VOTE! Moms Rock Finalists 2018!

Thank you all for submitting the Rockin’ Moms in your life.. After reading and re-reading the stories, we’ve narrowed the selection down to these 5 Amazing Women! Take a moment to read their stories then follow the link at the bottom of the post to cast your Vote for one of them to have a chance to win some fabulous prizes at Moms Rock 2018 this Thursday at Bartaco!

Kathryn Harris

Kathryn rocks because not only does she manage to mommy her four kids (ages 5 to 12), ferrying them to school, soccer, baseball, basketball, volleyball, dance, and piano/violin lessons, but she takes care of everyone around her.

Three years ago when she saw me not feeling well at the Homewood rec center, she called to check on me later and even showed up at my house that night with a blood glucose monitor she had just bought at a drugstore. She followed me to the hospital, where I was immediately admitted (for three nights) and diagnosed with diabetes. (Apparently I was very sick!)

Even though Kathryn has more going on than the rest of us, she has never failed to make time for others.

She can put four kids to bed, change clothes, whip out that pony tail, and come downstairs looking like she spent all night getting ready.

Her New Year’s Eve tradition of having a ball drop (lots of balloons) at 6pm for kids who can’t possibly make it to midnight has become a favorite of my family. There is always something fun happening at Kathryn’s. All you have to do is show up, because her door is always open.

Last year she fell and hit her head, and what first looked like a standard concussion, has turned out to be a traumatic brain injury, and a year later she is still working on a total recovery. For six months she couldn’t drive but she found a way to make sure her kids got to all their after school activities and life continued on, with her trying to keep their homelife the same as it was before. This did not come without great sacrifice. Kathryn had to take her youngest, her baby, out of preschool at Dawson, and enroll him in all day daycare at OLS. She is happy with the program and mentions how wonderful it is, but I know how hard it must have been for her to do it. I know because I saw her tear up three-and-half years earlier, when she had to put this child into preschool five days a week because an undiagnosed hearing disorder had put him at risk for developmental delay. He’s her a baby, and she knew he would be her last. It was not easy to give up those special mornings alone with him, knowing there would be no more babies to follow him, but with his pediatrician’s advice, she did it and never looked back.

Maybe the best proof of what a great mom Kathryn is, is her kids. They are the kindest, most thoughtful children I know. They’ve had to step up this last year, and take on more responsibility, and they’ve done it beautifully.

Jessica Hall

Jessica rocks so hard she literally straight up resurrected me this year. Before I explain how she did that though, let me give you some background. We have three children under the age of 8. She has always been a mom who rocks. We both work full-time. She is very well-respected by colleagues and clients alike. Even though she grinds so hard at work, she always has a huge smile on her face when it is time to be with our kids. She teaches them how to live a moral life by modeling for them how to empathize with people and how to interact with people with quiet grace. This year her job got a lot harder though. One year ago this week, I was diagnosed with an extremely rare condition called Guillain Barre Syndrome. This syndrome caused me to go from healthy to paralyzed from head to toe within 48 hours. I could not move at all. I could not see. I could not communicate. I could not even breathe and required intubation and a ventilator. All I could feel was pain during this time. I was in the ICU at UAB like that for two months.

The treatments for my disease then started to work. I was moved to the Neuro Special Unit for one month, and then the Shepherd rehabilitation hospital for five months. She was by my side almost every night whispering words of encouragement and reminding me that I was needed on Earth to help her raise our three wild ginger girls. Meanwhile, her days could best be categorized as chaos. She would leave the ICU at 5 AM so she could be home in time to help our girls eat breakfast and get ready for school. She would then drop them at school, work two hours with clients all over Birmingham, head back to spend two hours with me at the hospital, then drive all over the place for her work for four hours, then spend three hours with the kids after school doing homework, dinner, and baths, and then she would come right back to the ICU to be with me. She took the girls on little adventures all over Birmingham so they could keep their minds off of my illness. She sacrificed so much, and she inspired me every day with her love. I am so much better now as I sit here writing this one year after my diagnosis. I have no doubt I would be gone from this Earth if not for how hard she rocked it for me and our kids. When I wanted to give up, she would not let me. I joke that she has always been the MVP of our family, but this year she earned Hall of Fame Wife and Mother status. Now that I am better, people are always being kind to recognize the amazing things I have been able to accomplish. She is the one who really deserves the recognition though, because she saved my life Please pick her, she deserves it so much!

Christin Knight

Christin jumps on every opportunity to make life fun, especially for her kids! She has three littles ages six and under and is always on the move. She had the presence of mind to get tested for the BRACA 2 gene and the results came back positive. As a result she has gone through a double mastectomy and is awaiting a hysterectomy to ensure that she will not succumb to the same cancer that took the lives of many woman in her family with the primary goal of being there for her kids. She is actively involved in PTO and all of her kids activities. She really rocks!

Stephani Wagnon

Stephani is my sister, but she is more than that. At a young age, she knew she wanted to be a mommy, but not just a biological mom, also an adoptive and foster mom. She went on to achieve a double degree from the University of Alabama in child life and early childhood development and married the same year, in 2015. Her and her husband quickly began the process to become certified to foster and received their first foster in late 2016. From there, they accepted three more fosters over the next year, a sibling set and another single. She is now the amazing foster mother to four children, ranging from the ages of 3 to 17. Her and her husband are also in the process of adopting their first foster. She single handedly raises the four while her husband works full time. This includes making sure each goes to doctors appointments, therapist appointments, school, meetings with lawyers and case workers, and that they also are happy, participating in extra-curricular activities, and have anything that they could want or need. I’m daily amazed by her faith, abilities, and the way she makes parenting four children look like a cake walk. Going from zero to four children in the matter of a year, and only being 25, she’s my hero. I may be the older sister, but I sincerely look up to her. Yes, our family offers as much support as possible to help her in the fostering journey, but she has the drive to ensure that all her kids and any future fosters know they are worthy and loved. If anyone deserves a vacation, it is my sister, Stephani.

Kristi Jones

Kristi Jones is an amazing Mom to four precious, rambunctious children ages 10 to 1 year old. She maintains a home with a warm, welcoming environment and an open door policy that keeps it filled with friends and family who show up to enjoy some old-fashioned horseplay, an outdoor woodland adventure, help build their own engineering marvel in the playroom, and famous fresh-baked iced ginger cookies in the kitchen!

Kristi manages to balance a crazy schedule with four kiddos (church, soccer, baseball, karate and music lessons), while still reaching out to help make our community of Trussville a fun and safe place for all of our kids! She is active in the Cahaba Elementary School PTO, designing the school yearbook using her own lively and creative graphic designs. She has also worked to support our school system by founding Be The Change for TCS, an online Facebook forum that shares information about education and parenting, encourages open conversation, and community engagment in the issues facing our school system. She is the founder (and creative force) behind the TVL SAFE campaign, a road safety movement that strives to make our neighborhood streets safe for kids who love to walk and bike to school, the library and parks.

Kristi not only strives to create a playful and healthy environment for her kids, but has worked tirelessly to make sure that all of Trussville’s kids are included in the fun!