I’ve mentioned before that Ron is my best friend at KWWL.  So Dave and I were honored to attend his daughter Kate’s wedding in Des Moines Saturday.  Ron was beaming as he walked her down the aisle.

His wife, Candy, looked stunning as her new son-in-law (Ryan) escorted her.

And we can’t forget Candy’s mom, Vera Mae, arm-in-arm with Ron’s sons for the recessional.

The intimate reception included a chocolate river, which was phenomal, and melt-in-your-mouth cake. 

 Perhaps the best part–witnessing two proud parents at the union of their beautiful daughter.

Posted under Baby Thomas: Month 40

Of course I think Halloween is awesome because I love candy and the drama of dress-up.  Costumes were a part of my celebration well into my 20s.  Now I get excited for my kids.  This morning they chose the football player and gymnast (that looks like an ice skater) get-ups for a neighborhood party.  Tomorrow they’ll be with Nana/Papa for another party in Peoria and will likely wear the same stuff since that’s all we packed… but Charlotte was complaining that her leotard was itchy–and the poor girl has the perpetual creeper (I think Iowans call it a wedgie) problem her mom has dealt with for years with a long torso.  As for Dave and me, we’re not dressing up since Saturday is Ron’s daughter’s wedding and Monday I have to work.  I told a child who asked me that I was going as a news anchor!  The best adult costume I’ve seen so far is a co-worker who dressed up as an Occupy Wall Street protester.  Her sign included a list of demands crossed out with FREE BEER on it.  Someone bought her one.  We’re getting our candy this weekend–smart move since I would have eaten have the bowl were it already in our house.  And I might be really good and follow the diet suggestion to buy stuff you don’t like to avoid binging.  Trouble is I can count on one hand-or two fingers–sweets that don’t appeal to me!

4-month-old Delaney

Posted under Baby Thomas: Month 40

Working second shift, I have the unique experience of being stay-at-home most of the day.  It’s an odd dichotomy.  Just like the other moms not working… I drive my son to preschool in sweats, volunteer in my kindergartner’s classroom, attend morning meetings for school fundraising committees, go to exercise classes and eat lunch with my daughter once a week.  I know so many stay-at-home moms on a personal level they say things to me most other working moms wouldn’t hear because they’re, well, on the job.  Like how it wouldn’t make sense for them to have a full-time job because all the money they earn would pay for daycare.  Or how they’re glad when a child misses the bus, stays home sick or needs something run over to school because they are home to handle it.  None of this offends me as I knew I wanted to be a news anchor since the 7th grade.  That, apparently, was my destiny.  Long before I seriously thought about being a mom or getting married, I aspired to be a broadcast journalist.  So not working was never a consideration.  By night, I am among the working mom ranks.  These are women who similarly confide in me because they know I can relate.  They tell me things they wouldn’t dare mention to other moms at the PTO meetings.  Like how they think their children are some times more flexible at what comes their way in life because they’ve had to learn Mommy won’t always be there to pick up the pieces.  And how they would not make good stay-at-home moms because they’re better parents when they spend part of the day with other adult professionals.  Believe me I get all of this, on both sides.  I get to experience all of it.  I’ll be there to ride the bus with the kids for the field trip, but I may not make the open house night on time.  It’s a balance.  For me it only works because I married a man who is stay-at-home during the summers and as hands-on as you can get every afternoon and weeknight.  Without Dave, I know this TV gig wouldn’t fly for me with kids in the mix.  I just told a grandma today who said she doesn’t know how I do it all that it only works because I found a husband who could do more at home.  When I speak to high school and college girls about their futures, I always tell them it won’t mean anything to them at the time but when they choose a spouse some day look for one who cooks and cleans.  I am way better at reading a teleprompter than boiling water.

Posted under Baby Thomas: Month 40

If you grow up in a state with pro sports teams, as I did in Illinois, it’s intially bizarre to observe fans treating a college team as such.  Think Iowa Hawkeyes.  Other transplants secretly talk about this but, you know me, I’ll bring it out in the open.  The concept spills over to other college campuses in the state where UNI students are spotted wearing black and gold gear.  I don’t get that.  No one at Illinois State University, where my entire family went except me, runs around in blue and orange.  At least not when I’ve visited Normal.  (Weird name for a town, huh?)  The truth is I refuse to be a bandwagon sports fan.  And I married another pro-underdog person.  We hate Duke and the Yankees.  Correction, we like to see the teams lose.  We loved Gonzaga long before it was on the basketball map.  And we embrace UNI for all its athletic success despite smaller budgets.  A lot of our friends and relatives from other states have heard of the University of Northern Iowa because of basketball, football or volleyball.  That’s cool.  So my family wears purple and gold… and can be seen in Bears, Seahawks or Mariners attire as well.

Posted under Baby Thomas: Month 40

Thomas still gets at least an hour nap each weekday at preschool.  Charlotte does not in kindergarten.  But we all need one on the weekends–both days, if possible.  Here’s the problem.  Thomas is fairly easy to get down, especially if we’re driving home mid-day and he falls asleep in the car.  We can carry him into his bed and he’ll sleep 2-3 hours.  We’re better off, though, if Sissy stays awake as carrying her in never results in her staying down.  She pops up from the mattress and announces how she’s not tired.  If we force her to go down in our bed, everyone is riled up before we’re settled trying to get her to stop wrestling around with Thomas or fighting over who’s going to sleep where.  Some times they stall with ploys to go get drinks, cheesesticks, stuffed animals, pillow pets or a sleeping bag.  Seriously.  So if it’s not too late in the day and I’m in flexible mode, I’ll let Charlotte sleep at the end of the bed or on the floor with whatever stuff (crap) she needs to get comfortable.  If she eventually goes down, what a different child that evening in terms of mood and minding.  But if she stays up, she does go to bed a bit more quickly that night and sleeps in later.  Other times she says she’ll take a nap in her room and instead looks at books or plays her LeapFrog video game… then comes in every 10-20 minutes to ask me questions and/or see if I’m ready to get up.  So I am still drained when I finally emerge from my “quiet time”.  I hear about these 5-year-olds who play in their rooms on weekend mornings as their parents sleep in.  Who are these children and why didn’t mine get the memo?

With Maura at Decorah women's conference

Posted under Baby Thomas: Month 40

Don’t be fooled by the package directions, those pumpkin carving kits are challenging.  We limited the kids’ design choices to the “two pumpkin”-rated ones… the three & four-rated pumpkin pics were for master carvers, apparently.  I was like one of those kids playing with a Handy Manny tool set when I picked up the little blade.  Playing with knives is not something I do–ever.  That would require cooking.  We taped the designs on the sides.  Not such an easy task as you have to fold in the corners so the paper is flush with the rounded part.  Once we got that accomplished, Dave left the carving part to me as I seemed excited about doing it for some reason.  So he went outside to mow.  And the Kitty Bat started to take shape.  Charlotte wanted to help.  Thomas wanted to drive me nuts.  In the end, the first little blade bent, then broke.  So I used the bigger blade for the Two Ghosts.  Cutting out the rounded parts was tough, especially the eyes.  Amazingly, both pumpkins turned out pretty well and they’ve been moved to the front steps.  Sorry I forgot to take a picture of them. 

But I did snap one of my roasted pumpkin seeds–a childhood favorite.  I was pretty proud of myself for drying, salting and roasting them all by myself.  Until I looked online and discovered 1 tablespoon of roasted pumpkin seeds = 1 Weight Watchers point.  Really?  Tough to blow a whole point on one mouthful.

Posted under Baby Thomas: Month 40

Decorah Area Chamber of Commerce event

Had a great time in Decorah meeting some working women at a leadership conference Friday.  Did a breakout session on effective communication and thought I would share the highlights here:

Effective Communication–Being heard in a LOUD world

1) Keep a presentation, meeting, email or memo concise (most people don’t read long emails to the end)

2) Contact individuals, not groups (everyone assumes someone else is reading the email to no one specific)

3) Bring food (amazing how much better attendance is at meetings and events with free food)

4) Handle a problem face-to-face (addressing issues to all means the person responsible may not know it)

5) Write a thank you, don’t email or text one (a handwritten note is so much more meaningful)

6) Post on Facebook & tweet with care (don’t post a status or tweet something you wouldn’t show your boss)

7) Assume no one is listening (attention spans get worse with each generation)

Posted under Baby Thomas: Month 40

It was nine years ago this season I flew into Cedar Rapids for an interview in Waterloo that would bring me to KWWL by December 2002.  Seeing the leaves change color takes me back to the mixed emotions I felt being driven around the viewing area by my soon-to-be boss.  Seems like just yesterday I stared out the window seat at in incredible Iowa sunset unsure when I eventually switched planes and landed in Seattle how much longer I would call Yakima, Washington home.  I ended up being weeks away from a big move–physically and emotionally.  The thrill of getting a bigger market TV job and moving closer to my family in Illinois contrasted with the love I had for Dave and not knowing whether we would end up together.  Of course you know the rest of the story.  Almost a decade later my then-boyfriend and I have been married for over six years.  We bought a house and had two kids.  The guy who hired me is long gone and the Tuesday-Saturday shift I started with was the first of three different schedules I’ve been assigned.  I told Mark, the weather guy, tonight how crazy it is to reflect on everything that’s happened in my life since I came to the station.  It’s exciting, actually.  To think you’re one job interview away from a life change that will result in you having children in a city you never dreamed would be on their birth certificates.  I like that about life–all the unknowns.  ‘Cause you know a lot of good will come with the bad.

Posted under Baby Thomas: Month 40

Quick recap for those who don’t know the back story.  In January and February, Dave had two migraines with symptoms bizarre enough to land him in the ER where two CAT scans came back clear.  A doctor suggested an MRI to be sure nothing else was going on.  It revealed Dave has brain lesions consistent with multiple sclerosis or Lyme disease.  A spinal MRI, spinal tap and multiple Lyme tests all came back negative…. so my husband went on migraine medication and was told to get another MRI in six months or come back sooner if anything happened.  Thankfully nothing happened.  He’s never had any classic symptoms of MS or experienced anything like the MS episodes others describe.  So last month he had his follow-up MRI and today we met with his local neurologist to review it.  Praying with Dave in the car put me in the right frame of mind–whatever the outcome we have been able to handle it thus far and hopefully, with God’s guidance, can continue to cope well.  No news is good news, in this case.  Nothing has changed on his MRI.  His lesions are still consistent with demyelination (a medical way of saying nerve damage) but since he has had no physical manifestation of disease, Dave is still in the possible MS category or benign MS group.  Which is wonderful news considering seven months ago upon first hearing the probable diagnosis we had no idea how things would go… but so far, so good!  And thanks so much for all the prayers and support.

Posted under Baby Thomas: Month 40

When “Unknown” popped up on my cell phone as incoming, I thought maybe it was an automated doctor office call.  It wasn’t.  The woman calmly explained she was calling from Charlotte’s school and (this is the part where my heart temporarily sank to my knees) wanted to let me know my daughter was kicked in the face while on the monkey bars in an unfortunate accident.  There is a red mark by her eye and ice was put on it in the nurse’s office but she doesn’t need to go home or see a doctor and she’s not crying.  Okay, I can breathe again.  A chat with Charlotte over the phone later confirmed she is one tough girl and that it was best Daddy and I downplayed it.  So appreciated the call.  It put me in my mom’s shoes many years ago when she was a teacher and the principal came to her classroom informing her I had fallen at the babysitter’s and cut my forehead open.  (You’ll see the scar on my hairline when my bangs are swept far enough to one side.)  Thankfully this time no stitches or broken bones–currently we know four children in casts, all kindergartners!  The crazy thing, Nana said she had a premonition today that Papa’s fear Charlotte would get hurt on the monkey bars would come true.  Now that’s scary.

Posted under Baby Thomas: Month 40