Amanda
Amanda is a New York girl living in a Texas world. In 2009, she followed her heart to the Lone Star state to Mansfield. She is wife to Timothy, and mother to Ryann and Grey. They love traveling and hunkering down at home with equal passion. Amanda is a speech pathologist by day and the maker of snacks, giver of baths, and the reader of bedtime stories by night. A lover of food and health, she spends an alarming amount of time researching plant-based recipes, experimenting in her perpetually messy kitchen, and of course, subjecting her family to the fruits of her labor. When not portioning out perfectly even snacks, you can find her at Orange Theory Fitness, in the Starbucks drive-thru line, reading anything, daydreaming about date nights, and planning the Fyfe family’s next adventure.
The Milestones This Mama Is Really Celebrating
When you can ditch that dang diaper bag, when your child can put on his or her own shoes — these are real mama milestones.
Clear Expectations for My Kids and Yours
I have worked tirelessly to evoke good manners and behaviors in my children. I have fought the good fight and dug my heels in with all the strength I could muster. I have driven home serenaded by the sounds of squealing because I refused to buy a toy at our neighborhood Target. And it is HARD.
Budget for a Better Life
Budgets aren’t about deprivation or going without. They're about making sure you really understand how you’re spending your money. A budget offers the opportunity to delegate your fiscal resources to the things that truly matter to you — whatever they may be.
Dear Kindergarten Teachers :: You’ve Got My Endless Respect and Admiration
Teachers are the unsung heroes of our society. They bring smiles and hugs and joy and energy and relentless patience to our babies every day. Here are a few reasons why I think kindergarten teachers pretty much hung the moon.
Ambien + Me = A Sleep Story for the Ages
For me, Ambien is like wrapping myself in my coziest blanket, like the most comforting presence. I feel peaceful and safe, and most of all, drowsy. I love the heavy feeling that spreads throughout my body and lulls me to sleep.
Happily Married by Day, “Divorced” by Night
Where we lay our heads to rest at night says nothing about the state of our relationship. The truth is, we are compatible in just about every single way during waking hours, but in sleep? We are 100 percent incompatible. Polar opposites, and NOT the kind that attract.
To the Contrary — Taking Antidepressants Doesn’t Make Me a #MomFail
I take them because in their absence, I am acutely aware of my failures and could spend most of my days focused on those. I take them because my anger, my irritability, my sadness are no longer exclusively my burden. The lines of ownership blur when you are a mother -- what was yours alone now bleeds into those babies.