Rookie Moms

My friend Amanda lives with her husband and son and daughter in Portland, so she’s done this maternity leave thing twice. Once with Jed, and now that he’s in preschool, with baby Willa.

She’s done us the favor of laying out a plan for the week that offers a rainy day option for each day, because in Portland, you never know…

Don’t forget - if your city hasn’t been represented yet, you can write it up for us. Send your suggestions to moms at rookiemoms dot com.

Monday

• Rainy Day: Book Babies at Sellwood-Moreland Library (11-11:30) followed by lunch at Grand Central Bakery (kids’ area in the back) at 7987 SE 13th Street
• Sunny Day: Oregon Zoo ($9.50 for adults) - make sure to get animal-shaped French fries at the Africafe. Also check out the zoo concert series. You can bring a picnic dinner and hang out on the lawn.

Tuesday

• Rainy Day: Oregon Museum of Science and Industry [OMSI] ($9 for adults) - go the Science Playground upstairs and visit the 0-24 month section or brave the sandbox.
• Mommy Matinee at the Kennedy School ($3 at 1pm)
• Sunny Day: Take a walk in the Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden - Admission is free on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Stop at the farm stand on 28th street just north of the Garden and buy some cracked corn to feed the ducks for $1.

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Like they say on TV, membership has it’s privileges. Both of the Bay Area children’s museums that I have been to are part of this consortium of Children’s Museums that have reciprocal memberships. This means that if you get a one-year membership at Habitot in Berkeley, for example, you can go to the Discovery Museum in Sausalito for free anytime. Also, if you travel to a place with a Children’s Museum, you are totally in.

The point, however, is not the membership. The point is that these are destinations with rooms for crawlers. Usually they have mats on the floor or different textures and large scale shapes that crawlers and young walkers can put their grubby hands on, in and through. The Discovery Museum Tot Room, for example, has at least four waterbed-type areas for babies.

If you live near one of these places, and buy a membership, consider it a mommy meet market. Go there when you and baby are feeling lonely, let down your hair, and have a juice box or two.

If you are like I was, by the time my baby was 10 weeks old, I had not exercised for about 6 months. Baby Bootcamp was my re-introduction to sweating and I loved it. I am not a gym-goer in my normal life, and Baby Bootcamp was perfect for me. Here’s why:

1. Exercising in the company of other sleep-deprived, temporarily overweight, leaky-breasted women is more fun.
2. It was no problem that I walked the course rather than ran it much of the time. I had many excuses lined up for not running (all of which are somewhat valid and mostly shared by other participants).
3. Stopping to deal with my fussy baby was par for the course.
4. It got me out of the house to do something good for me and enjoy the outdoors.

Once you’ve got the hang of it, you can invite your partner and show him or her how awesome and athletic you are. The other parent and grandparents can tag along for free.

Check babybootcamp.com and a similar organization strollerstrides.com for locations and schedules. For those who live in cold climates, I believe there are some indoor classes.

There is a lovely knitting shop in Oakland that invites us to come and knit with other moms, babies and moms-to-be. If you are a local to this area, check out Article Pract on Thursdays at 10.30.

Sarah in Portland wrote, “Mabel’s has long offered a knitting with babies hour on Mondays (1 to 3 p.m. I think), although I’ve most often gone with my babies at odd times and, often, found other babies there.”

Abundant Yarn & Dyeworks, also in Portland, has “clubs” — one is expectant moms, etc. They don’t have a specific time for babies now, either, but they welcome babies with toys and a little table just for them in the cafe.

Our Cambridge, MA correspondent, another Sarah, wrote “Minds Eye Yarns does not have a specific new moms group, however babies and children are always welcome, so long as they are accompanied by a parent or guardian! We also have lots of wonderful knitting patterns for baby and children’s clothing, toys, blankets etc, so come on down and check us out!”

Photo courtesy of shescrafty.com.