A Song for Memorial Day Weekend – The Anchor
May 27 2007

A friend recently introduced me to the sounds of Lisa Lynne Mathis.  What a voice!  Her music and lyrics are obviously inspired from deep within her.  My favorite song on her new CD Hancock Place is called The Anchor.  I didn’t realize until I read her reason for writing the song that it was inspired by a friend of hers who survived the tsunami in Sri Lanka.  Since I was born in Sri Lanka, I now understand why that song resonates so much with me.  Another song on that CD is Comfort Zone, her muscial interpretation of what having children (two daughters) has meant to her…the raw, pure feelings that are a part of being a parent…and how our kids often pull us out of our comfort zone.

So on this Memorial Weekend in between parties, BBQs, and get togethers with friends & family, let’s remember our soldiers in Iraq and all over the world.  We wish them a safe return to their families, children, and friends.  Whether you agree with the war or not our soldiers are there fighting for what they have been told to fight for…fighting for what they believe is right to fight for.  Let’s make sure we do not ignore them “when the cameras are off” and that we are available to serve as their Anchor when and if they return.

Aruni

Baby Manager on TV!
May 24 2007

On Wednesday, May 23, 2007 Baby Manager was the featured Cover Story on KEYE-42, the local CBS news station’s 5:00 pm news.  Originally they were scheduled to do the interview on Thursday, May 17 but as luck would have it, they had to reschedule.  Thank goodness, because as I mentioned in one of my previous posts, my son was home sick Tuesday-Thursday of last week.  They ended up coming out Monday, May 21 which gave us time to clean up the house and make sure everyone was reasonably in good health. 

It felt good to be back in the limelight again even if for a few minutes and it felt even better that the reporter, Elizabeth Dannheim,  did such a great job producing the story!  For not being a parent or a PDA/Smartphone user, she asked very relevant questions. She and her team did a wonderful job at pulling the whole story together.  Maybe by the time she decides she wants a baby we will have convinced her to get a Smartphone. 😀

To me the most amazing thing about the interview was that our kids behaved nearly perfectly.  They wanted some shots of me playing with the kids and the kids cooperated wonderfully.  They were polite and took turns playing with the toys….often it’s a grab fest with each of them shouting ‘it’s my turn!’  Their good behavior (for me) was the highlight of the interview.  I was thankful for the exposure for Babble Soft and Baby Manager but I was even more thankful for looking like a ‘mom whose kids listened to her’ (i.e., a good mom) for a little while (on TV no less) and that feeling was priceless!  Maybe we should have a TV crew in our house all of the time. 😀

Needless to say, I gave them a bunch of hugs & kisses and promised them some ice cream after dinner.  When dinner time came around, our son reminded me that I had told him he could have ice cream and my daughter started getting the illness that our son had last week so she was home sick two days this week.  The wonderful ups and downs of parenthood…. 😉

Have you been Mommy Track’d?
May 16 2007

Are you on the mommy track?  If so, you should check out Mommy Track’d: The working mother’s guide to managed chaos.  Their mission is to provide a helpful and entertaining resource for all the time-crunched moms managing the daily tug of war between work and family.  I know we can all use some entertainment to get us through the day sometimes!  If you are a multi-tasker like I tend to be (or sometimes have no choice but to be) this site is for you. 

My 4 1/2 year old son has been sick the last couple of days so I’m trying to get as much done while he takes a nap and watches the TV shows he never gets to see during the day such as Go Diego Go, Handy Manny, Little Einsteins, and the Backyardigans.  Yesterday he felt pretty bad so he mostly wanted me to sit with him while he watched the shows.  So I, too, got my Playhouse Disney and Nick Jr. fix!  He is much better today and has been bouncing off of the walls most of the time.  He’s taking a nap right now so I have a chance to work on this blog post without being interrupted every 30 seconds.  Earlier today he told me his head hurt when he talks so I told him not to talk.  He laughed and then said ‘not really, I’m kidding.’ For him ‘not talking’ is equivalent to ‘not breathing.’ 😀

I recently signed up for Mommy Track’d’s email newsletter and am looking forward to getting some entertaining ideas on what to do when one of our kids is home sick in the future.  It’s free to sign up for the email newsletter, you get valuable information, and if you are so overextended that you can’t even read straight you can unsubscribe easily and re-subscribe when it works for you.  At any rate, you should at least check out thier Hot Topics page and browse through their Message Boards.

The reason for the birth of Mommy Track’d : “While there are countless general parenting resources available today, we think working moms need a place to call their own. These juggling, struggling women have careers, families and friends. Some might even say they have a version of “it all.” What they didn’t have until now is an informative, fun website that speaks just to them. Now they do.”  Oh so true!  As they say, ‘it takes a village’ and us moms (whether working for pay or not – all moms work hard!) should always try to support each other so we can help make the world a better place!

Happy Mother’s Day!
May 13 2007

Happy Mother’s Day from Babble Soft!  Our Mother’s Day special is still available through the end of May 2007.   I hope every mother is being treated like royalty this weekend.  On Saturday I took my son to his swim class, we went to a birthday party, I took a nap, then went to the mall (by myself!), and then my husband planned a date night for us.  It was nice going to the mall and having time to think about the things I wanted to buy, instead of having to make decisions in 5 seconds because one of the kids wants to be carried or is about to run off somewhere. 🙂  I went to Victoria’s Secret and bought some of my usual items (some on sale), bought some sunglasses from the $10/first pair, $5/second pair sunglass kiosk, and got some things for the kids at The Disney Store.  The Disney Store had beach towels (Nemo and Micky Mouse) for $9.99 each , and flip flops for $4 a pair!  I was feeling so good about my accomplishments, that I didn’t realize what time it was.  I had arrived at the mall around 5:00 pm and thought I had plenty of time…until my husband called to ask where I was.  I said “I’ll be home by 6:00 pm” and he said “it is 6:00 pm!”  I was surprised because I thought it was only 5:30 pm.  The girl at the Disney Store checkout laughed with me and helped me get out the door in a hurry!

After dinner at a nice local restaurant called Shoreline Grill, my husband got out his Blackberry and looked for jazz clubs.   We don’t get out much so we aren’t up to speed on the downtown club scene.  The place we went to is called The Elephant Room and it had a nice ambiance.  We got there around 9:00 pm, they said the band, Gnappy, would start at 9:30 pm, but they didn’t start until around 9:50 pm.  We had to leave at 10:00 so our baby sitters could go home.  We liked what we heard the 10 or so minutes we were there!  Maybe next time.

Today, we went with some friends for a nice brunch at Chez Zee.  They had balloon animals and face painting for the kids.  We came home and my husband took the kids across the street to play with the grand kids of one of our neighbors, and I was able to call my mom and have a nice mother’s day chat with her.  Both kids are napping now so I thought I’d take the opportunity to blog a little.

Happy Mother’s Day everyone!

Aruni