The Mommy Sorority

Becoming a mom is more life-changing than anyone can imagine.  It changes you, the way you view life, your priorities, the way you spend your time and money.  It also changes something else: YOUR ABILITY TO MAKE FRIENDS.  Holding a five minute conversation without someone requiring something is staggering, and if you do, you probably need to worry that something is going down (eating play dough, coloring on the walls, eating your makeup, eating something...)  This is why I was so excited to set up a play date with some of the other women that had moved up here to NYC with my husband's company.

I am truly a fan of organized friendships (however lame that may sound).  I am a joiner: drill team, sorority, Junior League.  You name it, I tend to love finding friends, and have found some of my best friends through organizations.  If there was a mommy sorority in the Upper West Side, or even Houston, I would have joined.  Can someone please set this up?  

So you can imagine, as I headed to my first day of "rush" to meet these ladies, I wanted my little girls to be on their best behavior.  Things were going great, we hopped in a cab, headed up to the UWS, got to the playground where we were meeting, found the ladies, looked up, and...my potty-trained oldest got too excited and went pee right there up next to the slide!  Bless her heart!

I think she was just as excited to be out and about as I was!  So our first playground activity was rinsing and drying her shorts in the public bathroom's hand dryer.  Stupid me, didn't bring a change of clothes for her because we had never had an accident before.  The ladies could not have been more gracious, even offering clothes to borrow for my three year old.  The funny thing about this?  I actually took her up on it.  I guess we are going to start bribing to go potty before and after with M&M's.  I better find that pediatric dentist ASAP.  To further the great impression we were making, my littlest promptly had a meltdown exactly one hour into our new friendships.  I'm sure they can't wait to hang out with us again!  

Sororities often get a bad rap, but the camaraderie is irreplaceable.  And I can tell you, it is often during the hard times that people bond.  This can even apply within your immediate family.  On Wednesday, I thought I would venture out and find the "local" (ha) Nordstrom in White Plains, NY.  Normally, Nordstrom is just the ticket to feeling just a bit happier, call me shallow if you want.  However, maybe the day of the anniversary preview sale was not a good choice.  I should have read the writing on the wall, or door frame that hit my poor Scarlett's leg as we tried to get the car.  To access our vehicle, we have to go through not one, two, but THREE narrow doors with the double stroller, ride an elevator, and navigate a tightly packed garage including tippy motorcycles.  And yes, loading two toddlers into carseats, collapsing a double stroller, loading it and exiting a microscopic garage takes a little bit of time.  I'm glad the parking attendants were able to witness aliens landing.  

Once we got there, I was lost on so many levels (parking levels, mall levels, food court levels...)!  I should have known better, since I don't think I've ever gone solo with the girls to Nordstrom at the Houston Galleria, but I guess I was overconfident.  Let's just say, I left only buying a couple of those "mall" pretzels because I was starving.  My poor husband got the brunt of it when he got home that day as I informed him in a demon-esque voice that "We need another stroller and I am ordering it right now from Amazon." He looked kind of scared and nodded in agreement: cue Joovy Caboose.  Reviews at a later date once we receive.

As always, a good night's sleep and taking it out my poor mom (for nothing) - sorry Mom, cures anything and we were excited for the weekend: the Central Park Zoo and two open houses in the UWS.  The zoo was great, and the subway ride less stressful (maybe I can do this public transit thing after all), but you can tell that it is a smaller zoo.  It is in the middle of a city, but it's mainly birds and sea lions, minus some huge Grizzly bears.  Our girls are still a little young to notice the animals (or care) but it was a great one hour activity with toddlers.  

Sunday was great, going to church at The Redeemer followed by two open houses.  Both apartments were close to what we are looking for, but not quite right.  One had a "second" bedroom that would not fit more than one twin bed, and the "closet" was about one foot wide akin to a linen closet.  I know ours is out there!  We can't wait to see what this week's adventures bring.