Matt Open Mic

KATE, STEP UP TO THE MIC

Kate, mother of two boys, Isaac 4, and Anders 2, writes about her experiences on her blog, Kate and the Boys: The (mis)Adventures of Spike and Thor’s Mom.  What I like most about Kate’s writing is her honesty and her positive outlook on everything.  Even after a rough day, she’ll still see the good in it.   Not too mention her boys are hilarious and often remind me of my brother and I when we were kids.  That sibling relationship can be a unique and special one, but depending on the age difference it can also be a challenge.  Kate shares her story about having two kids close together in age.

SIBLINGS

I don’t think I’m supposed to say this, but if I could go back to the night when my second son was conceived, I’d put my sweatpants on and curl up with a good book.

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Matt Open Mic

LAURA, STEP UP TO THE MIC

Aya knew she wanted to have a natural child-birth, and heard about the Bradley Method through a friend who had taken the course.  So we signed up for a class locally, and that’s where we met Laura.  She was our instructor.  She gave out free Luna bars and I always put a few extra in my pockets.  Those things are good.  If you live in Southeast Michigan and are interested in the Bradley Method, please contact Laura at 734-231-1600 or by e-mail at laurakardos@aol.com.  Laura has 3 daughters; two 6 year old twins, and a 13 month old.  It always amazes me when people have twins, not to mention for their first time pregnancy.  She’s here to share her story of having twins.

TWINS!

I have often wondered why I was especially “chosen” to have twins.  Six years ago, while I was still working in Finance, a client of mine said something to me that I will never forget.  Her twins were all grown, well into their forties.  She told me the story of when she was walking her babies in the stroller down the sidewalk, both of them fussing, and a woman came up to talk to her.  The woman said to her, “God chooses special people to have twins.”  My client looked at her and desperately replied, “I think He picked the wrong person.”

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Matt Open Mic

GRAMPS, STEP UP TO THE MIC

You’ve heard me mention my mom on here numerous times.  My mom and I did this, my mom said that, my mom, my mom, my mom.  But you haven’t heard too much about my dad.  What is it like for my dad?  He’s a grandpa now and he’s going through a major milestone in his life too.  He must have an opinion on the subject, right?  Well, my dad breaks his silence today.  I call him dad, but Ellie knows him as “gramps.”  Here’s his story.

THE STORY OF ELLIE AND GRAMPS

Children, they are gifts from God.  Even though I was a foot taller and had a full head of hair before we had our children.  (Just kidding)  My wife and I were blessed with two sons.  The first was born on Father’s Day.  Wow…. quite the Father’s Day gift.  My wife was hoping for a daughter but a few years later we were blessed with another son.  Both of our sons were basically good kids.  Aside from the occasional incident like the egg tossing event.  This is when our oldest decided it would be fun to toss eggs across the street towards the neighbor’s house.  And the other time that both of the little darlings were on the patio smashing Match Box cars with hammers.  (little toy cars for those of you younger folks).  When asked what the heck they were doing, they replied that they were making a junk yard.  Gotta have realism.

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Matt Open Mic

HANIYYAH, STEP UP TO THE MIC

If you’re a steady reader, you may have heard me mention my friend Haniyyah at least a few times.  And besides my mom, she comments the most on my posts.  We used to work together in Detroit, which seems so long ago.  And now since we are both stay-at-home parents, we have the same job again.  Just in different states.  Her daughter Zayna is about six months older than Ellie, so I often use her as a resource since she is just one step ahead of me.

GREAT UN-EXPECTATIONS

Hello, everyone!  Long time reader, first time blogger.  Being BFFs with Matt, we gab on the phone a lot and talk about sleep schedules, poop schedules, parenting concerns, exchange advice, and attempt to convince the other that OUR baby is acting MORE crazy that day.  Our phone conversations are like Matt’s posts, but happening in real time, and I am beyond excited for all of you to read my side of the conversation for the first time!

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Matt Open Mic

STACY, STEP UP TO THE MIC

Starting off the first Open Mic post is a very close friend of the family and mother of three, Stacy.  Stacy is my brother’s friend’s sister. She was always a mystery to me when we were growing up because I heard about her more than I saw her.  I was always the little brother tagging along with my bro, and she was the older sister avoiding her gooney younger brother, so our paths didn’t cross much. But as we grew older, our families made sure our paths crossed to stay in touch despite the fact that we live in two separate States now.  With three kids, Stacy has an endless supply of hilarious stories. Even though we aren’tactually related, we consider her entire family part of ours.

STATUS UPDATE: over.whelmed.

i was pretty excited when matt asked me to be a guest writer for the blog. a blog is something i’ve always wanted to do – but never got around to. lol. in fact, when my oldest was young – i was blogging before blogging was cool, i was just doing it via email and calling them journal entries. they were soooo therapeutic! i was still doing it when baby #2 came along… and once baby #3 came, well…. forget about it. but i totally have a thing for words 🙂 – once text messaging and facebook entered the scene, i gave up capital letters and proper punctuation – and now manage to pull off the longest status updates, comments, and texts in history. THAT’s therapy 🙂

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