Winter, Fun and...age

Not much snow this year so far--so when it finally snowed this weekend you KNOW the kidlets wanted to get out into it. And because I can't sit inside and see all the places they can go--out I went with them.
I can remember loving winter...tromping for hours in the snow, sledding and playing. Finally coming in to a nice fire and hot chocolate. Then I remembered that my mom made all that happen! So now that I'm the mom? Yeah, not as much fun to come in from the cold and do all that.
Today we played ice giants attack in the playset. I clambered up into it to hide from the rampaging giants... this after an hour of sledding, walking the dog and generally being outside. So once the ice giants had been vanquished a few times, I (and my cold behind) really wanted to go inside. After a great deal of whining (on my part) I convinced them to come in and warm up.

I'm so happy that we played together, and that their imaginations were so fired up! As I sit here and my cold bones defrost, though, I wish I was MORE fun. Could stay outside longer. Had more energy.

Age.

Ages and Stages

Jake is 7. Phoebe is 3-and-a-half. How did this happen? Well, yes, I know how it happens...time passes.

First slowly...oh so slowly in those first months of life. Would I ever get enough sleep? Would my body ever be fully mine again? Would my child stay alive if I did not personally attend every breath in his/her body?

Then a bit faster...back to work, rushing to get first one then the second to daycare, to work, home and fed and to bed. How did it go so fast?

Faster yet...walking and talking. Potty training, regular food, goodbye to the crib once and then twice.

Hey, where did the school bus come from? How did it turn my baby into a school-age child? And now the second one wants to get on the bus, go to school, begin her life.

And here I am...pausing briefly to look back as I still plunge headlong into the future. I can sit in another room as they play with each other, converse with each other, share inside jokes, love and some punches.

They grow up, and I grow older. In this moment I am looking ahead to our future. Where will we be 7 years from now? What adventures will they undertake--adventures that will take them ever farther from me? I know I will never again be as necessary to them as I have been. But I still hope and pray they will need me.As much as I need them. As much as I now realize I still need my mommy.

Swim Season 2011

My super swimmer Jake is going to be joined soon by sister swimmer Phoebe. A few days ago she decided she wanted to swim. Get her face wet, the whole works. A week ago if she got splashed, I think her screams of outrage could be heard in Timbuktu. But suddenly, she wants to swim. So she will.

She potty-trained much the same way. Decided one day to wear panties and hasn't looked back. So I have a strong-minded girl on my hands. Lucky me?

Jake had a great season as well. Mostly firsts and seconds in freestyle and backstroke. Time trials are this week, then maybe championships. So when did I turn into a swim mom? I am feeling very suburban. I'm not sure if I mean that in a good or bad way... I wasn't expecting this in my life for sure!

Jake starts first grade this fall, and I wonder where the time goes. In 2 years, Phoebe will go to kindergarten. My mind is being blown on a daily basis with their intelligence, awareness and general sense of what is funny. In the car the other day Phoebe was singing her own mash-up...Fight for your Right to Party and Dynamite. I don't know how she connected the Beastie Boys and Justin Bieber, but she did. An unholy alliance for sure!

Summer and swimming

I think I may have created a swimmer! Jake is in his second year on the Persimmon Creek Swim Team. And he's kicking butt and taking names in the 6 and under group! I may be just a wee bit too proud...but he's just doing so well. Firsts and seconds in the meets with his freestyle and backstroke. His intensity when he's swimming is amazing. It's so cool to have produced an athlete--given how non-athletic his parents are!
He has other talents--his reading and writing skills are in good shape--he's ready for first grade. We have to get him glasses, but that's OK.

Phoebe is just as wonderful--can't leave her too long without praise. Although she won't put her head in the water, she scoots around in her swim ring like a water baby. It's really wonderful! She's smart as a whip, and dare I say more advanced than Jake was at her age? I think his influence has helped her. She gets herself dressed and can figure out how to buckle and unbuckle her baby seat. Perhaps TOO smart sometimes...

Welcome back!

Goodness--it's been a year and a half since I blogged here. In the meantime, I changed jobs, the house STILL isn't done and the kidlets...well the kidlets have gotten older, cuter, smarter and BETTER.

It's been amazing, this ride. And the best part is that it's nowhere near over! So let's see--I left TV, but not really. Now I'm a college professor teaching broadcasting and journalism! I'm also the higher education blogger at RTDNA--where I used to be the PA state coordinator.

Jake is 6-and-a-half, Phoebe just turned 3. Three! Years! Old! My babies aren't, as evidenced by the insistence that I throw out the baby potty seat, the baby sippy cups...anything baby. But not the stroller.

Jake just finished kindergarten at West Park. Going to first grade in the fall. WOW. Phoebe is proud to be a preschooler (as she tells everyone she meets) but also yearning to ride the bus with Jake and go to "big" school.

Motherhood is turning out a LOT better than I thought.

I did it

2009 certainly turned out to be a year of change.

I am taking (possibly) the biggest step of my professional life. I'm quitting my job. The job I've held for 14 years (minus 2 maternity leaves), the job I dreamed of having, the job I never had any intention of leaving.

Did it change? Did I change? A bit of both, I think. For decades, I have been ruggedly proud of my career. Of doing whatever it takes to get the story on. Of working odd hours, weird times--all for the sake of TV JOURNALISM.

But that's all changed. The kidlets, most certainly, have made me realize what really is important (without sounding like a cliche). Also, though, the business changed. It became a business, for real. No more "Just go". Instead, how do we cover the story with no crews?

So I'm making the change. Moving into academia. I've done TV for almost 25 years, I can teach it now. Starting out as an adjunct. Already, though, I am more excited about the possibilities than I have been about TV in awhile. I always liked school--liked the exchange of ideas and the chance just to learn something new.

Oh, I know that no job is perfect and I'm sure I will miss the hustle and bustle of the newsroom--and breaking news. But I think, I know this is the right move for me and the right time to make it.

God help me.

Construction begins!!

I am so excited--I can barely contain myself! There is a GIANT hole next to my house, and soon it will contain our new addition. A very nice 4000 square feet of SPACE. For THINGS. And CLOSETS. And STORAGE.
Space for my babies to grow. Space for my books to live. Space for my clothes not to be crammed together. Space for me to go and be alone when I need to be. The latter being (almost) the most important of all...