Hi! I’m Sandra and I’m mama to a two and a half year old son named Leo and a four month old daughter named Zoe. I co-parent these two precocious kids with my true love, best friend and college sweetheart jb. jb and I will be celebrating a dozen years together this March. I’m pretty sure that’s the doughnut anniversary – looking forward to that.
We live in Philadelphia where jb works at a neighborhood advocacy organization and I stay home with our children. Before kids I, too, worked at various social and economic justice non-profits. Now that I no longer work as a professional activist I try to stay engaged and I bring the kids along for the first hand civics lesson. My hope is that they grow up with the feeling that they can make (are making) the world a better place.
In our family, I go by “mama” and jb goes by “dad.” jb choosing to go by “dad” took some getting used to for some of those close to us, but now it just fits. We created our family with the help of a known donor – in fact, our donor is one of jb’s brothers. Using a known donor was the right decision for our family and I can’t imagine it any other way. jb and I both come from tight-knit families and are close with our (seven!) siblings and parents.
My mother immigrated to this country from Mexico before I was born and worked very hard to make sure I grew up speaking both English and Spanish, learning about Mexican culture and visiting family. Now I am doing my best to raise my own children bilingually and with a strong connection to their Mexican heritage.
I’m the first to admit that I’m figuring out this parenting thing as I go – but I try to be thoughtful about my choices and actions and I strive to model and instill kindness, peace and joy. We try to be kind people, responsible citizens and good neighbors. We, along with our fellow non-traditional and progressive families, are working to reclaim “family values.” I blog about parenting and my family at www.westphillymama.com and tweet at @westphillymama.
I’m super excited to be a part of this virtual space. I’ve found so much support, information, and community in online spaces throughout my parenting journey. I hope to write here about the many ways our identities (not just queer, but all our identities) impact and shape our parenting – and of course about how adorable my children are. I’m also thrilled to see Mabel’s Labels sponsoring the launch of this site. Family friendly companies stepping up to support the voices of LGBTQ parents warms my heart. Looking forward to writing, reading, exchanging ideas and meeting new people – let’s get this show on the road!
Tag your pics #villageq to be included in the family album at 