earning his keep

Jack booked his first job and today was the big day!



He warmed up really quickly to his fake-Mama and I wasn't surprised because Jack loves the ladies!


Everyone was very impressed with his professionalism and I am so proud of him.


Yay Jack!

reality bites

So Jack and I went to the Dr yesterday and considering we were gone almost 3 hours, he did amazingly well. He did get hungry in the pediatrician's waiting room and started screaming bloody murder but luckily I wore a shirt that I could easily nurse him in so that was easily solved. I feel like I'm finally getting the hang of all this and maybe I really can handle having a normal life again where I actually leave the house and see people and talk to adults during the day.

As much as I love being with Jack all day, I need to start thinking about breaking out of this little bubble we have created this past month. Someone from my agency called me a couple of days ago to tell me that a really good client (who shall remain nameless so as not to jinx things) was interested in me and how soon could I be ready to take some digital photos to send to them? That really shocked me back to reality because I honestly hadn't given a minute's thought to when I was going to start working again. The good ( and bad) news is that my body is in no way ready to start working again, I have to lose at least 15 more pounds before I can fit into any of my own clothes again and I can't do anything more than walk before mid-February. That gives me almost a month before I have to think about horrible things like leaving Jack for more than 5 minutes at a time.

After all, if I left Jack for more than 5 minutes, I might miss something like this:

And I eve you with the onesie of the day, courtesy of Jack's cousin Paige:

gobble gobble

So this Thanksgiving, I did some of this:

I worked for a German catalogue and let's just say that it seems the Germans have not gotten the memo that pregnant women kind of like to wear cute clothes even though they are big as houses. (as you can see from my awesome get-up above)
The job was probably one of the worst jobs I have had in years, for many reasons that I will not get into here, but it was only because of Carmen (the girl in the picture with me) that I was able to tolerate the two days and was actually able to laugh about things instead of losing my mind. She is due January 5th so we are planning on seeing each other again at the hospital that week.

After I was finished working on Friday, Chris and his mom and Chewy all came to pick me up at the beach and we were able to spend some time together before Chris's mom left on Saturday afternoon.




I never got a picture of all of us together and no pictures of Thanksgiving dinner. It was a weird holiday and I just couldn't help but think that next Thanksgiving we were going to have our son there at the table with us and it would be a very different day.

Also, Chris looked at me on Saturday morning and said, "It's official. You are huge." And compared to how I looked 6 months ago, I have to agree with him.

May 27th - December 2

are you mockin' me?

I tok Chris to Coral Gables to check out my pictures.
The following is his reaction:

good news

This last week has been quite exciting! First, I made a decision early last week to leave my Miami agency and go to a new one where I know I will work much more. Sounds easy enough right? Not really. See, there was the small detail of a contract, a contract that has been self-renewing since 1997 and just renewed this past May for 2 more years. I refused to let that small detail stop me though, so long story short, I had a meeting with the second-in-charge last week and today he finally sent me a letter that they are releasing me from my contract. I had to sort-of-kind-of fudge the truth when he asked me what my plans were but the truth is that they really do not have many clients for me to work for in my pregnant state and I know that this other agency does so I had to do what I could to get it done.

Also, I know that once I have the baby I will still work as much, if not more than I did before because my old booker of over 10 years is now at the new agency and she totally kicks ass! She has always been so good to me and always fought for me when she needed to and I trust her more than anyone in the business. (Ha! Spell check just suggested that I use the word "booger" instead of "booker". She will really appreciate that but I'll stick with booker.) Just to make me feel that much better about my decision, before i even got the e-mail to her that my contract was released, she called me to say that they booked me for a job in November for a pregnancy magazine. And they have a few more things lined up between now and then.

So, that turned out well.

Just to keep things interesting, one night last week, I noticed that a mole that I got a few months ago (and had been ignoring) wasn't a normal mole but rather was scabby and had actually scratched off a little bit. I know from my father's history with skin cancer that the scabby moles tend to be something to worry about so I went to the dermatologist and she took it off and stitched me up and told me to come back in a week to get the biopsy results. (words nobody likes to hear) Luckily, the Dr. didn't make me wait a whole week and called me today to tell me that it was completely benign and nothing to worry about at all. I get the stitches out on Thursday and that will be that. And let me tell you, this was a MUCH better experience than the last time I got stitches. The initial shot of lanocaine was no picnic but after that I really felt nothing and it was all over and topped off with a single band aid in 10 minutes. Success!
Tomorrow I am going to my Shiny New Agency to get some digital pictures taken to send out to clients and have lunch with my booker (still not booger) and hopefully I will get to working soon!!

blown up and plastered

Well then. That was quite a downer.
We move on!

Last week a friend of mine called to tell me that she had just seen me in Coral Gables. I was home and had been home all day so I told her it must have been someone else who looks like me.

No, she said. You are plastered all over Miracle Mile!

So I went yesterday to check it out. And this is what I found:











This goes on for blocks in downtown Coral Gables and I found it quite scary to see myself in so many places at once but that did not stop me from wandering around in the FL heat and take pictures of every single one I found. It will be fun to show Kumar one day.

week 13: i'm not complaining, i'm just pregnant

*I came home from the grocery store and the elevator was broken again. I had to schlep 3 big bags of groceries up the stairs in the heat of the Miami mid-day summer.

*The pants that I bought in NY (size 8!) with the plan that at least I would be able to wear them for the next 7 months? Already can't button the top button.

OUCH.

*I went to the agency and was trapped in an office by all the bookers telling me that my belly was so small and wondering when I was going to "pop out". I tried to explain that most girls are not even showing at 13 weeks and I am actually quite huge when, from behind me, I hear The Owner of the Agency (we will just call her Candi here) say, "Yes girls, please don't encourage her to stick it out."

Please note that this is the same woman who, when I told them I was pregnant, informed me that she did not start showing until her 5th month and therefore I should have no problem doing the swim shows in July. The shows that are still 2 full weeks away.Mwwwwaaaahhhhh!!

*I brought Chewy to the park and at one point he was so excited that he ran up to me, jumped up and PUNCHED ME IN THE STOMACH with his paw.

OUCH.

*I woke up in the middle of the night in a panic and yelled at Chris for letting me sleep on my back because all the books say it can kill the baby. When I asked him about it the next day, he just said, "Yeah I think maybe you did."

I'm a lucky girl, I tell you.

Everyone have a happy 4th of July weekend! Stay at a safe distance from fireworks, no drinking and driving, and have a hot dog for the pregnant girl. On second thought, I plan on having enough for all of you. Have a mojito for the pregnant girl, the hot dogs are covered.

can i just sleep for the next 2 months?

Every July, Miami hosts the Swim Shows that include over a thousand different vendors and lasts 4-5 days. I have worked in the shows since I moved to Miami, and this would have been my third year in a row working for Warnaco, but the way I have been looking lately, I knew there was no way I could wear a bathing suit in front of hundreds of people almost a month from now. The agency was not exactly happy that I had to back out of it, but what can they do? I can't starve Kumar the first 4 months because mama has to make a couple of bucks.
TO make amends,I told them that I was working on a premature belly-bump and would be able to do maternity any day now.
They took me seriously. Every week now, someone calls and asks me "how the bump's doing" and if I can come in for some pictures to send to clients.
Now, I have been speaking for weeks about how large my belly is getting and posting pictures here of what I see as a gigantic bump but the truth is, it's just not maternity clothes ready. Most clients don't book girls for maternity until they are in their 5th month, because even with an early belly such as mine, it's just not rounded and pregnant-looking enough until then. People who really know me and see me often know that I kind of look pregnant but the random client would just think that I started to let myself go. Donuts and no crunches for a couple of months might net the same results.

So where am I going with this?

That I am stuck in maternity no-man's land. I was told to come in this afternoon "after you eat a burger and fries and whatever else you can eat" and take some pictures. I have a top that I bought last weekend that actually does make me look pretty large but the fact is that I don't want to get booked on a misleading photo and then show up at a job next week and have the client be like, "Uh, sorry, there must be a misunderstanding. We booked a pregnant model."

So what do I do? I am going to call over there and plead my case and see what they say. If she insists I go over there anyway, I will but it's just silly I think.
I guess that's what this business is all about.
Just plain silliness.

tired and hungry

The last few days have not been too horrible. Except today when I was starving in the afternoon and went to eat the second half of the sandwich I was saving and then dropped it on the floor. The floor that about 40,000 people had been walking on.

Then the last client showed up an hour and a half late and we had to stay an extra 40 minutes so by the time I got out, I was beyond starving and rushed to Hale & Hearty and had an awesome coconut chicken soup with bread and I sat there and ate it alone in the place like it was my first meal in weeks. And that's what it felt like.

So now I am sitting in my room, waiting for my burrito and then I am off to sleep again. This is going to be a tiring week but at least I am feeling quite well after the initial every-morning-forced-feeding until I feel not nauseous.

And tomorrow I am bringing extra food just in case something hits the floor. Because right now, having a full belly is priority #1.

It's the little things I tell you.

city living

So - here I am in NY. The Big Apple. The City that Never Sleeps. (OK I'll stop now)

The weather is quite pleasant - if a little on the cool side. I took a nice long walk from my agency (27 St between 6&7 Aves) to the Whole Foods Market (7 Ave & 24 St) all the way back to where I'm staying, at 43rd & 10th, with stops along the way to pick up various food items and to get me through the next week. It's strange because the things I just though of as "life" when I was living here just seem like such a huge pain in the behind and I especially can't imagine doing this with a kid or 2. Just going shopping with a stroller and diaper bag and grocery bags and a screaming kid is so much more difficult in the city and more power to those moms that do it every day but I don't want to be her.
One cool thing I saw today is that Whole Foods has a free service where they will take you and your groceries home by pedi-cab. If you live in Chelsea, that's a pretty good deal because I remember dreading carrying groceries home from the store and having to always be careful of how much you buy at once so it wouldn't be too heavy to carry.
Good times...

Anyway, I am feeling pretty good today, if a little tired, and I think this week might be OK after all. I plan on bringing a TON of food with me tomorrow to supplement the (usually) amazing lunch this client provides and as long as I get enough sleep every night, I think I'll be OK.
We will see.

if i can maaaake it there....

So I am headed off to the big city tomorrow and while I am really excited to see old friends again and make some money, I am a wee bit scared of the general digestive troubles I have been having for oh-about 100 years now. (OK- it's been 2-3 weeks but I wish I could remember a morning that I woke up without feeling like I spent the night drinking tequila (nausea) and licking cats' butts (pregnancy causes your nose to stuff up quite often so I am forced to mouth-breathe in my sleep, also I am always thirsty because I now consume about 99% of the World's stores of salt every day.)

Every morning, I wake up and
Step 1-reach over and grab one of the two glasses of water I keep next to the bed, then the bag of crackers next to that, and shove some of those crackers down my throat, trying not to gag too much and wait. Next, once the crackers have soaked in a little, I go to
Step 2-eat some cereal. Then more crackers.

Then, and only then, can I get dressed and walk the dog.
Walking the dog actually makes me feel a little better most days, which is a good thing, but not when I-really-don't-FEEEEEL-like-walking-the-dog-why-can't-Chris-just-do-it-ok-i'll-go-and-shut-up-now.

Therefore, I am going to have to get up at least 30 minutes earlier than usual just to be able to fell well enough to get up and take a shower. Hopefully, the days will be semi-easy, with a couple of breaks throughout in order to take power naps, and really the biggest concern I have is for my stomach. It is not small.



**Yes- I am aware that at 8 weeks, this is in no way baby-bumpage, but it is what it is and yes, I *am* sucking it in, thankyouverymuch...
Fingers crossed, there won't be a lot of swimsuits this time around.

happy happy

happy happy, originally uploaded by buki-rama.

I've been spending a lot of time watching TV these days. I usually like to read during the day when I am home alone, and I have a large stack of assorted books from the library just waiting to be read, but the last week or two, I have felt either too tired or too headach-ey to read and instead spend my free time laying on the couch and watching daytime TV.
(whew- I just want to point out that was a record-breaking run-on sentence. I am exhausted)

One of my favorite shows to watch is Samantha Brown- Passport to Europe. Samantha has my dream job. (That is-my dream job if I wasn't already doing my dream job.) She travels the world and tells us what the best hotels, restaurants, shopping venues, tourist spots are in assorted cities. This is what she does for a living. Can you stand it? Some of you may remember her from her original show- Great Hotels - where she did the same thing, just more in the United States, but it was still the same idea, go and stay at a hotel and tell us what all the great things are about said hotel. Not a bad gig if you ask me.

Anyway- I know I had a point here somewhere and that is that today Samantha Brown is in Paris and it made me think of the trip Chris and I took to Paris, in January 2005. Chris planned most of the trip (as he is the King of doing) and we were lucky enough to stay in some incredible hotels in France and Italy because we were able to barter rooms with the hotels there and the hotel that Chris was running at the time here in Miami. So, we stayed at some amazing hotels - for free or close to free - and had a generally incredible trip, visiting Paris, then driving through the South of France and Monaco, into Italy, to Florence and then took a train to Rome.

Now, if that was all there was to the trip, it would have been a Dream Vacation, end of story, but what I did not know until we left France and were driving into Italy, was that this was the trip where Chris was going to propose to me. And that is what he did. On a street overlooking the Mediterranean just over the border into Italy, Chris pulled the car over, took out a ring, got on one knee and proposed.
At the time, it was the happiest moment of my life.
But life has a way of just getting better and better sometimes doesn't it?

things shouted at me today...

Drunk Guy:

Yo! You taking pictures for HBO? What you taking these pictures for? Is it HBO?

(When told no-we are not from HBO)

Oh-Cuz I thought it was HBO.

(Yessir you've made that crystal clear. I'm not sure what your obsession with HBO is, but I'm sure if you ask every. single. time. you see a crew taking pictures, you may one day come across an HBO photo shoot)

Drunk Girl (who may or may not be Drunk Guy's Girlfriend):

Hey- How much you get paid for that???

(???????????????? How do you answer this? I just shrugged and kept walking. A little bit faster)

At least nobody came up to me in the middle of shooting and put his arm around me and asked if he can get his picture taken too. Because that one is so original and fun for everyone involved.

Baby steps....