The L.A. Dime

I hit my 20th week of pregnancy yesterday and am feeling pretty good. The nausea is gone and although I get tired pretty easily, I am now able to really enjoy this pregnancy. Our little person is quite active, especially at night. It’s not yet hard enough for Brad to feel the kicks or movements on the outside but he does talk to the belly often. Even though we’d decided on some names, we now seem to be back to square one on that but luckily there are still a few months left. If you have any suggestions, feel free to pass them along! We (well, really it was me and Brad seems to have given in) decided to not find out the sex of the baby. We originally wanted to do that with Sophie as well but due to some unforeseen circumstances, we did find out and Brad really enjoyed knowing that this little person I was carrying, was now someone he could start to call by name and form an even closer bond with, even outside of the womb. This time though, we are going to wait to hear our dear friend and wonderful doc Karyn call out: “It’s a _____” sometime in the middle of July. I feel like it’ll be a really nice surprise after the work of bringing her or him into the world.

This weekend we are planning to make a big push on starting the room switch/transition. Brad is going to move into what is currently Sophie’s room and we are going to turn the current office/guest room into the kids room. Our plan is to have Sophie get used to her new room (and new twin bed which we picked up this past weekend but have yet to put together) for the next few months before the baby arrives. We are doing all we can to not make her feel like the baby is going to take over all of her things and she’s being pushed to the side (one of my biggest fears but more on that later). Our pediatrician even recommended covering up the crib so when the baby starts to sleep in it, it’ll seem like it’s brand-new and not Sophie’s old bed. We’re not going to go that far but are planning on having the baby either sleep in the crib in the office (at least at night when Brad’s not working) or in a basinet in our room until it sleeps through the night, and doesn’t disturb Sophie. At some point though, hopefully sooner rather than later, they will share a room.

Lots of you have asked us what Sophie thinks about getting a baby sister or brother but we are not sure yet she fully grasps what’s going to happen. She seems to know that I have a baby in my belly and “it’s not time yet” for it to come out and meet us. She goes back and forth on wanting a brother or sister but does seem to get excited when I tell her that she’ll be able to help me take care of the baby and that the baby is going to stay with us. She is a very caring and loving little girl – just tonight she was feeding her bears a home-cooked meal from her kitchen, changed them, let them watch a little tv and then put them down for naps – so we hope that she’ll share that love and attention with her little sibling once he or she joins us sometime in July.

Below are some belly shots for those of you wanting to take a peek at my ever-expanding waist line:)

Every two years, our household experiences a 2-week window of extreme “country rivalry” and competitive comments made about anything and everything we can think of to make our own native homelands sound, look or seem better. This year’s winter Olympics was no different. During the opening ceremonies, while I was utterly embarrassed by the horrible color choices and outfits of the German athletes making their way into the stadium (seriously?!?!??!), Brad suggested we have a bet on total medal count at the end of the games. Thinking that I should have a fairly decent shot, considering that winter sports are a major past-time of many Germans, I took the bet and announced my reward to be a week’s worth of back massages from Brad. Brad ended up never coming up with what his prize should be in the case he won, but we immediately started tracking the daily metal counts, poking fun of each other and cringing every time the others’ country won. Well, for those of you who followed the games, you now know that I lost. It’s disappointing yes, but then again, considering how much larger this country is in both population and space, not sure it was a fair bet to take on after all.

More importantly that our bet though, I wanted to write this post to say  a few things about “national pride” and what these Olympics once again reminded me of. Anyone that knows me well, knows that I am deeply ashamed by my country’s history and tend to avoid the topic of our past as much as I can. I don’t even watch movies that have to do with our history, the Nazi regime or the wars – I by no means want to push what we did under the rug or believe that we shouldn’t learn from those mistakes, but continuing to bring it to the forefront through movies or tv shows, I simply can’t bring myself to support those efforts. At the same time of feeling this guilt, I am also quite protective and proud of the great accomplishments in science, technology and environmental advances we’ve made. I have not and don’t ever plan to give up my German citizenship. I speak to my daughter in German and am committed to not only teaching her the language but also about its culture and traditions. I plan on taking her for visits as often as feasible to stay connected with her German relatives and experience the country first-hand. She has a German (and American) passport.

“National pride” is something that most Germans today don’t feel or ever show. We know better.  We simply can’t. You would be hard pressed to find a German flag, t-shirt or coffee mug with the German flag on it (even as a souvenir). Watching the German athletes these past 18 days however – seeing how they came together as a team, as a competitor, as a country – I couldn’t help but feel excited for them; to feel like their hard work put into excelling at their craft was ok to be shown to the world and it was ok to cheer them on and maybe even be proud of. I can’t help where I was born. I can’t change the past. I have wonderful parents who taught me to see the good in everyone, to forgive mistakes and to focus on what each of us can do to make this world better.  I try to live with one foot planted firmly in where I come from, not ever forgetting that part of my upbringing and how that’s made me who I am today, but also with one foot in the future where I have the opportunity to make good choices, raise thoughtful & caring individuals and find a way to have a positive impact.

So, to wrap up – congrats to the US for winning the medal count. Congrats to Canada for putting on a fabulous Olympics. And Congrats to all athletes who worked incredibly hard to even make it to this level of competition – medal or not, your dedication and commitment to being the best you can be is certainly an inspiration to me.

Just a few shots of our silly little Sophie-Bophie who has recently started telling us: ”You’re my best friend!”

We both really enjoy the seasons. Having the weather change into a cool, crisp fall where the leaves change colors and you can see your breath. Followed by a real winter with heavy sweaters, a crackling fireplace and sledding. Starting the new year with the first blooms of spring, thunderstorms and then a summer to enjoy the pool and cook-outs with friends.
Living in LA means that we get a lot of sunshine. A lot. And while most people move here (and continue living here) for that sunshine, we tend to really enjoy those few days where it pours rain or is overcast.
Yesterday turned out to be in the 80’s. Yup. While (most of) the rest of the country is burried in snow and can’t get their shovels working fast enough, we put on a sundress, shorts and headed out to the Japanese Gardens to take in the beautiful scenery, stretch our legs a bit and say hello to spring.

With Sophie almost hitting the 2.5 year mark and us wanting to take advantage of an extra day off for this holiday weekend, Brad and I decided to not only talk about the potty and read stories, but to put some Princess Underwear on Sophie’s bottom and see what happens.
Brad printed out a “potty chart” that encourages stickers for the various phases of going to the potty – pulling down one’s pants, sitting on it, flushing it down the toilet, washing hands and of course the big one….actually going on it. Sophie was super excited about the concept and started pilling up the stickers in all the categories….except the one that doesn’t include us getting out the carpet cleaner.
Then, after many many talks about why we wear underwear and what she’s supposed to tell us when she needs to go…….she actually does do it….twice…..for the babysitter!! Brad and I decided to go on a long-overdue-date last night and Sophie decided to impress Julie by going for her.
We made a big deal about it this morning though and am hoping for more stickers today!!

02/18 Update since posting this: She’s been going pretty consistently and gets very excited when Brad & I make a big deal about it. She’s started telling us when she needs to go (rather than us asking every hour or so) and has almost filled up her sticker chart. So far so good…hopefully it’ll last. She’s not yet going at her daycare though but we think the issue there might be is that there’s only a real toilet and not the little potty we have at home and she’s been practicing with.

I did an online interview with Roger Ebert about writing and stuff. Not really Roger Ebert. But I did do an interview.  You can find it here.

Also, I was a judge for the Derby City Film Festival, which is next weekend in… The Derby City. You should go and stuff. The festival movies are, like, really good, and the people are way cool. Our friend Kelly Rouse’s movie is a finalist in the Documentary category, and it’s about her dad’s band, The Nightcrawlers, and their hit song, The Little Black Egg, and it totally rocks. You can buy it on iTunes now. I did. Twice.

Thanks, I’m sure, to my Facebook friends, Twitter followers, and blog readers no doubt, Road Trip 2: Beer Pong won the award for best comedy in Straight2DVD’s first-annual write-in contest.  Details here. Thanks for voting if you did!

A trip to Aveda for a haircut and some makeup (our stylist’s next appointment had cancelled b/c it was raining). The rain broke, and we went for a walk with our new Cindumbrella. Today, a cold morning at the park once this thing called sunshine reemerged.

…to a hotel for the weekend a finish his script. He wrote 40 pages in 2 days and while it’s not quite ready to be sent out for feedback, it’s very close. Getting paid assignments now-a-days is becoming less and less so I thought it was important to give Brad some uninterrupted time to focus, get in his writing zone and finish off this creative endeavor of his.

We didn’t want to spend too much money on the hotel room but also needed him to be comfortable so a friend suggested we use Priceline.com. It was a bit nerve-racking since you just put in the dollar amount you are willing to pay and the level of stars (quality of hotel) you expect, and they then tell you if your offer was accepted in the area you requested. After having to scale back our expectations a little on the location of the hotel, Brad ended up in a nice Marriott in Camarillo. He’d asked for a quiet room and got the handicapped suite which had an extra large bathroom and a funny shower – but all in all, he said it all worked out and getting that much writing done certainly is proof positive!

We’re now thinking of using Priceline to find a place for a weekend “babymoon” but don’t know where to go. It’d have to be in driving distance…..any suggestions? Oh yeah, and if you’re willing to babysit Sophie, let us know that too:)

That’s the statement made by Chad after his lovely wife Mandee made him a loaf of homemade bread a few weeks back. Thanks to Marion & Manfred who gave Brad a breadmaker for Christmas, Brad now too can enjoy a whole new bread experience. Below are some pics of last night’s efforts….it was fun to watch the ingredients that we just poured in, become kneaded, then expand and turn into a beautiful light brown loaf of bread. Brad enjoyed his first slice as soon as the bread cooled down and the whole family had some “Egg & Bacon Breakfast Sandwiches” this morning!