They say new mothers always talk about poop.
Well it’s certainly one of the things this group of mothers talk about, but being a mom introduces a whole new level of what one might find exciting.
Who’s going to be excited to learn someone’s child will now eat cold cheese? Most likely a member of the MOMS Club.
“We talk about all the crazy things, but I think what’s great is you feel open to talk about anything that’s going on and you have somebody else that completely understands,” said Larisa Neilson, a mother of three and founder of the Mid Valley MOMS Club.
While their children found entertainment with each other and various toys on the floor, the mothers – most of them bearing a baby in hand – were tasked with stuffing toiletries into small bags. These would be gifts for women who’d just given birth.
It was a project of personal understanding, “Just a little something to give them kind of a boost,” said Jessica Fischer, mother of two and president of the club.
Last year, the club members helped with a toy drive at The River Center as part of a service project, but this year they wanted to do something specifically for mothers.
It’s what MOMS Club is all about – moms providing moms the support they need.
As someone who moves a lot due to her husband’s job, Fischer, of Halsey, discovered the MOMS Club was an “easy enough” commitment and a good place to meet people.
“Bouncing around new places, you don’t have a whole lot of friends,” she said. “I knew no one here when we first moved.”
That was the same situation Neilson found herself in when she moved to Lebanon from Denver two years ago.
“I’d just had my first son; he was nine months old,” she said. “I quit my job, was gonna be a stay-at-home mom, came here and was like, ‘I have to have some type of community.’”
Neilson looked for mom groups she could connect with, but all she learned was that a MOMS Club in Lebanon had disbanded. Eight months later, with baby number two on the way, Neilson put a call out on social media to form a new chapter.
She didn’t know what to expect, but five mothers showed up to the first meeting and more have since joined, she said. So far, their members come from Albany, Halsey, Lebanon and Scio.
The Mid Valley MOMS Club is still only a toddler itself at one and a half years, but what the women say they’ve found therein is a community.
“I think, personally, the biggest benefit has just been to find other moms in a similar situation,” said Maya Milhon, vice president and mother of two in Lebanon. “I think a lot of us are newer to the area, and as adults it’s hard to find your community…It’s like, where do you even start?”
The group meets four times a month: once in Lebanon at a park or library, once in Albany at a park or library, once at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Albany (which provides a free meeting space for the club), and once for moms-only night.
The gatherings provide mothers a chance to connect with other mothers, to talk about their days and their wins, and to provide support for each other.
“I think that’s been the biggest benefit for me, is just giving me a place that I know I can start, and moms that get it – they know the chaos, the craziness,” Milhon said.
It also helps burn some of the day that may otherwise seem endless when a toddler demands constant attention.
“It’s much more easy for me to get through my day because I always break my day into their two wake windows,” Neilson said. “I have to fill up the morning and I have to fill up the afternoon-evening.”
For Neilson the entire morning is already accounted for on meet-up days.
While Neilson admits being a stay-at-home mom is a blessing, it can also be very isolating – and that’s the very foundation of why Mary James started the national club in 1985.
In this day of social media, Neilson still sees mothers seeking that familiar connection as they reach out with posts looking for mom groups or asking for ideas of things to do with kids, or maybe just looking for someone to join them for a walk in the park.
“My vision is just that they would see we are here,” Neilson said. “You can come and have that support, have the things to do, have the set-up park date so you’re not a mom sitting there on the bench by yourself saying ‘I really wanna go talk to that mom, but I don’t want to be awkward.’”
Fischer agrees.
“It’s nice having something where it’s like, even if you don’t feel like socializing, it’s so good for you to just get out into public and talk to other moms, talk to adults,” Fischer said.
MOMS Club members Maya Milhon, center, and Larisa Neilson, right, with their children. Photo courtesy of Maya Milhon
The Mid Valley MOMS Club is part of an international nonprofit group where members pay $20 a year. It is not religiously affiliated.
This year, the moms raised money to fund a service project geared specifically for mothers. They packed their 80 little care packages and donated them to Lebanon Community Hospital and Mid-Valley Birthing Center.
“A lot of people donate baby things to hospitals, which is super sweet,” Neilson said. “After you have your baby and getting a hand-crocheted blanket or a hat is lovely, but I’m not sure any of us have ever experienced something for the mom. So we wanted to do something that was a little gift for mom.”
It was a chance for the group to let new mothers “feel seen,” with a special invitation letting the mom know “We are here for you, so when you feel like going back out into the world again, come find us and make some friends.”