Welcome to Boston Mamas Rock! -- where I share the voices of fabulous local mamas from all walks of life. Read on for today's interview with Joanna Silverman, a mother of one and the educator and holistic health counselor behind Nourishing the Peas and the Pod. Read on to learn about Joanna's wonderful work with moms and kids. Then go ahead and nominate a fabulous fellow mama!Welcome to Boston Mamas Rock! -- where I share the voices of fabulous local mamas from all walks of life. Read on for today's interview with Joanna Silverman, a mother of one and the educator and holistic health counselor behind Nourishing the Peas and the Pod. Read on to learn about Joanna's wonderful work with moms and kids. Then go ahead and nominate a fabulous fellow mama!
Today's Dear Boston Mamas question comes from CM via e-mail:
Dear Boston Mamas, I'm about halfway through my pregnancy and am in desperate need of maternity clothes, but I hate the thought of spending tons of money on clothes I'll only wear for a few months. Any sources of reasonably priced maternity clothes in the area that you'd recommend? Thanks!
Laurel recently has gotten into headbands (which is great because her fine hair is prone to flyaways that get stuck in food and art projects), and we've struck out on a couple of attempts to find a flower headband she likes. I was about to jump down the Etsy rabbit hole (or hit the craft store and warm up my glue gun) when we stumbled upon this fashion headbands kit. We originally bought the kit for a friend's birthday, and then Laurel decided to use a birthday gift card for her own kit, and it has been a huge hit.
Today, Jennifer shares a couple of great resources for medical alert tracking and cool ID accessories for grownups and kids:
I love jewelry and accessories...I mean, I really, really love them. So when a recent medical issue resulted in my need for a medic ID bracelet (I have an adult onset seizure disorder controlled by meds -- or as I like to say, I'm just a little bit electric), the diagnosis left me with a serious accessory challenge: where do I get a cute medic alert bracelet? And also, how should I store my emergency medical information?
One thing that's clear about pregnancy is that bodies grow very differently (when in doubt, do not ask!). I "popped" late with Laurel, and it's been similar this go around. At almost 17 weeks, though I'm definitely feeling thicker around the middle, I'm still wearing my regular clothes; as of two weeks ago, I simply looked a little full of korma and last week I started sporting a little bump that's still not evident in regular clothes. Through the second trimester, transition pieces are key, and I'm all about mining one's existing wardrobe, particularly since in the second trimester you may not be ready for full blown maternity clothing. Here are my five favorite regular wardrobe pieces that are serving me immensely well in transition. I've put together a few cute looks based on these pieces and all of these looks are non-maternity wear, so even if you aren't pregnant you can enjoy them. Today I'm focusing on casual clothing and plan on doing a dressy/work roundup soon.
Today, parent educator Hetti Wohlgemuth of Alphabet Soup 4 Parents takes a departure from parenting advice to recommend two stylish local finds:
Given my apparent talent for spilling black coffee, chocolate ice cream, and ketchup on myself, I don't like spending lots of money on clothing. For me, it's not worth it to ruin expensive clothes and it's good to tighten the spending belt when a bad economy threatens us. That said, I still like to shop, dress well, and look professional. Here are two Boston area shops to try that won't break the bank.
Last September, in honor of National Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month, contributing writer Sarah candidly shared her story. This year, in another moving post, she makes the astute point that, "A cure for cancer is a tempting illusion, but the way to save more lives is to get this disease detected and treated while it's still small." Please read on and familiarize yourself with the symptoms, and share this post with the women in your lives.
During my recent quest for non-tchotchke awesomeness for Jon's birthday, I was thrilled to discover Soaptopia (another lead from my pals at Cool Mom Picks; thanks ladies!). Operated by a team that clearly has a sense of humor (see the names of their soaps, for example) and is immensely passionate about natural body products (a quick tweet asking for man product recommendations led to an impressively thorough e-mail response about options), I pretty much think it's impossible to go wrong with anything from this online shop.
I'm a major proponent of tchotchke-free gifting and one of my favorite gifts to give is soap; it's useful, one can never have enough of it, and it can look like little works of art. Jon and I have a tradition of soap gifting around his birthday and this year I wanted to try some new brands. Following a query on Twitter, I was grateful to my friends Liz and Kristen at Cool Mom Picks for responding back with some of their favorite soap shops. The first place I put in an order at was Abe's Market.
Today's Dear Boston Mamas question comes from Kimberly via Twitter:
Dear Christine, my hubby and I are celebrating 10 years in September. Any suggestions for a nice getaway? I am in Malden (so, about 5 miles from Boston). We are willing to travel a little!
One thing that used to curb my shopping at Lands' End was that they never offered flat percentage discounts + free shipping. And whether they started listening to consumer complaints (admittedly, I grumbled about this issue on Twitter at least once or twice), or simply decided to jump on the bandwagon with all the other online retailers, it's all good: LE has been offering lots of online deals of late. And while I recently took advantage of one of said deals, in addition to stocking up on Laurel's tankinis and action sandals, I was thrilled to find that this year's collection includes some cute women's bikinis with decent coverage.
Last weekend Laurel and I had a fantastic time at the Down:2:Earth sustainable living expo. Laurel loved the face painting, games, snacks, and garden displays, and I was especially thrilled to see many green companies I have featured (Boston Organics, Bum Boosa, Diaper Lab, Go GaGa, Sakura Bloom, Seventh Generation, snackTAXI, Stonyfield) present, and also to discover new ones, such as Acero Studio. Mom-owned and based out of New Bedford, artist Anne Wolfe creates lovely vintage-styled graphics then hand prints them onto a delicious array of microwave and dishwasher safe ceramics and porcelain jewelry.
Today's Dear Boston Mamas question comes from Perri via Facebook:
Baby girl turns 1 this week and I wanted to find a cute T-shirt or onesie for her to wear on her special day. I saw a couple of cute (non-cheesy) items in Chasing Fireflies but unfortunately do not have time to order. Any ideas of local shops that might have some fun, cute, sassy, non-cheesy birthday gear?
Today, Kate reflects on the beauty of ballet across generations:
Does the beauty of ballet call to every little girl at some point in her life? Probably not -- there must be at least a few who are immune to the magic of toe shoes, the awe of the light-as-air lift, the seeming impossibility of a dancer on pointe -- but the appeal seems to be almost universal. I remember my mother describing how as a child she would watch and re-watch The Red Shoes, an overwrought 1948 melodrama about love and devotion gone wrong among dancers, and though the film itself didn't do much for me, I fully appreciated the pull of the ballet scenes. I'm not sure whether it's the costumes, the immense strength and discipline hidden under layers of pink tulle, or the fairy tales recreated on the stage, but ballet got to me too, and now it's gotten to my preschool-aged daughter.
Apparently, today I’m in a bit of a PSA mood. In addition to asking you to get out and vote, I wanted to urge you to take care of you. I firmly believe that you need to take care of yourself in order to better take care of others (think oxygen mask airline instructions) and I felt compelled to post this PSA because: a) I’ve been fielding a lot of questions these days about self-care (mostly informally, but also more formally via a recent fit mom profile over at Momtrends); and b) this past weekend I had the lovely opportunity to host a yoga event that was infused with personal and global mindfulness; the deliriously happy looks on the attendees faces made it clear that self-care was not happening enough.
Today, Paige shares her raves for MiniLuxe:
“Ever since I moved back to Boston from New York, I have searched for a fabulous nail salon. Not a shmancy spa. Not a hair salon that has a great manicurist on staff. An honest-to-goodness nail shop -- the kind you find every three blocks in Manhattan, where you can walk in when the mood strikes and be guaranteed a fabulously groomed set of ten in 30 minutes for less than $20. But with no luck to date, I have had to deal with my gnarly nails and cuticles, except for the occasional weak moment when I’m willing to fork over $40 for a mani at the local spa.
Today from Jules, because no doubt some post-holidays push-ups could do us all good:
“As busy mothers (synonymous words as far as I’m concerned), we tend to put ourselves on the back burner to care for the little ones. With two babies under the age of 18 months, I have had to sacrifice lots of me time. However, one thing I refuse to give up is my daily workout regimen. And on days where I only have 10 minutes to spare, I do push-ups. Push-ups are a weight bearing exercise that target multiple muscle groups and, when done correctly, can seriously tighten you up in no time.