The Baby and the Band

We have a bunch of gigs lined up for the second half of the summer, starting with one today, so I've been back in full swing with band practice. It has not been entirely smooth! But we're working it out, and it feels great to be back.

Our first gig is perfect to start out with, because it is short--two one-hour sets, with a short break in between. We've worked it out so that I won't be needed for the second half of the second set, so I can leave early. I'll be leaving Ben at home with my best pal (who is also one of his godmothers) and plenty of pumped milk and instructions re. what to do if he gets fussy (dip in the hot tub followed by time in his swing). I'm actually feeling ok about leaving him for this short amount of time, with someone I completely trust, and am hopeful about how it will go.

I've participated in two full practices so far, to get ready for this gig. For the first one, we had George watch Ben (just right upstairs from us!), which did not go so very well, I'm afraid. The problem is that practice happens to be right at Ben's fussy time. Ben was fine when I left him to go downstairs, but before long he was screaming his head off. George was so frustrated and felt so bad that he was powerless to help his little brother that he soon joined Ben in the tear-shedding department. Fortunately, our sound guy (Les, who is also one of Ben's godfathers) came to the rescue, putting Ben in the "football hold" while walking him around, and getting him to sleep right away. At that point their daughter who was home from college stepped in and held Ben for the rest of practice.

So this week we thought we'd try having my stepdaughter Lindsey watch Ben during practice, because she is really incredible with him. In fact, sometimes she can calm him down even when Bob and I can't! We call her the junior mommy, which she loves. She's only 9, and I wouldn't even think of leaving her truly alone with him, but I figured she could handle being upstairs from us. Practice lasts only about an hour and a half, and she watches him all the time at home--including during his fussy time. But in fact it was a bit rough on her! I came up in between songs at a certain point and her eyes were welling up with tears as she told me that it was too hard! He wasn't actually crying with Lindsey--he's sooo comfortable with her--but he was wiggling all over the place and she just didn't know what to do to settle him. I put him in the stroller and walked him around the living room and dining room until they really needed me downstairs again, at which point Les once again came to the rescue, getting Ben calm enough to where he fell out hard next to Lindsey on the couch. Probably what we need to do is just bring the swing to band practice with us, because that works pretty much every time. I'm also contemplating getting some noise-canceling headphones for him, so he could even be downstairs with us while we play.

Anyway... playing our old songs again (covers, as opposed to our own music which we've been playing exclusively since mid-February) has been a lot of fun. I have absolutely been loving the recording process, but getting back to our standard set list has also felt great--like putting on a pair of really comfy-but-cute shoes and stepping out to dance the night away!

The gig is a party put on by the firemen in a nearby town. Since it's relatively short, we'll be playing only songs that are our very favorites, including the debut of two songs that we've recorded but have never before performed in public.

Wish me luck!