Weekend Highlights

I told my husband I was going to bed at 10:30pm but here I am writing a quick post to be ready for Monday morning. I realized tonight that I was not able to post a lot this past week because we were so busy. 


Some exciting things happened as well this past week that I plan to continue doing in the upcoming weeks. I went on a nice walk with a Russian gal and her 9 month son. It was not quite a play date but more of a let's- take-ourselves-on-a-walk kind of date. It was lots of fun and very hot.

Julianne has been a dear these past 2 weeks. She has been quite verbal with shrieking noises and exclamatory screeching sounds that I fear our neighbors will be disturbed but oh well, they know we have a little one. I believe she has been teething somewhat so we have tried having her chew on different toys in order to soothe her pain. I believe she is getting cuter by the day!

It has been a challenge getting Julianne to play on her tummy but I am not worrying because the time will come when she will enjoy it. As I was working this past week I noticed her roll from her back to her tummy for the first time! I love talking to her and telling her what a great job she is doing. She coos and smiles like she understands me and I take it all in.

 

I have put away a lot of Julianne's clothing away...sniff....sniff. She is already wearing 6 month clothing because she is pretty snug in her 3-6 month clothing. Here I wake up daily thinking my child is not growing and I constantly have to be changing her out of clothing because it no longer fits. My little one is getting so big.


Something else that was pretty exciting this past weekend were my TWO singing gigs. Yes, after almost 5 months after giving birth to my precious baby, I am back performing and in a better way. 

 

On Friday night I participated in a concert called The Great Showstoppers with 15 or so singers from the group we belong to in Holland, MI. We all wore our fancy dresses and went on stage to perform our numbers. I have to say that this was the first time I have not felt jittery with nerves.


I first started with Un bel di, vedremo from Madama Butterfly. I quickly got into character after leaving my poor baby crying with my husband in the nursery next to the room where we were performing. I was VERY scared that I was not going to be able to concentrate knowing that Julianne was refusing to go to sleep at her normal hour. Anyway, I got on stage and I decided to perform and sing, and boy did I feel great about it! I walked off stage with a tear in my eye. Note to self: having to much emotion can mess up the way one sings a piece but if done correctly it is fine.

We had intermission, so I went to check on Ryan and Julianne. Little did I know that she had been shrieking for a while and Ryan had to move her to another room in the nursery. Baby girl sure knew that mama was doing something else other than being at home hanging out with her daddy. I felt so bad that she did not want to go to sleep but she WAS asleep finally when I checked on her during intermission. I picked her up and placed her in the pack n'play so she could be a lot more comfortable. 


That was my true test as a professional. Do I blow off performing and singing to take care of a baby who refuses to sleep like she always does, or do I trust that my husband or anyone taking care of her will be able to handle and take care of her? Yes, it was hard but at the end I know it will get easier for both Julianne and myself.

Intermission was over my next number was a duet. The flower duet from Lakme' went really well and it was nice singing with a rich sounding mezzo. It was also lots of fun singing in 2 different languages too.


I will be sharing the recordings soon after my husband sends them to me. I cannot wait to hear how it sounded. All I know is that I got lots of people coming up afterwards telling me how I made them cry. Really? Yay!!! I know, I know, it does not sounds nice, but I thank God for the gift of singing so I can share my passion and delight to other people. Stay tuned!


What did you do on your weekend? Anything fun?