Starr Style

The Motherlore Babies’ First Annual Birthday/Halloween Celebration!  October 1991

With Halloween on its way and Adrien’s 21st Birthday fast approaching, I find myself thinking about that tender time during his babyhood, toddlerhood and young childhood when he and I were part of an extraordinary group of moms and little ones called  Motherlore.

Formed by a group of first time moms that had met during Better Birth sessions and welcomed their babies all within one month of each other, and then nurtured their friendships through baby yoga classes and beyond by meeting once each week in homes or local parks and later as the children grew at fun venues in and around Atlanta, we became each others support group par excellence!  During that wild and crazy time known as a baby’s first year, if nothing else got accomplished all week, we always managed to get up, fed, dressed and out of the house in time to meet up with this precious “brotherhood” of motherhood!

When our babies were all about 3 months old, our Better Birth class had its first reunion.  The date coincided with my first evening back in the studio at the Dancers’ Workshop after Adrien was born.  Denis proudly stood in as both Daddy and Mommy that night!

Again, when our babies were 6 months old, we reunited.  It was at this gathering that my friend, Teresa (shown with her son, Dalton) invited me to join the Motherlore group.  That’s Adrien on the right looking nice and chubby!

No iPhones or even digital cameras back then!  But every dad had a video camera!

After months of meeting in each others’ homes, we organized our first “outing.”  We looked like the stroller brigade at the 1991 Atlanta Arts Festival in Piedmont Park!

Each mom planned something unique and fun when they hosted.  Here we are christening Morgan’s new playhouse.  1992

The double slide at Winn Park was always a big hit!  1992

Group Shot – Spring 1992

Adrien was the first one in the group to get the Chicken Pox.  He still had some spots left at this Motherlore.  Spring 1992

“Home James…”  Summer 1992

“Can we go and play now?”  Summer 1992

Planned Parenthood!  18 months after our babies were born, we had a bumper crop that we lovingly called Motherlore Too!  1992

The Atlanta Arts Festival – Fall 1992

2nd Annual Motherlore Birthday Celebration.  Fun times at the Garden Hills Recreation Cabin!  Fall 1992

During the next year, albeit with some moms returning to work or having another baby, and the children now attending Mom’s Morning Out programs and expanding their network of playmates, Motherlore was still going strong.  Sometimes we invited “new friends” to join in the fun.  We even added a “Mom’s Night Out” occasionally!

Noble Park was a favorite these days.  Spring 1993

For the longest time the children just played along side each other.  It was fascinating to observe as they began making connections.  Spring 1993

Our last Motherlore at the Atlanta Arts Festival.  With the children beginning to give up their strollers, these types of events were better attended in small groups from that point on!  Fall 1993

Atlanta Arts Festival Kids!  1993

That fall brought our inaugural visit to Flintwood Farms.  1993

Flintwood Farms.  Fall 1993

3rd Annual Motherlore Birthday Celebration.  November 1993

As our children grew and started attending nursery school for more hours and more days per week, and their other activities like music, gymnastics, sports, dancing and art consumed much of their play time, we still managed to get together for Motherlore although not as often.

We met mostly outside in the fresh air at neighborhood parks.  1994

We returned to Flintwood Farms in the fall of 1994.

Flintwood Farms.  Fall 1994

4th Annual Motherlore Birthday Celebration!  November 1994

Real school in the form of 4-Year Old Kindergarten and Pre-K programs were on the schedule now.  Still, we carved out time to enjoy some of our Motherlore traditions…

Flintwood Farms. Fall 1995

Getting to be Big Boys now!  Flintwood Farms – Fall 1995

Turning “5″ Motherlore Get Together.  Fall 1995

Full time school took the place of those precious Motherlore days.  But even that did not stop us from finding a way to keep in touch…

Our inaugural Motherlore Tubing Trip in Helen, Georgia.  Summer 1996.  And the tradition still lives on…

I often remember those wonderful, carefree days of playing with our babies and swapping helpful parenting tips, useful baby gear recommendations, trying out new toys at each others homes and the feeling of belonging to something very special.  After all these many years, I am still good friends with a few of the moms and our kids enjoy catching up with each other from time to time.  At least once or twice a year, I spot a  Motherlore mom in the grocery store, at the doctor’s office, or someplace like Trader Joe’s!  We always take the time to catch up with each other and, of course, get the update on the children.  We even ran into some Motherlore families touring college campuses a few years back.

And now all of our little babies are about to turn 21 in the next couple of months!

Stylin’ at Motherlore.  1991

Happy 21st Birthday to all of the Motherlore Babies,

Starr