The Mommy Club

Children have this odd way of touching every part of our lives. It's wonderful, but it can be frustrating at times as well. Yes, there are some things I have to miss out on, but those are generally few and far between, and the time spent with my husband and daughter more than makes up for what being a mommy prevented me from doing.

But that's not what this post is about. This post is about the biggest blessing my daughter has given me (aside from the blessing of being her mommy). She's given me friends.

What started as a quest to find playmates for Monkey has turned into me meeting a wonderful group of women that I've become very close to. Our daughters (yes, they're all moms of girls; I have yet to meet any moms of boys near Monkey's age) are all under 8 months old, and we're all first time moms. That means we're all learning the same lessons, and that makes it very easy to come out of my shell and really connect with these women.

 I've always been painfully shy. I was picked on in youth group, and had the same small group of friends from fifth grade until we graduated from high school. I loved them, and I still do, but the only other one that's a mommy lives 3 states away.

Becoming a mommy has changed all that. I'm now a member of MOPS at our church (teehee, I even got a gift card to a local restaurant when a pediatric dentist came and spoke to the group. I was the newest mommy, Monkey was only 7 weeks old). Monkey and I tend to have at least one playdate a week, usually with Anna and Smiley, but we've been meeting with other moms and babies as well. Yesterday my new friend Georgina brought her daughter Clara (who is about 2 weeks older than Monkey) over for playtime. Monkey and Clara played and "talked" while Georgina and I watched Gilmore Girls, talked diapers, feeding schedules, introducing solids ... you know, all that good mom stuff. We really enjoyed having them over!

I've also met one other full-time cloth diapering momma! It was so wonderful to meet someone that enjoys diapering as much as I do. She works full time, so we don't get together that often, but it's still nice to know she's got more experience, and that if I need to I can call her and get help troubleshooting any diapering issues we run into.

I love my daughter so much, and I am so grateful for the wonderful women that she's introduced me to.