• I love this photo and this photo, both part of Wilma Hurskainen’s No Name series.
• CrappyPictures.com is a great, funny parenting blog. And this post, right or wrong, well, resonated with me. Enjoy.
• After a week like the one described above, we sometimes hire a sitter using my friend Peggy’s babysitting service, BabysitEase. We’re always sent a bio of the sitter before he or she arrives. I swear they’re more qualified to parent than I am.
• We managed to save $450 (total) by buying this Groupon each time we needed to transition one of our children to a twin mattress. There’s not much time left for this particular one, but it’s a good deal if you’re in need of a new bed. (And if you wait long enough, I imagine it will come around again.)
• I write picture books. My most recent is about a young boy who is trying to save the waning moon. Although I opened (another) rejection e-mail early this morning, it’s one piece of writing I’m proud of and one I plan to keep pitching. And with that, I give you this. (We also have a gorgeous lunar phase calendar hanging in our kitchen, gifted to us from my parents, which I plan to write about soon.)
• The Top 50 Etsy Baby Shops of 2013 (as chosen by the editors at Babble)
• One Day On Earth movie trailer. Watch it. Beautiful, no? Has anyone seen the entire film? I’d love to.
“‘Kindness'” covers all of my political beliefs. No need to spell them out. I believe that if, at the end, according to our abilities, we have done something to make others feel a little happier, and something to make ourselves a little happier, that is about the best we can do. To make others less happy is a crime. To make ourselves unhappy is where all crime starts. We must try to contribute joy to the world. That is true no matter what our problems, our health, our circumstances. We must try. I didn’t know this and am happy I lived long enough to find out.” —Roger Ebert