The Washington, DC area is full of amazing moms. There are working moms, stay-at-home moms, single moms, moms of multiples, foster moms, adoptive moms, etc. We want to highlight some of those moms like Kayla Connor. Each month we will feature one special mom as the Mom of the Month. Know a fellow amazing local mom here? Nominate them here!
Meet our June Mom of the Month: Kayla Connor
Kayla Connor is an attorney working in health insurance policy, a Junior League of Washington volunteer, and a new mother. She lives in Takoma, DC with her husband, Jerry; daughter, Caroline (Cici); and cats, Cooper and Tom. She is originally from New Jersey and attended college and law school in Boston. She loves birdwatching and being outdoors, and has been a vegetarian for over twenty years.
In March Kayla co-chaired Tossed & Found, the Junior League of Washington’s annual rummage sale. Proceeds from the sale advance the League’s mission of improving our community through the effective action and leadership of trained volunteers. The sale also donated hundreds of items to community members.
When she wasn’t working or at the Tossed & Found sale site, Kayla is usually strolling Cici around Takoma, and visiting People’s Books, Lost Sock Roasters, the farmers’ market, and Donut Run. She’s getting back into lifelong hobbies of reading and baking now that the baby sleeps more consistently! She’s planning to resume traveling when Cici is a bit older; Kayla and Jerry traveled extensively before the baby was born, including Italy for their babymoon and a safari in Kenya in 2022.
Here is our Q&A with Kayla Connor
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How has your involvement in community service impacted you as a parent?
Prepping for Tossed & Found is a huge time commitment that has required me to be really intentional about how I spend my time, both in general, and with Cici. She comes to most of my shifts at our sale site and my husband carries or strolls her around so we don’t have to spend so much time apart.
Through volunteering with the Junior League I have met so many generous, kind, and talented women and I’m so happy my daughter will grow up with these women around her. Even though she’s still so little, she is watching all of these women volunteering and I hope to instill in her a spirit of voluntarism (for now she just loves all the friendly volunteers talking to her).
2. What is your favorite aspect of parenting in Washington, DC?
There are so many amazing accessible places to bring your baby. Cici is only three months old and she has been to the National Gallery of Art several times because it’s nearby and is a great, climate controlled place to stroll a baby around for a few hours.
There are tons of activities and story times for kids in Washington, and other parents out and about with their kids. Living in the city makes it so easy to just pop out with the baby in the stroller for just an hour or two since so much is nearby.
3. Any tips for new Moms in the area?
Connecting with other new moms and getting out with the baby has been so important for me and there are so many ways to do that here. Consider joining a PACE group, which are small groups of about a dozen women whose babies were all born within a few weeks of each other who meet each week and share and learn about parenting. The facilitator and other women in the group taught me so much and really helped me in the early weeks postpartum.
Babies grow so fast so getting clothes and supplies secondhand can be really helpful (and helps keep clothes out of the landfill!). My husband picked up the first outfits we ever bought for Cici at Tossed & Found’s Children’s Trunk Show when I was just a few weeks pregnant. We’ve also gotten some great things from our neighborhood Facebook Buy Nothing Group and other parents whose babies are a few months older than Cici.
Do you know an amazing mom like Kayla Connor? Nominate a mom of the month here!
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