Episode 247: Rediscovering Our Intimacy & Sexual Wellness in the Midst of a Pandemic with Rebecca Alvarez Story, Sexologist & Founder of @TheBloomi

Let’s talk about sex, baby! It is so important to be able to reconnect with ourselves during this tough time so why not start with our bodies. This week we talk to Rebecca Alvarez Story, Sexologist and founder of Bloomi, who comes to remind us of the benefits of tapping into our sexual wellness & intimacy. We cover all things sexual wellness; why stressors from covid could be affecting your sex drive, we talk about the importance of establishing a healthy relationship with sex from a young age, healthy masturbation habits, the cutest sex toys and much more. This is a super fun, informational episode we are sure you'll enjoy!

Before the episode, Paulina mentions that this episode has been previously recorded prior to Bricia’s

More about Rebecca Alvarez Story:  She is a proud daughter of Latinx immigrants and also focuses on diversity initiatives that empower other womxn of color. Rebecca graduated from UC Berkeley with a major she created, Women's Health & Sexuality, and holds a Master's in Sexuality Studies where she studied Female Desire and Arousal. In 2018, she founded Bloomi, the first marketplace for intimate care products with sex-positive content. Rebecca and the Bloomi team will be launching products focused on naturally increasing pleasure and arousal in 2020.

A respected Sexologist and social impact entrepreneur, Rebecca works with womxn, couples and teens to help them navigate a variety of sexual wellness topics and find holistic ways to maximize their sexual agency. She has been named a “Latina Trailblazer” by Forbes for normalizing conversations about sexual wellness. Rebecca currently lives in Oakland, CA with her husband and two daughters.

Our Conversation with Rebecca

Addressing our intimate relationships with our partner & ourselves in quarantine

The Covid baby boom

What can we be doing to de-stress with our partners when it comes to our sex drives?

What is Bloomi?

How to address sexual wellness & privacy with your child

Healthy masturbation tips

Rekindling intimacy with your partner and yourself

How to boost your sex drive

Crystal sex toys

How to choose the proper toys for yourself

Links

Follow Rebecca on Instagram @rebeccaalvarezstory and Twitter @_rebeccaalvarezs  

Follow Bloomi on Instagram and Twitter @theBloomi. Sign up for their newsletter for weekly tips, new clean intimate care products, and more on thebloomi.com.

A few of the sex toys we mentioned:

Crystal sex toys

Yoni Eggs - Are they good or bad for me?

Elvie Trainer

Ora 3

Luna Smart Beads

Arousal Oil

Episode 237: Keeping it Real with the Super Mamas - Positive Thoughts on the Rollercoaster of Qua-routines

It’s been a while since we’ve caught up with you and we’re all over the place! It has been 9 or 10 weeks since we’ve started practicing social distancing (depending on when you started). Between new quarantine routines with our families, starting to work out again and eating a lot, it has been tough learning to balance motherhood, kids, school, work, cooking, and intimacy during these wild times. After some lazy, junk food filled weeks, we found that sticking to routine and finding a new way to have “alone time” has really helped us feel better. In this week’s episode, we’re sharing what we’ve been doing to care for our families and especially ourselves. We’re all about staying positive, mamas! Life will get back to normal one day, but for now let’s remember to be kind to ourselves and take it one day at a time. 

Pick or Tip of the Week

We are sharing some good, relaxing tips because these are wild times we’re living in. 😂

Paulina’s pick this week is the Bloom app. She feels that she needs instructions when practicing mindfulness and she loves this app because it talks to you and tells you what to do, plus you can keep track of your feelings. It’s super interactive and gives you activities to do when you’re feeling a certain way. Try it out and let us know how you like it!

She has also really been into plant videos and propagating her plant babies, and has realized that watching plant videos are so calming! It’s her way of winding down at night. Check out this video about propagating plants and one of her favorite YouTube plant guys, Hilton Carter.

Bricia has been having gnat struggles with her plants, so she went on a deep research dive on YouTube about how to get rid of them and found a few products that have been helpful.

• Dual sided sticky gnat traps (also good for flies) - you out them in your indoor or outdoor plants and once the gnats get stuck there, they can’t reproduce.

• Neem oil - It smells weird but it works on all stages of insects so fingers crossed that it works!

• Mosquito bits - to put in your plant soils for the gnats to eat and then they can reproduce. We’re trying this in our backyards for summer nights too!

Bricia’s final tip is to speak positive words in people’s lives. If something negative is coming out of your mouth, rephrase it to be positive.

Let’s remember to be positive, be kind, and take care of your mind, sisters!

Episode 236: Balancing Our Technology Intake During Our Time at Home with Rocio Lopez of Common Sense Latino

After a quick break from our Super Mamas ZOCIAL, we’re here with a new episode! We’re still under the safer at home order, and we’ve been spending so much time watching tv and online, even after homework and work is done. It got us thinking about one of the last guests we interviewed before the lockdown happened - Rocio Lopez from Common Sense Latino. We decided to rerecord her interview for a better update on how we can have a healthy balance of technology during this newfound time at home.

We talk about setting up screen time schedule and tech free zones, child safety while online, and easy tech tips everyone can use while social distancing. She even shared her top technology tips and some free resources below! Every family and situations is different, so there’s no need to feel shame for extending tech time; luckily Rocio and Common Sense Latino will help us learn how to balance it all!

More about Rocio Lopez: Rocío López is the Community Partnerships Manager for Common Sense Latino and facilitates parent workshops and coaching on healthy media habits and wellbeing in the digital age. She is passionate about working in the community and providing free resources for Latinx families to thrive in this world of media and tech. Rocío regularly does segments on Univision LA about technology and parenting. A theatre teaching artist by trade, she has 15 years of professional experience coordinating youth and family programs in California and New York, as well as developing arts programs for children and foster youth. 

Rocio’s Top Tech Tips

1. Set up a screen time schedule for your household. Every child is different, but accommodate their schedule with your work schedule so they coincide.

2. Build in tech free zones and tech free times into your schedule. For example - not technology during meals, in the bed, during exercise, one hour before bedtime etc.

3. Have your kids use their technology in close proximity to you so you can listen and overhear what they’re doing & saying.

4. Be aware of your children’s behavior changes. Are they acting out because of the time they’re spending online (or not spending online)?

LINKS

Learn more about Common Sense Media and the free resources, like technology ratings & reviews for apps, books, games, movies, website and more, and everything else they offer on commonsensemedia.org.

Check out wideopenschool.org, a free resource site for educators and families with kids from kindergarten through 12th grade, for more activities and learning opportunities.

Follow Rocio’s adventures on Instagram or Twitter @itsRocioLopez 

Get FREE weekly bite-sized advice and tips right to your text messages, in English or Spanish!! Just text the word KIDS or FAMILIA to 21555

Episode 233: Quarantine Week #4: Getting Real on Grief & Loss with LMFT Joanne Koegl

Another week of quarantine went by, and with it came all sorts of feelings. On this week’s episode, we have Dr. Joanne Diaz-Koegl, Licensed Marriage Family Therapist, back on the show to help us sort out what we’re experiencing and feeling.

We talk about the stages of grief and the collective loss of our normality. Of course we are full of questions. How do we make sense of this new reality and how do we even explain that to our kids? Is it ok to be sad, angry or mad or do we have to be positive all the time? Know that there is no right or wrong way of feeling about this, whatever you feel, you have the right to feel. 🙏🏽❤️ We felt so much better and so much more normal after discussing our feelings with Joanne, and we hope this episode can provide more clarity for you too.

OUR CONVERSATION WITH JOANNE KOEGL

The stages of grief

What are some healthy ways to deal with what we’re going through?

What are some ways to explain to our kids what is happening? What is the correct amount of information to share with them?

How do we talk to our kids about death and grief that they’re feeling?

How do we create healthy spaces for ourselves & our significant others when we have to be together 24/7?

How do we tell others that it’s okay to grieve and that we don’t have to be positive all the time?

Pick or Tip of the Week

We brought back your favorite segment! We know not everyone is shopping right now, so we’re sharing our favorite tips.

Bricia’s tip this week are the new parental controls on Netflix. It’s hard to admit, but we’re all spending more time in front of the television right now, and Netflix’s parental controls gives you options to see what your kids are watching and regulate it. It’s a great way to block the shows you don’t want your children to watch and also to block the annoying shows you don’t want to listen to. 😂 Learn more about it on our blog.

Paulina’s tip is from her marriage class. Her homework that she’s sharing with you is to improve your communication skills with your spouse during social distancing. It’s a 10 day challenge where everyday with your spouse, you pray, play and please.

• Pray together or over each other;

• Play together - board games, workout, watch a movie, or do other activities with each other;

• and please each other for 30 minutes each - a foot massage, a long shower/bath while the other watches the children, etc.

Links

Listen to Victor Pierantoni, Bricia’s life coach, podcast - The Zen Stoic Podcast

Learn more about the services Joanne offers and book a Zoom session with her via her website.

Books mentioned by Joanne - “On Death and Dying” by Elisabeth Kubler Ross and "Finding Meaning: The Sixth Stage of Grief" by David Kessler

Episode 231: Week #2 in Quarantine: Coronavirus Chat with Dr. Ilan Shapiro

Another week in quarantine, another zoom interview. This week we speak with Dr. Ilan Shapiro, about the coronavirus. There is so much information about COVID-19 out there and it can be overwhelming to continue watching the news. We put together a list of what we felt were the most important questions and Dr. Shaps broke it down for us. Dr. Shaps talks about why it’s important to stay home, the safest way to go to the supermarket, how to protect our families and so much more. The next few weeks of social distancing will be tough, but as long as we’re informed and doing our best to stay safe & healthy, we will get through this! 

Our Conversation with Dr. Ilan Shapiro

What is the Coronavirus?

Why are cities shutting down?

Why is it so important to stay home?

What measures should we take if we need to go out? 

Does wearing masks and goggles work or not?

What is the safest way to go to the supermarket? 

What about vegetables? Can we spray disinfectant on those?

What’s an allergy vs a cold vs coronavirus?

How can we protect our families?

Links

CDC Coronavirus Guidelines

World Health Organization - Coronavirus

The President’s Coronavirus Guidelines for America

How to Protect Yourself & Others from the Coronavirus (CDC)

How to Wash Your Hands Properly (CDC)

Episode 230: Keeping It Real with the Super Mamas: Quarantine Week #1

Social distancing isn’t going to stop us from bringing you a new episode! On the show this week, we’re catching you up on our lives during this quarantine. All kinds of great things that are happening now that we’re stuck indoors - Paulina is spending more time with the girls (even though they’re fighting every day 🤣) and Zixta is finally potty trained! Bricia is still working out every day and doing art studio time with Eduardo, and they’re also spending more time with their dog, Diego. 

Even though we are feeling stressed and anxious, we’re using this time to think positively, be grateful and tap into our creativity with art & cooking. Have you seen Paulina’s #supermamasgratitudechallenge on Instagram? Check out the video to learn more about how you can stay positive while we’re all at home these next few weeks. Will you make a gratitude jar to remember to stay thankful when all of this is over? 

Pick or Tip of the Week

Bricia’s tip for this quarantine period is don’t throw away your recycling items: boxes, egg cartons, and packing supplies! Kids don’t need toys because they can create so much with leftover boxes, paint, stickers, markers, glue and more. All you have to do is look online for crafts, for example, google “egg carton craft” and you’ll find a variety of activities to choose from.

Paulina’s tip is the gratitude jar from her IGTV post. You can use it as a reminder of all the good things you have going on in your life regardless of the situation we are currently experiencing. Have your family add to it everyday and at the end of this social isolation, go through all the papers and know you survived something so tough. it’s a way to stay grounded and connected with the family during this tough time. 

Links

Support small businesses!

Order family meals online from Guelaguetza for easy curbside pickup! You can also order delivery via DoorDash and Grubhub. You can also order our mole or cookbook to recreate your favorite dishes at home.

Order your favorite I Love Micheladas mix to quench your thirst for the next few weeks, and to get prepped for summer!

If you’re celebrating a birthday during the social isolation period (and when the quarantine is over), check out @lotuspartyco for balloons and more!

A comic for exploring coronavirus with your kids - a printable worksheet from NPR

How to make a zine fro one piece of printer paper - an activity for the kids