About Us

Welcome. Come closer, we have a secret. Staying home with a baby all day can be boring. That’s why we started this blog. And wrote this book.

Ancient History
When we met, Kurt Cobain was already dead, but people our age were still dressing like him. Many years and a couple of overpriced bridesmaids dresses later, our shared obstetrician literally left newly-pregnant Heather waist-down naked on the exam table to run across the street to the hospital to be with past-due pregnant Whitney waist-down naked on the delivery table. In the months that followed, we shared the experience of first-time motherhood, learning about our new sons and also about our new selves. We share an affinity for tracking things. Motherhood has provided us a whole new world of things to count and record: pounds of baby, ounces of milk, hours of sleep, weeks of life, minutes of crying.

About Whitney and Heather
In 2005, we were both working part-time and spending the rest of our days caring for our first babies. But we noticed that those babies never suggested anything interesting to do. They never said, “Mom, let’s go buy you some new jeans and a latte.” We started writing down our own ideas for fun things to do – with our babies in tow. We live less than two miles away from each other and could do many of these things together.

We put together this website to share our inspiration and adventures with other moms. We hope you’ll comment and provide your own spin on any of the activities we suggest.

Sometimes for new moms, it’s hard to think (admit it, you agree) and it’s just nice to be told what to do. Here we are. We’re telling you.

About Whitney (as told by Heather)
Whitney is crafty, fun, stylish, and original. She is always up for some creative hand-made project. She impressed me with her knit caps from the first day we met, but it wasn’t until she had a room full of “normal” people decorating onesies with fabric paint, stencils and stickers for my baby shower that I knew she could bring out the creativity in all of us. I left that day with a stack of onesies-of-a-kind (can I say that?).

She inspires me to be a better mom and have fun along the way. It’s true I have selective amnesia about how hard it all may be for her, I only noticed the smiles and laughter in between her baby Julian’s tears. When my husband went back to work, Whit took the day off her own job to teach me the mysterious ways of life on maternity leave. She took me on my first outing to the grocery store, made me lunch, talked me out of my ill-fitting maternity jeans, and helped me get a nap. What a woman!

Whitney challenges me to let go of my need to control everything (even though the pedometer was totally her idea) — please note that I am missing a full 3 days of data thanks to her intervention. She (sort of) tracked her own children for about five days and then decided she’d rather spend time out and about. Julian was born in October 2004 and Scarlett was born in July 2007.

About Heather (as told by Whitney)
This crazy chick used to track guests in an excel spreadsheet DURING her parties. Now she has two cutie pie sons and a cutie pie husband all of whom will probably go crazy over the next 65 years as she enters their every move into a spreadsheet. Holden was born in May 2005 and Milo was born in February 2007. Both boys have 8 full months of data about their unique eating/sleeping habits recorded for her reviewing pleasure. Charts comparing the two boys are available to anyone who is interested. Baby Sawyer joined the family in September 2011; charts are all digital.

When Heather saw me in the hospital after my son was born, even though I felt like I had been run over by a truck, she thought “That looks like fun!” When I came to see her after her son was born and asked if she felt like she had been run over by a truck, she looked at me with shock and asked how I knew that and what else had I forgotten to tell her. I would like to put in writing that I did not forget to tell her anything. She forgot to write it all down.

P.S. Things have gotten much much better since then.
P.S.2 Heather, the overachiever, participated in a triathlon 4 months after Holden was born.

Reaching Us
Parents with questions and comments for us should send email to moms (at) rookiemoms.com.
Folks who want to discuss product reviews should write to reviews (at) rookiemoms.com.

What is this site?
This web site attempts to answer the question of what to do with a new baby (and what to do with your SELF) every day. For those days when you have trouble dragging your butt out of bed because you don’t know what you’d do, we have ideas. We invite you to share your ideas with us too.

Do you want us to review your product or tell our friends about it? Here’s our review policy.

Newbies: If you’re just staring at that baby with a goofy/terrified grin and no idea what to do next, we have some ideas for you. We’re not your mother, we’re not your doctor, and we’re not a slick magazine trying to sell you products (although if we like one, we won’t be afraid to tell you about it). We’re just two geeky girls going through the same thing. It’s true your life will never be the same, but that’s ok.

Experts: If your baby is over 5 months old, we now consider you an expert. It’s time to start giving back and telling other moms what to do. Please post a comment wherever you see fit. We’ll try to incorporate your ideas to make this a richer resource for other chicks like us.

Our first book came out in May 2008. If you really like us, feel free to order it on Amazon and give a copy to everyone you know with a baby or baby bump. Our second book came out in May 2012.