Ohio, USA: Interview with Amy Hillis (Transplanted Thoughts)

Ohio, USA: Interview with Amy Hillis (Transplanted Thoughts)

Where in the world do you live? And, are you from there?

I was born in Chicago, grew up in the suburbs. In 2004, my husband and I moved to Ohio. We live about an hour east of Cincinnati in a small town. Well, it’s small after growing up under the influence of Chicago! We bought a 150 year old house and are ever-so-slowly restoring it.

What language(s) do you speak?

I minored in French in college, but only speak English.

When did you first become a mother?

My daughter was born in August, 1990. I was 19 years old. I’ve had 7 children between my 2 marriages. Two have passed away. (more…)

Amy Hillis (USA)

Amy is a native Chicagoan that currently resides just outside of Cincinnati, OH. A city girl, through and through, she’s still adjusting to small town life. Amy has a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Art with a minor in French from Elmhurst College. She was working on her Master’s degree at the School of the Art Institute in Chicago, when she became pregnant with her 3rd child. Although this angel boy was only here for a very short time – he left quite a legacy. Nathaniel was born with a rare genetic disorder called Citrullinemia. Amy and her husband, James, went on to have 4 more boys, 3 of whom were also born with Citrullinemia. In January 2011, her youngest son, David passed away from complications of a liver transplant performed to 'cure' the Citrullinemia. Now a stay-home mom of 5, she started blogging in October 2010, while David was still in the hospital. Two of her other sons have had successful liver transplants to cure their genetic disorders. Her 2 older children still live in Chicago. When not hanging out with her kids, she spends her ‘me’ time writing, sewing, reading & walking. Amy also spends a generous amount of time online. She can be found on Twitter @transplantedx3. On Facebook and on her Website <a href="http://mytearstainedlife.com"My Tear-Stained Life

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Friday Question: What were your biggest aversions and/or cravings during pregnancy?

This week’s Friday Question comes from World Moms Blog writer Tara B.  She asked our writers,

“What were your biggest aversions and/or cravings during pregnancy?”

Check out what some of our World Moms had to say…

MamaRobinJ of British Columbia, Canada writes:
“I ate a lot of pickles. And ice cream. But not together, because I’m not THAT cliché 🙂  But seriously, we bought big pickle jars every week!

Major aversion for me was salad – anything with greens turned me off completely.

Weird craving was for a McChicken. I don’t eat at McDonald’s and hadn’t for years and years. But I wanted one so badly. I didn’t give in, but that combo of craving and aversion made no sense. Isn’t your body supposed to want good things? Someone suggested it might be salt that made me crave that, but I think the pickles were taking care of that 🙂  In any case, my son (3) has never had McDonald’s and he will actually eat salad, so go figure.” (more…)

World Moms Blog

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. World Moms Blog was listed by Forbes Woman as one of the "Best 100 Websites for Women 2012 & 2013" and also called a "must read" by the NY Times Motherlode in 2013. Our Senior Editor in India, Purnima Ramakrishnan, was awarded the BlogHer International Activist Award in 2013.

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CALIFORNIA, USA: Polish Chocolate Cake

CALIFORNIA, USA: Polish Chocolate Cake

Editor’s Note:  The defamatory language in this post was incorrectly unedited, which does not comply with our writer’s guidelines.  The inclusion of such language has detracted from the blog’s goal of supporting mothers that we are trying so hard to build in every post.  

I believe that Polish Mom Photographer has good intentions, and the error is in the editor’s failure to initially comply with the blog’s already in place guidelines. World Moms Blog will continue to be a place where intelligent conversations on controversial topics can be had, but we will reintroduce these topics within the terms of our writer’s guidelines, issued at the time the blog was started. In this case, we have admittedly steered off course, and we apologize. Therefore, this article has been retroactively edited down to the recipe and reposted. (more…)

Ewa Samples

Ewa was born, and raised in Poland. She graduated University with a master's degree in Mass-Media Education. This daring mom hitchhiked from Berlin, Germany through Switzerland and France to Barcelona, Spain and back again! She left Poland to become an Au Pair in California and looked after twins of gay parents for almost 2 years. There, she met her future husband through Couch Surfing, an international non-profit network that connects travelers with locals. Today she enjoys her life one picture at a time. She runs a photography business in sunny California and document her daughters life one picture at a time. You can find this artistic mom on her blog, Ewa Samples Photography, on Twitter @EwaSamples or on Facebook!

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INDIA: My “It Happened” Moment

And then, one day, it happened.

It was a small thing, a tiny penny, a morsel to the hungry, ravaged person in me, but it was soul food, indeed. If you are wondering what this is all about, let me start from the beginning like all good stories.

If you have already read my bio in the Writers’ Page, you know that I have a post-graduate degree in Electronics for whatever it is worth. I also worked in the corporate world of sleek car electronics for six whole years; and like life and all other things, I had both, a love and a hate for the place, for the job and my time spent at work.

It was a livelihood, paid some bills and kept the bank balance healthy. With all the managing of the baby (I was a new mom back then), home, work and my own self, life still went on.

And, one day I quit. (more…)

Purnima Ramakrishnan

Purnima Ramakrishnan is an UNCA award winning journalist and the recipient of the fellowship in Journalism by International Reporting Project, John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. Her International reports from Brazil are found here . She is also the recipient of the BlogHer '13 International Activist Scholarship Award . She is a Senior Editor at World Moms Blog who writes passionately about social and other causes in India. Her parental journey is documented both here at World Moms Blog and also at her personal Blog, The Alchemist's Blog. She can be reached through this page . She also contributes to Huffington Post . Purnima was once a tech-savvy gal who lived in the corporate world of sleek vehicles and their electronics. She has a Master's degree in Electronics Engineering, but after working for 6 years as a Design Engineer, she decided to quit it all to become a Stay-At-Home-Mom to be with her son!   This smart mom was born and raised in India, and she has moved to live in coastal India with her husband, who is a physician, and her son who is in primary grade school.   She is a practitioner and trainer of Heartfulness Meditation.

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NORWAY: Food for Thought

Even before the wee lad was born, I felt bombarded with information about how important it was for him to get the right food. This meant that I had to eat right, when all I felt like was dry biscuits and apple juice. Then, it meant breastfeeding.

There is so much information about how breastfeeding is the best thing for your baby and how it is the only thing you should do, which I don’t doubt. But, when breastfeeding doesn’t work, you start to question yourself: maybe I don’t love my baby enough…?

What other reason can there be for not being able to feed him naturally? And, you feel guilty because you have to use formula instead.  Here in Norway, there is a warning on the packages that say you need to consult a doctor before giving formula to a baby, followed by a reminder that breastfeeding is better for him. (more…)

Astrid Warren (Norway)

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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MASSACHUSETTS, USA: How the Garden Grows

Four years ago, my husband altered our family’s  life  journey.

He cleared out a little piece of our property, dug up our soil and put in a garden box.  He started with one box of tomatoes.  He will tell you that he had no idea what he was doing but wanted to give growing our own food a try.  What inspired him to do this, he really can’t say…it was like a light switched on inside of him and then there was no switching it off.

My husband is the type of guy that takes action. He never does anything with half an effort, he is always full steam ahead.  I really admire that about him.  After his first gardening season, he realized he needed to arm himself with knowledge and take more action.  My husband read gardening books, ordered gardening movies and read up on everything gardening related on the internet.

So here we are, four years later, and the progress is astounding.  We’ve gone from one garden box to twenty-four. My husband cleared out a huge amount of brush, dug up tree stumps, dug up all the soil, assembled the raised -bed garden boxes, bought and assembled a green house, and now we have 1,000 square feet of gardening space. Quite a leap I’d say!  (more…)

Courtney Cappallo (USA)

Courtney Cappallo is a mom of two girls, ages 7 and 4-years-old. She is living her dream life by residing on Cape Cod and being able to stay at home with her two little beauties. Courtney is currently homeschooling both of her daughters for 2nd grade and preschool, respectively.

Courtney uses a mix of Classical Education and Montessori. She is a strong believer in teaching to the five senses. Courtney’s homeschooling efforts are unique, as she uses the latest technology of the Smartboard. She is also taking on the task of learning Spanish as a second language, as well as, teaching her two children and husband Spanish.

Prior to becoming a homeschooling teacher, Courtney was the Director of Marketing for Simon Property Group, which is the largest U.S. real estate company. Courtney was Simon’s Director of Marketing for the Burlington Mall, Arsenal Mall and Cape Cod Mall. Courtney is a graduate of Villanova University and is proud of her small town roots from growing up in Oxford, Pennsylvania, which only has two traffic lights! She can be found making homeschooling lessons and more at Table of Four !

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