If you’re just tuning in, be sure to read Behind-the-scenes at 9News’ Back-to-School Segment Part I.
Despite my best efforts to pull together two back-to-school segments for 9News (and believe me, both segments were a ton of work) one very important thing started unraveling the day prior: Haddie wasn’t feeling well.
I assumed it was because we’d stayed up late at our neighbor’s outdoor movie theater and gotten up early for church but she ping-ponged from OK to worse as she claimed stomach pains. I debated replacing her with her friend but then she’d recover enough for us to see the silver lining and hope she’d be OK.
She wasn’t.
Around 1 a.m. she came into our bedroom claiming nightmares about the sound of necklaces (can you say hallucinating?) so I let her stay. Problem was she thrashed and turned all night and I had to be at 9News by 6 a.m. for my first segment.
Translation: I barely slept.
The plan was for Jamie to bring the kids later for our fashion segment that aired at 8:40 a.m. My first segment on back-to-school products went just swell (find them here that includes the coolest alarm clock) but when I called Jamie to see how she was, he simply said, “Not great,” but that they would be there.
Once they arrived, we hung out in the green room and Haddie seemed pretty OK and my hope was renewed we’d survive the segment.
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| The Green Room (that is not green) |
About 20 minutes before our segment, TaRhonda came to get us and the kids got a little tour of the newsroom. Much to Bode’s delight, he met his celebrity crush, Meteorologist Becky Ditchfield.
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| Blurry Becky. Apparently I was excited for him |
At the end of the segment when Becky was talking to TaRhonda on-air, Becky called Bode “pretty dang awesome.”
Warning: Don’t tease him about it. He starts to blush and roars, “STOP IT!”
Once in the studio, we did a couple of dry runs and all the kids did great.
And then came SHOW TIME! Be sure to check-out the video here (kids’ segment starts at about 4 minutes and for clothing/product info, go here).
Jamie was a stellar stage father, guiding and helping the kids behind the scenes and they were all amazing. Hadley, in particular because she sucked it up and still performed when she felt sick.
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| Ignore the flash; no time to remove it |
Steph was adorable, Bennett was cool but that Bode? For a kid who has a canned smile, the little dude stole the show.
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| Becky raving how awesome Bode is. |
When the segment was over, we were all relieved, grateful and elated with how well it went. As we were walking back to our green room to retrieve our belongings, Hadley confessed:
“I threw up.”
“WHAT? When? Where?”
“Outside!”
I turned to Jamie and he confirmed it. Turns out she was still having stomach problems and the moment they got out of the car upon arriving at the 9News studios, she vomited all over the next parking stall. She recovered enough to perform for the segment and has been down-and-out with a feverish stomach flu ever since.
“Yeah, and Daddy told me not to say anything to you about throwing up until after we went on TV!”
Wise, wise man that Jamie.
And that, my friends, is how you leave your (literal) mark on your television debut.
I'm a Canadian-born mom of two, former Denver Post columnist, family travel writer, editor of MileHighMamas.com and 9News contributor. Expert on all things Utah, Denver, family and travel. Lover of laughter and life. Happily married to a man obsessed with growing The Great Pumpkin. 