The Problem with Mom Groups

I have had a really hard time finding a mom group that I mesh with.  I've joined three - maybe four - and nearly 14 months later I think I might have found a good fit.

I met all these groups on MeetUp.com.  Most playdate groups are private until you join, which means you can't see their schedule or rules until you apply and are accepted to join.  Because of this, I've had a lot of my time wasted and joined a lot of groups that were... well, horrible.

Problem One - Impersonal Locations

The first mom group I joined was a large group with frequent meetups all over town.  Each meetup had a different cliche that RSVP'd yes, and the locations were always crowded museums or busy coffee shops.  As a newbie it was hard to figure out which group of women I was there to meet, and it was impossible to supervise Hannah and be attentive during the conversations.  They eventually kicked me out of the group because I never attended any meetups, when really I just never could FIND the other members and NO ONE was friendly.  FAIL.

Problem Two - Flakes and No Shows

The second group was full of moms that would RSVP yes and then slowly change their response to a No the day of - sick, naptime, chores, relatives in town, zombie apocalypse, you name it, they used the excuse.  This happened weekend after weekend, monday morning playdate after playdate.  I chalked it up to a busy summer, but the straw that broke the camels back was when 30 mom & baby duos were supposed to meet at the zoo.  Hannah and I waited at the entrance for nearly an hour but no one showed.   When I got home my inbox was full of excuses.  I silently flipped them the bird and left the group.

Problem Three - Unfriendly to Working Moms / Just Plain Rude

The third group had a consistent Wednesday morning meet up that I couldn't attend, but I DID enjoy the weekend play dates.  Eventually the group admin stopped posting new meetups because the Wednesday group was happy with their cliche and they didn't care about the rest of us that met up on the weekends.  Rude.

Problem Four - No Men Allowed

Back when Chris and I stayed home on Fridays with Hannah, we liked to go out and do things as a family.  The playgroup I was apart of at that time had fun meetups on Fridays but had a strict policy that fathers were only allowed to attend events on Saturday or Sundays - no men during the work week.  WTF.  No thanks.

But now I've found a group that feels like it might be a good fit.   The parents are older, the dads are invited to the meetups, they schedule outings for JUST the adults as well as playdates.  Most importantly I get a good vibe from the group's leader - she's been burned by other playgroups as well and seems to be open and accommodating.  The kids are all close in age, and most of the parents seem to work so they understand the balance of work/home life.  Hopefully this will continue to be a good fit for my family.

Are YOU part of a playdate group?
Have you been burned by a Mom group in the past?

Share your horror stories as well as tips & tricks for finding a good fit.

What is your favorite word?

This is my wordle.
{ http://www.wordle.net }

Wordle is a word tool that highlights the dominate words you use on your blog.  You can use it to figure out the best keywords for your site, which words you use too often, and to get an unbiased idea of the categories and topics that you talk about most often.

Obviously I've been on a diaper kick (cloth, diaper, fuzzibunz, rockin, green, scent).

I'd love to see your wordle.  What are Your dominate keywords?

Rockin Green Announces Black Friday Deals

In a newsletter send out today Rockin' Green announces that they'll be offering a few online specials on Black Friday (November 25th, the day after Thanksgiving which is a major shopping day and the unofficial kick off to the Christmas shopping season).

First up is their Limited Edition Holiday Scent:
Continuing the popular tradition, they'll release a new secret scent in classic rock ($11) and hard rock ($12). To give you an idea of past releases 2010's scent was Sugar Ray Plum and 2009's Peppermint Cocoa sold out in just a few hours.

They'll also offer a Holiday Gift Pack:
This year's gift pack is called “Jingle Bell Rock" and is the perfect gift idea for your cloth diaper addict BFF. It includes a bag of Rockin’ Green’s limited edition 2011 holiday scent, a red scoop, a limited edition Rockin' Green re-usable tumbler, a Rockin’ Green ornament, a branded re-usable tote bag, Melody room spray in the holiday scent (only available in this bundle) and a gift tag.
The gift pack will cost $44.95 and is expected to sell out quickly.

Choose your favorite online cloth diaper retailer and set a reminder to look for the unveiling of the new Holiday Scent on Friday November 25th.  Many other brands feature amazing cloth diapers deals on Black Friday as well, so start saving up your fluffy budget dollars - you're going to need them.

Halloween 2011

I'm a bargain shopper. It's in my blood.

I always shop 'day after' sales and sock the goodies away till the next year. Last Halloween was no different. I went to the Halloween Store on November 1st with 6 week Hannah in tow. She was just growing out of the sleepy newborn stage and quickly entering the scream-all-night phase.

Awful.

So when I saw the baby Sleeping Beauty costume it looked like a dream come true. Sleeping. Sleep. I barely even remembered what sleep was at that stage.

Fast forward a year and H now sleeps through the night on a regular basis and is quite the beauty. Her costume might have been store bought and slightly cliche, but she looked fabulous. I added a Zulily pettiskirt to add some poof and fullness to the skirt, and made her wear hot pink capri pants to keep her booty warm. I selected her gold Baby Gap loafers which weren't as cute as princess slippers, but much more practical for the drizzly weather.  The result - utter cuteness.

Her first nap was late and she completely skipped her second nap, so she was headed for a full blown meltdown while I was taking pictures.  After the doorbell started ringing, she realized that something was going on outside.

 We took her outside and she was a little leery about the Freddy Kruger running around the cul-de-sac, but once she saw that candy was involved, she was very interested. 

 In fact, after we went to the 4 houses nearby and were heading home, she tried to convince us that her basket wasn't nearly full enough and wasn't ready to go home. 

I'm really looking forward to next year.  I think it'll be neat for Hannah to have input on her costume and get excited about the fun of the evening.

I hope you had a safe and memory-filled Halloween!

Win a FuzziBunz Elite Cloth Diaper

6,000 subscribers is a number I never expected to reach.  This all started out as a quiet little vlog from my quiet little apartment - an SOS really - for someone, anyone, to help me through the sea of infertility.

It's amazing what a little soul baring can do to bring a community together. (YouTube Channel)

Because I receive so much love and support from all of you, I wanted to take a second and give back one of my favorite things - cloth diapers.

I love my FuzziBunz.  They are the work horse of my cloth diaper stash.  While we might butt heads occasionally, I'm so glad that I invested in a quality diaper for the majority of my stash.

So as a thank you to all my fabulous subscribers, FuzziBunz and I are teaming up to giveaway 4 of their new Elite diapers.

That's right - There will be not one but FOUR lucky winners that will each receive one of the new Elite diapers that FuzziBunz recently released.

Enter the Rafflecopter giveaway below: