ugh

I'm huge. In case you hadn't noticed. And I'm not working any more. It makes me tired. So there. :)

(the good news is that Marcus's show closes on Sunday, so I get my husband back! Just in time to put together the pack n play!)

The View mommy to be show

When I was invited to be a part of the all-pregnant-moms audience for the taping of THE VIEW today, I hoped we might get one big item, like a stroller or something. My big dream was that they might somehow be kind enough to give us a lot of diapers. Imagine my surprise when I walked out of there with $3200 worth of baby goods! That's right folks. They hooked us up beyond our wildest dreams. At the first break, we got a year's worth of Dreft detergent. At the next break, a year of free Huggies diapers. The prizes kept coming as Elisabeth showed us her "Must-Haves" for raising a baby. And we all got one of each. The final segment of the show brought the creme de la creme--The Celebrity Bump Bag. It's full of gift certificates, ranging in value from $5 to $250 for everything from a pack n play to free t-shirts. I could not believe it. Fortunately, they gave us gift certificates for the really big items, like the CAR SEAT!! But you should have seen all the pregnant ladies trying to lug these huge blue bags of crap out of there! I had to take a cab home. It was amazing! We have been so blessed, between the wonderful stuff Marcus's brother and sister in law are handing down from Adam and now this! See below for a more detailed list of swag. Wow.
1 year supply of Huggies Diapers, plus free wipes and other Huggies items
1 year free Dreft detergent
Britax car seat (good for up to 40 lbs. and designed for compact cars!)
Ergo Baby Carrier and bunting insert
Stork Sack bag
Duo Double Diaper Bag (converts into a messenger bag and has a changing pad inside!)
On the go Potty
Hooter Hider :)
3 books
Stationery sample pack from Boatma Geller
Rainforest Bouncy Seat and Swing (incidentally, this is the pattern we're using and have on our registry! Fate, I say...)
$250 gift card for "How Fast They Grow" which is like snapfish for making digital photo albums.
Snack trap bowls
Mabel's Labels (2 sets!) sticky labels
Baby Crazy diaper bag organizers
PLUS the "Celebrity bump bag" has about 30 gift certificates for everything from free t-shirts, bibs, a robe, Stride Rite shoes, Gourmet Snacks, 50 free baby announcements and more. My Favorite one is from safety first and entitles you to a free digital thermometer, baby monitor AND an Eddie Bauer pack n play!!!!

Tomorrow's Tuesday!

It's been kind of a yes-no thing with The View over the past week or so. At first, I was scheduled to go to a taping on Oct.30. The entire audience was going to be pregnant women and it was going to serve as a baby shower for Elisabeth. Well, Elisabeth announced one day last week that she was taking her maternity leave early. So they cancelled the Oct. 30 taping and invited second-time pregnant moms to her last show on Oct. 23. I just figured, Oh, well, I won't get to go. (Ok, I was much whinier than that, but you get the point.) Imagine my delight when Ani, the promotions manager called me and invited me to the Oct. 23 taping! So tomorrow I get to go to the View again and get baby loot! Everybody pray for a stroller. The one we originally registered for doesn't fit our carseat...

I subbed for a rehearsal at NYU yesterday. My friend Richard is their stage manager and he had to go to a wedding. As we sat around the table analyzing the script for 5 hours, I realized that all MFA graduate classes essentially have the same cast of characters. I could pick out exactly which one of them was each member of my own grad class and the classes before and after mine. You have the class clown, the wanna-be intellectual who really hasn't read the material and just spouts stuff, frustrating the rest of us, the guy who's always late and always gets stuck playing really small roles, the leading man, the take-charge girl...they're all there. It was a fun day and they were a nice group. And it was easy, easy work. (Once people see you're pregnant, they won't let you do anything physical. Including open the door. Which is a little much.)

Marcus' show at school, ALL IN THE TIMING, starts tech this weekend. He's had his share of challenges and, at last count, had had to recast 4 roles. I did some prop shopping for him this week. I was excited because I got to go to the big Halloween store at Union Square. The funny part is that Kitty and I were meeting at Babies R Us that day to add some stuff to my registry and I had to carry in a big bag containing a plastic skull, a plastic axe, a punk-rocker wig and a retractable knife. I'm sure they were thinking "wow, she'll be a fun mom!" We'll both be glad when this one's up, running, and over so he can be home more. Looks like he won't have to teach in the winter intersession, which is great because that means he'll be home when baby makes his/her appearance.

Baby learned a new trick. It must be getting cramped in there, because we are now pushing our shoulder (I think) against mommy's stomach. It makes a very strange, bulging bump on my belly and is sort of painful if baby does it for too long. Maybe we'll get to see the outline of a foot before little one emerges. I still think I'm going to pop before late January...

Pregnancy gives you fantastic hair and skin, by the way. I'm just sayin.

Finally, thanks so much to everyone for sharing our joy this week when we got the news of my mom's kidney donor. (I sent out a big email--if you haven't gotten the news and are interested, please let me know--I"d be thrilled to repeat it!!)

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

It's over! The workshop from Hades is over! I won't go into the gorey details of our performance yesterday...just know that it's over and I survived. The highlights (or lowlights) of the day, however, included the following:
1. Anyone who tells you that Hudson, NY is only 2 hrs. away from the city is lying to you.
2. Our dancers and musical director did not arrive until 4pm. (The cast and I arrived at 11:15am)
3. 3 of the kids who are in the first scene never showed up. At all.
4. We started a run through of the show at 1:15. At 2:00, I had to stop us so we could go to the lobby and eat chicken. (The producer was supposed to provide dinner at 5, when our official union break fell, but she thought it would be better to do it right smack in the middle of the day. Cause that makes sense.) I've never had to hold for chicken before. On the bright side, the collard greens were excellent...
5. I had to climb stairs to get to my control booth. Every time I climbed the stairs, I had a Braxton Hicks contraction. Poor Baby Awesome didn't know what to make of things.
6. Bill, the sound guy we hired, was fantastic. Shout out to Bill.
7. IT"S OVER!!!
Had I known it would feel this good to have it over-with, I wouldn't have complained all week. :)
Today has been all about relaxing at home with Marcus. I sat around in my pjs and the slippers featured in the photo to your right. The fall air is crisp, there's football on TV (not to mention a week's worth of shows on DVR), and we ordered pizza for lunch. The best part, however, is that despite the fact that I rode in a car for 6 hours and ran my fanny off all day, I feel great today! And I slept like the dead last night.
So now, aside from working on Marcus's show at Kingsborough, I hereby declare myself officially on maternity leave. Yee haw! My next gig is gonna be sooooooo much better!

What a week!

Oh, y'all. Y'AAAAAAAAALL. What a week this has been! Fortunately, it's almost over! Please forgive me, but I have to climb up on my soapbox for just a second. People who are not in theatre and have no idea how the professional theatre works should not try to produce their plays. There. I said it. I fully support them writing and expressing themselves in the form of drama, but stop trying to produce it yourself! If these people insist on producing their plays, and ESPECIALLY if they go to the trouble of having it sanctioned by Equity (the professional union for actors and stage managers), they should maybe think about listening to the professional artists hired to work on their little shows who DO THIS FOR A LIVING! I am working on a workshop. The playwright/producer knows exactly nothing about theatre. NOTHING. She thought the producer was supposed to tell the actors what to do onstage and the director did the schedule. She had no clue what the heck I did. So, needless to say, it's been an interesting week. Fortunately, the money is great and it'll be over after our performance upstate tomorrow. And she just called me to tell me I was right about several things. So that felt good. I can't wait til Sunday to sleep this thing off! (I just keep saying "This project is buying me a new rug and sleeper sofa...)
Thanks for letting me vent!

On Thursday, I had the fantastic opportunity to do some modeling! Kitty's friend Vikram from work is an aspiring photographer and he's taking a class. He had to do some portraits for class this weekend and wanted to work with a stranger. So we had a little "Jen and Baby" photo shoot in Bryant Park yesterday! I must say, this guy is a fantastic photographer and should really think about doing headshots for actors. He made me so comfortable and though I haven't seen any of his shots yet, I think he really captured my personality in the pictures. Marcus and I are going to have him do some of us in late November and then some of the baby once he/she arrives.

The picture above is me in the overalls Marcus got me last week. The frog's from my mom and he's sooooooooo soft! We are officially six months along, by the way. :)

This weekend presents the ultimate football dilemma for me: Ole Miss vs Alabama. My school ties make me a loyal Bama fan, but a big part of my heart will always belong to the Rebels. (they're having a crappy season, though...) So, in all fairness, I say: HOTTY TODDY and ROLL TIDE!

Doctor, Doctor

First of all, this week's picture. I hope it doesn't gross anyone out. Marcus snapped it just playing around, then we got to messing with it, added the sepia tone and decided it's kind of artistic and beautiful. I imagine my belly will start to look not so beautiful soon, so this was a good time for a bare picture!

We had our first visit with our NYC Obstetrician on Friday. In a word, he's great. The nurse was really sweet and told me up front that everyone in the office was crazy. We should fit right in. She also informed me that her birthday is January 26, so I should try to deliver that day. The exam room was very comfortable and Dr. Moritz put us at ease right away. He jokes around a lot, but is obviously very intelligent, concerned and professional. He got to know us a little, had me talk him through the pregnancy thus far, then talked me through my next visit before even examining me. The exam was a piece of cake. Just a quick sonogram (and I mean QUICK) to measure the little one and a poke at my belly and we were done! All is well with Baby, who weighs 1 lb. 12 oz. Ever the child of over-achievers, he/she is measuring a week ahead of the norm. The doctor said that by the measurements, he would put our due date at Jan.21, but we'll stick with the 27th for now. I made him promise not to leave town during either of those weeks. He also banned juice from my diet. JUICE! I guess I didn't realize just how much sugar is in fruit juice. He said if I keep drinking so much, it'll up my chances of developing gestational diabetes and my baby will be a giant. So, no more juice. :(

The next visit will be Nov. 5, when they'll do the 28 week glucose screening (I get to drink the "sugary potion") and give me a Rhogam shot. My blood is B negative and if you're an Rh negative type, they give you this shot so that you won't reject future pregnancies. He explained it very thoroughly. I will also register for the birth at the hospital at that time and set us up for a tour of the birthing center and childbirth classes. Everything's falling into place!

On a sad note, we made a trip to Ikea today and the sofa we wanted to get is out of stock for 3 weeks. Guess we'll just have to wait. But we did find a rug that we like a lot, so maybe we can pair that with the new sofa when we go back. I don't really care as long as someone gets this futon out of my home by Thanksgiving!

THE VIEW

Two years ago, my best pal Jen Russo (AKA Kitty) moved to NYC. Her first job allowed her a lot of down time to do some exploring and "touristy" things and she sent off for tickets to several tv show tapings. Imagine her surprise 2 weeks ago when tickets to today's taping of THE VIEW arrived in her mailbox! Her sister, who loves that show, wasn't able to make the trip from Michigan, so I got to be her guest. WHAT FUN! We were both thrilled that Whoopi is now the moderator, as we looooove her and have met her before at her book signing. We met up early this morning to begin our day of fun, which turned out to be an adventure. (everything is with us) We thought the show taped in the same studio as Regis and Kelly, but it's in another one on 66th St., practically in the Hudson River! Finding this out 5 minutes before we needed to be in line, we caught a cab and took a $3 cab ride down several blocks. (what a happy cab driver...) The fun began immediately, as the security guard asked Kitty over and over if she was the redhead from One Life To Live. We assured him that she wasn't and made fun of him a little for watching soaps, then went to get in line. (I realize that I live in NY and should therefore say "on line" but the Southerner in me just can't do it.) I must mention here that people make some, uh, special wardrobe choices when they think they might be on TV. We'll just leave it at that. I, however, had a horrible hair day, but I blame the humidity.

The good folks at ABC know how to treat their guests. Yes, we had to stand for an hour before they let us in the studio, but it was worth it. A nice security man offered to get me a chair when he saw my baby belly, but I toughed it out. As we entered the studio, we were handed a bottle of juice and a bag of Keebler fudge stripe cookies (my all-time favorite). A nice lady showed us to our seats, on which were sassy "THE VIEW" canvas tote bags, ready to hold our loot from the show. And now my favorite part of the day--the lady noticed I was expecting and gave me a flyer inviting me back on Oct. 30 for a special "Mommy to be" taping!!! The audience will be all pregnant women and there will be, and I quote, "Suprises, fun giveaways and more!" The only bad thing is that Kitty can't go back with me. But you know they are going to give out some SWEET prizes! I've already confirmed my ticket. :)

On to the show... A guy named Tom was our Audience Pumper (or something) and he taught us the hand signals the crew would use for us to applaud, clap louder, cheer, shut up and stand up. We practiced those for a while, then the ladies came out and took their seats. The show ran very smoothly. I couldn't stop watching the stage managers and marveling at how different their job is from what we do in the theatre. I waved at Whoopi just before we began taping and she waved back (right at me, I'm sure). The first guest was Jack Cafferty of The Situation Room, which I've never actually watched. We all got free copies of his new book! He was actually pretty interesting and I was intrigued enough to read the book. Next came Marcia Gay Harden, who brought out her 3 year old twins in their Halloween costumes. Her son was Winnie the Pooh and her daughter was Tinkerbell. Adorable. She has a new movie coming out that looks pretty good. Then the creme de la creme: Annie Lennox was the musical guest!!!!! I have always thought Annie was a beautiul woman, but MAN is she gorgeous in person! And that voice! It was amazing to see her perform. They transformed the set quickly over a commercial break and used some really cool lighting effects to make it look like a concert setting. She was FANTASTIC! The baby went crazy when she started singing. (he/she loves music these days) Fortunately, they gave us free copies of her new CD, so we can listen at home! We were also awarded Sharper Image projection alarm clocks. They project the time on the ceiling or wall. A fifty dollar value, all ours just for being there.

It was such a fun time! After the taping, we perused the gift cart (it's not a shop, it's a cart), then had a lovely, liesurely lunch at Cafe Mozart. (if you go for lunch, get the Mozart Wrap. The smoked mozzerella makes it perfect!) It's so great sometimes to live in NY and have the opportunity to do cool, kind of unusual things like this. A big thanks to Kitty for bringing me along. I'll let you know how it goes on the 30th!!

PS: I have a lot more pictures of the set and such that I can email to anyone who wants to see them. They appear a little too small here.