Motherhood quickly strips away the idea that love is only a feeling. Because there are days when you don’t feel patient.Days when you don’t feel calm.Days when you don’t feel like you’re doing any of this particularly well.

There’s something deeply comforting about a warm bowl of noodles at the end of a long day. Not the overly complicated kind. Not the perfectly styled, unrealistic kind. But the kind that comes together while kids are underfoot, music is playing softly in the background, and the kitchen still feels like home even when it’s a little messy. This Chicken Pad Thai has become one of those meals for us. The dependable one. The one I know will be eaten. The one I can make without thin