Nearly five years ago, our Mother’s Group first met at the local Kindy for fortnightly “New Parent” information sessions. We balanced awkwardly on the ridiculously tiny chairs, trying not to move too suddenly in fear of injuring stitches that for some, were still tender. We were wide eyed from lack of sleep and also from the overwhelm of becoming a parent for the first time. I wish someone had taken some video footage of this so we could watch it now. It would be hilarious!
We laugh at ourselves quite regularly when we reminisce about first becoming a mother. Some of us were so panicky, awkward and overly delicate with our first-borns and we seriously thought this was the hardest thing we had ever done. We were so pedantic about most things and it was the end of the world if we weren’t home in time to get our babies to sleep. But now that we have two and some of us three children each, we realise that actually, there is no need to panic. Our second and third children get dragged around and certainly aren’t treated as delicately as our first. Poor Chloe has to sleep on the go and gets rudely woken when I have to pick Emma up from Kindy. How things have changed.
When I first met my Mother’s Group at the New Parent sessions, I had no idea what I was doing. I was struggling with Emma who slept beautifully through the night but refused to sleep during the day. And to make matters worse, she demanded that I carry her around the house all day which made it impossible for me to get anything done. There was so much extra washing, cleaning, sterilising and organising to do that I was in a state of panic and overwhelm in those early months. I tried everything to get her to sleep and dear Andrew even attempted to help me. One day, he came up with a great idea and turned the washing machine on to the spin cycle and held Emma on the lid hoping that the vibrations would send her to sleep. I still remember her face – eyes wide open, whole body vibrating. She really enjoyed this new game and had no intention of going to sleep what so ever.
I was relieved that these information sessions were finally available because I desperately needed some answers. The Child Health Nurse explained to me why the washing machine wouldn’t work (babies shouldn’t be overly stimulated before sleep – ha! Who knew!) and instead showed me some techniques to help Emma sleep. I was so relieved when something finally worked – hooray!
When these information sessions came to an end, nine of us mums continued to meet and our friendship began with a coffee at Hillarys, then we each took turns to host weekly catch-ups at our homes.
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| Our babies at one of our weekly Mothers Group catch-ups |
Our children are all born in July and August so when they were babies, we were pretty much going through similar things at the same time. For me, this was invaluable. Becoming a mother is life changing and the experience evolves so quickly.
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| First birthday celebrations with one of the Dads standing in |
When our babies started to move around, catch-ups at our homes became difficult so we joined a play-group which some of us still go to every week. Our children have formed beautiful friendships within the group and some even attend Kindy together. We mums also keep in touch with regular dinners which I really enjoy. (When is the next one??) There has also been some talk about organising a mum’s weekend away sometime next year when the latest babies to join our group are a bit older. Can’t wait!
I am so honoured to have shared my first experiences of motherhood with these wonderful ladies. Over the past five years, we have supported each other and celebrated our children’s milestones – the latest one being our babies commencing Kindy this year. We have been there for each other during the difficult times and the happy times and have also welcomed with much joy new additions to each other’s family and to our group.
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| Our 4 year olds celebrating one of their birthdays last year |
We have been through so much together and it has been an awesome ride. I look forward to sharing and celebrating many more milestones for both our children and ourselves in the future – even when our babies are all grown up!
Are you part of a Mothers Group? Do you still keep in touch even though your children are fully grown?
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