[MommaCorbin]

Hello Canada moms! My name is Amanda Corbin and I`m seeking a playgroup for myself and my six month old, Drake. I`m currently a stay-at-home mom, and the opportunities to venture out, especially as winter becomes more encroachingly cold, are limited for me. I`m relatively new to the Ottawa area, and originally from the United States - though I married a Canadian! Yay! I`m hoping to find other moms that I can seek advice from, and hopefully start a friendship or two. Please feel free to shoot me an e-mail or message me if I happen to be online, and I`ll do the same!

Right now, I have a big question: How do I deal with the stress? My husband works days most of the time, and I`m afraid that I may have spoiled Drake by holding him each time he fussed. Now I can hardly put him down to run to the bathroom without him starting to scream. I`m afraid I`ve made a really big mistake with coddling him too much. I`m also feeling terribly isolated with not knowing the city or the country, really, while my husband has his friends here and his haunts and is out often when he has the chance. Is there anything anyone can suggest to help ease my frustrations? (It might help if I was more outgoing! LoL!). I don`t think I`ve quite made it out of the baby blues stage, and it doesn`t help that I haven`t had a single day, or even half a day, away from my son since he was born. If there`s anything anyone can suggest, I would be very grateful!

Thank you so much,

Amanda

 

[annebanane]

i don't like winter either and it makes it really easy to isolate inside the house (which is what i did last year when my son was 6 months old!)

speaking of when my son was 6 months old, he also cried and fussed the moment i put him down and i felt resentful sometimes as i held him while i was on the toilet. I remember every morning getting dressed while my son cried and wailed as i was hurrying to put on my socks.

: it made me insane sometimes and i wondered if i had spoiled him until i met talked to some other mamas and realized that pretty much all babies do this all the time regardless of how often they are held. plus, holding babies is really good for them and really pays off in the long run. it sounds like you are doing a great job

anyway i would like to meet up with some ottawa mamas and try and beat back the winter blues. where in ottawa do you live?

 

[MommaCorbin]

Thanks so much for letting me know that I haven`t spoiled him rotten at this point! It really helps! Drake just doesn`t like it at all if I let him go, and he`s stranger-shy which is a good developmental stage, or so my pediatrician and the What to Expect tell me! lol

I`m on Baseline Road (Not sure if you`ll know where that is) but I`m about a twenty minute busride from Billings Bridge and the mall. I`d love to meet up at some point, with you and other moms! Let my know your schedule (mine is pretty open, lol!). If you like, drop me an e-mail at: [email protected]. I try to check this board and that account at least once a day, so I should be able to get back to you pretty quickly!

Thanks so much for your encouragement, it`s just what I needed! Thank you!

Amanda

 

[annebanane]

i am glad i could give a little encouragement. we all need it from time to time. Your post just totally reminded me of how i was feeling last year and things have gotten sooo much better since then.

i'll drop you an email and we'll try and organize some kind of ottawa meet up!

take care,
anne

 

[MommaCorbin]

Sounds great! Thanks again, and can`t wait until we can compare in person!

Be happy,
Amanda

 

[mom2sweetiepea]

Hi Amanda
I just sent you an email. Didn't want to post too much personal info. I would love to meet some more like-minded moms in Ottawa. It gets hard to keep up friendships with parents who are so different in their choices. I do my best to keep in touch but I find the older the kids get the more obvious the differences. Anyway, if you are still looking to meet some moms in the area, let me know, and we can set something up. I am pretty flexible, except for my daughter's preschool schedule, Monday and Wednesday afternoons. Let me know where on Baseline you are, and we can try to plan a playdate or something.
Talk soon.

P.S. I realize you asked this question about six weeks ago, but... my best advice to help deal with the stress, is to keep yourself busy. Meet as many people as you can, and get out of the house often. We moved to this area two weeks before Charlotte was born (in August), and I found it really lonely for the first four or five months. I had a general rule that I tried to keep up through the winter - I would get out of the house twice a week, and stay home twice a week, and the fifth day without dh was up in the air depending on my mood. I found it really helped me to keep that in mind. Good luck, feel better.