Need help? Moms to the rescue!

Middlesex Mammas support their own, and their community
By Alexandra Mayer-Hohdahl, amayer-hohdahl@lowellsun.com

Jennifer Lentini, 25, of Tewksbury, started the Middlesex Mammas in May 2006, organizing it around a page on Meetup.com. Today, the group has 75 members.
Forget temper tantrums and crying fits.

For Billerica resident Tiffany Fahey, one of the biggest parenting concerns was her middle daughter's extreme shyness.

"If anybody as much as looked at her, she would cry," Fahey recalled. "She would not let anybody touch her or play with her."

But on a recent morning, 21/2-year-old Ashley was happy to tug at her mother's pant leg and loudly demand to be picked up, even as Fahey was talking to a perfect stranger.

Fahey, a mother of three, credits much of her daughter's transformation to Middlesex Mammas, a local meeting group for mothers she has been a part of since its May 2006 inception.

"It has changed all of our members' lives," Fahey said.

The brain and brawn behind the group, which is organized around a Web page on Meetup.com, is Tewksbury resident Jennifer Lentini. She started Middlesex Mammas when her daughter Gabriella was just 6 weeks old.

"I was the first one out of my friends to get married and have kids. I was looking to find other moms who
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would really understand what I was going through," the 25-year-old said. "Every mom needs to be connected with other moms. And our kids are making friends for life."

The group has 75 mothers in their 20s and 30s, with 20 more waiting to join. A typical week offers four to seven play dates for the "Munchkins," two to four nights out for the Mammas and a weekend event for working mothers.

Then there are the special projects: beach trips and Christmas parties, community-service projects for everybody from needy children to homesick soldiers, and a week's worth of home-cooked meals for new mothers.

"We're not just getting together for play dates," Lentini noted. "We also want to give back to the community."

Although similar groups exist throughout the country, Lentini said Middlesex Mammas is the only one she knows of in Tewksbury and the surrounding area.

She admits that there were a few times when she felt "like throwing in the towel." She already works part time from home, in addition to pursuing a real-estate license, owning an event-planning business, baby-sitting and organizing jewelry and other parties.

But with the help of three assistants, Lentini has kept the task of organizing the busy group manageable.

"I have the satisfaction of knowing how our members will feel. Motherhood is scary. On top of worrying about being a good mom, you're entering a whole new phase of your life," she said. "We're here with open arms for advice, support, friendship or just fun."

Many Middlesex Mammas admit that the step of first joining the group may well have been the hardest.

"I was very nervous. I had never put myself out there like this before," Watertown resident Jennifer Pfeifer said.

But for many, the group has also been somewhat of a lifesaver.

"It gives us sanity," Tewksbury resident Sandy Wentzell said with a laugh.

"I had been home with my daughter for about a year," Stoneham resident Lisa Alexander added. "You start feeling disconnected from the rest of the world, especially as a stay-at-home mom without school-age children."

"One Mamma lives really close to me, but I probably wouldn't have known otherwise," Tewksbury resident Sara Cohen said. "I wouldn't necessarily have had the nerve to walk up to her on the street with our strollers."

For more information on Middlesex Mammas, visit their Web site at moms.meetup.com/1272.