Bay Area Crisis Nursery (BACN)

In our continuing support for the Bay Area Crisis Nursery, we donated 20 packs of underwear (mostly 3-5 pairs per pack) and 34 packs of socks (2-10 pairs /pack), 6 rolls of wrapping paper and some boxes and 2 tubes of Desitin during our Moms' Holiday Dinner and our Breakfast with Santa.  Thank you CCPOM Members!  As you may know BACN takes in children when their parent(s) are in a crisis and need some time. You can donate directly if you would like. BACN is in need of new Christmas gift wrapping paper, boxes, ribbons, scotch tape, gift boxes, tissue paper, gift bags, etc.  They accept donations 8:00am - 8:00 pm seven days a week.  Please call them if you can help at (925) 685-8052.

Underwear and Socks 

On October 7, CCPOM donated a grand total of $2400 to Bay Area Crisis Nursery. This donation includes money raised from at the 2013 Spring Convention which CCPOM hosted and money raised from our 2014 Spring Bingo Night.  We asked our CCPOM members to vote, and you voted for BACN.  These donations are the result of a huge amount of work from the Convention team, chaired by Heidi Johnson and Karis Coleman-Sink, and last May's Bingo Night hosted by Heather Dupree.  Way to go CCPOM!

"The Bay Area Crisis Nursery, establish 1981 is the only residential crisis nursery in the greater San Francisco Bay Area.  BACN is a PEOPLE helping PEOPLE organization supporting those parents who really want to help themselves.  We believe that seeking help before a child is abused is a positive, proactive parenting skill. Parents learn to recognize situations that lead to loss of control.and place their children in a safe environment while they deal with the crisis.  Our outcomes are whole and healthy families with improved coping and parenting skills, and children free of abuse."  If you are unfamiliar with BACN, we recommend you visit their website.  Their cause will touch your heart!
http://www.bayareacrisisnursery.org/our-program/

Allison Buck, Jennifer Martell, Karis Coleman-Sink, Anne Swanson 
(founder Sister Ann Weltz with BACN)
Beth Brown, Lizzy Weiss and Heather Himenes

Meet our 2014/2015 Co-Presidents

Dawn Bohlmann

Hello! My name is Dawn Bohlmann and I am happy to be serving as your 2014/2015 Co-President.  I feel very fortunate to lead our fabulous club again this year in the role as Co-President with Anne.   In 2012/2013 I was the club’s Northern CA Rep with NCAMOTC, the 2013 Northern California Chapter Convention Committee member, and am currently the club’s NCAMOTC (now Multiples of America) Liaison while also serving as a National Worker in the role of Publicity Coordinator with Multiples of America. 

I took the plunge and joined CCPOM in 2011 right before our twins were born, seeking support and the wealth of knowledge from other parents who had multiples. My son, Sonny and daughter, Campbell, arrived at 35 weeks exactly, weighing in at 6lbs 1oz (Sonny) and 5lbs 1oz (Campbell) on May 17th, 2011.  Our little family went home in 4 days post-delivery.  They are continually growing into two very energetic, witty, fun-loving  and completely entertaining twins whom I wouldn’t exchange for anything else in the world! 

A little bit about me.  I am the youngest of 3 children, born into an extensive farming community in Central IL, avid animal lover, outdoor enthusiast and active athlete as soon as I could pick up a ball :)  After a pretty magical childhood and formative years, I ventured onto college, initially majoring in Zoology with a focus in Marine Biology.  However, I ended up graduating with a degree in Recreation, Park and Tourism Administration, loving every minute of my education at Western IL University.  

After graduation, I landed an Internship with Arthur Andersen, which I had hoped would springboard myself into my first real career!  In the end, it was a dead end due to the events of 9/11 and the Enron scandal that ultimately took down Andersen as the top accounting firm interviewing as an entry level employee in a very poor job market, the options were limited.  Luckily, I was able to find a role as a nanny for three lovely ladies under the age of 11 for over a year and a half, spending 4 of those months traveling  to their other homes in Maui and Colorado Springs.  I really enjoyed my time with these girls and their family.  However, I knew that I should dive back into my field of interest and education, so I managed to find a Conference and Events Services Manager position with a conference facility (former railroad magnate's mansion) near my nanny family's house in North Shore, Chicago.  In 2005 I was promoted and transferred to the Bay Area as an opening team member for the Mission Bay Conference Center at the University of California, San Francisco as the Director of Operations.  Within two years, my client (UCSF) valued my expertise and success with the center that I was offered a role directly with the School of Medicine, managing Continuing Medical Education conferences for all walks of health care professionals from around the world.

When I am not working, I enjoy traveling, testing out new restaurants and wines with friends and fellow MOMs, shopping (ha!), serving as the Community Service Relations chair for the Northern California Chapter of Professional Convention Management Association, and socializing my kiddos with their fellow twin friends.

Anne Swanson

Hello Everyone! My name is Anne Swanson and I’m your co-president for 2014-2015. I served as president last year, along with my co-president Dawn Bohlmann, and before that, I served as CCPOM Secretary.  I joined CCPOM when I was pregnant with my twins five years ago.  Prior to that, I had heard about the group through the annual ETC sale, which I went to when I was only a mom of one, never dreaming that I would someday be part of the group.

I was born and raised in Fairfax County, Virginia, which is a suburb of Washington, D.C.  It feels like I spent the majority of my childhood in the pool-- I was a serious competitive swimmer from the age of 7 to 18. I went to college at the University of Virginia, in central Virginia, and studied American history, writing my senior thesis on the Civil Rights Movement in Virginia in the 1950s and 1960s. After graduating, I returned to the Washington DC area. For several years I worked as a research analyst for a large consulting company and later, for US Airways, which was headquartered in Washington DC at that time. Working for an airline gave me two great things, most importantly, it’s where I met my husband, Todd! Secondly, it allowed Todd and me to travel for free, which we did a lot of (this was all well before kids entered the picture!)  Despite all the fun perks of traveling, in 2001 I decided to head back to school, this time to law school at Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas, Texas. Todd and I were married and we lived in Dallas for three years. Upon my graduation, we moved to California, Todd’s home state, in 2004, where I was admitted to the California Bar. 

We settled in Pleasant Hill, and in 2007 welcomed our daughter Caroline.  Almost exactly two years later, we welcomed our twins, Jack and Charlie.  I was lucky enough to carry them to over 38 weeks, and they were born at 7 lbs each in November 2009.  I am currently taking a break from practicing law, and taking some time to be home with our kids. As a family, we enjoy being outside, going to our kids’ sporting events, and trying new things!  In my spare time (what is that?) I enjoy reading, exercising, and binge-watching shows like “Call the Midwife”, “Scandal”, and “Orange is the New Black.” We still travel back to the East Coast quite a bit, but also enjoy our wonderful weather here in California.

2014-2015 CCPOM Board Members

Contra Costa Parents Parents of Multiples wouldn't be the wonderful family it is without the ongoing support of our volunteers for the following positions.  Thank you to all for your hard work and creative output into these wonderful events!

Board of Directors

Co-Presidents:

Anne Swanson

Dawn Bohlmann

Vice President:

Karis Coleman-Sink

Treasurer:

Paige Kremser Stenrud

Secretary:

Jennifer Martell 

Parliamentarian:

Laura Weber

NOMOTC Representative:

Dawn Bohlmann 

NCAMOTC Representative:

Heather K Himenes

Membership Administrator / Club Express Administrator:

Jennifer Schofield

Ways and Means:

Heather Dupree

Philanthropic Committee Chair:

Beth Brown

Social Activities Coordinator:
Emily Getty

Playgroup Coordinator:
Lizzy Weiss

Angel Mom Coordinator:

Allison Buck 

Helping Hands:

Christie Chu

Publicity Coordinator:

Laurie Frieders

ETC Sale General Manager:

Candice Ferris

Blog Editor:

Louise Dyken 

Multiples at the Pumpkin Patch

This past Saturday, October 4th, was the CCPOM outing to the Clayton Valley Pumpkin Patch.  As usual, thanks to our great members, and especially Emily and Jennifer, it was a GREAT event!  The kids had a wonderful time picking out pumpkins, munching on treats, riding the "choo choo," and playing in the hay mazes and lima bean pools.  Feeding the (huge) piggies and goats was a much talked about treat in our house.  Despite the HOT weather, it was a fabulous way to kick off fall and get ready for Halloween! 

 



Hello, there!

Hi!  My name is Paige and I am the new blog editor. I am just getting my feet wet, but am hoping the CCPOM blog can be a place to get to know some of our members, post pictures from our many fabulous events, exchange ideas and maybe even have a laugh or two. If you have any ideas for blog posts, wouldn't mind being profiled, would like to write a guest post, have photos or ideas to share, or are bored and want to meet for a play date, please drop me a line at pstenrud@gmail.com, I would love to hear from you!

I'll save my mini bio for when I can't find a victim volunteer for a member profile, but in the meantime, my husband, Chris, I have two year old boy/girl twins, Beckett and Claire, and we live in Pleasant Hill. I tend to be behind the camera rather than in front of it, but here is a picture of us that does not date back to college (although it does predate our moving here):

*(Is still a bit outdated, so Claire has asked that I let you all know that she has hair now and Beckett swears he was "just resting his eyes"!)