by Astrid Warren (Norway) | Sep 13, 2011 | Norway, Working Mother, World Interviews, World Moms Blog Writer Interview
Where in the world do you live? And, are you from there?
I live in Norway – and I was born and raised here.
What language(s) do you speak?
Norwegian and English (and can understand and make myself understood in Swedish and possibly Danish…)
When did you first become a mother?
At the age of 35… (more…)
Astrid is a Norwegian thirty something, married, working mum to a wee lad who is almost three and a baby born in 2012! She grew up in Norway, but moved to London, England after she met her husband. After living there during her twenties, she has since returned to Norway and settled down in her nation's capital of Oslo to raise her family.
She finds herself slowly turning into her own mother as her free time is spent reading, walking, knitting and meeting up with other mums for coffee. (Ok, she still secretly loves going to the pub, too!). However, there isn't much time for any of the above, as she now enjoys spending most of her time crawling around on the floor, while playing with her children! Check out her blog, Quintessentially Burrows. She's also on Twitter @MrsSWarren.
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by Tara Bergman (USA) | Sep 13, 2011 | Entertainment, Motherhood, Tara B., Toys
I just took my son to the movies for the first time. He is 5 ½, and I hadn’t taken him to the theater yet because he is very sensitive to visual media. Well, he is sensitive in general. He just seems to hear, see, smell and feel things more intensely than other kids. I wanted to take him to the movies when he seemed eager, when we could really talk about what the theater would feel like, and when we had the right movie to see.
My son watches really tame stuff at home, and most “kid” movies these days are pretty intense. You combine this with his natural skittishness about all things action-play-fighting-related (see my post titled “Boys Will Be Boys?”), and it just didn’t make sense to push the big movie theater experience too soon. (more…)
Tara is a native Pennsylvanian who moved to the Seattle area in 1998 (sight unseen) with her husband to start their grand life adventure together. Despite the difficult fact that their family is a plane ride away, the couple fell in love with the Pacific Northwest and have put down roots. They have 2 super charged little boys and recently moved out of the Seattle suburbs further east into the country, trading in a Starbucks on every corner for coyotes in the backyard. Tara loves the outdoors (hiking, biking, camping). And, when her family isn't out in nature, they are hunkered down at home with friends, sharing a meal, playing games, and generally having fun. She loves being a stay-at-home mom and sharing her experiences on World Moms Network!
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by Maman Aya (USA) | Sep 12, 2011 | 9/11, Life Lesson, Motherhood, USA
I know that this is a blog about moms and being moms (and this is my first post)…. but this is a story of me, before I was a mom or a wife, while I was still just my mother’s daughter.
It was the worst day in my life, 10 years ago, on September 11, 2001. There was the worst attack on US soil!
I was at work that morning, in the World Trade Center (building #4, which was one of the smaller buildings along the edge of the Twin Towers). (more…)

Maman Aya is a full-time working mother of 2 beautiful children, a son who is 6 and a daughter who is two. She is raising her children in the high-pressure city of New York within a bilingual and multi-religious home.
Aya was born in Canada to a French mother who then swiftly whisked her away to NYC, where she grew up and spent most of her life. She was raised following Jewish traditions and married an Irish Catholic American who doesn’t speak any other language (which did not go over too well with her mother), but who is learning French through his children. Aya enjoys her job but feels “mommy guilt” while at work. She is lucky to have the flexibility to work from home on Thursdays and recently decided to change her schedule to have “mommy Fridays”, but still feels torn about her time away from her babies. Maman Aya is not a writer by any stretch of the imagination, but has been drawn in by the mothers who write for World Moms Blog. She looks forward to joining the team and trying her hand at writing!
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by Wall Street Mama (USA) | Sep 11, 2011 | 9/11, Life Lesson, Motherhood
It is hard to believe that ten years have passed since our nation was changed forever by an act of terror that claimed the lives of 2976 people. Innocent people, who woke up that day to go to work, attend a meeting, fly on a plane or bravely risk their lives to help the injured and the trapped. Their lives were cut short, and their family and friends will forever be affected by that tragic day in American history.
Most of the world experienced 9/11 through a television. For those of us that were in New York City that day, we had a front row seat to one of the most awful things imaginable.
(more…)

Wall Street Mama was born and raised in the suburbs of Chicago and moved to NJ when she was a teenager. She fell in love with New York City and set her mind to one thing after college – working on Wall Street. She has spent the last 16 years working on the trading floor at three major banks. As an Institutional Salesperson, she is responsible for helping large corporations and money funds invest their short term cash in the fixed income part of the market. She lives in the suburbs of central NJ with her husband of 11 years, their amazing 21 month old boy and their first baby – a very spoiled Maltese. She has baby #2 on the way and is expecting a little girl in June 2012. She is a full time working mother and struggles with “having it all” while wondering if that is even possible.
Wall Street Mama was married at the age of 25 but waited to have children because she felt she was too focused on her career which required a lot of traveling and entertaining. When she was finally ready, she thought she could plan the exact month she was ready to have a child, like everything else she planned in her life. She was shocked and frustrated when things did not go according to her plan. Fast forward four years later, after a miscarriage and several rounds of failed fertility injections, her little miracle was conceived naturally. She never thought in a million years, that she and her husband would be in their late 30’s by the time they had their first child.
Since the financial crisis of 2008, she has endured some of the most difficult years of her life. The stress of trying to conceive was combined with some of life’s biggest challenges. She and her husband, who is a trader, both lost their jobs on Wall Street the exact same month. Her mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer and she ended up passing away while she was 6 months pregnant. At times it didn’t seem like things would ever get better, but she has learned that life is cyclical and what comes down must again go up.
Leaving her baby boy with a wonderful nanny each day is difficult, but at times it is easier than she would have expected. She still enjoys the seemingly addictive draw of working on Wall Street. The past few years have been dramatically different from the “good days” but she is focused on trying to achieve what she once had before. She is currently working on launching her own blog, Wall Street Mama, in an attempt to guide others who are focused on continuing their career, yet struggle with leaving their little ones at home. She is weathering the ups and downs of the market and motherhood, one day at a time.
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by World Moms Blog | Sep 11, 2011 | 9/11, Canada, Norway, Tara B., USA, World Moms Blog Itinerary
In recognition of the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks on September 11th, 2001, we are starting this week’s travel itinerary a day earlier than usual. Later on today, we will hear from Jennifer D’Ambrosio, who was in Lower Manhattan on the fateful day and walked through the World Trade Centre doors before the towers were hit.
On Monday, we will have another commemorative post, this one from Maman Aya of New York City. She writes a heart-stopping post about her escape from danger that day, and of witnessing the flight of the second plane into the tower.
On Tuesday, we head to Washington D.C., where Tara B. describes a trip to the movies! Come read her post about her five-year-old’s very first experience with the big screen!
On Wednesday, we head north of the border to Canada, where Multitasking Mumma provides some very sound advice for her child. We hope her daughter will follow these gems of wisdom as she moves through life!
On Thursday we stay in Canada to hear from Kirsten Doyle, who reflects on how she made the transition from a little girl who used to break dolls into a Mom who actually knows how to pretend she knows what she’s doing some of the time!
On Friday Eva Fannon leads us in the Friday Question. Be sure to check it out and chime in with your answers!
In writer interviews, we hear from veteran Asta Burrows of Norway on Tuesday, and new to World Moms Blog, Carri Brown of California, USA!
Many of our Moms have gone through rites of parenting passage recently as they’ve sent their kids off to school for the first time. We hope that these kids – and their parents – have survived and are settling into their new routines!
And of course, our thoughts go out to all of the victims of 9/11 and their families. As we commemorate this day, we wish you peace and strength.
— World Moms Blog
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World Moms Blog is an award winning website which writes from over 30 countries on the topics of motherhood, culture, human rights and social good. Over 70 international contributors share their stories from around the globe, bonded by the common thread of motherhood and wanting a better world for their children.
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