Offbeat Mama | Ariel's Updates

This is Offbeat Mama’s archive of Ariel's Updates posts.

Ariel chimes in on what's rocking her world lately.

Most Recent Posts About Ariel's Updates

3300 miles, 11 days, 7 states, and one epic Google Maps failure

Last week Dre and I got home from our first family road trip, an epic 3300+ mile drive over 11 days and seven states. (Betcha didn't even notice I was gone — Stephanie's that good!) In retrospect, we tried to cover way too much territory, going in a loop from Seattle to Moab/Grand Canyon/Sedona and then back up through Vegas to the Redwoods and then home up the coast.

But taking a road trip with a baby (or rather, OUR baby — some kids just hate the car) was a great experience. In part because it felt like it set a good precedent for our family traveling and having adventures together, and in part because at times I was terrified — and pushing through the terror helped me feel more confident as a parent.

We converted the walk-in closet of our one-bedroom condo into a nursery. You may be asking yourself, "Self, how'd that whole Ariel-sticking-her-baby-in-the-closet thing work out?

I struggled with infertility for five years before conceiving my son … and a big part of the challenge was the fact that it was a secret. Maybe it's time to tell my story. You should know, this is a long, long story.

This weekend we did our first flight with the baby (he did great!) down the Bay Area where I was doing an Offbeat Bride reading. On Sunday, we headed inland to Napa to visit an...

This last weekend Andreas and I packed up our new/old Westfalia (aka The Vantasy) and headed to Washington's Deception Pass for our first family camping trip. Granted, this...

A couple months into my pregnancy, my mom gave me and Andreas a gift certificate for 12 hours of private Hypnobirthing training with a certified instructor. The initial lessons...

The grandmas, they circle like vultures! This is the story of what happens when two children of lesbians (each their mother's only child) have a kid. The short version of the...

Dre and I have already gotten super used to baby-wearing, so using the stroller felt like a huge novelty. You mean, the baby sits in there? And I push this thing? And we walk behind it?