South Dakota actually kinda’s got it going on. I did my only legit carry-all-your-food-and-water, sign-out-with-which-direction-you’re-headed-in-case-you-don’t-come-back, poop-in-a-hole backpacking in the Badlands and it was pretty awesome. Where the buffalo roam, as they say. The Black Hills are also quite beautiful.…

Good point.

This seems like a pretty reasonable response on his part. I don't particularly understand where the paragraph by paragraph snark is coming from.

Agreed. I don't remember reading this as a kid, but I just read it to my 4 month old and cried my face off. Because YOU CAN HAVE MY BRANCHES AND YOU CAN ALWAYS SIT ON MY STUMP. I WILL ALWAYS HAVE WHAT YOU NEED *SOB SOB SOB*

Happy to help! We're doing what we can up here.

My water broke on a Friday afternoon, as I was standing barefoot in my kitchen eating a pickle. As though my baby was just TRYING to catch me in a pregnancy cliche. I was 37 weeks, 3 days so I wasn't really expecting it (and was in fact about 10 minutes from getting in the car to leave town for the weekend.) We took a…

Every day gets better. I was fine on the couch, in bed, walking around, etc. but oh... the transition between things. That took a while. Figuring out how to stand up out of bed WHILE holding my 5 day old baby was a mystery to be solved every time. But eventually I was popping up out of bed like nobody's business.…

Oh Ann... you're a laugh a minute.

This is true. In reality it was pretty challenging to get tickets for a couple shows this fall. But I did, and at least I know the people there will be ready to have fun and enjoy it!

Well said. And in addition, for us at least, our engagement photos are much more reflective of our real selves. I love our wedding pictures, but our engagement photos are basically photos of us just hanging out with each other, but they're taken with a nice camera instead of an iPhone, and we took a few minutes to be…

The best thing about everyone saying they're over Pearl Jam is that it means easier concert tickets for me. See you guys in October, PJ. Can't wait! Feel free to tag anything on Daughter... I'll be happy to hear it.

Thanks for the tip! I definitely need lots of cuteness in my life right now. Wishing you weeks of comfort, rest and no heartburn!

Thank you!

Yes. At 36 weeks pregnant, my heart and tear ducts cannot handle a morning with both these stories. Sign me up for the kitties and puppies and hedgehogs, please!

Nailed it.

Oh definitely. I don't think anyone would show up to the Blue Gym or anything, but I can guarantee that someone stood in her kitchen reading it going "OMGwhaaaaaaat?" and calling everyone she knew. And I hope the lesson learned for the girls is that this is the point where you can decide something sounds fishy, throw…

I almost entirely agree with you. Teenagers are dumb, they do dumb things. The boys (presumably) that did this had a plan they thought was funny, they didn't think through the consequences, and now they've hopefully learned why it was dumb. Where I disagree (I think?) is saying that no one believed it. Because if…

Oh man, I always thought it was "And if this ever-changing world in which we're living" because the way you wrote it out just made no sense. Perhaps I gave Sir Paul too much credit.

Oh man, I'm 35 and cider has been my drink of choice since I could legally drink. Well.... maybe slightly before. When I was 22, there was 1 store in a 20-mile radius that sold Woodchuck and I would make regular trips there and stock. it. up. For 10 years, I would get mega-jealous when I'd go to bars and have to pay…

Yes, yes, yes. I'm about 6 months pregnant and the whole "you don't even know what you're in for" thing drives me crazy. First of all, I've spent a lot of time caring for other people's kids, and I definitely get the general idea of what goes into keeping a kid fed, bathed and clothed each day. Can I understand it…