1) Could you start us out by telling us a little bit about yourself and your family?

We are the Bradley family! Billy is a classically trained actor and wellness coach, and I am a writer and stay at home mom. Our little one is Kaya Alaqua, who turned 4 in March.

2) Why do you think that so many families who dream of travel [mistakenly] believe that living abroad or a traveling lifestyle is out of reach for them?

I think families assume that travel is expensive. The thing that I have learned is that it really isn’t, IF one really does enough research. The thing is that some good hotels and guest houses are not listed on mainstream travel sites, so it takes either knowing a local or posting in a forum about places in your price range.

3) How do you keep the dream to travel as a family alive and in practice? How do you and your husband work with your own doubts when they creep in?

Well we did things by accident, very differently then other travel bloggers. We had initially wanted to move to Italy, but my husband kept stalling until eventually he said he wanted to live in Asia. Our dream has always been to live in Japan, although recently we decided we wanted to settle down in the UK ( I’m British and have family there). We left LA and went to South Korea, where my husband taught for a year. We adore Korea and really, deeply miss it, although that year was very challenging for us; we lost several family members and Billy was perpetually working. We then decided to spend a month in Phuket and headed over to Italy, where we thought we would settle down, but my husband really loved Phuket (and so did Kaya) so we moved back here!

We have made good and bad decisions but I am happy that we ‘felt the fear and did it anyway’. Our family is not too keen on us traveling, and it was a challenge finding work in Phuket, but we both really love our lifestyle and things have worked out well!

4) Many parents worry that traveling as a family means their children won’t have a greater sense of “home,” but you share in your blog that you are homesteaders and nomads. Can you tell us more about how you do both?

I think there is a lot of truth in that, but not the physical dwelling itself but the community. Our society desperately lacks community. In so many towns and cities, people barely know their neighbors. And there is so much criticism within some families that it makes it very hard for members to get along. But I think travel has taught us a lot about the necessity of community, and about just how important it is to find the right one for one’s family. Some people stay in the same hometown their whole lives, despite never fitting in, and I think they are missing out. Somewhere, there is a place where they will feel welcomed and have permission to be themselves. All in all, travel is a great teacher and can show a family or individual exactly what they are looking for.

5) Money and time seem to be the two biggest mental blocks for most people who dream of traveling with their families. Can you speak to both, offering us an example for each on how your family makes it happen and flourishes together on the road?

I can speak a lot about this subject. When we arrived here, the job we had lined up basically fell through. We were very scared, and had to think creatively. Billy found a local teaching job at a great school that offered him almost a part time schedule, and I’ve spent the last year attempting to work from home. I made a lot of errors but they all taught me my greatest lessons. The best advice I can give is to figure out what you like to do or can do/make, and then invest in educating in online marketing so you can sell your product or service. Digital Nomad Academy, Site Build It, and Keyword Academy focus on this, but a lot of popular ‘you can work from anywhere!!’ books don’t, they just repeat the same thing over and over and never get into marketing or how to make a landing page. For newbies I recommend Site Build It and Keyword Academy as well as reading 4 Hour Workweek.

You can visit the Bradley Family and their inspiring blog at sattvicfamily.net.

Meet Charlotte Kaufman, founder and owner of Red Charlotte, a popular baby carrier accessory shop on Etsy, and a Boba Babywearing All-star. Charlotte designs and produces all sorts of things to make life while babywearing even easier and more enjoyable for mom, dad and baby, like sucking pads and stuff sacks (she helped Boba in the early development of ours), and even recently released her own child-sized baby carrier for dolls.

But beyond the promotion that she and her shop do for the ease and joy of babywearing, she is a living example of enjoying life to the fullest and striking out on adventure with the whole family (in this case, her toddler girl, husband, and she).

I caught up with Charlotte recently to talk babywearing, business and living life outside of the box. She shared with us how beneficial it was to be hands-free by using a wrap and then a soft-structured carrier with Cora, her now 22-month-old daughter, especially for life on a boat. Charlotte and her family live on their boat Rebel Heart year-round and the joys and challenges that presents make for some creative problem solving!

On our second date my husband told me he wanted to sail around the world. This intrigued me. I love to travel and the idea of bringing my “home” with me was enticing. 10 months after our first date we bought our sailboat together. Living on a boat has truly been the foundation of our relationship so when we decided to have children there was never any doubt about having them on the boat with us. Cora is a boat baby through and through!

I became hooked on SSCs and started researching others as well. No one in my immediate family had ever worn their babies and I was the first of my local friends to have babies so I had no one to talk to or ask questions. I turned to the internet and found local babywearing mamas who were speaking my language! It is so helpful to have a support group of fellow babywearers.

Charlotte was a high school teacher and took a semester off to be home with her baby girl, but after the semester was over she didn’t want to leave her baby to go back to work full-time. It was her direct experience of babywearing and life aboard a sailboat that led her to sew her own now popular sucking pads (to keep her SSC in good condition) and stuff sacks (to keep her SSC wrangled up when not in use). After getting lots of positive feedback from friends, she turned to the idea of opening an Etsy store to share her creations at Red Charlotte was born.

There a lot of things I love about working on Etsy. They give you so many tools to help you succeed. There are a tremendous amount of tutorials and ongoing shop seminars. I also love that so many Etsy sellers are fellow work at home moms. I am blown away and inspired every day by the creativity I see on Etsy. I try to support fellow Etsy sellers as much as possible with my own purchases.

I never knew how hard it was to be a mother until I became one myself. Now I think my own mother is a SAINT! Being a working mom has its own unique challenges too but I’m so grateful that I have a platform like my Etsy shop because it gives me a lot of flexibility with my schedule. I can still take Cora on play dates or to swim lessons because I do a lot of my work in the evenings or during her naps.

Charlotte also co-authors a blog with fellow creative and photographer Ella Sherman called FinchFound. Covering motherhood, conscious consumption and design, the blog explores topics like babywearing and often features other work at home mothers and Etsy shops. Life on Rebel Heart has given Charlotte a keener sense of consumerism, and the blog often reflects ways to keep the “stuff” of life at a minimum while enjoying life to the maximum.

FinchFound gives me a space to show people why I love what I do. Living on a sailboat has forced to me truly think about everything I buy and whether I need it or not. I try to reflect this attitude in FinchFound. Many of my posts showcase items that are both beautiful AND useful and preferably sustainable or handmade.

We think her life on board a sailboat and conscious outlook in regards to consumerism and function are especially inspiring. There are a lot of families making “alternative” choices about raising their families, be it by simply reducing rampant baby bling, living in unusual locations or traveling with children long-term, and the parents of these “out of the box” families often express huge benefits that outweigh challenges associated with their lifestyle choices. As per living on a boat, Charlotte echos this notion; that a life chosen out of passion and inspiration leads to creativity and joy, and is easier than you think.

The benefits are many to raising a baby on a boat. We live very close to each other, and both my husband and I can quickly respond to her needs. Cora loves the wildlife that lives right outside our boat. She is always on the water either swimming, dinghy sailing, or paddle boarding with us and she gets lots of fresh air and sunshine.

The challenges are few. Laundry was difficult when she was a newborn just because there was so much of it. Bathing her also has been interesting. We don’t have hot or running water on the boat (we manually pump water via a foot pump). So we heat water on the stove to bathe her.  She has far less toys than most of her peers and that suits us just fine. There is plenty to do outside anyway!

When I asked Charlotte about her personal Babywearing All-stars, she had this to say:

I have to say the most important all-star in my life is my own mother. She didn’t know about babywearing and she had SEVEN children. Sometimes I wish I could go back in time like Marty McFly in Back to the Future and meet my mom and introduce her to babywearing. I think it would have helped her a lot. She is absolutely my biggest cheerleader. She has embraced the idea of babywearing wholeheartedly and tells all of her friends about it as well.

I am also inspired by my fellow babywearing boat mamas. We are a very close-knit (and small) community and we share tips and tricks for living our unique lifestyle. Lastly, my own local babywearing group, Babywearing San Diego has amazing leaders and members. I have to give a shout out to the entire group for their wealth of knowledge and support of my own San Diego business.

Thank you Charlotte, for all you do and for being a strong role model for babywearing mothers and adventurers the world over!

~ Heather

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Know a Babywearing All-star you’d like to see featured on the Boba Blog? Send me an email or tweet me to nominate a person or business and we’ll check them out! (Note: I’ll be on maternity leave after June 30, 2012, so if you have a recommendation to make after that date, email bethany@bobafamily.com, thanks!)

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

When I found out I was pregnant with twins six years ago, my first emotion was happiness but the second was fear. How would I manage a natural birth and practice attachment parenting with two babies at once?! Having a natural birth with multiples is absolutely possible despite the lack of support from mainstream media. I found lots of information about how twins are “always” premature and how you “have” to have a C-section and medication. Even now, doing research for this article I found tons of birth stories and videos of natural multiple birth but not much about how actually to have a natural multiple birth.

My biggest recommendation is one that works with all aspects of parenting and it is simply to listen to your gut and your body throughout the pregnancy and after. Think about what will make you the most comfortable at the birth, being at a hospital or being at home. If you’re not sure, interview doctors and midwives until you find the perfect fit. The person you choose to attend your birth is going to matter a lot more than it would for a singleton birth. Make sure they support your decision to birth naturally 100%.

Know that choosing a hospital birth will expose you to a lot more fear no matter how supportive your doctor. I favor thinking positively and just knowing that the birth will be perfect instead of thinking about all the what if’s and worrying about what could go wrong.

You also need to be confident enough in your birth choice and birth attendant that you can focus on your body while pregnant. One consistent recommendation I found to make sure a multiple pregnancy and birth goes smoothly is to take care of yourself as perfectly as possible.

The most important thing seems to be food. Focus on healthy food of course, but the amount of food and calories has a direct impact on the length of gestation. Moms of multiples need to eat a lot! Extra protein is especially important. Tons. Of. Protein. It builds body tissue and that’s a big part of growing a baby! The body is working hard to grow (at least) double the baby and placenta so lots of extra food is needed for those babies to stay in there as long as necessary. I used to try to eat something every half hour. I brought a cooler of snacks into bed with me at night so I wouldn’t have to get up!

Another good tip is to be active but not overdo it. Find a healthy balance and listen to your body. You want to be strong for the birth but all the extra weight can be rough on your body in the last few months. there’s new research that Kegels aren’t all they’ve been cracked up to be. Squats are one of the best things for mamas pregnant with any amount of babes! Squat down and pull weeds or wipe the floor.

Reading birth stories or watching birth videos are great inspiration to get pumped for your birth. Here’s one story  about a mama who had a homebirth with her twins to get you started.  Also watch the amazing mama’s video of her twin water birth at home at the top of this post. Try to only watch positive ones! Also, reading books about twins is good preparation. I enjoyed books about how and why twins are formed. Exposure to awesome births will help you visualize your own and how perfect it will be. Always think positively!

My twin girls were born at 39 weeks totally naturally with no issues or complications. Their birth was one of the most empowering times of my life. It made me passionate about natural birth and parenting, and although the whole experience was hard, I would never trade it. The fact that the birth went so perfect and easy when so many people thought it would end in a caesarian made me realize how completely natural birth is and it inspired me to have an unassisted birth for my next child. It’s also become a passion of mine to talk to other moms with multiples and especially moms pregnant with multiples in hopes to let them know that they can do it naturally too.

Stay tuned for my next “mom of multiples” post where I’ll tell about nursing twins and how I made it through the first six months by never leaving the house without my gigantic nursing pillow.

“Actually, I didn’t really set out to become a Fabric Designer.  An acquaintance of mine told me about Spoonflower (an online, on demand, fabric site) when it was still Beta, in the beginning phases.  I decided to try it out and after the first year I couldn’t stop, I was hooked!  It was like a missing piece of the puzzle.  I realized it was a large part of my passion as an artist and a unique way of expressing myself.  In fact, when I was 5 years old, my sister and I were lying in bed trying to fall asleep.  We asked each other what we think about before we fall asleep and I replied “I think of material.”  Little did I know how much that would become my reality and how much my family would tease me because of it!”

It’s no wonder that, with a story like that, Holli has quickly become one of our fav designers. Her inspiration springs from just about everything around us – magazines, design blogs, and appreciating her surroundings. Holli truly captures design elements that make all of us awe in amazement.

Naturally, when asked about projects she is proud of, Holli announced that Boba is something she is particularly proud of, and went on to say “The great thing about Spoonflower is how it opened the designing market right up! Because of this, I get approached by wonderful companies wanting to add my design style to their products.”

Holli has been listed as one of our Moms Who Inspire not only because we love her collection, but because she has built an incredible business based on her passion for design while being a loving, single mother to a beautiful little boy all at the same time.

Thank you Holli for being an inspiration to us all, and for helping create our beautiful carrier collection.

If you want to learn more about Holli and follow her work, please take a moment to check out her blog.

For those of you who are not familiar with Spoonflower, I encourage you to not only check out Holli’s amazing gallery, but to peruse the collections of all the designers sharing their passion with fans all over the world at www.spoonflower.com.

Courtesy of FoodNetwork.com

What is so amazing about Ree is that she never set out to be an author, blogger, homeschooler, rancher’s wife or television personality. She fell in love, moved from the city to the country, and shared her stories and recipes with the world. I love the Internet for the power it has to set passions on fire so that they can brighten the lives of others.

If you’ve never popped over to her blog, you’re missing out big time.

http://thepioneerwoman.com

For a sneak peek of Ree’s show, click below.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/the-pioneer-woman/video/index.html