"A cheerful friend is like a sunny day spreading brightness all around!"

Today, we were off to Nabaoi for the second birthday of Alia's friend.

Amazing bamboo house near the river, good food, great company. Most of Alia's friends were there and they got to play, grab each other's hair, swim...

Anyway, let me explain more about Alia's friends. And mine, by the way.

We live on a small island in the Philippines. About 10 square kilometers. And a lot of good friends from everywhere around the world who decided to live the Life by moving here (I am one of them). We manage hotels, own restaurants, teach kitesurfing or yoga, run our small businesses, and party.

Between 2010 and 2012, quite a few of my girlfriends got pregnant (including me): nothing weirdly planned ahead but the fact is more than 10 babies were born, one after another, to create a happy bundle of playmates! And a few more are on their way... How fun you will tell me. Yes, indeed!

But being a mom is hard. And tiring. And frustrating even, sometimes. Come on, if motherhood was easy, dads would do it, right?

So, a few times a week, we meet to go out of the house, have grown-up time while our kids play together, seek for advices, talk about our joys and fears, unload our tiredness and clear our minds on the beach or at each other's place, around a drink or lunch.

Who else better than another mom can understand when you are so tired you hold it against your baby's cry for a second before hating yourself for doing so? Or how hard it can be to cope with the daddies' totally different way to deal with fatherhood (it does not make them any less amazing dads)? Or the challenge to go back to work and keep breastfeeding? The lack of sleep? The body modification? Need I keep going?

I am lucky to live in a place where everybody know each other. Where the longest ride you can take is 15 mins by tricycle, where you can even walk to any places you want to go. Where your work is never far from your house and there is always someone to help you.

I live in a "holiday-spirit" all year round.

But what makes really easier the fact of being a new mom is my group of mommies. Not only our babies already have a lot of playmates to grow up with, I have found way more than just friends. A ear to listen, a shoulder to cry and a good spirit to have a glass of wine and laugh when the babies are sound asleep!