Kendra
Aside from being a writer, Kendra is a Birth Trauma Doula at KarysMa Birth, where she helps moms find their joy after birth trauma. A former middle school English and theatre teacher, she has an insatiable love for learning and a flair for the dramatic. Among the best moments of her life, she counts marrying her husband Steve during a dream rainbow wedding, planning a princess picnic on the beach with her eight year old daughter Karys, giving birth to her one year old daughter Saryn in the middle of a blizzard, and sitting on stage with Glennon Doyle. A Navy brat for the first 13 years of her life, Kendra settled in Virginia for eighteen years before she was finally ready to move again, relocating to Portland in 2014. You can find her work on Portland Moms Blog, The La Leche League Blog, and The Not Your Average Mom Project, as well as the hard drive of her computer.
No More Either/Or: Choose Both
The mommy wars rage on. I’m not sure how it happens, but as soon as we become moms, we are suited up for the battle. I rarely hear dads arguing over cloth diapers versus...
Things I Can (and Can’t) Do While Holding My Baby
My new little one likes me (she really likes me), and she is our last baby. As a result, I spend much of the day carrying her around in one arm while attempting to...
Simplify Christmas: 7 Steps to Maximize Joy and Minimize Headaches
The holidays can seem like a whirl of lights, bells, parties, and sugar. It can be hard to slow down and appreciate the wonders of the season in the midst of the Christmas chaos....
Make Space with a Pre-Holiday Purge
I try to sort through and purge some of our belongings at least once a season, and I make a special point of doing a serious pre-holiday purge. If you're like me, Goodwill and...
10 Ways to Announce Your Baby News
I didn’t create a Facebook account until my daughter was six months old, so my options for telling the world that she was coming were relatively few. Seven years later, the ways to spread the...
Choosing Whether or Not to Have a Second Child
For a while now, I’ve been having the nagging feeling that our family is not quite complete. This feeling is not about my “only” child; trust me, there’s no “only” about her. It’s not...
To My Baby on the Last Day of Kindergarten
My Sweet, Practically-A-First-Grader,
On your first day of kindergarten, I was awash in conflicting emotions. I was excited for you to move into the next phase of your life and worried that you would be...
Praising the Peaceful Warrior on Armed Forces Day
May 21 is Armed Forces Day, and Memorial Day is less than two weeks away. When people honor the sacrifices military families make on these holidays, they generally think about loss of life or...
My Body is My Best Friend: Body Image and Chronic Pain
I love my body. Even though society and the media would tell me I’m fat, my waistline is too thick or my breasts are too small, I love it. I love its curves and...
Who’s the Fun For? A Disneyland Reminder For Mom
I remember the magic of Disneyland from my childhood: shyly hugging my favorite characters, spinning on teacups in Wonderland, and getting “It’s a Small World” stuck in my head. So when my husband Steve found out...