Meet Heather, a Southfield Mom!

Hello fellow Metro Detroit Moms! I’m Heather Todero, a small town Iowa girl who moved to Michigan in 2008 to attend Oakland University (Go Grizzlies!) and then met a boy, married him, and I now consider myself to be officially transplanted. I am so excited to join DMB as a contributor and talk all things mom with all of you ladies. I have become so passionate about learning all there is to figure out in this new mom life.  As you can see from my initial photo in this post, I try not to take myself to seriously, this is especially true with selfies–I just can’t do them seriously! Anyway, here we go! 

My husband, Vince, and I got married in 2012 at the Farmington Civic Theatre, I’m a sucker for small towns and we enjoyed living there for two years. We then moved to Troy and had our son, Atlas, in July of 2014. I’m one of those women who LOVED being pregnant, even with the massively swollen feet and the hip pain and the heartburn. I never felt more beautiful and amazed and proud of my body.

Atlas has been a joy since the beginning. He is a precocious 20-month-old and keeps me on my toes. His current favorites are puppies, Star Wars, and dunking everything in water. He is a very social child and thrives when he can entertain people. He’s a pretty even mix of Vince and I, and it is interesting seeing our own characteristics come out in him. 

In December of last year we bought our first house in Southfield and we have been slowly putting our spin on things and making it feel like our own. We officially moved into our house at the end of January and have slowly been exploring things in the area that are NOT Home Depot.

Here are our current family favorites:

My family has a major sweet tooth and Donut Bar  being around the corner from our house has been a blessing to our taste buds and a curse to our waistlines! This cute new donut shop has a wide variety of unique donuts, shown here are fruity pebbles, peanut butter cup, and something covered in chocolate. They also have coffee if you need a caffeine pick-me-up as well. Highly recommend stopping in and grabbing a box next time you host brunch or want to suck up to your coworkers. 

Detroit Kid City was such a blessing when we were moving, it was a place out of the house that I could have grandparents take Atlas to play for a couple of hours. There are so many fun things for the kids to play with and build their imagination. Atlas loves the art projects and mom loves the coffee. It’s a great place to meet up for a play date, too! The also just opened a location in Clinton Township for East-siders. 

I have so many memories of the library in my youth, the way the books smell, summer reading programs, playing the newest computer programs, and paying late fees – I always have late fees, I’m a procrastinator to my core! I was so excited when I walked into the Southfield Public Library and so was Atlas. They have story time twice a week for toddlers, many other youth programs, and SO MUCH TO DO! If you want a fun couple of hours but don’t want to shell out any cash, get yourself to the library. And while you’re at it, there is a park across the parking lot with every sporting court you could want, nature trails, a playground, an ice rink, and a water park. We will be there a lot this summer!

After eating too many donuts I decided I also needed a place to burn some of those calories off and I headed straight for the Birmingham YMCA. The YMCA is so much more than a work out facility, it truly is about community and I love that. I want Atlas to know that he has a place to go to burn energy and he can’t wait until he can play basketball in the big gym but for now he’s enjoying Child Watch while mommy and daddy sweat it out in cycling class. 

There are so many great parks around Southfield and we will be checking them all out now that the weather is warming out. I was so impressed with Inglenook Park when we visited. The snow had just melted so there were a ton of puddles which made for some fun splashing but there is so much to explore here. And a bonus is so much of this park is handicap accessible. Atlas can swing for hours but also enjoyed climbing and sliding and running around. There’s a walking path and sports fields here too, lots to keep the whole family busy. 

That’s my top 5 for now! I look forward to learning more about Southfield and getting to know more local hot spots. And I look forward to interacting with all of you moms more here on DMB, Thanks for having me!