alternating between the Taylor Swift Eras Tour setlist and The Good Girl’s Guide to Murder audiobook), when she said,…
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What Would You Say to Your Teenage Self?
People ask me all the time what I would say to my teenage self. I was a hyper-driven achiever with a severe eating disorder that resulted in multiple hospitalizations and…
3 Things I’m (Still) Learning About Down Syndrome
Penny was on spring break last week. Our original hopes for a quick trip to Jamaica never materialized, but we did get to spend two nights with Penny’s friend Rachel…
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Addressing our Mental Health Crisis
I am kind of obsessed with Dr. Lisa Miller right now. I read her 2015 book, The Spiritual Child, a few months back. And then I raced through her more…
New Glasses: It Matters What I Think
Penny is getting new glasses, after 15 years of more or less the same ones. We’ve changed the prescription but not the frames, per her request. But she has recently…
Screen Time Check-In
So a few weeks ago, Peter texted our family chat and asked everyone to share a screenshot of their screen usage numbers for the previous week. Screen Time Check-In I’m…
Holding the Lines as a Parent
I was going to be the parent who holds all the lines. The no-cell-phones-until-high-school line. The dresses-that-look-your-age-for-the-middle-school-dance line. The only-one-sugary-treat-a-day-and-only-a-small-one-at-that line. And the common-sense-media-tells- me-all-I-need-to-know-about-what-you-should-be-watching-on-television line. These lines are intended…
IFS | The Sometimes-Painful and Always-Beautiful Gift of Raising a Teen with Down Syndrome
Is it different raising a teenager who has Down syndrome than a typical teen? Well, yes and no. I had a chance to write about this for the Institute of…
Screenshot from Mother.ly post
Mother.ly | I’m a much better parent of tweens than I was of toddlers
I am a much better mom of teens and tweens than I was of toddlers. Or at least, I enjoy being the mother of teens and tweens a lot more…
