Saturday, October 16, 2010

Super Babies of the Valley


I tried to it fight for as long as I could, but after feeling like an outcast among a sea of stroller pushing mommy groups at the mall, I've come to realize that a new mom cannot live on her childless friends alone.  A new mom needs the company of other new moms, so that together they could join forces and dominate the mall's food court with their strollers.

This is exactly what happened last Thursday at an event aptly called the"Topanga Mall Walk Around".  I don't know how you can get more specific than that, really: you meet with other moms for lunch, then you walk around the Topanga Mall.  Simple.

Let me rewind back for a bit.  I don't have any local mommy friends, save for Alyssa, a first time mom I bonded with over an iPhone app called Baby411, where new moms huddle and exchange questions and answers on  how to prevent their newborns from dying.  I was obsessed with this app, obsessed being the operative word here, as I feel I've graduated from the lingering paranoia that is SIDS, and take pride in the fact that after 6 months, I think I've got most of my questions answered, at least for now. 

I call Alyssa my soul sister sometimes.  She doesn't know this because I don't want to freak her out and risk losing my only mommy friend.  But yeah, we have weird things in common, Alyssa and I.  Our babies are a day apart, we used to have the same career, we're the same age and she lives less than a mile away from my house.  On top of that, she's married to a Filipino.  Good gosh, I'm Filipino! How weird is that? Okay maybe those things don't exactly qualify as weird, but when you're postpartum and starving for empathy, you tend to call the mom who has the same stroller as you your soul mate. Alyssa's a keeper, but the only underlying problem is the fact that she rejoined the workforce to ensure a bright future for her son, whereas I, opted to stay home and blog.

That's me, Yuna, Alyssa and her baby ThoBen at.. surprise surprise, The Topanga Mall!  Notice how my daughter was ready to devour her son?

Anyway, I was 40 minutes late for this event and though I was aware that I might have screwed up my only shot at a good first impression, I was prepared to use Yuna as an excuse and tell them that she was taking her mid-morning nap and I didn't want to wake her up.  That's bullshit, really. I was the one taking a nap, but I wasn't about to admit that and blow my chances right then and there.  

I was shitting-in-my-shorts scared as I approached them and Yuna had a huge booger hanging from her nose I was trying to pick but she wouldn't let me.  It was a huge group, you could actually spot them from the parking lot, and it wasn't until I was about a hundred yards from them when I seriously contemplated on just passing by, pretending I wasn't part of the event.  As I drew closer, I saw someone flash a huge smile at me.  And another.  Holy cow, and another.  What a friendly bunch!  I parked Yuna next to another stroller and kind of just stood there like an idiot.  I was too flustered to say anything!  Thankfully, a cool looking momma who was sitting across from me looked up and said. "Hey, you're Tina!  I'm Michelle. I posted something on your profile, I love your blog!"

Pretty fucking cool right?  Who knew??

So just like that, Michelle and I started talking as if we had a history, and as soon as the other moms kind of confirmed that I was safe to be around with (not a psycho, perve, serial killer, blah blah blah), they started warming up to me as well. While I was really getting into talking about my horrific postpartum hair loss experience,  I noticed another mom looking at our direction, as if trying to get my attention.  She smiled and said, "Hi, I'm Sarah.  I read your blog!  I have yet to subscribe but I love it!"

Shiver me timbers!  After reading what I've written here thus far, I'm so relieved that they are not repulsed by by ramblings.  I thought that somehow, some things I post here actually make sense and that these moms could relate to my distresses and cluelessness.  That I'm not alone after all.  How inspiring is that? Maybe I should change the theme of this blog into something more enlightening and call it The Journey.  Maybe I should do arts and crafts!  Coupons, freebies and giveaways! Ooohh... I can do scrapbooks! Shiver me timbers!

But let's not get ahead of ourselves here.  It's just Day 1 of me entering the circle of "other moms" and I have yet to get to know all of them, much less, remember all their names so I will try my best not to impose myself too much.  I stayed very low-key, other than the fact that I pretty much whored out my daughter to this other mom's unbelievably gorgeous 1 yr. old.   Fixed marriages are all the rage right now, just so you know. Anyway, the gorgeous mom and son tandem left before I even got the chance to steal her Blackberry and text myself her phone number. I will try again next time.


There's my girl Yuna being the loner that she is, in her first play date ever.  It worried me a lot that she chose to pay more attention to the wide screen TV conveniently playing Yo Gabba Gabba than to push the smaller babies off the play tables.  Aren't they supposed to be doing that by now?  Being the stage mother I was, I planted myself inside the play area among these babies determined to fill my camera with this monumental event while shouting "Yunaaaaaaa!  Over here Yunaaaaaa!  Look at mommy Yunaaaaa!!" which she certainly did not appreciate.  How could I tell?

You are annoying me again. 
 Well, if that look's not telling enough, I don't know what is.

They've got a Halloween event again two weeks from now and I'm bringing this ungrateful child with me.  I can't wait to see my new BFFs! Wheeeeeee!!

6 comments:

kitten said...

Yay YOU for finally doing it. It's true, I'd go crazy too without local mom friends! Cheers! :)

Ashley said...

I love that your playdate was in the bathroom. I recognize those play tables! ;)

Unlikely Origins said...

Aw! She's gorgeous.

The making-mom-friends thing is intimidating. It took me *months* of storytime attendance before I actually, you know, made a move to do anything with those moms *outside* of scheduled library events. Good for you for taking that step!

(Also, hi :) I'm new to your blog, but I added you to my reader and I like it a lot!)

-Karinya@ Unlikely Origins

Anonymous said...

Hi Tina!!!
Thank you for writing about ThoBen and I in this post. Just wanted 2 let you know that I consider u as my SOUL SISTER as well. Its not often that we find someone that has SO much in common. It's sometime a bit freaky how much our LO's have in common as well.
Yuna is SO adorable..I wish I could have attended the event with you so that we could both look like newbies at this whole new mommy thing.. I am ALWAYS here for you if you need someone to go to the events.
Yuna is so lucky to have you as her mommy you are doing am amazing job..
Yoour Soul Sister Alussa

Anonymous said...

Darn iPhone was acting up when I was trying to post my comment. Sorry about the typos in my last sentence..
Meant to say Your Soul Sister Alyssa :0)

Unknown said...

Hi!! We are sooo glad that you could come to our meetup. I wish i got to talk to you more, but next time for sure!

~"superbaby" sarah

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