Cori Belle

We've adjusted to the new member of our family quite well, I think!  Mothering a newborn is infinitely easier this time around, although juggling a 2-year-old at the same time has produced its own set of challenges!  Nevertheless, we have resumed our routine of running errands, visiting the library, playing at the park, and seeing friends.  I have a Mother's Helper coming several mornings a week who has been so wonderful; her coming has allowed me to return to the gym, take my 2-year-old swimming, and enjoy this transitional stage.  As normalcy returns to our home, I am thinking again of what I want to do with my music in the next 5-10 years.  There are many opportunities within my church as well as in the rich musical community of the Seattle area, and I find myself, as usual, wanting to do a little bit of everything.  It's like when I go to a restaurant and have to look at the entire menu several times before choosing what I want...and then still wanting to taste my husband's food! 

My menu choices as of now...
Musical theater
Workshop presenter at church (training up other pianists)
Choir (church or community or professional)
Piano teaching
Chamber music
Recording my 2nd CD
Taking classes at the UW (vocal coaching, conducting, applied piano, chamber music)
Pursuing my Master's in Piano Performance

I have dabbled in all of the above over the years and am considering what to do next, especially as the girls will enter school in a few years and I will find myself with a little more time and a little more freedom.

Well, we're back to square one!  Baby girl #2 arrived three and a half weeks early, and we are all adjusting to our new "schedule."  Feeding every two to three hours, cat naps during the day, and juggling care of a newborn with the demands of our two-year-old.  What an adjustment for her, to go from only child to having to share things, Mommy and Daddy's attention, time...with a baby sister! 

It's true that your heart expands with each child.  I am completely in love again.  Fatigued, pulled in a lot of directions, a tad bored at being at home for the last two weeks, occasionally frustrated...but so in love!  God has been good to bless us with this new little one.

Gospelfest10 is taking place this weekend at Seattle Pacific University.  I have been one of the rehearsal accompanists for the mass choir for the last couple of weeks, and this morning I had the opportunity to attend the symposium: a collection of general sessions and breakout workshops dealing with the history and development of gospel music.  Among the presenters this weekend are Melinda Weekes, Phyllis Byrdwell, and Elias Bullock - all three of whom are amazing musicians, scholars, and presenters.  The symposium continues throughout the rest of today and tomorrow afternoon, and then the festival culminates in a mass choir performance and celebration of the gospel music tradition this Saturday at 7 p.m.  If you are interested in attending any of these events, it is not too late!  For more information, call 206-281-2966 or check out the website: www.spu.edu/GospelFest10.  This is my fourth Gospelfest, my second in Seattle (the others were held in Detroit), and every time I attend, I learn something new and am inspired (and humbled!) by the quality of musicianship.

I am nearing completion of our second baby's room (Another girl!  In June!), so I have been busy sewing...a crib skirt, diaper caddy, changing pad cover, baby quilt.  And I found these cool fabric-covered letters at Anthropologie that I managed to duplicate using some wooden letters from the craft store, fabric scraps, batting, and my hot glue gun.  Hand-me-down clothes have been washed and put away, diapers and wipes have been purchased, and now we just need the baby!  :)  Well, I want to purchase some blackout curtains and a somewhat compact rocking chair, too, but the crafting is pretty much done!

I've been reading a TON lately, random selections of fiction and non-.  Some of the books I have loved recently: Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet (forgot the author's name - sorry!), March by Geraldine Brooks (likewise, Year of Wonders and People of the Book by Brooks), The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri, An American Childhood by Northwest author Annie Dillard (one of my favorites of all time), James Dobson's new book Bringing Up Girls, Love and Logic Magic for Early Childhood by Jim Fay and Charles Fay, and Stay Home, Stay Happy by former Real-world "actor" (not that I've ever watched the show...well, maybe a few times!) Rachel Campos-Duffy.

And...drum roll please...I've managed to carve out some actual practice time lately, since my daughter recently turned two and has developed the ability to...(shockers!)...play independently for as long as 15 minutes at a time!!!  What a blessing this has been lately.  I am enjoying reading through some new-to-me classical music and am putting together a potential playlist for my next CD project.  Woohoo!

Altogether an enjoyable and productive time (shall we call it "nesting"?) before baby number two shows up to upset the routine a bit!  But oh, how we are looking forward to meeting the next member of the family!

Until next time...

As a former elementary school teacher, I own hundreds of picture books - most of which were relocated to my daughter's room when I quit teaching.  Recently I went through the ones in my daughter's room and decided to "downsize" a little by packing some away, putting others in her closet, and reorganizing the rest in easy-to-use white tubs.  I am so much happier with her bookshelves now that they hold both age-appropriate books and some of her toys.

Some of the books I left on her shelves:
 
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see? By Bill Martin Jr.
Corduroy by Don Freeman
Counting Kisses: A Kiss & Read Book by Karen Katz
From Head to Toe by Eric Carle
The Going to Bed Book by Sandra Boynton
Goodnight, Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann
Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney
Have You Seen My Duckling? Nancy Tafuri
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff
Just Grandma and Me by Mercer Mayer
The Napping House by Audrey Wood
Old Bear by Kevin Henkes
Peek a Moo by Marie Torres Cimarusti
Silly Sally by Audrey Wood
Ten Little Ladybugs by Melanie Gerth
Time for Bed by Mem Fox
Welcome, Precious by Nikki Grimes
Where’s Spot? by Eric Hill

At 18 months, my daughter especially loves peek-a-boo books (like Nancy Tafuri’s Have You Seen My Duckling?), lifting up tabs in Eric Hill’s Spot books, and books where she can take part in an action (like Eric Carle’s From Head to Toe).  We go to the library just about every week and browse through its board books and picture book shelves.  I also spend time looking through the library's booklists online and placing holds...so that when we get to the library it's not such a challenge chasing after my busy toddler and perusing books!

My daughter is now 18 months old and busier than ever.  Fortunately, she is learning to play a teensy bit more independently, which is allowing me to steal a few moments away to read!

I've discovered a wonderful new-to-me author who writes gorgeous pieces of juvenille fiction: Kate DiCamillo.  Wow.  Her writing is so rich, and her storytelling so engaging, that I've been devouring her books.  The ones I've read recently are:

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline - his illustrations are amazing!
The Tale of Despereaux - I haven't seen the movie, but the images conjured up by Kate's writing are enough for me!  (And I love how she frequently addresses the "Reader" during teachable moments - but not in a condescending way)
Because of Winn-Dixie - such a feel-good story about a girl and her dog

I've also discovered Molly Wizenberg's A Homemade Life, which I've decided I need to buy for someone's Christmas present.  It's her memoir, but more than that, her life "through" food, so it is interspersed with recipes.  A memoir and cookbook...the best combination in my mind!  Yummy and inspiring!

And for my daughter, we have been laughing our way through Sandra Boynton's picture books.  They are perfect for her, perhaps a little over her head at times, but she laughs when I laugh, so it's great fun!  Tonight we read Blue Hat, Green Hat.  Other favorites of ours are The Belly Button Book and Pajama Time!  And the best part...they're board books, so she can "read" them on her own without ripping the pages!

I've also returned to the piano to "read" Chopin's Sonata in B minor.  I had forgotten that I studied this sonata in college, but as I've been working on it lately it's starting to come back to me.  I figured out that if I put my little girl in her highchair during snack time, I can get a good 15 minutes of practice in!  Stealing a few moments here and there...I'm starting to see some progress!

Happy days.  Love reading.

Trying to remember that this is only a season...

My daughter can now climb up onto the piano bench on her own, which means I am *never* alone.  She loves to play "with" me, and I've done a little sightreading with her by my side, but there is no chance for focused practice.

And when she's napping (more and more seldom, sigh!) or in bed for the night, I grab those precious minutes to do my Bible Study, clean my house, or catch up on "quiet" projects. 

I fear losing my skills and never being able to recapture that focused energy I once poured into practicing.

But I know my daughter craves my attention and loves this "mommy and me" music time.

Sigh.

I've been watching little yellow blossoms appear on my tomato plant for a couple of weeks now, and today I counted 23 that have turned into little green tomatoes!  I am sure they will all ripen at the same time and I will be up to my ears in tomatoes...I'm planning now to make lots of marinara sauce with olive oil, fresh basil, and garlic, and freeze it for the winter.  Yummy!

Also "blooming" is my daughter's speech!  At 16 months old, she "talks" non-stop.  Mostly jabbering, but I know she's trying to communicate.  I need to record some of this sweet speech!

My ironing board "grew" a new cover last week.  I found an online tutorial that showed how to take the existing cord and casing and use it with new fabric to create a new cover.  The fabric I chose is a robin's egg blue with bold red geometric shapes.  Love it! 

Lastly, creativity is in full bloom as I've been preparing to teach a keyboard workshop this weekend at my church.  The title is "Chord Charts Without Tears" and it's a 50-minute session on how I approach learning new chord charts (worship tunes).  Since I am a strong sight-reader with a classical background, I probably approach reading chord charts and playing in a band slightly differently from your average musician.  Hopefully something I share will inspire others to try some new things!

Happy, productive days! 

I am never bored.  Tired?  Yes.  Uninspired?  Sometimes.  Having a tendency to procrastinate?  Ohhhh, yes!  (In fact, there is a stack of ironing waiting for me downstairs as I type...)  But I am never bored!  I just finished my denim/scrap quilt and am quite proud of it.  We will be using it for picnics this summer!





It's not perfect - I'm an amateur seamstress at best!  And I'm not proud of the puckering, but on the whole I like the color scheme and the weight of it.  It will be fun to take on picnics!

Also on the docket:
*Organizing our business files (ugh!)
*Creating a Montessori activity notebook for my toddler (in process!)
*Sewing felt beanbags for my daughter (need to buy the beans...)
*More filing - personal bills (sigh)
*Planning for a birthday dinner and baby shower next week
*Preparing to teach a workshop on Sightreading Basics for Church Musicians - This is the one I am most interested in working on at the moment.  There is a need in our choir and among praise team members at my church for some sightreading training.  I am currently writing a curriculum for a 6-8 week workshop that incorporates excerpts from hymns, worship songs, classical oratorios, and ballads (Since gospel music is mostly taught and learned by ear, it is not included here).  Since we sing such a variety of music, I believe we need to be purposeful in training up our singers to more adequately prepare for leading worship.

And to add another level of challenge, the above things need to be accomplished during my daughter's two naptimes (quickly fading to one!) and after her bedtime - when I am not doing household tasks and spending time with my husband!  It is a juggling act, but I enjoy having such a full life!  :)

And, since my daughter has inherited some of my busy genes, we keep busy during her awake times opening and closing doors, drawers, and cabinets.  She helps load the laundry into the washer and dryer, "cleans" my windows with baby wipes, and eats the crumbs off our floors (what a little helper!).  We are also spending most sunny days at the park swinging, people watching, playing in the sandbox, and feeding the ducks.  I think if we lived at the park, she would be most happy!  We also try to get to the library once a week to play in the children's area and check out new books.  And we've had lots of family time with Daddy lately - going to the Children's Museum, playing on the waterfront, and of course, visiting the park.  What fun!

I am trying my hand at container gardening again this year.  Since I lived in an apartment for so long before getting married, I have a random assortment of pots.  And with Spring being here and all, I felt they needed to be filled!  So on my deck now I have two tomato plants, several pots of parsley, thyme, chives, two butter lettuce plants, salad mix (who knew you could grow a whole salad in one pot?), and several different flowers.


Parsley and Tomatoes



Foreground: Butter Lettuce and Parsley
Background: ??, Salad Mix, and Violet Landscape Geranium