Health & Beauty
4 Reasons to Travel with Other Families
Make no mistake—family travel, particularly with small kids, feels more like a work trip than a true vacation. As you head toward Spring Break and get deeper into planning August travel, consider aligning your plans with family friends. Focus on families with kids the same ages as yours and whose parents you like. Cousins and extended family work well, too. Read on to see why traveling with another family can increase the fun, make more memories, and even decrease the stress levels for all the adults—and kids!
Daylight Savings Time Tips – to prepare you and your kiddos!
This Sunday, March 12th at 2am we “Spring Forward” which means we lose an hour of sleep. Daylight Savings can get a really bad rap and is blamed for a lot of babies and toddlers’ sleep problems. But, if you know how to handle the time change and can ride out a little time to adjust, your little one will be back to sleep in no time. Luckily, we connected with local mom, Andrea Wilson, a Pediatric Sleep consultant and owner of Sleep on Cue, and she shared some great advice on how to get your kids – and household – ready in advance!
7 Ways to Reduce Screen Time
As parents, all of us often wonder – “Are my children spending too much time in front of screens?” The American Academy of Pediatrics and the World Health Organization recommends a variety of things depending on the child’s age, and provide recommendations for ways to help balance the screen time. Given screen time IS a reality for kids of this generation, we turned to Connecticut Children’s whose developmental pediatric experts share 7 ways you can help your child reduce their screen time…in a realistic way!
Meet Jessica Talley!
Mom of three here in Westport, Jessica always loved nature, art and science. After time spent as an artist and then working on projects like Hudson Yards post grad school, Jessica found her love for architecture, which she describes as the place where art meets nature. Jessica loves the idea of helping people create spaces that are beautiful, sustainable, and instill a newfound sense of well-being. While her business Spring Architecture & Design is her main focus, Jessica is launching an innovative class, called Springboard, a 6-week course beginning on March 20th, for those curious about design and perhaps unable (or not wanting) to hire an architect for a project or space! In her free time, Jessica listens to books on Audible, loves to cook, and still paints and sculpts in her rare free time! In another life she’d be a doctor, would love to visit Iceland, and loves what she does! We are lucky to have such a talented and creative person in this community, who is supporting many local town projects as well!
OrthoConnecticut Coastal Orthopedics is Here To Keep Your Kids Moving
Because children are still growing, they require specialized orthopedic treatment. The experienced team of specialists at Coastal Orthopedics is dedicated to helping your children reach their full potential. They use the latest techniques and technologies to diagnose and treat a variety of pediatric orthopedic conditions to help your children return to their normal activities as quickly and safely as possible – while providing long-term support for optimal growth and development.
5 Ways to be more Present with your Child
We all want to be present with our kids—but some days, nothing can be tougher. You’ve probably read about ways to stop looking at your phone. And while putting your phone away (and having your kids do the same) is a big part of being present, we are sharing five more proactive ways to be mindful and truly dial into your kids.
Meet Peloton’s Robin Arzon!
Robin Arzón is the definition of a fit mom. As the Vice President of Fitness Programming and Head Instructor at Peloton, as well as a professional ultramarathon runner, she’s not afraid to work hard to be her fittest—and is inspiring other moms to get out there and do the same. She’s also a two-time New York Times Bestselling Author, and her newest book, Strong Baby, is available for pre-order and comes out in February. Finally, she’s working on a brand new project – she just announced that she’s pregnant with baby #2, so her 2-year-old daughter Athena will soon have a younger brother or sister! We spoke to Robin about her fitness tips, family life, and more!
Smoothies 101!
Smoothies have been a tried and true favorite among nutritionists and busy moms for some time now – and for good reason. They make a quick and portable breakfast for hectic mornings and you can sneak in the good stuff easily (think: spinach, berries, cauliflower rice, flax seeds). Time saver and picky-eater proof? Win-win. We asked Stefani Sassos, Registered Dietician and Deputy Director of the Good Housekeeping Institute Nutrition Lab, for her best smoothie tips—and she even shared her go-to Banana Protein Smoothie.
Meet Grace
For all those out there who love beautiful interiors and exteriors, you should know Grace and her amazing design business, Roan. After a brief stint in advertising and PR, Grace went back to her roots and got her Masters in Interior Design, and has never looked back! Mom to Clara – with another on the way this fall – Grace and her family are loving Westport, meeting new people, and the chance to fall in love with gardening, an unexpected surprise! In her spare time, Grace loves to play polo, is always up for some old school karaoke, and dreams of vacations in the summer in Nantucket! Grace loves the projects she’s working on, and is always thinking about the next thing she will create, and we can’t wait to see what comes next!
What Happened to Football Star Damar Hamlin?
Were you as scared as we were when you saw what happened to Buffalo Bill’s Damar Hamlin? All parents of aspiring athletes think about their child’s safety—it’s only natural. But when events like what happened to Hamlin take over the headlines, we can’t help but ask questions. Why did this football player’s heart stop on the field at just 24 years old? Was this a true heart attack? How likely is this to happen to my teenager or young adult? What is “commotio cordis,” anyway? We turned to our trusted Connecticut Children’s sports medicine and cardiology experts who helped address these questions and more.
Managing the Current Children’s Medicine Shortage – what to do when your kid is sick!
With supply chain issues combining with the RSV/COVID/Flu trifecta sweeping the country, children’s medications like Tylenol & Motrin are in short supply. If you can’t find meds and your child is sick, this can be extremely stressful. Below, we ask Dr. Jen Trachtenberg, M.D., Assistant Clinical Professor Pediatrics at Mount Sinai and owner, Carnegie Hill Pediatrics in New York City, to answers our questions about this situation. Remember, always ask your pediatrician for guidance, particularly when it comes to medication.
6 Cookbooks for the New Year!
If one of your New Year’s resolutions for 2023 is to cook more and rely less on takeout, we have you covered. Here, you’ll find six of 2022’s most popular cookbooks, which will have you eating better, creating memories around family meals and saving money on UberEats and DoorDash.
Westport Gift Guide: 10 Last-Minute Presents from Fig Linens and Home
Shopping local in Westport for the holidays is a great way to show support for the community and reduce your carbon footprint. When you shop at small, woman-owned local businesses like Middlemarch, Savvy and Grace, and Fig Linens and Home, you are helping to build a vibrant Westport. Even better, buying local means you don’t have to wait for shipping, so gifts can be bought up until the 24th. Thus, Fig Linens and Home compiled our top picks of in-stock gifts under $200 with last-minute shoppers in mind. All of the gifts listed are available to buy in our boutique at 66 Post Road East, Westport, CT today. Explore towels, throws, sweaters, and candles at Fig Linens and Home to find the best gifts and stocking stuffers for moms, sisters, wives, and colleagues.
Tree Farms for Cutting and Buying Christmas Trees this Holiday Season!
If you are looking to get the Holiday Season started, check out some of these local tree farms with pre-cut and cut your own options!
The Coastal Orthopedics Team Has Grown and Is Always Here to Keep You Moving!
We have some exciting news to share here at Coastal Orthopedics – we have another accomplished specialist joining our team – Dr. Paulina Piekarska, DPM. Meet Dr. Piekarska, a foot & ankle specialist, surgeon, and podiatrist with expertise in both operative and non-operative treatments. She specializes in the treatment of a variety of lower extremity conditions commonly experienced by children including sports injuries, heel pain, and severs disease!
Growing Resilient: What Your Child Needs to Get Through Tough Times
Resilience is the ability to overcome serious stress or difficulty, and bounce back stronger than ever. With increasing pressures academically, athletically and socially on kids these days, being resilient is critical. In this series, Connecticut Children’s pediatric experts share keys to resilience, and how to help your child be resilient.
Hanukkah Latkes – YUMMMM!
If you are looking for a delicious homemade LATKE recipe this season, look no further! But do get ready for your house to smell for days=) Happy cooking!
Melissa Joan Hart – Lifetime as Queen of Christmas
Anyone else all about made-for-TV holiday movies that are all over Lifetime and Hallmark channels this time of year? Us too! Then you know that Melissa Joan Hart is one of the veritable Queens of Lifetime’s festive films. This season, as part of a new multi-film, two-year deal with the network, the Sabrina the Teenage Witch star directs her fourth Lifetime film, Santa’s Bootcamp. Her youngest son Tucker (10) is also part of the cast (in addition she is Mom to Mason, 16 and Braydon, 14 with husband, Mark). We spoke to Melissa about her favorite holiday traditions, why she thinks these films are more addictive than frosted Christmas cookies, and that time Jason Priestley showed up to her ugly sweater party.
3 Healthy Holiday Season Eating Tips to Try!
In a season where we are making magic, hosting, decorating and organizing, we can’t forget to take care of ourselves, moms. That means feeding ourselves as well as we do our families. Food, after all, is fuel for this busy holiday season. We asked The Local Moms Network contributor Stefani Sassos, Registered Dietician and Deputy Nutrition Director for the Good Housekeeping Institute for her favorite healthy eating hacks during celebration season.
Meet Kim!
In the spirit of Giving Tuesday, and this time of year, we wanted to highlight Kimberly Greenberg, mom of three girls, who is the epitome of what determination, passion, and a mom’s ability to do hard things looks like. A financial advisor for over 15 years, Kim and her husbands’ lives changed forever when their first daughter, Parker, was born with an incredibly rare genetic syndrome – HIST1H1E. Discovered by geneticists only after Parker was born in 2016, Kim has dedicated her life’s work to helping other families who have children with special needs navigate the financial challenges with which they are faced. Kim has also dedicated her life toward raising money to support research on this rare syndrome, and her friends, family and the Westport community have raised over $200K so far toward “Parker’s Cure.” Some fun facts about Kim – she was a Division 1 college squash player, goes out in Westport more than she did in the city, and is a menace at the net in tennis; watch out! She loves the beach, dreams of a trip to Paris, and enjoyed nothing more than seeing Parker’s face light up on the roller coasters at Disney world this year! Thank you Kim for the amazing work you are doing for all the kids and families out there; Westport is lucky to have you!
