3 days after Willow was born

Brooklyn is a pretty amazing place: it has a small town feel with big city attractions.  You can walk to the playground and know someone along the way AND go to some of the coolest events in the world. Parents here can cloth diaper without a second glance. They can also riff on a new book, play or exhibition that’s “hot”.  There isn’t another city like it. And it’s home. I made this site in the hopes that it would become a virtual “home” for Brooklyn parents.  A home where they could find news and services that they need as parents. I started the blog in 2006 as a place for me and my friends to share information about services in Brooklyn. There were just 15 moms reading it at the beginning and then it grew….like our kids. As it did, I asked the best Brooklyn experts and writers to post for the blog. These pediatricians, moms and dads, parent coaches, nutritionists and doulas share their knowledge with us.  I hope you find this site as a place to hang your sling. Look around and make yourself at home. 

Our contributors:

Jill Austin- turn in your photo please!

Once employed in tv production, Jill Austin now uses those management skills to boss around her husband, son, daughter and dog, with minimal success. When she’s not turning daily life into a production, Jill is a free-lance writer, a middle-of-the-pack triathlete and an optimist.

Paula Balzer

Paula Balzer is a Brooklyn based literary agent and co-founder of the blog www.adhocmom.com, the blog for freelance and part-time working moms.

Stacie Billis

Stacie Billis admits that she is ” hungry all the time”, and she started Onehungrymama.com—where she provide parents with family-friendly recipes and tips—because she suspected you’re hungry too. On One Hungry Mama, you will find everything they need to make easy meals that satisfy their hunger and inspire a hunger for healthy foods in their children. Stacie has two children and lives in Brooklyn.

Justine Cooper

Justine Cooper, our “spotted” photographer, loves capturing babies and families so much, she made a career out of it. Originally trained as a photojournalist, she also has a Masters in Fine Art. She splits her time between creating work for galleries and shooting families in the New York area. She lives with her husband and two children in Brooklyn. Her portrait work can be seen at www.justinecooperphotography.com.

Charles of Abbasubi

Charles is our Music Reviewer and Music Listings Editor. He is part of the dynamic duo Fati & Charles, called Abbasubi. They perform songs for children in Spanish from their original CD, El Baile del Sombrero. Their show is very interactive and uses movement and dance to get their audiences involved whether they are Spanish speakers or not!  Fati, originally from Argentina & Charles, a native of Brooklyn, live in Midwood, Brooklyn with their two children who they are raising bilingually and who were the inspiration for the CD.

Holly Rosen Fink

Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Holly Rosen Fink has spent the last 15 years in NYC working in all facets of media, from MTV to the world of traditional and online publishing.  Now working as a consultant  in Westchester, she blogs about travel, theater, film, art, books, advocacy and more at The Culture Mom Blog.  She has two children, ages 5 and 7, who share her culture addiction.

Betsy and Cameron

Besty Good is a first time mom to a boy.  Before becoming a full time mom, she worked in Online Marketing and as a SEO Consultant.  She is into all things internet – and is addicted to Twitter, Facebook, and mostly her iPhone. Though having lived in Fort Greene since 2001, she really got to know people there by spending time in the local parks and playgrounds after her son was born. She started her blog, Mommy For the Win, to share with moms what she has learned on her journey into parenthood.  Follow Betsy on Twitter: http://twitter.com/mrsbetsygood

Jimmy Maas

Jimmy Maas is a comedian, writer, and a broadcast professional. For more than 14 years he has graced the radio airwaves somewhere in the U.S. in some way, either with his deep dulcet voice on talk shows or his influence as a big shot producer for the Wall Street Journal Radio Network. After moving to Brooklyn from Austin, Texas, he spent several years toiling in the deep recesses of the New York’s comedy scene. A veteran of small stages and smaller screens, he has worked with several famous people. None of them want to do it again. Adoring females  surround him almost everywhere he goes – mainly his wife, daughter and dog. Soon he’ll have second child make her arrival. Later she will ask him for stuff. In his spare time, he likes to sit on the couch, watch football, breathe through his mouth and write affirming, loosely factual blurbs and bios about himself in the third person. If you twitter, follow him out at #Maasdinero.

Carolyn Pravda

Carolyn Pravda is a stay-at-home mom in Brooklyn, NY.  After having two kids in quick succession, she found the slippery slope to frumpy housewife was getting steeper. It was just too easy for her to pull the same jeans and cotton t-shirts out of the closet each day. With laptop in hand and a firm nap schedule, she set to work creating a site that would help mommies everywhere get dressed in the morning, ready for life with kids and looking good. Her suggestions are budget conscious, washable and wearable at the playground.

Carolyn blogs at www.mamathreads.com with fashion suggestions as well as Mama Thread Thoughts on parenting.  She is a member of the Yahoo! Mother Board and is a moderator for the lively and helpful online parenting group Bococa Parents.  Finally, she contributes to AChildGrowsInBrooklyn.com with a column on fun things to do this summer in New York for an adventurous mom of two preschoolers who didn’t sign up for any camps!

Sarah Sloboda

Sarah Sloboda is a photographer and an optimist, whose mission it is to inspire millions of people with photographic evidence of their lives working beautifully. Sarah’s work has garnered international acclaim, having earned her 2^nd prize in the wedding category of Prix de la Photographie, Paris, in 2007 and has been published nationally in the U.S., including kids magazines like Wondertime, Brio, and Citibabes, and for major brands like Sephora and the CW network. Her portfolio can be seen her and her blog here.

Trained as art historian, Tonya Vernooy has traded in her musings on biotechnology and contemporary art to focus on a more intense subject: raising her son and writing about it: www.adhocmom.com. She is also currently working on a series of murder mystery novels. She lives in Park Slope with 1 child, 1 husband, 2 dogs, and a cat.