Things I Love Thursday: Mother of Multiples Groups

Every week I participate in Things I Love Thursday over at The Diaper Dairies. This week, I decided to go with my Mother of Multiples Group because it really has been an excellent resource for me while on this journey of parenting twins. To anyone who also has twins, look into it, you won't be sorry.

If you're searching for a group in your area, this should be your first stop. The National Organization of Mothers of Twins Clubs. And don't let the name fool ya, they are extremely relevant and appropriate for families with triplets or more. They have a zip code search over on the right to search for a club in your area. If you don't find one in your area, that doesn't necessarily mean that such a club doesn't exist near you. There are many clubs around that choose not to join the NOMTC, but since so many are this is still the best first stop for finding a chapter near you.

If you can't find a group through NOMTC I would suggest checking out MeetUp.com. Although there isn't a MeetUp group in my area for Multiples, my guess is that there certainly is in other parts of the country. I have found several Mom & Me type groups through MeetUp and it has been an EXCELLENT way for me to meet other local moms and get out of the house to fun activities with my kids.

If that doesn't work, then simply google "Moms of multiples your city and state". You're sure to find something!

If you live in the greater Portland Metro area, there are 2 Moms of Multiples clubs. The largest is not a member of NOMTC, and they hold most of their meetings over on the west side. It's called Full House MOM's or FHM for short. I joined FHM while I was expecting, and they were extremely helpful! They have 2 very large resale events a year. Each family (usually around 50-70) has a booth full of baby stuff. You wouldn't believe the great things I scored at that sale! Plus they also have a library, a preemie closet, they deliver meals to new mothers, and mom & me events. Great club! Great ladies! Totally worth the $35 annual membership fee.

PS: FHM's Spring Resale Event is coming up soon! It's March 14th, and although members get to enter at 8am, it's open to the public starting at 9am! So if you're expecting ANY number of babies you absolutely don't want to miss it! Check their web site for details!

The other club in our area is Columbia Mother of Twins Club. They are members of the NOMTC, and therefore are able to participate in regional and national conferences. In fact, they are hosting the Portland 2011 conference, and are already making preparations for that event. Columbia MOTC is located in Vancouver, WA up in the Salmon Creek area, but they serve all of Clark County. This group has been around for 50+ years and many of the founding members still attend the meetings. This gives the meetings such an awesome multi-generational feel, and it's great to be around other moms that have gone through it all before. They have monthly meetings (for moms only), which usually involve some sort of activity or guest speaker. This group is highly organized, and you can expect a lot of planning going on at each meeting. They offer mom & me events as well as mom's (and dad's) nights out. Their annual membership fee is $20 (I think!).

As a mom of twins, these groups have been extremely helpful to me. There are a couple message boards on the 'net dedicated to mom's of twins or more, but I truly think there is value in face to face interaction, and there's just something that I get out of monthly meetings that I can't get online. And it's SO important to talk to other mom's who have multiples, because frankly, so many singleton moms just don't 'get it'. It's not their fault, they just don't fully understand the way a mom of twins (or more!) can. I can't even begin to tell you how helpful it is to be around other mom's who DO get it!

My First Month of Blogging

Wow! I can't believe it's been a month already!

So how has it been, blogging every day for a month?

Well, it's way more interesting then I thought it would be. I guess I never really realized that there was this whole community aspect of blogging. I thought I would just write my little posts about my kids and recipe experiments, and keep a record for myself about our life. I never thought other people would be interested in it. I don't think of myself as being that interesting. I feel like my life is actually... pretty normal and boring. I'm not a world traveler, I don't have some sort of exciting profession, I'm not super beautiful, or super smart, or super talented in any way. And yes, I have twins. But so do a bunch of other people who are FAR more interesting than me! And I don't claim to be a super awesome mom either. I think I pretty much just barely get by, and my kids spend way too much time in front of the TV while I'm here writing stuff and reading stuff.

Anyway.. enough about me. :P

I just recently joined a network of Mom Bloggers. I'm really not sure what to think about it. I think generally speaking I'm way more interested in other people's blogs than other people are about mine! And I'm ok with that, I'm having a lot of fun filling up my blog reader and becoming a loyal follower. Be sure to check my side bar thingy for all the awesome blogs I've picked up along the way over the past month. There are certainly some good ones!

I also just signed up for Twitter today because somewhere I read that you could connect it with Facebook and enter your status updates on there? I have no idea how to do that, so if anyone does please let me know! lol I'm such a newb. Oh, and if you have Twitter look me up! I have like... no friends. ha ha!

I'm reading up on Mr. Linky and trying to figure out how it works. :) I'd really love to do one of those Carnival thingies! So in the next few weeks look for it, it's gonna happen! I've already decided that it will be a Spice Rack Challenge!!! Where I pull out a spice that I have no idea what to do with, and figure out something to do with it. It's gonna rock! So get ready, look through that ol' dusty spice rack, and start cookin' up new things so that you can join in the fun! It's gonna rock!

So I feel like I've learned a lot about this whole blogging thing over the past month, and I'm looking forward to learning more. My goal as always is to write every day. I think that it's good for my soul. Keeps me focused. Grounded. And overall requires discipline. It also keeps me thinking. Which I've found to be very important in the type of life I live where I often go a whole week without leaving the house and one can only take so much toddler babble before needing intellectual stimuli.

Thank you for joining me on this blogging journey and taking the time to read my ramblings! I do appreciate it! :)

Alone Time

Sometimes... ok... maybe OFTEN... Momma NEEDS a break!

And thank goodness for sympathetic Hubby, because I get plenty of breaks. Often at his suggestion. Because sometimes Momma doesn't know she needs a break until Hubby suggests it. And usually when it gets to that point, it isn't pretty!

Take last night for example.

I was rushing around like a mad woman yesterday afternoon because I felt this sudden urge to make my home sanitary. It happens sometimes. So I was doing laundry, vacuuming the upstairs, cleaning bathrooms, etc. etc. etc.

And then Hubby wakes up, looks at me, and says, "I think maybe you need to get out and do something!" I think he reads my cleaning frenzies as signs of restlessness, and I think he might be onto something. :)

I had responded as a "maybe" for a local Mom's MeetUp event that evening, so I quickly hopped on and responded "yes" and continued to rush around making sure everything would be ready for my departure.

So last night, I met 6 other mom's at the mall for... as Scavenger Hunt! I haven't done one of those things in YEARS! We searched for candybar wrappers, and receipts, and plastic bags, and napkins w/ logos, it was great fun! And afterwords we had ice cream and chit chat.

It was a MUCH needed break!

So any of you mom's out there need to get out and meet new people? Check out meetup.com! It's a great way to get out and do things that you're interested in and possibly make some new friends in the process. :)