Operation: Keep Bean Active
I have decided that the key to being a successful SAHM is to keep Bean as active and busy as possible. Because the real key to being a successful SAHM is how often and how long you can convince your child to sleep.
Horrible? Yes. But so very true, nonetheless.
In an effort to wear my child out, yesterday I had a play date with a mother and her six month old daughter from my church. Dawn suggested we attend story hour at Leu Gardens yesterday. The Gardens are literally just gardens on the grounds of a sprawling estate in downtown Orlando. Once a month they offer free admission to the gardens and they also offer a infant/toddler story hour, provided by the Orange County Public Library system. As much as Dawn told me about the morning, I was unprepared for what this really was.
It was a mommypalooza.
There were TONS of mothers and their small children at this thing! Dawn and I ran into a bunch of mothers from our church there and after the story hour (which involved all of Bean Man’s favorite songs, by the way), a group of us decided to stay and to walk around the gardens for a bit.
They had different areas of interest in the garden. The pictures above are from the rose garden. And next to that there was a butterfly garden with butterflies floating everywhere. Bean really liked the butterflies.
After the butterfly garden, we walked through the shade (ahhh…shade….) and the moms chatted about swimming lessons and milestones for our babies and nutrition and sunscreen and anything else mothers of small children talk about when they get together. It was so nice to be able to ramble on about babies and not worry that we weren’t including someone in the conversation who may not have kids. Chris and I have friends of all different stages in life but sometimes, it really is nice to spend an afternoon talking to women who are in the same place that you are. It gave me information to bring into our home with Bean and it gave me insight as to what other families are doing and dealing with. It was just really nice to be able to talk to other moms for a while.
After our walk through the shade, we headed over to the lake and checked out the turtles. I thought Bean was going to dive in after them. Maybe he needs a turtle in his life…
We headed back up to the main house after this and joined a lot of other moms and babies on the lawn. We had snacks (which, by the way, I should point out that I was the only mom who didn’t bring a healthy fruit snack for their child…way to go, Katie…) and we let the kids stretch their legs around the lawn a little.
Bean and I had to scoot out after a quick little romp. We had to get home and grab some lunch, change clothes, and get back to his doctor’s office at 1:00 for his twelve-month shots. OUCH!
It was a really great day and I’m so glad that I went. I’m really starting to make more of an effort to get out and about with Bean. It’s good for him and it’s good for me. And meeting other moms and making new friends helps me adjust even more to our new life in Florida.
12 Comments
Maybelline
Nice place! yesterday was my 1st day as SAHM, we are down to one car and working part-time wasn’t going to help pay daycare for my Kung Fu Baby, and I couldn’t find a daycare for part-time kids. So far I’ve lost 2 bottles, burned 2 pots (incluiding the food) and my baby is not even 6 months.. I don’t know what I’m going to do when he begins to crawl. Thanks for sharing!
Catherine M.
Love the turtle reference. Hope it helps with your campaign! ;o)
Katie
That one was for you and Murry. 🙂
Holly at Perrydise
I am so happy for you! It sounds like a really fun day. Good for you for getting out there with other moms. 😀 Soon Bean will be running around with those other babies and he will love it even more.
Michelle, Mom of Henry (12m!)
You go girl! 🙂 My advice: aim for once a week outings like that if you can. It really does help to connect with other moms and you’ll make some amazing friends at the same time as Bean. So proud of you rockin’ SAHM!!!! 🙂
Megan (Best of Fates)
Ooh – that story hour sounds like fun. And butterflies and turtles? Obviously an awesome experience.
Sarah H.
Yay, I’m so glad you’re out and about and making friends 🙂 And I’m happy Bean likes turtles and butterflies.
Jen D
Search Monkey Joes in your area. I know there are some in FL but don’t know if they are close enough to your house. We took Joe when he was just over 12 months and he LOVED IT and slept like crazy after! They have an area for kids under the age of 3 and its air conditioned and you can check your email there AND they sell food. Basically great!
Mindee@ourfrontdoor
Katie, if you haven’t found a MOPS group yet I highly, highly recommend it. A fabulous organization. http://www.mops.org
Jen at Cabin Fever
Glad you are starting to ‘find your place’ down there. That has to be that hardest part about moving… feeling like you are somewhere you belong.
Cabin Fever in Vermont
Amber
Find “The Little Gym” in your area. It is a once a week parent child “gymnastics” class. Our little girl loves it and she is worn out after. The classes keep kids in the same age range together and it has been awesome for us. Keep having fun as a SAHM. I am jealous.
Aja
Hey Katie,
We met at Leu Gardens (I’m Amber’s friend who lives in DeLand- my pic is on this post). My son (16 months), LOVES to get out so we do something nearly every day. Sometimes we just go to my mom’s (I’m lucky that my parents live 10 minutes from us), but we also do The Little Gym in Lake Mary once a week and we belong to our local MOPS group. I highly suggest both types of activities- MOPS especially. It’s my favorite thing we do. Good luck!