Lydia's Journey BEYOND Hollywood

So tomorrow Nicolas turns one year old. I can't believe that a year has gone by already.  I remember when he was born.  I was excited, nervous, not knowing what to expect.  And here we are...a year later and I no longer have a baby boy.  I have a little boy.  A boy who is walking already!  A boy who loves cheerios, yogurt, crackers and raisins.  He makes cute scrunched up faces and loves bath time.  He has 8 teeth and loves drinking from a straw.  He'd rather feed himself with his hands than take a spoon.  And he loves sharing and hugs.  He's my baby no matter how old he gets.  And I'm so proud of him! We celebrated his birthday in Corpus this past weekend, surrounded by family who all love him.  And even though I was stressed out about planning this party, and making sure everything ran smoothly, I had a great time seeing Nic have fun.  :) Happy birthday my sweetheart!  Mommy loves you very much!

So excited to share the trailer of Homebound by Fanny Veliz, my first feature film as a Casting Director.   Homebound Trailer

1. My collection of many cute and sexy high heel shoes are collecting dust under my bed. 2. I am now a very light sleeper. The smallest sound from anywhere in the house has me up and ready to tend to a baby.  3. If I ever sleep past 7am, it is a luxury, and definitely considered "sleeping in".  4. I pay the same monthly for my two story house in Texas than I did for my one bedroom apartment in West Hollywood. Less even. And the house still isn't big enough!  5. I went from a two seater sports car to an SUV, and it's STILL not big enough!  6. I dread getting a call that I have an audition since that means I would need to find a sitter. Or more than likely, decline the audition.  7. Going to the movies is now a rarity in my life, when it was something I did 4-5 times a week!  8. I can't remember the last time I got my nails done.  9. Or put on makeup. (Oh, wait, it was date night this past Saturday.)  10. My living room now looks lik

So I've been feeling a little stressed and frustrated lately. With two babies six months apart??? How is that possible??? ;) Lol I'm sure spending 24/7 with my babies, its obvious I need a break, for my sanity. And Ceasar and I definitely are overdue for a date night. WAY overdue. I frantically started looking for referrals for babysitters and tried to find an evening where we can finally go out as adults, minus the company of our kids. I got a couple of names of high schoolers that other moms use regularly. I just wasn't sure if it would be wise to have a teenager watch TWO babies so young at the same time - for the first time with our family. So we opted to try a drop off center that stays open late. We took a tour of the facility Saturday morning, to see if we got a good vibe and to check out how clean and friendly the place was. Nic seemed to take to the place pretty quickly. He loved seeing the other kids and the many toys they had there. Plus, I liked th

So after taking a good year and a half off of coaching, I got back into it again last week. A friend of mine in LA referred a local kid actor to me for coaching and/or consulting. I coached him for a short film audition he had in Dallas. I hadn't been actively pursuing this extension of my career here in Austin because...well, I had been busy having a baby and raising TWO! Lol But now I'm thinking it would be nice, a couple of days out of the week, to set aside for coaching and consulting - you know, to ease back into it. I'm even purchasing a video camera so I can either put myself on tape if anything interesting comes along - or coach and tape other kid or adult actors who need to send tape. Right now I'll just expect to get my clients through word of mouth, and as it begins to grow, then actively market it. Hmm.. I'm actually excited to focus on something business related again. :) Too much time off being a "mom" makes me miss it a bit. ;)

No one told me it would be like this! Seriously! All my mom friends would say that whenever I became a mom, it would be the best experience of my life! Unlike anything I've ever experienced! No one can truly explain what that love feels like...yadda yadda yadda... And it's all true. I never could've imagined that I could feel love like this for another human being - much less TWO. It's unlike any love I've ever experienced. These two babies are my reason for living at the moment - my purpose in life, and most definitely the HARDEST job I've ever had in my life. Now, most would say that coming from a nice career as an actress in Hollywood, that's not saying much. True. But I don't know how else to express how hard this mom thing is. No. Really. Let's just start with yesterday. In my efforts in trying to be a "great" stay-at-home mom, I've looked into the various places in the area that have "Baby and Me" classes