About Me

Hi! My name is Bella. I am a 26 year old mommy who also happens to be a graduate student trying to work on her dissertation. My husband, who just received his PhD, and I met in grad school. We also had quite a few eerie similarities before we even met, both born in Ukraine, went to a college with red and white colors, majored in comp sci and psych, went to same grad school with same advisor... oh and our favorite color is teal :)

Why Mama Squirrel?
In Russian, my first language (I was born in Ukraine), 'belka' which is a cutesy way of saying my name means squirrel. Add to that the fact that I have long brown hair that is usually quite bushy since I don't have time to maintain it much these days, Mama Squirrel is a natural name for me! DH goes by Papa Squirrel especially when he's rummaging through the fridge :)

Why Blog?
On this blog I hope to catalog all things related to being a new mom. After 8 months of learning how to take care of my little boy, Noah, I have some experience that hopefully might help others. My parenting philosophy is that I would like my son to grow up in a safe, healthy, and stimulating environment above all else. To accomplish this, I've breastfed him exclusively and will continue to do so as long as he wants. This hasn't been without pitfalls of course, but that is a post for another day.

We also started cloth diapering around the time DS was 6 months. Its been great so far! We are also a baby-wearing family, but DH does the baby wearing and LOVES it :) DS loves it too of course, nothing like being carried around in a kangaroo pouch on daddy's shoulder.

DS is starting to eat more solids but I am adamant about him only eating organic, hence the blog name. So far he has tried apples, bananas, and carrots. And of course he eats organic rice cereal as well. The expression on his face when he first tried applesauce was priceless.

I am hoping to include lots more posts - about the first few months of being a new mom, trying to live a more 'green' lifestyle, and managing school and parenthood.