I used to know what my opinions about things were. And some days I still have a decent handle on it. But on others, I'm a mess of conflicting emotions about stuff. Today is a snow day. I feel really weird about it. On the one hand, it's annoying, because instead of a half day in which I can do work, I have to try to cram it into a smaller window of time. On the other hand, I'm weirdly happy that they have some nice fresh snow to play with. This is beyond bizarre; I stopped enjoying snow around the same time I started having to drive in it.

Then my son came down with a sudden and gross stomach bug. I was somewhat relived he had it on a snow day, because otherwise it would have happened while he was in school and I would have had to bring him home. And who knows how much work I would have gotten done at that point. See, when I have less time, sometimes I can actually get more done.

When you're hanging out with your little kids sometimes really little, sometimes older you get these flashes of insight into what they're going to be like in the distant or not so distant future. Sometimes it's a certain look they get. One that is so adult and clear that you are taken aback by it you can see before you the adult they are going to be, right before they spill their milk all over the dining room table.

Other times it's an attitude or a tone of voice that jet-propels you into exactly what you think the teenage years are going to be. Sometimes it's a casual dismissal of your foolish suggestion.

I'm not a hoarder, but sometimes it's difficult to tell. Being sentimental, it's really hard for me to throw certain things away especially when it comes to my kids. I still have scribbles they did when they first started using crayons, and I don't want to chuck them.

Then they started school, and the projects started rolling home on a weekly basis. Now I'm so inundated with sentimental items I could scream. I may have screamed actually. This is not the first time I wished I was a more organized person, nor will it be the last. And no, this isn't a story about how I magically clean my house though there are times I get it to passable.

Time is weird when you're a parent. There are times usually when there is fighting or crying - when time seems to stretch out and last forever. That witching hour before bedtime when no one can behave can feel like a miserable eternity. And on the other side of the spectrum it can seem like yesterday when they were just wee bundles, swaddled and blankets and having that amazing 'new baby' smell.

And now, with the kids in school it's a whole new level of weird time. On the one hand, the weeks seem to fly by. I get up at 4:50 a.m. to get lunches made, backpacks packed and at least locate the majority of items needed to get out the door (hats, mittens, snow pants, boots, coats plus shoes for indoors). Technically, I don't have to get up that early. I've proven this on days where I slept through the alarm. But it's also when I do some room cleaning, then sit and relax for 20 minutes before the rush.

In 2014, we received a board game for the kids from my cool sister-in-law who lives down in Mass. I remember taking it out of the box and scrambling to understand the basics while the kids were all grabbing at different pieces. She grinned as I fumbled with the directions and said, 'I just make up the rules.'

It was some of the best advice I'd ever heard about gaming with young kids.

There's been something going on behind the scenes of your local media. Some of you may already be aware of it, and for others this may be breaking news. It's almost a pandemic. You have probably seen one on television. You may even be reading a story by one right now. The secret is out: there are a lot of people in the media who have given birth to multiples. 

Anyone who follows my Edge Mom column may or may not be aware that my tongue-in-cheek look at life with three kids comes from having three kids at the same time. You feel pretty unique when you have multiples, but that only lasts until you find that your network of parents of multiples is actually larger than you would think. It became clear pretty quickly that there are a lot of media personalities who have been blessed with multiples or are a twin themselves.