It's not bragging to say that I do the lion's share of the daily preparation and household chores for our family. Like many moms, I suppose the same might be said if my husband didn't travel for work, but he does.

When he's not spending a week in China or Europe or South America, my husband's jetting off to Pennsylvania, or Texas or Atlanta. This level of travel is partly why I adopted a friendlier work schedule late this summer. With my son heading to Kindergarten and my husband's travel heating up, it became obvious that something had to change.

Because I'm around a bit more these days for things like leisurely weekday breakfasts and putting my son on the bus, which I love, I've become acutely aware of my husband's 'Superhero' status.

Wikipedia refers to superheros as "mystery men", which I suppose is what has ultimately elevated my husband to this status. On top of being away quite a bit, his job requires him to help others, which he's very good at, and he's 'saved the day' on more than one occasion. Although he doesn't wear a cape, his business suit is equally impressive to a five year old.

I might be the one serving up breakfast, lunch and dinner for my son, bathing him, reading him books, playing with him, carting him to sports, tending to bumps and bruises while working (nearly) full time, but my husband's grand entrance after a week away - gift in hand - is what really makes our son light up and smile ear to ear. In my son's eyes, his dad is most definitely a Superhero. I figure that being the Superhero's wife is pretty cool, too.

As much as I'm trying to savor every minute of summer and the joy that this fair and fleeting season brings with it, I'm never far from the thought that my only son is off to Kindergarten this Fall. It's going to happen, whether I like it or not.

I do like, don't get me wrong. He's worked up to this moment. His entire pre-school class is rehearsing their graduation songs and he's really into being 'big'. So what's the problem?

His life is changing. Mine is, too.

I've changed my work schedule to be more in line with Kindergarten hours. It's a big change after having him in daycare for the last five years for ten hours a day (and me at the office for ten hours, too). He'll have a shorter day. I will, too. He'll be carrying his own backpack, fending for himself in the lunch line, shuffling from classroom to classroom, riding the bus - gasp! It's a lot to take in for a mom who likes doing things for her kiddo. In the mornings lately, he's been standing at the door saying "Let's go mom. Come on!" and at school the other day he actually said "You're good to go, mom". No lingering in his classroom or extra kisses and hugs needed. I was GOOD-TO-GO.

To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure I'm ready for a truly independent, confident child, who needs me on a need-to-know basis. Of course it's what I should want. In fact, my husband and I have raised him to think for himself, do for himself, and to be a well-mannered boy. He just never "bought in" until now.

While my husband was in Houston this week, my son put on his clothes, brushed his teeth, combed his hair, put away his toys (without me asking) and engaged in all sorts of well-mannered behavior. He held open the door for me and "other ladies" at school, asked to be excused from the table without being prompted to do so and cleared his own plate. For three days in a row he kept up this routine. Are you kidding me?

Don't get me wrong, he's not perfect. What he most definitely IS is a soon-to-be Kindergartner with a new found sense of pride in his own ability. He's growing up. And until now, I didn't get the message that as his mom I need to "grow up", too.

What I know for sure is that come this September, the leaves won't be the only things falling. This mom's going to shed a few tears.

You couldn't really call it a photo shoot because working moms were involved. '

It all started because I finally had an appointment to have my hair colored and cut on my calendar. Sure it had been on my calender two weeks prior (conference call bumped that one), but this one was going to stick. It had to, since my roots were quickly becoming borderline offensive.

Our current MediaMoms photo is 1 1/2 years old. This fact, combined with the thought of great hair, prompted the photo shoot idea. Here's my thinking: the day you get your hair done is the PERFECT day to take a photo. In fact, it's the only day that month that your hair is going to look like you actually spent more than 10 minutes on it.

I shared my epiphany with Betsy Demars, fellow Media Mom, and Erica Miller, The Saratogian's chief photog. They couldn't argue with female logic, so the question became, could they make it work? The answer: well, maybe. We decided to play the whole thing by ear since we had to also factor in breaking news (the nerve!).

Our set appointment time came and went, which we all knew it would. Then an hour later, we all suddenly found ourselves - long after five, mind you - in the same room. With no time for primping or planning. our creative strategy was simply "let's do this thing".

The time frame allotted for the photo? Less than five minutes. Why? Betsy had made a promise to her son that she'd personally shuffle him to practice. She had to make that stick, and we weren't about to let her down.

Erica, being the talented gal she is, decided that even though it was pitch dark - we needed to get out there. In the freezing cold. So onto Maple Avenue we went with a prop (chair) in hand. Shivering back to back, we laughed out loud and the irony of the moment. How on earth do you schedule and art direct two working moms into the perfect shot? You don't. Because there is no perfect day, time, shot. Thankfully, we'd given up on perfection when we became working moms!

I haven't seen the photographs, but I know that seeing them will bring to mind the reality of being a mom who works and makes promises to her kids, who still needs to cover her roots and who accepts the fact that these things rarely go as planned. Nor are they easily scheduled. Home and work collide every day. It's a messy job, but these two Media Moms like it that way. And, we have the pictures to prove it.

This month, I took a little vacation from blogging. As a quintessential extrovert, I'm almost always in the middle of whatever is happening - at work and at home. Yet when the holidays roll around each year and coincide with quarter end and year end at work, my external focus takes a sharp turn inward. In short, it's just a bit too much to handle. In order to pull off hitting revenue expectations at work, being certain my team takes all their (well deserved) vacation time, being Santa for my four year old, gift giving for friends and relatives, and preparing food for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, my ability to do anything "extra" is nil.

In fact, with six birthdays in late December and early January in addition to Christmas, I get downright overwhelmed and a tad cranky.

The only way I was going to be able to blog during late December was to full-on vent about the multitude of things I had to do. I'm sure you're happily nodding that I spared you the interaction. Frankly, no one wants to hear anyone else complain - especially with Christmas music playing in the background! Sure, some people are super good listeners and kind-hearted friends, but there's a limit to what a person should have to bear.

Most moms, working of otherwise, agree that this time of year is hectic. Sure it's a joyful time of year, but it's like a race to the finish as the final days before Christmas tick away...

The holidays are now over and I'm focusing on the promise of a brand new year ahead. As I draft my annual list of action items, goals and dreams for the future, I plan to reset my expectations in key areas. A little harder on myself in the "me" category: working out, healthy eating, etc. and a little easier on myself in the "you can do it all" category. Seriously, we're not "supermomwomenemployeewives", right? There's only one of me and as someone who had a couple health scares this year, I know I can't do any of it if I'm not well. Thankfully, a warning was all I needed to get back on track and not let myself forget about, well, me.

Here's to a new year that has all the "good stuff": peace, joy, love, health and prosperity. Cheers!

This November is going to be a "Can she do it?" or, here's hoping, a "She lives to tell the tale!" kind of month for this working mom. You see, it's that time of year. Yes, budget reviews. I'll be, along with our local team, defending our 2011 budget at the end of this month. That, as you can probably imagine, involves a lot of preparation - meetings, spreadsheet reviews, number crunching, creativity, collaboration, and more meetings. In other words, it's a really busy time of year.

So here's the kicker:

My husband is having a similar month. He'll be leaving shortly for a week of global travel. He's training a team on his company's product who don't speak his language. No stress there! When he returns from this trip, he'll have 36 hours on the ground before flying out again the following week. The week after that? You guessed it - more travel.

So what's a working mom with a full workload and a four year old to do?

Panic? No. Plan? Most definitely.

It takes a tremendous amount of planning (and patience) to make this kind of work/life scheduling nightmare not an actual nightmare. Although we do this routinely as a family, my husband's and my schedule had collided at this level of magnitude until now. I'm admittedly unsure how I'll handle it all, although I'm comforted by the fact that if something goes wrong (you can't count on it), I have people in my life that will step in to lend a hand - coworkers, family members and my inner circle of mom friends. It's not going to be easy, but by the time Christmas rolls around, I'll be on the other side of what seems like a trek up Mount Everest at the moment. Until I can enjoy the view, I might as well enjoy the climb.