We want to thank you

Dear Mamas,

In the past week, we have discussed the many ways that we are both inclusive and exclusive.  Over 100 mamas shared about themselves, and we are certain that we are mamas of babies, toddlers, school-aged children, and teenagers; we are in our 20s, 30s, and 40s; we are single and we are partnered; we are financially strapped and we are comfortable; we are mamas and we are papas.

We, the mamas of urbanMamas, strive to constantly improve the site.  While we want to be inclusive, we are not always.  The content you find here is largely reader-driven.  We appreciate your emails every day with suggested posts, events, links to resources.  We want to take this opportunity to encourage you all continue: Send in your questions!  Email us free events in the community!  Want to help coordinate an event?  Let us know!  And, share with us important resources that would benefit some of the mamas out there.

Peace,
urbanMamas
urbanMamas@gmail.com

Recongizing the Diversity of urbanMamas

We were surprised the other day, when we heard in passing that urbanMamas seemed to be a homogeneous community geared toward "privileged" stay-at-home moms.  The judgment felt ironic to hear, especially since this site is maintained and operated in the off-hours by a handful of mamas, who are all full-time working mamas.  We receive many emails and requests in any given day, and we do our darndest to publish all of them.  We hear from stay-at-home mamas, single mamas, working mamas.  We are middle-income mamas, lower-income mamas, and higher-income mamas.  We are mamas who live in Portland, and we are mamas who live beyond.  We are all of it, here on urbanMamas.

Maybe it's us, but we pride ourselves in the diversity among us.  We love all of you, mamas and papas and many other caregivers, who come to urbanMamas to contribute your honest thoughts and respectful perspectives.  And, they are not all the same.  It rang true when we flipped through comments in a recent thread on saving for college.  We are in different places, financially.  We are different parents, philosophically.  We are have different backgrounds, inherently.

We all have struggles as mamas, and we are here to share thoughts, commiserate, find support.

Certainly there is a certain profile of the mama who feels most comfortable actively participating in our daily conversations.  But, we know there are more of you who read than who comment.  We are certain that our urbanMamas fabric is complex and deep.  We have heard from over a hundred of you as you introduced yourselves a la We Are Family, and we want to hear from you again.  How do you consider youself privileged or underprivileged?  Are you a stay-at-home mama, work-at-home mama, work-out-of-home mama?  Are you single or partnered, car-free or car-less, straight or gay?  Are you white, black, brown, red or purple?  How do you feel marginalized or alientated by our conversations?  How can we, urbanMamas, provide you with more of a voice, represent you more? 

urbanMamas Facelift

A new year, a new us.  Do you like?  We've been meaning for a long time to overhaul the urbanMamas site, to create a fresh yet sweet and simple identity.  We were inspired by a photo that Shetha took nearly a year ago. But alas, urbanMamas is a labor of love for us; something we try to fit into our busy schedules.  Over the last year as we tended to our children, spouses, careers, and to the craziness of maintaining a somewhat balanced family life; the site redesign has sat simmering on the back burner.  We are thrilled though that our vision has finally come to fruition, and that we can continue to be a community for parents in Portland, both on-line and in real life.  We hope that you continue to visit often, and to let us know how we can make urbanMamas more useful and beneficial!

How's a mama to find her way?

Thanks to all of you, urbanMamas.com is chock full of information for all of us to share.  Thank you to everyone who continues to make this site a great online community for urbanMamas in Portland.  Now that you're here, how to find what you need?  Here are a few ways to get started:

Navigating the header:  Under the urbanMama header are some links to various parts of our site.  There you can click to the activistas site, calendar, childcare, exchange or school sections of our blog.

Recent Posts:  Most recent entries are listed in the lower part of the right column.  These are links to the last 10 entries made to urbanMamas.

Recent Comments:   I know, it's such a basic thing in the blogosphere, but on the right-hand bar, see what other urbanParents have been talking about recently (the most recent 15 are shown).

Categories:  In the lower-left, we've listed out how we break it out: by geography, by parenting topic, by theme.  The larger the font, the more entries within the category.

Search urbanMamas:  Below "Recent Posts" you will find a search field.  Enter the word or phrase you'd like to search for and click "search".

Sign up for updates:  Below the Search field is a place to sign up for updates in your e-mail.  It's an email-friendly way to catch a peek of what's been going on at urbanMamas for the week.

email us:  We're always happy to hear from you.  Send us questions, comments, suggestions, contribution ideas!  Have a suggestion on a new category or post?  Have an upcoming event and want to invite the urbanMamas?  Email us at urbanmamas@gmail.com.

Postings on the Childcare / Exchange Forum

So you wanna post a childcare related question?  Or maybe you have an opening at your childcare facility or preschool? Or maybe you want to rave about your fabulous nanny?  Or perhaps you're looking to sell / purchase, or pass along goods and services to fellow urbanMamas?  We're testing out a way to allow the urbanMamas community at large to post on the childcare and exchange forum.  Here's how it will work.  We've set up a junior level author account so that you can log into our blogging software directly to compose your question. 

1. Go to: Typepad and login using pdxmamas as your member name and as your password.

2. Select the appropriate forum.

3. Click on Begin a New Post.  Create a title, select the appropriate categories for the question, and create your post.  Please remember include at least a first name an email address if you would like to be contacted!

4. Once you've formatted, spell-checked, added the appropriate links, hit the Save button and it will go to us for review and moderation. 

We will post questions that are relevant and appropriate.  Posts will appear on our ChildCare Forum or Exchange Forum as soon as we can get to it.  We may also spread out posts if there are too many in a day.  Happy posting!

uM & inPortland

uM sends heartfelt thanks to Su-jin Yim (an urbanMama herself) and Olivia Bucks (an urbanMama-to-be) at the Oregonian for featuring urbanMamas in this week's inPortland, "Web site, offshoot click with city moms".
Thank you to all of your who've emailed support, and not just today.

For all of those new to the site: Welcome!

urbanMamas is an open community that thrives because so many mamas and papas care to share their experiences and thoughts with the rest of us. We are a valuable resource to one another, even though no two parenting experiences are the same. We love the respect that has grown among our community. We love the diversity among us - we are first-time parents, we are long-time parents, we are stay-at-home moms and dads, we are working mamas and papas. Thanks once again for making urbanMamas all that it is.

... a word from your uM admin ...

What we love most about the urbanMamas community is how it continues to grow and how it provides a dynamic platform for discourse.  We are a group of new mamas and veteran mamas, mamas of one, two, three, and more.  We each have different experiences; we welcome new thoughts.  urbanMamas began as an effort to build a strong, close-knit community, both online and in-person.  Almost three years later, urbanMamas continues to grow and we remain committed to all things *community*.

To further our community, we have started separate urbanMamas forums to help connect mamas and papas regarding specific issues.  Check out the urbanMamas forums and check back often!

1. The Childcare Referral Forum is designed for parents to help solve their childcare puzzles.  Us the forum to find a family for a nanny share, post information for a sitter with availability, see current daycare availabilities.
2. The Exchange Forum is a place where 'good mamas exchange mama goods & services'.  Looking for a tag-along for the bike?  Selling your well-loved mama or baby gear?  Offering your services as a professional chef/consultant/doula?
3. The Calendar, of course, is one of our greatest features.  We are so excited to have one place for everyone to share their favorite family-friendly activities.  Email us with calendar items and events!
4. The Activistas Forum is our newest addition to the urbanMamas family.  Many of us urbanMamas and urbanPapas are passionate about issues that affect our families.  The Activisitas site is designed to connect us with specific ways that we can impact larger-scale change.  We are partnering with established organizations and active community members who can make it easier to be involved in citywide and statewide change.  We hope to build a bridge to established efforts of activism and social change.  Our hope is that we can make it accessible for us, as concerned urbanParents, to make the world a better place!  As always, please email us with suggestions or comments.

As we continue to grow, we encourage you to: honor our cardinal rules, share more about yourselves, frequent the urbanMamas forums, get to know one another at urbanMamas gatherings, email us directly at urbanmamas[at]gmail[dot]com with post requests or any site suggestions, and consider sponsoring urbanMamas.  Oh, and don't forget to read the fine print!

Administrative note:  Typepad has recently (as of May 1) redesigned some things about their service.  One of the many "upgrades" they've introduced is the removal of e-mail links from comments.  Because they see this as protecting the commenter they have no plans to revert to posting e-mail links on the blog.  If you want your e-mail information available you have a couple of options.  1)  you can enter your e-mail address as your name (and sign your name to the comment if it's different from the e-mail).  or 2) you could include your e-mail in the comment text.  Sorry for the difficulty... we really do want you guys to be able to contact each other directly, it's just that this one is out of our hands.  URL links will continue to be posted in comments.

urbanMamas photos

Have you noticed? I love taking photos, and sharing them with y'all. I love taking photos of you, and your adorable children, and (naturally) my adorable children. And I want to see your photos, too!

Long long ago, we started the urbanMamas flickr pool. And, though a few have been added by some of my compatriots, it's mostly populated by me! Can you help make our photo story richer? We'll be developing tags to go with many of our more popular thread (starting with 'urbanChicken') -- if you tag your photo with the appropriate buzzword and add it to the urbanMamas pool, I'll feature selected photos in bi-weekly mosaics so those outside can see how wonderful life is in urbanMamaTown!

urbanMamas policy or r.e.s.p.e.c.t.

We have been talking about writing this for ages, and we finally came up with something on which we all agreed.

urbanMamas was created as a place for the frank and open exchange of opinions, information, and support for parents living in and around Portland, Oregon. We welcome readers and commenters to interact freely as long as you follow our two cardinal rules: treat others with respect, and be honest. We reserve the right to delete comments we feel are harsh and judgmental of one another; however, we support healthy debates given they follow rules #1 and #2. Please know that the opinions expressed here are opinions of a vast and diverse set of individuals, and treat them as such.

urbanMamas (temporary) Calendar

So, as you can tell, we've been implementing some new features on the site, the Exchange, the Childcare Forum, and - now - the Calendar.

The calendar is a temporary fix.  We'll hook up a way to get a snazzy calendar on the sidebar soon enough.  Until then, visit the calendar area to look around to see what's going on in the urbanMamas world.

Buy a Chinook at Milagros for uM!

Did ya see, did ya see?  Milagros, in an effort to support urbanMamas and Chinook Book, will donate $5 for every Chinook Book sold at Milagros from now until the end of the year. The Chinook Book 2007 could be a great gift for teachers or friends. So, hurry over to Milagros and know that each Chinook Book bought will also support urbanMamas.

If you'd rather make a purchase online, you can do so here.

Get your Chinook Book here!

We have been using the Chinook Book since we moved to Portland three years ago. We had bookful of instant suggestioins on organic food and dining, locally-made products, fun outings around town, and where to buy gear for different seasons or sports. What was even better was that we had coupons for them all!

urbanMamas.com has teamed with Chinook Book to raise funds to keep our online community going and growing. Purchase a book online for $22 (includes shipping) and $5 will be donated to urbanMamas. Support us and support local!

Now until December 31st, buy your 2007 Chinook Book HERE.

Picture THIS:: the urbanMamas logo

So, mamas, we think it's time for a li'l urbanMamas makeover.  Nike has the swoosh, Target has the bullseye, urbanMamas has the .... ?

We know that there are so many talented and creative urbanMamas.  We thought we'd tap your brains.  So, from now through the end of the month, we're having a little CONTEST!  Come up with an image to represent urbanMamas.  We're looking for something concise, fun, funky, warm, welcoming, modern, mama, inclusive -- you know, something so urbanMama.  Something that looks good on a onesie, on a mama tee, or on bumper sticker.  Of course, something that says 'urbanMama' on your computer screen.

Since this is a contest, of course there is a prize.  The creative mama behind the new urbanMamas logo will get a night of drinks with the founding urbanMamas and two free months of sponshorship.  We'll announce the winner in early October.

Thanks in advance for playing!  Tell all your friends!  And, as always, thanks for all of your support and for helping make the urbanMamas community a thriving place.

Get your e-mail here!

Sometimes checking blogs can be too many clicks to fit in before making dinner. So, to make things easier, we've now added a feature to allow you to get all the urbanMamas updates via email! Wow. Now if that doesn't make it easy! So, just sign up in the box to the right. Yeah, right there. Where it says: "Your email address:" and hit the button. Simple as that.

So you wanna be an urbanMama?

We welcome new contributors! Thanks for even considering it. We could tell you all the things you've probably heard before like "use active verbs" and yadda-yadda-yadda. But, here are some specific things we'll ask of you, as an urbanMama contributor.

Keep it short and sweet (KISAS). We're busy mamas, after all. Four paragraphs seem like a great length. We want to provide useful information, in a short and sweet format.

Headlines. Following the KISAS guideline above, we're looking for post titles that are descriptive and peppy, so readers can understand what post is like just from its headline. A general limit is six or seven words.

What to post? We want to share topics that encourage discussion about parenting topic, share and inform people of events (especially Portland-specific), review local service/product or hot new national trend. While there are times we love somethiing so much we want to explicitly post about it, we try hard to post about the concept and not the product. So, instead of specifically endorsing Kindercare or Starbucks or Nordstrom, for example, we want to share our specific experience with the product or service.  It's especially helpful if we can compare experiences with several different services/products in the same category.

"About Me". Please send us a bio for us to post on the "About Us" page.

When? Finally, while we have no absolute minimum contributing frequency requirement, please just let us know how often you plan on posting.

Support Us!

urbanMamas.com was born in late 2004. urbanMamas is a community, online and in person, where we can come to share support, comeraderie, griefs and joys. Currently we reach 40,000 unique visitors monthly, and the community continues to grow.

Sponsor urbanMamas now! Your logo and link will be prominent in the upper-left side bar, seen by thousands. You will contribute to urbanMamas' ongoing programming, events, and daily postings about all things urbanMama.

Rates (includes your logo 150 pixels wide by 75 pixels tall and a link to your site):
$25 for one week

$65 for one month

$175 for three months (a 10% discount)

Stated sponsorship rates are for images no larger than 150x75 pixels.  Rates for logos larger than 150X75 begin at 25% above standard sponsorship. We reserve the change the rates at any time.  Due to limited space and to ensure that you will be receiving the most value for your sponsorship, a limited number of sponsors will appear on our site at any time.  Logos will rotate on a weekly or bi-weekly basis.  Check with us to see when a spot will open up before sending your payment.  To purchase, please Click the "Buy Now " button for the appropriate amount and email us your logo. Your sponsorship will be up for all the urbanMamas to see within two business days. Thanks for your support!

* Please note, there is currently a waitlist for urbanMamas sponsor spots.   Please email urbanmamas@gmail.com for availability. *

urbanMamas: our disclaimer

urbanMamas is produced by a few dedicated mamas, who mostly work fulltime outside the home on endeavors other than urbanMamas. The growing urbanMamas community is a labor of love. While we try our darndest to respond to requests in a timely manner (our goal is to respond within a day!), we ask that you give us up to 5 business days to respond to emails. We apologize in advance if we somehow overlook your email in the shuffle.

We do not want to censor comments that are made by members of our community. urbanMamas was designed to foster and encourage open and honest commentary and discussion. However, urbanMamas reserves the right to unpublish comments deemed to be detrimental to the openness we strive to achieve.