Women for hire coming to your town!

Lots of moms are struggling to help their families make ends meet. If you're in need of some help, join Good Morning America's Tory Johnson as she brings the Women for Hire Career Expo to a town near you. To find out more about registering for the expo and to get some helpful tips on how to work from home, check out www.womenforhire.com.

An e-mail to my husband...Sound familiar?

I sent this email to my husband this morning and thought my parent friends might appreciate it as well...

Recap of the morning....

Played with baby for awhile after you left. Later called you. Watched baby climb onto couch to retrieve phone. Unplugged phone so baby could punch numbers for awhile. Fixed baby lunch. Took phone away from baby to give her lunch. Listened to 20 minute meltdown for daring to take away baby's precious phone. Gave baby bottle. Took sleepy baby to her room to put her down for nap. Not so, says baby. Baby spends next hour, yes hour, pulling herself up on the side rail. Mom does her best to keep her down. To no avail, mom walks out to see if baby will try to go to sleep on her own. No such luck. Baby cries because she has a big old mound of poo in her diaper. Funny how mother nature likes to screw with you. Baby tries sister's Miss Delay Tactic tricks by trying to play peekaboo with mom. Mom does her best to ignore such mindgames. Mom gives baby bear blankie then walks out of room. Mom listens to 10 more minutes of baby making noise: bleh, bleh, bleh. Then peace and quiet. Ahhhhhh. . .

Mom is going to find pillow, blankie and curl up on the couch and cry herself to sleep (jk). Feel for me.

P.S. Baby did not listen to dad's request to be nice to mom.

DWTS from a 7-year-old's perspective

Last night the family was eating dinner and watching Dancing with the Stars. I know mealtime should be reserved for conversation, but DWTS is one of my guilty pleasures. Sue me!

Anyway, we were watching newcomer Lacey Schwimmer perform with former boy bander Lance Bass when my young daughter made this comment about Schwimmer's costume:

Did she mean to dress that way? Is she trying to look cool? That's completely inappropriate!

I told her that she was right. You don't have to show a lot of skin to be cool. I know my daughter's taste in clothes may not always lean toward the conservative. But I'm grateful, for now, that they do.

Palin is no Hillary!

OK, this is the only time I'm going to say anything political on this blog.

It irritates me to death that the Republicans think they can court the women voters of this country because they've named Sarah Palin as their vice presidential nominee. I guess they think all the disgruntled Hillary supporters are going to vote for just any woman. As Barack says, `John McCain just doesn't get it.'

As my spouse noted, Palin is so far left she's almost Nazi.

True Hillary supporters would never vote for Palin because she is the exact polar opposite of Mrs. Clinton. Women aren't so desperate to vote Palin into one of the highest offices in the land just because she's a woman. Women are going to vote for the `right' woman and Palin just isn't it.

Mama meltdown...

I've noticed that when my baby is happy, she says `dada' all over the place. When she's having a meltdown, it's `maaaaaaaaaamaaaaaaaa!'

Mama to the rescue!

A mom's grief

I caught today's Good Morning America and was especially touched by an interview with the family of gospel singer Steven Curtis Chapman.

On May 21, his five-year-old adopted daughter Maria was accidentally stuck by the SUV her 17-year-old brother was driving. She ran into the truck's path on the way to greet her brother who was coming up the family driveway. The little girl died later that day.

As a mother of two young girls, I know that's every family's worst nightmare. How in the world do you bounce back from that kind of tragedy? It was obvious that they're still struggling with many unanswered questions themselves.

I think the thing that really got me was wife Mary Beth's reaction. Here's an excerpt of her reaction from the GMA website:

"I've said, you know, somewhat coldly, 'I don't care whose lives are touched by this story and whose lives are changed or what good comes of it.' As the heart of a mom, I want Maria back."

Crying, she continued, "And that's -- you know, that's what I want people to know is I want Maria back. But because I know that she is completely whole because of my faith, I know that she's completely whole and completely OK and I'm going to see her again. As a mom, I have to shift that grief to go."

I've got to say that raw emotion really got to me because it was real and honest. I hope and pray to God that my kids make it through each day happy, healthy and safe, but none of us can predict with any certainty that will happen. These moments that we have with our children and few and precious, and who knows who are what can happen that will take those moments away from us. I think any mom who watched that interview this morning can totally relate to how this woman feels. I know that we hope that we will never have to endure that kind of pain. I guess at the heart of all this grief is faith. Faith that we will see our loved ones again. Faith that we will get through. So while it wasn't her intention for the viewers to really take anything from her words, I did. I'll learn to appreciate those little moments that I have with my children. Not to get upset over the little things. Enjoy each happy smile. Each moment of silliness. Thanks for making me realize how truly fortunate I am.

To see the video for Chapman's beautiful song Cinderella, click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcNPGWgbIbo

Working me...

Last night my daughter asked me if I would cuddle with her when she went to bed. She complained that she was cold. How she can be cold when the temps have been in the high 90s at night around here, I'll never know. Anyway, I snuggled with her for a little while then decided it was time to get up. I gave her a little peck and told her she was an awesome kid.

She replied by saying: You're an awesome mom. You're a tough mom too, but inside you have the heart of an angel.

Oh, she's gooooood!