Moms picking up other moms

so the other day i was out at a local yogurt shop and this mom came in with her sit n' stand stroller with her approx 4 year old and new baby. we struck up a conversation and then she realized i had three kids..."three BOYS! (gasp)" somewhere in there...she then just threw up her arms...."oh my gosh...you have 3 kids and you look cute? how do you do it?" i laughed and told her i dont always usually look cute but thank you and started to leave. she chased me out the door and handed me her card and asked if we could go on a playdate sometime.

i am embarrassed to admit that i lost her card...actually i believe it was used by a certain 5 year old of mine to become a work of art or who knows what...i totally would have called her...anyway - i thought the whole thing was so funny...i came home and told my husband..."i think i got picked up today by another mom"

this happens at the park too with moms, i have noticed...little conversations..."do i know you from somewhere?" things like that...its funny...i have been so out of practice with the whole single world and catching hints...now moms are doing it.

its a tough thing...this mom/friend business. i had a conversation recently with a girlfriend about past friends who we can only be friends now without our kids...that hanging out with our kids and them is just too stressful/annoying/boring or they flake all the time at the faintest hint of a cough or they flake all the time because its just much too much...so i think at some point most moms need to find new mom/kid friends....and its really only at this toddler stage - once they get into schools/church, etc - you start to become friends with their friends parents...but now its more about who you want to hang out with.

i am also finding it extremely difficult to hang with other moms when you have 3 kids...the places i can go are somewhat limited...the times i can go are also limited...so i find myself at this stage scheduling time with friends in the evenings...sans kids...which has been lovely. i realized now that i am doing it, how much i need it. i told my husband when we had our third boy that girl nights would most likely be needed on a weekly basis...and its already holding to be true. because, lets be real...even when i do manage to schedule a playdate with a girlfriend, we manage to get about 3 sentences a piece...in between the "Bodie come back here!" or "Don't touch that!" or "Please use your words!" or diaper changes or lunch time or time outs or or or or......

its such a balance...this mothering...this balance between maintaining a "self" in whatever way that means (for me most days it means brushing my hair) and giving to your family...picking up other moms is just a part of it i guess!