Welcome to my living experiment, TheFabMom®!
Just like the tagline suggests, TheFabMom® is a motivating and entertaining lifestyle site that features personal stories, tips, tricks & products to keep life focused, fun, fit, ‘filosophical’ and as close to fabulous as possible after having babies. (Yes, all good things on this site start with an ‘F.’) This blog is a nutty attempt to kick myself in the a$$ to keep my attitude, home, kids, career-goals, aspirations and adorable young daughters happy and organized… and to hopefully inspire other women to hop on this freaky bandwagon with me and do the same.
Here’s the ‘official’ bio (you know, the one I peddle around for employment opportunities):
Jill Simonian is a 15-year television host & media contributor, creator of TheFABMom.com blog and author of the 2017 it-book for first time pregnancy The FAB Mom’s Guide: How to Get Over the Bump & Bounce Back Fast After Baby. Known for her fun & fiery commentary about all things family life, Jill was the in-house, twice-weekly parenting contributor for KCBS-2 & KCAL-9 News from 2016-18 (a first segment of its kind on Los Angeles news). She’s repeatedly appeared as a lifestyle and/or expert parenting contributor on The Doctors, Access LIVE, TODAY Show, E! News / Daily Pop, Hallmark Channel’s “Home & Family,” KTLA-5 News, KTTV Fox11 News, KCAL-9 News, HLN and more. Her work and advice has been featured in popular publications Parents, Fit Pregnancy, USWeekly, Redbook, LA Parent, New York Family, Working Mother, First5LA and more. Jill writes monthly columns for Mom.com as well as her hometown newspaper The Fresno Bee, and additionally contributed a monthly column called “Good Works” to LA Times’ community newspaper Valley Sun before the publication closed in Spring 2020. Jill is a polished speaker/emcee and has moderated panels at some of California’s premiere conferences and events for women and moms — including Maria Shriver’s CA Women’s Conference (2008), Central CA Women’s Conference (2019) and countless pregnancy & parenting events and tradeshows across Southern CA. Digital influencer and brand ambassador content creation includes work with Dove, Got Milk, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Dreft, Enfamil, Skechers USA, Guinness World Records, Think! bars, Aveeno, Americana at Brand and The Shops at Montebello (live events) as well as countless mid-sized family lifestyle brands. Prior to marriage and children, Jill was a full-time television host and entertainment reporter for programs on ReelzChannel, KTLA-5 Los Angeles, Travel Channel, CNN/HLN and more — top credits include guest co-hosting HLN’s “Showbiz Tonight” (2011), KTLA’s LIVE from the Academy Awards (2009) as well as thousands of hours ‘on-air’ hosting daily programs and interviewing hundreds of celebrities. Jill graduated cum laude from UCLA with a Bachelor’s degree in Communication Studies, with specialty study, performance awards and a full professional resume in musical theater. Jill is a former 2nd Runner-Up, Talent and Swimsuit Winner for Miss California (Miss America) and frequently performed the National Anthem for LA Dodgers, LA Lakers, LA Clippers and San Francisco Giants. Jill lives in Southern California with her husband, plastic/reconstructive surgeon Dr. Andre Panossian and two elementary-aged daughters. Connect with Jill on Instagram @jillsimonian or visit TheFABMom.com.
So there you have it. (I’m exhausted reading it myself.)
For this former Miss Hollywood, being a “Fab Mom” is a lifestyle inspired by a spectrum of women I respect and admire. The moms that inspire me are the ones who dress up, clean up, suck it up, problem-solve quickly and are assured in their choices. They tell it like it is. They don’t bring drama. A ‘Fab Mom’ handles whatever gets thrown at her. And when I feel UNfabulous and buried under a pile of filthy princess dresses… I tell myself to shut-up, stop complaining and remind myself to laugh it off and put on more lipstick. Hell yes, I fall off the wagon periodically… but here I share my own tips, fast tricks, inevitable trials, motivating triumphs, favorite products and and opinionated ‘filosophies’ about how to be one of those capable, ‘fabulous moms’ that pull off the impossible when everything else fails.
My background?
I was a full-time working TV Host & Entertainment Journalist who *unexpectedly* learned I was pregnant in early 2010 as a newlywed. Seeing that little pink plus sign in my bathroom instigated a slew of words that DID start with an “F,” but did NOT include the word “fabulous.” Specifically, I shouted: “You’d better f—ing get in here right NOW!” to my husband at the top of my lungs with tears streaming down my face. A baby was not yet in my wicked plan. My hubby was immediately thrilled but I was surprised and shocked in a way I’d never been surprised and shocked before. (I was basically an idiot who got really really lucky against all odds, but was too dumb to see it at the time.)
Being a “Mom” was not me… so I thought.
At that point, I’d been lucky to enjoy moderate success hosting and reporting for TV shows on cable and local TV (Travel Channel, ReelzChannel, KTLA-TV Los Angeles)… and finding out that you’re pregs doesn’t exactly mean that TV executives are lining up at your door waiting to give you a great big job. I’d never held a baby before, never changed a diaper, constantly ran around in high heels like a hustling lunatic and was most definitely NOT ready for this next phase. All I’d heard about motherhood were negative, frazzled tales about how challenging it was, how I’d never be the same again and how my hopes, dreams, aspirations and style would be involuntarily forfeited for a bunch of baby crap spread all over my chic apartment. Fabulous. I wasn’t ready to swap anything for the peaks and perils of parenthood. And then it clicked: My challenge would be to keep my life the same (or close to it) after having a baby. No slowing down. No whining. No complaining. No excuses. And you’d bet I was gonna fit back into my old jeans a few months later.
Little did I know that some of the biggest things in my TV career would happen after my first baby (hello CNN).
UNTIL…
The whole thing happened AGAIN. Surprise, I found myself pregnant again… when my first daughter was about 8-months old. (Hubby and I obviously need a sex-ed class.)
My little girls, the little loves of my life, known to readers as the legendary LadyP and precious LilMiss, were born September 2010 and March 2012, respectively. This blog was born in 2011 as a feeble reminder to keep life FABULOUS, FUN and FLIRTY and FOCUSED after having a baby…. TWO babies.
Cut to now: I’ve never felt more focused… had I known I’d have so much fun and feel so fulfilled as a mom, I’d have gotten knocked up a long time ago. (Working on TV is actually more fun with them now.)
As a “Mom,” I’m learning more and more how to be ‘me’… stilettos, mascara and cute underwear (most of the time)… and without too much whining from me when it gets hectic. There are FAILS, but the fight to stay FOCUSED is worth it. (That’s the fun part.)
I hope you enjoy my shenanigans as I share them, but even more:
I want to hear how you rock being a Fab Mom your way. The fails, the focus, the fun.
Because that’s how we all keep going…
