I dread moments like this. 

I truly loathe them but I have come to learn that they are part of life’s journey. All of us have unwelcome curveballs land in our lives at one point or another.  One recently bounced into the life of a friend.  Today I’m asking you to hold her in prayer.

As many of you know, I appear every Wednesday morning on a local morning radio show.  Rick and Mary Beth are beloved Toledo radio personalities and I’m delighted to spend time with the every week.  For those of you ”out of towners” my segments usually include a mom related story, banter, and lots and lots of  laughing.  The laughing is a given. 

This morning Mary Beth announced she has non-Hodgkins lymphoma.  A recent diagnosis, she’s starting chemo therapy on Thursday.  Mary Beth is hopeful but scared.  As she told her listeners this morning, she was her same spirited self but I could hear the disbelief in her voice.  I can only imagine how surreal it would be to share this kind of news with the world.  Nevertheless, she handled it with grace, humor and determination.  She’s a class act and a very brave woman.

I texted her after her announcement promising support.  I told her about the miracle of the power of prayer. 

 ”Prayers works.  I swear.  You will feel them.  I promise.” 

This is something I know.

(Oh…and I may have said something about “kicking cancer’s ass“!  You know…for good measure!)

So, please put your prayer warrior armor on and have my back on this one.  Lift Mary Beth and her family in prayer.  I want her to feel this. 

And, while holding her in prayer please remember all our loved ones fighting similar battles.  The power of prayer can lift all of them, but we need to do this together.  Right now. 

Onward.

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To watch and listen to Mary Beth’s announcement today, click here….and get a tissue. 

 

I swear I’ve written this on a mental chalk board a thousand times this past week.  It’s my new mantra and I’m repeating it to myself over and over again, trying to convince the skeptic in me that a chaos free holiday is possible this year. 

I can do this.  I will do this. 

How hard can it be?

Years ago I had it down.  Even the years I was working full time, I figured out a way to get my Christmas house in order.  Decorating (indoor and out) was always done early…but not too early.  Cards were creatively crafted, licked and stamped no later than the 18th.  Presents were bought, organized, and wrapped long before the big day.  And, I loved every second of the business.  It was as if I was dancing a Christmas can-can down my street wrapped in lights and glittering garland, while dribbling an artfully decorated snowball and slam dunking it on Christmas day.

 Somehow, last year, things changed.

I’ve found myself dreading dragging the decor boxes out of the crawl space, and the cards…ugh.  Considering last year was the first time I’ve ever had to wrap anything hours before Santa arrived, instead of dancing a Yuletide victory dance, I huddled in the corner with a wine cooler (not even an egg nog) chugging until I collapsed into the fetal position.  Christmas beat me last year. 

This year I’ll do better.

I’m organizing my plan of attack, which translates to realistically prioritizing and accepting my role as the mother to five…three of who are very high maintenance at the moment.

So, I’ve been thinking about what my biggest priority should be and have decided it’s about the way my family feels about the holiday.  What is their take-away? 

I want them to celebrate love this time of year.  Of course, I want them to feel loved every day of their lives, but this time of year is an outward act of love towards those that we hold dear.  It’s about  a time to take solace in the blessings we’ve been given.  Time spent together is critical to my kids understading what our family is all about.  That means pushing some of the doing aside in favor of dwelling in the experience. 

Lofty…Right?

Not really, but there is some reality that definitely comes into play.  Particularly the fact that it’s my job to engineer the entire shindig.  What I’ve learned is that if I’m running around like a lunatic muttering obscenities under my breath about rogue Christmas lights, and burned cookies, the ambiance is affected. 

My mother-in-law is infamous for getting her holiday tasks completed early.  I mean…way early.  In fact, I’m sure her Christmas cookies are already baked, tucked away in her freezer.  I used to wonder why she felt the need to get the holiday chores picked off so ahead of schedule, and now that I have a small tribe under my guise, I get it.  There was a time in her life that she was managing nine children in her house.  Think about pulling Christmas off for nine kids…um…without crying.  Now I can see that her need to check off her shopping in October was actually an investment in her mental health.  Doing holiday chores early is an exercise in self defense. 

Shear brilliance.

So, I have revamped my holiday plan of attack and am getting my ducks in a row earlier than ever.  I started last week by picking off one of my first chores.  My mother-in-law smartly gives me money for each child. My charge is to buy their gifts from her.  She wraps them and gives them on Christmas Eve (I said she was brilliant…right?).  This year, instead of running around last minute trying to get my act together on her behalf, I picked her list off first.  Saturday morning I piled all the gifts in the car, and proudly delivered them to her…on November 10th.  She was giddy.  I was giddier.

Boo-yah.  Score one for the new Christmas Carolyn. 

I realize that the chores of the holidays are not really what the holiday is supposed to be about.  I have also learned that in order to get my family to focus on what the holiday is all about, I need to have my act together.  This year it’s “game on” Christmas. 

I will win…even if it kills me.

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Make sure you tune into 101.5 on Wednesday morning.  I’ll be sharing three do-ahead Thanksgiving day recipes that will ease the chaos of the Turkey Day kitchen and render you a happier chef!

Do you have any tricks to simplifying the holidays?  Do tell.  I’m begging you!

 

 

 

We decided to celebrate our first day of summer with a dip in our back yard pool.  It was a good idea, in theory, but sometimes, my good ideas are easier conceived than implemented!  You see, one would think getting two 10 month olds to a pool, twenty steps from my backdoor, wouldn’t be that difficult. 

But once again, twin reality slapped me in the face.

First of all, who do I carry out first?  And when I go back in, is the babe I carried out first safe?  And can I leave one sitting on the sunning step (which is rather large) while I play motor boat with the other? 

There are just not enough of me sometimes.

Then I had a lightbulb moment. 

When Drew and Ryan were babies I had a bath seat for them. 

I could buy a new one, and then I’d have instant stability for at least one baby while I diverted my attention to the other. 

Problem solved?

Not exactly!

Turns out they don’t manufacture bath seats anymore.  I guess too many brilliant adults thought it was okay to leave the room while their baby…uh… bathed themselves…which rendered the seats safety hazards. 

Why do stupid parents have to ruin everything for the rest of us? 

So…I improvised. 

Yes, that is a Bumbo seat.  And yes, I’m pretty sure there’s a warning label on it somewhere that says I’m not supposed to use it to secure a child in a pool.  But sometimes a mom’s gotta do, what a mom’s gotta do!

And, it actually worked. 

Now before you start sending me messages about child safety, please know I’m not putting my kids in Bumbos..in pools… while napping… in a hammock.  I’m just using it to stabilize one of my 10 month old weeble-wobbles while I’m tending to the other! I’m never more than a few feet away. 

That being said, I do have a history of improvising when it comes to baby gear.  Sometimes it’s simply an off-label use (like a bumbo in a pool).  At other times, we’ve had to make due in manners, that in retrospect, may have not been the wisest.

Case in point…

Now, given the above depicted parenting fail, I may deserve your messages of concern!  If you feel the need to send me a note of disgust please address it, “Dear idiot mother who used a case of Miller Light as a booster seat while securing her one year old to a chair with her husband’s belt“!  (I know that’s a long salutation  but it fits…don’t you think?)

And don’t forget to mention the ironing board in the background with the hot iron teetering on the edge. 

Clearly the scene depicted above occurred prior to the emergance of Sean’s alter ego, Captain Safety! 

It’s a wonder Ryan has made it to 15!  But he has. Without major medical incident.

A miracle? 

Possibly…

…but I don’t think so.

As parents, we have to get creative with our kid related problem solving by channeling our inner MacGyver.  Improvise.  It’s an art and, I think,  a necessary part of surviving parenthood.  Bumbos in pools and cases of beer as booster seats require that common sense is enlisted.  (Let me repeat the words…common sense!)  

So next time you are faced with a parenting dilemma, use your God-given creative mama-instincts by thinking outside the box!  Then pat yourself on the back, and make the phrase, “I CAN do this is” your mantra. 

Oh…and take a picture of your solution and send it to me!  I can use all the mothering help I can get!

*Important*   Edited to Add…

Bumbo seats have recently been recalled due to a high incidence of infant skull fractures.  Please see link here for information on how to get a safety harness for your Bumbo seat! 

The kids and I live with Captain Safety.  Who’s Captain Safety?  He’s the guy in our house that can often be heard shouting warnings like, “Wash your hands before you eat!” or “Don’t run with scissors!”  He has a nose for spoiled food, an uncanny ability to remind us to dress appropriately for the weather, and is always chasing the boys with fruit to ensure that they have consumed their daily allowance of vitamin C and anti-oxidants.  In the summer, Captain Safety is always armed with sunscreen in one hand and bug spray in the other.  He is our protector and although we love him dearly, his reminders are often met with sarcastic eye rolls and disrespectful utterances. (more…)

Holiday spirit was filling the air and lights and decorations were up everywhere I looked. All seemed right except for me. I found myself in a similar position as I was two years ago, masking a secret known only to me and Carolyn. But this time the secret was my health. (more…)