Surviving Christmas
15 Dec 2011 2 Comments
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Originally Posted 12/29/2010
Surviving Christmas is no easy task for a mom with young children. We have a hard enough time keeping up with daily duties for the rest of the year then it seems for about 6 weeks we have double the work. Our house needs to be rearranged for a tree and the boxes of decorations from the garage. We need to shop for gifts for everyone – friends, family, teachers, cousins, siblings, the animals. I’m getting tired thinking about it all. We make baked goods, send cards, wrap gifts, ship gifts, go to holiday parties, the Nutcracker, more shopping, clean the house for visitors and cook lots of stuff that we don’t really need because we’ve already gained 5 pounds from the baked goods.
I don’t want to sound like Scrooge. I’d love Christmas if someone else did all the organizing, shopping, baking, cleaning, shipping, wrapping, etc. Christmas would be my favorite holiday if I could go to church on Christmas Eve, open presents in the morning, have a yummy breakfast, go for a hike and enjoy a nice dinner as if I was a guest in my own home. Doesn’t that sound nice?
After years of holiday madness, I’ve taken a few simple steps to simplify. My husband and I decided when pregnant with #1 that we did not want to be driving all over on Christmas day. Therefore we now host. We may leave the house to go on a family hike (weather permitting) but come back home for dinner and guests. After mastering the roast dinner with all the fixings, I switched to crab & salad. It is yummy and a fun meal. To simplify gift shopping, I have eliminated Target and Costco from the options. For two years, I’ve avoided those stores all December and most of November. They are just stressful and I end up spending way too much money. If you have to muster up the fight to face a store, is it worth shopping there? For gifts for family and friends, I give lots of the same things. A big change for us this year is that we cancelled cable at Thanksgiving. The kids still watch TV via Netflix but no commercials with toys. Wow! They weren’t asking for new things all the time. For me, I wasn’t seeing constant images of perfectly decorated homes and happy families at Christmas.
Now that a few days has passed since the 25th, I have good memories of the day and events surrounding it. My children are happy with their new things. I entertained my Mother in Law and Mother without conflicts or major drama. Gifts were successfully delivered and now I think I deserve a prize. After all, one of my gifts included Armoral car wipes. Seriously!! Good thing I shopped for myself this year.
Thank you Mr. Clean!
13 Sep 2011 Leave a Comment
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Santarosamom.com recently posted about a disease causing bacteria found at fastfood playgrounds. The post below was my response to a dad who basically said that germs are everywhere and being clean paranoid was a bit ridiculous. From a parent’s standpoint, I agree with him. I know that washing hands before and after eating will kill lots of the germs we are exposed to. My standpoint as the owner of a children’s business is different.
Brian – you are right. Germs are everywhere. We certainly expect them at parks and outdoor public areas that can’t be controlled. My mom wasn’t clean paranoid either. But she also wasn’t worrying about things like potentially killing staph infections or outbursts like the swine flu.
When a business is providing a space for children, I feel that it is their responsibility to make it safe, this also includes cleaning the equipment. Routine cleaning is part of what keeps it safe. Any problems can be identified and addressed. Sharp edges repaired, bolts tightened, etc. In outdoor parks, you have rain water, fresh air and hopefully occasional maintenance checks. In tube/slide type equipment, the air can be stagnant with moisture trapped causing bacteria to build quickly. As the owner of a children’s establishment, I know first hand what is required to provide safe and clean equipment. It takes some time, concern and manual labor. It’s not expensive or unrealistic. Simple solutions like vinegar and water or disenfecting wipes, do the trick. The more often the cleaning is done, the quicker it goes.
Don’t we all want to know that our children are safe, regardless of where they are? Life is much better when we come home at the end of the day unharmed.
I have a friend who took her two children to a local indoor establishment with various token operated machines. Both children ended up with pink eye and the stomach flu causing lots of misery plus the parents had to miss work. As parents with young children, we have limited resources. Sick children impact our ability to provide those resources.
After reading and responding to the original post in this thread, I came into work today with a little more gumption! With my staff, we also did some extra cleaning during our weekly setup and cleaning meeting. It gives us satisfaction to see the dirt come up. (Shout out to Mr. Clean Magic Erasers). My own kids love coming to work with me on ball pit cleaning days. I’ve recently discovered that we have a “cleaning playlist” on our computer.
Don’t worry, I’m not completely paranoid about cleaning but I do think it is important, especially when children are involved. Now, if I could just get my own house clean!
Enjoying a Fun Easter with Easy Planning
19 Apr 2011 1 Comment
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Easter and Halloween are my favorite holidays! For me, they are all about the kids and I have found a few easy ways to simplify this fun holiday. Here are some of the things I’ve discovered and done over the last 8 years.
For the Easter eggs, it’s nice to have some home made and some filled with surprises. We cook eggs in advance. You don’t really want to be doing the coloring on warm/hot eggs. If you are pushed for time, this may be when you let your kids play with the colored Sharpee pens. They can draw on the eggs. Little stickers are fun too. (Please note that I have no idea if it is safe to eat eggs drawn on with Sharpees).
I have baskets at home that the kids use. The Easter Bunny used to bring a new basket each year, but last year my kids discovered that if they put their favorite basket on the porch, the Easter Bunny will leave eggs in it for the morning. After breakfast, my husband and I hide the eggs because the Easter Bunny is too busy to hide them all. It’s a lot of work so breakfast is required first.
Another option is to leave the eggs out for the Bunny the night before Easter. He might hide the eggs and leave a present in the basket.
Every year, my gift to the kids from me and Daddy is a new outfit. Hopefully they will decide to wear the new outfit for the rest of the day to look good for pictures. I don’t do the fancy dresses and outfits but a cute colorful outfit that they can play in. They also get some art supplies, one outdoor toy (frisbee, ball, etc) and a couple special candies. We always share an outdoor activity on holidays and on Easter we take a trip to a big park where we can enjoy the outdoors. We take the new toys, egg baskets and a picnic. It’s so great. The kids will have egg hunts all day long and eventually start hiding them for each other.
On the way home from the park we typically stop out dinner. It’s a great evening to eat out. Restaurants are usually pretty quiet and the kids are still entertained with the goodies in their baskets. Holidays can be overwhelming with all of the expectations. Make sure not to over extend yourself. Take time to smell the flowers.
Mothering Arms
05 Mar 2011 2 Comments
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A while back, I had a memorable discussion with my son about him wanting a baby in the house. As I was buckling Callum into his carseat he asked me with his sweet voice, “mom can we have a new baby?” He was interested in babies and wanted to be a big brother. It was the cutest thing and I just had to slow down and take a minute to talk to him.
I told him that I only have two arms. One for him and one for his older sister. My hands are full and if I had another baby then I would need a third arm which I clearly don’t have so we just can’t have another baby. He was happy with this answer and we went on our way. (Kudos to those of you with more than 2! I love mine so much, but one more little person could possibly throw me over the edge.)
Later that day as I was preparing dinner, I heard him talking to my husband in the hallway. He was telling daddy with a very serious voice “mommy had sister and got one arm, then she had me and got her other arm, if she has a baby she will have THREE ARMS!!” All daddy could say is “mom is pretty amazing!”
Shift 3 – Am I an Owl?
17 Feb 2011 Leave a Comment
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Not quite sure how this has happened. I seemed to have developed this midnight work pattern. Well I have always worked late into the night, definitely not a morning person, but something has changed.
I take an evening nap! I have settled into a new routine of falling asleep with my daughter when she goes to bed around 8pm. Then I automatically wake anywhere from 10:30pm-12am and work until about 2am. It’s actually pretty productive but I am having a hard time falling back asleep. I know I’m in trouble if our rooster starts crowing before I’m asleep again. Not joking, we do have a rooster who is named Kiki (originally thought to be a hen).
We all have a lot to do in a day. For me, I’m trying to keep up with the demands of running the household, 2 kids, My Gym and also office work for our construction company. Many days go by where I haven’t sat and done nothing for even 5 minutes. It’s go go go. If I cut out out Facebook I would have more time but what fun would that be?
You may be wondering what is Shift 3. Here is my daily breakdown.
Shift 1 = 6:30am-until I pick kids up from school. 2 days a week, they stay at afterschool care until 5ish so I can work longer but otherwise I pick them up at 2:55. Wednesday of course is a shorter day (which is completely frustrating) and school is over at 1:55.
Shift 2 = From the time I get the kids from school until they are in bed. Homework, dinner, family time, showers, etc.
Shift 3 = Burning the Midnight Oil. When else would I have uninterrupted time in a quiet house?? It’s actually kind of nice.
Now I need to get to sleep before the Rooster wakes up!
7 Years Ago My Baby, I Mean Business was Born!
13 Feb 2011 3 Comments
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Do you want to know the story of how My Gym was born in Santa Rosa? I’d love to tell you, but it’s a long story you might need to start and revisit to finish.
Our Grand Opening! Feb 13th 2004
First, my daughter Morgan was born in September 2002. Not quite sure what I was supposed to do with an infant all day, I started going stir crazy. When she was 5 months I asked a mommy friend what classes were out there. She told me about this music thing at the bookstore. We went to that and while it was entertaining and certainly popular, I was a little underwhelmed. I started researching a bit and found some things to do once Morgan was 18 months. Underwhelmed again. My background as a dance teacher had me wanting much more. I felt lost not knowing what to do with my daughter. We had a very limited repertoire of songs that included Scottish songs that I knew from my mom and Rugby songs that Tim knew from his dad and his own years of post game parties. My search for the perfect baby class went on the back burner.
Still going stir crazy, I decided that our small town of Graton with a “blink and you’ll miss it” downtown, needed a Mail Boxes Etc. (now UPS Store) franchise type of business. Intrigued by a dilapidated vacant building downtown, I researched property tax records and wrote a letter to the owner. I remember the day she called me to say that the building wasn’t sellable or rentable. I was sitting on the couch watching Oprah and nursing my daughter. The lady was so nice to respond to my letter but unfortunately my idea was off the table. So after the conversation, I resumed to TV watching and channel checking. I came across a documentary business type show that was featuring a lady who opened this place called My Gym in Southern California. LIGHT BULB!!
That was where I wanted to take Morgan! The My Gym website showed a couple locations in Northern California (Walnut Creek, Sacramento, San Jose) but none close enough for my own daughter to do classes. I started researching the franchising aspect and the wheels began to turn. I had a few conversations with the MGE (My Gym Enterprises) people, visited the Walnut Creek location and researched competitors. Again, I was underwhelmed with the competition. I was sold on My Gym from the beginning. There is no other program that gives children a well rounded physical education while building self-esteem and confidence like My Gym does. It’s a fantastic program and I believe in it with all my heart.
My husband and I took a trip with the baby to meet with the MGE people in Southern California. Tim loved the program from the time he saw the guy gym owner run across the gym, swoop up a kid and jump into the ball pit. We signed the franchise agreement in July and came up with A Lot of Money! It’s amazing what things are possible when you set your mind to it.
I found the building and started working out all the details with the landlord, designer, etc and filed for building permits in November. During December I had to go for training in Southern California (Valencia and Encino to be exact). It was 3 weeks of intense training that was preceded by many many days in the Walnut Creek gym. For 3 weeks, I lived in an extended living hotel with my daughter and a designated babysitter. My mom drove down with me and took the first week. Her best friend took the 2nd week and my husband came for the 3rd week.
By the time my husband arrived I was completely and utterly exhausted from spending almost everyday in the gym 8:30am-7:30pm. I remember the drive from the airport to the hotel when he said “you look like crap”. Thanks. It was difficult to eat properly away from home and I discovered through this process that weeknight family dinners are my sanity glue. My only real break during training was spent with a horrible flu that gave me a huge bruise on my not so small forehead from fainting in the bathroom multiple times. Of course Morgan was sick at the same time. We ended up in the hospital because I was paranoid about the deadly flu epidemic spreading the nation. We all survived training, but it was tough.It was certainly My Gym boot camp. To any parent who thinks about opening a new business with a very young child….. let me remind you that you already have a new job.
We didn’t get approval from the City of SR for our building improvements until the end of January. The City plancheckers/permit people seemed to enjoy dragging their feet and throwing obstacles my way. My experience as the Office Manager in a structural engineering company came in handy for coordinating these initial stages and writing multiple letters to City Building Officials to keep the ball rolling. Once we finally received approval (12 weeks later), my General Contractor husband kicked ass and we were ready to open in 12 days. (The City=12 weeks, TL Brown Construction=12 DAYS!)
The guys tore down walls, put up walls, steel posts, the steel swing structure, paint, carpet, etc. It was so much in such a short span of time and everyone was working at the same time – electrician, ceiling tile guy, painter, etc. All of our building subs stepped up to transform a very ugly building into a child’s wonderland. I need to dig up those before pictures. Imagine old brown and ugly with bad flooring. At the same time, it was a full time job dealing with all the equipment that was delivered.
Finally, we opened Friday, February 13th 2004! I was not going to believe about any unlucky Friday the 13th superstition. It is a lucky day for me! The families in Santa Rosa loved My Gym from the first day. We’ve always had loyal customers because it is a fantastic program. The children shine here. They build confidence and strength all while creating a love for physical activity.
PART II
Me & Mo a month after opening
The first year of the new business was just like having a new baby. It kept me busy 24/7. I was exhausted, sleep deprived and completely motivated all at the same time. I was in the gym 8:30am-7:30pm seven days a week for the first few months. My daughter was 17 months when we opened and looking back I remember her being very happy during that time. Her nanny (who I loved but completely could not afford) would bring Morgan in to see me during the day and eventually my days got shorter at the gym. I guess I thought things were all settled and running smoothly because I was pregnant with my son by the end of Summer. WTH was I thinking?
My staff at the gym in the beginning will always be special to me. I’ve learned so much about managing a crew of college to 30 something employees. It’s a delicate balance between business owner, friend and teacher. We were all learning how to run a My Gym together. The amount of work I had was absolutely insane and I was teaching 6 days a week. I was the front person for the business and the back office person all at the same time. Managing the stress level while keeping everything running smoothly was, and remains to be a huge challenge. My Gym owners have a huge amount of details to take care of in small chunks of time. Ten minutes here, thirty minutes there and sometimes a whole ninety minutes on a project. Because of the energy level in the gym – playing with kids, music, moving equipment, spotting gymnastics, etc. I often feel like the room is spinning. The repetition of picking up 10-15 children in an hour, moving equipment multiple times and being on your feet for the majority is tiring. Having fun with kids and building their self-confidence makes it all worth it!
After 7 years of running the gym, I am so happy to have survived! This economy has not always been kind to us. Luckily families love our program because it is awesome. I believe in the old saying that “It takes a village to raise a child” and we thank you for letting My Gym be part of your village. We promise to always build children’s self-esteem and confidence while giving them a great foundation for a healthy lifestyle. At the same time, I’d like to thank the huge village that has supported My Gym Santa Rosa. To all the loyal customers, employees, businesses, my landlord, my family, MGE and most importantly the children, Thank You for your Support!!
Three of my favorite customers from our first year of summer camp
What Happened to Friday Night?
29 Jan 2011 3 Comments
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Tonight was one of those nights where I was missing life before kids. When we could just decide to go out then go. We didn’t have to strategize about a kid friendly restaurant, pack entertainment for the table (crayons, toys, etc), or worry about ordering quickly. Remember when you could take your time at a restaurant that you really enjoyed? There was no negotiating with a little one about trying new things or settling for somewhere with burritos, noodles, pizza or french fries. After dinner I didn’t have to stick my head under the table to do a quick sweep for toys, jackets, and other treasures we might leave for the restaurant staff.
Nope, after dinner I could finish my wine and then we would head to a movie. A real grown up movie, nothing animated, G or PG. With the Oscars only a month away I’d really like to see some movies that are nominated. After about 3 animated kid movies in a row, I finally got to see Black Swan last weekend. Since then the Oscar nominees were announced. To my surprise, I’ve actually now seen two movies in the running for best picture. Black Swan and Toy Story 3. Come on! What is wrong with this picture? Toy Story was a great movie, but Best Picture worthy?
I’d really like to see The Fighter with my husband. That’s a tricky one since we would need a babysitter and two kids that are healthy at the same time during cold & flu season. Tim and I always said that we would have some regular babysitters so we could still do things we did before kids, like dinner and a movie. I need to make that happen. For my own sanity, I need some kid free time. I love my kids to death but I honestly think I’d be a better mom if I took a little more time away. Today I volunteered in both of my children’s classrooms, went to a meeting about our big school fundraiser and became the Snack Goddess once we got home.
We ended up getting pizza for dinner….again. You might think that because I didn’t cook that there isn’t much cleanup. Wrong! The dishwasher needs emptying and the counters still have the remains from breakfast, snacks, lunch making and pizza. So now I’m going to stop blogging and go make a dent in there. Tomorrow I’ll put some feelers out to find a babysitter with the goal of one kid-free Friday or Saturday night per month so my husband and I can go out for dinner and a movie!
