Between Coffee & Curfew

There’s a strange thing about motherhood when your kids are ten years apart.

You don’t really leave one stage behind before entering another one.

You live in both.

In my house, motherhood can look like elementary school mornings, little-kid questions, bedtime routines, and someone still needing Mom for what feels like everything.

At the same time, it looks like teenage independence, friendships, first heartbreaks, driving, curfews, and learning how to let go just a little more than I’m ready for.

Some days, I’m helping one child with something that reminds me just how little he still is- and a few hours later, I’m having a conversation with my teenager that reminds me just how quickly childhood disappears.

There are ten years between them, and somehow I’m raising them in two completely different worlds at the same time.

And that’s a big part of why Between Coffee & Curfew exists.

Somewhere Between Needing Mom and Needing Space

When your kids are little, they need you in obvious ways.

They need help getting dressed. They need snacks. They need you to find the thing sitting directly in front of them. They want to tell you a 20-minute story that could have been three sentences.

They still reach for your hand.

Then they get older, and needing you starts to look different.

Sometimes they want advice. Sometimes they absolutely do not want advice. And somehow, you’re magically supposed to know which one it is. Sometimes they need you but don’t know how to say it.

And sometimes your job is simply to be there when they’re finally ready to talk.

Having children ten years apart means I get constant reminders of both sides.

One is still giving me pieces of childhood I know wont last forever.

The other is showing me what happens when all those little moments slowly turn into a person who’s building a life of his own.

It’s beautiful.

It’s also a little heartbreaking.

I Definitely Don’t Have This Figured Out

I’m not starting this blog because I’ve mastered motherhood.

Not even close.

There are days when I feel like I’m doing a pretty good job at this whole motherhood thing.

And then there are days when I’ve repeated myself seventeen times, reheated the same cup of coffee three times, forgotten something I absolutely swore I wouldn’t forget, and wondered whether anyone in my house knows how to replace an empty toilet paper roll.

Some days I’m dealing with little-kid chaos.

Other days its teenage attitude.

And occasionally, the universe is generous enough to give me both at the same time.

Motherhood is funny like that.

You can feel completely overwhelmed and unbelievably grateful at the exact same time.

You can desperately need five minutes alone and then miss your kids the second the house gets quiet.

You can look at the child standing in front of you and somehow still see the toddler they used to be.

There’s So Much Motherhood After the Baby Years

There are endless conversations about pregnancy, newborns, and toddlers- and there should be.

Those years are hard.

But motherhood doesn’t stop being complicated when your kids start school.

And it definitely doesn’t stop when they become teenagers.

The challenges just change.

Little kids might need help navigating playground friendships, school struggles, big emotions, or fears that seem enormous to them.

Older kids bring different worries- relationships, independence, driving, decisions about their futures, and experiences you can’t always protect them from.

You go from fixing scraped knees to realizing there are hurts you can’t fix with a Band-Aid and a kiss.

Sometimes you can fix the problem.

Sometimes you can only sit beside them while they go through it.

You start learning when to step in and when to step back.

When to give advice and when they just need you to listen.

When to hold on and when, little by little, you have to let go.

And with a ten-year age gap, I’m doing a little of both every single day.

So, This Is Between Coffee & Curfew

This isn’t going to be a blog about having motherhood figured out.

It’s going to be about living it.

The little-kid years.

The teenage years.

And the ten years between them.

The school mornings. The missing shoes. The forgotten permission slips. The attitudes. The milestones. The late-night talks. The laughter, worry, heartbreak, proud moments, and all the ordinary days in between.

I’ll share stories from my own life, things I’m learning along the way, the things that make me laugh, the things that are harder to talk about, and probably plenty of moments where another mom reads something and thinks:

Yes. Mine does that too.

Because sometimes that’s all we need- to know we’re not the only ones figuring this out as we go.

Maybe we don’t need another version of perfect motherhood.

Maybe we just need more places where we can be honest about what it’s actually like.

So grab your coffee.

I’ll probably be reheating mine.

And if you have teenagers, keep an eye on the clock.

Curfew will be here before we know it. ❤️

Welcome to Between Coffee & Curfew.

I’m really glad you’re here.