The "Reality" of Reality.

I had to call in sick yesterday morning because I woke up with a headache. After helping my husband and daughter out the door at around 7:00am, I crashed on the couch, and slept uninterrupted until 10:00am. Yes! Talk about luxury. I can’t remember the last time I slept until 10:00am. I’m sure it was back in the early 00’s, when I was still single, and not yet a mother.

At any rate it was much needed. I lounged, and got tons of stuff done around my house. I was just out of the shower early yesterday afternoon when my sister-in-law called to tell me that the BRINGING HOME BABY film crew had ushered them home from the hospital, with my new niece. She was calling to find out when we’d be stopping by. I told her we’d be by as soon as my husband got off work, and we had a chance to swing by and pick up my little one from preschool.

Cut to 5:00pm...

Reality TV is definitely a far cry from being on a tv/commercial/film set. Natural and organic, I guess you can say are the key words. Although, if they don’t get the right “angle” or “response from a question,” they are certainly not shy about asking you to do it again; and quite possible again, so that they can get the shot they need. My family and I were at my in-laws house until about 9:00pm, chatting, eating, and greeting visitor after visitor that stopped by with food, and gifts for the baby. It’s definitely true that after about an hour or so, you tend to forget the cameras are even there. SO HERE IS MY DISCLAIMER: There is NO TELLING what will end up in the final product. My family and friends are crazy!...:)...So, be prepared should you watch the show.

At one point during the course of the evening, the crew (there were about 5 of them) took my husband and I aside to ask us questions about my brother-in-law and sister-in-law. (i.e. What types of parents they are? Did we plan our pregnancies to coincide? How close are our children? etc, etc.) After we wrapped our mini interview, the crew told us how great of a job we’d done, and asked why we hadn’t submitted an application to be on the show ourselves. I told them that we had, but with so many other things going on, we were slow in sending in the pictures and video that was necessary to start the screening process, so we just kinda dismissed the whole thought of it all.

One of the producer’s, who I’d struck up a quick rapport with when we’d first arrived, quickly responded by saying it wasn’t too late, and that he was going to call us on Thursday (4/13), because they’d really like to try to get us on the show.

I’m torn. See, I thought, at the time, when I submitted the application, that it would be fun to do something like this, but now since it’s become a “possibility” I’m nervous about letting the world into my home, and personal space. It’s a completely different thing to go be another person, in another world, on a set somewhere. But when you’re letting people in your house, and around your loved one’s, that’s really different, it’s a very different feeling. My husband is psyched though, so if they call, I will do it for him.

So, when we left last night, the crew was still filming. They were preparing to stay overnight so that they could be up early to continue filming today. They'll be there today until late this afternoon, and in four weeks or so, they'll come back to get "updated" footage of the baby.

Quite an interesting experience, to say the least.

Shenita.