Back to School Photoshoot

Earlier this week we did a back to school shoot for an upcoming campaign and suddenly it hit me: Pretty soon, all three kids will be at school during the day, leaving us at home to wallow in our sadness. Just kidding. Leaving us at home to get more work done than we have in the past three years is what I meant to type.

It will be bittersweet. Anna won’t spend her entire day with us anymore, but she will be getting the social interaction she so desperately craves and needs. It’ll be the two of us at home again, like it was a few years back and like it was supposed to be last year before we realized Anna wasn’t ready to start school yet and kept her home for one more year.

That’s the thing that I’ve learned about parenthood: things change in the instant. One minute they’re in diapers and you’re teaching them how to talk, the next all three of them are in school and you have the whole day to yourself. And by “day to yourself”, I mean you have the whole day to work with fewer interruptions.

We’re excited to start this next season of life. That’s the other thing about parenthood: There is always something new and different happening, and it is never, ever boring.

In fact, I think it’s about to get even more interesting.

"Fatherhood is Love" An Interview with Maria Shriver's Sunday Paper

We recently spoke with The Sunday Paper, Maria Shriver’s feel-good online publication, about fatherhood and how we got here. I love that they shed a light on the need for foster care and shared the heartbreaking statistics (over 400,000 kids are currently in the foster care system in the U.S.) to hopefully inspire more people to consider becoming foster parents.

A huge thank you to Bentley Maddox who wrote the piece and who was so thoughtful with his words. You can click here to read the entire interview, if you want!

How Many Clothes Does One Little Girl Need?

I am coming to you live from the scene of the crime.

And by scene of the crime, I mean our living room is basically a crime scene at this point. What was once a peaceful, (finally) clean room just last week is now overtaken by 4t and 5t clothes for one Miss Anna McKay.

Mounds of clothes frame out the chair and couch where I am going through all of them and seeing which ones we want to keep and which ones we want to donate. They were all generously given to us by PJ’s cousin Lauren (thank you Lauren, we love you!!!). She has two girls, though, and so we were given double the clothes all at once, which means right now we have to decide which we be a good fit for Anna and which ones we want to give away. She can’t keep all of these! We only have so much space!

This year we have really committed to getting rid of a ton of stuff that we just don’t use and/or need anymore. PJ’s been great about it and I am on board, too, it’s just been hard to find the time to actually do it. And our house desperately needs it, considering it looks like this half the time:

But yesterday was one of those perfect days where no deadlines had to be hit and it was kind of cloudy outside, and I randomly got a burst of motivation and energy to tackle the overwhelmingness that is her clothes.

So I busted out the five or six totes that had all the girls’ clothes in it and started going through them. And you know what? It feels SO GOOD to cross this off the list!! It’s something we’ve been meaning to do for so long and will go such a long way in the never-ending battle to organize our house.

I’m going back in now. Wish me luck!!

What to Actually Get Your Adult Child for Their Birthday

For my 31st birthday, my mom surprised me with an assortment of fun gifts…

I’ve come to realize as the years pass and I get older, my birthdays are starting to mean less and less. I don’t care to celebrate myself like I used to and I especially don’t care about gifts. PJ and I made a rule a few years back to start giving each other “experiences” instead of gifts, i.e. let’s just go on a trip that will be fun for everyone instead of a one-off present. It’s worked out well so far.

My mom, on the other hand, loves getting people gifts and will most likely always give her adult children something to open on their birthdays. Which brings us to the other morning when I went over to my mom’s house because she told me she had some presents for me!

I didn’t ask for anything, but somehow she knew exactly what to get me.

She basically raided the entire grocery aisle at Home Goods, which just so happens to be my favorite aisle. I tell PJ all the time how I could spend hours in that aisle looking at all the things that I certainly don’t need but want nonetheless. But the funny thing is I’ve never relayed that sentiment to her. Crazy how moms just know sometimes, isn’t it?

So if you’re looking for something to get your adult child, but aren’t sure what they want and don’t want to ask them at the risk of ruining the surprise, may I suggest the following:

• Jars of marinara and pasta sauce, and a small thing of pesto

• A fun, differently shaped pasta

• New shampoo and conditioner that smells so fresh and so clean

• Coffee

• A book for parents who do too much

• A book about writing

• Linen pants they can stay cool in all summer long

• And of course, a pack of beef jerkey

So there you have it! A bunch of random gifts that somehow add up to just about the best thing I could have ever (not) asked for.