Eric, Soph and I had dinner with Morgan and Sarah. Eric headed off to make-up and us girls hung out and played a while. Sophie was having so much fun that she decided to walk about it!!!! And were off!!!
Soph is currently 11 months and 2 weeks. She will be one on July 15. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Behind the scenes with our family on and off stage in show business, New York to Los Angeles and everywhere in between. Eric, the actor. Lisa, the teacher. Sophie, the 8 year old actor. Miles, the 4 year old comedian. And Simon, their dog. Laugh, cry, and party with us all the way!
Friday, June 24, 2011
Reflection
Reflection: As we near the end of the tour, I have a reflective walk home, with Soph in the stroller in front of me. What a whirlwind our life has been. Eric and I moved to NYC in 2004, after meeting at The Barn Theatre in Augusta, MI. We lived at 191st and Wadsworth Ave., which, for those of you who know, can be a rather dangerous neighborhood. Gunshots ringing out on the street, people running, 40yr-old prostitutes dancing to no music using the building trash den as there base, seeing a man beat up and left in the gutter outside my window. Thank God, we both booked the same show and were working on the road for a few months right away. TheatreworksUSA is a children’s theatre company in NYC and Eric and I booked Huck Finn. I did it for a while myself and then Eric came in as a replacement. We had a ball together and it was an experience, in and of itself...you may call it, paying your dues. Eric went back to the Barn and I stayed in NYC. New York was even more difficult alone and poor. By the end of the summer 3 girls had been stabbed in the face, in front of our building, and we decided that we’d better move.
We received quite the array of reactions as we moved the last of our things from Washington Heights to Sunset Park, Brooklyn, via the subway. I remember holding curtain rods in one hand and a giant wicker basket filled with blankets and clothes between my legs. Some faces were entertained and others were seriously disapproving. If our Brooklyn wasn’t the hipster haven you’ve read about, it was, for us, a fun place to live. The actual park of Sunset Park was a beautiful escape for us and we loved our neighbors. Eric booked his first big job on a Bway tour while living there in 2006 and I did a few small shows in town. It was a step up from where we’d been, but mice and safety were ever the issue though, as I woke one day to find my neighbor hosing blood off the front stoop. Some of the craziness of these things really don’t register until like...now.
In 2007, we stepped up again and moved into a 300 square foot “dream” apartment in Hell’s Kitchen. We were getting married that year and happy as clams to be living right on top of each other. We thought we’d hit the jackpot. In a way, we did. A week after our “I do’s,” I booked “Mamma Mia” in Las Vegas. I shipped out and was there until Jan. 2009. Eric came out to visit every few weeks and I went to see him when I could get a day off here and there. A lot of people sacrifice there relationship and time together for saving money, so maybe we didn’t save as much as they did, but we had each other in the end. The year had been good for Eric too, getting his feet wet doing some guest spots on T.V. and booking a pilot for a sitcom. We decided to stay in our homey Hell’s Kitchen place. We loved it and wanted the apt. to work. After accidentally roasting a rat along with our filet mignon, we decided to move that instance.
With the markets in free fall, free months of rent and dropped rates were happening everywhere. We signed a 2 yr lease in a luxury building at 42nd and 10th Ave. snagging the deal of the century and sang “Movin’ on up” as we moved on up. We returned to the Barn Theatre, in Michigan, where we had met, as part of their Equity Company. It was a romantic place for us, so super fun to return. I was directing Eric in a production of “The Full Monty,” wherein he was playing a lead, when he received the phone call to return for an audition for a replacement in Shrek on Broadway. We had capable, if not age appropriate, understudies in place, but it was not without it’s difficulties. He and we were left in limbo for a week. Not knowing whether or not he would be returning to our show or going to Broadway. Well, as it turned out, he booked the job. We were so proud. He headed off to NYC and I stuck out the summer without him. It was harder than it had ever been to be without him. We had pledged that whoever booked the next big job, the other would travel with. We didn’t imagine that it wouldn’t be possible. I returned in October and we took a month to visit friends and family before Eric returned to the Broadway cast as the Standby for Shrek until their closing on Jan.3, 2010.
After our vacation, we returned to our awesome apartment. I worked out everyday to lose my vacay weight. I had a sneaking suspicion after seeing “results not typical” at the gym that “vacay” weight might be “babay” weight. I took a pregnancy test. I took all three!!! The first one got the line AS I was peeing on it. What happened to the “wait for 3 minutes”? The others did the same. We’ll, I guess this is happening. Excitement and fear coursed through me all at the same time. Now, to tell Eric. He had just done what was to be his first and only rehearsal of Shrek. It was for an empty house, but he worked hard preparing and we viewed it as his starring turn even if he never went on for the role. I was excited to here about his day and knew that this news was going to be the icing on his cake. He nervously called out my name when he couldn’t open the door because I had it bolted.
“Coming” I said as I grabbed the video camera and headed to unlock the door.
“Hi,” I giggled.
“Hi,” he said. “Why do you have a video camera?”
“Just go to the bathroom,” I replied.
He turned the corner to see a bunch of his shirts hanging on the curtain rod. “Thanks for doing the laundry,” he said confusedly.
I laughed as I pointed to the sink. “No, look down.”
He smirked and smiled and grabbed his head and said, “Are you serious? Oh My God. This is crazy. This is great! I’m so excited!”
His reaction immediately calmed my nerves.
We kept the news to ourselves that night until we could confirm it with the doctor. Excitement made me feel as if I could barely sleep, but the tiredness took over and we headed into sweet dreams. The next day, I got a phone call from Eric at 10 a.m. “They just called and said I’m on for Shrek today...both shows.” My friend Michael and I got tickets to the first show and cried about how proud we were. Eric was starring on Broadway...with Tony Award winning actress, Sutton Foster, no less. That night I went by myself and sat a few rows from the front. I was so happy that Eric was getting to live his dream. His cast members approached me on the street deeming his performance as “the best first understudy performance ever!” He came home saying people kept telling him how focused and cool he was, to which he replied...”You have no idea.” (I just found out I’m going to be a father!, he thought to himself.)
The 3 month mark of our pregnancy fell on the week the show closed in NYC. We decided not to tell anyone until then. A meager 4 people outside of our family knew at that point. The first week of January, we began to spread the good news. In other good news, Eric had been notified that he would have the honor of playing Shrek on the First National Tour. Although paper work had not been drawn and ink certainly was not dry, we were excited, but kept the news to ourselves. In this business, it’s best not to count your chicken before their hatched.
I spent the next few months as Assistant Director to a Director friend of ours and Eric auditioned for commercials and T.V. We planned for having a new baby on the road. This was not traditional, so I sort of had to draw up my own rulebook and guidelines. A different kind of how-to. As details of the tour got fleshed out, we discovered that Sophie (now named) was going to come sometime around...OPENING! Not only would this be tricky because of Eric’s work schedule being the star of the show, but also because traveling at the end of the 3rd trimester was not something people typically do. We’ll, we are anything but typical. We decided to be prepared. We had a doctor in NYC for all prenatal care and in the case that she would arrive early. Getting a doctor to take us at 39 weeks in Chicago was a different story. I spent hours on the phone being denied by office after office, until finally a doctor affiliated with Northwestern took us in. She was meant to be. I visited her once with Eric and a few times on my own leading up to the delivery. My body swelled from the pregnancy, the travel, and the diet. We drove to Chicago and still no baby. We settled into the apartment and still no baby. The show opened for previews and still no baby. Finally, on July 14. She decided it was time. It was a 2 show day for Eric, so I didn’t bother telling him until he finished his second show. By then, my contractions were 10 minutes apart. We headed to the doc when they were just under 4 minutes at around 4 a.m. There was no room for us, so we waited in Triage for hours. We finally were moved to a room and I was given an epidural almost immediately. A few hours later, at 5pm on July 15, 2010, Sophie was born. Eric was out of the show for that night only and returned to work the next day. Thank God, the next 6 weeks we were in one place. I had no idea how much time it takes just breast feeding and changing diapers (mine and babies). With stitches that didn’t heal quite right, and a procedure to fix it, it took more like 9 weeks to heal. I hear c-sections are pretty painful though, so I’m glad to have avoided that. Once we got through Chicago, we felt like we were getting the hang of things. As we moved to St.Louis, we felt a weight lift off of us. Eric was feeling a oneness with the show and we were feeling a oneness with baby Sophie. We could recognize that this is the time of our lives.
As I came up to the hotel and out of my day dreaming, I remembered that the tour was now coming to an end. In one week, the traveling will be over for a bit. The logistics planning can have a rest. The uncertainty of the actors life is eagerly waiting to nestle itself back into our lives. It's something we've learned to live with. Next up...?
We received quite the array of reactions as we moved the last of our things from Washington Heights to Sunset Park, Brooklyn, via the subway. I remember holding curtain rods in one hand and a giant wicker basket filled with blankets and clothes between my legs. Some faces were entertained and others were seriously disapproving. If our Brooklyn wasn’t the hipster haven you’ve read about, it was, for us, a fun place to live. The actual park of Sunset Park was a beautiful escape for us and we loved our neighbors. Eric booked his first big job on a Bway tour while living there in 2006 and I did a few small shows in town. It was a step up from where we’d been, but mice and safety were ever the issue though, as I woke one day to find my neighbor hosing blood off the front stoop. Some of the craziness of these things really don’t register until like...now.
In 2007, we stepped up again and moved into a 300 square foot “dream” apartment in Hell’s Kitchen. We were getting married that year and happy as clams to be living right on top of each other. We thought we’d hit the jackpot. In a way, we did. A week after our “I do’s,” I booked “Mamma Mia” in Las Vegas. I shipped out and was there until Jan. 2009. Eric came out to visit every few weeks and I went to see him when I could get a day off here and there. A lot of people sacrifice there relationship and time together for saving money, so maybe we didn’t save as much as they did, but we had each other in the end. The year had been good for Eric too, getting his feet wet doing some guest spots on T.V. and booking a pilot for a sitcom. We decided to stay in our homey Hell’s Kitchen place. We loved it and wanted the apt. to work. After accidentally roasting a rat along with our filet mignon, we decided to move that instance.
With the markets in free fall, free months of rent and dropped rates were happening everywhere. We signed a 2 yr lease in a luxury building at 42nd and 10th Ave. snagging the deal of the century and sang “Movin’ on up” as we moved on up. We returned to the Barn Theatre, in Michigan, where we had met, as part of their Equity Company. It was a romantic place for us, so super fun to return. I was directing Eric in a production of “The Full Monty,” wherein he was playing a lead, when he received the phone call to return for an audition for a replacement in Shrek on Broadway. We had capable, if not age appropriate, understudies in place, but it was not without it’s difficulties. He and we were left in limbo for a week. Not knowing whether or not he would be returning to our show or going to Broadway. Well, as it turned out, he booked the job. We were so proud. He headed off to NYC and I stuck out the summer without him. It was harder than it had ever been to be without him. We had pledged that whoever booked the next big job, the other would travel with. We didn’t imagine that it wouldn’t be possible. I returned in October and we took a month to visit friends and family before Eric returned to the Broadway cast as the Standby for Shrek until their closing on Jan.3, 2010.
After our vacation, we returned to our awesome apartment. I worked out everyday to lose my vacay weight. I had a sneaking suspicion after seeing “results not typical” at the gym that “vacay” weight might be “babay” weight. I took a pregnancy test. I took all three!!! The first one got the line AS I was peeing on it. What happened to the “wait for 3 minutes”? The others did the same. We’ll, I guess this is happening. Excitement and fear coursed through me all at the same time. Now, to tell Eric. He had just done what was to be his first and only rehearsal of Shrek. It was for an empty house, but he worked hard preparing and we viewed it as his starring turn even if he never went on for the role. I was excited to here about his day and knew that this news was going to be the icing on his cake. He nervously called out my name when he couldn’t open the door because I had it bolted.
“Coming” I said as I grabbed the video camera and headed to unlock the door.
“Hi,” I giggled.
“Hi,” he said. “Why do you have a video camera?”
“Just go to the bathroom,” I replied.
He turned the corner to see a bunch of his shirts hanging on the curtain rod. “Thanks for doing the laundry,” he said confusedly.
I laughed as I pointed to the sink. “No, look down.”
He smirked and smiled and grabbed his head and said, “Are you serious? Oh My God. This is crazy. This is great! I’m so excited!”
His reaction immediately calmed my nerves.
We kept the news to ourselves that night until we could confirm it with the doctor. Excitement made me feel as if I could barely sleep, but the tiredness took over and we headed into sweet dreams. The next day, I got a phone call from Eric at 10 a.m. “They just called and said I’m on for Shrek today...both shows.” My friend Michael and I got tickets to the first show and cried about how proud we were. Eric was starring on Broadway...with Tony Award winning actress, Sutton Foster, no less. That night I went by myself and sat a few rows from the front. I was so happy that Eric was getting to live his dream. His cast members approached me on the street deeming his performance as “the best first understudy performance ever!” He came home saying people kept telling him how focused and cool he was, to which he replied...”You have no idea.” (I just found out I’m going to be a father!, he thought to himself.)
The 3 month mark of our pregnancy fell on the week the show closed in NYC. We decided not to tell anyone until then. A meager 4 people outside of our family knew at that point. The first week of January, we began to spread the good news. In other good news, Eric had been notified that he would have the honor of playing Shrek on the First National Tour. Although paper work had not been drawn and ink certainly was not dry, we were excited, but kept the news to ourselves. In this business, it’s best not to count your chicken before their hatched.
I spent the next few months as Assistant Director to a Director friend of ours and Eric auditioned for commercials and T.V. We planned for having a new baby on the road. This was not traditional, so I sort of had to draw up my own rulebook and guidelines. A different kind of how-to. As details of the tour got fleshed out, we discovered that Sophie (now named) was going to come sometime around...OPENING! Not only would this be tricky because of Eric’s work schedule being the star of the show, but also because traveling at the end of the 3rd trimester was not something people typically do. We’ll, we are anything but typical. We decided to be prepared. We had a doctor in NYC for all prenatal care and in the case that she would arrive early. Getting a doctor to take us at 39 weeks in Chicago was a different story. I spent hours on the phone being denied by office after office, until finally a doctor affiliated with Northwestern took us in. She was meant to be. I visited her once with Eric and a few times on my own leading up to the delivery. My body swelled from the pregnancy, the travel, and the diet. We drove to Chicago and still no baby. We settled into the apartment and still no baby. The show opened for previews and still no baby. Finally, on July 14. She decided it was time. It was a 2 show day for Eric, so I didn’t bother telling him until he finished his second show. By then, my contractions were 10 minutes apart. We headed to the doc when they were just under 4 minutes at around 4 a.m. There was no room for us, so we waited in Triage for hours. We finally were moved to a room and I was given an epidural almost immediately. A few hours later, at 5pm on July 15, 2010, Sophie was born. Eric was out of the show for that night only and returned to work the next day. Thank God, the next 6 weeks we were in one place. I had no idea how much time it takes just breast feeding and changing diapers (mine and babies). With stitches that didn’t heal quite right, and a procedure to fix it, it took more like 9 weeks to heal. I hear c-sections are pretty painful though, so I’m glad to have avoided that. Once we got through Chicago, we felt like we were getting the hang of things. As we moved to St.Louis, we felt a weight lift off of us. Eric was feeling a oneness with the show and we were feeling a oneness with baby Sophie. We could recognize that this is the time of our lives.
As I came up to the hotel and out of my day dreaming, I remembered that the tour was now coming to an end. In one week, the traveling will be over for a bit. The logistics planning can have a rest. The uncertainty of the actors life is eagerly waiting to nestle itself back into our lives. It's something we've learned to live with. Next up...?
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Good Charlotte
Eric received a lot of sweet cards and gifts, but I, unabashedly, can say the best one came from me...beauty and necessity rolled into a new, shiny, red and black walker. Class.
He wore it well.
The parties for Haven and Denny were really fun also and because they had the parties meet up, Eric and I got to spend even more time out together. It's nice to have a big ole group of people you really like around.
The weekend in Charlotte ended with more fun, cause we got to see Meegan, my girlfriend and bridesmaid from NYC who moved to Charlotte that very week. We loved having some time with her and after visiting Charlotte, knew that she would be perfectly fine there. It's a really great city! P.S. I got amazing highlights here and it only cost me $75. Eat your heart out, John Barrett.
From Charlotte, I got to head to L.A. for Haven and Denny's wedding and the cast, along with Eric and Sophie, headed to Grand Rapids, MI. Having anxiety about Eric and Sophie traveling "alone," I proposed to our friend, Sarah Peak (friend and fellow cast member) and asked her to be Eric's wife for the day. She knows Soph really well and I totally trusted that if something went wrong, she would be there for him. I've flown somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 times by myself with Soph, so I knew Daddy would be just fine, but wanted him to have someone there. Thank God everything went smoothly, well almost. With their first flight canceled, they ended up with a 12 hr travel day. Whew! That could have been super trying if it weren't for Sarah and Morgan (also friend and cast member) who were super helpful to Eric and loving on Soph all day. From what I understand, it wasn't just them, but the whole cast was super sweet to her and she, in turn, entertained them. Make 'em laugh, baby! By the end of the day, she was pooped.
The wedding was beautiful and I enjoyed a book and a magazine on my way. It had been a while since I read anything beside websites and forums about baby stuff. It was a relaxing flight. L.A. was beautiful and the people were happy and nice and... beautiful...go figure. The wedding. Haven looked radiant and Denny looked dapper.
It was a beautiful backyard wedding. They didn't miss a thing. It was perfectly them. I feel so blessed that our lives have intertwined with this awesome, smart, sweet couple. I got to stay in the awesomely cool house in the hills of our friends and Eric's boss. It was relaxing and fun to be with them , but I missed Sophie more than words can say at the same time. The sound of her "mumumumum"s over the phone made my eyes wet with tears. As a child screamed as if she were being stabbed to death behind me on the plane flight back to the family, I found myself thanking God that Soph is the travel pro she is and hasn't had a complete public meltdown. Yet. They say even the best babies have them, so as I brag about Soph's good demeanor, I can feel her mustering her very first and best blood-curdling scream. Until then, I will continue to thank my lucky stars. When I opened the door in Grand Rapids, I felt like I had been away a year. She looked older, more knowing, her hair looked longer and her face looked more like a toddler and less like a baby and that was just two days. I'm a mess.
Saturday, June 18, 2011
She's Ready For Her Close Up
Sophie's Project Runway.
Soph shows off her bear crawl in the breakfast lounge at Springhill Suites.
Kazoo skills! A born musician!
Sophie accompanies the Tony Awards show.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Soph shows off her bear crawl in the breakfast lounge at Springhill Suites.
Kazoo skills! A born musician!
Sophie accompanies the Tony Awards show.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Friday, June 10, 2011
Louisville Sluggers
Louisville was yet another cool city. We stayed at the Springhill Suites, but moved over to the Fairfield after a few days so that we could have a bathtub. I filled a storage tub from the shower spout for a few days and decided that was too much when it came to hair washing.
I found our cruise ship sink kinda funny. It's a nice hotel and all the Marriots at this level have a great comp breakfast. Soph doesn't care that it is comp...she just likes to socialize in the morning. We normally spend about an hour in the breakfast area, as Soph likes to strike up conversations with the other children staying at the hotel. In the evening, Soph and I go back and bring our dinner to the lounge area. The table and high chairs make it an ideal place for meals.
The Louisville Slugger museum and factory tour were awesome. It was one of the best tours we have been on because the factory is THE working factory and there are batting cages, a really cool pitching exhibit, and an exhibit where you cam hold Mickey Mantle's bat. You can also have a bat made and engraved on the spot. Eric got one that said "Shrek: The Musical.". It's going to be a cool memory along side his Shrek Cubs jersey.
Our friend Kelley, whom Eric and I met at The Barn Theatre our first year, now lives in Louisville with her husband and son, Mack. Mack was born the week after Soph. They visited us for the day on Thursday and we had a great time. The babies really liked being around each other. One of my favorite moments was when they got into chasing each other. Sophie would crawl away and then look over her shoulder to see if he was following. Then she would just crack up laughing. Classic.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
I found our cruise ship sink kinda funny. It's a nice hotel and all the Marriots at this level have a great comp breakfast. Soph doesn't care that it is comp...she just likes to socialize in the morning. We normally spend about an hour in the breakfast area, as Soph likes to strike up conversations with the other children staying at the hotel. In the evening, Soph and I go back and bring our dinner to the lounge area. The table and high chairs make it an ideal place for meals.
The Louisville Slugger museum and factory tour were awesome. It was one of the best tours we have been on because the factory is THE working factory and there are batting cages, a really cool pitching exhibit, and an exhibit where you cam hold Mickey Mantle's bat. You can also have a bat made and engraved on the spot. Eric got one that said "Shrek: The Musical.". It's going to be a cool memory along side his Shrek Cubs jersey.
Our friend Kelley, whom Eric and I met at The Barn Theatre our first year, now lives in Louisville with her husband and son, Mack. Mack was born the week after Soph. They visited us for the day on Thursday and we had a great time. The babies really liked being around each other. One of my favorite moments was when they got into chasing each other. Sophie would crawl away and then look over her shoulder to see if he was following. Then she would just crack up laughing. Classic.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Who Dat?!
Who Dat?! New Orleans, LA. So, we were not exactly looking forward to NO before we got here. It marked the end of our vacay with family and we had been down Bourbon St. before. After we did the riverwalk, ate beignets at Cafe Du Monde, went to an amazing dress shop selling vintage cuts named Trashy Diva, and ate Pineapple Basil popsicles from the organic popsicle shop Meltdown...we felt differently. We saw beauty in the ironwork balconies and heard music in every nook and crany.
We were charmed! The French Quarter felt very, well...French.
We stayed at The Chateau Le Monte. It is a historic hotel, like most everything in NO. The set-up of our room is awesome aside from the mouse who shacked up with us the last few nights. I don't mind...as long as he pitches in.
There was a Turtle Pond right outside our room and Soph visited them everyday. They used to jump in the water from their perch on the higher rock, when we came up. By the time we left, they we swimming over to us or just continued to stretch and sun themselves. We are going to miss those guys.
Sophie took four consecutive independent steps on Sunday, June 5. We are so proud of her and you could tell she was so proud of herself. It was about 4:30, so Eric was just wrapping up the first show, Soph and I were playing at the foot of the bed and I had the key in my hand. She got excited and distracted and before she knew it...she was walking!!! We tried for more steps, like the first, all day, but to no avail. She kept trying for about 2hrs though. We explored every inch of this hotel. Sophie is going to sleep hard tonight.
The record high temps and heat advisory that weighed on the city this week made it difficult for the cast. Their Tony Award winning costumes are crazy amazing, but with a heat index of 110 on some days, it was extremely hot. Across the country, record temperatures were being shattered. It was hot everywhere. The show must go on though. That's the biz, as they say.
Sophie waves goodbye to New Orleans.
Here's a few photos of Soph from this week that are keepers.
First up...Miss Pris
Next up...That Face!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
We were charmed! The French Quarter felt very, well...French.
We stayed at The Chateau Le Monte. It is a historic hotel, like most everything in NO. The set-up of our room is awesome aside from the mouse who shacked up with us the last few nights. I don't mind...as long as he pitches in.
There was a Turtle Pond right outside our room and Soph visited them everyday. They used to jump in the water from their perch on the higher rock, when we came up. By the time we left, they we swimming over to us or just continued to stretch and sun themselves. We are going to miss those guys.
Sophie took four consecutive independent steps on Sunday, June 5. We are so proud of her and you could tell she was so proud of herself. It was about 4:30, so Eric was just wrapping up the first show, Soph and I were playing at the foot of the bed and I had the key in my hand. She got excited and distracted and before she knew it...she was walking!!! We tried for more steps, like the first, all day, but to no avail. She kept trying for about 2hrs though. We explored every inch of this hotel. Sophie is going to sleep hard tonight.
The record high temps and heat advisory that weighed on the city this week made it difficult for the cast. Their Tony Award winning costumes are crazy amazing, but with a heat index of 110 on some days, it was extremely hot. Across the country, record temperatures were being shattered. It was hot everywhere. The show must go on though. That's the biz, as they say.
Sophie waves goodbye to New Orleans.
Here's a few photos of Soph from this week that are keepers.
First up...Miss Pris
Next up...That Face!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
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