Kelly Surerus: Motherhood and more

Just weeks before Kelly Surerus gave birth to her month-old daughter Piper, her doctor ordered her to stop working and stay home.

She followed his instructions — sort of. She figured while she was at home, she could keep busy working the phone.

She did just that, continuing the campaign her friend Carla Cadzin had begun with a GoFundMe campaign to raise money ensuring Shelter Island would have its annual fireworks display in July.

Husband Brett Surerus and friend James Richardson were onboard and, baby Piper notwithstanding, the effort actually expanded from what the four organizers had envisioned.

Their plan, Ms. Surerus said, was to raise the funds since the Chamber of Commerce had bowed out of sponsorship. But the committee discovered that not only would they collect money, they would also have to organize the event.

She stayed in the middle of all decisions and planning — except for the morning when Mr. Surerus answered his wife’s cellphone because she had just given birth to Piper.

Ms. Surerus and the committee beat the bushes for sponsorship, ensuring that not only would there be fireworks this July, but the group signed a three-year contract with Fireworks by Grucci guranteeing a future for annual show, now entering its 59th year.

Meanwhile, at home with brand new Piper and big brother Jackson, Ms. Surerus dove into the role of full time mom — having taken time off from her two jobs at least until August. Yes, two.

She is an intensive care nurse at Southampton Hospital and also works for Eastern Long Island Oncology/Hematology.

“I love both jobs,” she said, explaining her plans to return to work. But she credits her mother-in-law, Ceil Surerus, with making it possible to take on so many responsibilities at once.

“I’m blessed. I’m beyond blessed,” Ceil said about living in the house adjacent to her son, daugher-in-law and grandchildren.

The new mom also gives high marks to husband Brett. “My husband’s amazing,” she said. And again, she credits her mother-in-law for raising a son who takes his responsibilities seriously.

How does she do it all?

“Roll with the punches,” she said. After you’ve read all the books and gotten advice from everyone, you have to be flexible, she added.

She recalls some uneasy days when there was just Jackson. She would leave work exhausted but discover by the time she got home that she had “a 10th wind” that picked her up to tend to her son’s needs.

Now she’s on a 12-hour schedule with Piper, crediting “a lot of coffee, a lot of patience and a lot of help” to keep pace.

At 34, she still has the energy for multiple roles in life, but said she understands why many women opt to have children in their 20s, rather than their 30s.

“They’re very different kids,” Ms. Surerus said about her son and daughter. Jackson was the quiet one who would smile and sleep. Piper is more demanding, wanting to be fed constantly and fussing more than her brother did at the same age.

Friends told Kelly to be ready for a daughter to be more “dramatic” than a son. But if she thought those days would come in Piper’s teenage years, she’s discovering that’s not the case.

“She tells me what she wants and she’s a little hard to keep up with,” Ms. Surerus said.

Before resuming work, she’s looking forward to some time at the beach with the kids.

“We’re just kind of busy people,” she summed up her life.

And Sunday, a big breath will be taken, when she and her husband go to either brunch or dinner and count their blessings —in peace and quite, they hope.