Kristen is the third of six new mommy bloggers we’re profiling. We’ll post the rest of the profiles soon. Make sure to say hello in the comments!
Kristen Eriksen
Lowell General Hospital
I love babies!!! Anyone who knows me knows that is true!
I have been a nurse for 26 years, and have worked with parents and children for probably 24 of those years. It is, then, rather ironic that I never had any babies of my own. I did not find my wonderful husband until later in life, and we married when I was 40 years old. We, therefore, felt that adoption would be the best option to fulfill our dream of becoming parents.
My husband Paul and I have been married for 8 years. I became a step-mother to two boys, then 12 and 8-years-old. We adopted our twins, Benjamin and Charlotte, as infants. They are now 4-years-old, and the light of our lives.
The struggles are twice as big, but the benefits are twice as nice!
I work 24 hours a week as an RN at Lowell General Hospital on the Mother and Infant Unit, taking care of new mothers and their newborn infants. My writing style, like my personality, is a little witty, silly and sarcastic. I am also realistic, practical and put a lot of thought into decisions. I hope to bring perspective as a working mother, an older mother, a step-mother, an adoptive mother and a mother of multiples to the Merrimack Valley Moms Blog.
Let’s just start with stating how tough it was to make a decision on which six new bloggers will join Sabina, Tiffany, Meredith and Amy as Merrimack Valley Mom Bloggers. It was real tough. We looked at several factors beyond the initial entries, as all of the entries were fantastic. We took geography into consideration. We looked at the age range of children, personality types and wanted to make sure we got variety on the blog. I think we even flipped a coin once or twice.
Bottom line, we’ve selected a crop of mommies we’re thrilled to have join us, but we’re extremely proud and humbled by the quality and number of entries we received, even if they weren’t ultimately selected as ‘winning’ posts. As a matter of fact, we’re going to reach out to every one of the local moms who entered in the coming weeks and invite them to be guest bloggers. Who knows? Maybe we’ll welcome a few more featured mommy bloggers before the year’s out.
Now, onto the new crop of mommy bloggers. If you’re on the list, our coordinator will send you a message via Facebook on Tuesday to confirm, get some basic information, and discuss next steps. Okay, enough chit chat. In random order:
Jessica Del Llano
A radio DJ in the Merrimack Valley, Jessica believes motherhood is a journey no one should take alone and thinks that an online community of moms is an important resource.
It’s important that we share our experiences, fears, triumphs and failures.
Susan Ortler Anganes
Susan is a mom of six, ages 10-26. Talk about variety! She’s even a grandmother twice over (soon to be thrice over).
I’ve had many life experiences ranging from explaining the digestive system to a four-year-old who had swallowed a lego guy head to mourning the loss of a grandparent. I enjoy writing, and have fun as a blogger for the Merrimack Valley.
Dawn Bryan Thompson
Dawn would LOVE to be a mommy blogger, and we’re happy to have her. Three daughters in college and one very special little boy, Dawn will make a great addition to mvmoms.com. She submitted a YouTube video showcasing her son, Dylan:
Sandy Stable Egan
Sandy brings a fresh and new perspective to Merrimack Valley Moms along with school age children (10 and 13), a pysch degree and a lot of experience with teens. While noting that this experience has come in handy at home,
other times, to be perfectly honest, all the knowledge and experience gets thrown out the window.
Heddi Nieuwsma
What can we say about Heddi that she didn’t say in her video entry?
Kristen Onos Eriksen
Kristen’s energy was clear throughout her three-part post entry and we’re happy to welcome her as a featured blogger. She’s a nurse at Lowell General and is the mother of twins- a boy and a girl.
I have to say that with my background and experience with children, I thought I was prepared for motherhood. I really wasn’t. I am not sure anyone really is prepared for the complete upheaval that occurs when you become a mother.
And there you have our six! Thanks again for all of the wonderful entries. If your name is not on the list above, stay tuned. If your name is on the list, we’ll contact you Tuesday!
One year older: Sabina and Milo, Amy and Moussa, Tiffany and Iain, Meredith and Mia
What could be better than a summer potluck? Almost a year after we first met in person, the Merrimack Valley Moms bloggers—Tiffany, Amy, Meredith, and yours truly, Sabina—had a potluck pow wow. With kids and daddies in tow, we gathered at Tiffany’s lovely home in Dracut, MA, and gabbed while gobbling down burgers, hot dogs, salads and fruit with marshmallow fluff.
Topics of conversation included the following: kitchen remodeling, central air conditioning, breastfeeding, over-packaging toys, North Conway Scenic Railroad’s Thomas the Train event, getting kids to eat vegetables, cost of daycare, potty training, “use your words,” pregnancy food aversions and cravings, hand-me downs, wood stoves, shopping, school lunches, ketchup as a vegetable, baby wraps, blog deadlines, vacuum cleaners, and when the ultrasound shows your baby has three legs, you know it’s a boy. Suffice it to say that when it comes to motherhood, there’s no shortage of subjects to discuss.
Milo loved playing with Iain’s toys. (Note in the photo, how Milo is clutching Iain’s toys.) Both of them are fans of Thomas the Train, so you would think they would have a lot in common. Alas, the idea of sharing for toddlers is still an abstract concept; however, for Iain, it’s about to become a concrete reality, as he’s expecting a little brother soon. Tiffany is due in September, as is Amy, so expect some more bundles of joy to the Merrimack Valley Moms’ Blog Family!
How are you celebrating the long holiday weekend with the family? Whether you’re staying in town and grilling in the back yard, having a picnic in the park, enjoying the first weekend of college football or taking advantage of all the sales – and who says it can’t be some of each? – Merrimack Valley Moms hope you have a wonderful and safe Labor Day!
If you’re new to the blog, please read through the posts to get to know us a little better.
Sabina Chen’s back on Tuesday with a great post on finding some baby bargains!
I recently heard of a tradition that I have decided to start with my son and any future children I might have, and that is writing a letter to them on each of their birthdays. I’ll create a book with the letters and give them to my children when they are adults.
Here is my first letter to my son.
My Little Man,
I can hardly believe a year has almost passed since you came into our lives. You have brought us so much joy and taught us so much in such a short time. I always knew that I wanted to be a mom but you have taught me that this is something that I was meant to be. I have learned that there is no love like the one between a parent and a child, it is as pure and unconditional as you can possibly have.
You have provided us endless hours of entertainment and fascination as you have begun to reveal to us your personality and started discovering the world around you.
I see so much of me in you as well as your father, but most of all I see you.
I see a little boy who is curious, stubborn, loving, determined and most of all happy. Watching the way you try to figure out how things work makes me wonder how this will translate to your future. Will you be an engineer like your father or will you become an artist? Ultimately whatever path in life you choose I hope you are passionate about it. Retain your curiosity. Life long curiosity will open so many doors for you and allow you to not only learn about the world around you but it will teach you compassion, humility, and understanding.
I wonder what your future will be like and what kind of man you will become.
My wish is that you are compassionate, kind, independent, and above all happy. I hope you learn that being a strong man does not mean that you can not be compassionate, empathetic, and loving.
Those things make you a better man and person. I want you to experience life to its fullest, to always try and say yes to any opportunity that may come up. To understand that each defeat in life is not really a defeat but a lesson and an opportunity to become a better person. I want to teach you that everything has a story and every story is interesting, sometimes you just have to look a little harder. I can’t wait to show you that there is beauty in everything and that finding enjoyment and happiness in the smallest of things makes your life a much happier one. I hope that I can succeed in teaching you what you need to know to become the best person you can be.
What an incredible year this has been. Not only have you made your debut into this world but you have also grown so much. It is hard to believe that have gone from being this little bundle to a whirling dervish in such a short period of time. You are now getting ready to take your first steps on your own and it reminds me that you are no longer a baby but a little boy.
On one hand I can’t wait to see what my little boy will become, on the other, I wish you would just stay my little boy.
Happy Birthday my little man, I hope every year is better than the next.
By Amy McCabe, Special Care Nursery Nurse and Center for Community Health & Wellness Educator, Lowell General Hospital
“Hi, my name is Amy, and I survived the baby years.”
I will be appearing as a guest blogger and offering my best advice as a mother and a nurse. Today, I thought I would provide you with just a little background on my life.
We have three children. My oldest Frankie is now 7, my daughter Elizabeth is nearly 6 and my “baby”, Maura, just turned 4. When we had Maura, my oldest had just turned 3 which meant that I had 3 children in diapers, car seats, and strollers.
While I did not set any records that Guiness would recognize, it was a very, very busy house!
Although it was a busy time (and often crazed) I wouldn’t change a thing. I stayed in “baby mode,” and did it all at once. Now, my children are all close in age and are best friends. Don’t get me wrong, they can duke it out with the best of them, but my girls are attached at the hip!
My family also has a unique dynamic to it – 2 of our 3 children also carry the diagnosis of autism.
Our Frankie is severely impacted with the disorder and remains non-verbal at 7, and Elizabeth is very high-functioning but can get easily frustrated. I know first hand what it’s like to have a child with special needs and the additional stress that it causes a family. To say my husband is a fantastic partner is an understatement. We often say only the other one really knows what we deal with on a daily basis. We work together. We have to, to keep this ship afloat and headed forward.
We do the best we know how, day in and day out, and know that if today is “a bad day” tomorrow will probably not be.
In addition to being a mom I also work part time at Lowell General Hospital as a nurse in the Special Care Nursery and the Community Health and Wellness Department. Other than maternity leaves, I have always worked. I think it was good for my head to keep a balance of family and work – it was certainly helping financially as well! I would often joke that I went to work to change more diapers because I couldn’t get enough at home! Although I can swaddle with the best of them, I had to learn for myself what it was like to have a baby of my own.
The best piece of advice I can offer you today is what you have probably heard many times over – enjoy this time when your little ones are still little, because it will go by faster than you may realize.
It is so true! If I could go back for a moment and hold one of my little ones while they slept in my arms in the rocker one more time, I would. I try to force myself to remember the moments of pure bliss when I would walk into the bedroom towards the crib and see a little face peeking at me behind the bars grinning from ear to ear because the center of their universe had just come in to scoop them up.
Take pictures and make videos as often as possible! You will regret it if you don’t!
Please comment or email me directly with any questions. Otherwise, I hope my words will offer moms some help in your daily life!
We are thrilled that the Lowell Sun ran a feature on the Merrimack Valley Mom Blog in Sunday’s paper! Here are some highlights from the article:
Calling all mothers
By Nancye Tuttle, Sun Correspondent
LOWELL –Motherhood is a mixed bag — rewarding one minute, exhausting the next. It can be scary, too, especially when the baby’s colicky and crying non-stop. Whatever the situation, every mom can use a friend for comfort, support and advice. That’s where the Merrimack Valley Mommy Blog, www.mvmoms.com, comes in.
The new online resource from Lowell General Hospital and the Floating Hospital for Children at Tufts Medical Center is a forum for moms to share ideas about discipline and diaper rash, nursing and nutrition, toys and tantrums. It’s also a place to discover fun stuff, like tips on family-friendly restaurants, kiddie flicks, summer camps and new products.
“We wanted to engage Merrimack Valley moms on a new blog and decided we needed voices of real moms on it, so we put it out on Facebook,” explained Michelle Davis, director of marketing operations at LGH.
Today we’re introducing you to Tiffany MacKay via a short video interview. Tiffany’s personality is bigger than life. She has a great sense of humor and a unique way of looking at the world. Best of all, she’s got a great laugh. She’s a working mom (works at Lowell General Hospital) and has volunteered to be one of our mommy bloggers. Enjoy meeting her through this short video.
Today we’re sharing a quick, informal video interview with Amy Dienta, one of our new mommy bloggers. Amy is a native of Lowell and was born at Lowell General Hospital! She has a 7-year-old son. We surprised her with this video interview and she was a really good sport. I hope you enjoy meeting her as much as we did.
This week we are posting video introductions of the featured bloggers in order for you to get to know them a little better before they start posting next week!
Today, we’re featuring a short clip of Jane Marshall. In addition to being a mom and a career person, Jane is the current Mrs. Massachusetts. Yeah, she’s got a lot going on. Enjoy meeting Jane in the video below.
I love babies!!! Anyone who knows me knows that is true!
