Tag Archives: play dates

My Oh My, How July Flew By

I can hardly believe that it is already August.  What happened to July.  It’s as if I blinked and the entire month flew by.  It seems like only yesterday we were in June, and I was still preparing for the kids’ first flights.  Well folks, I am sincerely sorry that I’ve neglected my blog.  Here’s a little recap of the last few weeks.

We spent the first 9 days of July in Georgia visiting my brother and his family.  He is currently stationed at Ft. Stuart (about 30 minutes from Savannah).  We flew into Atlanta, and visited the Georgia Aquarium, Centennial Olympic Park, and Stone Mountain Park.  We spent an afternoon at Jeckyll Island, a driftwood beach at the southern tip of Georgia.  We spent the 4th of July at Ft. Stuart at an outdoor concert featuring Mario and Martina McBride, followed by an incredible 30 minute long fireworks show.  We celebrated my niece Raelynn’s 5th birthday.  We walked about 50 blocks and marveled at the beauty of historic Savannah.  And did a little bit of exploring in the swamps and parks of Southern Georgia.  All and all, out of everything we did, the best was just spending time with the family and watching the kids play.

After returning from vacation, I decided it was finally time to get serious about potty training Marley.   I went with the Potty Training Bootcamp Method.  This method is supposed to be a sure fire way to potty train.  This is where you say farewell to the outside world for 4 days and forego diapers completely, except for naps and at night.   It’s messy, frustrating, and took longer than just 4 days (it was more like 2 weeks), but I am happy to say that Marley is officially potty trained!

Hmm….now let me see….what else happened in July.

Ahh yes, Aaron and I had a nice evening out with friends at the Cosmopolitan.  We rarely ever get to go out without the kids.  Without any family in town, and the cost of babysitters, the last time we’d had alone was in May when we celebrated our anniversary.  However, I learned a very important lesson that night.  Drinking coffee and wine all day, and barely eating is NOT a good combination.  I found myself on the kitchen floor after passing out while fixing Jackson a bottle in the middle of the night with Jackson on top of me.  Luckily, Aaron woke up when he heard me hit the floor.  And we’re even luckier that Jackson landed on me and not the kitchen floor.  Jackson and I were both ok, and I am now making a conscious effort about staying hydrated.

The rest of the month is a blur of mommy meet ups.  We stay at home moms find all sorts of ways to keep busy.  From ice cream socials, park play dates, brunch and coffee play dates, local fire station tour, purse parties, jewelry parties, all while chasing our little ones around.  We somehow got lucky enough to get the chance to desert the kiddos with daddy and have a deliciously delightful mom’s night out.

What I enjoyed most about July was all of the family time we made happen.  Even though we were busy, we were really proactive in spending quality time as a family.  Most days were ended with a nice 3 mile stroll.  We took the kids out for a family date night which consisted of pizza and live music at the District at Green Valley Ranch in Henderson, where Marley got to shake her booty.  We spent lots of evenings out back enjoying our almost completed backyard.  And we took the family up to Mt. Charleston for Jackson’s first camping trip.  Sadly, Jackson didn’t like camping as much as we’d hoped he would.  Let’s just blame it on his 5th tooth coming in.

Farewell July.  You came and went and left me with many warm memories.

How I Went From Being Depressed and Feeling Isolated, to Being Productive and Feeling Empowered. Part 2

So how did I manage to get myself out of that funk?  I joined my first mommy meet up group.  My daughter had just turned 9 months and she needed to learn how to socialize with other babies, and her mama desperately needed some mommy friends.  Image

I was very nervous before my first meet up.  It was almost like I was the new student all over again in high school.  What were these women going to be like?  Will they like me?  Will I like them?  What will they think of me?

I was meeting a few other moms at Child’s Play, an indoor play gym, located about 12 miles away.  I sent the organizer of the group an email letting her know that I wouldn’t be able to find her in a crowd, and let her know what I would be wearing so that she could look for me.  My husband dropped us off and said to call him when I was done.  I’m pretty sure he stood outside and watched us for a few minutes to make sure I wasn’t meeting some crazy psycho moms.  My daughter and I proceeded to play by ourselves.  No one came up looking for me.  There were a few other children about her age, and I started talking to their moms.  It wasn’t until we were getting ready to leave when the organizer of the group showed up.  She was very nice, so the fact that she was an hour late didn’t bother me much.

I joined a few other meet up groups, but I was often faced with the problem of not having transportation.  This is when I began to open up my house and host weekly play dates.  we turned our front room into a play room and had about 6 – 10 mom and their kids over once a week.

I soon had a great group of mommy friends and my daughter had lots of other kids around her age to play with.  A few of the women lived in our neighborhood and often offered us a ride to play dates.

I was now starting to feel like my old self, no longer feeling depressed or isolated.  I had fun meeting new mommies going through the same things I was going through.  I was looking forward to planning events, parties, and going out with the ladies for our mom’s night outs.

All of a sudden, that original mommy group I joined had over 100 members and I had only personally met about 20 or so moms.  It made me a little nervous that there were so many people out there knowing what we were doing and when we were doing it.  So this is the reason I decided to start my own group.

Southern Highlands Moms, Babies, and Tots is meant to bring together both working and stay at home moms who live in or near our small community.  We are all moms going through the same things and can often use a girlfriend to talk to , cry on, and laugh with.  We don’t just meet for play dates.  We have family BBQ’s, attend each others’ children’s birthday parties, and have the occasional well deserved mom’s night out.  The goal of the group is to connect moms with each other, and build friendships for ourselves, our children, and our families.

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To those working moms out there who are reading this and thinking, so this is it?  She’s happy and feeling productive because she’s planning a few play dates and going out for the occasional drink with her mommy friends? That’s not at all what I’m trying to say.

What has changed, is the fact that I feel like I belong again.  I realized that my passion and purpose in life are my children.  I am there for them every waking and sleeping minute.  Every conscious and subconscious decision is made with them in mind.

I have found the meaning of life and have chosen to share it with the world.

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