BEING A MOTHER
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What’s a Doula |Black Doulas and Midwives near me in NYC
Traditionally all Doulas and Midwives that birthed babies in America were Black women, over time the “business of birthing” gave way to whitewashing and monetization. Now it’s harder and harder to find a Black birth worker. The care of a Midwife for a low-risk birthing human greatly reduces the risk of complications in pregnancy and delivery. I didn’t hire a doula at my first birth, I thought I couldn’t afford one and I was also really afraid of having any more than the one stranger that ABSOLUTLEY HAD to see my vagina, get a peek at it. My midwife knowledgeable as ever showed up to my birth with a doula…
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Postpartum Care | Prioritize Pelvic Floor Physiotherapy
What is pelvic floor physical therapy exactly? Pelvic floor physiotherapy is a guided form of internal bodywork that focuses on strengthening the pelvic floor. Pelvic floor physical therapists are globally excepted as an integral part of postpartum care, except for in, you guessed it the United States. The way that it really clicked for me to visualize what pelvic floor physiotherapy really was, and why I should see a physical therapist was to think of your favorite net reusable bag, hang it on a hook and then place a bowling ball in it, and remove after 9 months. A sturdy bag may not break but signs of its former inhabitant…
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Baby essentials | Earth Friendly Baby Products for the First 3 Months
The product and gear essentials that you actually need for the first 3 months as a parent is pretty simple. You need a place to lay your baby and a way to carry your baby close to you and a way to feed them. Because honestly, for the first 3 months, your baby really only needs you, or a substitute for you. Choosing Earth friendly products ensures there will be a planet for your baby to pass on to their baby when the time comes. Basinet | I love this natural elephant grass basket Diaper bag| I’m against diaper bags, I’m anti uncute things I’m forced to wear because I’m…
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How to become an Instagram influencer? What I learned from traveling with influencers
If there’s one thing I can say about Instagram its that Instagram is a great uniter. It’s the one social network, that has lead me to find MY people. Women who inspire me to be both a better woman and mother. This virtual community of super moms has given me the push I need to listen to my own voice. A few of these epic mamas are certified Family Travel Instagram Influencers with followings in the tens of thousands and a digital reach into the millions. I’ve been lucky enough to have the pleasure of meeting and subsequently traveling with a few of these women this year, and my mind…
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Being a Mother | How to Discipline a Toddler
My mother ruled with an iron fist, because her mother ruled with an iron fist and so on and so on since the beginning of time. In the Caribbean culture tiny people are to be seen and not heard. Crushed into model citizens. This never worked for me and decades of therapy make it easier to live my life outside of that hurt. Yet there are some days in the mire and trenches of motherhood where I’m tempted to act off of instinct, and not learned behavior. A few days ago after one of THOSE mornings sprinkled throughout motherhood. Noon said “mommy I don’t like you.” Devoid of the sass…
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TRAVEL MAMA | Ashley, Flying with a Baby
Flying with a baby is daunting to most new parents but expert Travel Mama Ashley jumped into the adventure with two feet. This week I got to interview Ashley and find learn about her take on traveling with kids and the How much did you travel before you started flying with a baby? Where had you been?Before having our son, I’d traveled to almost a dozen countries including Thailand, Austria, Italy, France, Costa Rica, and Jamaica. When did you get your first passport?I actually didn’t get my first passport until I was 22 years old. I kept waiting for my parents to take me or send me abroad and that…
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Being a Mother |How Long to Breastfeed
Breastfeeding toddlers is not commonplace in America, people often ask me how long do I intend to breastfeed Noon. Yet I don’t really have an answer to this seemingly innocent question. Every time I catch a glimpse of Noon feeding, her body growing besides mine I’m reminded that I was once her home. That something born inside of me has the power to grow and change and be whatever it chooses. I’m reminded of how small I am and how the cell that would one day form this creature, I have the privilege to nourish, was created inside of me, inside of my mother before I was even a thought.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀I…
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Being a Mother | Toxic Family Members
In the Caribbean toxic family members are a rite of passage. Family functions are filled with innuendo and compliments hidden deep within disdain.Children are raised to believe this way of being was the norm, that their elders know best and that toxic family members have thier best interest at heart. This My entire childhood was split between two houses three blocks apart. Every year around holiday time my mom would dress us up and we’d make the trek to the first house, nothing was in order nothing was planned but it was full of love. My mother filled her lungs with laughter and smiled till her cheeks hurt. She sang…
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On might and motherhood
Being a mother is a complex ball of constant emotion. Motherhood is two sides to the same coin, it’s realizing what complex individuals our mothers were at our age. Learning that even though they were our whole-wide-world they were still coming into their own. Learning this lesson through living it, through looking down into the wide eyes of your greatest creations and wondering who is this magical being they revere. It’s coming into your magic in the warm glow of the magic of another. It’s so easy to stop showing up in love, it’s hard work to love someone through their pain grief and sadness show up in so many…
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21 Days to Launch
My mother passed away when I was 21. She passed from a rare (essentially) incurable cancer, taking with her, a mothers love, and my entire history. As the child of immigrants I am the product of travel, and she ingrained in us the importance of overseas travel. Every since I was born my mother made sure I spend at least a month outside of the country, sometimes foregoing family trips to ship us abroad to cousins in far away places. My diary was my original family travel blog. I learned to sew by the light of a kerosene lamp in Jamaica by an elderly aunt who could barely see but muscle…
