My husband Robert and I always wanted to have alot of kids. (Well since I come from a family of nine and my husband is an only child--I might have persuaded him a bit). We have 5 beautiful daughters (ages 3-11). Robert is a full time law enforcement officer who loves his job of helping others and seeing justice served. I work in television. When my husband and I first started dating I was a producer for the Sally Jessy Raphael Show. My running joke was--"my husband's saving lives...and I'm destroying them".
Fortunately I have moved on from tabloid television and I work on a classic--The Martha Stewart Show. I am a supervising producer for Martha's team and I love it. I am able to combine every hobbyI love in life--cooking, crafting, gardening--and on top of that I get paid for it.
Our first daughter Graceann was born while I was still working at Sally. I am so grateful that Sally allowed me to juggle motherhood and career by allowing me to work two days from home. But since tv can be so demanding I pondered switching careers or just taking time off. I decided freelancing was the way to go. So I started working on Queen Latifah's pilot for her talk show. When I was there I was recommended for a job at the Rosie O'Donnell Show. That job changed my life. Rosie was a working mom and it was important to her to have daycare at work...thus this was the place for me...what a benefit. Bringing Graceann to work with me was a dream come true--as Hannah Montana would say--it's the best of both worlds! Everytime Elmo, Big Bird or Bear in the Big Blue House paid a visit to Rosie's Show--they would also stop by in the nursery--Grace loved coming to work with me as much as I did.
I loved the arrangement at Rosie so much...that it was time for daughter number 2. Caroline was a beautiful baby--but Grace took some time getting used to her. When she was born 2 year old Grace would say--can we give her away? can I squish her like a bug? Sibling Rivalry at it's best!
As the show came to a sad end I pitched my own television show to the Food Network. It was produced with a co-worker from Rosie--Jeanette Barber. The show was a food makeover show and called Lighten Up!. It was during that show pilot that daughter # 3 came along...Pretty Pauline. She even made her tv debut on one of my Lighten Up episodes (my recipes are still on http://www.foodnetwork.com/ --and some even have 5 stars yeah!).
Life and Style was the next show I worked on--that's when daughter # 4 was born. It's funny because that show was all about style and fashion and beauty...and Gemma my fourth is all about the same.
When that show ended I was hired to work as the Supervising Producer for the Martha Stewart show--enter Rebecca. I can easily put together my resume--because I just think of the years my daughters were born..and I can figure out when I worked at which shows.
Yes...5 beautiful daughters...we are proud of each and every one of them. They are so unique and different in their own way--no two alike.
Graceann is smart and very sensitive--I think all first born are. She's a "second" mother to her sisters. She's our softball pitching pro. She pitches for 4 different local teams...and I can barely remember her schedule. She loves creative writing and wants to start her own blog...(hmmm...we'll see Grace).
Caroline loves sports, and mud (not necessarily in that order)...my husband likes to think of her as "his boy". She also loves to bake...and likes pretending she has her own cooking show "Cakes by Caroline".
Pauline is very bright and has a very vivid imagination. She recently has learned to read and is doing quite well with that. She loves school (although this year she will have a tough teacher--so that may change--hope not!) Sometimes she comes to work with me. I'll never forget the first time she met Martha Stewart. She kept staring at Martha and finally said to her "you look so much like Martha Stewart". Martha without missing a beat said "I am Martha Stewart."
Gemma and Rebecca are so close in age people often mistake them for twins. Sometimes it's just easier to say yes they are twins...even though Gemma is about an inch taller. Gemma likes to play the role of the princess and because she's an inch taller loves to tell Rebecca she has to play the role of the prince...which is fine with Rebecca--until Rebecca figures it all out.
All of our children make us laugh and smile and bring so much joy to us as I am sure your children do to too. Please share your amusing/interesting/laugh out loud stories with us. Thank you!
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