Circle of Light

With Six Kids And One On The Way, These GL Stars Have Turned Springfield Into A Real Life City Of Motherly Love

The birth of Elizabeth Keifers first child, Isabella Grace, in April, 1998, kicked off Guiding Lights current baby boom. Next came Laura Wright's daughter Lauren Elizabeth, in November, then Beth Ehlers's son, Henry Jack, in May 1999. In 2000, Keifer's son, Keifer Jack, arrived in January, Crystal Chappell's son, Jacob Walker, in May, and WRights son, John Michael, in December. Ehlers is expecting her second child later this summer. Got that straight? NOw, this group breaks to ....reflect.

Digest

What are your plans for Mothers Day?

EK:

You'll have to ask my husband Bobby. Last year, he forgot, which was not a good thing. He thought it was the following Sunday. So he's going to make it up to me this year.

CC:

No plans yet. You'll have to ask her, I mean, MY husband. {laughs}

EK:

Bobby's making it up to all of us! {laughs}

LAURA WRIGHT:

Hopefully theres going to be cards made.

EK:

Isabella is really into drawing right now. We just did one of those make-a-plates. Isabella drew a picture of a whale with a mass of colors in its tummy. I asked what those colors were, and she said, "Gas." So her first major portrait was "Whale With Gas."

Digest:

Are you looking forward to a particular stage with your child?

WRIGHT:

Sleeping!!

CC:

I enjoy all of it, but yes, Sleeping...

EK:

I thought once Keifer hit a year, I would start sleeping again, but its just another round of non-sleep problems: teething, night terrors.

WRIGHT:

Eventually, they'll be teenagers, and you won't be able to get them up. Then I'll say to them, "You really did Like me once."

EK:

I do like the stage we've entered with Isabella. She's turning 3. We're taking swimming lessons together, and I don't know who's having the most fun--- me or her. Now that she's talking, her personality is coming out.

Digest:

What advice do you give each other?

WRIGHT:

What I heard coming after Liz was, "Whatever works for you." There's so much pressure on moms...

EK:

....Are you going to breast feed? Are you using "those" bottles?...

WRIGHT:

....Are you letting your kid have sugar? Watch TV? Have a hotdog? Its amazing how opinionated others are when you become a parent.

Digest:

Were you ever worried that you weren't cut out to be a mom?

WRIGHT:

I never was, but I don't think its about that. You're a Mom now: You have kids.

EK:

I sometimes wonder if I have enough patience to get through a particular day.

WRIGHT:

Or worse than that, Can I handle this moment?

BE:

If anything, I look back and wonder what I was doing with my life before I had kids.

WRIGHT:

having two, I can see how people have three or four.

BE:

I'm pregnant with my second: I'm already talking about my third.

WRIGHT:

I asked my husband John if we could have another, and he said "we are not having this conversation."

EK:

You're already in the mode. You're already totally responsible for another human being. You add another, they start playing together. It changes everything. And you've already given up those other freedoms.

Digest:

What do you love about being a mom?

WRIGHT and BE:

Their love!!

WRIGHT:

I was watching a movie with Lauren, and out of the blue, with no prompting, she gave me a hug and kiss, said "I love you" and rolled back over.

BE:

The other night Hank and I were lying in bed, falling asleep, and he put his head next to my head and started stroking my hair. I wasn't stroking his, he was stroking mine and touching my face. I was overwhelmed with the love that I have for this sweet little child.

CC:

Your heart grows. You feel a love bigger than you ever imagined. And you want to try harder to be a better person.

WRIGHT:

Because you're a teacher now.

CC:

No, its not just in your family. You want to bed a better freind, a better daughter. You start caring about the environment, certain political situations, innoculations. You're more tuned in than before... you're less judgemental. Things that used to bother you about your body, don't anymore.

BE:

I agree with that.

WRIGHT:

I agree to an extent. I'm not 100% there yet.

EK:

Its not about you and your extra 10 pounds. Your body grew because of a baby. Like my feet. They grew, but thats because of my son.

CC:

Your body created life. I'm really proud of that.

WRIGHT:

When I was pregnant with John, I remember thinking, "I'm going to be a mother of two." There's a certain, wow, like you're a mother then. When you have one, it was like......

BE:

....an accessory {laughs}

WRIGHT:

Yes. And it was easy.

CC:

I disagree. I don't feel that way at all.

WRIGHT:

John and I laughed. Its gotten so easy; now we are getting to throw one another into this? We jsut figured it out. But when you have your second, you go, "WOW I am a mother. I have two kids... I'm a mother"

Digest:

Can you share any anecdotes about your kids?

BE:

About three weeks ago, Hank called 911...

EK:

So did Keifer!

BE:

...and the police showed up at my house.

EK:

They did that with me, too. The Montclair police department must think we are out of our minds {laughs}

BE:

He was just pressing buttons, and handed it to Mommy, so I said {innocently} "Hello" And someone said {in a gruff voice} "Can I help you? This is 911. What is going on?" "Oh Oh Oh this is a big mistake. My son was just playing with the buttons. Everything is fine." Five minutes later, I'm telling my husband what happened and the doorbell rang. I said "That will be the police." And yes, there was a policeman out there with very little sense of humor. Of course, Hank is getting through his falling down stage. He had slid down the stairs, so he had scratches all down his back. He had a big bruise on his face where he fell on the edge of the coffee table. I'm like, "If this cop looks really close, I'm going to jail."

EK:

That the difference between boys and girls. Keifers all bruised up, and he;s only 16 months.

WRIGHT:

Its not just the boys. When I had to take Lauren for her check-ups, I would say, "Those bruises are from falling down." Climbing, crawling, falling....

EK:

With Keifer, its see how far you can throw it and if it will break.

BE:

And with Hank, how loud everything is.

EK:

Isabella wears her own sunglasses with her tinkerbell bathing suit. She's a little sexpot. She has a crush on AC Weary, Kim Zimmer's husband.

WRIGHT:

All day long, a girl could try to get Isabella to smile, and she'd just stare up at you. A guy with a baseball cap would come in....

EK:

...Bobby wears a baseball hat.

WRIGHT:

... and she'd light right up. That's another thing. Its amazing what you do when you have little kids, especially little John's age. You just want them to laugh, not cry. {Contorts her arm in the air}. You think, "If anyone saw me right now, I'd feel like an idiot." But you'll jump around and talk really silly.

CC:

But that's allowed. Maybe if it was a much less uptight world, you'd be able to do that anyway. We can use the excuse of having kids to act like total fools. I say good for us!