Kim’s post about Bear having a best friend at 2 years old made me stop & think. Does PP (who is also 2) have a best friend? Not really, but what she does have is a boyfriend (aka childhood crush). Of course I use that term affectionately (and not realistically) but there is a boy at her daycare that she is really sweet on. Whenever I ask PP who her boyfriend is, she shyly smiles & says, “Michael.” She will even pick up her play phone and pretend like she is talking to Michael. When she arrives in the morning at day care, Michael happily runs over to her & they hug (have even shared a few smooches, too!). Michael & PP have become the “it” couple in the toddler room at daycare.

Of course, I have talked to his mother about this. Apparently Michael has been bitten by the love bug just as much as PP-at home he stares at her picture & gives it kisses. When PP is not in daycare, he asks for her. I wonder if they will remember each other as their first childhood crush?

I have stumbled upon some very interesting & hysterical posts about childhood crushes. If you have a good one, send my way!

I’m inspired to write this blog for a dear friend of mine. It’s a bit personal but is intended to provide hope to others enduring the same struggles.

My daughter’s favorite movie, Charlotte’s Web, has a beautiful theme song – Ordinary Miracle. The song’s message holds a life mantra we all should practice:

Life is like a gift they say,
Wrapped up for you everyday.
When you wake up everday
Please don’t throw your dreams away
Hold them close to your heart
Because we are all a part of the Ordinary Miracle today

As my husband and I anxiously await the arrival of our 2nd baby this summer, we feel blessed to be given the opportunity to become parents again and are still awe struck by the miracle of life growing inside of me. We struggled with infertility for years and turned to in-vitro 3 years ago with our daughter, Bear. As we experience another successful round of in-vitro with this pregnancy we keep the faith that miracles are happening around us everyday.

During infertility struggles you remain silent searching for success stories. Unfortunately, when you are trying to get pregnant without success, it seems to be in the water for everyone around you. It’s painful to hear baby announcement after baby announcement. At one point I thought my career at Graco would have to change – how could I surround myself with babies EVERYDAY? And the question you can’t seem to understand or answer, haunts your every thought…Why won’t it happen for us?

And there is NO WAY you are going to talk with friends or co-workers. SILENCE is your perception of the best solution. At least silence prevents the heartache and guaranteed tears that will begin to flow when you see the empathy & pain in anothers eyes. Deep down inside, you also know that other people can’t relate and there is nothing they can say that will FIX the problem…so it’s best to save them the awkwardness and yourself the anguish.

At least that is what I thought. Looking back, I wished I talked more- especially to my family (my husband would agree with that, since he was the lucky recipient of my every thought and worry).
BUT…the minute you have success with in-vitro (Clomid, IUI, etc) ) you can’t say enough. I volunteer that our Bear is a successful in-vitro baby and the same with this pregnancy. It may be awkward for some people to hear however, if I can impact ONE couple with hope that THIS TOO shall happen for them, I’m thrilled.

I’m a believer that everything happens for a reason – my husband & I struggled for a reason. We won’t know why – but I share our story as one of hope & optimism for those enduring the same heartaches of infertility. Because, it was stories like these that gave me strength to keep believing during our 5 years of failed attempts to have children.

My advice…
Have Faith, Relax, Count Your Blessings and…
Enjoy the miracles happening around you everyday.

In my daughter’s words, “Happy to Us”
In a mother’s words, don’t stop believing miracles can happen to YOU!

It’s always exciting to hear the pitter patter of little feet throughout the Graco building.  We had many little visitors during Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day last week.  Employees got to bring their children to experience the magic that happens here at Graco every day! 

Sure, we think we’re engineering and designing breakthrough products, but how would the children describe what their parents do here?  I conducted some interviews to find out:

Question: What did you learn today with your Mommy/Daddy at work?

 “Slinkies don’t go down stairs.”  and (POP!) “Plastic bubbles (from packaging) are fun to pop!”  Craig Desrosiers (Lead Engineer)’s son, age 5, learned two important lesson in physics, focusing on motion and sound. 

Question: What does your Mommy/Daddy do here at Graco?

 “Daddy chatters, spies on people, and goes to a lot of meetings”, observes Mike Halak (General Manager, North America)’s 8 year old daughter.  (Spies?  Oh, she means those focus groups- don’t worry - all of the parents involved know we are intently listening behind the glass! )

Other insights included “talks on the phone,” and “plays” on the computer.  
We managed to harness all of this creative energy around the building by transforming a conference room into a carnival of games and treats.

We also identified some future talent for the fashion and design department! (see for yourself) All in all, everyone had a great time.

And what does this day mean for those who don’t work in a corporate office setting? Beth F. from the NYC Moms Blog had an adorable idea….a trip to the zoo!  (After all, how much fun can kids really have with staplers and paper clips before some serious damage is done?)

Reading posts about the “state of kid parties” like this and this have really resonated with me for a couple of reasons, including that I guess that I’m a bit of a traditionalist and growing up, my family’s traditions had a level of simplicity to them. Traditions like getting to choose what you wanted for your birthday dinner, what kind of cake you wanted (Duncan Hines Strawberry, please) and the simple joy of waking up to a greeting of streamers and balloons hung in the kitchen.  With Punkin’ Bear facing the big 0-3 in just a couple of weeks and this being the first birthday where she actually understands the concept well enough to look forward  to it instead of just having presents “randomly” given to her one day, it’s amazing how simplicity seems to be exactly what she wants.

How do I know this? Because Punkin’ has been dropping hints for the past 3 weeks about what she wants for her birthday and her birthday party. Sorry did I say hints? Actually, I guess to clarify, I should say she has been making requests – given in the form of the pretend birthday that we’ve celebrated every day for the last 3 weeks.  Each day, Punkin’ focuses on a new, imaginative part of her big day. One day it’s the cake she wants, the next day the gifts, followed by who will be at her party, what type of decorations will be included and more.  She’s not asking for a trip to Disney World or for a trip to the spa for all of her friends (and, yes, I do know of a family who arranged for manicures, pedicures and hair styling for 20+ three-year-olds!). She’s just looking forward to the good ol’ fashioned fun like balloons, party hats, a birthday cake with “extra sprinkles” on it and to have Nana, Pop-Pop, Grandma, Grandpa and her cousins there to celebrate with her.

Seeing her enthusiasm, imagination and the pure innocence she speaks with when talking about how much she can’t wait for her birthday makes me as excited about the big day as she is. Now if only I can figure out where to find the astronaut suit she’s been asking for…

I absolutely love “interviewing” my son. No- I’m not getting him ready for corporate America already, I just love hearing what he thinks about stuff. All kinds of stuff. My husband rolls his eyes at me but I could do this for hours with Jagger. It’s one of the sweetest things about kids this age (3) because they have started articulating their thoughts pretty clearly, they have LOTS of thoughts (and they never stop talking about them) and they ask a million questions.

This harkens back to the days when Bill Cosby hosted “Kids say the Darndest Things.” His little interviews produced some of the funniest, cutest, responses ever. We recently saw this video floating around You Tube and loved it so much we wanted to share it:

I thought I might give you some “interview” topics that I’ve enjoyed using lately with Jagger:

- How was your day? (start off easy)
- Tell me about Mommy’s/Daddy’s Job.
- What does it mean to be a “good person”?
- Why do you like your ____ (insert favorite object) so much?
- What is the movie “Cars” about?
- What is your favorite animal and why?
- How long have you had a Mommy and Daddy?
- Who is your best friend and why?
- Where does milk come from and how do we get it?
- Now that you’re ____ (insert age here) what are you going to do?

A quick tip with this - use “wait time.” (it’s an old tool I learned back in my college education classes) If they don’t answer immediately, just wait. They will fill in the awkward silence and pauses with more and more thoughts. It allows for a stream of conscienceness of sorts (this works great for getting to the “truth” too!)

Now get your journals and/or video cameras out and record this- it’s great to watch as your kids grow!  If you have some “interview” questions of your own, share them with us!

“Honey, I swear I see two lines! Do you?”  The excitement burning inside, we are elated, giddy and the feeling comes; there is no way we can go 3 months without telling anyone. There is one upside about waiting 3 months before the big announcement…you have plenty of time to get creative.

We have 13 nieces & nephews and needless to say my brothers & sisters are extremely creative when it comes to announcing the news. My husband and I were anxious for the day it would be our turn…and how would we announce to our family?

I love this topic, especially now, since, not too long ago, we shared the news of our 2nd pregnancy with our family. (Baby #2 due in July)

This announcement was fun – we were celebrating our daughter’s 2nd birthday. Our entire family was coming into town; so we decided to do a “Year in Review” video for our daughter. It ended with her Goal List for 2008 — which included the hard task of “becoming a big sister”. Needless to say our families were thrilled, a lot of screaming, crying and hugging. (the “goal list” is another blog for another day)

Announcing to your family takes one tone and announcing to your team-members at work is an entirely differently deal. I wanted to explain the reason for my growing waistline to my marketing team at Graco. You can imagine how news spreads in an office setting – and I wanted to be sure to tell everyone on the team ‘myself’. You should never break-up via email; but nobody said anything about pregnancy announcement via email.

I was quite impressed with the response time to my email (especially given the timing of 5pm on a Friday) – I received a phone call within 1 minute of pushing send and that phone call was quickly interrupted by 2 young ladies screaming (one pictured here) as they ran into my office. It’s fun to work here and even more fun working with the people on the marketing team!

So I had some fun pulling some of the best ways…and I have created a Top 10 List.

Top 10 Ways to Announce “We’re Pregnant”:
10. Email the ultrasound picture to your family
9. A picture says a thousand words, yes that’s the EPT test.
8. Wrap a baby shoe as a gift to your family or husband
7. If there is an older sibling – the t-shirt announcing “I’m going to be a BIG Sister/Brother” is a sure win
6. My sister-in-law gave my mom a teapot (she collects them) and inside was a note that read; “Time For Tea and Baby #3. Clever!!
5. That same family (they have 6 amazing kids) – met my parents for dinner at a quaint restaurant and my parents were quite excited when they saw the Pink & Blue balloons at the table when they arrived.
4. From a dad-to-be to the future grandpa, “It looks like we will need additional Football Tickets this season”
3. Put an ultrasound picture on your Holiday Card (our special gift is arriving in July)
2. Have a bouquet of balloons (pink & blue) delivered to work or a grandparent’s house
1. And the BEST announcement ever…Anonymous post on a Family Website “Guess Who’s Pregnant”

Any additional ideas you could share with our parents-to-be??

April 12, 2008 - Jodie Sweetin delivers baby girl Zoie, 8lbs, 7oz.

I had the pleasure of meeting Jodie Sweetin at the Boom Boom Room in LA this past January. It was pretty cool to have the chance to talk to someone that I grew up watching on TV. Yes, I was a huge fan of Full House, I still find myself watching the re-runs!! While she has been through some tough times in her life, she is more than thrilled to start the next chapter. Now Jodie is all grown up and will soon have a full house of her own (well not quite, but even with one infant crying I am sure it can seem like a full house!) Jodie is now married and had her first baby on Saturday via c-section, almost an entire week after her April 6th due date. You can find a detailed interview and amazing photos of Jodie and her husband Cody Herpin on Celebrity Baby Blog.

Here is a brief “free write” that Jodie wrote for Graco-

Wow! Being pregnant! I know everyone says it’s a life-changing experience, but until you feel that first kick or see the sonogram pictures, you have no idea what it truly means. Every day, I wake up and look at my belly and am amazed. There is a life waiting to be lived in me that I can’t possibly imagine! Only a small distance away from what I can see with my eyes is a little person who will forever change my life. How blessed are we as women to have this gift?! It is a power that I never dreamed I would feel. Of course, there are also those times I look down and think “Seven more weeks? How much bigger is this thing gonna get? And how is she getting out of here again? Ha! Impossible!” Or the moments of spontaneous hysterics over something like a sweet card from my husband or lost sock in the dryer. (I refuse to even try watching Extreme Makeover Home Edition!) But these brief moments of panic and upset are taken away when I walk into the nursery my husband and I painted pink. When I look at the crib we built and imagine the little person that’s going to fit in there. I can’t wait to wrap her up in a blanket and smell her little sweet smell. To love and protect something with all of my being as a person, as a woman, as a MOM! I just want to say to all the pregnant gals, sleepless moms and the husbands who we couldn’t live without, ROCK ON!! We are doing the most important work in the world!

And here’s Amy… (still on maternity leave!!) 

When thinking of everything I’d do as an “Experienced Mom,” there were definitely a few things that I planned on improving the second time around – especially in the early months.   

Yet, here I am at 3am watching TV and typing with a sleeping baby on my lap.  Hmmmm.  According to my plans the baby should be asleep in the bassinet and I snug in my bed.  We didn’t use a bassinet with the first baby and I didn’t sleep in my own bed for over a month.  This time is supposed to be different, but the new little one has a stuffy nose and I’m afraid to let her sleep flat on her back. 

And during the drive home from the hospital, I again made my husband stop the car so I could climb in the backseat to be next to the baby (yes.  I did the same thing with baby #1).  I couldn’t bear to have her be alone (OK with her older brother), with the sun in her eyes, and crying.  It ripped my heart out. 

OK.  And one last example of me breaking my resolution was when I decided I was going to be more laid back this time around – yet today I spent an hour creating a spreadsheet to track feedings, poopy diapers, and wet diapers.  I just want to make sure that she’s tracking OK and eating enough along the way. 

Yes.  I have a rationale for why I broke each resolution, but it all comes down to one simple thing. . . I love this little girl with all my heart.  While I had sound reasons why I wanted to change certain things with my second baby, I planned all of these when having an infant was a distant memory.  Now that she’s here and I’ve fallen head over heels in love with her, when it comes down to having to choose between her comfort and mine, hands down she’s going to win every time.   

I’m still hopeful that I will use the bassinet one of these days and that I can sleep in my own bed, but if that doesn’t work out then at least I’ll have lots of quality bonding time with my little girl (and the DVR!).

My son has one. He’s got it bad. But guess who’s not ready for rehab? Me. Jagger’s blankie is the love of his life right now – no, not after Mommy and Daddy – I mean the love of his life- A #1, numero uno, TLA. And who can blame him? Who wouldn’t fall in love with these qualities??:
- It will never let you down
- It won’t judge you
- It will never ignore you
- It won’t bite (even when bitten! That’s more than Jagger’s sister can say)
- It won’t tell you to “hold on” “please wait” “not now” “maybe later” – it’s ready whenever you are
- It won’t lie to you (white lies people – I’m just talking Santa and the Easter Bunny)
- It will always be there for you
- You can count on it to do whatever you want- always.

At this point, Jagger has 3 identical blankies but he only knows about 2 of them.  I interchanged those 2 for almost 3 years without him even knowing there was more than one. I wanted to be sure I always had a back up in case one got lost plus, this way I could wash one when the other one was being used. (brilliant, right??) They both got so nasty that my MIL and I found another one on Ebay to have a “cleaner” alternative. He was thrilled when he opened that present on Christmas but of course now he likes the clean one the best- giving us one option instead of the intended 3! Luckily (I think) the 3rd one is getting nice and nasty just like the others.

 My daughter B has a blankie problem too (apparently my husband and I are dealers) but it isn’t as bad. She carries it with her everywhere around the house (they are generally not allowed out of the house and mostly kept in the bedrooms) but B’s habit isn’t quite as problematic as Jagger’s. B simply holds it and rubs it on her face as she settles down for bed. Jagger, on the other hand, bites it- all night long. It is disgusting. I was happy when I heard someone else was dealing with this same issue but her son is only 2-she’s has time to change that (if she wants).

He’s totally getting an overbite because of it, he’s becoming more and more reliant on it and asking to keep it with him more often, and did I mention it was gross? And with all that, I still don’t want to “break him of his blankie habit.” I read Kim’s post about Bear getting rid of her binkies at two years old and for a split second I felt guilty about my slobbering, 3-year old with a mean overbite – but then I stopped. I realize that I love his blankie as much as he does. I love that it is, and will always be, the most reliable companion he can ever have. That blankie will never let him down or ignore him or yell at him and frankly, I know I will eventually do all of those things. I know a son’s true love can’t always be his mommy (and I was replaced at quite an early age) but maybe I’d rather be replaced by a blankie than another woman  :)  I hope his future wife won’t be jealous of Jagger drooling over “someone” else because if it were up to me, he may still have his blankie then.

Maternity leave…time away from work, time to spend enjoying your new addition to the family, time to bond and focus on the most important thing in the world during those few months- your new baby. Many people ask…What is she doing while she’s away? When is she coming back? Will she be different when she returns?

An amazing thing happens on maternity leaves it seems. Every time a woman at Graco leaves to have her child (sometimes planned, sometimes suddenly) it’s a little shocking. It’s like we are missing a piece of our puzzle here and it takes a little time to adjust to her being gone. However, it’s amazing to think she is leaving temporarily to accomplish something huge. She isn’t going on vacation; she isn’t kicking back and putting her feet up. Instead, she is embarking on one of the biggest and most rewarding challenges of her life. She is bringing a new life into the world. And that changes who she’ll be when she comes back to us at Graco.

She isn’t getting a break from her everyday job…she is starting a new venture that feels like much less “work” and much more “reward“. The fresh perspectives, the new memories, and the beaming face when she returns tell stories of all the fun (and sleepless nights) she enjoyed during her time away from the office. We hope they sometimes send the “boys” out for some fun so they can can enjoy some one-on-one time with their new little bundles.

For those of us who remain behind to hold down the fort while she is gone, it’s a reunion when she returns. It’s exciting to live vicariously through the Graco moms that take leave…we get all the great stories…we get to hold the baby when they get their first office tour…and we get to feel the love and excitement they have for their new little ones.

As you know, Amy Sleep just had little Allie and although it feels like three months will be forever until she comes back, time will most certainly fly for her. We couldn’t be happier to have her gone for such a special reason but hope she hurries back to us soon too. She at least needs to swing by the office so we can squeeze on her little one some! Then it won’t be long before we get to squeeze the cheeks of a little DeLoach and a little Lefko too!