Momma Bear Magazine: Volume One Preview

VOL U ME

ON E

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H I S T O R I C S AVA N N A H C I T Y G U I D E PHOTOGRAPHED & WRITEN BY TERYN SKYE

moving to Savannah this past January, my husband, son and S ince I found some amazing little places that we’ve really grown to adore. We love living here, and have intentionally made getting to know our city an adventure for our whole family to enjoy.

A great way to start the day is a trip to Back in the Day Bakery. Here you’ll find delicious homemade treats like giant blueberry muffins, croissants, cupcakes, breads & the most satisfying vanilla latte you’ll ever drink. Vintage goodness lines the walls and everything is made from scratch.

As you’re on your way Downtown be sure to stop into Urban Poppy, a blissful botanical boutique (pictured top left).

The shop offers custom floral design and wedding design services, and it’s own retail space is filled with some of the most gorgeous pieces I’ve ever seen. Jewelry, skincare, candles, toys and, of course, plants aplenty can be found here.

Downtown Savannah is absolutely stunning. Southern Charm oozes from every inch of this city. Hanging moss trees hover over the cobblestone streets. If we’re not in the mood to shop but just want to take a shady stroll, we love wandering down East Jones Street. The homes will have you falling head over heels. Most of them were built in the 1800’s. Since moving here we’ve only seen a few new construction sites, but other than that the city takes great pride in preserving historic buildings.

Downtown Savannah is fairly walkable, but I definitely recommend using your favorite stroller with kiddos in tow! We love our 4moms Origami; it does a fantastic job riding over the brick streets & maneuvering sidewalks.

By now you should have made your way down to Broughton Street. It’s the heart of Downtown Savannah, where you’ll find all of the shops, cafes & bars. There’s always something happening. Savannah is home to the famous SCAD (Savannah College of Art & Design) so you’re always likely to find new exhibits, plays, concerts & other unique events put on by the college. Broughton is home to all of my favorite shops, and we have some of the big retailers like Anthropologie, Marc by Marc Jacobs, Free People & Kate Spade… but also more unique boutiques you can only find here!

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INSTAGRAM: @TERYNSKYE BLOG: TERYNSKYE.COM SPONSORED BY: 4MOMS

D I N N E R W I T H T H E FA M I LY WRITTEN & PHOTOGRAPHED BY MARY BOYDEN

I was twenty weeks pregnant and feeling homesick. A Texas gal now planted along the oceanside of Oregon, I needed some sweet tea. And not that “tea” with “sugar (packets)” that the restuarants here kept serving me, but Southern Tea- so sweet it makes Northerners cringe in disbelief that I used to drink that stuff like water, a gallon a day. And I needed biscuits. And meat. Oh, Lord. I needed Texas on a table in a very urgent, pregnancy-craving sort of way.

My mother’s sweet tea. My Aunt’s biscuits. My dad’s meat & potatoes dinner. I call them for the recipe, and what I got was filled with more personality and love than internet recipes could ever touch. My Aunt sent me a hand-written recipe card that didn’t have instructions, just ingredients (instead of bake for ten minutes she said you’ll just know). My dad casually explained the types of meats I could use in his recipe (“What kind of meat do you use, dad?” “I dunno, beef? Pork? Both are good”), and instructs me to “just cut it all up and throw it in the crock pot.” My mom? Her instructions for tea were lengthy and precisice (just how I like them!), and I followed them to a T (pun totally intended), not daring to miss a step. Because when you put together a meal that is inspired by your family, you want to do it justice. You want to feel like they made it for you, especially when you’re homesick. But in the end, it ends up coming out with a different perspective. Yours. And your story becomes a part of theirs. And suddenly, you’re not trying to make the perfect meal.

You’re just excited to eat food that makes you feel full, body and soul.

... RECIPES CONTINUED IN NEXT ISSUE

As a mom, it’s easy to put style on the backburner, and understandably so. But if you’ve been wishing for a bit more style in your life these days, I have a few secrets to share. I practice two methods to make style approachable + realistic for my budget and time. Capsule wardrobes are the central idea to my blog, Unfancy. Put simply, a capsule wardrobe is a mini wardrobe made up of really versatile pieces that you love to wear + that fit your day to day lifestyle. By willfully limiting my options, I’m taking the guesswork out of dressing in the mornings.

Style isn’t about how many clothes you have in your Pinterest-Perfect closet, but how you style them. By changing our style, we change our reflection in the mirror , so we’re forced to change the way we see ourselves. And if we can see ourselves differently, we can start to feel differently. Suddenly, when we put on clothes that fit, we may feel a little bit better about what we see in the mirror.

And that creates a little bit of mental space for us to love ourselves, practice gratitude, and see the wonder in our well-crafted bodies. The longer we have that precious space, the easier it is to banish toxic beliefs, like, “I’m not beautiful” and “I’m not enough.”

With each breath, there is another chance to do things differently.

Every new stage in life, including becoming a mom, comes with the opportunity to reinvent yourself. Style is a tool to get you from where you are now to where you want to be. With my 37 pieces, I come up

with 3-4 “uniforms” or outfit recipes that I can go to again and again, Every new stage in life, including becoming a mom, comes with the opportunity to reinvent yourself. Style is a tool to get you from where you are now to where you want to be. I’m releasing the idea that more is better and replacing it with simplicity + style.

You can even apply the concept of a uniform to your kids. Create 3-4 uniforms for their day to day activities, and let go of the rest. With less clothes floating around, there’s less laundry to do. My sister-in-law, Cassidi, is a pro at this. She gets more for her money by only buying clothes in one limited color scheme (blues, browns, whites) so everything mixes and matches.

She also shops a season in advance, purchasing all of her son’s clothes on sale.

When moms feel attractive and strong, everyone benefits. We’ve got to get dressed every morning, right? Why not make it a refreshing experience?

It takes just as much effort to pull on workout clothes as it does to pull on real clothes when we embrace the concepts of capsule wardrobes + uniforms.

“Every new stage in life, including becoming a mom, comes with the opportunity to reinvent yourself.�

-CAROLINE JOY, UNFANCY.COM

our story minimalistic wardrobes and how they can help mommas feel stylish * fromevery time they get dressed, and how it can cut down on their laundry piles!

MESSY WE WERE YELLING. My mom and I never yell at each other. But for some reason, we decided that we should be adults and have the freedom to be open with each other and, you know, share our feelings. So we yelled. Remind me, what about yelling is adult-like?

She was in town for a visit, and I was thirty weeks pregnant with my second. Before she came, it had been one of those weeks where it was all I could do to get through each day. You know those times? Where your emotions are just all over the place (thanks, ovaries), your dishes keep piling up, the laundry becomes a bottomless pit, and cartoons for the kids are on repeat. As my mom’s stay got closer, I got more and more anxious. I was so excited to see her, but I didn’t want her to see me like this. I wanted to have myself all pulled together. “Hey mom! Look! I’m doing well!” And even though she was staying at a hotel and was only in town for the weekend, I wanted our house to be spotless.

So, I cleaned. But here’s the thing- I suck at cleaning. It takes me forty-five minutes to do dishes, even though I have a dish washer. I literally cannot comprehend how or why the laundry never ends. I can’t really remember the last time I scrubbed our shower.

She was supposed to come arrive at 9:30 that morning. I cleaned the house the night before, and I woke up at 8:30 a.m. to clean up some more. At 9 a.m. I started my makeup. At 9:01 a.m., my one and a half year old daughter found her toy bin and wreaked havoc on the living room. It’s okay- I’ve got thirty minutes until she’s here, I thought to myself. At 9:04 a.m., as I finished penciling in one of my eyebrows, I heard a CLANG and ran into the living room to find my daughter trying to open my laptop- with her bottleleaking juice all over my keyboard. By 9:06 a.m. the laptop incident had been cleaned up, and I was back in the bathroom trying to put on some blush when my daughter decided to join me. And by join me, I mean she brought her toys in there, dumped them in the toilet, filled the bowl with toilet paper, and said, “Bye bye!”

That’s when mom arrived. I have one eyebrow penciled in, one cheek with blush, still in my PJs, no bra. My bathroom is trashed.

The living room... trashed.

Hi mom!

“Can I use your bathroom honey?” said my mom.

“Uh, bathroom? Bathroom. Right, Uh. It’s really messy. But okay. Sure, of course!” I said, a bit frantic.

I was trying to hush all the thoughts racing into my mind about what she would think of me when she opened that bathroom door. She’s going to think I didn’t clean for her. That I don’t care what she thinks of me.

As I watched her walk into that bathroom, I cringed. Oh, God. But wait! Grace not Perfection, right? She’s my mom. She loves me.

She understands that I have a career, a toddler, I’m pregnant and life just gets messy sometimes.

Surely she won’t be upset. And when she came back out of that bathroom, she wasn’t. She didn’t say a thing.

She smiled and asked me about my day. That was it.

Later, we ordered some Taco Bell to-go, and parked in my driveway where we got caught up in sharing our feelings. I can’t remember exactly what got brought up or how it happened- but there we were.

WRITTEN & PHOTOGRAPHED BY MARY BOYDEN

A half eaten taco in my lap, tears streaming down my face, talking about my bathroom being messy.

“If you were that nervous to let me use it, you could have just cleaned it and done something about it,” she said. “You should feel proud of your home!”

In that moment I felt so much brokenness.

My bathroom was telling the wrong story. The story about everything I failed to do, instead of everything I did do. I took four days off work to be with her. I did, in fact, clean every other room in the house (I even broke out a sponge!), and I had felt proud of my home. It only took a few minutes in the morning to un-do all of my work and derail my plans of impressing my mom. It’s become my normal life with a toddler. Things just don’t stay clean. I’d learned to give myself and our home grace, but right now, I needed my mom to give it to me.

Growing up, our home was messy. Not “hoarder” messy, but lived in. My mom was a single mom who worked full-time to support me.

When she got home from work, she liked to relax in front of the TV in comfy clothes and save the dishes for later. She liked to go fishing. Ride horses. Mow our lawn. Fix our fences. Having our house spotless was never really something I saw as a priority in our home. A few pieces of mail stacked on her counter and dishes in the sink didn’t stress her out. She didn’t hold me to any standards when it came to cleaning, I was a messy artist and she was perfectly fine letting me have my art supplies strewn about my room for days.

My mom had to be more than a housewife. She had to be our breadwinner, too. And there’s only so much energy one person can have to do both roles perfectly and fully. So we kept the house tidy, but not eat-offthe-floor-clean. Instead of arguing about my chores, we watched TV together. We talked. We were friends.

So why was she mad about my messy bathroom? I wanted her not to judge me. I wanted her to understand me. But my mom needed to be undestood, too. She needed to know that my struggles with cleaning were in no way a sign that she did not do a good job teaching me to keep a clean home. She needed to know that she had done a good job raising me, and that I could take care of not only myself and my family.

“Mom, I always loved that our house was lived-in, not always perfect. I loved that you wouldn’t get mad at me for my messes. I loved that you just let me be myself,” I said. “I loved that our relationship mattered more to you than the mess. I loved it then and I need it now.”

Her eyes softened. Her brows smushed togther.

She slowly nodded in agreement. She looked at me as if, for the first time ever, she felt like I understood her and the choices she made in raising me. Maybe keeping a spotless home wasn’t her strength either, and she needed to know that her weakness hadn’t made me weak. She expressed to me how she always felt like she needed to be perfect for her mom, and how she didn’t want me to feel that way. So we went back into my messy home. We ate tacos. We were momma and daughter. We were adults. We held each other to a standard of grace, not perfection. We were messy.

Practcal section where we feature all kinds of time-management tips, * from our house cleaning and organization ideas, and goal setting structures.

from our story on Homes, featuring spaces from all over the world with *various styles: mid-century modern, vintage-inspired, country-chic, etc.

1. D E F E AT M O M G U I LT Mom guilt is a real thing, y’all. It’s like this crazy hormonal animal inside of you that untamed, can make you feel like everything about you outside being a mother is bad (thanks a lot, hormones). This is the biggest obstacle I face when it’s time for me to work. How do I get past it? I know why I’m working. I’m working for three reasons: One, because God gave me an ability to work & a vision to go after. Two, my family needs me to. This particular job, if done right, can bring in extra income and allow me to stay home with my daughter. Three, because I am at my fullest, happiest self when I am putting my work-related capabilities to use. It makes me feel connected to God, useful, and accomplished. I can better serve my family when I am happy & inspired, feeling confident about my abilities. When I don’t get my work done, I feel stressed. My family deserves better than that. Knowing that the reasons I am working benefit them keeps me from feeling so unbearably guilty for being away from them.

2. ACCEPT YOUR SUPPORT TEAM. My husband is so helpful. So is my mother in law. So are my friends. They love to watch Whimsy, and it really is good for Whims to be with them. I have a lot of work that needs to get done every week and some of it just can’t be done during naptime. So when I have a huge project I need to finish, I let people watch Whimsy. Sometimes that looks like my husband going on 4 hour walks with her so I can have a quiet house to work in (thank you so much babe). Other times, it looks like Whimsy staying an entire weekend with her grandparents.

Sometimes it’s really hard to let her go-even for just a little

bit (who doesn’t miss those baby smiles and snuggles?), but because I know that my core is to do whatever it takes to help support my family, those dedicated work times are necessary and I know they benefit my daughter. These times allow me to get a huge amount of focused, quality work in, which frees up my mind and heart to focus on my family during the week. I know some moms have a really hard time letting go of that guilt of letting someone else watch their child (You’re not a bad mom for letting someone watch your child, okay?). Or they feel like if they work it means that their work is more important than their children (remember, know why you work!). If you have people that you trust that are willing to help you, accept it. You’re blessed!

3 . E VA LUAT E YO U R T I M E & M A K E A P L A N .

Every month I take time to plan out my work and time limits.

I write out my major goals and break them down into smaller, specific tasks. I then write an attack plan of what I can do to accomplish those goals on a daily level. For instance, I edit photos, do my social media, and answer emails while Whimsy is eating (breastfeeding at the desk for the win! woohoo!). I can distribute business cards & posters while I’m out on a walk around town with Whimsy. I schedule meetings during her naptime. I clean the house while she’s napping, prepare meals while she is occupied with a toy, and schedule photo shoots on Marten’s off days so he can watch her. If I have any major projects that need special attention, I take this time to coordinate with my parents to watch Whimsy for a weekend. I find that even if I don’t follow my super detailed monthly plan, just simply thinking ahead makes me feel more relaxed and things tend to go a bit smoother.

... RECIPES CONTINUED IN NEXT ISSUE

Bear Mgazine Studio Tour * from our &storyTipsMomma for the Working Momma

P R AY I N G

FOR BABY THEREFORE I TELL YOU, WHATEVER YOU ASK IN PRAYER, BELIEVE THAT YOU HAVE RECEIVED IT, AND IT WILL BE YOURS. -MARK 11:24 DO NOT BE ANXIOUS ABOUT ANYTHING, BUT IN EVERYTHING BY PRAYER AND SUPPLICATION WITH THANKSGIVING LET YOUR REQUESTS BE MADE KNOWN TO GOD. AND THE PEACE OF GOD, WHICH SURPASSES ALL UNDERSTANDING, WILL GUARD YOUR HEARTS AND YOUR MINDS IN CHRIST JESUS. -PHILLIPIANS 4:6-8

Words are powerful, and not all the words spoken over my family were worth that power. I had so many people, unintentionally so, speaking negative things over our future life with baby. These statements generally started out with a “Just wait…”

Things spoken over us like sleepless nights, a baby that cries for no reason, a house covered in kids toys and mess, being unable to have a clean home and car, not being able to make it anywhere on time, etc.

While this may not seem like a big deal, to me it was. I refused to believe that this would be my family. I prayed for a baby that would sleep. I prayed for the ability to keep things cleaned up and organized.

I prayed for a well-behaved baby and well, that’s just what we have! Be still and listen for how God is leading you to be a momma. He is faithful to do so.

There have been a few truly trying nights since Audrey was born where I couldn’t figure out why she was crying and she wouldn’t fall asleep (I now know that this was due to gas and/or over-stimulation and exhaustion). On those rare nights, I was close to pulling my hair out and felt like a crazy person.

Instead of going crazy though, I simply prayed for peace and guidance from God as I softly cried for my baby. When I do this, I can hear Him tell me what to do, how to react to certain things Audrey is doing, and it’s been the best help. No, there isn’t a manual on how to raise a child, but I’ve got God whispering the tricks in my ear.

WRI T T E N BY C ALI HI X I LLUS T RAT I O N BY KE LLI MURRAY

M O M M A TAU G H T M E L e ar n how t o m ake a f l oral boque t wit h t h e f lor is t & momma beh ind Seattle bas ed Olive & Pine

PHOTOGRAPHED BY MARY BOYDEN W R I T T E N BY J U L I A SA N D E R S FLORALS BY OLIVE & PINE

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M O M M A N O R M A’ S G E M G U I D E WRITTEN & PHOTOGRAPHED BY JULIA SANDERS

On a rainy Portland afternoon, John Panowicz proudly explains the photo taped to the front of his office door. It portrays his mother, Norma Panowicz, standing behind the counter on opening day at Ed’s House of Gems. Norma founded the store in August of 1956 and four generations later, the Panowicz family still sells beautiful gems, fossils, and seashells from the North East Portland establishment. As the store is passed down in the Panowicz family, it serves as a first job for many of the grandkids and is still operated almost entirely by family. Mommas like Norma demonstrate the outcome of pursuing a dream. By starting Ed’s, Norma has benefited the lives of four generations. We don’t have to give up our passions outside of motherhood- Sometimes, we just need to share them.

1. B R A Z I L I A N AGAT E

Brazilian Agate was used by ancient soldiers on the breastplates of armor to give warriors strength.

3.QUARTZ

Quartz is the most common stone on the planet, appearing in nearly every color and shape size.

5.COPPER BALL

Copper is an excellent conductor of energy, and is essential to all living things as a trace dietary mineral.

7. C H A L C O P Y R I T E

2. C HRYSANTHEMUM STONE

Chrysanthemum stone is a volcanic rock with calcite crystal formations that resemble chrysanthemum when cut.

4.LAPIS LAZULI

Lapis Lazuli was one of the crystals found amongst the treasures in King Tut’s tomb.

6.BRAZILIAN AGATE

Agate is one of the most common materials used in the art of hardstone carving.

8.MAL AC HITE

Also known as Peacock Ore, this stone gets its bright colors from natural oxidation.

Despite its beautiful exterior, Malachite dust is toxic and proper protection must be used when cutting it.

9.AMAZONITE

10 . S N OW F L A K E O B S I D I A N

Amazonite is a mineral of limited occurrence, but it can be found in Colorado and Virginia.

11 . P I N K O P A L

Pink Opal is the national gem of Australia.

Also known as Mother Nature’s Glass.

12 . C E L E S T I T E

Celestite is the principal source of the element strontium, which is used to make fireworks.

SPONSORED BY ED’S HOUSE OF GEMS 7712 NE SANDY BLVD PORTL AND, OR

PHOTOS BY KATHY DAVIES PHOTOGRAPHY

our story Day in the Life of Momma, a photo series featuring four * fromdifferent families in their homes by Kathy Davies Photography

KEEPING IT (REAL) POSITIVE WRITTEN BY VALERIE METREJEAN WOERNER PHOTOGRAPHED BY SIMPLY KISSED

For motherhood, older generations wore a facade Moms, you had me pretty scared. When and never really talked about things like postpartum I first became pregnant, I became a little depression, that breastfeeding is hard, how little sleep depressed at the thought of being a mom. (This you get and all the insane details around birth. Today, it’s coming from someone who getting pregnant all you hear about because everyone wants to be real. was all part of the plan.) Regardless, the fear of There is crying and spitting up and less sleep and less losing so much of my free wheeling life was terrifying. time in general, but you make it happen. It doesn’t Today, it seems, as soon as someone’s kids does have to destroy your world. It’s different and an something gross, terrifying or bratty, moms feel the adjustment but, in my opinion, the blessings a child need to share. I don’t know if it’s because we want brings will always make these things everyone to know how hard being a mom seem not so bad. Hopefully our generation is or what. I’ll tell you now though, moms. can embrace the balance of a ton of these ideas.

There is no question whether what you do older The world doesn’t need a bunch is hard. And we don’t need to compete on generations of Stepford Moms making it look like who has it the toughest. Let me say that parenthood is a cakewalk (or bake again. It’s not a competition of who has it the wore a facade sale). They need moms who are real hardest. If it is, you lose, because someone and never without all the negativity surrounding it. always has it harder. Also, this is probably the And just remember, you don’t have to quickest way to tick off someone who is really talked remind everyone that grocery shopping struggling with getting pregnant. They wish about things like is harder with kids. No one will argue they were cleaning up some gross mess. this fact. But you know what I recently Since my soon-to-be mommy freak postpartum de� realized was a new perk of shopping with out, I’ve been determined to inspire other pression, that a kid? Standing in line getting to look at future moms and make sure they see the Vivi making faces or just sleeping good things about being a mom, too. I know breastfeeding is instead of looking at my cell phone. For the what you’re thinking, I wasn’t even a mom. hard, how little record, I don’t think all moms are guilty How could I say something so arrogant? of this. There have been several shining I honestly knew this new role would be sleep you get... examples of being a mom and saving the toughest of my life. I didn’t think today, it is all you graces during my scared days that I’d fly in like superwoman and just do have been so great for me to watch. it better than every other woman on hear about I’ve seen moms who can cut loose the planet. Nope, I’m sure there are because every� and have fun with their kids that plenty of things I’ve dropped the ball reassure me that life is not all spit up and on in my short month of being a mom, one wants to be stained clothes, or no makeup and being starting with banging Vivi’s head trying to REAL trapped in the never ending loop of the pull her out the car and countless other things. carpool lane. And if it is, they don’t mind!

I knew there would be hard days. I just You all have no idea how inspiring you are! wanted to focus on the good things. You You might read this and still be might think this is naive and won’t give thinking I just don’t understand how hard being a mom people a real picture of motherhood but the truth is, is yet. And if that is the case, that’s kind of the point when someone becomes a mom, they are given that of this whole article. It’s all a choice in how we look at same choice, to focus on the positive or the negative. motherhood. The other day Vivi would not go to I don’t want to be a person that inspired them to dwell sleep to save her life and I had a ton of work piling up. on the negative.

I readjusted my mindset and sat in that rocking chair Our society has a tendency to traverse back and and enjoyed the moments with her. It made all the forth on different ideas. Generations ago the idea was to difference in the world in how I spent that next hour! I get a job, not because you loved it, but to make money, posted a photo soon after about those moments and and to stick with it until you retired. That generation warned how I wanted them to last. I wasn’t being fake. I younger generations, or kids simply made that call based genuinely felt this way after I chose to think that way. on watching their parents, that they should pick a job Mommas, raise your sippy cup with me and let’s toast to they loved. And if they change their career path 10 keeping it real and positive. times, that’s totally cool (I’m on number 3, by the way).

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