A Mom Who Truly Believes It Takes A Village To Raise a Child

Valerie from Village of Moms with her children

We recently met Valerie at The Village of Moms when we learned about Blogmania. We loved her enthusiasm, resourcefulness and creativity so we had to tell all our readers  about The Village of Moms! We are happy to feature Valerie on Mom Monday.

You have as a motto that it takes a village to raise a kid. What gave you the idea to start a virtual village for “raising a child”?

Actually, my husband. He always encouraged me to blog about something where I could put my gathered information and ideas for all to see. I’m always researching, so he thought I should consolidate all of my resources in one place to help other moms find it faster. It wasn’t until I had my 2nd baby that a similar idea finally clicked. (Must have been all that time I had while nursing!) I tweaked his idea to include all moms, not just me, as we’ve all been there struggling or overwhelmed at one time or another (yes, even those of us who pretend to have it totally together). Since we all could use some help and given the fact that two (or 3 or 4 or 200) heads are better than one, I started the blog.

I love the idea of having moms chime in to give their advice and hope to someday grow the blog to include several regularly contributing mommy bloggers sharing their tips. Wouldn’t you want to know as many possible ways to potty train a child, for instance? That way, you can informatively pick one method, or take all the ideas and consolidate it into a new method that works best for you as an individual. Even the best of us have “those days,” run into a hurdle, or just need a little encouragement. That’s what I hope VoM becomes for moms.

You have a lot of creative ideas on your blog. We especially love your day at the beach for when the weather outside is NOT beach weather. Where do you get your inspiration?

Thanks, but I can’t take any credit. Like my tag line says, it takes a village. Most of the ideas on the blog are things I have picked up along the way and implemented from other moms — friends, moms, grandparents, strangers, books, fellow mom bloggers, the web. It’s a collection of tips and ideas. A team effort! Isn’t that how parenting really works anyway?

Speaking of creative… tell us about Blogmania: how it started, how people join the fun, secrets to winning the great prizes.

Well, Blogmania is a two day international blog giveaway extravaganza (scheduled for September 15th and 16th) with close to 175 participating blogs hosting a cumulative prize value of over $20,000 so far. It started with a couple of blogs (Between the Pages; Books, Books Everywhere; and Crush) last April. It was so successful the first time with only 3 weeks notice that they decided to make it a biannual event. To join in on the massive prize packages, just click links that will be provided on the official blog on those two days. As far as secrets, well, if you know of one, please do share! It’s all randomly picked. But I will recommend checking the official blog every so often for updates, pre-mania contests, and vital information on the blogs and prize themes. That way, you can be prepared when the day comes.

Any other fun events or particularly helpful articles coming up on Village of Moms that readers should pay special attention to?

Well, this entire month is dedicated to “green” topics, called Healthy Living: Body and Home (written by me and a couple of other moms who are more of an expert than I will ever be!). I’m also thinking about possibly doing a mini-series on potty training, as it is the season (before school starts). We’ll see. By the end of August, I hope to be getting into a regular schedule with at least one “green” post, one parenting post, one giveaway, and one recipe per week.

Now for a quick glance into Valerie’s life.

Valerie's growing family

What is one thing always in your fridge? In the fridge? Milk! In the freezer? Frozen blueberries! (Both of which are staples at our house.)

What is your one guilty pleasure? Seriously, this is a hard one to answer. I am waaaaaay down the totem pole and hardly ever do anything for myself, but if I had to say there was one thing (nonfood, of course)… reading (and sobbing over) sad stories on personal blogs. I could literally sit there and read them for hours (and I am NOT a reader). But alas, I have to pull myself together and stop at the title (or it could get out of hand pretty quickly).

If you had a free day to yourself, how would you spend it? You really wanna know? You would probably find it rather uninteresting. I would start by hitting the trails. Running in a semi-dark tree-lined trail is a dream come true. I would then move onto a spinning class, lift a few weights, relax in a steam room sipping on some kind of citrusy water, get my nails done, and then clean the house from top to bottom. Every nook and cranny. Yep, I’ve thought about a day like this a lot. A day for myself — is that really an option for a mother of a nursing infant and a busy toddler anyway?

If someone was going to write a book on your life, what would they title it? I’d find it very odd that someone could make a book out of my life. The Busy Mommy, The Mom Who Never Rests, Sleepless in the Midwest are all options.

Thank you Valerie!

If you have any questions or comments for Valerie, please leave them in our comments section!

Valerie waiting for her new bundle of joy