Authors
Meet the CuddleBugs bloggers!
Dusti Coacher
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My name is Dusti Coacher. I was born in Florida and lived there for a majority of my life. I spent most of my childhood annoying my two older sisters and playing outside (mostly in the dirt). As I got older, I started to do more girly things like play with Barbie’s, but I still love to play in the dirt from time to time. My Mom and Dad are wonderful; I hope that I can be half as good at parenting as they are. My parents, sisters, nephews, and the rest of my family are still in Florida; thanks to technology we are able to remain close while I am away from them.
I lived in FL until about three years ago when I moved to North Carolina with my husband, Ryan. We currently live in Jacksonville and will be here until Uncle Sam moves us to a new area. I recently graduated from school where I studied to be an esthetician; I have always worked in the spa industry and love skin care. I am currently working at home as a wife and mom! Ryan and I welcomed our first baby to our family in mid September! It is safe to say that our lives have changed tremendously since Braylin arrived, but we would not have it any other way. When I have time, I like to play board games, read, relax at the spa, and of course spend time with my family and friends.
I spend most of my days changing diapers and playing with our two babies, Braylin and our dog, Layla. Layla is a Weimaraner and spoiled rotten; she is adjusting to not being the center of attention pretty well.
I enjoy being part of the MomTalk community. I look forward to learning about all of you and sharing our experiences with one another!
Sarah Boyle
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My name is Sarah and I am your new Tummy Time blogger! My husband and I are from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania yet we met while attending the University of South Carolina. It was a long way to go to meet when we grew up about fifteen minutes from one another. I played volleyball for the university and upon graduation moved to Austria to play professionally. After a year of professional volleyball in Europe, I came home to plan my wedding.
We married in the fall of 2007 and a week after moved to Jacksonville and have been here ever since. I have a 15 month old son, Michael, and one on the way. I am most excited for Michael to have a sibling and to see the similarities and differences between them. It always amazes me to see siblings who look so much alike but are completely opposite in every other regard, and vice versa. Before the news of our baby, we added a new member to our family, Peaches our Pomeranian. Until Baby Boyle arrives, Peaches will serve as a great play buddy for Michael. My husband and I want a big family so news of another one on the way was warmly welcomed. I am excited to compare my pregnancies and share my experiences with you.
Brynn Reese
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I grew up in here in North Carolina and attended Duke for my undergraduate and UNC-Chapel Hill for my master’s degrees. I moved up north to Boston after completing school and worked there for five years as an inner-city middle and high school history teacher. While in Boston, I met my husband, Chad, who was there for school, and we were married the summer of 2004. 2007 was a big year for us – we welcomed our son, Nathan, Chad finished school, and we moved to Jacksonville for a great job opportunity for Chad. Nineteen months after Nathan was born, our daughter, Emily, joined our family. Twenty-two months later, Joshua came along. I’m now a stay-at-home mom to my little brood, having “retired” from teaching after Nathan’s arrival.
When I’m not busy feeding, cleaning, dressing, and keeping up with Nathan, Emily, Joshua, and their dad, I enjoy reading, quilting, and going to the beach. I also still cheer for my beloved Blue Devils whenever the opportunity arises and thoroughly enjoyed last season’s national championship. Go Duke!
Life can be a little busy around here (hello – three kids under the age of four!), but I’m looking forward to sharing life with three active little ones with you.
Mamta Singh
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My name is Mamta Singh, I am a stay at home mom to two beautiful girls, a 3 year old and 5 weeks old. I am originally from Dallas, Texas but have lived in amazing places such as Alaska, Hawaii and now Coastal North Carolina. My husband and I have been together for 11 years and thought we lived pretty adventurous lives until we became parents!
I consider myself a “foodie”, always open to new and different culinary experiences. If I could live at a Starbucks, I would. I am a terrible procrastinator but deep down I’m a meticulous organizer (it just doesn’t come out very often!) I enjoy my job as CEO of my household but before that I was a Corporate Educator for Blue Cross Blue Shield Hawaii. I was very fortunate to have the option of staying at home with my daughter and now receive my paycheck in the form of hugs & kisses! Some other things I love:
travel, reading, live music, photography and spending quality time with friends and family!
Like other moms, I do my best to provide a healthy, stimulating and loving environment for my kids and I look forward to sharing my experiences with you!
Kelly Mulder
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I was born and raised in the Nation’s Capital – Washington, D.C. I was born into a large family and am the fourth of seven children. I have one brother and five sisters. I have always loved children and began babysitting at the tender age of ten.
I left home in 2000 to study Social work at James Madison University (JMU) in Harrisonburg, VA. In 2004 I graduated from JMU with a Bachelors of Social Work and a minor in Family Studies. I worked for The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) for four years after college. Working for NCMEC was a very challenging and rewarding experience. It taught me a lot about the world and about myself. Through working there, I got a better idea of how I wanted to parent. While working for the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children I went to graduate school at Marymount University in Arlington, VA.
The year of 2008 was a big one for me. Not only did I graduate from Marymount University with a Masters degree in Community Counseling; I also married the love of my life, Garrett, and moved to Jacksonville, NC to live with him. Garrett and I welcomed our baby girl, Nora, into the world May of 2009. Garrett and I hope to one day have many more children –possibly as many as 6. I am currently a stay at home Mom and thoroughly enjoy watching my daughter grow. One day I hope to have my own private practice where I can do individual counseling.
Brooke Brown-Pollard
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I am originally from Virginia Beach, Virginia but made North Carolina my home in 1992. I double majored in Sociology and Criminal Justice while in college and upon graduating I moved to Jacksonville and been in this area ever since. I got married in 2003 to Aaron, whom I dated throughout college.
My career has involved working with at-risk youth and assisting them in making their life better. I worked at Eckerd Youth Alternatives as a Family Worker for six years and I currently work as a Therapeutic Foster Care Consultant. I am also finishing up my masters degree in counseling and psychology in December.
While I have various educational and professional accomplishments, I feel that my biggest accomplishment is my son, Sayle Stephen. He was born March 25, 2009 and I truly feel like the luckiest mom on the planet. While I have found myself accosting people to show them pictures of my son, I have not succumbed to getting a mom haircut and wearing mom jeans.
My life is extremely busy with balancing my family, home, education, and career but I would not trade my new crazy world for anything.
Sarah Moore
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Hello! I am a former teacher, now a stay at home mom of a baby boy named Isaac (born 7-25-09) and a stepdaughter named Marissa (born 8-4-99). Originally from Maryland, I am the outdoorsy type who enjoys painting, reading, cooking, church and of course quality time with my family. Also, sock monkeys terrify me! I grew up in Ellicott City, a suburb of Baltimore, and went to a small arts college in Minnesota. I graduated in 2002 with a B.A. in Liberal Studies and an art minor, and went on to have no idea what I wanted to do still! I am the oldest of four children, and we all wandered for a little while before deciding on our career paths.
After realizing that all the jobs I have ever had involved children (babysitter, nanny, lifeguard, camp counselor, swim instructor, etc.) I chose teaching. I moved to North Carolina and taught at Camp Lejeune, then worked at an alternative school in the woods, which was an adventure, as well as an inspirational experience for me. I learned more about myself and life in general in those two and a half years than my entire time in college.
Life, for me, is all about learning; it is a beautiful, continuous, and sometimes painful process. The last couple years have been full of these educational experiences. I met and married a charismatic man named Chris and learned how to compromise and to laugh and not take life too seriously. I adopted two energetic pound puppies and learned how to balance love and discipline. We were awarded custody of Chris’s daughter and I learned how to be a good stepmom and handle my new family with care. We bought our first house and I learned how to juggle a job, chores and dinner. I got pregnant with Isaac and four months later found out he had a serious brain condition. That was when I found God and learned how to pray. I lost my job when the school closed due to educational budget cuts and learned how to accept help. I had an emergency c-section, found out the baby was perfectly fine and fell in love at first sight like never before. I learned that miracles happen every single day.
Erin Carey
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Hi my name is Erin Carey and I am the proud mama of Owen who is almost 5 months old.
I am married to a wonderful man named Paul who is in the Marine Corps. We moved to the area from California where I was practicing as a horse veterinarian. Since Owen has been here, I’ve taken a break from my vet job so I can stay home with him.
We enjoy playing, reading books, and taking our dog Axel for long walks. I can’t believe how much Owen has changed my life and I couldn’t be happier. I look forward to seeing all of Owen’s firsts and exposing him to new situations.
I started blogging for Mom Talk when I was pregnant and I enjoyed it so much that I have continued now that I am a new mother. I love writing about my experience as a first time mother and sharing stories, worries, and happy times with other mothers. I don’t know what will happen next but I look forward to sharing it with my readers!
