Ashley
Mama to Maddox, Walker and Finn plus three unruly dogs: Nick Carraway, Ladybird, and Charlotte. Owner of Nest, a custom painting and furniture restoration business run out of my SoKno home. I've written for Knox Moms since 2014, and have also written for The Dollywood Company, Her View From Home, and Today.com. I'm a recovering type-a personality, overcaffinated, sleep with too many pillows, am a better person near water, and love a good British period drama or anything about gruesome true crime. I'm going to die trying to pet something I shouldn't or lifting furniture I have no business lifting, and am a firm believer in convenience meals. Probably a top contender for the title of World's Okayest Mom.
Yeah…I’m NOT Really Excited About Back to School
"We just have to hang in there for a few more weeks!," she said as she passed me at Sam's Club. Finn was peacefully sleeping in his carrier while Maddox and Walker climbed frantically...
Grace From a Stranger: The Day I Met Ms. Connie
"There's a man on our roooooooof!" went my five year old's battlecry as he ran down the street to the neighbor's house, shoeless and in clothes that didn't match. "Walker?! Honey dinner is ready!...
Before She Was “Nana:” The Importance of Family Memories
"She was 10 when her mom died."
"No. She was 12."
"Are you sure? I thought she was 10?"
"Hold on," the funeral director said, "I can pull up her mom's headstone with a program we have...
Newborn Notes: What Really Happens When You Bring Baby Home
Even though my oldest boys are seven and five, it feels like a lifetime ago that they were tiny little infant babies. I vaguely recall the struggles of their first few months, but with...
I Wanted You In, but Please Get Out: A Pregnancy Story
The opening scene from the musical Wicked is a song called "Thank Goodness" where Galinda the Good Witch is addressing a crowd of her supporters and fans. If you know the score, you know...
Hi, I’m Ashley. And I’m a Recovering Type A Personality.
Halfway through college I got a nickname that stuck with me until my late twenties: Monica. As in, Monica Gellar, the totally Type A character from the TV show Friends.
It was my junior year...
Sometimes I Feel Invisible: A Story About A Painter, A Pig, and Target
I read something once when both my boys were a lot smaller -- a sweet, encouraging post about how no one noticed what moms do. "No one noticed that Michelangelo was painting the Sistine...