The holiday season begins!

Okay, yes, it’s been SIX months since my last newsletter. Life happens.

With the gorgeous 75° Halloween behind us, it’s time to turn our thoughts towards the holidays.

For West Side Moms, part of those thoughts goes towards adopting a local family (or two) and helping them through the holidays. We have adopted two families this year through the CPCD’s Adopt a Family program. For these families, we will try to meet their needs (with items like food and clothing) and also fulfill some of their wish lists.

If you’d like to participate, please check out the 2008 Adopt a Family (in Colorado Springs) thread on our Activism board. Be sure to check other threads in that board for opportunities to help Ft. Carson soldiers in Iraq and other worthy causes.

It is accessible after you post your introduction in the Meet and Greet board.

Don’t forget to vote! Obama/Biden 2008!

4 years ago, I started the West Side Moms in a quest to find politically like-minded, reasonable moms in this very conservative, mind-bogglingly close-minded town.

Here we are again, and this election is even more important. We can’t go by the polls and assume that Obama/Biden will take the ticket. We must put every vote out there to be counted.

If you don’t have childcare, see if you can find another mom in your neighborhood to switch off with so you can both vote.

Thursday Playdates
November  6, 11:00 AM – 3:30 PM
November 13, 11:00 AM – 3:30 PM
November 20, 11:00 AM – 3:30 PM
November 27, 11:00 AM – 3:30 PM

Thorndale Park is our west side outdoor hangout.

Please check the Around Town board before you leave the house for any changes in plans.

Alternate playdates in different parts of town are posted on the Around Town board.

Local Colorado Springs Babywearers meetings/workshops are being held regularly – check their website for details.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO… Candy (cjackson) Daiva Julie (zoesmama)

A BIG WELCOME TO… Jonathon David (born September 29, 2008) Bowen (born October 7, 2008) Maximilian Leander (born October 7, 2008) CONGRATULATIONS TO… Lyzette (due November 2008) Kate (due February 2009) Kim (due February 2009) Kerry (due March 2009) Lisa (due March 2009)

May – Happy Mother’s Day to all the West Side Moms!

Warmer weather is finally here! Time to think about swimming lessons and other activities to do out doors this summer. Check out the Recommendations board for some ideas.

Come cheer on the moms this weekend who are running/walking 5k or 5 miles Take 5 in the Garden – in the most beautiful parks in town.

Thursday Playdates
May  1, 10:30 AM – 1:30 PM
May 8, 10:30 AM – 1:30 PM
May 15, 10:30 AM – 1:30 PM
May 22, 10:30 AM – 1:30 PM

Saturday Playdates

May 3, 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM
May 10, 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM
May 17, 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM
May 24, 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM

Thorndale Park is our west side outdoor hangout.

Please check the Around Town board before you leave the house for any changes in plans.

Alternate playdates in different parts of town are posted on the Around Town board.

Local Colorado Springs Babywearers meetings/workshops are being held regularly – check their website for details.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO… Melissa (JuGaJoZMom) Julia (Rowsma) Candace (lillysweets) Iris Molly (prettyuglybefore)

A BIG WELCOME TO… Judah William (born April 22) CONGRATULATIONS TO… Kat (due September) Eva (due September) Angela (due October)

April – get ready for the heaviest, wettest snows of the year. Spring break is over, and we are all looking forward to warmer weather!

It’s time for spring cleaning! Clear out the outgrown toys and clothes and post them in the Marketplace.

Need some motivation to exercise? Join the West Side Moms team for Take 5 in the Garden – run or walk 5k or 5 miles in one of the most beautiful parks around.

Thursday Playdates
April  3, 10:30 AM – 1:30 PM
April 10, 10:30 AM – 1:30 PM
April 17, 10:30 AM – 1:30 PM
April 24, 10:30 AM – 1:30 PM

Saturday Playdates

April 5, 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM
April 12, 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM
April 19, 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM
April 26, 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM


Thorndale Park is our west side outdoor hangout.

Please check the Around Town board before you leave the house for any changes in plans.

Alternate playdates in different parts of town are posted on the Around Town board.

Local Colorado Springs Babywearers meetings/workshops are being held regularly – check their website for details.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO… Megan S (megan) Amanda (miasmama0225) Dianne (onedianneiam) Danika (Jades Mom) Lisa D (LisaD) Michelle L (MichelleL) Alison C (alison)

CONGRATULATIONS TO… Abbi (due April) Kat (due September) Eva (due September) Angela (due October)

March – and the tease of springtime. Days of warm weather, followed by snow storms – and then the cycle repeats. Hang in there – spring is coming!

Are you lurking or are you posting? Join in on the conversation – you might just make some new friends. Ask for recommendations, post your theory about your favorite TV show, shop in the Marketplace…

Join us for Tuscany Spa Night on March 20.
Have dad watch the kids or book a sitter – it’s time for a night of pampering, food, drink and girl time! Check the Gatherings board for details.

Thursday Playdates
March  6, 10:30 AM – 1:30 PM
March 13, 10:30 AM – 1:30 PM
March 20, 10:30 AM – 1:30 PM
March 27, 10:30 AM – 1:30 PM

Saturday Playdates
March 1, 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM
March 8, 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM
March 15, 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM
March 22, 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM

Thorndale Park is our west side outdoor hangout.

Please check the Around Town board before you leave the house for any changes in plans.

Alternate playdates in different parts of town are posted on the Around Town board.

Local Colorado Springs Babywearers meetings/workshops are being held regularly – check their website for details.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO… Marny A BIG WELCOME TO… Eden Brynn (born February 26)

CONGRATULATIONS TO… Charissa (due February) Julia (due February) Lauren (due February) Abbi (due April) Kat (due September) Eva (due September) Angela (due October)

It’s the month of the Superbowl, the Oscars and Valentine’s Day!

How are you doing with those New Year’s resolutions? Eating better? Exercising more? Lose that weight? Working less? Playing more? Spending quality time with your family?

What are you watching? Lost? Make Me a Supermodel? Project Runway? Make the boards your virtual watercooler to talk about your favorite shows.

February Thursday Playdates
Thursday, February  7, 10:30 AM – 1:30 PM
Thursday, February 14, 10:30 AM – 1:30 PM
Thursday, February 21, 10:30 AM – 1:30 PM
Thursday, February 28, 10:30 AM – 1:30 PM

February Saturday Playdates

Saturday, February 2, 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM
Saturday, February 9, 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM
Saturday, February 16, 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM
Saturday, February 23, 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM


Thorndale Park is our west side outdoor hangout.

Please check the Around Town board before you leave the house for any changes in plans.

Alternate playdates in different parts of town are posted on the Around Town board.

Local Colorado Springs Babywearers meetings/workshops have started with one of our West Side Moms members at the helm. Check the website for details.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO… Johanna CeaCea (mamaceacea) Dani Abbi (abbiroads) Naomi (NaomiB)

CONGRATULATIONS TO… Charissa (due February) Julia (due February) Stacy (due February) Lauren (due February) Abbi (due April) Kat (due September) Angela (due October)

Happy New Year! Here’s hoping your holiday season was full of food, fun, friends and family!

Check the boards and let us know your favorite (and not so favorite) moments and memories from 2007.

It’s that time of year again – resolutions have been made vows of healthier eating, better parenting, weight loss, a cleaner house, a more balanced life… Need support? Good tips? Check the boards!

A good group of us have signed up for the Discovery Channel’s National Body Challenge – which includes a free 8 week membership to Bally’s. Sign up by Jan 11! We’ll be getting together at the South Academy Bally’s for some company and motivation for working out. Childcare is available for $1/child/hour – first come, first served.

January Thursday Playdates
Thursday, January  3, 10:30 AM – 1:30 PM
Thursday, January 10, 10:30 AM – 1:30 PM
Thursday, January 17, 10:30 AM – 1:30 PM
Thursday, January 24, 10:30 AM – 1:30 PM
Thursday, January 31, 10:30 AM – 1:30 PM

January Saturday Playdates

Saturday, January 12, 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM
Saturday, January 19, 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM
Saturday, January 26, 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM


Thorndale Park is our west side outdoor hangout.

Please check the Around Town board before you leave the house for any changes in plans.

Alternate playdates in different parts of town are posted on the Around Town board.

Local Colorado Springs Babywearers meetings/workshops are held on alternate Fridays. Check the website for details.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO… Shannon (shannie) Jess (Jessica2) Megan (litegirl) Lea

CONGRATULATIONS TO… Charissa (due February) Julia (due February) Stacy (due February) Lauren (due February) Abbi (due April)

West Side Moms Danielle Tobey and Maida Carpio Scott participated in this event (see photo).

August 05, 2005
Mother knows best
Women show disdain for public breast-feeding ticket
By CARY LEIDER VOGRIN – THE GAZETTE

CAROL LAWRENCE, THE GAZETTE Daniele Tobey, left, breast-feeds her daughter Aurora, 7 months old, Thursday morning at Acacia Park as part of the “nurse-in.” She’s joined by other women from Colorado Springs and Pueblo. They sat on benches and chairs around the Uncle Wilber Fountain downtown, breast-feeding in unison. Some covered themselves with a light blanket while others nursed openly. “This is the first time I’ve had any skin showing — ever — in public,” Kimberly Sudol said after 12-week-old Kaden got his fill. About a dozen moms and their children braved the morning drizzle in a show of solidarity for a northern Colorado woman who was ticketed last month for breast-feeding her son at a lake in Larimer County. “I can’t even describe how upset I was over it,” Sudol said of the ticket issued by a park ranger. “It’s the best thing you can do for your child.” Colorado law is on the nursing mother’s side. Breasting is legal in public; the ticket given to Dorian Ryan of Berthoud was dismissed. Laurel Turner, a mother of two who also came to Thursday’s “nurse-in” in Colorado Springs, thinks the public has become more accepting of breast-feeding. Strangers generally smile at her when they notice she’s nursing, she said. One couple at a restaurant gave her a small gift — a figurine of a mother and child. “I think people are realizing the health benefits,” said Turner, who is on vacation in Colorado Springs from Florida and heard about the nurse-in on the radio. Health experts recommend women breast-feed for at least six months. She and others, however, also report receiving ugly looks and comments. “One time we were in a restaurant and the manager asked my friend to ask me to tone down the breast-feeding. I don’t know how you do that,” Turner said. Daniele Tobey said a man in line at the Department of Motor Vehicles told her to cover herself as she nursed her infant daughter, Aurora. “I was horrified. I turned my back. I couldn’t even comment,” Tobey said. “It’s sad in our culture the most natural and fundamental actions are looked down upon.” The nurse-in, promoted by local radio station KVUU-FM 99.9, coincided with World Breast-feeding Week. KVUU shielded the women from the rain with a tent and had a little on-air fun with the topic. “So ladies, whenever you’re ready! And go!” said Darren McKee, co-host of the station’s morning show. “It looks like all the children have latched on,” he reported before joking: “I can see why this is so disturbing!” CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0236 or cary@gazette.com THE GAZETTE

August 01, 2005:
Timeout for moms
By ASHLEY KINDERGAN – THE GAZETTE

BRYAN OLLER, THE GAZETTE Mothers in an exercise group called Baby Boot Camp work out with babies in tow along the trail in Cottonwood Creek Park in June. There are mothers groups for Christians and others with no religious affiliation, groups for working moms and stay-at-home moms of all ages. Rona Whiting, 38, remembers listening at the top of the stairs as her twin babies wailed through the night. Sometimes, Whiting felt so helpless and incompetent that she broke down and cried with the girls. “You feel so bad just letting them scream,” Whiting said. Beaty Nelsestuen, 31, worked as a customer service manager for Bed, Bath and Beyond until two days before her daughter, Anika, now 2, was born. As a new mom she often thought up excuses to leave the house for a change of scenery. “The part you miss is seeing adults every day,” Nelsestuen said. “You wake up in the morning and try to figure out where you can go.” Like many mothers in Colorado Springs, these two women looked to mothers’ support groups for understanding. Eight years ago, Whiting joined Colorado Springs Parents of Multiples, a group of mothers and a few fathers raising twins or triplets. Nelsestuen heard about MOMS Club from her sister-in-law, who belonged to an Atlanta branch, and she joined MOMS Club Colorado Springs — West Chapter when her daughter was 6 months old. There’s no way to know how many moms groups there are in Colorado Springs, much less how many moms join them. What’s more certain is why mothers join. Some stumble across group Web sites and form online friendships by posting to Internet bulletin boards. Other moms hear by word of mouth about an exercise group or a cluster of women meeting at a certain park every week for play dates. Molly Gebhardt, center, exercises with fellow moms as daughter Elizabeth, 18 months, right, checks out playmate Breanna Allen, 10 months. Membership in moms clubs changes frequently, often because children reach school age or families move out of town. Conversation at most gatherings centers around “mom stuff” — breast-feeding, discipline styles or sibling rivalry. There are mothers groups for Christians and others with no religious affiliation, groups for working moms and stay-at-home moms of all ages. Membership changes frequently, a consequence of children reaching school age and the itinerant nature of many military and corporate families. “We’re all in stages of our lives where friends move away because husbands get new jobs,” Nelsestuen said. “Especially in a group of stay-at-home moms, because the dad’s job becomes pretty important.” Other groups are born of politics. As elections approached in 2004, Democrat Maida Carpio Scott, 36, said she felt like an outsider within Colorado Springs Moms, a group that she described as pro-Bush. When the group split, Scott created a new club. The Web site for West Side Moms lists the following guidelines for would-be members: “Do you recycle? Do you like to read The Independent? Have you ever shopped at Mountain Mama’s or Wild Oats? If you’ve seen The Daily Show, do you just love it?” Affirmative answers aren’t necessary to join, Scott said, but she thinks potential members should know that most moms in the group would answer yes. At a recent play date in Thorndale Park off West Uintah Street, about 10 West Side Moms members pushed older children on swings, breast-fed, and held kids in baby slings. West Side Moms member Julie Groat, 33, said she was relieved to find a group that did not require a statement of faith, as MOPS and other Christian organizations often do. She said of the practice, “while I am Christian, that irritates me.” Some moms join groups through Web sites, and many others hear by word of mouth. Conversation at most gatherings mainly centers around mom topics such as breast-feeding, discipline styles or sibling rivalry. Christian moms groups maintain a large presence in the community — MOPS International, which accepts members from 60 Christian denominations, has 21 chapters in the Colorado Springs area. According to the MOPS Web site, the number is typical for cities of this size, and national spokeswoman Karen Parks said Colorado Springs is not one of the group’s fastest-growing or most active areas. First Presbyterian Church runs one of Colorado Springs’ largest MOPS chapters. Members pay $60 per three month stint during the school year. Dues cover weekly meetings that include breakfast, day care, speakers and plenty of socializing. Speakers and discussions are “Biblically-based, but we do not directly try to proselytize,” said group supervisor Kathy Boyles. Boyles estimates that onefourth of the 240 mothers in the church’s chapter suffer at some point from postpartum or general depression. “Most women do not recognize it at first. Someone else has to recognize it,” Boyles said of the depression. She usually directs mothers who seem to be suffering to a therapist. For moms such as Myra Foster-Smith, 38, finding a niche may take a few tries. While pushing her daughter, Madison, 4, on a swing at a Colorado Springs Stay at Home Moms play date, Foster-Smith described how she left First Presbyterian’s MOPS chapter for the more secular Colorado Springs Moms. In that group, Foster-Smith and Madison, who was 3 at the time, enjoyed Bunco games and sleepover parties until the organization broke up because of infighting. Two years after joining her first moms club, Foster-Smith hopes Colorado Springs Stay At Home Moms will be a perfect fit. “I’ve taken a lot from every group, whether it’s a positive thing or a negative thing,” Foster-Smith said. “My biggest concern is just letting my kids make some new friends.” CONTACT THE WRITER: 476-4893 or akindergan@gazette.com MOMS WHO WRITE Moms who yearn to express themselves in writing can check out an online literary magazine written by and for mothers. Paula Schmitt, a 40-year-old mother of five living in Vermont, launched The Mom Writer’s Literary Magazine in June. She encourages mothers with a literary bent to submit short creative nonfiction works about the challenges of motherhood. She hopes a book of the essays will be published by Wyatt-MacKenzie Publishing Inc. in June 2006. Schmitt has published a book, “Living In a Locker Room: A Mom’s Tale of Survival in a Houseful of Boys,” and writes a syndicated column. An Internet radio show based on the magazine, Mom Writer’s Talk Radio, will begin in September. Go to www.momwriterslitmag.com. To submit, e-mail Paula Schmitt at editor@momwriterslitmag.com. THE GAZETTE