Carefindr

03/11/2022

Next week is my daughter’s spring break, and I have vacation on the brain! We’re meeting friends in the Dominican Republic for some much needed beach time. I’m definitely excited for our first vacation in over a year, but also a *bit* apprehensive about our first time traveling with a 2 year old and a 9 month old (heh heh…nervous laughter)

I started Googling “tips for traveling with babies” and came across an amazing blog post by The Expert Beginner, a military mom who has done her fair share of traveling with small kids. Her advice made a lot of sense (screen time is your friend, snacks and more snacks) but some of her tips were less obvious. Here are some of my favorites, in case they’re helpful to you!

- Monkey Mat - a tiny, portable picnic blanket to put on the floor so your baby can crawl around without touching airport nastiness
- Disposable place mats for the tray tables
- Collapsible travel drying rack for bottles
- Cloud Baby Monitor app - watch your baby sleep on your iPhone or ipad
- Mask chains (can get them on Etsy) so your kid’s mask doesn’t fall on the dirty floor again…and again

Any travel in your future? If not, let’s daydream a little - - where is the next place you want to go when you have the chance?

02/24/2022

When’s the last time you did something for yourself? Not a trip to the gym (that’s just another box to be checked, let’s be honest), not a TV show, but something that truly restores you?

As I’ve mentioned before, travel is one of my favorite ways to get perspective and feel alive. Before I had kids, I famously dropped everything and went to India with two weeks to prep ( thanks for the encouragement!), bought a ticket to Thailand for a solo trip and hopped on a plane three days later. Now that I have kids, I clearly can’t do the spontaneous thing anymore, but when my old, dear friend told me we needed a belated 40th birthday trip, we made the arrangements and snuck away for three glorious days. (Huge shout out to our partners for holding down the forts at home!) We felt that we needed to reconnect with our spiritual selves and Sedona was calling to us.

I was throwing tank tops and shades in my suitcase, but luckily checked the weather before we left. Sedona was due for a huge snow storm they day we arrived. We were so disappointed that we weren’t going to have that sunny vacation we were dreaming of, but when we saw the snow on the red rocks, it was pure magic.

Please give yourself a gift this year. Whether it’s travel, or simply a day to yourself to read magazines or walk in nature, do whatever you do to recharge as a human being. Get a sitter, or ask a friend or relative to babysit. Parenting is a hard job. You deserve it!!!

02/15/2022

Hi, I’m Molly Cavanaugh. Mom to Ellie and River, wife, friend, dreamer, world traveler, culture ju**ie, yogi, certified meditation instructor + tech professional with a 20 year career and no intention of slowing down. Oh, and philosopher, obsessed with the idea of living life well. Thanks for being here!

When I had my daughter, it was hard for me to hold onto all of these parts of myself. The learning curve was so steep and problem-solving my postpartum recovery plus Ellie’s early development consumed me. It felt like whack-a-mole - - as soon as I solved one problem, another one popped up. In my sleep deprived state, I just wanted to ask someone what to do and get a quick, easy answer. Not pay for hours of professional consultations, not show up to pre-arranged new mom meetings and listen to lots of generic advice, not end up in Google rabbit holes where I was inundated with quantity over quality. Just quick, trusted answers so I could go back to living my life. Parenting training wheels, if you will.

I stepped down from my job this fall to start Carefindr, a problem solver for today’s modern parent. My vision is a world where parents feel supported. Where they can be great parents AND live a balanced life, with fulfilling careers, healthy relationships with partners or friends, wellness rituals, whatever they need to THRIVE as humans, not just survive. How will I do this? By giving parents back one of life’s most precious commodities: time.

Hope I can help you hack parenting, and, at the same time, life. Because being a whole person is the best type of parent you can be.

11/18/2021

As a working Millennial mom of two under two, I often turn online for parenting help. I have zero time and not much family or community support. However, it’s hard to find information online that I can trust. Enter: Carefindr. A mobile app that provides parents with quick answers to their questions from peers and child rearing professionals. Thank you and for considering me for a $10,000 grant toward my MVP!

11/09/2021