There are tons of benefits to teaching your baby how to communicate using sign language. Not only does it boost brain development, but it also creates a closer parental bond and reduces the amount of fussiness and tears. And believe it or not, babies are fully capable of learning sign language past the 6 month […]
Read MoreMy mom swears that raw baltic amber helped me through some of my worst teething moments as a child. Although we haven’t experienced the worst of teething with Liam quite yet (not excited about those canines and molars!), it got me thinking that I should probably invest in a necklace for him, too. You know… just in […]
Read MoreI couldn’t possibly begin this post without stating the obvious: Dr. Alexis, the founder of Eco Chic Movement, is a fascinating woman. Not only is she a successful entrepreneur (she just signed a deal with Whole Foods, no biggie), but is also a chemical engineer and naturopathic doctor! Although she’d always been fascinated by skincare products, […]
Read MoreThe Pack & Play pictured above was Liam’s crib for the first 3-4 months. Not only did it work perfectly as his bassinet, but it is also getting plenty of use now that he is older and more mobile. He sits in it with all of his toys while I cook, fold laundry, etc… and seems […]
Read MoreI know I often write about breastfeeding… but I can’t help it! I just feel like it’s one of those things that everyone has an opinion about, but many women (and men!) are misinformed about just how easy it actually is. Below are some of the most inaccurate (and yes, ridiculous!) things I’ve heard about breastfeeding over the […]
Read MoreI realized that after Liam’s Week 1 favorites (which was 9.5 months ago… whaat?) I never wrote another post based on my son’s preferences! Boy, how times have changed. My little man wants to play with big boy toys now! In the end, we just have to come to terms with the fact that it’s all about our […]
Read MoreI had a conversation with an old friend the other day and he said, “when I look at your pictures, it looks like the whole motherhood thing is a breeze for you.” I was flattered of course, but kept thinking about what he’d said later that day. And the next… Don’t get me wrong: I’m […]
Read MoreChristine and Michael never intended to get into the aromatherapy/skincare business. Initially, all they wanted to do was give their small Los Angeles apartment a “fresh” (but natural) smell using essential oils. One Google search led to another, and soon enough, Michael and Christine were questioning all of the ingredients in their everyday products — […]
Read MoreI went to Buy Buy Baby yesterday to return a $180 Motorola baby monitor. Why, you ask? Because Sunday, during his first nap, Liam got on his knees, in his crib, and knocked his i-Baby monitor off the shelf. Just like that, it stopped working. Broken. I spent a good half hour lowering his crib and […]
Read MoreA few days ago, one of my close friends sent me the link to photos in the Huffington Post that have been getting quite the hype lately. The photos, of a mother and her two daughters (ages 3 and 8 months), were taken during a motherhood shoot. When the girls started to get fussy midway through the shoot, their mother decided to […]
Read MoreBefore reading Christine’s birth story, I wasn’t familiar with the specifics of hypnobirthing. I had heard of it, yes, but wasn’t sure what it meant exactly (turns out that there’s no hypnotizing involved. Whoops.) Hypnobirthing is a program that “considers the psychological, as well as the physical, well-being of the mother, her birth partner, and the newborn, independent of […]
Read MoreGod, I love this woman. Food for thought, mamas…
Read MoreIf you’re currently pregnant (or have been in the past), you know how important it is to take a prenatal vitamin throughout your pregnancy, and even while you breastfeed your baby. But do you know why? Pregnancy and nursing are times in a woman’s life when it is essential to get enough nutrients to nourish her baby. With […]
Read MoreAs the Pinterest queen that I am ( all hail! ), I am familiar with all sorts of sensory play activities for babies. Although most of them are fantastic ideas (and yes, I’ve pinned them for later), many of them require quite the mess: rainbow-dyed spaghetti, edible play dough, painting with balloons… Not sure they were invented for my energetic/curious 9 month old […]
Read MoreWhen I started working out in college, I mostly did high intensity interval training workouts and weights. This was fun for a year or two, but after a while I got bored of the same thing every day. I lost both the motivation and passion for the gym and stopped going as regularly as I used to. […]
Read MoreI’ve made all of Liam’s meals ever since he turned 6 months (no store bought jars!), and I have one thing to say about it: First off, you do not need to invest in a fancy baby food making machine like one of these: … A blender will do just fine! It’s better to invest in something […]
Read MoreShe’s the mom who was not budging on her birth plan. The one who didn’t sleep the first night, and the second, because she couldn’t take her eyes off her sweet little boy. Who held her breath, each night, as she checked for her baby’s heartbeat. Because she’s the kind of mom who is judged […]
Read MoreIt’s hard to explain why, because I didn’t particularly feel any different. No tingling, bloat, or weird dreams or thoughts. Nothing. We were sitting eating dinner in our little one bedroom apartment in Yonkers, New York, and I told Joe I was thinking about taking a pregnancy test. He laughed and told me it was […]
Read MoreTo inaugurate MamaNaturelle.com (yay, I’m a domain owner!), what better topic to write about than natural childbirth? It’s been a while since I’ve written about this, but for those who have read my earlier posts, you know that this was a goal of mine throughout my entire pregnancy. I wanted to make sure I was beyond prepared to give […]
Read MoreWe were out in New York City with friends when we decided we were ready. A packed bar downtown, the kind of place you forget. We’d both had way too many nights like this one: too many watered down vodka sodas, nights spent shoving through the crowd, competing for the bartender’s attention. This wasn’t the […]
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The Real Johanna Riehm 