How Christine Daues Juggled Two Kids and a New Business

417 Magazine: What was it like having kids and working in news?
Christine Daues: Going all through my 20s, news was a fantastic business to be in because it’s fast-paced, it’s exciting and you’re really doing fun things. You meet people. But then once kids came and both me and my husband were in news, it all changed. Making it all work was insane. It was not good. It was not easy.

417: What was it like starting a business when your kids were so little?
C.D.: When we started Granolove (Editor's Note: Since the initial publication of this article, Granolove is no longer in production.), Joe was still doing news and our schedules were non-stop. I would wake up and go and bake bake bake, then bag bag bag, then after that I would come home at like 1, then Joe would bolt to the TV station. He’d be gone until 10 or 11 at night. We were pretty crazed, but we got it done. You just do it, because that’s your life, and that’s what you have do to support your children and pay your bills. It’s just something that we buckled down, gritted our teeth and did.

417: When it was so busy, what did you do to relieve stress?
C.D.: I am a huge believer in working out. I tried to get workouts in as much I could. I remember coming home at 1 o’clock when Joe had to be at work at 2, and I’d be like, “I’m just going to go run for 15 minutes!,” and I’d go run around the block. Exercise kept me sane, my husband kept me sane and my parents helped keep me sane. They all still help keep me sane, as well as my core group of girlfriends. Girlfriends are crucial.

417: What is your biggest challenge of being a mom of two while owning a business?
C.D.: Time. I wish I could clone myself. There’s not enough of me to go around. I think most moms struggle with time management.

417: You mentioned that the baby stage with your kids was very stressful for you. What advice would you give yourself if you could go back to that stage?
C.D.: Well, when you’re young, you’re trying to juggle it all. You’re trying to figure it out. And you will figure it out. I think that’s it. If I could go back, I’d say, “Christine, it’s okay. You’ll figure it out. It’ll all work, and you’ll figure it out. You don’t have to stress about it. They’ll survive.”

417: Can you tell us about Jude’s medical condition?
C.D.: She was born with her condition. The diagnosis has been bantered back and forth, it’s never been 100 percent conclusive, but the closest any doctor has come to putting a label on it is FFU syndrome. Femur-Fibula-Ulna syndrome. Three of Jude’s four limbs are affected. Her right femur is shorter than her left. She has no elbow on her right arm, no ulna bone and only three fingers on the left. She was also diagnosed with pediatric scoliosis at 18 months. Jude has a lot of bone issues. It’s all orthopedic.

417: How did you feel when you first learned of her condition?
C.D.: That was another aspect for me. I was a new mom, and I just didn’t know how to deal with it. It was very devastating to me. Jude is a miracle, just in a different package, and she is awesome, but I didn’t know how to deal with it as a new mom. I just felt like she was cheated. I was mad about it because she didn’t get everything that I thought every child could get, which was all of her bones.

417: How do you answer Jude’s questions about her condition?
C.D.: She’ll ask, “Where are my fingers? How come I didn’t get five fingers?,” and that’s a hard question to answer. We don’t know, and we tell her that. As her mom, one of the hardest things for me to say is, “Jude, I don’t know, and I don’t know if you’ll ever get them back.” She’ll say, “I want my fingers.” I tell her that we will do everything we can to get her fingers back, but mommy doesn’t know if we will ever get them back, and the doctors don’t even know right now. We give 10 percent of our Granolove profits to Shriners Hospital, and that’s why we do it. I want to be instrumental in making those fingers come back.

417: What’s your favorite thing about being a mom?
C.D.: My favorite thing about being a mom of an 8 and a 6 year old is the hugs and kisses. You get those still. I’m sure if you ask me in five years, it would be something different, but right now, I love the cuddles.

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