It takes a village...Seattle parenting help

If you haven't noticed I haven't exactly been loving every single moment of parenthood. But there have certianly been bright spots. I have a post coming about what I am actually enjoying about her these days but I wanted to write first about some of the support I've found in Seattle.

First Weeks
Months before Junia was born a friend reccomended a support group for parents with children under 12 weeks. Well once Junia was born I started to realize how many questions I had and really how much I needed to be around people whose ordinary resembled mine. So with some trepidations I went to this class. People were asking questions that I didn't even know that I had, and it was so refreshing to be in a room full of parents and babies where the babies were also crying uncontrollably, who were at moments looking a little overwhelmed. Wow, it felt great! I've been back once since then and will go again this week. It's just so nice to meet other people, get questions answered and to get out of the house for something so healthy.

PEPS
Seattle also has this amazing organization called PEPS. It stands for program for early parental support. I guess it's been going on for like 20 years. Anyway, they match you with other parents who have children around your age and who live in your neighborhood. We meet every Tuesday evening for something like 12 weeks and get to choose the topics we want to cover. We go together as a couple and take Junia with us. Again, it's a great way for us to get to know some other couples with children Junia's age and for us to ask questions, network, and just normalize this whole experience.

All in all, this experience of becoming parents is a monumental shift in what the day to day goings on of our lives and in our own self understanding. I am sure that we will settle into this more and more, however, each bit of community amid this transition is really important. Thanks reader for being part of that community for Sean, Junia and I.