Amber Hinds

Motherhood

Attempting to make sense of the complexity that is being a mother – being a good mother – to little people, finding joy in both the joy-filled and not so fun moments, and not losing myself along the way.

  • Weaning Nora

    Weaning Nora

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    World Breastfeeding Week is coming to a close, and after a busy three days of classes, speakers, and events on Nantucket, I was exhausted (and, frankly, remembered exactly what it was that I didn’t like about working full-time while parenting).  As much as I love, love, love sharing breastfeeding information and was excited to learn…

  • Rallying

    Rallying

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    It was five o’clock.  I was standing at the kitchen sink, only just starting on breakfast dishes.  I was exhausted and hungry after a full day of playgrounds, walks, bike rides, and  errands and appointments that did not go as expected (like getting to the register at the grocery store only to realize I had…

  • Growing

    Growing

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    Things keep changing, no matter how much I will them to keep still.  It’s almost unbelievable that this little girl, who builds sandcastles and begs to be buried was once horrified by the prospect of sand. That the girl wadding out with a friend (faster than Mama can keep up), knee deep, then sitting down, spent summers crying if…

  • Good Things Come

    Good Things Come

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    We’re exhausted.  Well, at least the grownups in this family are…I don’t think Nora has any concept of exhaustion that goes from day-to-day. No, she is a well of youthful energy, which sounds ridiculous for me to say given that I’m not that old.  I don’t think. Or maybe I am. I’m certainly old enough…

  • An Even Better Time Cover

    An Even Better Time Cover

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    I have one more thing to say about being mom enough, and that’s this: Rixa, of Stand and Deliver, took the time to make a Photoshop template of the Time Magazine cover and invited her readers to make covers of their own.  I took the bait, and after thinking a while, this is my contribution:…

  • Extended Nursing and Being Mom Enough

    Extended Nursing and Being Mom Enough

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    Unless you’re living under a rock, you’ve probably heard about last Friday’s Time Magazine cover story on attachment parenting and the “controversial” image of a 26 year old mom from Los Angeles, Jamie Lynne Grumet, breastfeeding her three year old son.  Depending upon who you might ask, the photograph of Grumet and her son is either…

  • When I Grow Up…

    When I Grow Up…

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    With warm weather has come another first: independent outside play.  Nora is so excited to be able play just outside the kitchen window with Pip as her watchdog, and I’m grateful for newness that entertains while I wash dishes. Standing inside, elbow deep in suds, I watch my little girl through a screen and feel…

  • “Today, I’m Two”

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    Three years ago today, Chris and I were living in different cities in different states.  He was out here on Nantucket working at 21 Federal for the summer and I was back home in New York.  Children were far from our minds; by this point in the summer, we really just wanted to live in…

  • Dog, Meet Baby

    Dog, Meet Baby

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    We had barely crossed the New York state line with Pip before I started wondering if we had made a terrible mistake. We  went to Connecticut in hopes of finding Ridgeback mixed puppies I saw on PetFinder, but since it was day two of the event, many of them were already gone.  We hemmed and…

  • Empathy

    Empathy

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    I heard the siren approaching as I pedaled down Easy Street, two helmeted toddlers tucked safely into the trailer behind me, holding matching water bottles and watching wide-eyed as the town passed by.  I saw the firetruck over my shoulder as I turned onto Broad Street, and momentarily wondered if I could keep going; if I could…

  • Mother’s Day

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    One of my first memories is of hiding from my mother. I was seven or eight.  My brother, Brandon, and I were crouched behind the living room sofa just steps from the kitchen where we had snitched cookie dough from the refrigerator.  We huddled behind a wall of yellow fabric, fortified with foam and springs,…

  • Big Girl

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    I may not mention it as much as I used to, but I am still completely in awe of Nora. How she could go from being nothing to this amazing little person who runs and plays,does arts and crafts,and plants flowers,in hardly any time at all, is unbelievable. I look at her sometimes and I…