mommy friends

I find it very hard to meet people. Sounds like I'm dating, right? No, I mean, I find it hard to meet new friends. I always have, really. This dates back to kindergarten when my teacher wanted to hold me back because I wasn't social enough. I only had one friend at that time. Well, I've since broadened my horizons, but I am the type to retain friendships, and to do that, you often have to give a lot of time and attention to them. Consequently, I never really make an effort to invite new friends into my circle. Who has the time, right? Also, I happen to have a number of super close friends that I've been tight with since fifth and sixth grade. So it's not like I'm lacking a social circle. But since we moved to PA, I'm sooooo far from these super close friends and it really truly sucks. Because I just had my first baby and so did two of these friends. But we can't get together and have play dates, and watch our kids develop friendships like ours. That part breaks my heart. But any mommies out there in cyberspace know that moms need mom friends. We need people who are going through/have gone through the same things we are. Plus, 90 percent of our conversation is centered around our kids and non-mommies can only take so much of that. So, I started taking Emmie to a library story hour, and I have become friendly with a mom there. But it's kind of awkward. I don't remember it being awkward making friends in school. You'd have something in common with someone, and you'd just hang out. When I get together with this friend, it's like asking her out on a date or something (playdate that is). Still, I am grateful to have found her. We often take the kids to the park and they run around while we chase them, sharing snippets of conversation here and there along the way. It fills some of the gap left by the 12 hours between me and my buddies. 

Help! Stubborn baby alert.

So, I have a screaming baby on my hands. Not a happy first blog post, but it's what's happening right now. It's hip, it's happening. OK, it's just awful. She woke up this morning at 4 a.m. You know, the hour of senior citizens and night shift factory workers. And I suppose college kids who haven't even gone to sleep yet. The rest of us are happily snuggled into our comfy beds and wish to stay there. Not Emmie. She was awake. Fully. And like it's been with her lately, she just wants to be held. If you ignore her, she screams. It's the blood curdling, horror movie scream, and it is impossible (despite window air conditioners and closed doors- we've tried) to ignore. Plus it prompts occasional pounding on walls from our neighbors (sadly, we live in an apartment so when our family suffers, so do two others). Therefore, one of us must get up and deal with her. It was Doc's turn. Me, I tried to pretend I was asleep. It didn't fool Doc. But he got up anyway. 

That was 9 hours and 15 minutes ago. She still hasn't gone back to sleep to stay. She'll fall asleep, but when I try to move her to her crib, the screaming resumes. I just tried to rock her and she screamed and struggled.  So I deposited her on the floor. She laid down, and dozed off. Argh!! I decided to move her to her crib under the theory that she might wake up, but then she'd put herself back to sleep as on the floor. Right??? Nope. She's now screaming in her crib. But mommy needs a break, so mommy will take 5, as they say, and she can scream a little. I have no idea, by the way, what might be wrong other than possibly tooth pain.