The Working Mom by Kay Luna

Just wanted to say hello and hope you all have fun tonight. Some of you probably already had trick-or-treat night last night, but we’re going to a few houses tonight with our little “Tigger the Tiger.”

Thought I would share a photo from the other night at Grandma’s, and a photo of how little she was at Halloween last year, when she was our little “queen bee.”

Enjoy the weekend!

Everyone one of you — and all your friends — are invited to join us at 10 a.m. tomorrow (Thursday, Oct. 30) for a live online chat about family planning issues with former Iowa First Lady Christie Vilsack of the Iowa Initiative.

The initiative is a program that aims to reduce the high rate of unintended pregnancies among Iowa women ages 18-30 (yep, adult women end up having unplanned pregnancies, too. It’s not just the teens).

So, if you have a question about birth control or statewide stats or just want to ask Vilsack about her own family planning decisions — or about her husband’s adoption at birth — please consider joining us. It’s free and it’s easy, and the chat will last just 30 minutes (but you can stay as long as you have time to).

Here’s how: Go to my.quadsville.com and find the post, “Live Chat: Family Planning with Christie Vilsack.” Click on the post and at 10 a.m., you’ll find a “chat window.” All you have to do is to type in your name and question in the appropriate fields and hit “send.”

Moderator Melissa Coulter will slot the questions into the online discussion, so they may not appear immediately. After the session concludes, it can be replayed at any time so viewers can read what was discussed.

But please join us live, if you can.

Today is one of those got-to-hurry-and-squeeze-in-everything days, which I try to avoid when possible — especially when I have to work.

But this is an exception. Today, my Grandma’s senior living facility is hosting its second annual Halloween trick-or-treat event … at 4:30 p.m.!!! So early!!! I’m sure they chose the time to make it easier for the seniors, coinciding it with the hours staff would be there to help. But I could only guess I’m not the only working parent who is going to be rushing to get there at a decent time.

Grandma is looking forward to seeing Babycakes dressed up as a tiger. I would hate to miss it.

So, I woke up before the crack of dawn, delivering Babycakes in the dark of morning to daycare and speeding to work early, early, early, all so I can leave in time to get her picked up and driven over to Grandma’s for the Halloween festivities.

And don’t get me started about tomorrow. It’s another “dog wash day,” which means I have to haul our carsick Golden Retriever into town to the groomer early, laying down newspapers (good thing I have plenty!) on the seat before letting him climb in. Yuck. It’s got to be done. He is desperately in need of a bath. But that means I’ll have to be careful to get to work early tomorrow, too, so I have time to pick up the dog AND the baby before the groomer and the daycare close for the day.

THANK GOODNESS I have a job where I can flex my schedule this way! Yet another reason why I love working here.

How do you all juggle home stuff with your work schedules? Are your bosses understanding about things like this?

The girl is funny

My editor has an apple tree in his yard, and has been bringing in bags of apples to giveaway at the office. Babycakes loves apples, so I brought two of them home with me last night.

She was so excited to see them, I immediately sliced one up for her, asking her to please throw the core away. I caught her around the corner with it pressed up to her little nose. She was sniffing, sniffing, sniffing it when she saw me.

“Mmmmmm, Mama,” she said.

I had to talk her into actually throwing it away. Too cute!

P.S. I brought my camera with me, so I’ll try to get some pics of Babycakes dressed up in her tiger garb and post them here this week.

Who knew I would get to experience a Quad-City-connected landmark on the West Coast during my vacation?!

Because of the company I was traveling with (wink, wink, Carol), we got the chance to stop at the Palmer College of Chiropractic campus in California. Well, mostly, we visited the bookstore.

What struck me was a.) although it was a nice little campus, it wasn’t what I imagined a “California college” would look like. I didn’t notice plentiful palm trees or suntanning areas! haha!; and b) some of the people there seemed truly impressed with Davenport, Iowa!

I know! Here I was, in sunny California, and I encountered someone who said that one time, they “let her” travel to Palmer’s main Davenport campus and she was so impressed! She said the history of it all was so cool to her! And you know, she’s right.

I’ve thought about her viewpoint a lot since Monday afternoon, when we met. It kind of drives home the importance of valuing what we have here at home. Sometimes we forget about all our unique landmarks in the Quad-Cities, and even folks in California think so! Amazing.

By the way, they have a much smaller campus than our Davenport one. But the bookstore is very nice!

Hello, friends … OK, and family, too! haha! Looks like you had some fun here while I was away, and that’s awesome.

We were busy doing something my husband and I haven’t done since Babycakes was born. We went on vacation without her.

While she vacationed at Grandma’s house, having tea parties and eating chocolate chip cookies and reading her favorite stories, we went with three other couples on an adults-only trip to the West Coast.

We ate lots of delicious fish and drank good wine and took photos of all the beautiful sights and lounged around — falling asleep whenever we wished! And no changing diapers! — over a long weekend.

The scenery was beautiful. We had a great time.

But we really, really felt homesick for our peeps at home … and the dog, too. We found ourselves talking about the kids a lot. Just ask our friends. teehee.

So, it was wonderful when we finally got to see our little Babycakes again last night, after almost a week apart. She ran right up to both of us for hugs — and she got very excited when Guinness, the dog, came home, too.

“Hi, Guinness! Hi, baby!,” she kept saying.

And, yes, it was wonderful to feel her sweet breath on my neck as I ROCKED HER TO SLEEP last night! OK, yes, I’m a softy. And yes, I have the book “Love you Forever!” I’ve had it since 1991, when my oldest child was born. I love that book, and it always makes me cry. And if I could, I would rock both of these kids forever.

So, there.

It’s great to be back with all of you here. So, what did I miss? Anything new going on in your lives?

Did you see our very own Kim on the front page Monday, talking about Halloween treats? Others from here were in the story, too. Gotta love ”Workin’ Mom” bloggers!

This is my favorite time of year, when all the leaves are changing color and falling, and the weather is cool and crisp … not too cold, not too hot.

I love looking at all the fall decorations people have in their yards. And the season always reminds me of my son, who was born in the fall.

It sounds like a lot of you are enjoying this time, too. Anyone planning a drive this weekend to look at the brilliant colors along the river?

If you go, please tell us about it here. But don’t be surprised if I don’t reply, or post another blog, until next week.

I’ll be out of the office Thursday through Monday, returning Tuesday with lots of tales to tell, I’m sure. Can’t wait to talk to you all then!

In the meantime, please feel free to use this space to vent about whatever’s happening in your lives. Please, take this as your own! Someone please take up the torch to keep our conversations going here.

The time has come to follow through on my promise to help Babycakes get used to falling asleep on her own in bed (instead of requiring Mommy to rock her first, then tiptoe across the room and lay her down in her bed, hoping she doesn’t rustle around and jump back up, only to start the process all over again …).

So, last night I figured, why not start right now?

I rocked her a little bit, then explained that Mommy was going to lay her in her bed so she can sleep with her “Baby Dora.” She said OK. But she didn’t mean it.

She cried and cried, and I patted her arm and side, standing over her for about 30 minutes. She eventually stopped crying, but then started wailing all over again. I finally told her good night, that Mommy was going to sleep, and that Babycakes should go to sleep, too.

She cried when I left. And kept crying. And crying. And crying. 

Sitting in my bedroom, listening to her wailing, I reminded myself that my goal is to create an independent, strong, smart young woman. I told myself that this girl has been going to sleep on her own at daycare for many months. I was torn, but trying to stay firm.

But finally, my husband couldn’t stand it anymore (what a softy!). He went in to comfort her, and a few minutes later, he came back to our room — carrying a rumpled, tear-stained little girl, clutching her blankie and a baby doll.

“Mama, I cry,” she said, sounding pathetic. “I crying.”

“You cried?,” I asked, taking her from her Daddy.

“Please don’t cry,” he said. “It’s time for us to go to sleep.”

So, there we went, down the hall, right back to the same rocking chair where we started. I held her close, covering her with the blanket she was carrying, and soon, she was fast asleep.

But not before leaning up to kiss my cheek, and letting out a little giggle.

Seriously.

How do kids know just what to do to melt our hearts???

My Own Uncle Jerry, who posts here often, sent me a really funny photo and story about spooking kids that we thought you might enjoy.

Here is an excerpt of the e-mail he sent me. And yes, you’re reading it right. He calls himself a dummy! teehee!

“Here is a photo from halloween a few years ago….well maybe quite a few years ago.One of the dummies is me.I don’t remember which.I made one from shirt,pants,gloves,boots and halloween full face mask. I stuffed it with Wal-Mart bags. I dressed just like it and we sat in lawn chairs at the front door with a plastic pumpkin…(our family always seems to have a plastic pumpkin handy)…full of candy. It caused quite a stir when one of the dummies would move to offer the candy. Word of the event spread like wildfire and parents came from all over the neighborhood to watch, film and photograph the reactions of their horrified children! I finally had to quit and go inside because I was afraid someone would be injured by all the traffic and confusion.The funny thing is that this is the only photo I have. I guess I should canvas the area for a better shot because hundreds were taken that night.”

So, let that inspire you to get into the holiday!

We took Babycakes to the pumpkin patch this weekend, and she seemed to have lots of fun. Well, she did after she woke up some. She fell asleep on the way there, so it took her a little while to smile and talk … but she was awake enough to ride in a red wagon into the pumpkin patch. And on our way back with our pumpkins, she insisted on pulling it herself. Wink, wink. Someone pushed it while she pulled the handle, telling me, “My turn.”

We told our teenaged son this weekend that Babycakes would be following the family rule that the kids are the ones who have to dig their hands into the pumpkins and pull out all the wet, gooey seeds when we make jack-o-lanterns. He always squirmed when he had to do that, so he seemed satisfied that we will be continuing the tradition for his little sis.

And some have asked, so I thought I would report that Babycakes has pottied in her potty chair a few more times, but nothing consistent. And that’s OK by me.

What’s going on with you???

Ah, Halloween. In years past, that meant having a bag full of candy to rummage through when my kid wasn’t looking … teehee! 

Little Miss Babycakes will get to go trick-or-treating for the first time this year, so here we go again, I hope.

But with all the concerns about obesity and healthy living (and rightly so!), I wonder if candy eventually will become harder to find at Halloween. I just read a national story about people who plan to hand out things like small toys, stickers, pencils, Play-Doh and glow sticks instead of candy.

What do you think about that? Know anyone going that route this year? 

OMG, I cracked up when I read this on the Chicago Tribune’s Web site today. So, I felt compelled to go straight to this blog called “Living Oprah,” about a woman who is trying to follow every bit of advice Oprah dishes out on her TV show and in her magazine for a year.

Oprah mentioned that people should cook paella, so she did. She adopted a kitty. She bought a firepit. She “keeps the girls up,” after Oprah quipped that all women should do that during a segment that mentioned undergarments.

The blogger keeps track of how many hours, and how much money, it costs to keep up with Oprah’s advice.

The intro to the Living Oprah blog says this about Oprah: ”The tagline to her Web site is `Live your Best Life,’ and I wonder, will I truly find bliss if I commit wholeheartedly to her lifestyle changes?”

As a woman who tends to truly like most of Oprah’s picks for reading material, I found this blog hilarious!

This was a much-needed break for me, as I am rushing to finish writing some of the first stories for my big family planning project, which will roll out with the first part on Friday’s Health section cover front.

And after facing a computer malfunction yesterday, in which my revisions to the story were LOST as I tried to save them, I’m feeling a little better today. I stayed up until 1 a.m. last night/this morning rewriting what was lost, but what the heck. This is a much better attitude than I had when the story was lost, believe me … A coworker sought me out to hug me afterward.

Got to get back to writing another story for the project now, which is drop-dead due tomorrow. I might be up late again tonight, huh.

And BTW, I’m still looking for family stories from more of you to include in my project. So, if you’re up to talking about how you ended up with the kids you have — or don’t have — please e-mail me at kluna@qctimes.com. Thanks!