Got a haircut...

And I'm pretty happy with it. It's always a good thing when you walk away from your haircut and love it.

Show biz...maybe not.

We got a phone call on Wednesday evening from a child talent agency that both Lola and Elise are signed up with. We've never been called for anything from them before so I had pretty much forgotten about the whole thing. Anyway, they called wanting to know if I could bring Elise to an audition the next day in L.A. I said sure. Turns out Dan was going to be in nearby Orange county for business so we made a plan to each do our thing during the day and then hook up for dinner with our friends later on.

I packed up the girls, a bag of clothes, snacks and off we went to north Hollywood. The drive wasn't too bad, except for very strong winds and our vehicle seriously in need of an alignment. Elise had been in good humor all morning and slept the whole way there, so I was really hoping she would be in good spirits once we got there. However, she woke up grumpy and didn't have the patience to be in studio long enough for her turn to come up. Moments before her name was called, she kept persistently taking my hand and walking to the exit doors and saying "ampa", meaning she wanted to go home to Grandpa. When her moment came, she cried, frustrated that we were still there. I knew there wasn't much of a chance that she was going to cooperate with the photographers so we just left. The only caveat is that now it was 4 pm...in L.A. There was no way to get out easily. We were stuck in massive traffic and Elise was still very upset that we were not home. She cried hysterically all the way to Tustin, where I was meeting up with Dan at our friends house. The minute we got off the freeway exdit, she calmed down.

It was a great finish to a stressful day. I really don't enjoy driving in L.A., especially not during rush hour. Elise screaming in the back seat did not help the situation much. We had a nice dinner, then gave the girls a bath and put them to bed. Afterwards, we got to unwind with some wine a soak in our friends hot tub.

This being our first experience with auditions, I learned a lot and I really don't think this is something I would want to do again. Unpredictable moods are just part of the nature of the beast in toddlers. But because of that gamble, it makes all the driving, stress and time involved seem to really not be worth it.

Oh! And I forgot the funniest part of all! The ad was for a brand of baby formula!

Henry, the guinea pig!

Here is the cutie. He's a nice little cavy, only about 6 weeks old. Although he is still adjusting to his new surroundings, he's pretty nice and has never nipped at anyone yet. The girls just adore him. I have been trying to build a little pen for him so that we can let him out of the cage to run around. We tried a kiddie pool, but he was able to get over the sides. So now we have some wire mesh to put around the pool and hopefully that will work. Before figuring out how to escape the kiddie pool, he did really seem to like it. He was squealing and running around. His squeal is the cutest sound ever! So far, his favorite foods seem to be kale, apples and carrots.

Introducing.....Henry!!

Or at least Henry's new home.
Tomorrow, we are going to be parents to a new little 5 week old guinea pig that Lola has already named Henry. We've only seen pictures of him so far, but he sure looks like a cutie. Today, we went and bought his cage, food, water bottle, etc...

What prompted Henry's arrival was a promise that Dan made to Lola. He really wants Lola to start sleeping in her own bed every night so he made her a deal. He promised that if she slept in her own bed every night for a week, she could finally have the guinea pig that she has been begging for. Relentlessly....for quite a while.

Well, it goes to show what the right motivation can do because Dan has never been successful in this arena before and believe me, he has tried! I think Lola was just finally ready for it now, as every morning she wakes up so proud of herself for making this big step.

That's Henry's story. We're excited to finally meet him tomorrow and we will post photos, of course. If all goes well, we will soon get him a companion. Lola has already named the companion Sam! We will probably need to build a new cage at that point. The one we have is 3 1/2 feet long, which will be ok for our little one, temporarily.

Oh, where do I begin?

One day, soon, I would love to stop with all these "update" posts, where I try to cram 2 weeks (or more) worth of stuff into one post. I realize I could actually just make a zillion posts in one day, I don't really have the patience for it, so, as a result, you are getting the condensed one post version. When I get my new laptop in a couple of weeks, I should be able to resume regular blogging.

Anyway, to be perfectly honest, there's probably not much that was newsworthy recently, so I'll tell you all about our day at the Children's Museum last Sunday. The girls cannot get enough of this place. They like some of the same exhibitions and then they have their separate favorites. For instance, Elise can't stand the tire pillow room. She only lasts about 3 minutes in there. But she does love the rainforest house, which loses Lola's attention quickly. They both love the bubbles a lot and can spend a lot of time out on that balcony.

Aside from this little trip, we've done a few nature hikes, but I have no photos to share. We've been easing back into the routine of Lola going to back to school after a 2 week break. I think it was harder for us, as parents, to get back into the routine, than it was for Lola. She loves her school and is thrilled for school days, so it's really a matter of getting back in the habit of packing her lunch the night before and getting her clothes ready, etc...oh yeah, and waking up on time.

I've been spending a lot of time trying to find ways to get my dad some work, which he really wants, but it's been hard. I can't get him a work authorization from INS because he is not being sponsored by an employer. We will try to find odd jobs for him, but in the meantime, I think I have found some volunteer opportunities for him, which will help to keep him busy. I think boredom has begun to set in....

I will definitely be posting more in the next few days as news comes in!

The living dead.

That's what we all look like in this house right now. It all started New Year's Eve. The day started out nice...did some shopping, picked up takeout from one of my favorite restaurants, Sipz, and then we all went to the park for a picnic. Once we got there, Lola ate a little and then said she wanted to go home. She then proceeded to laydown on the park bench until we were all ready to go. Now, if you know Lola at all, you're thinking this is completely out of character. My kid does not stop talking or running unless she is asleep. Sure enough, soon after coming home, she began throwing up. Must have caught the stomach bug that Elise had a few days earlier.
We really don't care much for New Year's eve festivities and never go out, even if a babysitter plops right into our laps. But I do insist on cooking a really good dinner and we open a bottle of good champagne. This year no one was into even doing that, so we held up our eyelids with toothpicks and attempted to make it to midnight, awake.
The next day, Dan came down with the bug, but fared pretty well, didn't even throw up. Yesterday, we decided to drive up to Julian, even though we knew the snow would be gone because it was the first time in a few days that we all felt ok. I felt weirdly tired and achy, but didn't think much of it. By the time we got home around 4 pm, I started throwing up something fierce and didn't stop, (at least once or twice an hour) until 2 am. Dan took care of the girls for me and got them to bed. I couldn't get up to save my life and kept thinking that if it continues, I will need to go to urgent care. But I finally fell asleep and woke up feeling a tiny bit better this morning so I had some veggie broth. It was very refreshing. Now, it's noon-ish and I'm thinking I will even take a shower today. I hate stomach bugs. They make you feel like death is at your doorstep, but at least they are mostly brief. If someone had told me yesterday evening that I'd be blogging at noon the next day, I wouldn't have believed them.

So, I also have some great pictures to post and write about, but my laptop took a dive, most likely permanently, I'm afraid. Dan ordered me a new laptop, but it will be a while before it gets here. I really liked my Mac, but I got the steal of a lifetime and had bought it used off a friend for $200. I can't imagine I will ever find a deal like that again. If I tried to buy a new mac, I would have paid $1,000 more than what the dell cost. There is just no way to justify that one!

Anyway, I will attempt to upload my recent photos to my pc and try to salvage some of these potential blogs...wish me luck!