by Rachel | Professional Development
I’m not sure how it happened, but somehow November arrived and that means it’s almost conference time. It will be my 5th year attending the American Music Therapy Association’s national conference, which is in Jacksonville, FL this time around.
I’ll be arriving on Monday night, because on Tuesday I’m attending the NICU-MT institute; can I tell you how excited I am about that? I already have my trip to Orlando booked for February, when I’ll be attending the clinical fieldwork training componment of the NICU certification at Florida Hospital.
The rest of my schedule while at conference is jam-packed as usual, between serving on the technology committee, being an exhibitor at the Music Therapy Pro booth, presenting on a panel, and — this is a first — finding time to hang out with my family.
I had always planned on bringing my baby to conference, and since I’m going a couple days early, my mom and husband are tag-teaming on Parker duty while I’m busy doing conference things. My mom will fly there with us on Monday and leave on Wednesday morning, and then Zach will arrive on Wednesday evening and fly home with us on Saturday. Gone are the days of easy-breezy solo traveling, but I’m looking at this as an adventure!
At last year’s conference, I was several weeks pregnant (but not far enough along to make it public knowledge) and feeling pretty queasy. While this year brings new challenges (like finding time to nurse and pump), I’m pretty sure it will be much more enjoyable.
I can’t wait to see all my music therapy friends in Jacksonville…will YOU be there?
by Rachel | Family Life
Guess who is 5 months old?! Parker is becoming quite the mature little man — getting older, gaining weight (almost up to 14 pounds), rolling all over the place, and working on sitting up by himself.
But lucky for me, despite getting bigger he still loves snuggling up in the Ergo whether it’s to go grocery shopping, walk to grandma’s house, or just do some work around the house (as pictured above). I read this blog post about a mom’s last time wearing her baby, and it made me so sad to think about that time coming for me. It’s not happening in the near future, though, so I’ll just keep enjoying the snuggles.
Each time I sit down to write these updates, the past week seems like a blur. The days fly by, and I have a hard time remembering exactly how they were spent. We have our weekly happenings, like going to baby group every Wednesday and doing a bank/Starbucks run every couple of days, but other than that, my memory is a jumble of tummy time, jumperoo’ing, nursing, reading stories, impromptu photo shoots, and trying to fit in a little work here and there.
That’s the story of my life, now that I’m a stay-at-home/working mom hybrid (which, in itself, is a whole other blog post for a different day). With lots of travel, holidays, and other fun things coming up, these blog posts will hopefully be a bit more interesting! Until then, I’ll leave you with an adorable photo of Parker sound asleep in his new coat with ears on the hood.
by Rachel | Listen & Learn Music
My first Thanksgiving post of the season! I love, love, love this time of year and the songs and activities I have to go along with it. The 10 Days of Thanksgiving is my favorite of all, which is why I blog about it year after year.
This time around, I decided to do something new; I took the visual aide I created and set it to the music, as you saw above. My students love using the iPad in our sessions, so now I can play the video if I don’t feel like using the good ol’ fashioned paper version.
Every time I sing this song, I’m reminded of all the goals and objectives that can addressed: counting, memory recall, reading and sight words, singing along, attention to task, and more. In addition to all that good stuff, I love that it gets everyone excited for the holiday.
The video is available on YouTube, but members of Listen & Learn Plus! get the download (so that it can be used without an internet connection) — along with an instrumental version so that you and your students can sing without me.
Get immediate access to this, plus over 100 other songs, lead sheets, visual aides, and valuable resources for only $9.99 per month…learn more about becoming a member or just subscribe below. You won’t be disappointed!
Members, click here to access this post.
by Rachel | Family Life
Since the day we brought him home from the hospital, Parker has been exposed to lots of music. (Shocker, right!?) I’ve sung him all the traditional children’s songs — it took me a month to be able to get through “You Are My Sunshine” without crying, thanks to those lovely postpartum hormones — but I definitely didn’t stop there.
Broadway, Jason Mraz, Frank Sinatra, The Civil Wars…he’s heard it all. And while Parker seems to enjoy just about any song I sing to him, his clear favorite is this one.
A Bushel and a Peck has become my go-to song for Parker, especially when he’s upset. It instantly cheers him up and makes him giggle, which is pretty much my favorite sound in the whole world :)
So I’ll keep singing this song a million times a day, but I’ll also keep trying out lots of others. I wonder what his next favorite will be?
by Rachel | Family Life
Parker rolled over onto his belly for the first time almost exactly two months ago, but it wasn’t until this week that he showed any interest in rolling onto his back. While he was playing on his piano mat the other day, I noticed that he was attempting it, so of course I pulled out my phone in the hopes of catching him in action.
Talk about determination, right!? He definitely struggled the first couple times, but once he learned to get his arm out of the way, he was a rolling machine. Now anytime I lay him on his back, he flips over to his belly in the blink of an eye. Here’s a video I took of him this morning. Notice the progress since yesterday!
Diaper changes have become quite the challenge, because Parker doesn’t have time for laying on his back long enough to get a new diaper fastened. He got to show off his new skill today at baby group, although I think he is jealous of the babies who are already sitting up and starting to crawl. Those things are next on his list!
