About

Welcome to CloudMom!  My name is Melissa and I started CloudMom after the birth of my fifth child, Marielle! On CloudMom, you’ll find expert parenting advice (ha!) from yours truly on babies, toddlers, and life with kids.  I vlog/blog several times a week on all sorts of practical topics that come out of my life as a mom — from how-to videos on baby’s first year, to time-saving tips, to our favorite family recipes, to reflections on those beautiful, crisp moments that make you feel like a mom to your very core.  Oh, and once in a while on a Monday, I try to be funny. I’m having the time of life raising my kids and I learn something new everyday about making things work better in my family.  Thanks for joining me on my journey as a mom and please tweet to me, comment on the site, or email me if there are topics you’d like me to cover!  You can watch a snapshot about how CloudMom came to be in this video here and read a bit more on me and my lovelies below.  Hope to see back here soon!  xo Melissa

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In this picture (we’re headed for Church, so believe me, we’re not always this dressed up, ha ha), I’m holding my little angel Marielle with her favorite sparkly shoes, and I’ve got my 4 year old Annaliese, Lachlan or Lachie for short whose my 8 year old sweetie-pie, Beckett who is 6 and always has a gleam in his eye, my sweetie and love of my life, Marc, and our oldest Cloudbaby and the leader of the pack, Hedley!  Thanks to my talented pal and neighbor Ryan Brown for getting my kiddies to smile at the same time!

We live in New York City but I’m a small town girl.  I grew up one of four children in Windham, Connecticut, an all-American small town. So small that we only had a library, a post-office, and one small store where you could buy hard candy.  My sister and I spent our summer days walking to and from that candy store!  My Dad is from Queens, NY and he met my mother (who is Swedish) at a party in NYC in the 60’s.  My Mom has a huge family in Europe so we’ve got loads of cousins, aunts and uncles over there.

Coming from a big family, I’d always wanted one of my own. I guess it just doesn’t feel like home to me without the sounds of multiple pairs of feet scurrying around or a pile of backpacks and little shoes by the front door.  I’m a neat freak at heart, but am learning every day a little more how to let things go (like the pile of shoes) and just breathe and enjoy.  I talk about stuff like that on CloudMom all the time…

I founded CloudMom in the spring of 2011, shortly after the birth of Marielle. Marielle was my fifth baby in 6 and a half years, and I breastfeed for over 6 and a half years as well.  Phew!  Although I loved every second of it, I definitely had my ups and downs.  Still, with each baby, things got easier.  With Hedley, I barely managed to get out of the house, let alone breastfeed, pump, do laundry, wash dishes, or wash my hair.  By the time Marielle came along, however, I was more entrenched in my own little routines.  I had so many little experiences under my belt that made me more confident as a mom, and I felt I just had to share what I’d learned with other new and expecting moms. Thus, the birth of my sixth baby: CloudMom.

In my how-to videos, vlogs, and blogs, I offer tips and advice based on what I’ve learned along the way, plenty of mistakes and all. My hope is to make your life as a mom easier or at least, give us all a good chance to step back and take a deep breath!

Thiago DaCosta

Thiago DaCosta

Director of Baby's First Year Videos

When Marielle was born, I called up Thiago and asked him to come around and film videos of me doing things with my baby.  He was not married then, and didn’t have kids.  Imagine the look on his face when I started talking about all the aspects of breastfeeding and changing diapers?  Hilarious.  One of my favorite moments was listening to Thiago say with a heavy but charming Portuguese accent: “Take tree, een-gorched breasts!”

A native of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Thiago has worked as a video production and post-production professional in the US and in Brazil on projects broadcast on FOX, NETFLIX, AMAZON, A&E, VH1, FOX SPORTS, PBS, MTV Brazil, TV Norge, Germany’s Pro7, VICE.COM and many other networks and outlets. 

He owns and operates Figura Media, a Los Angeles based production company that produces programming all over the US, and Brazil Production Services, a production services company that services international clients with film and video projects shooting in Brazil.

Marielle

Marielle

Official CloudMom Baby

Marielle is a featured guest on CloudMom. My fifth baby, she began appearing in CloudMom videos when she was just 4 months old. Some of her earliest appearances include “How to Change a Baby’s Diaper,” “Lap Burping” and almost all our videos on baby clothes.  Marielle is a real trooper!  I hope that when she’s a teenager she won’t be upset at me for including her in the “How to Breastfeed” video!  You’ll see her on Instagram and Facebook now and she’s just starting pre-school (sniff)!  I’m all about the babies, so as I watch her grow, I smile with pride yet tears come to my eyes that she isn’t my little pumpkin seed anymore.  Filming the videos on strollers and babydom keeps me close to the baby world, which I love.

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