Is Your Desk A Portrait of Your Life?

I'm staring across my desk right now realizing it is the perfect illustration of my life as it stands today... the contents are, in no particular order:

1)A crumpled bib with something like spaghetti on it

2) Several framed photos of kids and hubs

3) A media packet from an industry publication

4) My portfolio jammed with business paperwork

5) A Thomas the Train coloring picture my son left from his computer time

6) A Golf Today magazine - I'm helping with ad sales

7) A camera

8) A piggy bank train my daughter was dumping and filling quarters in this morning

9) A day old Starbucks coffee cup

Wow - talk about furniture imitating life!

Building Traffic the Organic Way - Compliments of Amy at MomAdvice

Short and sweet blog today, with a GREAT article to point you to from Amy at Momadvice.com. In her blog, Motherload, Amy gives some terrific advice to any moms out there trying to build online traffic for promotion of their blog.

In a February 11 post titled. "Play It Again, Momma: Gaining a Readership the Frugal Way" _ Amy gives momtrepreneurs step-by-step advice for building a fan base without spending thousands. Thanks, Amy! Keep up the good work. And with her article in mind, if you're reading this blog - I'd love to have you sign up as a follower.

And about the fact that I'm just posting an article from Feb. 11 now, take it easy on me... it's been a tough week. More on that to come...

How to Juggle a Blackberry in the ER

As I said in the previous post, I'm really taking some positive steps to get back to a peaceful work/life balance. My original goal when I began my agency was to be fulfilled in my career and yet have quality time for hubs and the kids. Ahem...

Fast forward to today, when my one year old, Emi, fell face first out of a chair and onto our hardwood floors. I'll spare you the details, but needless to say, we ended up in the ER where poor Em looked like a mini version of Rocky.

Did I hold the poor darling and coo to her lovingly while we waited for the Dr? Uh, no. I'm distraught to admit, I was emailing and making calls to clients (Oh, the horror of it) while in the waiting room. The convos went a little something like this:

Me: Hi {client}, I just wanted to follow up on...
(Insert loud clinical voice over loud speaker at a volume only dogs can hear)
Me: Sorry about that, as I was saying, I was calling to...
Three year old son: Mom, what's this do? (pointing to non-working toy in lobby as I try to sign "It's ancient and germy, leave it alone.")
Me: Aheh, sorry...again. I just wanted to talk to you about a change in our policy. You see, I need more of a life/work balance....
(Insert loud wail by daughter, pierced by a shrill beeping that I can only imagine is the "ER buzzer" we have received. )
Me: Uh, I'll need to call you later.

Kinda ironic that I'm trying to describe to a client why I'll need to cut ties with them in order to gain more time with my kids, as my kids run willy-nilly around the ER with apparently no parental supervision. Seriously, is this my life?

So I lied...

I didn't stay home with my little one today. The Emi waterfall stopped and I thought she was doing well. (More on that in a moment.) Instead, I kept my first appointment with Mike Curtis, a Coach and mastermind behind www.thecoachingmirror.com. He did not disappoint.

Lately I've been trying to figure out my goals and where I really want to be in life, both professionally and personally, and made it one of my new year's resolutions to explore different options. Within the first hour of my time with Mike, he helped me focused in on what I want, how to get there, the measured steps needed to take action and most important of all, he promised to hold my feet to the fire.

Was it daunting? Yes. Were the decisions hard? Yes, some of the most difficult in my career to date. Is he going to keep me to my word? A resounding yes. But.... will I be happier and more fulfilled? I have a feeling the answer will be a whole-hearted yes.

I can't share with you yet what we went through today, because I need to take action based on our conversation, but I can tell you I feel much more positive about pursuing the career/life balance I so desperately need right now.

So a big shout out goes to Coach Mike - now if he could just help me clean up some of this puke, my life would be complete. (In other words, Mt Emi errupted yet again the moment I got home from our meeting.) Just another day at the office...

The Famous Emerson Waterfall

As I write this I am still haunted by the thought of it... clothes, never -ending clothes to be cleaned-- furniture doused with Lysol and stain fighter, Febreeze and stain-out sitting in patches of pink-stained carpeting. Yes folks, I am talking about my daughter's first bout of the stomach flu.

Now when it comes to gastrointestinal mysteries, I am a prize champion fighter. My three year old, Ethan, had an entire season when I swore the only thing the kid could get down his gullet was batteries and misplaced coins he found behind our dresser. But ugh, I'd forgotten the sheer horror of the whole ordeal. The not knowing when it will come... as if you're being stalked by a crazy bird of prey just waiting to barf down the front of your shirt.

Of course, as we working moms know, sick days like these are made all the more disturbing by the fact that we still have work to do. The phone doesn't stop ringing - the meetings don't cancel themselves. When I first started my agency 6 years ago, I would trudge through these injustices, trying to do it all. But I like to think I'm older and wiser ( with a much healthier client revenue base) and this time around I think I'm going to cancel the meetings, put an out of office message on my phone, send the E-man out to have fun with his sitter.

My day planner is going to be filled with items like "Clean fifth pukey shirt", "Second round of Febreeze on unfortunate stain on couch" and "drink my baby girl in as I rock her to sleep", because after all, she'll only need mom in this way for so long. And I don't want to miss a moment.

My Son's Imaginary Friend "Oliber"

For the past few days now my son has had a new presence in his life - his imaginary cat friend "Oliber." He's been obsessed with the movie Oliver and Company about an orphan cat who finds love and a home with a sweet girl from the upper East side. Now, we're nowhere near the upper east side and I'm not a cat lover, to be sure. We have a 120 pound smelly dog who sleeps on the couch, farts with alarming results and steals any and all food possible. But somehow...this damn Oliber has made his way inside our home.

A few days ago my son, Ethan, began talking about how he picked up "Oliber" and he now lives with us. He asks me to wait for Oliber, or tells me Oliber will be watching Wall-E with him. You've got to applaud the kid's imagination.

But Oliber got me thinking... If my son, E, could have an imaginary friend - why can't I? My friend would love getting me coffee and Noahs Bagels every morning. She would die over the thrill of spreadsheets, smile sweetly as she typed coverage reports and coo into the phone when my client wanted yet another round of revisions. She would skip to the bank for me, sing sweetly as she mopped up the "waterfall" a three year old boy can make around the pisser, and gently sway my screaming daughter to sleep as she throws "doggy" across the room in a rage at the injustice of a nap. She would cook nutritious meals while holding a one year old on her hip, load the dishwasher and do the wash simultaneously, make great bubble fun in the tub for two, wet slippery seal children and then read numerous stories before bedding them down for the night. And did I mention her massage technique?

Ahhh, what an imaginary friend I would have - so good, she would even kick that damn cat Oliber out of our house.