belated intro

[COElizabeth]

I feel bad that I haven't introduced myself earlier! My DH, Tim, and I live in Denver and love the mountains. I am currently staying at home with my 5-month-old son, James, whom we hope to take hiking a lot this summer. I am 34 and was in nonprofit management before having James (I also worked at the Right Start for a few months while I was pregnant). I grew up in Austin, went to college in Massachusetts and then worked for 4 years in Washington as a staff member in the U.S. House of Representatives. I then spent a year living in eastern Europe (Hungary and Lithuania) as a volunteer with a couple of different nonprofits before getting my MBA at Northwestern University. After grad school I moved to Colorado, where I met and married Tim. The other member of our family is Kenai, our 110-pound, 2-year-old Alaskan Malamute. I have learned so much from all of you and appreciate the companionship and support. Thank you!

Elizabeth
Mom to James
9-20-02

[ismommy]

Welcome.

Helene
mommy to Isabella 9/19/01

[atlbaby]

Hi Elizabeth!

Glad to hear more about you and your family! It sounds like you've been to a lot of places and done interesting things! What was it like working at the House of Representatives?

-Rachel
Mom to Arielle Jill, 10/30/01
#2:) EDD 10/24/03

[Kate888]

Welcome!! Another Northwestern alumni here :)

How is Kenai getting alone with the baby? We have a huge 125-pound Newfie-mix dog and originally we wanted to get a Malamute or Husky. They're just beautiful!!

Thank you for the intro!


Kate :)

[COElizabeth]

I loved it. I felt much better informed about current events than I have at any other time, and it's a fascinating place. Probably the most important thing i learned is that it is extremely difficult to get something passed into law. Everything about the legislative branch is pretty much designed to slow things down! Sometimes that's good, of course, but it can be really frustrating, too. It's a lot harder than that Schoolhouse Rock jingle "I'm just a bill" makes it sound. I was lucky to get to work on some things that actually passed, but some of my colleagues worked for years and years on things that never became law. I'm not even talking about really controversial things but routine legislation to improve and update operations in various federal agencies, etc. But Capitol Hill is never boring, and it was a very exciting place to work right out of college. Tons of smart, young people, interesting issues, etc. And the personalities! Like a lot of other environments, it's not very family-friendly, though, for either the Members of Congress or for the staff. I saw both go through a lot of stress trying to balance that life with having children, so I'm glad I don't work there now that I have a family.

Elizabeth
Mom to James
9-20-02

[COElizabeth]

Kate,

Yes, he is beautiful, but I confess that my first major failure as a "parent" has been with him. We've done quite a bit of obedience work with him, but he is still too hyper and rambunctious for me to trust him around James most of the time. He is so big he could jump a baby gate at about 10 weeks old, so we pretty much keep him outside unless one of us actually has hold of his collar to let him sniff the baby. It's funny, when we go out walking and James is bundled up in his stroller so much people can't really see him, they of course pay more attention to the dog, and that is when Kenai is clearly thinking, "Ah, back to the natural order!"

Elizabeth
Mom to James
9-20-02

[jenmcadams]

I've posted and gotten lots of help here and have never introduced myself either. My DH and I live in the Denver area (in the foothills west of Golden) and I'm a first-time SAHM of Abigail Susan (Abbie). We live in a relatively rural area and have some property and a couple of great dogs. We love CO and particularly love being close to Denver, but also having a little bit of a rural experience too. Before being a SAHM, I worked as a director of marketing for an ecommerce company here in CO. I also received by MBA at Northwestern ('99) and prior to that lived in CA and was a management consultant.

Elizabeth...let me know if you'd ever like to meet up. I go to Gymboree in Denver and spend quite a bit of time down in the city.

Thanks Again for Everyone's Help,

Jen

Mom to Abbie (8/29/02)

[gour0]

What school in Massachusetts?

[COElizabeth]

Williams, a small liberal arts college in the northwest corner of the state. And Jen, I will definitely email you to get together. So excited that there is another BBB boards fan in my area - and how ironic that you got your MBA at Kellogg, too!

Elizabeth
Mom to James
9-20-02

[flagger]

HI there. I grew up in Houston and spent 3 months in Denver.

Don't forget there is that huge dog run park off of Araphaoe East of 25. Would be a great place to go hiking and let the doggy off lead for awhile.

[mamahill]

Welcome! A late intro is wonderful - glad to get to know you. James is adorable!