Gemma Hartley

Despite endless exhortations to "enjoy every second," the reality of three toddlers is not always a Disney postcard. And it's okay for some moms to admit that they look forward to having a little less mess, a little more serenity.

My husband and I have been together for 12 years, eight of them married, four of them teenaged.

My mother called me the morning after the

I am sometimes painfully envious of other (usually childless) writers who are doing the very thing I swore I would have done by now — publishing a novel.

I wonder because I think I'm making the same mistakes with my daughter. She hardly eats. She's very picky. I feel like food is a constant struggle between us. I also feel like it's all my fault.

If you were to walk into my house on any given day, you wouldn’t know that I am an efficient and organized person.

Again and again I refuse to prioritize, refuse to let anything slide, at the expense of my physical and mental health.

You know that annoying friend who loves to vaguebook about the woes in her life or is always complaining on social media about how her kids are destroying her home and mental health? Super annoying, right? Well, that was me — every damn day, for years.

It wasn’t the name I would have picked — not originally, at least — but as days turned into weeks, it grew on me.

Anti-choice folks love to say that these laws aren’t about controlling and punishing a large portion of the population, they are about the sanctity of life. And life, according to those who are anti-choice, begins when sperm meets egg.