Happy New Year

Keeping it short and sweet - feeling incredibly thankful to have ended the decade with a beautiful healthy family, a roof over our heads (jobs), food on our table (jobs) and lots of love in my life. Happy 2010!

Balancing Moms on the Rise!

Hill Veteran Kristin Wells Joins Patton Boggs' Renowned Public Policy Team

Teachable Moment

Second grade home-work came down on me like a ton of bricks. Yes, you read that right. It came down on ME - as I was frantically trying to figure out the magic formula to getting home from work only to be faced with home-work assignments that had me asking Princess incredulously, on an almost daily basis: "didn't they teach you how to do this at school?"
I would approach the home-work process begrudgingly, leading to much frustration for me and Princess (and even hubby once he got home as I would immediately let him know just how much he was NOT contributing to this process).

Then at the end of second grade, it was like a lightbulb went off in my head - the money I pay the school for my daughter's education does not take the place of my active parenting. I needed to change my attitude about this process. So at the end of second grade I headed to bookstores, picked up summer bridge activities and brainquest workbooks, downloaded and printed numerous online materials from the math playground and started our "home, home-work" (as we fondly call it). Princess and I started having "bonding time" around academic activities all summer and throughout the school year. Princess is now soaring academically and consistently approaches her work with a positive attitude and a willingness to try new things.

Last weekend Princess wrote an essay - and shared that one of her favorite activities is spending time at night with her mom doing "work". When I asked her why, she responded - "it's because I get to learn in a fun way and spend time with you." And just like that I was reminded - life (and parenting) really isn't so much about what you do, but how you do it.

Halloween Math

This morning I sat with my kids as we sorted, grouped and counted their Halloween candy - it was really Princess' math homework and not to be undone, Prince joined in the fun.  So I thought I would provide Princess with some additional math facts to chew on ... the next time Halloween falls on a Saturday, you will be 8 + 7 ... yes, my Princess will be 15.  This means, our next Halloween Saturday party will look nothing like the one we had last night.  Yet one more reason to remember that we should savor these moments (rushing from one Halloween party back home to another Halloween party combined with trick-o-treating). Exhausted at the end of the day? Sure!  But with math facts like these... need I say more?

Birthday Dilemma

So during the period that I was absent from my blog, my son celebrated his 4th birthday.  Of course, on the other side of the scale, was the marketing summit that was being put on by my clients at work - a week long intensive of meetings, break out sessions, lunches, dinners etc.  What to do? Attend the dine-a-round dinner or skip out for the birthday celebration.  

I finally made peace with the fact that although the summit was conveniently located in my home city (this time), if it was in another city, birthday or not, I would have missed the festivities. Instead I focused on the reality that Prince did not know exactly which "day" of the week was his birthday -- so we sang happy birthday the night before then celebrated in fine style at his party the following Saturday.

Sometimes being a working mom means you will miss precious moments.  But increasingly, I am realizing that the key to my sanity is making choices that are practical with the understanding that I cannot be everywhere, all the time and I will never make everyone in my life happy.  So if my son is too young to realize that we celebrate his birthday on a day that isn't his birthday, then the world won't stop if I "miss" his birthday... especially if I make up for it by giving him personal neighborhood train rides at his party :-)

Girls Day Out

So Princess recently joined this after school activity - "Go Girls Go".  A phenomenal program introduced by her PE teacher to get the 3-6th grade girls bonding and focusing on healthy attitudes.   A part of this program involves a few Saturday excursions with girls and their moms.  Today was the first - a hike through Rock Creek Park.  Not sure why I was under the impression that this would be a leisurely stroll through the park, inhaling fresh air and observing the fall leaves.  Instead, it's a power walk through the trail - up hill, down hill, around hill.  The moral of the story - when a PE teacher is leading a hike, it is meant to be heart rate increasing exercise.  It is now 9:40 and I still have not recovered - mild throbbing pain in my head coupled with aching joints.  Girls Day Out has certainly lead to Mom's night in as Princess is off at a sleep over with her girls.  On the bright side, Prince is neatly tucked away in bed (as not to be undone, he had a friend sleep over tonight too)! All's well that ends well.  Now for a martini and a good night's rest.

Memorable Moments

Last night I decided that I would start my re-entry to the blogging world by sharing daily "memorable moments".  Little things that happened over the past few months that are worth sharing.  In true Murphy's law fashion, the process created another memorable moment of its own. While drafting my note, hubby comes in to inform me that I "forgot" to pay a bill.  I retort indignantly that I did no such thing and direct him to my folder of "paid" bills.  Sure enough, the bill is hiding in the bottom of my folder (unnoticed and unpaid).  In the mayhem that ensues, Prince starts jumping all over, I'm trying to figure out what happened, and my entire post gets deleted, thereby shutting down my Memorable Moments effort.  I've decided this is a temporary setback and hope to share some noteworthy moments over the next few days. Stay tuned.