I couldn't stop giggling in the hospital elevator. I could barely prevent my feet from running down the hallway. I nervously knocked on the door and heard my friend's sweet voice. She looked tired but a warm happy glow suffused her face when she smiled at me. A tiny baby in her arms. She was so beautiful.

And I started to cry.

She's a childhood friend of mine, and her baby was born on the same day as my boys. As I listened to her telling me the birth story of her first child, I couldn't help being amazed at how motherhood brings women together. And thinking how much I've learned during the past 4 years. Watching her making the same mistakes I've made when Sean and Will were born, I smiled with candid affection for her. I wanted to tell her not to worry about breastfeeding, to rest as much as possible, to eat healthy, but how can you urge caution in the face of such unbridled joy?

So I just hugged her, rocked her son and kept telling her that her baby is going to gain weight very soon. "Eventually, you're going to figure out the answers to all your questions" I said inwardly. And I thought. I guess I'm not a new mom anymore.

Congratulations J and D! And welcome to the world T!