DC Metro Moms Blog is a collaborative group of moms writing about their lives in Washington, D.C., where moms live and work in the shadow of the Capitol, Beltway driving is the adventure sport of choice, the Mall is flanked by national monuments instead of anchor stores, and bipartisan playdates easily gain constituency approval.
Come meet the contributors of the DC Metro Moms Blog.
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Amie moved to DC in 1993 to save the world, leaving behind a challenging eight-week career as a Christmas hire for a large department store in St. Petersburg, Florida. Her political science degree from Tulane University was never intended to be used in the Nation's capital, but nearly fifteen years later and still working in politics, she's reluctantly ready to admit that it might have come in handy. Though if she's honest, she learned more about being a successful political consultant by slaving away for years at large reproductive health non-profit, the fact that helps to allay her guilt over now working to increase the political voice of corporate America.
Nowadays, Amie is raising three boys (11, 5 and 3) with her husband in the same Northern Virginia suburb where he grew up. She maintains a sneaking suspicion that her in-laws are enjoying the fact that she is enduring the same little league politics that they survived oh so many years ago. When not at the ball field, she's trying not to kill the plants in her garden, hanging out on the corner jawing with her neighbors or off to the family beach house in Rehoboth Beach, DE. Amie started her personal blog in 2006 as a place to dump the random thoughts floating through her head. The unexpected side effect has been an introduction to a fascinating community and a much lighter, humorous perspective on life.
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Aimee Olivo's love of politics and need to bust out of small-town Pennsylvania brought her to Washington, DC for college. After graduation she moved to a group house on Capitol Hill and met her husband when he "answered an ad" and moved into the same house! They married in 2003 and moved to Cheverly, MD in March of 2005. Further evidence that there's something in the water in Cheverly, Lucas was born exactly nine months later.
These days, Aimee works part-time at her alma mater and spends the rest of her days helping Lucas burn off his deep, deep reserves of energy. When he goes to sleep she is able to spend time with her first love—politics. A staunch believer in the famous Margaret Mead quote, "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has", Aimee is politically active in Cheverly and Prince George's County. Aimee blogs about the craziness that is life with a toddler at Smiling Mama.
Andrea is an instructional designer and work-at-home mother to three rambunctious boys all under the age of 5. A classically trained singer and former teacher, she spent eight years teaching at U.S. schools in Saipan, Colombia, and Saudi Arabia. She first came to Northern Virginia in 1999 and worked for a DC law firm, then for an education company in McLean. Her husband's job took them to Hampton Roads for five years, where Andrea worked remotely and had three babies. She and her family moved to Loudoun County in early 2007 and they plan to stay here forever, although they could possibly be talked into a home on the Chesapeake Bay if they ever win the lottery. Though most of her days are filled with trucks, trains, music, bikes, and games, Andrea enjoys teaching her boys how to cook and often the family can be found in the kitchen working on their latest experiment. She accidentally started a cooking blog a few years ago and has been writing about her adventures in the kitchen at Andrea's Recipes ever since. She's also a member of The Daring Bakers and now writes for FoodieView.com as well. In addition to her family and cooking, her favorite things include early morning bike rides, singing torch songs while cooking, yoga, dark chocolate, caramel, photography, and making blankets for Project Linus.
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Devra currently resides in Northern Virginia and is an author of the under-the-radar-cult-hit book "Mommy Guilt: Learn To Worry Less, Focus on What Matters Most and Raise Happier Kids" and Spanish edition "Mama Culpable." Devra and her family moved to The DC 3 years ago from the South of Illinois. Prior to that, she lived in Kansas, Louisiana, California, Arizona, Connecticut, and New York. It would be easy to assume Devra is a Suburban Bedouin, however Devra roams the country due to her husband's job working for the Military Industrial Complex. (AKA the United States Air Force). Devra is the mother of Son One and Son Two. Son One is a 6th grade Tween and Son Two is a second grader who seriously wishes he were older than Son One.
When Devra's OB announced, "Congratulations, it's a Non-Immunity to Rubella!" Devra put her clinical social work career in the freezer. When she was able to get a booster shot, alongside her first son, she put her career on defrost and returned to helping families once again. Devra has worn many professional hats from School Social Worker to Director of Volunteer Services for a hospice. Devra is co-founder of Parentopia, LLC along with certified parent education and child development specialist Aviva Pflock. Devra and Aviva travel the country speaking at conferences and fundraisers as well as conducting workshops and seminars for audiences of all kinds. Aviva and Devra have a mission to absolve guilt...One mom(or dad!) at a time! Parenthood may not always be fun, but it should at least be enjoyable!
Devra's commentary appears in The New York Times, Boston Globe, Arizona Republic, Parents Magazine, Woman's World Magazine, BabyTalk, American Baby, Fit Pregnancy, Cookie Magazine, The Globe and Mail and many others. Devra has been a guest on NBC, Fox and CBS television stations. In all her spare time, Devra can often be found at Wegmans wandering the aisles looking for Sarah and blogging with Aviva over at Parentopia.
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Gayle is a native Washingtonian who grew up, and still lives, within DC limits, a fact she will proudly tell anyone who will listen. She took a detour through Providence, Manhattan, Boston and San Francisco in her 20s, but is happy to be back in the nation's capital. She has twin 3 year-old daughters who keep her busy and tired but always entertained. Passions include reality TV (though that one is thankfully waning), Bottle Caps candy, the NYT crossword on the rare days she can get to it, The Police, her dog, and reading. She blogs about modern fiction at Every Day I Write The Book. Gayle spent 6 long years practicing law but has since left for greener pastures. These days, she works at a strategic communications company where she specializes in social media outreach, which means she gets to talk to a lot of bloggers. She's not particularly interested in politics, so don't ask her who's going to get the nomination.
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Holli was a confirmed bachelorette, flouncing down the path to life as a crazy cat lady - but determined to do it with dogs. Her career had moved her from Oklahoma City to Dallas (which was great for a single, working woman) but due to unforseen circumstances she ended up pregnant. Her family believes it was an immaculate conception, and over time she has done nothing to correct this mistake. After three years of juggling a career, raising her daughter (Faith) with no child support and seeing to Nate Nate - a neurotic dog with mood disorders - she threw in the towel to take the one job that was hiring in the same state as her family. That job ended in a lawsuit (litigation pending - yay!) so it goes without saying this most likely wasn't the best choice she'd ever made.
Holli very much believes everything happens for a reason, and this move did lead her to meet the man she later married. He placed her in the home (residential, not mental) of her dreams... only two doors down from her mother and father. However, after her mother was recently diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer, they were transferred to Washington DC - and all hell broke loose once again. Holli is now trying to decide why fate brought her to this place in life... so far from family and friends. Aside from blogging at Baby-Faith, contributing to the Self Portrait Challenge website and doing freelance photography (with the hopes of opening her own portrait studio), she spends her time pretending to cook and clean, and would like the world to know that it's just as hard to look like you know what you're doing half the time, as it is to actually know. Domestic Diva-hood is just a state of mind (really my daughter made me put on the tiara).
Jean, a.k.a. Stimey moved to Maryland in the fall of 2003. Prepared to hate DC life, she was pleasantly surprised to find her home and community here. She is now firmly ensconced in the DC-area mom life. She is the mom of Sam, born in 2001; Jack, born in 2003; and Quinn, born in 2005. All three of her kids were born in different states: Sam in California, Jack in Alaska, and Quinn in Maryland. Jean will be forced to live in Maryland for the rest of her child-bearing years so she doesn'ÂÂt have to have any more kids. Jean spends most of her time playing with her kids and her friends, working part-time from home, starting a videography business, trying to decipher Jack'ÂÂs developmental delays that may turn out to be autism, and, you know, blogging. Jean writes about her travels through life at Stimeyland.xx
Jessica is a California native that came to DC in 1998 as a straight-laced Senate staffer by day, banquette dancer by night. She transitioned to life as a public relations executive and newlywed Home Depot frequenter in 2001. Her current and favorite persona is that of the minivan driving, bass-booming housewife and mom to a four year old son and two year old daughter.
Jessica writes A Parent in Silver Spring, a blog that makes the rich resources available for parents and kids in the DC area more apparent, served with a side of humor. She maintains an extensive calendar of cool kids' events, test drives field trips for families, interviews amazing women that are making a difference in the community and is not above the occasional beauty product or dive-bar review. Jessica is surprised everyday by how much she rejoices in being a mother, how crazy being a mom is making her and how she can fluctuate between the two feelings in the span of a second. She loves snuggling with her kids, her hot IT husband, hanging out with any of her four siblings,11 siblings-in-law and 13 nieces and nephews, early American literature, Smithsonian institutions, wooded trails, overpriced jeans, Real Simple, California bands, Venitian vacations and boxed wine.
Jess M. settled in the DC area in the Fall of 2005 after several years of moving all around the country while she and her husband were in the Army. Although she was born and bred in Boston and never expected to live in âthe Southâ, she is happy to say that she has put down roots and intends to stay in Northern Virginia for the long haul. Or until she hits the lottery, at which time she is moving to a waterfront home in Monterey, CA.
Jess and her superhero husband are loving parents to Sunshine, born in August 2004, and Deuteronomy, born in September 2006, and are eagerly awaiting the arrival of baby #3 in July 2008. Jess was a stay-at-home mom for 16 months after the birth of her first child, then went back to work in the consulting field in January of 2006. After two years of precariously balancing full-time work and kids, she recently transitioned to working from home on a part-time flex schedule. Only time will tell how that works out. You can also find Jess at A Bushel and a Peck, where she writes about the trials and tribulations of being a work-at-home mom, the joy and pain of bringing up two toddlers, and the ups and downs of life as she knows it.
Jess Trevelyan drove across the country to DC shortly after college graduation in SoCal. She was lured by the palpable passion of the wonkety minds in our nation's capitol and is still hooked. Despite ping-ponging back and forth to California for brief stints (hiking a chunk of the Pacific Crest Trail, graduate school at Berkeley, crawling from the bathroom to the sofa and back during the Silicon Valley months of her son's pregnancy), she remains a steadfast Washingtonian.
An East Coaster at heart, she grew up in the Boston area but knows that the people she holds near and dear cannot ever again live in a place so frejeezing cold that their nostrils clamp shut in protest. An eclectic career as a health-food store produce prepper, nutrition newsletter and nonprofit grant writer, English teacher, researcher, and mother all came together when she began to blog in 2007. Currently, Jess balances life with two kids under five, a counter-surfing Lab with a delicate stomach, freelance grant writing and research gigs, and a near-addictive consumption of health, food, nutrition, environmental, parenting and kids' blogs. She loves the fellowship of writers found in the blogosphere and the divergent ideas that co-exist in the blogging community. In the physical world, Jess loves living in a corner of the city that's nestled in between the green space of Rock Creek Park and a walkable retail strip, a small-timey urban pocket with a public school for her kids down the block, playgrounds galore, and so many children that the sidewalks are stroller-locked. Jess also blogs as MamaBird over at SurelyYouNest.
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Jim (Gunfighter), your token dude, was born in The San Francisco Bay area, into a military family. After sending most of his formative years in Northern New Jersey, he joined the U.S. Marines, who sent him to all sorts of countries, some pleasant, some not, before depositing him in Washington, DC in 1986. He is the twice-married father of daughters Fastpitch (18), and Soccergirl (8), and husband to Mrs GF, whom he met was a direct result of the first Guilf War. They reside in Prince William County, Virginia.
Gunfighter, a thorough-going rugby fan, is employed as a tactical firearms instructor at a federal law enforcement agency, and when he isn't doing that, he can be found cooking, beading, coaching youth soccer, teaching Sunday School, and pontificating at his blog,The View From Here, on all manner of things... most of which he knows nothing about.
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Joanne has always been crazy about Washington, D.C., but finally got to move to the area in 1988. After spending a decade in the "glamorous" world of broadcast news, Joanne gave law school a spin, practicing law at firms and a government agency in D.C. It finally became apparent to Joanne that writing (not the legal kind!) was her real passion, so to ring in the new century she bagged her law practice and took up freelance writing full time.
Joanne has a eight-year-old daughter who she and her husband adopted from China. She is also stepmom to two adult daughters. When she's not writing, blogging or mainlining Project Runway reruns, she's thinking about how she can get more stamps in her passport and how to convince her husband that it's time to drink those bottles of
Ornellaia and Solaia he's been saving.
Joanne lives with her daughter and husband in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C., just close enough to be able to almost-honestly say she lives in Washington!
Joanne's freelance work has appeared in many national and regional publications, including The Washington Post, Washingtonian Magazine, The Washington Examiner, as well as on
The Huffington Post, MSN and Marketplace Radio. She's trying to compete with Sarah to see how many blogs she can write for. Joanne blogs and exercises her punditry muscles as
PunditMom, her personal/political blog, as well as blogging at
MomsRising,
MOMocrats and is a Contributing Editor for Politics & News at
BlogHer.
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Jodi is one of the few native Washingtonians actually living in Washington. Besides a short stint in Connecticuit for college, she has lived in the DC area her whole life. She remembers the old "Giant" grocery store, and knows why DCers rush to the grocery store to buy bread, milk, toilet paper, and bottled water when they sense that first flake of snow.
Jodi grew up in Montgomery County, Md, and went to law school in Downtown D.C. Jodi now lives in Montgomery County and works part-time as an attorney in child abuse. She lives with her husband, Doug, her preschool son, Michael, as well as a dog, Foster, who has many, many issues. She started
Jodifur because her husband kept telling her she reads so many blogs so might as well write one.
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Julie , a rural New England native accustomed to yielding to cows on the road, moved to suburban DC in the summer of 2006. She juggles many identities: lawyer, professor, freelance writer, and mom to three little ones. Years and years and years ago, she swore that she would never live in a place like DC--but here she is (and, shhh, don't tell the relatives she left behind, but she loves it). She may have traded in her fleece, all-wheel drive Subaru, at-home cooking, and calloused feet (hey, who has time to think about feet when they're busy fixing up an old farmhouse) for tank tops, a minivan (that fashionably blends in with all the others in the carpool lane), take-out and regular pedicures, but don't think for a second she's forgotten her roots or small town, rural values. When she's not writing or trying to stay current with the latest trends in the law and technology, she spends her time reading the Washington Post, travelling, whining about how quickly time flies and all the things she wants to do in her lifetime, and chasing after her kids. Julie is awaiting publication of her first book, which is due out in Spring 2008. Julie also blogs at Darling Hill.
Julie B. is a stay-at-home-mom of one 2 year old girl. A Washington, DC native, Julie moved to Manhattan in 2004 and back to DC in January 2008. She alternates between loving and hating life back in her hometown, sometimes within minutes. She blogs about her return to DC at www.jabberjaw.name.
In her former life, Julie B. was a lawyer: for 10 years working as a communications policy lawyer, and for one year working for a non-profit to help rehabilitate people with conviction records. She was, and remains, a wanna-be novelist. Also in her former life Julie was an avid traveler, reader and writer. She spent tons of time with friends eating out, having drinks, and using last-minute airfare to jet off to places unknown. She no longer does any of those things. She often does not wash her hair for longer than advisable and can go days without reading a newspaper.
Justice Fergie (Stacey) was very proud of having just gotten her hair done in this picture. It's something that she rarely gets a chance to do since becoming a mother of 2 daughters, ages 3 and 18 months. When she's not figuring out a clever way to clean up grains of rice and Jell-o from her kitchen floor, she is working full-time as an attorney for the federal government. Born and raised in Montreal, Canada (brrrr!), Justice Fergie came to the U.S. to attend college where she met her hunk of a software engineer husband. Four years later, she dragged her hubby to the D.C. Area where she pursued her law degree. Since then, Justice Fergie has had (and left) a high-paying job at a fancy schmancy law firm to join the decidedly more family-friendly (albeit lower-paying) public sector. In her spare time (ha!), she enjoys shopping, reading, web surfing, spending time with her fellow Mocha Moms of Silver Spring, and watching delightfully cheesy reality T.V. Justice Fergie is also a wannabe gourmet chef and has a growing collection of cookbooks. You can catch more of her on her personal blog, MamaLaw, where she and two of her closest friends write about their lives as parents. It's riveting stuff.
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KC spends her days in the hospital, hoping she doesn’t contract some deadly scourge while tending to her patients. At night, she gets into the ring with her aspiring sumo-wrestler (big but agile) 3 year-old daughter and her exceptionally large infant son, tag-teaming with her brilliant public health servant husband, JP. Despite their clear weight advantage (and the fact that one of their opponents cannot move independently), the matches are always too close to call. They love living in Montgomery County, MD, just steps away from JP’s childhood home and thus free babysitting.
To fill every remaining nanosecond of time in her day and because writing was one of her first loves before the whole biology thing, KC keeps a personal blog warm at Where’s My Cape?, which features fake Medical Advice (no litigation, please) and numerous software version upgades. She also writes for Disney’s Family.com
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Kimberly is a DC area native growing up in and around the beltway until the age of 18 when she moved to New York City to attend The American Musical and Dramatic Academy. After graduation, Kimberly was accepted to the National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts in DC but instead of further schooling she opted to run off to Vegas and elope. She's a little crazy like that.
Her husband's career as a corporate executive allowed/forced Kimberly and her growing family to live around the country from Oklahoma to Georgia to the SF Bay Area picking up two wonderful daughters and three so-so dogs along the way. Kimberly finally returned to her DC area roots when the family moved to Virginia in 2004. Shortly after, Kimberly found her passion for expression and forum for sarcasm by way of blogging. Outside of her online time, Kimberly enjoys raising her kids, being a Jazzercise instructor, reading and trying to grow a green thumb.
Kimberly currently resides in Fauquier County, Va with her husband, 2 daughters, 2 Great Danes and a mutt. You can also find her at her personal blog Petroville where the Perfect Post Awards are held monthly.
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Kristen moved to the DC area 10 years ago for the career that had filled her nightly dreams. One job, 380 Match.com emails, and a law degree later, Kristen found herself married to the guy who sat at the end of her row in law school. As is sometimes the case, the baby soon followed. Not exactly family-friendly, her employer suddenly forgot the formerly agreed upon part-time work schedule and Kristen was out of a job.
Kristen promptly started her own screen printing business because what says "I'll show YOU, FormerBossinaTotallyUnrelatedCareerField" better than purchasing a 1,600 pound press and putting it in your basement? Started out as a smart ass maternity t-shirt business, Baby Brewing has taken on a life of its own.
When she is not writing about Reality Parenting of her two boys on her personal blog at Mommy Needs a Cocktail , Kristen can often be found hiding out from her children in her basement lair, printing up Mommy Needs a Cocktail t-shirts. Is she drinking a cocktail?
Nobody really knows.
Leticia (aka Tech Savvy Mama) never had any inkling that she would end up in the DC Metro Area. She now finds herself loving everything about living here except Beltway traffic. Born and raised in Northern California's Silicon Valley, this Bay Area native spent 6 years as a New Englander and then moved to the DC Metro Area to be closer to her now-husband and teach for a local school
By day, Leticia spends most of her time scouting out the best playgrounds, arranging play dates, volunteering for her daughterâs school, and engaging in other kid-centric activities for her two children. At night, Leticia can be found at home teaching online classes in her pajamas, shopping on the internet, and blogging. She started her own blog, Tech Savvy Mama, where she uses her background in early childhood education and classroom technology integration to guide parents in selecting quality technology products for their children.
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Linda has recently returned to Northern Virginia after three years abroad in the Middle East and Northern Europe. As if moving from one temperature and cultural extreme to the other wasn't enough, she threw in having two kids during those three years. Her monkeys, as she refers to them, are not even 16 months apart. Traveling the world with children has given her insight into how other cultures raise their children, and she's realized the American way may not always be the best way. As a former PR professional/writer turned stay-at-home mom, she's now finding her way back into the local culture of the DC area from the mom perspective.
Since her husband has now switched jobs and is working on Capitol Hill, she is coming to terms with the fact that their family will be in this area for a good while....but secretly she longs to return to Sweden, which she insists is paradise on Earth.
In her spare time from wrestling her three- and two-year olds into the car and/or various shopping carts around the area, she blogs on her site and is working on a book with her best friend on having kids less than two years apart. She's convinced there is a market for this and while a book might not make her rich, perhaps it will make her famous, at least among those other moms who've experienced the joys and frustrations of two kiddos under two.
Mary, aka FishyGirl, has lived in Montgomery County since she was five years old, when her mother insisted her father get out of the Navy and keep the family in one spot and they settled in the county where they had grown up. She had a brief stint outside of Baltimore while she attended Towson University, but the DC area is home, so that is where she returned. She intended for her English degree to be used to teach middle or high school, but the teaching profession, like all others, is cyclical and there were no jobs to be had when she graduated. Since full-time substitute just wasn't really what she had in mind, but she had to pay her rent somehow, FishyGirl ended up working as a technical writer for one of the many "Beltway bandits" that strengthen the economy of DC for 11 years before she decided she was pulled in too many directions after her third child turned one.
>Yes, third child. FishyGirl is a stay-at-home mom to four busy kids under the age of nine. Yes, she has her hands full, and yes, she knows how that happens, and yes, she happens to be Catholic, but that has nothing to do with how many children she chose to have. She spends most of her time driving someone somewhere, washing and trying to avoid folding laundry, feeding people, cleaning up messes, supervising homework and bathtime, changing diapers, and vacuuming, with occasional breaks for hiking all the local parks and forests, reading everything she can get her hands on, designing the perfect rubber stamped card or scrapbook page, and paying attention to her computer-nerd husband of almost fifteen years, who really IS her best friend. Notice she mentioned nothing about sleeping, which is the only piece of her pre-child life she misses. She blogs about her life, her kids, her marriage, her family, breastfeeding, postpartum depression, and whatever else is on her chaotic mind at The Fish Pond, and is a senior reviewer for Props and Pans.
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Nicole Crowley is a Washington native. She moved away to produce and report TV news. But DC kept calling to her, so she moved back to be a national radio producer. The first week she was back at work in DC, her girlfriends convinced her to go down to Dewey Beach with them for Labor Day Weekend. She reluctantly went, and met her husband. Turned out he was a DC native too and they remembered each other from high school.
Since they got ‘hitched’, Nicole has worked at Roll Call, the newspaper of Capitol Hill and been a freelance writer for the past several years. The freelancing flexibility has been nice while she’s been busy with her greatest accomplishment to date: her preschool-age son. She considers being a mom a privilege and a source of joy… although there have been some moments amidst throwing up or potty training when she has said, “How does everybody else do this so well?” With that said, Nicole likes to concentrate on the good stuff, that’s the rule of her blog, Bananablueberry.
niki d. is a true dc metropolitan area girl having
lived in DC, Maryland and Northern Virginia. Although she never thought she
would call Northern Virginia home (because it just wasn't the "cool" place to
live and actually kinda corny to her and all of her friends growing up), she now
happily resides there with her husband (known as Edell to those who love him)
and their highly spirited and animated two-year-old son Dutch. Yes, Dutch is his
real name. No, he was not named after Dutch Masters cigars or Ronald Reagan or
that New York gangster Dutch Schultz, thank you very much. She also is the
stepmother to a teenage boy who just became a teenager and the whole idea of him
being a teenager now totally freaks her out. But anyway, Dutch loves to rough
his big brother up on the weekends.
After graduating from the Fashion Institute of
Technology in NYC, niki spent nine mostly wonderful years working as the
Associate Editor of a highly popular African-American celebrity news magazine.
She gave up the daily stress of tracking down rappers, singers and actors so
that she would have a wee bit of brain left to focus on raising her son. Upon
realizing that she truly missed tapping on the keyboard and writing creatively,
she started blogging at mama's got moxie [http://mamasgotmoxie.com] in 2007 where she writes about Dutch
and his crazy antics, things she would buy if she were a rich girl, sage advice
she's been given from friends and family members and whatever the heck else that
comes to mind.
Aside from blogging, niki enjoys listening to good
music really loud and singing along terribly, laughing at Edell's insane jokes
and wacko sense of humor, hanging out with her oh-so-cool circle of girlfriends,
visiting family because, well, family's important and watching E.T. (or whatever
the movie of the moment is) over and over and over and over and over again with
Dutch.
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Robin is a transplanted New Englander with a detour to Hampton Roads for college and then some. She has been in Northern Viriginia for 8 years now. Despite the cost of living and traffic, she and her family have decided to make NoVa home and are enjoying all it has to offer.
She lives with her Husband and Son (a 9 year old with Aspergers) and George (a Leopard Gecko). They enjoy the family activities DC has to offer. Additionally they are involved at their Tae Kwon Studio with Husband and Son obtaining Black Belts almost 2 years ago. When not shuttling the Son there for his classes, Robin enjoys taking some kickboxing classes. Reading and scapbooking are other hobbies enjoyed in her spare time.
A special education teacher for the past 11 years, she is taking a year off to explore part-time options. Currently she is working for an organization that provides in-home behavior consultation for families with children on the Autism Spectrum.
Robin also writes about her family life with a child on the Autism Spectrum at mylifeasitis.
Sandie is a recent New York transplant to the DC 'burbs. She misses three of the five boroughs terribly (two not so much), and the thin-crust slabs of pizza and fresh bagels with lox sold on every street corner in New York City but nowhere else. But she loves her house (a yard! a white picket fence! for way under $2 million!) and the terrific public school system, and relishes still being a Metro-ride away from some of the best museums in the world.
After more than eight years as a full-time journalist, Sandie's now at home, where she juggles multiple freelance deadlines, a six-year-old son, and three-year-old daughter (and hardly ever drops any of them). She also blogs about motherhood, marriage, and movies at Urban Mama. Whenever she's not chasing after or chauffering her preschooler and kindergartener around Montgomery County, Sandie writes movie and DVD reviews for Common Sense Media and entertainment feature articles for Daily Variety.
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Sarah lives in Northern Virginia with her husband and three year old boy/girl twins. She moved to the D.C. area after spending most of her life in Florida (Tampa, Orlando, and Ft. Lauderdale).
She was a stay at home mom until she realized that people would actually pay her to write. You can find her writing at Sarah and the Good Squad, BlogHer, Draft Day Suit and about 40 other blogs. In her spare time Sarah is a raging fan of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Bravo reality television and good food. Her hobbies include singing, drinking beer, potty training, blogging, writing bios about her self in third person and stealing jokes like the one about writing about her self in third person from Jason at Pet Cobra.
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Stephanie, aka Lawyer Mama is a lawyer by day, mom by night, and superhero...oh, wait... that's not Steph. Steph is actually struggling with this mom, work, and 2 kids gig, but she always wears cute shoes. Steph and her computer geek husband T. moved from DC to Chesapeake, Virginia two years ago in an attempt to get away from D.C. traffic and closer to the beach. Steph and T have a three year old, Hollis, and a 19 month old, Holden, collectively known as H&H. And yes, they really are just as much trouble as twins.
When she's not mediating fights between toddlers or adults just acting like toddlers, Steph spends her time swimming, scrap booking, and reading. Oh, wait...that was before Steph had kids. Now she and her husband of 12 years just try to catch a few hours of sleep and maybe sneak in a date or two. She writes about her life, love, frustrations and joys at Lawyer Mama. Stephanie can also be found ranting about politics and praising John Edwards at MOMocrats, a collaborative site written by mothers dedicated to putting a Democrat in the White House in 2009.
Susan, aka. WhyMommy is a 34-year-old mom to two baby boys, an infant and a 3 year old. Although trained as a space scientist, she likes nothing better now than to get down on the floor and play with her little ones. Her days are filled with dinosaurs, race cars and pit stops, trains chugging along the tracks, and pirate ships sighted on the horizon. There's always something new to build with at her house, and always something new that needs to be built.
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She moved to D.C. for her dream job 6 years ago, combined science and parenting for 15 months, and then "retired" to be with her son full-time. She is a MOMS Club veteran, a playgroup fan, and she is always looking for something new and fun to do with the kids. WhyMommy thrives on playdates, on field trips, and on long lazy summer days spent in the back yard, making something out of nothing. WhyMommy aslo writes about her life with little ones (and her newly discovered breast cancer) at Toddler Planet and her review blog, Review Planet.. Frankly, she is having fun.x
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Suzie is a recent transplant to the DC Area, arriving in March of 2006. A native Texan, she, her hubby, their three boys, and two cats left the great State of Texas and headed to Virginia for an adventure (actually her hubbyâÂÂs new job).
While she has a MasterâÂÂs in Public Affairs from the University of Texas - LBJ School of Public Affairs (Hook âÂÂEm Horns!), Suzie considers herself retired and she now stays home and wrangles the aforementioned boys. In her âÂÂspare timeâ she is active with the local MOMS Club, teaches scrapbooking classes, watches as much college football as humanly possible, and attempts to avoid anything and everything related to cooking. Her blog, Confessions of a Not So Well Behaved Woman chronicles her adventures in parenting, life in the DC area, and life with a house full of men.
Victoria a native Rhode Islander, came to the DC Metro area in 1996 as a college transfer. After a childhood of family vacations in the Capitol, dreams of becoming First Lady, and numerous ribbings of being a female Alex P. Keaton it seemed only natural to finally move there. After transferring to the University of Maryland, College Park, this true Yankee found her home and graduated with a degree in History. Many government, consulting and PR jobs, including a move to So Cal later, she is glad to be back in her element and the land of all things political and conspiracy filled. Hidden bunkers, lurking figures, dark shadows? SheâÂÂs on it! Victoria is now happily free of corporate America and a WAHM and freelance writer as well as the creator of the blog, The Mummy Chronicles, Mummy's Product Reviews and a co-founder of Flaming Tulle, a wedding blog. Her experience and writing skills can be seen on such sites as Parent Bloggers Network, She Speaks and The Hot Mom's Club, just to name a few.
When Vicky isn't writing she can be found running after her toddler T.D. (that stands for Tiny Dictator), baking herself into a Bree Van de Kamp frenzy, flipping houses with her incredibly sane former Marine husband H, or simply resisting the urge to smoke. That alone can take up a whole day. A self-proclaimed product junkie, a sometimes reformed shopaholic, and lover of British Chick-lit and Victorian feminist writing, Vicky hopes to one day put all this great knowledge to use and write her own novel. She'ÂÂs also a rabid Terps fan and lover of all things French country. She currently resides in the Northern Virginia suburbs and dreams of moving further into her favourite city in the world, Washington, DC.
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Mommyblogger Vickie isn't pregnant, but justifies the use of this 2-year old photo because she swears (to God and Frito-Lay) that she weighs, today, almost exactly what she did in this photo, when she was a couple of weeks from her due date. And that's part of who she is...a middle-aged-in-body,
30-something-on-paper SAHM (struggling-at-home-mom, with her weight, among many other things). Vickie is a non-DC, non-US native, having lived in the US capital (blocks from the White House!) for the past few years. Previously, she and her husband lived in Boston while he went to graduate school. Prior to Boston, they lived in Manila (the Philippines), which they still hope to return to someday. (Yes, Vickie is struggling with immigration issues, as well.)
In her previous life, Vickie was a pre-school teacher and school director. Vickie and her husband have two cats, live in a generously-sized one-bedroom apartment where they share a bedroom with an almost 2-year old Boompie (just one of many nicknames their little boy has). She reads a lot, writes on her personal blogg, Mommy Reads and La Vida Cochinillo and plays silly video games way-more-than-is-healthy in order to stay sane.
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DC Metro Moms Blog is a member of the Silicon Valley Moms Group. Other blogs in the group include Silicon Valley Moms Blog, New York City Moms Blog, New Jersey Moms Blog and Chicago Moms Blog.
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The management team:
PARTNER - SILICON VALLEY MOMS GROUP & CO-FOUNDER: Jill Asher considers herself a community builder, exemplified by creating collaborative blogs,
growing high-tech and bio-tech companies as a Human Resource Executive,
and even taking the role of "President" for the local parent's club, PAMP.
Her other passion is community outreach and supporting local non
profits. Jill learned never to take "no" for an answer, and has proven
that will a little faith, communication and sheer will, communities can
support one another.
By far, her biggest challenge and greatest joy is motherhood. Jill
and her husband are the proud parents of two elementary school aged
daughters. Jill admits that she is NOT A PERFECT PARENT and fears her
daughter's teenage years. Her girls can be heard running around the
house screaming, "Mommy is blogging again!" and she needs to bribe from
time to time them with treats. Is she allowed to admit that?
On the bright side, Jill really digs living in Silicon Valley and
tries her best to blend in, praying that no one will hear her "New
Jersey accent". Unless, of course, she is royally upset.
Jill Asher is the Co-Founder of Silicon Valley Moms Blog, Chicago Moms Blog, DC Metro Moms Blog, NYC Moms Blog and New Jersey Moms Blog. More
sites to come in the near future! Jill handles PR, Marketing, Business
Development and outreach for this collaborative community.
PARTNER - SILICON VALLEY MOMS GROUP & CHIEF TECHNOLOGY MOM: Beth Blecherman (Beth B at svmoms.) is a techie turned blogger mom who is in charge of blogging technology for the Silicon Valley, Chicago and DC Metro Moms Blogs (and here are 5 things to know about me). She started her career in application development, then system auditing and her last role was Senior Manager, Computer Process Integrity, for Deloitte. After senior management she decided to take on family management (with husband and three boys, two of which are twins preschoolers). Other hobbies include compulsive use of Web 2.0 technology, implementing technology process improvements for friends and families, searching for fashionable mom wear, organizing makeovers for moms and learning more then she ever wanted to about super heroes. Beth's personal blog is about tips, tricks, and discussions on parents use of technology for their families (Techmamas.com).
PARTNER - SILICON VALLEY MOMS GROUP & EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Tekla S. Nee blogged for five years before there was such a word, writing about her life with three kids in The Mommy Zone for the Palo Alto Daily News. She parlayed that gig into two books, The Mommy Zone: Tales from the Trenches of Parenthood and The Everything Baby's First Year Book. Neither the books nor the column made real money, so she never gave up her day job, hiding her supermom cape to masquerade as a mild-mannered technology journalist working for a major metropolitan magazine.
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Last night was the culmination of weeks of dread. Ever since we got that little slip of paper from Hollis's preschool, I've been nervous as hell. The reason for my anxiety? 
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