Top

Bestest Mommy Ever

Making sense of motherhood and the world around us

Featured Posts

Mom is investigated for letting 8-year-old walk her dog alone

Just a few states offer a legal age restriction for children to be left alone.

Less than a handful of U.S. states offer legal age requirements for a child to be left alone unsupervised.

When is your child old enough to be left unsupervised?

That’s the question a lot of parents are asking after news reports this week of a neighbor who called police and child protective services on an Illinois mom who let her 8-year-old walk her dog alone. Police dismissed the complaint, after finding the child was not in any danger. The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services also investigated the mother’s actions and found no wrongdoing.

It might be easy to shrug off a story like this as random, weird, or a Midwestern anomaly. But it does raise the question: When is your child old enough to be home alone or go outside without your supervision? [Read more…]

After twins, Beyonce embraces her “mama pouch”

If you’ve ever felt self-conscious about your post-baby body, then Vogue’s September cover story featuring Beyonce may offer some encouragement and camaraderie with the pop star.

Vogue Cover Shoot September 2018

Beyonce says she didn’t wear any wigs and very little makeup for the Vogue shoot to encourage readers to love their natural beauty.

After giving birth to Blue Ivy in 2012, the pop star says she felt pressure to bounce back quickly, and she lost all of her baby weight in three months while breastfeeding. “Looking back, that was crazy,” she admits. [Read more…]

7 Jobs You Can Work From Home

Finding the right job that can offer work-life balance takes some effort but it’s worth it to be emotionally and mentally available for your family.

If you’ve been a full-time stay at home mom (SAHM) for a few years, chances are you’ve thought about working again or picking up a side hustle to make some extra money.

It’s definitely crossed my mind. In fact, after five years at home with my children, I’ve decided to rejoin the working world outside of my home.

It’ll be just like riding a bike right? I’ll just drop back into the workforce after five years with no problem, right? [Read more…]

Sneak Peek of My Farmhouse Kitchen

Everyone loves a Farmhouse Kitchen right? Have you dreamed of Chip and Joanna coming to your house to host Fixer Upper? Can you imagine converting your 1980s kitchen into a gorgeous space with reclaimed hardwood floors, sliding barn doors, and shiplap EVERYWHERE?!

Well, I’m almost there y’all. For those of you who follow BestestMommyEver on Facebook, you know my kitchen has been under renovation all summer. Literally since Memorial Day Weekend. Can you imagine not being able to cook since May? [Read more…]

Soaking up Summertime

A summertime run through the playground.

A summertime run through the playground.

Growing up, summertime meant spending hours outside, playing on jungle gyms and with neighborhood friends, eating ice cold bomb pops and playing hide and seek behind oak trees, even though you could easily be seen.

And we HAD to play outside. There was no running back and forth inside, and there were real consequences “if you let them mosquitoes in my house!” And what kid could pay the electric bill because “y’all are going to let all my cold air out!”

We had to stay outside until nap time or dinner time. In sunshine and heat. All day.

It’s what child psychologists today call “unstructured playtime. ” To us, it was just childhood in the 1980s. [Read more…]

Get Free Children’s Books In the Mail Every Month

I appreciate the diversity of the authors and in the characters depicted in illustrations for the stories selected every month.

I want to tell you that I’m that mom who takes my kids to the library at least once a week to wander the aisles in search of new books and engaging stories to discover.

I have a girlfriend who does this. I wish I could. But I simply can’t find the time. Instead we went twice about four months ago and I recently received a bill for $120 because we haven’t returned the books. They have been well-loved though. But not returned.

Thank goodness for Dolly Parton. Through her Dollywood Foundation and her Imagination Library, she runs a children’s book program that delivers free books to your home, once a month, with selections based on your child’s age. [Read more…]

Quick Keto Shrimp and “Pasta” Dinner

In Week 4 of my kitchen renovation, I am discovering the wonders of cooking on a hot plate.

Lately, dinners at my house have consisted of quick and easy microwave meals, one skillet wonders, and lots of praying my picky eaters will just gulp it down without making a mess.

Add to the chaos the fact that we have a toddler with allergies and my husband and I follow a Keto/low-carb lifestyle, and it makes meals at my house challenging.

I’ve been eating lots of salads and throwing whatever meat I sauté for the kids into my salad mix. Lately though, I’ve been craving pasta, an absolute no-no for anyone on a low carb diet.

And then I found kohlrabi pasta. [Read more…]

When “Keep Calm and Carry On” Doesn’t Work

“I’m fine.”

Have you ever said that, when you know it wasn’t true?

Has someone said it to you, and you knew they were lying?

I can admit to both. Sometimes I’ve breezily just said it as a way to avoid talking about how I was really feeling. It was my way of keeping my chin up, of moving upward and onward and past hurt, or disappointment, and disquieting thoughts.

And when other people say it, and I sense it’s not true, I usually just move on to something else, respecting their privacy.

But what happens when you can’t just “Keep Calm and Carry On?” [Read more…]