I smell fall

Well with fall approaching and camp winding down I can smell football in the air.  As we prepare for the Pitt game I started to get that sick to my stomach feeling.  I usually get this the night before game and Im very anxious on game days.  I love being able to tailgate and chill out and spend time with my fellow CW's cause they understand that maybe a beer would calm me down...

But really you know what I love about fall... JEANS!!!  because Im so sick of shaving my legs every day.. Really I have 3 kids, a MIA hubby and a dog...so for me to shower everyday is a HUGE accomplishment and who really has the extra 10 minutes to shave... Seriously... even Isaiah will say..um Mom your legs are scratchy...yep I gotta shave but right now I have to clean up the yogurt you spilled, change Raya's poopy pants, let the dog out and oh crap wait I forgot to get the garbage to the corner and there is the garbage truck.  Then you hear Keke yell...uh oh!! yep she just got into the nail polish and its everywhere and on the dog who just got back from the groomers the day before...

So I will take a 5 min shower and hope maybe tomorrow I will not have to go anywhere and wear shorts... then I think if someone is looking at my legs that close they need help...lol

so Im pumped for jeans...now if I can get into a smaller size that would be even better...

Well its time for me to hit the hay.. SO GOODNIGHT TO ALL MY CW'S AND EVERYONE FOLLOWING...

GOD BLESS THE FALL!!!!

Is camp over!!!!

okay so I was so stoked about football season... But can I just say... IM OVER IT... lol.. why you ask.. Simple.. us Coaches wives go into SINGLE MOMMY MODE.. so that means our Coach leaves at 6 am then returns home between 11pm and 2 am.  depends on how practice went and how long its gonna take to grade film.... I love football saturdays.. see I get a babysitter and kick back and enjoy myself.  Its my mommy day away.  Don't get me wrong there are many things about being a coaches wife that rock, but its also really hard.  There are no family dinners during season and recruiting... coaches work 7 days a week with crazy hours.  My kids can go days without seeing their dad..so what is a good momma to do..Pack a lunch and take the kids to practice so that when daddy walks off the field they at least can hug and kiss him for 5 minutes before he says.. Daddy's gotta go to meetings.. then its takes me another 20 minutes to get the kids in the car and off.  Then it starts....

I WANT DADDY!!!  at this point  I want to cry to and say ME TOO!!! cause gosh darn it IM EXHAUSTED... We see him for 5 to 10 minutes and it takes us 1 hr to get out the door and 20 mins to get back in the car... is it worth it... YES!! If my kids get to hear Daddy say I love you and kiss them and they are awake and remember then Yep its totally worth all the work...

I remember thinking when I had just 1 child how great it was to be a coaches wife and get to stay home.  Isaiah and I would play, play and go on great adventures... Now with 3 children its like okay Im gonna stand here and just try to organize the chaos...lol.. its not that bad but when I tell you there is a child in need of something every second Im totally not kidding.  So at bed time I crash.. and that is what Im about to do now.  I was trying to stay up and wait for Bill...however its 11:15pm and I will be up at 6ish so off to bed I go.  I have to tackle the back yard tomorrow.  The grass is high and I need to weed wack and oh I got to take the trash out... Dang I forgot 2morrow is trash day... Can I hire a temp hubby???  LOL... Like Merry Maids it should be Helpful Hands... I need a maid too... oh heck I need a lot of things but its not on the BUDGET... those budgets are a pain in my tush...Anyway... Good night my fellow CW's... may the Mommy force be with you!!!!

More CW mentions and a few other notes....

I have to say this...out of the words of my girl Bianca...  Outsiders think that its so exciting and a lot of the time it is. But there are also a lot of blood, sweat, and tears. She is exactly right... Bianca makes me laugh.  We met in Cincinnati.  She was a track coach.  So she takes me out for dinner for my birthday and she says get a drink, Im driving.  I say okay.. the waitress comes and I ordered a unsweet ice tea.  Biance looks and me and says I said a drink!!!... I said hey my hubby only lets us have water when we go out to eat cause he thinks its crazy to pay $2.50 for tea... she about spit out her water...Its moments like this that make me smile.  Because as a coaches wife we really have to rely on each other.  If we have a Dr appt or need a ride to the airport its usually another coaches wife who is watching your kids are driving you.  We have to sit with each other during the games and cry with when we lose or have a bad season.. and we get to yell and scream loud and hug when we have won a conference championship.  They are the ones who truly get where your coming from.  Beth sat behind me at Cincy and it was so funny because she would hear me chew out my players and just laugh.  She never said shut your butt up but she should have.  My son still to this day talks bout her daughter Olivia who I think he may have had a crush on...  Katie helped me at our 1st bowl game in Cincy.  She held my daughter Keara who was a baby most of the game and was literally my 3rd and 4th hand for the bowl trip.  Then I have to tell you about Meg.  Wow this woman is remarkable.  8 kids,,,yes I said 8 kids..and a grandson due in a few weeks.  She is always on the run with her kids.  This woman never fails to have a 7 course dinner packed in a bag at games...LOL.. she is kind and very sweet and always shares her goodies with you.  She would let me rant for hours about how I get no help at home.  Yep you thought being a coaches wife was living the life,,,WRONG!!! We have to be plumbers when the kids get cars shoved down the toliet.  We have to be the garage door fixer when it breaks.  We climb up ladders to get the gutters unclog. We do it all...then we get smart and hire someone and try to hide the bill from our coach..lol.. cause he will say... Why didn't you tell me, I could have saved us $200 and done it myself.  you reply..yep I know next time to tell you...really you are thinking...damn why didn't I shred that bill...lol.  I remember one time saying something to Shannon L about needing something done at the house.  She said girl just call someone, Billy will never get to it. She knows him well.  Her and her hubby (Paul) were Bill's strength coach at Iowa. She was right.  She has this laugh that makes me almost pee my pants and always eager to help out another CW.  Bev is a sweetie too... Her eyes... I tell ya I have never seen such beautiful eyes.. She could hug me and it was like I knew everything would be okay.  She just has the kind warm heart that you can see in those pretty greens.  These are a few more of the BEAUTIFUL WOMEN who I call my sistas in the sisterhood of CW.  These are my Cincy peeps and when I get some more time Im going to talk about my SDSU CW's.  But guess what...bath and bed time... Im pooped...yep its day 2 of camp so that means of course hubby gone at 6 am and home by midnight... Im just giving small little tidbits of each woman who has supported me and has become my sista.. in no ways can I write a blog and let you know just how much I love these women.  I need years to do that and quite frankly I don't have that kind of time as CEO of Inge Enterprises...I hate to say Im a SAHM.. as a CW.... we are literally CEO/CFO, head hancho of our Enterprises...believe that!!!!

The start of it all

Im starting this blog as a reflection as what life is really like for a coaches wife.  So here it goes
First a little about me and how I became the CW that I am today.  CW equals Coaches wife. :)

In 2001 I met my husband.  At the time he was an assistant at University at Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, Iowa.  I was a working full time at a District Manager for a cellular company in Cedar Rapids and Iowa City, Ia.  I was working a lot of hours and well not interested in dating.  However he got me to go out with him one night and well he left after our date for recruiting.  I didn't realize it would be a month before our 2nd date.  I remember saying wow this is great.  I was so busy with my career that it didn't interfere with work.  That was my priority.  Well things progressed between us and we realized after a lot of breaking up etc that we loved each other and didn't want to be apart. Bill left UNI in 2005 for Colorado.  This was a great opportunity for him.  During July of 2005 we found out we were expecting our 1st child. Right after winning the Big 12 conference we were fired.  I hadn't moved to Colorado yet due to the fact that I was expecting, working and seeing a Dr in Cedar Rapids.  We did buy a house in Longmont CO and now had to find a new job and sell.  Bill was then hired by Chuck Long at SDSU.  He was excited to be back with his mentors from Iowa.  The one person who influenced him to get into coaching was Coach Bob Elliott.  He was a father figure to Bill.  In 2006 our 1st child was born.  Isaiah Raymond Inge was born on 2/21.  After making several trips back and forth from Iowa to San Diego we decided to move to San Diego to all be together.  So Isaiah and I made the LONG move out.  We loved San Diego.  Who wouldn't.. Its December and freezing in Iowa and I was in the backyard in the pool with Isaiah.  After two seasons with SDSU we were given the opportunity to go coach at the University of Cincinnati in 2008.  So up we move again.  But this time Isaiah and I moved to Iowa because I was expecting our 2nd child now.  I wanted to go back to my Dr that I had with Isaiah and this also allowed us some time to find the right house in Cincy.  We did find a great house in a perfect neighborhood... Cartwheel Terrace.  Our 2nd child Keara was born on Sept. 11th right in the smack of football season...not great planning on our part but there really is never a great time to have a baby when your a football coach.  We had a great season and finished as the Big East Champs and went to the Orange Bowl. We also added to our family by getting custody of our niece Taelor who was 16yrs old. We were adjusting perfectly to the addition to our family and Cincinnati.  Then in 2009 I lost my father on Oct 19th.  This was devasting to me.  During the football season my father loved to follow the Bearcats.  We were having another great season.  We also found out our 3rd (and final) child was going to be coming in June.  We ended up being the Big East Champs again and was invited to the Sugar Bowl.  During this time our head coach Brian Kelly accepted the Head job at Notre Dame.  Our Offensive Coordinator at Cincinnati accepted a Head coaching job at the University at Buffalo.  He asked my husband to be the Defensive coordinator.  He accepted this position.  So we moved again expecting our 3rd child to Buffalo, NY.  Do you see the trend.  Every time I was pregnant we moved...

Okay thats a little of the locations we have been to.  Its a lot of moving..part of the job description really.  But now I would like to say a few things about what it is really like being a coaches wife and a few things I have learned along the way.

1: A coaches wife has to be STRONG, INDEPENDENT, PATIENT AND ADJUST TO CHANGE FREQUENTLY.  We must be able to find a babysitter at a drop of the hat, cook a dinner with a hour notice and learn how to cook a lot of food as we end up feeding our players too.
We must be able to manage the house, kids, dogs etc all by ourselves.  Our husbands start camp with 2 a day practices in late July/August and we don't see them till after Bowl games.  But then recruiting starts and they will be gone for months. 
Relief comes in June/July.  However I seem to think this.  I love spending time as a family with my husband there but trust me when I tell you COACHES DONT GET FAMILY SCHEDULES... So at the end of July you will have a good 2 weeks of trying to get the kids back to bed at 8:30 and nap times set again etc.  Its a little crazy trying to get the routine you have had in place for 11 months back and all because Daddy was home and around for a few weeks.

There is so much I could write about.  But right now Mommy duty calls...so I will add more later. But I do want to acknowledge a few people who have helped me realize quite a few things about being a coaches wife.
Joey Elliott...she helped me in so many ways. She showed me it was okay to let something not get done and spend time with the kids.  Because the kids will not remember the dirty countertop but will remember that mommy played. She also taught me how to be polite to others.  Cause there are times as a Coaches wife you really want to sock it to a fan with a loud mouth bashing players or coaches.  lol

Lisa Long, for showing me how to just have a good time and smile even when the season isn't going so well....

Paqui Kelly... this woman showed me strenght beyond what I could even imagine.  She is so chill and showed me its okay to just say Oh well....she fought Breast Cancer not once but twice while raising 3 small children and being a HCW.  She showed me kindness and most of all strength of how to get it done and go with the flow.

Shannon Quinn, she is a riot.  She has taught me how to find the time see my hubby with three kids...its called snacks, packed lunches and off to practice to see him for a few minutes.  Shannon has also allowed me to be able to kick back relax and enjoy my family with football.

Jessica Ash...this is my girl...she was there for me in San Diego when I was so home sick.  She is also from Iowa and well Iowa girls just do it different..lol.. she was there for my tears, pains and happy moments to celebrate.  She will be a forever friend.

There are so many CW's that are forever friends now.  Sarah Duval has been a constant support system for me in Buffalo.  She has been an inspiration to start working out again and to believe in my faith of God thru the little ways she lives.  I have a few more to mention but I gotta run... so here is to the CWs and all we go thru... I will discuss more of my CW's in my next post!!! GO BULLS