When Graco decided that we wanted to meet some of the real people (funny, smart, interesting, people) behind some of the best reading material for parents on the web, my hand shot up like an excited school girl. I said, “so you want to get together with these women, throw parties, chat about being moms, eat great food in some very cool cities (and talk about Graco, of course) and someone needs to take on that job?” Hmmm… let me think it over… pick me, pick me, pick me!

Well I guess I was loud enough (I’ve been told that) because I have had the opportunity to help host the Graco Get-Togethers . Graco is excited about the opportunity to meet with moms in the blogosphere. It is really a great way to understand what is important to them, what engages them, what makes them tick and to best of all, hear all about their experiences being a mom. (I don’t even feel awkward shoving pictures of my kids in all the moms faces - they do it too!)

Well our first Get-Together was with the lovely ladies of the Silicon Valley Moms Blog who were kind enough to let us bring them together for a chic, poolside party at the Four Seasons Hotel in Palo Alto, CA. The weather was beautiful, the hotel was cool (heck, there was even a celebrity sighting!), the food and drinks were wonderful and the conversation was like the cherry on top! While the moms enjoyed hand massages, Graco took the opportunity to introduce sweetpeace™ – the Newborn Soothing Center™ and hear feedback. There were some great comments, suggestions and even pleas for an adult sized version. (duly noted!) It was a lively group that clearly enjoyed getting together, some even meeting for the first time in person, and Graco was honored to sponsor the event. (and I certainly enjoyed the in-bathroom TVs that I got to watch while showering!)

A few weeks later, Danielle (foodmomiac) was kind enough to open her home to the contributors of the Chicago moms blog for an intimate, holiday affair that included manicures, a jewely display and not to be outdone, sweetpeace! Unfortunately the Graco team got snowed out of the windy city so we weren’t able to join in the festivities but we sent Dr. Jennifer Rosinia, (a Chicago local) who Graco consulted with on the development of the Newborn Soothing Center. She was able to share a little bit more of the science behind the soothing which is always interesting (more interesting than the marketing folks talking, anyway). The moms chatted away over great food and drinks apparently into the wee (well “wee” for exhausted moms) hours of the night and had a wonderful time.

We are looking forward to our third Get-Together with the DC Metro moms blog where we will begrudgingly usher out the holiday season with one last party. The event will be hosted at the Le Chat Noir Restaurant in Washington, DC and Graco will once again be showcasing sweetpeace to moms who I’m sure are ready for some post-holiday sweet peace themselves. I’ve been told to expect a good time with some good time women, so we are very much looking forward to it!

Christmas miracles happen one way or another for everyone - here’s a short list of the little “miracles” we celebrated this Christmas:

An unsolicited “thank you”
After opening a few presents as well as his stocking, Jagger went over to the “grill” (the fireplace that we don’t cook in) and yelled up the chimney “Thank you Santa for bringing us all these nice presents!” It was so nice to see him do that all on his own and we didn’t have to say “Now thank Aunt…” “Don’t forget to thank Granny…” “Did you thank…” I guess all that nagging must have sunk in!

Here’s the video of my son’s special thank you (if you’re reading this post with an RSS reader please click through for the video):

The Christmas Gift

Way back in August, my mom and I were shopping at a toy store that was having a fantastic moving sale. There, out of the corner of our eyes, was the most glorious, gender neutral, kitchen ever to behold! We ran over to it thinking - “50% of everything? Could that really include this too??!!” Oh it did and we grabbed the box (note here for later: I said box as in one, single box) with a gusto saved for the Filene’s Basement wedding dress sale. We couldn’t believe our luck! My son has been talking about wanting a kitchen and here it was for the taking (well buying, but it felt like taking- we got a great deal!). We loaded up the box and patted each other on the back all the way home. Fast forward to Christmas Eve Eve. “Hmmm… let’s take a look at this thing- this could take a while to put together so we should get started” We opened the box and realized the instructions and hardware were missing. OK so Christmas Eve we got an e-mail copy of the instructions and realized that we weren’t missing just the hardware, we were missing 2/3 of the kitchen! Long story short, the toy store having the moving sale gave us box 1 of 3 boxes you needed for this kitchen. A million phone calls later and we located the store and they still had lonely ol’ box 2 and 3 in their store room wondering what ever happened to the other box??! That is a miracle. A three hour car ride and a 4 hour assembly process later, and we were in the Santa business. Jagger and B haven’t stopped playing with it so it was obviously well worth the hassle.

Sharing??!!
To go with the now beloved kitchen, B recieved a shopping cart from my parents. Much like everything she gets, it must be tested, tried, and sometimes trashed by Jagger before she ever gets a hold of it. Well we tried to make it clear to him that this was for B and if she was nice she would share it with him… and before that sentence was out of our mouths, he was running with the shopping cart as if he were racing Lightning McQueen for the Piston Cup! However, I guess he just needed one lap around our “racetrack” to decide that he wanted to share (what??!!) and he promptly walked it over to B and said “Here you go - you can play with it.” 7 small miraculous words = 1 miraculous idea- sharing!

Christmas Eve Dinner- at my house!
Now this may not go down as a miracle because we certainly planned it the way it happened, but it was certainly a momentous occasion that the torch that has been my mothers was finally passed to me this year. I hosted Christmas Eve dinner (just for 8 of us) for the first time! It was emotional for my mom as she had hosted Christmas Eve for 25 years. After last year’s Christmas Eve, as my parents downsized and moved into a condo and some of my mom’s hip pains increased, it was apparent that it was time to pass the torch. I happily volunteered so B and Jagger could wake up in their own beds on Christmas morning. We had a great dinner (speaking more to the conversation than the food) and only a few tears were shed by my mom. Maybe it’s just a miracle that it turned out as well as it did.

A REAL Miracle
I’m happy to say that the last miracle was the fact that my father-in-law was able to join us at Christmas dinner. 2 weeks ago, after a routine stress test and then a cardiac cath. that followed, we found out my father-in-law was a combination miracle and ticking time bomb. All 4 of his cardiac arteries were blocked- 90, 90, 90 and 95% - he would need a quadruple bypass. So a week and half ago, my father-in-law had a very successful surgery and a new lease on life. As you can imagine, it was an emotional toast at the Christmas table and we truly recognized the miracle of the season.

So after the dust settles and the preparations and stress is long forgotten, I certainly remember why I love the holidays so much - because of family, sharing, traditions, happiness and loving memories. I hope your holiday brought you some miracles- even the little ones.

“I wonder… if everyone’s dad is this silly?”

Every Wednesday we’ll be sharing a photo showing off a little bit of wonder in the lives of our extended Graco family of customers, employees and friends.

Our first photo comes to us from Luke Armour, and as his daughter’s reflection shows, she’s clearly found something wondrous in the view from her Baby Einstein activity center!

Photo Credit: Grrrr uploaded to Flickr by Sir Lukealot

The Pack ‘n Play turned 20 years old on December 3rd. We had a little celebration here in the office to commemorate the occasion – noisemakers, birthday cake, sparkling cider (honest)- the whole shebang! It’s quite an accomplishment for a product to set the standard for an entire category and remain the leader for two decades!

I was fortunate to have been a part of the Pack ‘n Play team here at Graco for about a quarter of that time…..It began as a simple rectangular playard that folded easily to go places. It has since evolved into an essential part of a new mom’s wish list and home with lots of useful features being added to the product over the years.

Personally, I found that the earlier you start using a playard with your child, the easier life will be and the better you can keep your child contained (that’s the word moms use in research)- so you know where he or she is. Unfortunately I waited a bit too long and couldn’t keep my son in it long enough to get anything done around the house. He’d always be jumping out, running through the house, asking to borrow the car keys, whatever. But really we did not use it early enough for him to become accustomed to it and so by the time we tried it, he was used to the freedom of the open hallway….ZOOM! He was off to the races. So I grew accustomed to having projects half-finished, showers half-taken, and meals half-cooked.

I became rather skilled at running after him saying “NO,NO,NO,NO”….”SIT,SIT,SIT SIT” “STOP IT, STOP IT, STOP IT, STOP IT!”

I spent nearly 5 years working on the Pack ‘n Play team and envied the moms who, in focus groups, would tell us how wonderful playards are in helping them get things done around the house and keeping their little ones out of trouble. 25 million kids using Pack ‘n Plays over the past 20 years, and I get Harry Houdini – the escape artist! Now he’s 13 and can’t get out of bed in the morning! But I suppose it all works out…he’s turning into a really good kid. Maybe now I can get back to some of those incomplete projects around the house, take a nice long shower, and eat a well done steak for a change.

Happy Birthday Pack ‘n Play!

I am very excited in writing this post to introduce Graco to the blogosphere. Today is certainly a “first” for Graco but it is just one step in a long journey that Graco has been on for over 50 years. Graco certainly has great hopes, aspirations and goals for this blog, but much like entering into parenthood, you never quite know what to expect.

Graco has been watching the corporate blogosphere evolve with various brands talking with real voices in conversations with their customers. We are excited to be able to take a more active role in the online parenting community and we hope we can contribute at least as much as we learn. Of course, when we say “corporate” blog, you can appreciate that there will be limits to what we can say and who we respond to, but our intention is to create a voice that truly represents who we are – a company of individuals who are moms and dads, grandmoms and pop-pops, aunties and uncles, caregivers, soon-to-be parents and lovers of all things Baby.

We hope to engage all of you in conversations about the wondrous journey of parenthood, talk directly with consumers, share industry knowledge, be a resource for parents, but mostly, we hope to make it an open community with a two-way conversation. We are excited and anxious to hear from you. We truly believe this will help us to become a better brand in servicing the “real” needs of parents.

Now to introduce myself- I’m Lindsay Lebresco, your connection to Graco and your blog guide. I’ve been a blog reader since I became a mom almost 3 years ago and while I’ve kept a journal for both of my children since they were born, I’ve never had a public voice where these two worlds come together. For this I’m excited, but it may take me a bit to find that voice – one that is truly representative of me as well as this entire company (which honestly, can be a bit intimidating!).

My journey as a parent has been incredible- as most are, but I have the privilege to work in an environment that shares my passion and dedication to children. And now, I have the opportunity to tell you more about both journeys. I hope you will enjoy the conversation here and be sure to keep watch for contributions from other employees, experts and friends of Graco.

We consider your feedback an integral part of this conversation, so feel free to share your thoughts on how we could make this blog more useful, more informative and even more engaging for you. Please keep in mind that Graco works within a highly regulated industry, which means there are certain topics we will not be able to discuss here. For a full understanding of what we can and can’t discuss, be sure to reference our Rules of Engagement and terms of service.