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Ever lose a friend to Mommyville?

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Re: Ever lose a friend to Mommyville?

  • imageariel06:

    Is she a SAHM now?  I send way less emails to my friends without children because my life pretty much revolves around my boys and their sleeping, eating, and bodily functions (gross, I know!).  Since none of these are great email subjects, maybe your friend doesn't know what to write. 

    I feel horrible for not giving my friendships the attention they deserve.  My youngest is a little younger than your friend's baby.  I'm finally feeling like I'm able to start getting on top of things.  Let your friend know that you miss her and maybe ask when is a good time to call and chat. 

    No, she's back at work 4 days a week.  It's a good idea to ask her when a good time is to call.  I think sometimes I'm afraid to call because I don't know when her daughter goes to sleep or eats, etc and I don't want to be a nuisance. 

    Congrats on your 2nd!  :-)

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  • imageMrsKizdoodle:
    imageilovebijou:

    This seems crazy to me too. It's not that hard to email. I would be upset with that amount of contact too from a good friend.

    I'm actually really glad to hear that from a mom.  I was starting to get the impression that motherhood is zero down time and complete chaos until the kid leaves for college!  (ok, not that extreme...but close)  Maybe just in Janell's house?  Stick out tongue    Big Smile

    It does definitely depend on the kid. And in my experience, if your friend has a son, she probably has less time. All of my friends with boys have much more high energy children than my daughter. My daughter is very calm and low key and has always been able to entertain herself while I do other things. But I know that it's not true at all for all moms.  

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  • Thanks for this post!

    I have a good friend from college that I have only seen once or twice since Liv was born. I miss her like crazy, but she is kid-less and leads a completely different life than I do now

    This post prompted me to e-mail her, and I am super excited and the prospect of seeing her. I can tell her all about my night in the ER with dd, while she tells me about her weekend in vegas ;)

  • imageMrsKizdoodle:
    imageilovebijou:

    This seems crazy to me too. It's not that hard to email. I would be upset with that amount of contact too from a good friend.

    I'm actually really glad to hear that from a mom.  I was starting to get the impression that motherhood is zero down time and complete chaos until the kid leaves for college!  (ok, not that extreme...but close)  Maybe just in Janell's house?  Stick out tongue    Big Smile

    No doubt Kiz...some days I am stuck in h3ll...seriously between the high energy boy dogs, and my high energy kid I never stop...and all I feel like I do all day long is clean up crap!  DS's crap, the dogs crap, everything.  I'll be happy when DH gets home this weekend!

  • I'll throw in my 2 cents.  I found it easy on maternity leave to keep in touch with friends, but when I went back to work it became difficult.  I would work all day and then want to go home and be with Ellie because I didn't get to see her all day.  I also talk on the phone all day at work so when I get home I don't want to be on the phone.  I find that using FB and email is much easier to communicate for me and I set up nights out with friends that way.  It hasn't been an issue for me since a good majority of our friends have kids.  We are fine going 1-3 months without talking and then when we do get together we talk for 4 hours:)
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  • Thanks for your $0.02.  :-)  And holy smokes is Ellie adorable.  There are some beautiful babies around here! 
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  • i think everyone is different. some people want nothing more in life than to be parents and when that happens, they lose themselves in the experience.

    i NEVER wanted kids. my son (who turns 12 today!) was the happiest "accident" i've ever had. maybe in that original lack of interest to have kids of my own and yet feeling of completion once he was born there is a natural tendency toward balance. i LOVE being a mom but i also love spending time sans bambino with my husband and friends.

    i think life is INSANELY busy but people use that as an excuse. i work full time, commute an hour each way to work, am in school M,T& W nights plus have a kid in hockey 4 -5 days a week and we still find time to hang out with our friends either with the kids or without. it's about where your priorities lie and mine lie in a balanced life. a happy home to me INCLUDES MY PERSONAL HAPPINESS, not just that of my child.

    who knows, maybe i'm a selfish b!tch. : )

  • imagestrength:

    i think everyone is different. some people want nothing more in life than to be parents and when that happens, they lose themselves in the experience.

    i NEVER wanted kids. my son (who turns 12 today!) was the happiest "accident" i've ever had. maybe in that original lack of interest to have kids of my own and yet feeling of completion once he was born there is a natural tendency toward balance. i LOVE being a mom but i also love spending time sans bambino with my husband and friends.

    i think life is INSANELY busy but people use that as an excuse. i work full time, commute an hour each way to work, am in school M,T& W nights plus have a kid in hockey 4 -5 days a week and we still find time to hang out with our friends either with the kids or without. it's about where your priorities lie and mine lie in a balanced life. a happy home to me INCLUDES MY PERSONAL HAPPINESS, not just that of my child.

    who knows, maybe i'm a selfish b!tch. : )

    You're not a selfish b!tch, because if you are then I am, as evidenced by the fact that I work essentially two full time jobs right now (due to the uptick in the real estate market). 

    I guess I just don't have my priorities in place.  Some people like going out, some people like doing crafts, what ever to get their time.  I go to the gym.  If given the choice between calling a friend and going out and going to the gym I'd go to the gym...I guess if my friend wanted to go with then that would be awesome but I've never asked.

    It's part of the reason why we'll only have one kid because I just don't feel like I can give that much of my time to two, and I am never not working so I just don't have time for two kids...if I don't have time for my friends then how would i have time for a second kid.

  • imageJanell's Nest:
    It's part of the reason why we'll only have one kid because I just don't feel like I can give that much of my time to two, and I am never not working so I just don't have time for two kids...if I don't have time for my friends then how would i have time for a second kid.

    i actually think this is a very interesting thing to say (as in i agree!). because i would rather jump to my death than be a SAHM, i just don't see how i could have time enough to give to more than one kid.

    that said, with my son being SO much older than potential future kids, maybe it would work out... but 2 under 3 (for example) and still working FT and what not, there is no way. i couldn't do it. i'm just not wired that way. but, everyone is different. i know there are superwomen in the world who balance it all, but at what cost? because there HAS to be a cost.

    (and PS, i go to the gym over lunch! that way i have time for my friends too. Smile)

  • imagestrength:

    that said, with my son being SO much older than potential future kids, maybe it would work out... but 2 under 3 (for example) and still working FT and what not, there is no way. i couldn't do it. i'm just not wired that way. but, everyone is different. i know there are superwomen in the world who balance it all, but at what cost? because there HAS to be a cost.

    I had two under two (my oldest just turned two), and I really wouldn't say there was a cost. It's hard in the beginning, as your adjusting to life with two kids and your new baby's temperment, but it settles down with a little time, and you start to get into a new routine of life.

    I work full time, and now that Amelia doesn't require as much attention, we're able to really get in some family time after work (though, limited). On the weekends, we run our errands, do our chores. Get together with family and friends here and there. My mom can start babysitting on the weekends again now that Amelia isn't so difficult, so we can get out more often (when we have the money of course). I e-mail friends during the week from work. I stay up to date with everybody I'm cost to on facebook.

    I was initially worried about being able to give my attention and love to two kids, equally, but it's just natural. Outside of the holiday's, DH doesn't wory much OT, so he's able to pick the kids up after work now, so I can go home and work out and get some stuff done without the kid craziness.

    Sure our lives are leaps and bounds different than they were 2-3 years ago, and we have of course changed in many ways, but we still make time for everything, and everyone, that is important...friends, family, work, social life.

    Ashley & Christian
  • I haven't actually read the responses yet (but I will and add anything else that I think of), but I wanted to give you my perspective: When I had my first son, while I was home on maternity leave, I was so excited to spend time with him and I just spent a lot of time staring at him. It was tough for me to keep in touch with friends because so many worked and couldn't talk during the day, and when nighttime came, I was talking with DH and didn't think to call anyone else. After I got back to work, it was easier to stay in touch with friends because I would make a point to call them on my way home from work or while DS was sleeping before DH got home, etc. After the second son, it got to be even more difficult to stay in touch with friends. It wasn't that I didn't honestly care about them, but after staying awake all night long with my colicky kid, I took every second I had to sleep to sleep and relax and give myself some time for me. My concentration was shot, and I knew I didn't have the attention span to really listen to anything anyone told me, so I didn't reach out to anyone to chat. Again, after I went back to work it got better because I would use that time on the drive home to get back in touch. For both maternity leaves - emails just didn't happen. I told friends that they should just call me to chat, but emailing me was going to take forever to get a response because getting on a computer was a very low priority. The entire time I was on leave, I was completely bummed out at how few people actually DID call me to catch in. I totally got it because when other friends had babies before me, I was always afraid I'd call and wake up the baby or something so I rarely called. Now I get it and will call and the first thing I ask is "is now a good time to talk?" It is hard though to spend time with friends that don't have kids -- they don't always understand that it isn't as easy as just calling me today to see if we can hang out tomorrow unless you are cool with having the kids come with. My single girl friends also don't get that I have a hard time going out for happy hour or dinner during the week because we have to make sure someone picks up the kids from daycare, which means coordinating with DH. Our weeks are so packed by the time we get home from work, get dinner, get baths, etc. -- that the weekends we try to spend together as a family and do things. It is a little rough, but I think that the best friends won't fully drop off - they understand that you are busy and that eventually things will come back to normal. And the best friends when you do get the chance to connect, it will seem like you never didn't talk all the time and you pick up right where you left off.  (and wow did that get long -sorry)  
  • imageMrsKizdoodle:

    Okay be straight with me.  Is 3 really short e-mails in 6 months "normal" for a new parent?  That just seems crazy to me.  But, again, I've never been there.

     

    I feel like I'm mourning a friendship in some ways.  I know it will never be the same again and that bums me out.    Sad

    I would definitely try to call her -- because for me emails were hard - that required putting down the baby and not being able to do anything else.  Phones I could prop on my shoulder while feeding or doing dishes or laundry. 

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