WHAT TO EXPECT with new friends.

When I first found out I was pregnant I was obsessed with reading either books about babies and parenting or reading websites about babies and parenting. There were A LOT to choose from and I must admit that it was a little overwhelming. After a long search I definitely found a place that felt like "home", and that was the WHAT TO EXPECT (WTE) series. It started with buying the book WTE while Expecting, and after reading THE ENTIRE THING in one sitting, (all 600+ pages) I noticed that the book had a free website that you could reference to. I checked out the website and I'll admit that at first I wasn't really that impressed. It seemed like all the other million and seven websites about babies that I had checked out and I kind of just forgot about it for a week or so. Well after we announced our pregnancy to the world, a friend of mine asked me if I had been to the WTE website and I told her that I had browsed and clicked on it but hadn't spent a great deal of amount checking it out. She then goes on to tell me that it was the BEST thing that she found through out her WHOLE pregnancy and suggested/recommended that I check it out again but that I should get on the message forum/community part of the site. I checked it out again and WOW. I must say that finding that website is what kept me sane during my entire pregnancy and even what keeps me sane now, 8 months after having baby E. WTE is a community of women of all ages, all races, all backgrounds, all over the world (not just the USA) that come together to talk about ONE thing: OUR CUTE BABIES! It was nice to know that what we were going through, we weren't doing alone and that we weren't crazy or the only one who had to pee eighty seven billion times, or that that TMI symptom was normal.
Even though I haven't met a lot of these ladies in person I do consider them a friend and someone that I can count on for advice. I have even had the honor of actually meeting a few! When we went on vacation this summer, we met Courtney and her adorable ham of a baby boy H and Stephanie and her cutie pie baby girl C. (and her husband J). Recently we had the pleasure of meeting Alison and her sweet baby boy W. They live right here in the area and we are SUPER excited for future playdates and get togethers.
Although its exciting to just 'wing it' or do it without a net, parenting is challenging. So its really nice knowing someone who is going through the exact same thing, close to the same time, who can give you advice or you can give advice to. Here is a pic of C, H, and Elias when we had our Dec WTE meetup last month!

I didn't get any pics of Elias and W but sooon I hope!