I knew the moment I set my sun hat and Charlotte’s princess crown on top of another stroller next to ours it was a mistake.  I did it so I would have room on the top of our stroller canopies to rummage through the backpack I had stacked there.  That’s how it goes at Disney World with kids.  Too many attractions and distractions.  Too much crap to carry around.  It wasn’t until 8:45pm shoulder-to-shoulder with Dave and Charlotte on a curb along Main Street in Magic Kingdom that it hit me.  I left the items on that other stroller!  The sun hat I’ve worn for years and didn’t want to part with.  And no way was this chick gonna give up a chance to get back the Tiana crown I had just spent 19 dollars for at Downtown Disney.  So I started to run.  In stacked slip-on wedges with (thankfully) a rubber sole and a maxi dress, I dashed across the square darting around wheelchairs and dads with fanny packs and Disney workers with ropes preparing to block off the streets for the lighted parade.  It jumped off at 9pm.  I was on a mission and I started to perspire a bit, which means other people would have been close to passing out as I am always cold.  Crossing a bridge, I entered Adventureland at dusk dodging a woman holding a fruit drink and repeatedly saying excuse me as I rushed past startled bystanders.  Finally I knew I was getting close as I made it to The Magic Carpets of Aladdin.  Then the Jungle Cruise sign appeared and I frantically glanced around the nearby stroller parking area where I had laid down my stuff.  Would you believe I found them?  Someone had moved the hat and crown off their stroller kindly placing it on a wheelchair beside it.  Hallelujah!  I grabbed them and started the return sprint with a spring in my step.  Sadly I plowed into a toddler who stepped into my path.  He fell.  I yelled SORRY but had to keep going with only minutes to make it back to the prime spot my mom had been holding for two hours.  The blister on the inner part of my right foot was worth it.

Posted under Baby Thomas: Month 44

I would have liked to believe my daughter would be, I don’t know, maybe 10 or 11 before this happened.  But it’s 2012 and kids are somehow five years ahead of where they used to be.  So it won’t surprise the other parents of young children to see the above note was uncovered by me tucked in Charlotte’s skirt when I put it and the stretch pants she had layered underneath in the washing machine last night.  I showed it to her and asked who it was from, half hoping she would not even recognize the little scrap with BFF on one side and butterflies done in marker on the other.  Since when do 5-year-olds know text acronyms?  Of course it was hers and she immediately responded with the name of the little girl who passed it to her.  Then went on to explain that she sent a BFF note to another friend.  Here we go.

Posted under Baby Thomas: Month 44

I knew local radio station KNWS (Life 101.9) invited local business people to a monthly Christian luncheon, from hearing it promoted over-the-air.  What I didn’t know, that station manager Doug Smith would deem me worthy of being one of the featured speakers.  So today I spent an hour talking about and tearing up over how being a Christian impacts me personally and professionally.  Here are four points I highlighted as ways my faith sustains me:

1) By remaining unchanged in a world of constant flux.

2) By opening my eyes to its manifestations around me.

3) By giving me what I need when I need it.

4) By leading me to a destiny beyond my expectations.

As you know, I have so much to say period that it was tough to cram in all my thoughts and real life accounts on these ideas in 25 minutes.  Plus entertain the audience with a few viewer emails, for some guaranteed laughs.  But I got through it and was thrilled to have my good friends, Darlene & Dee, along with Ron Steele at my table.  Can’t believe it’s been almost a year since Dave’s health scare kicked my journey as a Christian into high gear.  Humbled and honored to have a platform and know others will show up to listen.  Good thing Dave wasn’t in the audience or I would have been bawling.

Surprise benefit for local builder Dave Bartlett who is battling cancer.  This Friday, March 2 from 5-9pm at The Hub (406 Main Street) in Cedar Falls.  Money raised will go to MD Anderson Cancer Center’s BATTLE study.  Kid friendly, acoustic music and silent auction!

Posted under Baby Thomas: Month 44

Perhaps it’s too many years on the front lines of TV news.  Maybe it’s being a parent.  Or both.  Every now and then I get a little crazy (to quote a line from the TLC song What About Your Friends) when it comes to potential scenarios that cross my mind.  Like today when I was clothes-free standing in a spray tan booth and it occurred to me a fire alarm could sound.  Would I have time to get dressed and make it out safely?  Would I even hear it over the blower and loud music piped through the salon speakers?  Then there are the moments driving over a bridge when I consider whether I could break and climb out the car window should the structure collapse underneath.  Clearly I’ve viewed too many images of the Minneapolis tragedy.  I also pause before running into a store or the library or other public places and convince myself not taking my cell phone along would be a mistake should a hostage situation unfold.  What good would it do to be locked in a closet with other customers if one of us didn’t have a way to alert authorities?  I just re-read this and have determined I need a vacation.

Posted under Baby Thomas: Month 44

In a world where I just paid 66 dollars to fill up my gas tank and my kids’ insurance premiums just went up another 12%, it’s nice to spend the weekend doing fulfilling things for free.  Reading Thomas a book or listening to Charlotte sound out her words, watching Jack’s Big Music show and laughing as Thomas acts out the opening lines, hugging and kissing all three family members multiple times and reminding them how special they are and how much I love them.  Trips to church and Walmart to sell Girl Scout cookies also are on the agenda.  Sadly we used to drive to neighboring towns almost every weekend but now intentionally stick closer to home when considering the fuel cost.  I remember when I lived in Mason City back in 1995.  A gallon of milk was 99 cents and gas was 99 cents a gallon.  I could fill up my Honda Civic for 12-15 dollars.  One time prices at the pump must have been inflated because I recall being upset about the bill coming to like 18 dollars.  I guess that means I should be having a nervous breakdown right about now.

Posted under Baby Thomas: Month 44

Some times, like this morning, I let Thomas eat Lucky Charms with no milk and don’t mind that he only picks out and eats the marshmallows.  I let Charlotte climb on the kitchen counter to get a glass or a paper plate.  And their jumping on the couch or flipping over it are not things that really bother me.  As long as my 5 and 3-year-old keep minding their teachers, getting their school work done as instructed, pee with the toilet seat up and put it back down in Thomas’ case and regularly use manners; I am open to green light hijinks at home that might otherwise be out of the question.  My husband is not in this school of thought.  His heart rate goes up when bath time turns into a splashdown–you know what I mean, water everywhere outside of the tub.  I say I’ll clean it up and let them have their fun.  As long as there is not permanent damage to the house and its contents, I am not going to get all worked up over some of the stuff that I put in the category of kids just being kids.  Of course this is coming from a woman whose father pulled her and her sister behind a car with a rope and a sled through snow-covered streets in our neighborhood, let me drive a moped with no helmet up and down our street long before I was old enough to have a license and crashed a mini speedboat into mine when we he decided to play a game of chicken on a manmade lake in a Disney resort.  Those little rental ones don’t turn as fast as the real thing.  So my point is I do a have a skewed sense of normalcy.

Benefit for Kole Waterman, 5-year-old with health problems from premature birth:  Saturday, Feb. 25 @ Castalia Fire Station chili dinner served from 4-8pm, Sandi’s First Chance in Castalia DJ from 9pm-1am (free will donation, 50/50 raffle)

Posted under Baby Thomas: Month 44

Find socks under the sheet at the foot of your bed because you took them off when two little people ended up on either side and you got hot?

Catch the scent of your husband’s cologne when you walk by his clothes and instantly feel happy?

Turn up a favorite song from years past remembering how different your life was back then but being thrilled with how it’s played out?

See a tiny baby at the store and recall those chaotic days when you first held your own, grateful for the experience but not ready to relive it?

Look at yourself in the mirror and think I’m doing okay with all the balls I’m juggling over my head?

If you answered yes to one or more of these then, like me, you’re in the throes of motherhood and wifedom–content right where you sit.

Posted under Baby Thomas: Month 44

Growing up we had a hall tree in our basement (I think that’s what my parents called it) stacked to the top with hats of all shapes and themes on multiple hooks.  A cowboy hat, of course, along with a train conductor’s floppy cap and even a wide-brimmed nylon one that folded into a small flat circle and fit inside a matching purse.  I struggled countless times trying to collapse this hat perfectly back to form.  Wore it during musical performances and other make-believe stuff that my sister, my friends and I concocted.  We even had bongo drums, a guitar, piano and one of those loose-limbed wooden puppets that dances on a board you tap.  And even better, my dad put up hooks on the ceiling for a trapeze bar that we would flip off of onto HUGE pillows my mom made and stuffed with so much filling it would be too expensive at the fabric store today.  The bar area my parents put in before children had one shelf lined with numerous cork-topped glass jars filled to the brim with bite-sized candy.  So began my fascination with chocolate-covered mints wrapped in green and silver foil.  Growing up I had the “fun” basement.  The place no other kid could believe a dad and mom would create.  Perhaps, only realizing it at this moment, I have attempted to recreate the magic for my two.  Our basement currently has countless toy bins, costumes and hats, a classroom with wooden desks and a dry erase board on one wall, a video game system and 6-foot inflatable bounce house that holds 250 pounds.  To answer your next thought:  no, I do not jump on it.

Posted under Baby Thomas: Month 44

You know it’s going to be a bizarre day when you’re jogging around the track at the rec center, see yourself in the full-length mirror and think to yourself, wow I look like Forrest Gump in that scene when he’s running across the country.  My hair was poofed out from an evening of Charlotte “shampooing” it with some strawberry-scented kid conditioner and air drying.  Not a good look, especially with a baseball cap and ill-fitting fleece jacket.  (I am always cold so I work out with layers.)  Fortunately I had a haircut scheduled immediately after.  I overhead one of the reception desk girls in the salon calling a client to confirm her appointment tomorrow.  Of course I found it hilarious that she kept repeating the name of the business, like 5 times, before it clicked to the lady on the other end.  Same thing I would do–space and not even remember where I go for highlights.  Good thing I have the salon number programmed in my cell phone so it pops up when they call!  The other funny thing–the girls tell me calling to confirm guys’ haircuts is interesting.  Not surprisingly, if a wife answers hearing some young chick ask to speak with her husband causes defensiveness.  ”Who is this?” they often respond in a not-so-nice tone.  Or they just assume it’s a telemarketer.

Posted under Baby Thomas: Month 44

Those of you with kids close in age, regardless of genders, know play dates can be challenging.  It can work when one child is over who interacts with both little people under your roof.  Case in point today when a former preschool friend of Charlotte’s visited who also knows Thomas because she’s now one of his classmates.  Bonus–both kids like her and want to be around her.  But it’s another girl so coloring and playing babies are preferred activities; whereas Thomas would rather play a video game or wrestle with stuffed animals.  It helped that a neighbor girl, also 3, stopped by and joined Thomas doing puzzles.  Uneven-numbered play groups never work out as effectively at our house.  Then there is the issue of who to invite and whether to include the sibling.  One family down the street has a boy a bit younger than Thomas and a girl maybe two years older than Charlotte.  It works well when they come over as both sets of parents want our sons to play with more boys.  (Because those of you with an older girl know that your little boys always end up as the third wheel in the two-party girl get-togethers.)  Another family has a girl Charlotte’s age and a boy who’s older–but a boy so nice and well-behaved he likes to play with someone as young as Thomas and he’s some times willing to do so, which is great.  Bottom line:  Thomas is still too young to handle friends coming over and the sharing that should come with it.  Yet since depriving his sister of regular visitors would be like cutting off her oxygen supply, a balance is continually trying to be struck that will not leave her brother running to his room to pout or being bossed around by older chicks.  Again, something he has the rest of his life to look forward to–ladies always telling him what to do.

Posted under Baby Thomas: Month 44