So I Never Forget…

15 Dec

So far, mommyhood has already given me many sweet memories – moments I don’t want to forget. Since some of them have faded from my memory, I want to share some of the ones that have happened since we’ve lived in the “new” house (as Nia keeps calling it).

– After about an hour of bouncing back and forth across the room and tearing into the boxes I was trying to sort through, Nate makes a turn my way to crawl under my arm and wiggle into my lap so he could cuddle up next to me letting me know – hey mom – I’m worn out – can you put me in my crib now?  The warmth I felt from his affection was so amazing – he never acts that cuddly – he’s usually such a fighter and tough guy – I guess he has a soft spot after all!

– Nia telling me “I love you a lot Momma.”  Or the day she told me I had a big heart. I’m not sure if she meant because I’m bigger than her or not – it really doesn’t matter – it was so precious and innocent.

– The first time Nia did something cute/funny with her brother or the dog and told me “Take a picture Momma.”

– The giggles I heard when Nia put on Nate’s Flounder Halloween costume and used the nose to bump Nate’s head.  Why this was so funny I don’t really understand but she did it to him like 20 times and he kept laughing out loud every time.

– Right now, as I’m trying to type this Nia is sitting on my lap and moving the mouse around and trying to push buttons (I mean she .is pushing buttons) ..this means it’s time to make more memories away from the computer!

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Online Again!

15 Dec

You know you’ve moved to a small town when it takes a freakin’ week to get the internet!  What the heck?!?!  We just got it up and running and this was the first website on my long list of sites I need to visit in order to feel a sense of balance again!

Now for the difficult decision of deciding what to write about – I mean so much has happened to the Valles Fam in the last few weeks but I couldn’t possibly write about them all – like you really want to read about them and frankly I don’t want to re-live some of them.  What I will share is a general idea of our lives so far –

We love our house – it’s twice the size of our old one and offers the kids tons of play space – although we still haven’t fully baby-proofed it yet (Andrew just put a gate at the top of the stairs but I know the crazy little man will try to rip it out of the wall).  Our priorities are pretty odd when it comes to getting the abode together – we still have boxes to unpack and rooms to situate but we made darn sure to paint Nia’s room like a princess.  Pink – Purple and Blue – When we get the camera stuff hooked up I’ll share some pics-  it’s really pink but Nia LOVES it.

Andrew has to drive anywhere from 2 and a half to 3 hours a day to get to and from work right now until his company finishes the new plant that’s closer to our house.  They say it will take about 6 months for that to happen.  We just hope it will really only be 6 months. He seems to like working out here – I think he really likes the challenge of trying to fix something and make it better. I just have to give him the time to do that and not call him 10 times a day about the silliest things.

As for me, I’m still trying to figure out how I’m doing.  Everyone keeps asking me how it’s going as a stay-at-home mom and if I’m getting the hang of it.  I really don’t know how to answer that. (DISCLAIMER – please don’t take offense if you’ve asked me these questions – it’s frustrating hearing them so many times.) I mean, it’s not like the job I was used to – where I would see results at the end of the day.  Right now, I just consider it a good day if zero or very few tears are shed (both from me and the kids) – I really don’t know how to gauge if I’m “getting the hang of it.”  The question actually kind of angers me a little bit too – I mean what do people really think I’m going to say – “NO! I HATE IT AND I WANT TO QUIT! I WANT TO RUN SCREAMING FROM THE HOUSE SOMETIMES”  Or, “Why yes, I’m an excellent mother with perfect children and I never have any issues with them.  All I do is watch soap operas, Dr. Phil and Oprah and eat chocolates.” Really, all I can say is – I’m doing the best I can.  Anyone that tells you it’s easy either doesn’t care that much about teaching and disciplining their children or has a housekeeper and cook.  Just like any job – there are ups and downs – in this case the downs are Nia crying “I want to be nice to brother!” over and over after just pushing him down and then sitting on him – sometimes the ups come out of the downs though – for example when Nate looks at me and his sister with a smile as she continues to scream she wants to be nice to him –

I’m hoping that once we are really moved in and finished with the big house projects I will be able to have more of a routine with the kids.  I’m sure that will really help us all.  I’m also looking into getting Nia involved in a part-time preschool just so she can interact with others who want to color all of the time and play tea party.  (As much as I love to do these things with her it’s kind of hard when there’s a 1-year-old boy standing up on a little rocking chair like he’s surfing.)

I guess I’ll just have to see what tomorrow brings and thanks to our working internet connection – I’ll get to share some of the humor (and grief) with you!

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Signing Off from Savannah

29 Nov

Tonight is the last night I will have this computer to type on in Savannah.  It all seems so unreal.  Right now, I should be packing up our “get us through the days until we’re in our new house” stuff but instead I’m racing to get this blog up before Andrew comes in and wants to pack up the ‘puter.  I just have to take in what I’m feeling and hold on to it in some way…

I love this city.  It is such a beautiful and captivating place – there is none other like it. I hope with all of my heart that we will be able to come back here someday…soon.  I know I’m not even gone yet – I’m sure our new city will offer me a bunch of unique qualities that I will come to love – but I’m pretty sure it will never make me feel the way Savannah does.

After all, look at all Savannah has given us.  Amazing friends, the birthplace of Nia and Nate, our first mortgage, my first real car accident (and second!), incredibly fun nights out on the town, a real sense of history just by walking on River Street (with a Wet Willy of course). I was always so excited to live in a “tourist town” because I grew up in a place that no one would ever want to pay money to visit.  Now we are moving to another “non-tourist town” and I know I will have to search through it to find the special place it will hold in my heart.

A few weeks ago I started writing a “What I Will Miss About Savannah” list.  I never really finished it – but I still want to share what I did write-
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What I’ll Miss about Savannah: (in no particular order)

-Savannah – there is no other place like it – so beautiful, mysterious, historic, entertaining, inviting – I feel like it pulled me in and now won’t let me go – I only hope it wins the tug of war and pulls me back in a few years

-Family – Andrew’s sister, her husband and our beautiful niece Baby Ella – I don’t want to miss her grow up – her, Nia and Nate LOVE playing together and I want them be close – I also love hanging out with Anna Marie and Marcus and it’s so comforting to live so close to them now

-Ginger, Lee and Cami – I so wanted to be able to Cami-sit for them like they did for us so many times – I wanted to have our families go on play dates and beach dates and then (much later) have a Cami-Nate date! – I know we still can get together – it just won’t be as easy –

-Ginger – when I needed someone she was there – even though we didn’t know each other very well at the time – I knew she genuinely cared about me and Bean when I was pregnant and Andrew was deployed – with my family being so far away, she didn’t hesitate when I asked her to be my birthing coach – what she did for us was so wonderful – she’s such an incredible person and I feel lucky to have her as a friend – I will miss being able to go to lunch with her every other week and just having her a 20 minute car ride away from a laugh/cry/chat/dinner together-

-Work people – Ike, Paul Rea, Karen – you have all meant so very much to me and it will be hard not to want to call and talk to you everyday

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It’s hard for me not to think about everything and get tears (but those of you who know me know if I DIDN’T cry something would be wrong) but I know this is not really goodbye.  It’s just see you later, talk to you soon or signing off from Savannah until the next time…

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Pants on Fire

20 Nov

When do we learn how to lie? How do we learn how to lie?  Doesn’t 3-years-old seem a little early for trying to pull a fast one on mom and dad?  It’s something I didn’t think I would have to worry about until hormones started raging – but it seems a napless day has the same effect.

Today Nia threw a toy after Andrew told her not to throw it.  He and I both saw her chuck it but still we had to be parents and ask the question we all knew we knew the answer to, “Nia, did you just throw that toy?”

“No.”
“Are you lying to me?”
“No.”
“Well then, how did it get all the way over there?”
“It just moved there.”
(It was really hard for me not to laugh after that one)
“Nia, tell me the truth – you threw it right?”
“Ah-huh.”

After this conversation we had one about lying and how you shouldn’t do it.  She said she understood – or was she just lying?

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My Last Friday

18 Nov

Need an ego boost?  Quit your job.

Play at Work

What a day!  It was so touching how many people said nice words, gave presents or cards or just a pat on the back to let me know I’ll be missed.  The newscast was as easy (thanks reporters and photogs) and clean as it could be (thanks to our director Jeff and production) and I was as emotional as I could be.

While I am so very happy to start this next adventure in my life, I’m also so very sad and scared to let go of the old one and the people that were part of it with me.

Much of my time there kind of blurs together but here are some of the highs and lows:

  • I started in May of 2000 – ten days after graduating college. My first duty was weekend producer and weekday assistant producer – I did that for a year and a half until I moved to the weeknight 11:00 and then about six to nine months later, the 6:00 newscast.
  • Weeks after I started, both the executive producer and news director were fired.  Both firings happened on a Wednesday – one of my days off.  I remember Anna (a producer I looked up to) called me to let me know.  She thought I must have been really doubting my decision to work there.  I was so immature and inexperienced that the seriousness of the situation didn’t sink in then. For the next few months we were babysat by the main station in our company – then Kevin was hired as news director.  He was/is an incredible boss and I feel so fortunate to have learned from him.

    • In Kuwait

  • I was spoiled during two pregnancies there. When I was expecting Nia and Andrew was deployed, I received so much support and concern from just about everyone at the station. One of our reporters, Tim, even did a story about what we were going through.

Comfy with Ginger

Another reporter there, now my really great friend Ginger, became a source of strength for me as my birthing coach.  She went through the whole experience with me – threw us a baby shower – even read weekly online updates of what I’d be going through.  Words really can’t say how much she means to me – I’m so very grateful for her friendship. Even after I had Nia and returned to work, the support from everyone continued. There were so many times I would have to have Nia at work with me – sitting on my lap as I tried to finish the newscast or as I boothed it. Ginger or Paul Rea would always be there to watch her so I could get finished.  Nia was there so much people would joke she was assistant producer.

Assistant Producer

No one ever made me feel like I was bothering them by bringing a baby to work – in fact it seem like people enjoyed it. (Even if she wasn’t so sure!)

Goofing Off

I am so lucky that I was working with such wonderful and caring people during that time – they all made me feel so loved and so happy and I never will forget all they did for our family.

  • I had to watch so many good friends and people leave before me – something that got harder the longer I worked there. I also just had to leave quite a few people who mean the world to me. Each of them has a special place in my heart and memories and I will always wish them well and hope we stay in touch. I also thank them for all the laughter and comforting moments they’ve given me – I only hope I returned the honor.
  • The station went through so many changes during my time there- I experienced one General Manager switch, a new set, new high tech editing equipment and cameras, 3 studio controls (remember when we had to booth out of the back room of master control?!?! or how about that hole in the wall shaped like a triangle?!?!) new branding, new personalities, new breakroom, new logo…

I could keep going but I think I’ve captured enough.  There’s just one more thought I want to share though – when I first interviewed to work in the Savannah market – I could have taken a job at WTOC – the number one station here. I would have been paid more and had a larger staff to work with – but I chose WSAV.  I chose WSAV because of the people.  The moment I walked in that messy newsroom filled with a bunch of talented characters I knew it was where I wanted to be. It’s funny how some things never change.

Anchor Nia

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My Last Thursday

17 Nov

So today Kevin offered to take me out to lunch.  “Pick somewhere nice – you know where it’s 8 bucks a meal,” he said jokingly.

My options were endless – I could pick something that’s uniquely Savannah – I could pick something fancy and make him really pay – or I could complete my 6 years at WSAV and finish it where it all began.

I chose Applebee’s.  And it wasn’t just any old Applebee’s – it had to be the one where my first Executive Producer took me (the one who got fired like just weeks after my first day).  It was funny when I told him – he was like “really?”

We had a nice lunch – my current Executive Producer came with us and we gossiped and talked about my evolution at WSAV.  How I went from a cry-baby basically to a cry-woman with some balls.  Kevin reminded me of our two “grow some balls” conversations – it took me a few tries but I think I eventually got them.

Really though, I think more of what it was is I grew a baby.  It’s funny how much something like that can change you.  I think it’s because I had something more important to worry about and the last thing I wanted to deal with was stupid stuff at work. Little Bean (as we called her) made me put everything in perspective.  I mean I produced the newscast that won a national Murrow award while I was 6 months preggers with Nia and while Andrew was in Kuwait waiting for word of war.  I guess my job helped me get my mind off the hard parts and all of the work crap that people would complain about just seemed so trivial to me.

It even continues today – I don’t want to know what so and so said about another person or that it stinks you didn’t find out about an assignment 2 hours ahead of time – just do your job!   I’d rather be with my kids but I can’t be so I try not to waste my time away from them bitching and moaning.  Make the most of it – if something gets in your way or upsets you – put more into your performance – don’t waste energy agonizing over issues that won’t get you anywhere – instead put that energy into your work where people will notice – I know when I did that I felt my time away from Nia and Nate was well spent.

Looking back on this it seems – with the births of Nia and Nate – I essentially did grow a pair!  Thanks for making mommy tougher kids!

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My Last Wednesday

16 Nov

What a great day!  I was only there for part of it! I had to leave early so moving company people could come and look over all our stuff to give us an estimate.  Despite my half day though – I still have something to say about my time there.

Today I was stumped with how to put together the newscast.  Usually, when I know what my lead story is everything else just falls into place but today I felt like I didn’t have much to work with (that is until that one AWOL soldier barricaded himself in a house for 3 hours). What it really boils down to is that I just didn’t want to be there but I still did my best to make the cast as good as it could be and I still added breaking news to the website and sent out emails about crazy viewer story ideas.

I find it so frustrating that I care so much about not caring!  Part of me wishes I could just walk in there and not answer the phones – tell annoying reporters to grow up and do their jobs and to get a brain so I don’t have to do their work for them – rebel against updating the web just because I’m tired of being told how freaking important it is to do it – and probably the thing I wish I could let go of the most – the need to have every script the way I want it.

My half day is writing out like a whole day but I won’t have to worry about it next week!  Next week I’ll be working to keep two busy kids (and myself) alive while trying to move – finish preparing for Nate’s baptism and finding a sweater to wear over this cute dress I bought for my 10 year reunion (Ginger, remind me to ask you if you have one!)

It’s funny because today I got a small dose of what My First Wednesday as a full time mommy will be like – Nia was coloring in her room in the middle of 15 or 20 coloring books and I was standing right next to her sorting through her dresser drawers when a funny sound coming from Nia’s crayon.  It was then that I realized she had been coloring on the carpet!  Like really coloring – like putting her whole arm into it –

When I saw her I said with a gasp “NIA!”  She immediately started crying, you guessed it, “I wanna listen.”  When I asked her why she colored on the carpet she said, “Cuz I don’t want to.”

What?!?!

Let the adventure begin!

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My Last Tuesday

15 Nov

(You guessed it – I plan to do one for each day this week until my very last day at WSAV!)

Today was an extremely typical day at the station.  I put together what I thought was a pretty decent newscast and then it became a race to get it all finished and a task to turn certain scripts into halfway ok stories for air.

BLAH.  I just cannot understand why reporters tell me their scripts are finished and I’m supposed to check them when they are a bunch of CRAP.  They don’t have any of their graphics in – they don’t have their commands correct and more importantly they don’t even attempt to make the story interesting or write it in a way to let certain viewers know why the heck they should even care!

I’m just so tired of it all and can’t wait to be finished.  I just need a break from the tv news biz – I need some time to remember why I even wanted to do what I do and I want to work with a GROUP of people that inspire and impress me again.  People who worked with you when you wanted to try something creative.

Don’t get me wrong – there are a few reporters there who I really enjoy working with and watching their stories – but the others – they just make me exhausted.  Sometimes my brain actually hurts.  In fact – you know how I was worried about being a full time mom – working at WSAV I feel like I already am – and not in the loving, let me kiss your boo-boo when you get hurt sense – but in the sense that “I’m going to put you in time out if you don’t stop complaining about which photographer you’re with or wah-wahing about who’s in what edit bay or rolling your eyes because you really don’t want to do that story.”

This last Tuesday really made me count the days I have left there – so imagine my disappointment when I remembered it wasn’t Wednesday like I thought it had been.

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My (Old) Job as Posted

14 Nov

The following was pulled from Media General’s website –

WSAV NEWS 3, an NBC affiliate, is looking for an aggressive and creative 6p.m. producer who is interested in creating a newscast that is built on, and truly reflects, viewer needs and delivers true viewer benefit every single night.
Newscast stackers need not apply. We’re an On Your Side station where producers have the chance to actually craft a program that really reflects our community with stories that matter, anchor presentations that add context and perspective and reporters who will ask the tough questions.
Join a true team that loves ideas and live in one of the south’s most beautiful and historic cities. Drug Screen and Background checks required. EOE M/F/D/V Please send tapes and resumes to WSAV P.O. Box 2429 Savannah, GA 31402 OR hr@wsav.com. NO PHONE CALLS PLEASE!!!!

Tech Skills:
(no details)
Job Skills:
We’re an On Your Side station where producers have the chance to actually craft a program that really reflects our community with stories that matter, anchor presentations that add context and perspective and reporters who will ask the tough questions.
Minimum Education:
Bachelor’s Level Degree
Journalism or Communications
Minimum Experience:
1 – 2 yrs. of experience.WSAV NEWS 3, an NBC affiliate, is looking for an aggressive and creative 6p.m. producer who is interested in creating a newscast that is built on, and truly reflects, viewer needs and delivers true viewer benefit every single night.
This Position Supervises:
(no details)
Schedule (Days & Times):
40 5


My Last Monday

14 Nov

Today was my last Monday at WSAV.

It is so hard to believe I have been there for as long as I have.  I started 10 days after I graduated from West Virginia University and now, almost 6 and a half years – a husband – 2 kids – a dog and oh about 20 pounds later, I’m saying see ya.

I couldn’t be leaving at a better time really – our general manager has announced he’s leaving – our executive producer is moving on to much bigger and better things – and while there are a few people I will miss bunches, Ginger, Tim, Paul and Jordan don’t work there anymore.  I’m also just tired of tv news.

Despite all of that though – I’m scared about what’s next.  This is really the only job I’ve ever known and I’m worried I’m not going to be able to handle my new full time job as mommy.  I know it sounds silly – I mean people do it all the time – I just hope I’m built for it.  (And I hope they don’t devour me alive.)

I guess with a last Monday comes a first.  Next week will be my first Monday in my new position – I really hope I make it through the day without getting fired.

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