A perfect morning with the loose women

Sometimes I can not believe how lucky I am to have such a great life. I have maternity leave to spend time bonding with my new Baby who is absolutely fantastic and is always smiling and laughing. One thing I did not expect was to have met some wonderful friends during this time who I now see every week for girly chats and baby talk.


When I was pregnant one piece of advise that kept being given to me was to join groups to meet other mums. Most mums find maternity leave isolating compared to the world of work. Looking after a new baby can be a relentless and thankless job. Whilst I took the advise on board I knew I would be perfectly happy to spend time on my own with Baby E. I have found the whole baby experience relaxing and continually rewarding, whilst I wanted to join some groups to enhance my life with Baby E, the intention was to give Baby E the best start in life, and not for me to make friends. I am very comfortable in my own company and have loved taking time out from the busy working life to relax and spend quality time getting to know my baby. Meeting some friends along the way the icing on the cake.


After Christmas, I booked myself a place on a Baby Massage course (see previous blog), and was pleases to meet a group of Mums who share the same values. As the Baby massage course drew to a close, we planned to meet up at each others houses every Tuesday at the same time as Baby Massage. My house was so rammed full of stuff, that I could not see the wood for the trees. I had huge piles of things I was convinced I would find time to take to a car boot, or sell on eBay. I had also kept some baby things to give to friends when they had babies. I knew it was only a matter of time before I had to reveal to the girls my chaotic messy lifestyle. Even before I saw the other Mums houses, I was horrified at the thought that people would see my house at its worse, and judge me accordingly.

I went home and told my Fabulous Boyfriend something had to be done! I have had enough of being so cluttered that I can not appreciate my house. My Fabulous Boyfriend could not be more pleased, as over the next few weekends we embarked on a de-clutter exercise. I am so grateful he took a few carloads of things to the tip for recycling, and we were able to collect some items of furniture that his sister had been looking after for us. We moved the furniture round so my living room is now situated in the sunny front of the house and is much more spacious and airy. Thanks to our efforts, I have a new found love of my house, and am proud for anyone to visit. It may be in desperate need of decorating, but it is now free from the clutter that crowded both the house and my ability to enjoy relaxing.

Today was my turn to host 'loose women'. In my usual procrastinating way, I had not made any effort to do more tidying yesterday, so did a quick whip round this morning. Baby E seemed very excited that something was afoot, and so was wide awake through the time he would normally have his early morning sleep. We made the front room a little more presentable and laid out the play mats for all the girls to lie on. I had made a healthy treat to eat mid morning, which was up to my usual crazy cooking standards. I had once hoped that when you gave birth you naturally inherited an ability to cook gene ... how wrong could I be! While making the delicious frozen raspberry mousse I managed to break my hand blender and had to subject Baby E to more supermarkets whilst I bought a replacement and hunted for missing ingredients.


The Mums arrived with their girls. Baby E was the model baby, giving two of the girls kisses and cuddles. He did pull one little girls ear, but she did not seem to notice so everything was OK. As predicted, once all the Mums and Babies had arrived Baby E wanted to go for his sleep, which he did perfectly with no fuss or crying. I was very proud.

I had a fabulous morning, and am so pleased to find we have all become firm friends. My new found friends from baby massage have dubbed the group 'Loose Women'. We have all found like minded people with babies of a similar age. We can chat about what is happening with our babies and re-assure each other that everything is OK when we are feeling insecure and worried. It is great to find other mums who are sharing the same baby experience. We all gain a greater understanding of how we are feeling, and what are babies are doing.

I can not believe how lucky I am to make such good friends, and am so grateful that indirectly they have prompted me to get the house in a more organised presentable state. Every time the 'loose women' meet up we learn a little more about each other. It can sometimes be strange making new friends, but it feels so natural, and has meant so much to each of us to get together and chat about anything and everything. It felt great to have the girl visit me today, and I look forward to many more occasions where we will share experiences and our babies will grow up together.