You cannot open a newspaper, check your email in-box or turn on the TV without hearing about a child dying from cancer, a battered woman living with her three kids in a shelter, a father who committed suicide because he could no longer support his family, you name it.  My church’s prayer list, alone, breaks my heart.  But add to it story after story of sickness and tragedy and deprivation… and I have to admit, one starts to feel quite guilty about things going well in her own life.  It’s to the point where I have to grab the remote and quickly turn the channel if a commercial with starving children or abused animals comes on because I cannot stomach anymore.  I know this is reality.  I know I can’t ignore it.  But I also know it’s overwhelming at times when there is so little you can control in your own life and yet, exposed to all of this, you’re an immensely selfish person because you’re often taking it all for granted.  In just the past 24 hours I have learned the husband of Charlotte’s favorite former preschool teacher has pancreatic cancer, one of my daughter’s classmates is hospitalized with breathing problems and I’ve gained nearly 10 pounds since the beginning of September.  Sorry about that last one.  It’s true, but was added in jest to lighten the mood of this entry!

Posted under Baby Thomas: Month 16

Cal Ripken and Dave, All Star Weekend 2007

Not sure if I’ve mentioned before that, when we met, Dave had never seen me anchor the local news because he was watching ESPN.  I always thought that was a good thing since some of my on-air co-workers have been involved with people who wouldn’t want to date them if they weren’t on TV.  Sad, I know.  What I didn’t realize then is how much Dave watching sports around-the-clock would be a future indicator of life in our home.  It’s like white noise to me.  I grew up with a father who watched pretty much every sporting event on multiple TV sets literally stacked on top of one another.  This was long before the days of split-screens or the “go back” button on the remote.  You name the family occasion and, it’s a safe assumption, at some point a TV was turned on in the background.  We had one in the kitchen, every bedroom, den, something like 5 in the basement and one in the backyard for summer viewing.  No kidding.  When my dad was around, he always turned to sports.  Instead of taking an interest in the teams or the rules, I learned to live with it and mostly ignore it.  Yet I ended up choosing a mate who mirrors my father when it comes to sports viewing.  And with the proliferation of channels devoted exclusively to athletics, watching sports on TV has never been more accessible.  Thankfully, a book or a laptop is within reach for me to still spend time with Dave and not be totally subjected to watching something I’m really not that into.  Charlotte, on the other hand, wants to watch football or basketball with Daddy or Papa.  She loves it!  And since, like my father, Dave doesn’t hunt or fish or camp it’s nice to have him around every weekend-even if I have to repeat a question 5 times before he answers because he’s in the zone.  You know what I mean, ladies.

One of my dad's many TV set-ups

Posted under Baby Thomas: Month 16

Recently while watching Oprah on the DVR, I told Charlotte to check out the singers in the karaoke challenge.  I thought she would enjoy them.  Cut to the panel of judges, “That’s Hannah Montana’s dad,” she proclaimed, when Billy Ray Cyrus appeared.  News to me.  I had no idea she watched the show, let alone retained specific characters.  Good reminder that, if you let your children out of the house, you cannot shield them from much of anything.  They will seek out the information and commit it to memory!  I did, after hearing some eye-opening things on the bus in 4th grade.  I was the oldest of two daughters in my family, but all the kids with older siblings always know a lot more than they should.  And they share it with the innocents around them, who in turn are no longer so naive.  It’s inevitable.  Don’t have cable?  Your kids will hang out with someone who does, or in today’s world watch it for free on the library’s internet.  Ban sweets in the home?  Your kids will beg and plead and mooch their way into sugar fixes at every turn when they’re over at a friend’s house or next to someone in the lunch room.  Why am I so sure?  Because I grew up with cable and a ton of candy around… and all my friends who were deprived of both flocked to my house whenever possible.  Of course I work in TV now and I’m addicted to sugar.  Go figure!

Landon from Festina

Posted under Baby Thomas: Month 16

Wanted to share with you thoughts from a local dad and blog reader, Jeremy:

I work 2^nd shift at John Deere and my wife works 7-4 at Home Depot.  We also have two children (Abryanna who is four, and Kaysen who is almost one).  It has been a difficult transition to this style of a relationship for us.  We are lucky that my wife’s mother lives here in Aplington as well.  She comes in very handy helping my wife.  I really look forward to the time that we can spend together on the weekends, plus the added benefit of having another person around to help with the kids.  The one bright side is the amount that we are saving on daycare, although I am not sure that it is completely worth it.  I have found that we use a dry erase board to leave each other messages.  It may be to get the clothes out of the dryer, or it may be to remind us of an upcoming appointment.  At any rate, I was deployed overseas and I always looked forward to getting videos from home, now I actually kinda find myself looking forward to my wife writing something special on the board for me.  So I guess what I am saying is that I understand what it must be like to work different shifts.  But I look at it as a blessing because I can do things with my daughters (like try to feed Kaysen potatoes) that my wife would never let me do.  I was gone for a lot of Abryanna’s infancy, but I think that I am making up for it now with her and Kaysen.  I am really starting to see more of me in both of them!!  I enjoy the time that I have with my daughters alone, but I still miss having my wife there with me.

Jeremy's children, Kaysen & Abry

Posted under Baby Thomas: Month 16

A former co-worker who interned at Disneyworld told me something I’ve never forgotten.  It was too over the top not to retain it.  He explained that when working for the theme park, part of an employee’s responsibility is to protect the behind-the-scenes machinations from public exposure.  In other words, “Don’t break the magic!”  Honestly, that’s the phrase he used.  I discovered this when Disney on Ice came to Cedar Rapids and two performers dropped by our station for a live interview.  My then co-anchor, Chris Carter, asked the guests on-air which characters they played in the production.  When the newscast ended, it was apparent the young production worker-the one who interned at Disney-was visibly shaken.  He confronted Chris about “breaking the magic” by asking the ice skaters to reveal their secret character identities.  I found the whole thing so amusing I have retold the story many times.  I actually love the concept so much, I go out of my way to blow the lid off the so-called glamour of TV news.  Among the reveals… I wear fake eyelashes, one of the more petite female anchors here sits on a big, padded piece of foam during the news, Ron has sported shorts (even biker shorts!) with his sportcoat and tie many times and, beginning today, I am wearing pantyliners in my underarms to protect the Dillard’s clothes I’m borrowing for the newscasts.  Picture that when I’m reading a story about the economy!

Posted under Baby Thomas: Month 16

I always thought life would be boring if you awoke at the same time every day, ate the same cereal for years and took the same route home from work.  It all seemed too monotonous to take.  Then Dave, a master of habitual behavior, entered the picture.  In his defense, he had two children and I didn’t know then how much they contributed to his daily order.  So I met him in the middle when I moved in with him.  But I was determined not to turn my world into a regimented schedule.  Fast forward to now and I long for the rigidity of sameness.  I want the kids to go to sleep at the same time every night and to regularly eat the repeats on their plates and love them.  Work schedules and children’s needs force you to find a routine.  Every parenting book and baby magazine you pick up calls for it.  Yet I knew it would elude me before I even tried.  A routine would be hard to come by for this momma.  So, as expected, the kids never really slept on regular schedules or ate like clockwork.  But months passed and suddenly things shifted and stuck.  I awake at 6am every day.  Thomas falls asleep in the car after we drop Sissy off at preschool.  I carry him in the house, take off his shoes and put him in his crib where he naps for nearly 2 hours.  I go to work via the same daily driving path, too.  Look at me, I’m as predicable as they come and I’m okay with it.  The drama potential is so high with a full-time job, two kids and frankly what awaits you when you step out your front door that it’s cool to keep what you can control as calm and collected as possible.  Did I mention I go down for a nap when Thomas is taking his?

Isabelle and Irey from Lansing

Posted under Baby Thomas: Month 16

I have never been the shy type, but now that I have kids I can’t be.  In order to keep them happy, they require Dave and me to take center stage.  Overnight, we’ve emerged as children’s entertainers.  I’ve seen my often QUIET and RESERVED husband dance around the kitchen to The Wiggles, bark like a dog on the living room floor, carry toys in his mouth and sing the ABC’s repeatedly all in a never-ending battle to keep Thomas from “crabbing” and to bring Charlotte out of her perpetual mood swings.  They start this young?  Unlike Dave, I tend to take my show on the road.  Yesterday in an effort to get Thomas to stop whining in his carseat, I blasted Hot Dog off the Disney Playhouse CD and managed to come up with some impressive hand gestures and shoulder pumps to distract him.  It worked!  And I don’t care that countless people in surrounding cars at the intersections are staring at the animated lady in the SUV.  This is what it takes to keep my children content and me sane, people!  Yes, parents have to act nuts to keep from truly going there.  In addition, I have made up songs as I go about things like trains on the track for teeth brushing and started conversations with other “babies” in the room when Charlotte and Thomas are upset.  Your kids tend to listen to you carrying on about this or that with people they can’t see or hear.  “I don’t know why she won’t do what Mommy says,” I would tell so and so.  No, I have not gone so far as to name my imaginary friends.  I do like to think I’m normal.

Posted under Baby Thomas: Month 16

If laughter is the best medicine, it heals me through my kids’ hilarious antics.  Specifically Charlotte brings the humor, since she has a way with words.  I know Thomas will get there based on all his pointing and grunting.  But back to my daughter.  Friday we were waiting for the nurses to give Thomas his 15-month shots when Charlotte looked at me with a serious face and said, “Today is a terrible day.”  Of course I asked why.  “Because Thomas is getting 4 shots,” she replied.  That does suck, I thought.  Good observation!  Later at the mall play place, Charlotte needed ”to go pee-pee and poo-poo.”  Alright, gather the troops and supplies and drag everyone and everything to the nearest public restroom… conveniently located far away.  Once inside, Charlotte noticed a woman in one of the stalls.  She spotted her shoes.  So I explained that a lady was going to the bathroom.  “Something on her privates smells funny!” Charlotte shouted back.  Fortunately, I can laugh hysterically internally and appear emotionless on the outside.  “That’s not nice to talk that way,” I told her, then quickly stuffed the three of us in the nearest open stall.  The next day we were heading to Charlotte’s dance class when I realized and remarked to Dave that I had forgotten my cell phone at home.  “I have it in my purse, Mommy,” my 3-year-old said from the back seat.  And I had no doubt it was true.

Posted under Baby Thomas: Month 16

Thanks to Dillard’s, one of my dreams is coming true!  Beginning tonight, the department store will be supplying me with clothes for the evening news.  The morning gals, Sunny and Eileen, have been wearing Dillard’s pieces for a few weeks… and I begged to be included!  Walking through the second floor at Crossroads in Waterloo last week, I was a kid in a candy store.  So many clothes, so many sizes and I get to wear a new outfit every night on the air.  To not have to come up with five ensembles from my own closet for a change is a huge release.  I already have a lot of suits and separates from Dillard’s, but now there won’t be any repeats!  The other amazing thing, Dillard’s is supplying matching accessories.    So, if you watch me on-air, you will definitely notice my bling has picked up a notch. I’m also getting some guidance from the cosmetic department.  The women behind my new look are pictured below.  The next time you’re in Dillard’s, please let them know if you like my fashion statements!

Tara, Women's Ready-to-Wear Area Sales Manager @ Dillard's

Lou, My personal stylist @ Dillard's

Deb, accessories guru

Sarah, cosmetics counter

Posted under Baby Thomas: Month 16

Have you ever found yourself sitting on a child step stool with bloodshot eyes, a baby in the nearby bathtub and a toddler trashing the rest of your house?  That’s my scene right now with a laptop on my knees, of course.  It’s 20 minutes later and Thomas is out of the tub unaware of the shots he’ll be facing at his 15-month check-up this morning.  Nice when he’s still too young to understand.  Charlotte dressed herself and picked out a shirt her daddy bought that reads Pretty Like My Mommy on the front.  Great, now more people will think Mommy’s on an ego trip.  The reality, I’ll be wearing no make-up, sweats and a ball cap when I’m seen with her in it.  Earlier I was chasing Charlotte who was chasing Thomas with an edible cereal straw in hand.  He snatched it from her treat bowl.  If Daddy could see us now.  Crumbs flying and tempers flaring on the second floor.  This would never happen on his watch.  Food is to be eaten at the table and sippy cups stay upright off the floor.  I mopped up some apple juice in the living room already today.  Mommy is laid back to keep her sanity, let’s face it.  Mommy can’t wait for a free moment to watch even two minutes of the season premiere of Real Housewives of OC.  Mommy is glad it’s Friday and Daddy will be here with her all weekend to juggle twenty parenting balls and try not to drop them.

Posted under Baby Thomas: Month 16