Lauren Palmer
Lauren Palmer is an Indianapolis-based writer. She lives in Broad Ripple with her husband, Jeff, and daughters Lyra and Fiona. In addition to contributing to Indianapolis Moms, Lauren is a member of the Indianapolis chapter of Women Writing for a Change, a national organization aimed at nourishing and celebrating female voices. Vulnerability is Lauren's superpower, and she aims to write about the often unseen experiences of being a woman and mother.
Your Guide to Surviving Family Drama This Holiday Season
We're coming up on the holidays, and you know what that means! I'm not talking about packed malls, decadent food, and the sweet crooning of Bing Crosby. I'm talking about a holiday tradition older...
My Tried and True Parenting Motto
I'm a big fan of mottos and quotes. For example, my personal happiness motto comes from one of my favorite writers, Kelly Corrigan, who often talks about her three-part formula for happiness: "Make yourself...
The Struggle Days In Parenting
A close friend gave birth to her son in late April, just three weeks after I had my daughter. When our families got together a couple months later, her husband, fresh from the shell-shocked haze of...
Furry Firstborns: When Dog Meets Baby
When my husband, Jeff, and I picked up our brand new Miniature Schnauzer puppy on a snowy day in 2006, we learned her breeders had given her a rather unique nickname. "Persnickety is an interesting...
Why I Love Being a Working Mom
I'll admit it: Before having my daughter this spring, I sporadically fantasized about staying home. During a stressful work week, I'd imagine an idealistic lifestyle of leisurely stroller walks, engaging trips to the Children's...
11 Paradoxes of Motherhood
Ah, motherhood. It's an immensely joyful, heart-warming experience that we mamas wouldn't trade for anything in the world. But it can also sometimes be unimaginably crazymaking, turning even the most put-together, self-confident woman into a neurotic mess...
You won’t always be a baby.
It hit me a few weeks ago, snuggling with my 4.5-month-old daughter, Lyra, during one of the increasingly-rare times she lets her head rest on my shoulder: She won't always be a baby.
She won't...
My Experience As a Breastfeeding Working Mom
My first day back at work after 13 weeks at home with my daughter, I headed into the office wearing nicer clothes and more make-up than I had in four months. I had the...
The Morality of Procreation
When I announced my pregnancy last year, a number of people—mostly strangers—reacted to the news with a peculiar and somewhat rude question:
“Don’t you think bringing a child into this world is morally questionable?”
Of course,...
On Raising Kids in Broad Ripple
In recent years, I've often heard young couples who live in the Broad Ripple area make a similar statement: "We absolutely love living here, but once we have kids, we're moving to Fishers/Carmel/Noblesville/Avon/Greenwood."
I can...
7 Ways My iPhone Helped Me Survive Early Motherhood
I've seen countless articles maligning parents' use of smartphones, blaming our beloved electronic rectangles for turning us into distracted, checked-out moms missing beautiful, priceless moments with our children. As the mother of a six-week-old, I'm...
Creating a Fun Gender-Neutral Nursery
When my husband and I decided to wait to find out the sex of our first child, one thing I was excited about was the challenge of creating a cute gender-neutral nursery. I envisioned...
My Natural Birth Plan: How It All Went Down (Birth Story Series)
I'm currently 11 days postpartum after giving birth to my amazing and adorable daughter, Lyra. It's unimaginable that I did not know this tiny, beautiful person just twelve days ago, and yet the experience...
Beyond “Healthy Baby, Healthy Mom”: Defending My Natural Birth Plan
When my husband and I found out we were expecting our first child last July, we faced many of the same questions as other first-time parents: Can this amazing news be real? Is everything...