I'm Back

I can't believe I haven't blogged since July 2011!  Every time I think about picking up  where I left off, I wonder how I'm going to pre-blog or pre-date or pre-post all the things that have happened since July 2011. I'm just going to start updating here in no particular order:

1. October 20012- I had a son, Atticus. He's awesome. I'll dedicate a couple of introductory posts on him. Did I mention he's awesome? I will mention that he (almost) slept through the night on his 6 month birthday (10 hour stretch), and has repeated this several times. He is so easy to put to bed at night, I just nurse him, burp him, hug and kiss him good night, put him in his crib wide awake, and viola! he's out. Now if Layla could only take a queue her from her little bro...(still not sleeping in her bed or going to bed alone). I had a C-section this time. It was scheduled for the 4th, but the hospital was booked and told me to come back the next day. That was funny. He's been awesome. He's in daycare 3 days a week and comes to work with my 2 days a week with help from Alicia. She's a awesome too.

2. December 2011 - My Grandmother passed away. She was my last living grandparent. It was a shock. She wasn't sick. My mom talked to her on the phone less than an hour before she died. My uncle was on his way to pick her up and bring her to my mom's house. She was gone when he arrived. She never got to meet my son, or even know that I would soon be pregnant. She would have been so happy.

3. October 2011- I got this crazy idea in my head to throw a college sorority reunion....and on a party bus no less. It was a smashing success with almost 50 women showing up. I had intended on doing a yearly get together, but by the following year I was knocked up and had my boy.

4. August 2011 - We moved! Finally. We moved into the front townhome in the 4 unit complex I co-own with my folks in Los Feliz. It was almost roomy enough when we first moved in, but with two kids, it's tight.  We keep looking for a place to buy, but nothing is affordable. Not to sound ungrateful, but we don't like the home we live in. The location is better for me and the kids, we are a lot closer to  work/daycare and my parents. So our commute went from 45 min one-way to 20 minutes. Sometimes it's only 17 minutes. That's a dream commute by LA standards. We have laundry inside, and parking right next to the unit, must-haves for getting by with two working parents and kiddos. The place itself is old (not in a charming way) and needs a lot of work. Before moving in, all the floors and carpets were torn out and replaced, the place was painted, and the popcorn was taken off the ceiling. Since we've moved in, we've replaced the 3/4 bathroom (looks awesome) and one powder room (still needs work), added recessed lighting in the living room, painted a whole wall with chalkboard paint, and made a playroom under the stairs for Layla (the best room in the house). New roof, new lawn in half the front yard area. But the front patio/yard area still sucks, no curb appeal. Recently there have been robberies on our street, just to add to the frustration. Not to mention being a landlord has its trials. There just aren't enough hours in the day to do the things I want to.

5. August 2011 - Cary shot the first rehearsal of his show. He has since shot a second one, but because he ends up taking freelance work in advertising to pay for the shoots (and our growing expenses), he can't do anything show-related (or family or life related) while he's working full time in advertising. The money is good and will get us closer to buying a home. But when Cary works, I'm basically a single mom 6-7 days a week. Which is a major reason why this blog has not happened in almost 2 years. Also, its a major reason why I'm the least happy I 've ever been. I love my family, my kids are beyond my wildest dreams awesome, I'm grateful for so so many things, and yet my life provides no balance. I'm exhausted from the second I wake up, sometimes after a night of no sleep, and don't have weekends to look forward to for a break because Cary works most weekends, and I'm working 5 days a week. I try to make me-time, and it's getting better. The only way we'll get out of our unsatisfying living situation, is with Cary working towards our down payment, which means I'm alone on a regular basis.  Things are definitely improving since Atticus has been sleeping more regularly more often. He's slept through the night maybe 10 times in the  last 1 1/2 months. I've gone jogging 3 times this week. That's more times than I've been jogging any single month in over a year. There is progress in sight...

6. April 2013 - Mom had her 5th surgery in 3 years (two cancer related, one foot, two knee replacements). This one was her second knee replacement. Fingers crossed that she'll not need another surgery again ever. It's been almost 4 weeks since this last surgery, she's still in excruciating pain. It's becoming more apparent to Cary and I that the time we have with our parents, in their active years, is limited. We are trying to plan a Euro trip with my folks and the kids. It's falling through now because of scheduling and cost, but we're not giving up. We'll try to plan a trip with Cary's folks also. Sheila and Layla were each born with 3 great-grandmothers, they have all since passed away. We aren't young parents, our parents may not see their grand kids get married and have great grand kids if our kids wait as long as Cary and I did. We need to remember to seize the day, the week, the month....

I haven't even talked about work. Which I need to get back to...