Mother's clubs

If you are pregnant and plan on being a stay at home mother, I highly recomed joining what ever local mother's club is easly excsible to you.  Granted not every city has one, but if you feel like being a go gettter you could start one.

Being a stay at home mom is not a walk in the park especially if you feel like you have to go it alone.  Joining a comunity of people who have been through or are curently going through what you are going through.   Moms with children the same age as yours are perfect for play dates.  And baby isn't the only one who bennifits from this arangment.  A play date with lots of moms and babies all in the same baby proff room gives the moms a chance to take a breath if not a break.  And exchanging tales of baby woe can help you relize it's not just you having this experience.

Moms with children older than yours can warn you about comon childhood trubles that you are likely to encounter with your child.  (kind of like what I'm doing here for you)

One nice thing about the mother's club that I joined is that when other families out grow the need for an item like say a bassinet (supper handy but only for the first few months) they often are willing to give or sell the gently used item to other moms in the club.  If you join a club like this after your baby arives you are likely to have allredy paid full price for an item you could have gotten more cheeply or even free.

But even if you are not personally interested in second hand items once you join a mother's club you now know people who are interested in gently used baby items so you don't end up with baby junk cluttering up you home once your child has out grown it.

The mosr important thing to remember is that you get is directly related to what you put in.  The more events you go to the more you will have a sence of comunity with your fellow club members.  Don't expect to have a suden influx of friends if you don't go to the events.  You need to spend time and hangout with the other club memembers so you can get to know eachother.