Yes, having a new baby is beautiful, but it also creates a domino effect that impacts every other area of your life, most notably the relationship with your significant other. No one ever really tells you that. So here's the truth that baby commercials and family shows never really cover: Your newborn tests you and your relationship. Here's how: 1. Crazy sleep deprivation Staying up all night with a newborn is CRAZY. And your partner is likely very sleep-deprived, too, making for the perfect storm.

When spring arrives, there is a palpable joy in the air. We can throw our kids outside without layering them in mountains of clothing and open our windows for a little fresh air. But with the delightful changes come a few not-so-fun ones, like spring cleaning. For some of us, spring cleaning hangs over our heads like a dark cloud of doom, whereas others hear "The Eye of the Tiger" faintly playing in the background as they prep their springtime purge.

Once upon a time, I had a really clean house. Even when I had two kids (nearly five years apart, by the way), my house was almost always clean. Did I mention that I was also a stay-at-home mom at the time? Yeah, I'm laughing at myself now, too -- while I am literally sitting at the kitchen counter with my laptop, staring at a sink full of dirty dishes and wondering why my elbow is sticky. Probably has something to do with the yogurt my 2-year-old was eating earlier. Look.

As a mom of nine (yes — nine!), Lois Sue Baker knows a thing or two about feeding a large family and saving money while you're at it. It's part of why she began shopping at Costco years ago. And recently, she decided to take to Facebook to share one of the many tips she's learned over the years — one that has left a lot of people wondering how they never knew about it before. "Everyone deserves to know this!!" she wrote in her February 16 post.

TGIF tends to lose its luster when you become a parent. I don’t even remember the last time I went out on a Friday night when it didn’t involve getting pizza with the kids. Here are just four ways weekends change when you become a parent: 1. Sleeping in is not happening Little kids have an inner alarm clock that seems to be far more reliable than any other clock on the planet.

After three kids, I can confidently say that pregnancy isn’t my jam. However, despite my discomfort, it turns out that pregnancy does have a few perks. Here are just a few things that even the biggest pregnancy hater might miss once their little one arrives: 1. Maternity pants Maternity pants are pretty much the best thing ever — and secret confession: I totally still wear my maternity jeans on occasion.

My friend — let’s call her Betsy — is a stay-at-home mom. She loves her two children, but she has serious marital issues. She knows that her husband has a problem with alcohol. As her friend, I desperately want her to leave him. She wants to leave, too, but one thing stands in her way: money. Betsy married young and hasn’t worked outside the home in years. She has no money in her own name and barely has a credit score.

By the time my third child was about 2-1/2, she started showing some definite interest in the potty. After all, that’s where all the big people go to do their business, and none of us wear those diaper things. I had already potty-trained my two older kids, fairly easily, I might add, so off to Target we went to get the necessary supplies. We got a pink plastic potty and a large tarp to cover the carpet in the living room for a few days.

Mom Sheena Turner’s creativity skills were on full display when she devised a hack so simple — and yet so genius — that the entire internet is bowing at her feet. (OK, and also laughing hysterically, because it’s just that good.) The stroke of genius happened while Turner was walking around the house with her 8-month-old daughter, Kelani, in a baby carrier.

I’m nervous about the coronavirus. There. I said it. In a world where there seems to be two extremes of opinion about this widespread illness — you’re either panicked or think everyone who is panicked is crazy — it feels risky to say that out loud. That’s why, when I hear my mom friends accuse people of overreacting to the coronavirus, I get a bit touchy. I’m not an alarmist. I’m not a germaphobe.