HI!
Well, my first shows back went well. I played the San Antonio Highland Games the first weekend in April. It was my first Celtic Festival in well over a year and my first shows since last August! The sets were fantastic and the audience really seemed to enjoy themselves and the music. It was also great for me to reconnect with some of my peers from the Celtic music community. They were all incredibly complimentary which was very encouraging. And I had so much fun! I’m looking forward to more shows in the future.
Hank enjoys his first rice cereal at Aunt Laura and Uncle Jon's house
We traveled to Houston for Easter break to visit my sister, Laura and her family. It was nice visiting with them. Her husband is a pastor and he led a wonderful Good Friday service, after which Hank got to examine the crucifix. He’d never seen one before as the churches he’s been in don’t tend to have crosses with anything on them. This was a special service though and the crucifix helped us visualize some of what Jesus went through for us. Obviously Hank didn’t make that connection, he just enjoys wood at this stage in his life. Laura sprung a song on me that she wanted us to sing together in church on Easter Sunday, I agreed and the song was lovely. We received many compliments after the service. I still find it amazing how sibling’s voices can blend so well. Over the weekend, Laura convinced me to give Hank food even though he’s not technically 6 months old yet. I’d heard you should wait until your child is 6 months old or your pediatrician instructs you to being giving your child “solid” food. Laura told me he was ready and then proceeded to poll anyone who walked down the baby food aisle at the store. After learning that many people gave their children the food right off their plate at 3 months old, I conceded and Hank had his very first serving of rice cereal at dinner that night. He seemed to enjoy it, or at the very least, enjoyed the new experience. He certainly loves trying to take the spoon from you and putting it in his mouth (upside down, mind you). So we’ve begun a new adventure with Hank, eating.
Hank has fun at his first show
Recently we celebrated my mom’s birthday by having a lovely dinner at Joshua’s new house. That very weekend, I performed my first children’s show since last August at the Serendipity Children’s Festival. My band and I were a big hit with the children and families there. There was so much dancing and jumping, we were encored and everyone, children, adults, my band and I was sweaty after the show. It was also the first time Hank got to see me perform. When I went to San Antonio, Tyler’s parents (Hank’s GG and Grandad) came and stayed with Hank and Tyler and I went to the festival. That was the first time I’d ever left Hank over night. It was okay. It had to happen sooner or later and even though Ty and I missed him, we were happy knowing he was well cared for. Anyway, the children’s show was fun and Hank had a wonderful time. The children all helped me sing “You Are My Sunshine” to him and it was such a sweet moment I almost cried onstage… I’m so happy Hank loves hearing me sing. I sing to him all the time!
Becoming good friends with Cody
Let’s see, what else… Oh, Hank has been enjoying going to Baby Time at the library. Its a story time just for children under 1 year of age. Miss Virginia, the librarian, reads stories and leads us in songs and fingerplay and sometimes she has puppets, which Hank seems drawn to. After the stories and songs, Miss Virginia brings out a bunch of toys and we have toy time… Hank hasn’t actually made it all the way through toy time yet as he gets pretty tired right around then. So I’m usually packing Hank and our library books up during toy time to rush home in hopes of Hank NOT falling asleep in the car on the way home. We only live a few minutes drive from the library and if Hank sleeps in the car, that’s the extent of his nap. Ty is very skilled at seamless transfers, for whatever reason, I am not. Hank always wakes up on the transfer from car to house or shortly after being in the house and then he won’t go back to sleep. I do not think a 10 minute nap is sufficient for him at the moment, which is evidenced by him being a bit fussy and rubbing his eyes for a few hours before his next nap. We’ll figure it out. For now, we leave right after the books and puppets go away and I hope to catch all the traffic lights green on the way home.
Working on sitting with Dad
Yesterday we put Hank on the waiting list at the Montessori school near our house. Evidently, several families who already have children enrolled in the school (some of whom are parents of my former students) have recently added to their families, and there are many who are currently pregnant. So, to ensure there is a space held for Hank in the class we want him to join when I return to work, we went to the school yesterday and put him on the waiting list. It was a surreal moment as he won’t begin school for some time yet. Speaking of new babies, today Hank and I went to lunch at the home of one of my former student’s. The child of course was at school, but their mother is currently staying home with her new (3 month old) baby. She invited a few other mothers over, 2 of whom are also parents of some of my former students and one used to work at the school as well. It was interesting going to lunch with them because its the first sort of “mommy group” thing I’ve done since Hank was born and at first it seemed strange because I’d not related to them as a mother before. But then it occurred to me that its absolutely perfect as we’ll probably be room moms together or something. All the mothers present have or are planning on enrolling their girls (yes, the four other babies there were girls) in the Montessori school and since the girls are only a few months older or younger than Hank, at some point the children will most likely be in each other’s classes. We all had a great time and have plans to try to get together again sometime which would be very cool.
Tyler feeds Hank
Hank is working on sitting unassisted. It hasn’t really happened yet, but he’s come a long way from just laying about on the boppy. He’s very into rolling presently and rolls all over the place. He’s getting quicker! Especially when he sees something he enjoys, like Cody. Hank just *loves* our dog! When Cody walks in the room, Hank often starts laughing or trying to “talk” to the dog or tell us about him. The other day he rolled right over to Cody and tried to give him a toy and take Cody’s toy. Cody wasn’t into that and immediately picked up his stuffed toy and walked away. Hank of course didn’t get why Cody walked away and began rolling in the general direction of Cody’s departure. Its fun to watch him discover his world. Cody has been here the whole time, but only recently had Hank “discovered” him and he’s having a lot of fun!
Hank was fascinated by the horses
That’s about it with us at the moment, oh wait, Hank also went to his very first baseball game this month! April 9 to be exact, we took him to a Round Rock Express game. There were huge Clydsedale Horses outside when we went in (pulling a large Budweiser Beer Wagon complete with a dalmation aboard). Hank was transfixed by the horses. We also tried out Hank’s auditory protective ear muffs at the game. We couldn’t stop laughing when we saw him in them, he was so cute and looked so different at the same time. Ultimately, we took them off because the game wasn’t as loud as we thought it might be. We certainly don’t want to wreck Hank’s hearing! Well, I should sign off for now, I’m heading to my Turkish Cuisine cooking class tonight. We’ve moved into vegetarian dishes now which is a lot of fun, and very delicious!
Hank's first Round Rock Express game
Let's play Cody!