ABC5 AWESOMENESS

Warning: If you don't like bragging, you might want to skip this blog post.

I am so proud of our news and sports teams here at ABC5. Yesterday was an example of 'when it rains it pours.' We had breaking news, a bizarre murder investigation unfold, oh yeah, and the President of the United States was in our state.

Our crew can only plan ahead for so much when it comes to a newscast, the rest of the time things just happen and we have to be flexible and smart enough to handle them appropriately. Yesterday's newscasts were shining examples of a well-oiled-machine.

Here's a condensed outline of what happened yesterday during the five o'clock news.

*The producer, Melissa, had three scripts ready to go for our top story: Take live shot from Ottumwa with President Obama speaking, take live shot and explain we're waiting for President to show up, or take live shot and say President already spoke. Luckily he was speaking and we took him live off the top of our show.

*Meanwhile - ABC5 sports crew is working the phones to confirm the new hire of Fred Hoiberg. They do! So at about 5:05 p.m. John Walters rushes down to the set and we go on air talking about his breaking news. We were the first news outlet BY FAR to relay this information.

*Off camera, the newsroom learns more about a tragic and bizarre death of a Drake student and reporters James and Hillary begin the scramble to update the story with new information.

After all this we were able to relax, but in those first ten minutes of the five o'clock show EVERYONE (the producer, the production crew, sports team, reporters, and myself) had to be on the same page with last minute decisions. That means a lot of chatter over headsets, in the newsroom, and in ear pieces. But the viewers had no idea all this was going on, and that's just how we like it. It was all executed perfectly.

Great job everyone. I'm proud to be part of this team.

Amanda

ps: While I'm bragging... our meteorologists deliver Central Iowa's most accurate forecast. Didn't want to leave them out :)

Our little Lydia is almost two weeks old and I really feel like myself again! I've been busy lately too. Brad Edwards last week brought over his tiller for my vegetable garden. My husband tilled it for me, unfortunately the Mediacom cable for the house happened to run under our garden. Oops, no Internet, cable or phone for a few hours.
But after the tilling my sister Natalie and I planted all the seeds and plants we bought. It includes two cherry tomato plants, two Roma tomato plants, two rows of kohlrabies, four cucumber mounds, two rows of peas, two rows of beans, cilantro and we have some rhubarb already growing. We got it all planted just before the rain came in! Perfect timing thanks to Brad's excellent forecast!


Today was a gorgeous day and I was able to take the baby and dogs for a long walk. When we got back I handed the baby off to Dad and went to work on my flower beds. I planted all my Canna Lilly bulbs and some other plants and weeded a bit. I also got all the laundry done and even touched up the paint in our dinning room, something I've been meaning to do since we moved in. Everyone says sleep when the baby sleeps but we've been really lucky and have been getting a lot of sleep at night because she goes four hour long stretches in between feedings. I think that's why I feel so good already.

Rachel Pierce
rpierce@myabc5.com

Our little girl is now five days old! We took her to her first doctor's appointment today and she is one healthy baby, even surpassed her birth weight!
We, of course, are sleep deprived but its so worth it. We are just totally in love and smitten with her.
It took a little bit to get her here. First she was twelve days late and I had twelve hours of labor. We chose to have her at Mercy downtown and what a wonderful experience. The nurses and staff were incredible, Jennifer, Cindy, Laura and so many others made us feel as comfortable as possible and my husband and I are forever grateful.
I'm not going to write much because I have a feeling the baby will be waking up at any second. Just one funny story before I sign off. We gave Lydia her first bath and were so nervous. My husband said, "we are two educated adults we should be able to pull this off."

The bath part went great, we went in with a plan and were successful. It is always what you don't plan for that gets you though. In this case it was the post-bath "I'm warm and relaxed" diaper flood. The bad part was that we had not quite got to the diaper stage, she was still in the drying off step. Most of it got caught by the towel, but my shirt and the rug caught some as well. Who knew something so small could make such a mess!

Thank you to all of you for your well wishes!

Rachel Pierce
rpierce@myabc5.com

Love and Logic

Have you heard of this?

My mom took me to a conference this weekend. It was called "Parenting with Love and Logic." It's about helping parents and teachers raise responsible kids. My mom was introduced to it years ago, it's been around since the 70's.

I wasn't sure what to expect when I went, but I walked away feeling like I'd been given a handful of tools and techniques that will make me a better parent. That's a really good feeling. I've been struggling with disciplining, feeding, and generally raising a toddler. I've never done this before.

Here's an excerpt from their website:

"Raise children who are self-confident, motivated, and ready for the real world with this win-win approach to parenting. Your children will win because they’ll learn to solve their own problems while gaining the confidence they need to meet life’s challenges. And you’ll win because you’ll establish healthy control—without resorting to anger, threats, nagging or exhausting power struggles. Parenting with Love and Logic puts the fun back into parenting!"

I know each family is different and what works for one family may not work for another. But I'm grateful for my mom introducing me to this and I'm excited to try it out. I'm excited about using techniques that take 'anger' out of parenting. I really think it's best for kids and parents, a lot less stress.

What do you guys think?

What parenting philosophies do you like? I'd love to hear.

Amanda

akrenz@myabc5.com

A Three-Year-Old?!?!?

My son, Maddox, just turned three. It's starting to sink in that he's no longer a baby, not really a toddler, but a little boy. My sister, a photographer, captured this great "Maddox" moment. I wanted to get some new pictures of him before his new baby brother arrives. This is my favorite. Everyone who's looked at it says he looks so grown up. I guess that's because he is.

Amanda

More Lydia photos...

Here are some more photos of Rachel's new baby girl, Lydia. They were taken in the hospital, by Mercy's photographer. I couldn't resist posting a few of them. The yawning one is my favorite.It sounds like Rachel is doing just fine since they've been home. She said Lydia slept last night in her bassinet without waking up every 20 minutes. And she also texted me that she's well on her way back to her pre-baby weight. I told her I was jealous because my scale continues to go in the upwards direction.
Rachel will eventually start blogging again on her own from home. Until then, I'll keep you posted.

Amanda
akrenz@myabc5.com

Pleased to introduce...

Lydia Lane Pierce. Born April 14th, 2010. 8 pounds, 6 oz. and 21 inches long.

Both mom and baby are doing well. They had zero sleep last night so I imagine they're resting today. I'm trying not to pester them with too many excited phone calls and text messages. We'll announce the wonderful news in our newscasts tonight. And tomorrow we'll likely have some video. Today we'll have to settle for some first photos of the newest team member of ABC5.

Of course I'll gladly be updating the photos as they come in.

Feel free to email your well wishes to Rachel at rpierce@myabc5.com.

Amanda

What! No baby yet!

What, no baby yet?

It is April 8th and I am now six days past my due date. My doctor's office recommended I be induced tonight. When they first told me that last week I never thought it would even get to this point. But, as each day passed I started having second thoughts about being induced and started doing a ton of research. What I found is that inductions are not always successful. A high percentage lead to Cesarean Sections, which is the LAST thing I want! It also makes for a tough labor and I plan on going drug free. So my husband and I talked about it and decided to wait one more week before going down the induction route. Besides full term pregnancy is considered up to 42 weeks, so technically I am really not overdue. Many say you shouldn't have a "due" date instead a "due" month...so that is the approach I am taking.

One thing that has been kind of tough during the wait is people keep asking me "when are you going to have that baby?" Trust me if I knew I would tell you. Or when I call someone and they answer the phone "are you in labor?” I know it's just folks who are excited for me and the baby but it just is getting a little old since it started three weeks ago.

I have decided to go ahead and start my maternity leave. I'll work tomorrow and then start my 12 weeks off. I promise to still blog from home and include pictures of the baby. I know ABC5 will send a crew after the baby is born and show it on the news as well.

Until then I'm content to play the waiting game.

Rachel Pierce
rpierce@myabc5.com

Fun Easter, Funny Toddler

My mom made this awesome cake last weekend when I was home for Easter. It was a birthday cake for my brother and me (my birthday's the end of March, his is beginning of April). I thought it was so cute I wanted to take a photo and share it. It's two circle cakes, one used for the face the other cut into shapes for the ears and bow tie.

We also had our own Easter egg hunt at my parents' house with all the grandkids. The eggs were full of change and candy, they might as well have been pure gold. They had a great time. Recent Maddox funnies:

While we were home for Easter I had my sister take some family photos (here's her website). We were all loaded in the car headed out to the location for the photo shoot when I decided last minute to run back in and change from a skirt into pants. When I hopped out of the car Maddox asked my sister, "Where'd Mommy go?" My sister explained I went back inside to change into some pants. He understood immediately and simply said, "Oh, that's because Mommy peed in her underwear."

The other day when my husband was driving home with Maddox after daycare he pointed out a motorcyclist stopped at a stop light in the pouring rain. My husband said, "Look Maddox that motorcycle rider is getting rained on." Maddox became concerned and begged, "Can you save him? Can you save him?"

My husband asked, "What do you want me to do?" Maddox replied, "Can you couple up to him?" For those who don't know, this is a train term. Maddox wanted to hitch up the car to that motorcyclist and his bike (similar to the train cars in the photo). Unfortunately this didn't happen, but Maddox seemed to be okay with it. I guess that's the response you get from a Thomas the Tank Engine fanatic.

Amanda

akrenz@myabc5.com

Nursery Done!

Today I'm three days past my due date but the good news is that it was just enough time to finish our nursery!

We had been waiting on our crib and changing table, what a disaster that turned out to be. We had ordered them from company [I’m not allowed to say here] in December and was told they were in stock. A few weeks later we were e-mailed that they were on backorder until March 31st. I thought that's fine, she'll sleep in a bassinet in the beginning anyway. Well March 31st rolled around and we heard nothing, my husband called the company and they said they would check in on it. Then I get another e-mail saying it is not coming in until July 9th! That's when we canceled our order and went over to Suite Dreams in Clive. They had multiple cribs in stock and so the crib and changing table are from them!

As for the paintings on the wall, my mom did the blue hot air balloon and I painted the bird on a branch. My husband, with some help from my Sister, put down the flooring, made the custom shelves, put up the new light fixture, painted the entire room and put all the furniture together...what a guy!
Rache Pierce
rpierce@myabc5.com

Custom shelves made by my hubby, Matthew
Changing station

To give you an idea this is the room before the remodel (see below)