Meet Jenny | Hyde Park Moms

I feel so lucky to have Jenny Krehbiel as our next “Meet a Mom!” Jenny grew up in Maderia and now lives right here in Mt. Lookout with her husband, John and her precious twins, Margot and Davis. Jenny and John are college sweethearts (I went to Miami and studied abroad with them!) and moved back to Cincinnati to raise their family. They have been through a tough year with their twins being born premature, but they are stronger (and might I add cuter) than ever today. Get to know Jenny!


 
What’s your favorite thing about living in Hyde Park?
We love how walkable everything is and love that we have so many fun things to do right down the road – there are so many great restaurants, events, parks, etc. It’s a family-friendly but exciting community. We also love how convenient it is to downtown and our families that still live in Indian Hill/Madeira area!
 

Tell us about your children!
We have 1-year old twins named Davis and Margot! They were very premature though (born 27 weeks), so they are more like 9 month olds with their development.
 
Favorite things to do with your kids around town?
We love walking up to Ault Park, storytimes at the local libraries (still need to try ManaTots!), and even taking them to MadTree with friends when we are in need of a “Sunday Funday” (who knew a brewery could have so many high chairs)! Since they were preemies, we had to be so careful about germs for the longest time – I feel like we have only gotten to start exploring places and events with them in recent months!
 
Do you have a favorite local store, fitness class or restaurant and why?
Love Castle House – it’s so dangerous for me because I can’t walk in and not buy something! They always have such adorable things. With restaurants, we are definitely regulars at both Green Papaya and Arthur’s. I don’t think there is anything in this world as delicious as a Green Papaya roll and Arthur’s is one of those rare places where EVERYTHING on the menu is good! I wish I could say I had a favorite fitness class – I’m lucky to get in a quick jog these days!
 
Are you involved in a business venture, a local organization, a creative endeavor, or in the corporate world?
Since Davis and Margot were born so early, I left my accounting job at a local healthcare system as my maternity leave would have been over before Margot was even discharged from the NICU. It ended up being a really good decision for our family as we had roughly 3-4 doctors appointments each week at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center until the kids were about 9 months old. It was so nice to just focus on the kids and their progress this past year. Luckily, things have gotten a lot better on the medical side (mostly just have physical or occupational therapy each week now), so I’m actually going to be starting a new accounting role in a month or so! I’m definitely nervous about the transition but excited at the same time!
 
How has this community been instrumental in getting you to where you are now?
Our family has been through a lot in the past year or so with my 6-week bed rest stay at “Hotel Good Sam” (as we jokingly called Good Samaritan Hospital) followed by our 3.5 month NICU stays at both Good Samaritan (Davis) and Children’s (Margot). I don’t think we could have made it through as well as we did if we didn’t have the help from everyone in our community! While I was on bed rest, people would bring care packages or dinner to Johnny or the hospital, neighbors would mow our lawn, and we constantly received encouraging messages and visitors. And all of the love continued through the NICU stays. We are so grateful to be a part of such a caring, supportive community!
 
Tips for Balancing it all? Motherhood, career, family and social life?
Oh man – I wish I had the answer to this! I think being honest with yourself on what you want and making a plan help. For us, family is definitely always #1, and the rest needs to be planned out – if it’s not planned, it probably won’t happen. So we try and make a point to actively plan times out with friends to maintain our social life. Since I’m just now getting back to my career, my advice on how to balance that is TBD!
 
What is the best advice you have received as a mom?
NICU nurses always had the best advice for us. They were our biggest cheerleaders and helped us realize that our best was good enough when we were splitting time between the 2 NICUs! They’d also encourage us to make sure to take time for ourselves to stay sane – they’d tell us to do a date night to get out of the NICUs for a few hours and would joke that we had the best and most expensive babysitters in the city, haha!
 
What is the best advice you would like to give to a new mom?
Your best is absolutely good enough, and don’t be hard on yourself!

Join The Local Moms Network Community

Stay up-to-date with what is happening in-and-around The Local Moms Network community with local events, community highlights, and exclusive deals.