by Rachel | Family Life
If you’ve followed this blog for a while now, then you’ve probably seen the evolution of my home studio. When my husband and I first purchased our house in 2009, I set up my studio in what quickly became my favorite room in the whole house. It made for a beautiful work space, and it stayed that way for 2 years. The studio looked like this:
But when I decided to go into private practice full-time, my husband and I agreed that I needed to make some changes to my studio. Since I’d be working longer hours, it made more sense to have a studio that was separate from the rest of my house (so that Zach didn’t feel like he was intruding on my business when he came home).
We came up with the perfect solution — one that still allowed me to have a home studio, but offered a separate entrance and was closed off from the “home” part of my house. So in the summer of 2011, we renovated the two back bedrooms and turned it into my new studio.
After we moved out my studio, we talked about the fact that someday that room would make the perfect nursery. It’s right next to our bedroom, the space is bright and cheerful with lots of natural light, and like I said before, it’s my favorite room in the whole house. That time has now come, and the transformation has begun! Here is Baby Rambach’s nursery it in very beginning stages:
We’re still missing a glider, curtains, and of course, decor, but at least now we have a starting point! I’ve been collecting ideas for a nautical-themed nursery on my Pinterest board for a couple months now, and I’m so excited to bring those ideas to fruition (with the help of my female family members).
It’s pretty hard to believe that in just two short months, this will be home to a newborn baby. I’ve spent some amazing moments in this room, and I have a feeling there are many more to come.
by Rachel | Family Life
Holy cow, this is the LAST week of 20s before I enter the final 10 weeks of pregnancy. 10 weeks. That’s just mind-boggling to me. I am so grateful to still be feeling awesome, though that 3rd trimester exhaustion kicks in earlier and earlier each night, it seems. Other than that, I’m not having any discomfort, aches or pains — just lots of happy kicks and wiggles from inside.
We had a great weekend full of friends and family, and spent Sunday celebrating Easter. First came two church services, followed by a delicious brunch at the Inn at 835 with my mom and stepdad. We got a couple photos while we were there — I had to show off my bump in my cute new maternity dress!
Next, we went over to Zach’s parents for more Easter fun with his siblings and our nieces and nephew. Holidays are a lot more exciting with kids around, and once our baby is born, there will be 5 of them to keep us busy and entertained at Rambach family festivities!
Thanks to a gracious neighbor, we actually got the whole family in a photo. After an Easter egg hunt, lots of playing, and dinner, Zach and I were ready to crash. But that wasn’t the end of Week 29 excitement — I’ll fill you in on the rest soon!
by Rachel | Listen & Learn Music
This is one of those songs I wrote on the fly about an hour before a session, but still find myself using consistently month later. The student for whom it was written is working on identifying numbers 1-20, but she was having trouble telling the difference between single digits and the “teen” versions of those numbers.
What number is this? (3)
3 is all by itself
What number is this? (13)
Thirteen has a 1 in front
This number is (3)
This number is (13)
They are different because (13) has a 1 in front
{Repeat for numbers 4/14-9/19}
I use the song Single and Teen Numbers in conjunction with a visual — a simple PDF I made and display on the iPad — so that my student can see the numbers and point to them as we sing about them. The PDF is included in the download, along with the lead sheet and both full and instrumental mp3s.
by Rachel | Family Life
Our sweet baby turned 4 this week! Sadie is still very much a puppy in many ways, but over the years, she has matured from a hyper bundle of energy to a snuggly, cuddly and playful sweetheart. She loves to have 100% of our attention, and though she will have to share it with Baby Rambach pretty soon, we think Sadie will be a pretty darn good big sister. Isn’t she SO cute?!
by Rachel | Personal Development
I was on the elliptical machine at the gym listening to Pandora a couple of weeks ago when this song popped up (on the Rihanna channel of all places!). The title was “What Can I Do? (But Love You)” and I was shocked to realize that the singer was Joy Williams from The Civil Wars, one of my very favorite groups.
I immediately downloaded the song from iTunes and listened to the entire EP nonstop for a couple of weeks, and then decided that I wanted to learn to play that first song that had caught my ear at the gym. Unfortunately, the sheet music was nowhere to be found…I couldn’t even find the chords. So I learned it by ear instead.
It’s been a long while since I sat down and played music for myself. By that, I mean music that isn’t new repertoire for my students or for a gig, but purely for my enjoyment. So it felt really good to learn and practice this song, under no pressure or time constraints whatsoever. After a couple days of playing, I decided to record it.
My recording is definitely far from perfect, but the best part is that it doesn’t have to be, since it’s just for me :) Spending the time learning and playing this song was an excellent reminder that I need to do more of this. It’s good for my inner musician and good for the soul!
