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[photopress:lizeasterly_1.jpg,full,pp_image]Every month, Mile High Mamas features a different mom on our blogroll (Colorado’s most comprehensive listing of mommy bloggers). Our Mama Blogger of the Month is the lovely Liz from What Happens in Stapleton Stays in Stapleton. Through her fun, informative blog, she has also created an important resource for her community and we encourage other mamas to do the same!Tell us about your family and how you ended up in Stapleton.
I’m a stay-at-home mom to a 2 year old, Jack, and a black lab, Maggie. (If you have a kid under 5 and either a black lab or a golden retriever, Stapleton is the neighborhood for you). We lived in a loft downtown when my son was born, and after a few months realized loft living and babies weren’t the best match. My husband was ready to move to a big house in the suburbs, but I was resistant. Stapleton seemed like the perfect compromise.
I’m a freelance writer and marketing consultant, so I feel really lucky that I can stay at home with Jack. They say women can have it all. I say, maybe not all at once, but I’m working on a happy balance.
Your blog definitely has a different slant than most mommy blogs. Why the emphasis on Stapleton and not as much about your family?
I try to take my family’s personal journey and make it universal. I think people move to Stapleton to become part of an active community, and yet when people first move here, it can seem inclusive and hard to figure out. I started this blog to let moms know about the good things in the neighborhood, but it wouldn’t be valuable if my readers didn’t know where my
point of view was coming from.
I started What Happens in Stapleton after a year of new-mom craziness. Motherhood really blew me away. I had no idea how my life would change. I had post-partum thyroiditis, which put me on a year-long hormonal and emotional roller coaster. Blogging became my own primal scream: “I’m still here!”
What are your top recommendations for programs/places you have discovered?
I just found the most amazing coffee shop: Perk & Play in Stapleton. It’s a coffee shop, and it¹s a kid playroom. It’s like your living room, with comfy chairs and train sets and doll houses. My 2 year old loved it, we were there for two hours.
One of the things I love about Stapleton is that we are outside every single day. We walk to the park, we walk by the creek in the greenspace. We take a toddler music class, which is a bunch of singing and dancing and running wild, and I’ve been able to share the Music Together program with many moms.
What is the Marathon Milers program for children and how are you involved?
It¹s a one-mile fun run/walk for kids kindergarten through 8th grade. It’s on Saturday, May 17, at 10:00 am in City Park. Everyone gets a medal at the finish line handed out by Miss Teen Colorado — and there will be entertainment from The Children’s Museum, and my friend’s son’s rock band, Surround Sound. These are 11 year old kids playing Aerosmith and Jack Johnson. They rock! It’s put on by the Colfax Marathon, and I’m helping promote it. I love to run, and it’s a love I¹d like to share with my son.
In an interview, you described yourself as a motherless mom. How has this impacted you as a mama?
Before my son was born, the most important thing for me to tell people was that my mom had died when I was 14. It was the central story of my life. Big milestones in my life were always sad moments, because other women had their moms to share their wedding, their pregnancy, the birth of their child, and I felt like I was missing something crucial.
Then my son was born, and the need for other moms became acutely painful. I had to admit that this was one thing I just could not do alone, and while I have a wonderful aunt who is like a mom, it forced me to seek out other moms.
Somehow, through this community of moms I’ve found, being a motherless daughter isn’t so important anymore. I hope that it’s made me more aware, every day, of how lucky I am to have this little one in my life, how lucky I am to be a mom.
Author: Amber Johnson
Amber is the founder and editor of Mile High Mamas, travel writer and former columnist for The Denver Post. She is a passionate community builder and loves the outdoors. She has two awesome teens and is happily married to a man obsessed with growing The Great Pumpkin.
Eva
Great interview, Liz. It makes me wish I lived in Stapleton!
diana/sunshine
i think it’s amazing what they’ve done with the stapleton area. i’ve been through a couple of times and visited the parade of homes when it was there. i think it looks like a fun place to live. thanks for the interview.
http://www.sunshine-on-my-shoulders.blogspot.com
Janet
This makes me want to move to Stapleton, too! I have a friend who lives there and I’ll tell her about your blog!
Janet
P.S. Congrats on the race you just completed!
Karen
I, too lost my mom at an early age and it has defined so much of how I parent and need to reach out to others. Well put!
Janet
Oh wait. That was a guest blogger. I take it back!!!
Liz
Actually Janet, Maria (my guest blogger) and I — and 35 other moms — ran the Cherry Creek Sneak with our “Stroller Strides” group — it was great, we ALL got race fever.
Laura
That coffee shop sounds great!
I love Stapleton. We’re actually in Green Valley Ranch, but stalk the Target in Northfield because it’s the closest to us. Not to mention that amazing city park!! If only the Lollilocks hadn’t closed.
LaLaGirl
Maria
i love that the what happens in stapleton blog has been recognized. go liz! stapleton is such a unique place to live and i feel lucky to have people like liz as my neighbors!
Shannon (Cole Mine)
Really looking forward to checking out your blog and learning more about Stapleton – Hey, I had a thyroidectomy in ’02 and can relate to the hormonal roller coaster you describe…And, my Mom is a motherless daughter as well. She is the most amazing Mom to me!
http://thecolemine.wordpress.com/
Stanley
Let’s talk about big pumpkins in Denver, Colorado. Information on growing giant pumpkins at http://www.denverpumpkins.com
Karen
Stapleton is awesome. We moved to Stapleton 9 months ago and are still discovering everything it has to offer.
Our 2 1/2 year old loves all the playgrounds and we know everyone on our block. It really is a great community to live in.
Thanks for your great site.
http://www.thecommonrheas.com