"Play Dates"

Getting out of the house with babe is essential to sanity. I've known this all along, but am only beginning to understand its power, and actually doing it. But, getting THIS baby out of the house is quite a task! Getting dressed: horrid! Getting strapped into the car seat: horrendous!

You would think she was a cow being taken to slaughter. "NOOOO! I know where you're taking me, and I don't want any part of it."

Only, once we get to where we're going, she absolutely loves it! She is at the stage where strangers are interesting (they almost always get a charming, cheeky grin), and she loves the visual stimulation of being someplace different.

Today we went to Parenting Oasis. A mama/psychiatrist put together a place for mama's and babes to go, to simply get together and chat, or for more specific things like classes and the like. It's in the basement of a church, conveniently located (for us) at 39th and Chicago.

To be honest, it wasn't what I was expecting. I made a point to get to this one today because, on their website, it was supposedly a "new mom" thing: from 12 to 1, every Tuesday, drop-in, new moms come and talk and get support. Upon my arrival, I could see it was just a place for kids to run crazy and moms to sit and b.s. All well and good, just not what I was expecting. One nice thing happened, however: I met a really nice lady named Michelle, who has an 18 month old. Michelle says that her little one has never been an "easy" baby, and is only now starting to get easier. We exchanged phone numbers and I look forward to talking with Michelle in the near future, especially when I'm having a tough time with Charlotte and need to talk to someone who has been there.

Feeling adventurous today, we hit up another playdate in the afternoon. This one was put on by Minneapolis Hip Mama's, a group I've recently joined. I'm really glad we ventured out again, despite baby girl's attitude in the morning. I met a couple more awesome ladies and got to check out Sovereign Grounds, a coffee shop pretty close to home which has a kid's play area - perfect for mama's to get together with kids in tow. I'll definitely be doing the Hip Mama's events in the future.