If there's one thing you need as a new Mom, it's other Moms to commiserate and compare war stories with. Luckily, I work with three fabulous ladies who fit that bill. We have all had babies within one year of each other. Having the three of them to rely on to get through this whole becoming a Mommy thing while working full-time and juggling husbands and households has made all the difference in the world. Together we've been through morning sickness, pregnancy growing pains, labor, birth, breastfeeding, early AM feedings, etc, etc, not to mention the demands of full patient loads at our hospital. We've been puked on, peed on, come to work with snot on our shoulders and breast milk on our pants, cried in private and together, all while managing our self-inflicted guilt and missing our cute little munchkins we don't get to be with during the day. In short, let me just say--I could not survive this without them. Allow me to introduce the group.
This is Erin S. She's ou

r resident Mommy-expert, as her darling daughter is the oldest of the group. (She also loves having her picture taken.) She's my go-to gal for questions like, "did your daughter sleep with her butt in the air too?" or "have you ever seen poop that color?" or "she hit her head kinda hard but she's acting normal so she's probably ok, right?" Not to mention the endless "how old was your daughter when she did ______?" questions. I've learned that I can save myself a lot of aggravation if before trying something new or different in my parenting duties I check with either my sister or Erin. Chances are they've done it first and can tell me what I'm about to do wrong. Erin is a gem and always, always has time for her friends--or anyone that needs something for that matter. She's a mommy pro and we're so lucky to have her with us forging the way ahead.
I was the next to roll through labor and delivery at our hospital and take home our Li'l Miss. Since Erin left her own office and joined our little cubicle group later, I was th

e first to perfect the use of the "cubicle cover." I swear we could market this thing. And what is it for? You guessed it--for pumping while sitting right in the middle of our busy nutrition office. One bed sheet, a little velcro and voila!--your own personal pumping station. We're pretty sure no one minds the soft "ree urr, ree urr, ree urr" noise throughout the day. We just had to make sure everyone in the office knew not to look over the top to seek out the source of the noise. Nursing and pumping day in and day out certainly has it's ups and downs, so it has been helpful to have so much support from each other in this regard--not to mention the smarty pants who came up with the cubicle cover idea in the first place--I think it was Kristin.
Kristin was the next to jump on our mommy bandwagon. She was the first to delve into boy territory with her cute little guy. That's her on the right, showing off her blue variety cubicle cover. (Oh, and they're not just for pumping these cubicle covers. They're mighty handy for a quick clothes change or a quick pout and cry at those times when it gets to you that work is tough and being with your kid on their worst day is probably more fun. ) Kristin's cutie is right behind Lil in the learning to eat realm, so we trade lots of stories about applesauce, bananas, and poop. (Sorry, we're Moms and dietitians so naturally you're going to hear about poop.) We also trade lots of "you do that too, ok good"moments. Kristin is so sweet and funny and always appropriately pleased at all the pictures I make her look at of Lil. Again, so lucky to have her around.

And finally we have Erin T., the last to round out the group and even things up with her cute boy. I think Kristin was a little relieved to have another boy in the group. There's just some things Mom's of girls don't know. Erin's on the left peeking over her fall-themed cubicle cover. Erin makes us happy that she's so happy to be a Mom. I was relieved the first time she came to me to show me the huge breast milk spill on her pants from pumping. I was glad I wasn't the only one who'd done it. She also makes me feel smart when she asks me baby questions, even though I pretty much have no idea what I'm doing. Erin keeps us laughing with all her impersonations of the sounds her little guy makes and it's so much fun to watch her make some of the same discoveries we made when our babies went through the same stages.
I truly love and appreciate these fine ladies and the huge support they are for me professionally and personally. I'm truly lucky to have them as friends. But, alas, some things must come to an end. We will sadly be seeing much less of Erin T as she is departing for part-time work at a sister hospital so she can spend more time at home. We are happy for her family, but sure are bummed out for our sakes. We will now be swapping stories over email or phone more often then over the top of cubicles. Our morning and afternoon pow-wows will just not be the same without Erin there, so we'll just have to find a differet venue I suppose. But let me just say to all of you, thank you. Thank you for your friendship, your supportive shoulders and for being the best cheering section and advice givers a Mom could ask for. I may be a mess, but I'd be even more of a mess without you!