Moving to South Florida in December

[goodygumdrops]

Can you tell I'm trying to be enthusiastic about this move : We moved to Seattle from Miami when I was 7 1/2 months preggo. Now my son is about 19 months and we've decided to move back. I am having a hard time with ppd and the weather here is super depressing. The community is AMAZING though and I'm really hoping that I will have at least a couple of like minded mama friends in the Florida. So, anyone around? Anyone at all?

[MommyJoia]

I'm in broward!

[goodygumdrops]

yay : I'm so happy that I got a response

I am moving to Broward county most likely. We're thinking North Ft Lauderdale/Pompano Beach area. I would love to get your recommendations for neighborhoods, kid friendly restaurants, pediatricians, and generally anything else that will make my life easier


Nice to meet you, MommyJoia

[flminivanmama]

:

I'm in Boca. My kids are older now and I work a lot... but when they were younger I made a wonderful community of friends that I met through LLL

[goodygumdrops]

Nice to meet you, flminivanmama

Thanks for the idea about LLL. I actually haven't even gone to a meeting here and I'm still nursing my son who is 18 months. I am looking forward to meeting some new friends...

So, what kind of parks and fun stuff is there to do with the lo's. I was told that the Children's Museum in Ft. Lauderdale was really great.

[goodygumdrops]

Well, it's official. We have our one way ticket for Nov 21. I know there has to be more mamas out there....

I'm going to find out were they have the LLL meeting...

[Jilian]

Hi mama, I'm quite a bit north in SW FL but wanted to welcome you back to FL! I hope you have an easy move. You're comin back just in time for the beautiful FL "winter"

[aiea]

Hi Gavin'smom,

Welcome back! Florida is a fabulous place to be, and I bet there is an active group of mamas in Miami area. MDC user MiamiMami might know (G, if you read this, hope you don't mind me offering you up!).

We are about 4 hrs west from Miami but have a fairly active group of mama and baby buddies.

[goodygumdrops]

Thanks Jilian and Aiea,

We timed our move so we would get there right when the weather was getting nice : I don't think I could stand going back during the muggy summertime. I am just starting to wrap my head around this move....and I'm getting excited about it.

Yay!! I'm looking forward to going to the Keys. I love SW Fl too. My cousin lives over there, it's beautiful in Bonita Springs.

[1hautemama]

Welcome back mama:. I live quite a bit north of where you will be settling (Stuart). We are looking to move out west.

[amandapearl]

Hi,
Hollywood is a great area for families. I'm a Miami native, and we are selling our condo in N Miami at the end of the month to move to a house in Hollywood. There is a LLL at the hollywood birth center, an active group of AP moms, and lots of home schoolers of all different varities too. There attleare tons of great parks, and plenty of cool mamas to meet too. I actually have a childhood friend who moved back to miami from seattle about a year ago. her son is about 3. My daughter will be 2 in november and we have a great group of people we spend time with. feel free to pm me with any questions pre move or once you get settled.

[goodygumdrops]

Yay! I'm glad to find some mamas that are close. I am definitely up for getting together with the kiddos. I think the hardest part for me about moving is that becoming a mother just changes you and I've built a network of friends and now we're going to be in totally different place. Even though we'll have family around it's just not the same, iykwim.

I have considered moving to Hollywood but it's a little to far from my family. My father lives in Margate and my aunt lives in WPB. I was thinking Pompano would be a good halfway point. What do you ladies think? It's funny that I've only been gone for 2 years and I already can't remember how far things are. I know when we lived in Miami Beach, it took about and hour and fifteen minutes to get to WPB, speeding Which I don't do much of anymore, since I have precious cargo....

Nice to meet you, 1hautemama and amandapearl

[OrganiclivingMama]

? about Seattle

I found your post very interesting. My husband and I have discussed moving to OR. It seems all the natural living mamas are out there. I live is S. FL as well (port st lucie), and since I became a mother 4 yrs ago, I haven't met any other breastfeeding, natural birth, cloth diapering, planning to homeschool, organic living mamas. NONE!!! Either I just can't find them (Maybe we have 1 car and my hubby works 6 days a week so I can stay home with our 2 girls, so I don't get out much) or they are just not here.

Anyway, if u don't mind me asking why are you comming back? Were there really lots of natural mamas out there? How bad was the weather? And what is the comparison with the cost of living?

I grew up in PA and wanted to live in FL my whole life. It is beautiful here, and i love the weather, but that is it. Crime, Drugs, Bad schools, bad people, cost of living, are all the reasons we want out of at least this area.

Hope to get some good info. And best of luck with your move. At least down south there seems to be more like minded mamas.

[amandapearl]

hollywood to palm beach is 40-50 minutes....no idea about margate, and no real experiences with pompano...there is an active group of ap moms in palm beach...this is their yhoo group APPlaySouthFLA

[goodygumdrops]

Organiclivingmama - Well, there are tons of natural living mamas out here. I think it seems like it's actually the norm to nurse your kids till two and cloth diaper. Everyone is a hippie in Seattle. I have made lots of friends here for sure. But being around like minded people isn't everything...and it's not necessarily realistic either. For example, the internet is kind of a narrow way of getting parenting advice. I love coming on MDC but the world is not full of people that are exactly like me and that would narrow my ability to learn different and possibly complimentary ways of living...ykwim.

That said, if my family lived out here we would probably stay. The main reason why we're going back is because we want to be closer to our family. Life is short and we want out lo to be able to know his grandparents and family. It's also easier for us too I had ppd when my son was born and didn't realize it until I started having panic attacks about two months ago. So, knowing what I now know about ppd, I think it would be better for us to raise our son and any future babes closer to our family..and in better weather. Seriously, the rainy weather is pretty bad. It's pretty much gray and dark from November until April. Don't get me wrong, you might see a little blue sky but you will feel the difference....

Finally....I think if you got out of the house more, you might find other mamas that are like minded. I mean, I didn't become the way I am just from moving to Seattle. I have several friends in South Florida that are like me...and I've already met a couple mamas here So, I'm optimistic.

I hope you find some peace living in Port St. Lucie. My mother lives up there. If I'm ever coming up, I'll send you a post and maybe we can meet up.

[goodygumdrops]

Another thing that I didn't think about is that we're going to need a new pediatrician. I have my son on delay/partial vax schedule and I'm wondering how difficult it is going to be to find a dr to work with us? Anyone have a recommendation? Thanks
Amy

[flminivanmama]

if you are willing to drive, Denise Punger in Ft Pierce is the best.

http://www.twofloridadocs.com

http://permissiontomother.blogspot.com

otherwise - I just switched back to my old pediatriction when we moved back to Boca in June - David Marcus. He's with Pediatric associates which is all over... I'm not sure how non-vax friendly they are but we like him a lot.....

[goodygumdrops]

Thanks flminivan. I think Ft. Pierce is a bit far for us but Boca is within range. Thanks for the recommendations.

[torio]

Welcome back to FL. I've been in Miami 10 years. We've got 16 mos old boy/girl twins. There are some like-minded families around, but you do have to look for them. If you head down Miami way look us up.

Tori

[pigpen777]

hi there! i am a native floridian. i am in pembroke pines, broward county.