Just Heather
2
Backlog Bulletfest
Nov 12, 2007 | Filed Under: Go Team!, Going Gluten-Free, Household CEO, Lovable Critters, Mommyhood, My Biz, Party Girl, Scout Mom, Sick & Tired

I’m still swimming upstream, but in the interest of full disclosure I’ll work on getting this up-to-date.

  • Being sick sucks. The entire family had a stomach bug last week (which we so lovingly passed onto my hometown via my nephew). This week it’s a cold so bad I honestly thought it might lead to pneumonia. It seems to be clearing a bit, but I have been through about 2 boxes of tissues in as many days.
  • The armadillo my Girl Scout troop adored on our field trip died in a fire this weekend at the zoo. That makes me unbelievably sad.
  • Venatieri can go back to the Patriots now. That is all.
  • Except to say I just don’t see this great clutch kicker everyone talks about. Vanderjagt may be an arrogant smart ass, but I’d take him any day.
  • I’m working on arrangements to do a live segment on Black Friday. They want me much earlier than usual though, and I was planning to be at Target right about then.
  • The pacifier is officially gone. My goal was by age 2, which happened 10 days ago. Two days before her birthday, she went to bed without and hasn’t had it since. She asked about it nightly for awhile, but seems to be over it now. If only potty training were that easy.
  • I’m planning a Charlie & Lola Pink Milk Party for Brenia this year. It was supposed to be a Pirate/Princess Tea, but the stupid Birthday Express catalog came in the mail and she fell in love with the C&L crap.
  • The gluten free diet has been deemed an official success by the girls’ pediatrician. This time last year we were still in the testing stage and Lorelai weighed 14.4, falling in the 1 percentile. At her 2-year checkup she weighed nearly 26 pounds and falls right at the 50th percentile!
  • If anyone has ideas on how to teach organization and responsibility to a 4th grader, I’m all ears. After a month on the Spell Bowl team, winning Power Speller each week, we found out Stacia doesn’t actually get to compete this week. She is an alternate because she did not bother to turn in 3 50-point assignments. Oops.
  • Also, if you have ideas on organization for a busy mom, send them my way! We worked hard all weekend and I’m starting to get control of some things around here. However, I have yet to tackle the 50-gallon tub that holds my paperwork.
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Just Keep Swimming
Oct 22, 2007 | Filed Under: Mommyhood, My Biz, Party Girl

I am so overwhelmed with life these days that I barely have time to tie my shoes, much less write about it here. I have 2 kids at 2 different schools, 2 PTOs, 2 Girl Scout troops and a 3rd child who can’t eat the food anywhere we go. On top of the full time mommy gig, I’ve had 4 part-time jobs recently.

I run my business, which takes about 10 hours a week (minimum). I have my Friday news segment, which takes an hour or two of prep time in addition to my 3 minutes on air. Then I got the genius idea to teach a cooking club at my oldest daughter’s school. It was a lot of fun, but a lot of work too. I had my final class (and got paid!) last Monday. It’s weird to have a Monday that doesn’t find me rushing around gathering cooking tools and ingredients.

My final “job” turned out to be way more than I bargained for. I had agreed to watch a neighbor’s toddler “a few hours a week” when her work schedule overlapped her mom’s. I thought it would be fun for Lorelai to have a playmate now and then, but it turned into 2-3 full days each week. The extra money was helpful what with all the birthdays coming our way, but I have been utterly exhausted. I finally gave notice last week, along with a list of daycare moms I know in the area.

Today is the first day in months that I haven’t felt like I needed a nap by noon. Maybe I can catch up on some of the housework I’ve been neglecting—like laundry, considering we sort of can’t go to school or work naked. I am also having a small Halloween party here on Wednesday night, my effort to avoid the mayhem of long distance trick-or-treating. I don’t know who, if anyone, is coming but the girls will have a good time with the treats and activities I have been planning either way.

I’m also in the midst of planning my youngest’s 2nd birthday party. She is train crazy so I had fun making tickets for her invitations. Now to get those in the mail, considering the party is less than 2 weeks away. I also have 11 days to get a cake pan, paper products, balloons, wrapping paper and food. Presents are done! This one is family only so it’s a bit more low key than some we have done in the past. The big ones are coming in December and January when my older children feel the need to invite everyone they’ve ever met.

Tea party, anyone?

2
Thank you, Thank you!
Sep 19, 2007 | Filed Under: Living Montessori, Mommy Guilt, Road Trip

I’ll be clearing a space for that Mother of the Year trophy now. My days have been hectic and crazy since school began. Today, it all finally caught up with me. My day began with Stacia missing the bus. This is no big deal since we live right down the street, but presents a bit of a problem now that Brenia is in kindergarten across town. Montessori starts 10 minutes before public school so I have that amount of time to drop Brenia off and make it back to the other school. Success!

Then I came home with Lorelai. We are only home 1 morning each week so she usually takes a short nap on Wednesdays—playing catch up from the rest of the week. I laid her down at 10am, thinking she’d sleep about an hour which is the most I ever get from her. Kindergarten ends at 11:30 so I’d have plenty of time to change her and get to Montessori after she awoke.

Except she didn’t, until Brenia’s school called wondering where we were! The last time I looked at the clock, it was 10:30. The time didn’t even register when I realized it was the school on the phone. When she said, “We were just calling because Brenia is still here.” I looked up at the clock and freaked out! I grabbed Lorelai, rushed out the door and cried all the way to school.

Worst. Mother. Ever.

Luckily, they have an afternoon program too so she was well cared for. I felt horrible, even though everyone kept reassuring me that she was fine and I wasn’t the first mother to pick her child up 30 minutes late! I guess the good thing is they were very concerned about us. They see me as typically reliable and Brenia’s teacher was convinced I was in some sort of accident on my way to get her.

Brenia didn’t seem to notice how bad I was feeling and was only told that “Mommy was running late.” Now, I have to go get my other daughter before she gets forgotten too!

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2
Recognize
Aug 21, 2007 | Filed Under: Media Matters, Mommyhood, My Biz

Last Thursday, my mom lectured me about 5 times because I went to the store in cutoff sweats and a t-shirt. She says I’m not allowed to dress like that anymore because I am a “television personality.” I say, this is my personality!

On Friday, I took my oldest to a High School Musical 2 party with 2 of her friends. While they were playing a game, someone came up to me and said, “This is going to sound really weird, but are you on the news?” The girls thought that was really cool. Well, two of them did. My own daughter thought it was “embarrassing,” but I’m pretty used to that.

When I called my mom to tell her I got recognized she asks what I am wearing!

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1
Tastes Like Chicken
Jul 17, 2007 | Filed Under: Mommyhood, Picky Eater

I am a very picky eater. Even if you completely discount that some of it is medically necessary, you would still say I am a picky eater. I feel sort of bad about that because the hubby is a pretty adventurous eater and would prefer more variety than I typically provide. Now and then I do try to find something new that I think we will all enjoy.

Tonight I stumbled on a new dish by accident. I had intended to defrost pork chops for the sweet-n-sour recipe I found last year. Instead I discovered I had defrosted a pork loin. Not to be deterred, I headed to a couple cookbooks, and my favorite web resource, to find Herb Roasted Pork (which I modified slightly for the pressure cooker since I did not discover my mistake until it was too late for a traditional roast), almond green beans and buttered hashbrowns.

We sat down to dinner and my middle child announces “This chicken is really tasty!” The almond green beans weren’t a big hit. My oldest child didn’t like them (big surprise!) because they were “too sour,” an excuse she came up with based on overhearing me mention they had a bit of lemon juice in them. I wasn’t a big fan of the lemon juice myself, but they were certainly not sour. Brenia didn’t like the “all mans” mixed in. The baby, on the other hand, ate the “geen beans” like they were going out of style. She even managed to use her fork to spear them—and the “taytoes”—a few times for good measure.

All in all it was a successful dinner. The roasted pork really was tasty. Plus it had the added bonus of ending with the baby announcing, “I potty” to which we all cheered and ran off to watch (it didn’t happen, but it was an exciting concept nonetheless).

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Ahead of the Curve
Jun 22, 2007 | Filed Under: Living Montessori, Scout Mom

Our middle child is super tall. Brenia is 4 1/2 and wears a size 6. She is also quite advanced for her age, which comes mostly from her big sister being 5 years older. She’s 4, going on 10. Everyone—including the kindergarten teachers at Stacia’s school—assumes she starts school in August.

She doesn’t start school until 2008. I wish she could go to school this year. It would make a lot of things easier. For one, it would put 4 grades between each of our girls. The way things stand now there are 5 years between Stacia and Brenia, then 3 years between Brenia and Lorelai.

Our school system does not allow early admission for any reason. I actually looked into Montessori schools for this year. They go by ability level, not age. If she goes to school in kindergarten and first grade at a private school, she can attend public school in 2nd grade as the requirement is not age based—it is based on completion of 1st grade. Unfortunately, while our local Montessori school is incredibly affordable for a private school it is still out of our range.

I know she could make it. She’s been with the Daisy troop at camp all week rather than hanging out with my mom and the babies. The other Daisies have just completed kindergarten. She doesn’t start for another year, but you’d never notice a difference. She is right there with them in everything they do. Plus, she is the tallest girl in the group!

That’s the 2nd reason I want her to start this year. I worry that by next year she will not only know everything they teach in kindergarten, but she’ll be so much taller she’ll feel out of place. I know she would fit in this year. It’s really too bad the state of Indiana looks at things with a such a simple mind—age 5 by September 1st no matter what their skills may be.

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The New Math
Jun 21, 2007 | Filed Under: Love Him, Mommyhood, Road Trip

While packing for my trip this week, I asked someone to grab a train and a baby doll for Lorelai so she would have some of her favorites to keep her entertained. We’re going to be here all week and she is used to having two cabinets full of toys at her disposal.

The hubby said he took care of it so I crossed it off my list. We got to camp, and I opened my bag to pull out a talking dog—and nothing else.

Apparently, baby + train = dog

Who knew?

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4
In Her Shoes
May 16, 2007 | Filed Under: Family Ties, Household CEO, Mommyhood

I left a few weeks ago to spend a fabulous 5 days with my newborn nephew. I left hubby in charge of the 3 kids and took off. I had this thought in my head that he might realize I don’t have it all that easy. I think he had this thought in his head that a week with a newborn would make me want another of my own.

It was a big negative on both counts. I really enjoyed my nephew and he’s a great baby, but it’s pretty spectacular to hand him over to Mom whenever he cries, poops or wakes up in the middle of the night. I’ve never had that before as I’m always Mom. I also know my own mistake—I made it too easy for him.

I had all the laundry done and the house clean before I left. I planned the meals, purchased the food and wrote out the recipes before I left. I wrote out an easy to read schedule of where our kids needed to be when and what they needed to bring. I wrote out a daily schedule of our kids’ routines and activities.

Basically, I laid it all out for him. No one tells me when to take Stacia to soccer. No one tells me what time Lorelai takes her nap. No one tells me what time Brenia eats her meals and snacks. The hardest part of this motherhood thing is figuring it all out—even when it changes on a daily basis. He got to skip that part.

Something tells me he wouldn’t find it quite so easy if I simply packed my own stuff and took off for a few days. Some place warm, maybe. Like a beach, far far away. Where margaritas flow like water.

Not that I’ve given it any thought.

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