About Me

Before I tell you about me, first I want to know about you!

1. Are you a new parent overwhelmed with the task of being a mom or dad?
2. Do you have endless questions about taking care of your new bundle of joy?
3. Are you overcome with how much you love your baby?
4. Do you worry about whether you are doing the right thing for your kids?
5. Do you want to know what products other parents recommend?
6. Do you wonder how you ever are going to accomplish everything you need to in one day?
7. Do you want to connect with other parents?

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Well, you came to the right place, I had and have all of those questions. Whether you are a full time parent at home, work outside the home, work part-time from home or outside the home, I think as parents we are constantly striving to do the best thing for our family. I'm a busy mom of two, one loving and energetic three year old boy and a sweet and inquisitive almost one year old girl.

MOMMBY.com is about helping make your job as a parent easier. It is about presenting different options for you and helping you remember there never is a one size fits all answer when it comes to parenting. It is about trusting your intuition. It is about knowing parenting is exhausting yet amazing, rewarding, and indescribable. It is about love.

Change the World. One Mom at a Time. One Child at a Time. One Hug at a Time.™

Once I had my baby, I soon discovered there was a tremendous amount that I would need to learn to take care of my son.  I learned by observing my baby, reading books, doing research on the internet, and listening to other moms and dads. I preferred learning from "real" moms and dads rather than simply reading something from someone that didn't have first hand experience. I found some really great sources of information as indicated in my resources section, but I wasn’t able to find a baby website that provided me with answers to all of my questions in an organized manner. Some websites actually had so much information that I didn't know where to start. 

As my friends and my husband’s colleagues starting having children of their own, people started asking me for advice (FAQ's).  I soon realized that I enjoyed sharing information about things I’d discovered while caring for my baby and MOMMBY.com was born.

No matter how much research I do, I always remind myself that if I give my baby love and security and follow my mommy instinct I think I’ll be on the right track.

Top 10 random facts about me...

1. I Cheer for Both Notre Dame and Penn State Football
2. My College Tutor Became My Husband
3. I Jumped Off a 30 Foot Cliff When Pregnant
4. I'm a Working Mom Struggling for Balance
5. My Husband Rappelled the Washington Monument
6. We Applied for Survivor and Amazing Race
7. We Love to Travel
8. I Am NOT an Expert Simply a Mommy
9. I Believe Passion and Hard Work Can Take You Far
10. I Want to Hear From You

1. I Cheer for both Notre Dame and Penn State Football
Yes, I love both Notre Dame and Penn State. I got my graduate degree in accounting from the University of Notre Dame and I love the Fighting Irish. I got my undergraduate degree from Penn State at University Park and I always smile when I think of Happy Valley. Who do I root for when it comes to football, my response is I cheer for the home team, if I'm at Penn State, I cheer for the Nittany Lions and if I'm at South Bend I cheer for the Irish! I met my husband at Penn State so State College will always be a special place for my family.
  
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2. My College Tutor Became My Husband   
My college tutor became my husband.... My husband, Erik, and I met my second semester my freshman year at Penn State. I went to the free tutoring session for Engineering and Design (I started out in Engineering until I figured out what I wanted to do) and he was the free tutor. I vowed after attending the session I would go every week. We then met again since Erik was on my good friend’s THON committee. THON, otherwise known as Penn State Dance Marathon, is a student run philanthropy which raises money for children with cancer.  We both were active in THON throughout our years at Penn State and we were both fortunate to dance the 48 hours for the event. See pictures below.
  

Erik and I were engaged on a beach in Cozumel, the summer of 2002, before I left to get my accounting graduate degree from the University of Notre Dame. Refer below for some pictures of the magical night which included a wonderful boat ride with dolphin sightings, a romantic candlelight dinner on a private beach, and shooting stars on the boat ride back to the hotel.
  

We were married on December 5, 2004, in Pittsburgh, PA. It was a beautiful warm sunny day; the weather felt like fall even though it was December.  We were married in Old St. Lukes, a charming church which was established in 1765. Our reception was at the Grand Hall at the Priory, which initially was a church build in 1854. Please refer to some pictures. 
   
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3. I Jumped Off a 30 Foot Cliff When Pregnant
I found out I was pregnant with my baby the day AFTER I jumped off a 30 foot cliff in Jamaica. See picture.
 

I had my first baby by C-Section after 39 hours and 22 minutes (I wasn’t counting though) on May 15, 2008.  He weighted 7 lbs 10oz, was 20 inches long, and the love of my life (besides Erik of course). I delivered the second love of my life on October 11, 2010 by another C-Section. She weighted 7 lbs 6 oz and was 20 1/4 inches long.

Please refer to this link to “Meet My Family.”
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4. I'm a Working Mom Struggling for Balance
I’ve been fortunate to have several great accounting work opportunities. I started my career at Deloitte & Touche in the Assurance & Advisory Services. Next I worked for General Dynamics as a Senior Accountant of Financial Systems and then I became the Manager of Regulatory Reporting at E*TRADE Financial. 

After having my baby, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to work from home for E*TRADE for the first 9 months. After returning from my initial 2 month leave I did work full time while family members helped watch my baby. Although after a month or so I realized I wanted to stay home full time with my baby but I continued to work part time at home while I was home with him. This enabled me to realize how important it is to be efficient with getting things done around the house while my baby was awake since as soon as I put him down for his naps I had to work at the computer. 

Shortly, after I stopped working part-time for E*TRADE I founded MOMMBY.com, and this became my second baby. Then after the birth of my baby girl, I submitted a patent application for the the Peek-a-Bye-Baby™ cover, the nursing cover for baby to see mother and burp cloth that won't fall off.™ Then the following year, I launched MOMMBY Storage Bags - to help other parents organize household items, including children's toys.

As my daughter approached her second birthday the urge to do more accounting work grew stronger and I was fortunate to become a part-time accounting professor at a local university. After a month of doing that job, another accounting opportunity arose for a Director of Accounting position for small business consulting work. I felt fortunate to have two part-time accounting positions.

Working on a websites (MOMMBY.com and southridingbusiness.com) takes up an incredible amount of time and although I love it and I am passionate about it I struggle with finding time to meet the demands of MOMMBY.com, marketing my Patent Pending Peek-a-Bye-Baby™ cover, selling MOMMBY Storage Bags, and now having two part-time accounting positions and most importantly taking care of my family.
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5. My Husband Rappelled the Washington Monument
Erik, an Architectural Engineer, rappelled the Washington Monument for his company! Yes, you read that correctly, he rappelled the 555 foot Washington Monument! He works a lot of hours outside the home but is an incredible husband and father. I'm very fortunate to have a loving husband who helps out around the house. Our son can't wait for Daddy to get home from work and our baby girl loves when she gets to spend time with Daddy. Erik puts in a lot of extra time with our children on the weekends which allows me to try to get other things done around the house or work on the MOMMBY endeavors.
Please refer to some pictures of the day Daddy rappelled the Washington Monument:

Daddy Rappelling Top of Hat	3 Year Old Filming Daddy Rappelling	Family Picture after Morning Rappel	3 Year Old Pointing to Where Daddy Was	Almost Finished	What a Day...

6. We've Applied for Survivor and Amazing Race
Both Erik and I are diehard Survivor and Amazing Race fans and have tried out for both shows many times. Please don’t hold that against us…we just love the adventure of both shows and would love to have the opportunity to participate in those competitions. Disappointedly, we never received any sort of feedback on our applications.
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7. We Love to Travel
Erik and I love all types of adventures and activities and we have been fortunate to do a lot of travel before and after having a baby. We drove across the United States when Erik graduated from Penn State sleeping in the back of his green Dodge Dakota truck at various campsites along the way. Some of my favorite stops were Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado, the Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming and Yellowstone National Park in primarily in Wyoming. I also enjoyed seeing sites like Mount Rushmore and the Badlands in South Dakota and Devils Tower in Wyoming. Refer to some pictures below.

Rocky Mountain National Park, CO	Grand Teton National Park	Artist Point - Yellowstone	Old Faithful - Yellowstones	Mount Rushmore, SD	Badlands, SD	Devils Tower, WY	Dodge Dakota Truck

When I graduated from Penn State we went backpacking across Europe, staying in hostels, dormitory type rooms. We visited Germany, Switzerland, and Italy. Some of our favorites were hiking Shark's Fin in Gimmelwald, Switzerland, and visiting Cinque Terre, Italy, Trevi Fountain in Rome, Italy and taking a gondola ride in Venice, Italy. We’ve also been to Punta Cana, Grand Cayman, Riveria Maya, and Jamaica.  We love to go scuba diving during in the Caribbean. Please refer to some pictures below. 

Since having my baby we went to Seapointe, NJ for his first beach vacation and also went skiing to Snowshoe, WV and Big Sky, MT. We’ve also traveled to Denver, CO and Assateaque Island, MD. (Pictures Coming Soon)
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8. I Am NOT an Expert Simply a Mommy
Please note that I am not a medical professional and do not profess to be a medical professional. I am also not an expert as I don’t think anyone can claim to be an expert of parenting, it is an impossible title. I am simply a mommy trying to do the best she can and I hope to pass on the information I’ve learned. 

This internet site provides information of a general nature and is designed for general educational purposes only. If you have concerns about your own health or the health of your child, you should always consult with a physician or other healthcare professional. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this internet site. Reliance on any information provided by MOMMBY LLC or users of this internet site is solely at your own risk.

Please refer to the TERMS and CONDITIONS before using this internet site. By using this internet site, you acknowledge that you’ve read, understand, and agree to be bound by these TERMS and CONDITIONS. 
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9. I Believe Passion and Hard Work Can Take You Far
I did not have the highest IQ at Notre Dame yet I graduated as the Valedictorian because I was passionate about my education. I am not a writer, yet I founded MOMMBY.com which requires a tremendous amount of writing. I'm also a published writer on Yahoo! I used my passion about parenting and my desire to help other parents along with my education and work experience to do research, analyze the information, and effectively present my research findings.

Then I discovered I needed to meet various product needs and the Peek-a-Bye-Baby™ cover which functions as a nursing cover and a burp cloth became PATENT PENDING May 2011. Please refer to this link for more information about the Peek-a-Bye-Baby™ cover. We are excited to launch the Peek-a-Bye-Baby cover in the Amazon Market Place, EBAY, and ETSY February and March 2012 so more parents can have the “Nursing Cover for Baby to See Mother”™ and the “Burp Cloth that Won’t Fall Off!”™ The Peek-a-Bye-Baby™ cover is handmade in the U.S.A. with imported materials.

As our babies continued to grow and acquire more and more stuff we realized we needed to meet another need of all parents – convenient and easy ways to store all the baby/child things and so we plan to launch clear PEVA and regular vinyl storage bags at Amazon Market Place, EBAY, and ETSY. All of our bags meet toy industry standards (EN71) and CONEG for environmental standards!

I also recently started the MOMMBY Preschool because of my love for children. I've always loved teaching because I love learning as well. One of the reasons I didn't graduate with a teaching degree was because everyone expected me to be a teacher and so I decided to do something else and also I truly loved accounting and how many people can say that? I've enjoyed working with my mother (taught elementary education for over 30 years) to develop creative ways to teach young children.

I want to show my kids that with hard work and determination you truly can accomplish your dreams.
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10. I Want to Hear From You
I want to hear from you! Please post questions or provide your own tips at the Community pages and please like MOMMBY.com on facebook and follow MOMMBY on twitter. .

MOMMBY.com on Facebook

I appreciate you taking the time to read this website and I hope to hear from you.
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Last updated:  September 2011; October 2009