Two Wedding Showers, a Baptism and Birthday Party

Whew. What a busy weekend. It is Wednesday morning now, so I know the weekend is way over, but we're just catching our breath.

Had a busy few events this past weekend -- I helped host two wedding showers on Saturday - one during the afternoon for my cousin, Mike Suckow, and his fiancee, Jennifer Rice. They'll be married on August 3. Then, on Saturday evening, I helped host another shower, this one for my good friend, Allison Palmer and her fiancee Jason Blackburn. They'll get married on August 9.

Those went well - thank God they weren't at my house. That would have been too much!

The next day, Nick was baptized, on his 2-month birthday, at Good Shepherd Catholic Church. To be honest, we never got our camera out of our purse, with all the craziness, but plenty of our friends and family took pictures. My good friend Deanna Lawley is Nick's godmother and is going to send me a CD with pics.. I'll add a few when it arrives. Thanks, Dee!

Sunday afternoon, Elena's 3rd birthday party. We did a "Wizard of Oz" themed event and Elena wore her Dorothy costume from last Halloween. We played some cute games, "find the ruby slippers in the yard," "pin the heart on the tin man" and "break the somewhere-over-the-rainbow pinata."

I warn you, if you even think about doing a pinata at a party for your child, have a few extra adults on hand to keep the kids back! We had a few wander dangerously close to the child with the bat. Phew! That would have been disastrous! But no one got hurt, thank goodness.

We had a wonderful time, but honestly, much of it is a blur to me. It was really hectic trying to keep up with all the kids!

Dee helped serve as the photographer for that event, too. Will post some pics soon.

Hope you're doing well! I return to work on August 4th. Can't say I've missed it.. it will be good to have some adult conversation, though. I think my brain has turned to mush.

:) Claire

Welcome Baby Nick!

Well, I've been trying to find time to blog for the last few weeks. It's hard to type with a baby in one hand, though. Usually that just allows me to check emails, if anything, and respond back with one or two-word answers.

Nicholas Joseph Aiello arrived on May 20, 2008 at 7:04am. My instincts were wrong on him, I "guessed" he would be a girl, but God had other plans! That's fine.. my husband had the happiest look on his face when our doctor said "it's a boy" and I immediately burst into tears (happy tears).


Joey rushed over with the video camera as the nurses cleaned him and weighed him, and I asked the nurse "is he a good size?" because I hadn't seen him yet, behind the C-section curtain. She said yes.. and soon afterward, I heard the neonatologist say "8 pounds 5 ounces" - HOLY CRAP! I had no idea he'd be so big. I was so thankful! Twenty-one and a half inches long, too.

A few moments later, the neonatologist brought Nick over, and I gave him a kiss before he took him to the nursery with Joey.

In recovery, the nurse told me Nick went right to the "well-baby" nursery - more happy tears. That means I'd get to see him soon!

Then, my husband did what I really didn't think I had to ask him NOT to do - he took a cell phone picture of the baby, "family jewels" included, and emailed it to our friends and family. Geez, babe. (I won't post that one here -- I'll spare my child the misery, and I'll spare you.)

What can I say, Joey is a proud father.

I had to put some makeup on, because when I called the newsroom to let them know the good news, my co-worker Amber Stuart said "oh, we have to come and get video of you and Nick - TODAY." Let me tell you something, Amber. Wait until you're on morphine, 3 hours out of surgery.. you won't feel up to having a news crew come into your hospital room. Oh well. At least I didn't have to get out of bed.

Here's Joey with his new son. He wore an Alabama shirt that day, and told all the nurses "if it's a boy, what do you think about Nicholas Saban Aiello?"

It was just a joke. We aren't freaks.

Nick has blue eyes and blondish/brown hair.. funny, he really looks like his big sister did at that age (with one major difference).

I can't say enough about the doctors, nurses and the rest of the caring staff at Huntsville Hospital for Women and Children. I had such a wonderful experience there, just as I did when I delivered Elena, and I thank all of them so much. When I get a chance to breathe maybe I'll bake some cookies and take them over!

Nick is a great baby - he's 4 weeks old now, and eats well, and sleeps pretty well, for the most part. Most nights, he's up 2-3 times, but last night, he woke up just once - so that was fantastic. I think I'm sleepier the mornings after a good night's sleep than the other nights when I'm up more.

Elena is taking well to him, too - she loves her little brother and is so protective of him!

I hope you are all doing well. I certainly don't miss work... maternity leave will be over before I know it, so I'm cherishing this time with my children. I am reminded how hard stay-at-home moms have it, though. I couldn't do this all the time. It is TOUGH! My mom had Elena in Florida for 2 weeks while I recovered, and my sister came up to help, also. Now, I'm on my own with the kids during the day, and I really do have to take it one day at a time.

My daughter has her temper tantrums from time to time, and we've really had to enforce time outs lately.

More updates as soon as I find time... I also hope to post a few movie reviews soon, on Sex and the City, and Indiana Jones: The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Also, the Top 5 DVDs to watch while on maternity leave!

Later!

Baby #2 Arrives Next Week!

Hello blog world!

Well, the big day is almost here. And frankly, I'm ready to not be "big" anymore as you'll see in the pictures my co-worker Brittian took of me this morning. Another co-worker of mine, Shane, asked me the other day if I was ready to "drop it like it's hot." I slapped him.

I'm scheduled for my C-Section the morning of Tuesday, May 20th.

My husband Joey and I are ready to meet our new son or daughter! Please keep me in your prayers that everything goes well. I have faith that it will.

On that subject, I tried to get my doctor to "guess" the baby's gender yesterday, just for fun (no ultrasound or anything, just a guess) -- and he wouldn't go for it. He jokingly replied "How about I guess on Tuesday?"

I even said "I'm not going to go home and paint the room pink or blue depending on what you say..." but he wouldn't budge. Maybe people have sued over that in the past???

I'll be on maternity leave for a while. I am definitely ready for a break from work -- but I know this won't be a vacation by any means. There will be plenty to keep me busy at home! My colleague, Tonarius Gooden, will fill in on web duties during my absence. Take it easy on him! There's a lot that goes into maintaining WHNT.com on a daily basis.

Our daughter Elena is really excited about the new baby. My Mom is also here to help for a few weeks, then my sister will come up for another week.

I have to say comparing this delivery to my first, I'm much more excited about it. Yes, it won't be fun to recover, or lose sleep for a while, but I am so blessed to be able to have children. I have a few friends who are struggling right now with getting pregnant.

And frankly, I'm not worried because I've been through it already. I was so scared before I had Elena -- scared about the C-section (I was crying as the nurses wheeled me in to the operating room), scared I'd feel the 'cut'...

And moreso, scared that I wouldn't know what to do with a baby -- I wouldn't know how to react when she cried, or got sick, basically, how to take care of her.

I honestly learned -- and this is the advice I give to all new parents, (if they ask) -- that all you need is love. Yeah, it's a Beatles song - but it's the truth. If you just take time to love the precious gift you're given, the rest comes with instinct. All my worries cleared up the moment I held Elena for the first time. Yes, there were certainly some challenges - nursing, crying (me and her), but it all worked out!

I have to say I said more special prayers to Mary that week than any other of my life, for support with nursing. As a mother, I knew she'd understand my frustrations and worries. Mary definitely came through!

Anyway, I don't want to gross any of you out. No more talk about that subject, at least on this blog.

My only worry this time is how to afford the cost of two kids in daycare. GEEZ!!!

News stories that drive me crazy...

There are a few stories in the news lately that have had me itching to comment.

Let's start with the polygamy story in Texas. First of all, I don't want to criticize these people, because many of them don't know any different. I say "don't know different," not "don't know better," because this has been their lifestyle for generations. This is how they were brought up, how their parents, grandparents and great-grandparents were brought up.

I just don't understand how girls that young have to be "baby factories." New developments in the case this week showed that out of 53 girls, between ages 14 and 17, 31 of them had been, or are currently pregnant.

GOOD LORD!!

When I was between 14 and 17, I was enjoying high school, playing basketball and softball at St. Joseph Academy in St. Augustine, Florida and starting my first job. That was at Golden Corral in Palatka (great job, by the way).

I didn't have my first child until I was 28, and if all goes well, I'll have my second child in a few weeks, at age 31. I chose to wait that long, because it's a choice. Had other things to do first, I guess... college, marriage, get my career going... I could have chosen to have children earlier, but this was how it worked out for me.

I just feel so bad this is how they are taught their lives have to be. This is their duty, to bear children, over and over, starting at such an early age. They don't know any different because that's how they've been brought up, and that's how their parents and grandparents were brought up, too.

Now, I am not one to criticize another person's religion. I am Catholic, and there are some misunderstandings about my religion, so I've had some people ask me why we pray to idols and worship saints, the Pope, etc... when we should be praying directly to God. (That's a topic for another post.)

What I'm saying is, there are questions about my religion. There are questions about other religions... I feel bad for Mormons who have people ask them all the time why their church allows this, when they split off from these fundamentalist sects several hundred years ago.

But polygamy -- why does this continue to exist?

The next story that has me saying "seriously???" The shark attack, off the California coast.

A great white killed a triathlete named David Martin. This is a very unfortunate story, and Martin no doubt suffered a great deal of pain in the attack.

What irks me are the news organizations who repeatedly say "the hunt is on for the great white shark" that killed this man. Really?? Are there search crews out there with sonar looking for this shark?

What are these teams going to do with them if they find him, anyway? Cuff him and stuff him? Take him to shark court and charge him with murder?

The big guy is long gone.

Disney World Visit

Time for a fun post. I've been meaning to post these pictures since late DECEMBER... but hey, the title of my blog is "Too Many Hats" and sometimes all those things dominate my time.

(Yeah, yeah.. give me some wine and cheese to go with that...)

My husband Joey and I took Elena to Disney World during our December visit to Florida to see my family. It was awesome, and this picture just sums it up...

I grew up in Florida, and loved going to Disney World. But it's a different experience when you take your child. You realize that Disney is for kids, and that's GREAT!! It's even better when you experience it with them, seeing their face light up when they see the characters in the parade, etc... I highly recommend the parades. That was the best part for us.

Here's another funny one... it was PACKED the day we went -- not an empty bench to be found. Being the week after Christmas, I didn't expect that, but apparently, that's one of the busiest weeks.

However, we hung in there, and Elena took her nap on Daddy's shoulder in our 1 1/2 hour wait for the Haunted House. I tried to help as I could, but being 5 1/2 months pregnant at the time, I couldn't offer too much assistance.

We figured we'd squeeze it in and she might sleep through the Haunted House? NO. Just as we got on the black cars to start the ride, she wakes up! I said "oh dear... I hope this doesn't scare her..." but she was a trooper. She loved it. Luckily, Disney's Haunted House is more fun anyway... the ghosts aren't too scary and are more on the fun side.

At the end, as we walked outside, she said "I see GHOSTS, Mommy! I see GHOSTS!" and smiled.

Thank goodness!

Next time we'll find a less busy time to visit Disney, if that's possible.. but we will be back. I learned one other thing.. you learn a new meaning to the phrase "watch your kids like a HAWK" when you're there.

Nothing to fear... but now I understand why some families use those "kid leashes" in places like this.

The 60 Minutes Debacle

The past few days have been some of the most frustrating I've ever had, working in local news.

We had a technical error on our end that caused our CBS 60 Minutes broadcast on "The Prosecution of Don Siegelman" to go to black, just as the show was beginning.

Many of our viewers have been highly suspicious of us "blacking out the program" at that very moment. They have a right to be. There are some in the media who abuse their power.

Our satellite receiver failed at the worst possible time. But that's all there is to it. I could go into more, but I am plain TIRED of even thinking about this issue.

By the way, I was waiting at home at 6pm, looking forward to seeing Scott Pelley's report.

We've been bashed on the Internet, blog posts, national news, you name it. Keith Olbermann even put his on his "worst" list Monday night on MSNBC. Thanks, Keith, for taking the side of all the Internet rumors and not calling WHNT to get our side of the story.

Media people like Keith are why.... well, I've already written a blog on him.

We've heard every curse word in the book thrown at us since Sunday night -- in phone calls and e-mails.

One viewer today wrote that we should go stick our head up Karl Rove's you-know-where. Well, thank you.

We still provided a courteous and TRUTHFUL reply to that viewer about what happened, as we did to the hundreds who e-mailed us. Some were nice enough to write back. Some accepted our explanation and thanked us for the job we do here.

Some wrote back, still skeptical, but thanking us nonetheless for caring to provide a response.

Many others didn't write back.. who knows if our emails made a difference in their lives.

We believe in being open and honest about what happened, and we have been, even with the people who have dog-cussed us out. We're a local news station. Stuff breaks from time to time.

Yes, it even malfunctions on a Sunday night when no engineer is on the clock and we expect our CBS receiver to work well, just like it usually does.

This is not the first time we've had an equipment failure at NewsChannel 19. We lost power to the building a few weeks ago, during the 10pm news. Yet, the show must go on.. so we did go on... and did the news with very minimal lighting, in some cases, flashlights. It was primitive, but we presented the news, which is our job.

We lost power to the entire station (yes, a real blackout) last year, mid-afternoon one weekday. Yet, we still went on the air at 5pm and with hand-written scripts, weather graphics on a dry-erase board. Sure, our competition probably laughed at us. But we had no other choice. It happened, and you have to roll with the punches in local news.

We all seem to have 'black eyes' after the last few days.

I just don't have any energy to type about this issue anymore. We've apologized as much as we can apologize, and we got permission from CBS to re-air the Siegelman piece not ONCE, but TWICE, and we thank CBS for allowing us to do so. We also made the entire 12-minute report available on WHNT.com.

Some people still think we're Nazis. You know what I have to say to that?

My favorite line in the Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade - when Jones says "Nazis. I hate Nazis."

And I do. Can't wait for Indiana Jones #4, by the way. Even though I will probably be at home nursing a newborn, and might not be able to see it for another month or two...

I don't stand for censorship, and I wouldn't work at a station that asked us to censor things on the news. I wouldn't work at one where I even SUSPECT that it happened behind the scenes by one of my co-workers.

I don't feel that way about WHNT. I love the people I work with. They're good people. They're caring journalists. We are members of the north Alabama community -- we live here -- we shop here -- we go to church here -- our children go to school here.

We're your neighbors. Please stop hating us.

In closing, check out some of the blogs my co-workers have written on the 60 Minutes issue. Each of these people are stand-up, solid journalists whom I deeply respect.

Steve Johnson, Anchor/Reporter

Greg Screws, Anchor/Reporter

Denise Vickers, News Director and Station Manager

Patrick Ary, News Producer

Peace,
Claire

A Life Update

I haven't blogged recently, and I could blame it on work, but that wouldn't be original. Life has been busy, and things are going great.

I feel comfortable announcing to the world that I'm expecting another child!

In fact, I've had the great privilege of using a special new parking space at NewsChannel 19! Our general manager, Stan Pylant, recently added it, and until another pregnant woman presents herself in our building, I'll enjoy it. (I would love to share it with someone, I feel guilty using it!)

I'm 24 weeks along now, and am due in late May. Will probably deliver in mid-May by planned C-section. Trust me, I wish I could go the natural way, with no epidural. I'm that kind of girl. However, with my first child, the doctor recommended a C-section because of my past medical history (I had spina bifida as a child) so I took his advice. I don't regret it for a minute.

I thought it might make me less of a mother, not going through labor pains, etc.. but there is plenty you do after that surgery that makes up for it, trust me!

Please keep me in your prayers. It has been a relatively easy pregnancy so far... I'm just feeling "bigger" which is normal. My husband Joey and I are very excited, and will find out the gender of the baby when he or she is born. I'm old-fashioned that way, and he'd love to find out, but would tell me in about 5 minutes. Our friends and I like to tease him that he is a one-man communication system -- "Telephone, television, Tell-a-Joey."

Elena, my 2 1/2 year old, understands we're having a baby, but doesn't know that it will be a boy OR a girl, not both. We ask her all the time what she thinks the baby is -- a boy, or a girl? And she replies "boy-girl" or "brother-sister."

She's going to be a wonderful big sister. I just hope we can adjust to having 2 little ones around the house. It will be a big change!

More to come soon... I hope to post some pictures of our December trip to Disney World.