Mothers & More!

As of this past Tuesday, September 4, 2012, I am one of two new co-leaders for Mothers & More Defiance Chapter 259.

Click for our FB page!

Our mission statement reads:

"Reconnect with yourself. Connect with other Mothers. Connect with the world around you! We focus on you - as a mother AND a woman in all the different stages of your life."

This is exactly what I have needed in my life for the last 2 years. I was diagnosed with Postpartum Depression sometime around when Jack was 6 or 9 months old. Which means I went that long without help for what was going on in my brain. And that is a HUGE problem. I was going through what I think a lot of new moms do, where I was having these thoughts and emotions and I thought it was just part of the process. Or like maybe it meant I wasn't a good mom because I didn't know how to BE a mother. It was terrible. But I finally reached a point where I sought medical attention for it. I got to cry to a stranger who prescribed me some drugs and some ways of dealing with things. I'm absolutely better now.

A lot of that has to do with Jack being older and my being a more "experienced" mom. But a lot of it has to do with Mothers & More. Ever since I moved from Maryland right after high school, I had sort of prided myself on my loner status. I didn't need friends to get by. And for a long time, that was really true. When Dan came along, he was just enough of a friend. I didn't need anything else.

Then Jack was born. And sure, I had an awesome partner helping with the parenting stuff. But he could not relate to what was happening to my body and my mind. He didn't understand my middle-of-the-night emotional breakdowns because I couldn't get Jack to stop crying. I needed mom friends my own age. Then one day in November 2011, a girl named Lisa came into my pharmacy and convinced me to go to an M&M meeting. I did, and it was so much fun. It was a couple of hours away from my child and into a room full of women who had been where I was.

M&M has been a huge savior for me in the last 10 months. It's about getting out of the house and being myself.... and not just my mom-self. I'm figuring out that there's a difference.

================================================================

Alright, enough bearing my soul and all that...

Technically, I don't officially take over until October, but it's already crazy.

We're organizing an event called Touch-A-Truck that's going to happen the 30th of this month.  Basically, it's a fundraiser for the chapter where for a fee you can bring your kids out to the Defiance County Airport to see a bunch of different vehicles. The kids can... wait for it... Touch A Truck. Eh, see what I did there?

We have airplanes, a helicopter, school buses, fire trucks, limos... all kinds of vehicles.

I was kind of inadvertently tossed into the planning committee for the event, and then the Board election came around, so now I'm feeling double pressure.

I haven't slept very well in the last few days and my TMJD was acting up today from harder-than-usual teeth grinding in my sleep last night, which equated to an all-day headache. Who knew I was such an anxious/stressed person? I definitely didn't used to be. Stupid adulthood. Time to step back and relax a little. The world does not hinge on Touch A Truck! Every time I wake up in the middle of the night until the 30th, that will be my mantra. Ha!

Hopefully the event is a huge success and we learn from our mistakes and this can become an annual event. It has great potential, so hopefully we can pull it out!