DH and I scored free tickets to a local music festival at the last minute on Saturday and decided to go and take Scout with us. (Couldn't pass up an opportunity to see one of my fave bands - Sonic Youth - for free!) My only concern was that we didn't have adequate ear protection for her and I wasn't sure how loud the music would be. So, Matt picked up some ear plugs at a music store and even though they weren't made for kids, we figured they would work (since they are the spongy foamy kind that you can squeeze into even the littlest ear)

When we got to the festival, we ate and then I strapped Scout to my back in the Ergo carrier right after we put the ear plugs in her ears. We found a not-so-crowded spot sort of far away from the stage, but where we could still see really well and we chilled there waiting for Sonic Youth to take the stage. Scout was still in the Ergo.

All of the sudden, Matt said "She's got an ear plug in her mouth!!!" I turned so he could reach her and then he yelled, "Get her out of there!!!" My heart jumped into my throat. I unbuckled the Ergo and he pulled her out. She was choking. She could not breath. Her lips weren't blue yet, but her eyes and mouth were wide open but she wasn't drawing any breath - she was panicking. We were panicking. I told Matt to flip her forward so that she was almost upside down and I pounded on her back HARD with the heel of my hand. The ONLY reason I knew to do that was because she choked briefly on a canned peach chunk not too long ago and it freaked me out enough to look on the internet for info on what to do in that situation. The peach chunk incident was more like she was gagging/coughing....nothing compared to THIS. I swear. I did not think the ear plug was going to come up! It seemed like it took FOREVER, even though I know it probably only took a few seconds.

She finally let out a cry and we lifted her upright. For a second, I still thought she had the ear plug in her mouth, but she didn't. It had come out and was on the ground by Matt's feet. To me, her lips looked a little blue-tinted at that point, but it was hard to tell since it was getting dark out. She seemed a little bit shaken up, but was totally back to her normal happy-go-lucky self within minutes. Matt and I were total wrecks and could not believe what had just happened. What if it would not have come up? I felt like we came so close to losing our precious baby girl that night. It is so crazy how one stupid mistake like that has the potential to change EVERYTHING in an instant. I felt so dumb. Why didn't I think about the possibility of her grabbing them out of her ears? I could just kick myself. For months and months (actually, even before Scout was born) I have been wanting to order some of those noise cancelling headphones that are made especially for kids and toddlers...you know, the kind that ther rock stars' kids wear to concerts. But I just kept putting it off.

Matt said that right before it happened, he was sitting there spacing out, staring at some woman who was dancing all drunk and crazy-like to the music, when he heard that Still Small Voice that said, "look at your daughter". We believe it was the Holy Spirit telling him to look at Scout at that moment. I am so glad he did.

I kept playing the whole thing over in my head the next day and the more I thought about it, the more I knew that there was definitely some divine intervention going on. Whew! It just makes me so thankful that even in our total stupidity and carelessness, God's grace abounds and he is there to guide us.

I know this sounds over-dramatic (and way morbid) but Sunday morning, I woke up thinking that Matt and I could easily be in gut-wrenching, disgustingly painful mourning for the loss of our sweet child, had Matt not seen that she had the ear plug in her mouth. It could have been several minutes before I would've even thought to try to look over my shoulder to check on her. If I would've stopped feeling her moving around in the Ergo, I would've just thought that she had fallen asleep. What if Matt would've been in the bathroom or off getting a drink at a concession stand? No one around us seemed to be paying much attention and it was pretty dark, so I doubt that anyone would've noticed that Scout was choking to death. It makes me sick to think about how things could've turned out. I should probably stop thinking of all the "what ifs"

Labels: deep thoughts, doh, music, outings, spirituality

We went to see the midwife yesterday, which went well. Nothing out of the ordinary to report. I am at 23w2d, all the levels she checks w/ my urine looked great, normal BP, baby's heart rate between 145-150 bpm, uterus measuring @ 24, and (oops) I've gained 12 lbs in one month. Yikes. She didn't seem concerned at all with my weight, since up until now, I haven't really gained much. I like that she is not one of those midwives/docs who obsesses about weight and makes momma feel like a beached whale every time she goes in for a check-up. She and her apprentice tried to determine the position of the baby, but couldn't tell for sure where the little bugger's head was. That's okay, though. He (or she) still has plenty of room to flip-flop around in there and plenty of time to get in head-down position.

DH bought Karaoke Revolution for XBox yesterday with a gift card he had for Best Buy. We had a lot of fun playing it last night with a friend that came over. DH and our friend are NOT singers, and even though I like to sing and think I have a relatively decent voice, a lot of the songs were too high/difficult for me, so we had some good laughs. Among others, I sang (or attempted to) Billie Jean by Michael Jackson, Hit Me With Your Best Shot by Pat Benatar, and Like a Virgin by Madonna. The game scores you on how many notes you get right by somehow measuring your pitch as you sing into the microphone. If you are singing right on key, your little arrow that slides across the scrolling words at the bottom of the screen turns green. If you are off key, the arrow will either be high or low and will turn red. I'm not usually a gamer, but this game was hilarious. I laughed so hard at the guys as they tried to hit high notes and sing in BeeGees-esque falsetto voices....and of course, I laughed at myself for botching many a note and stumbling over the words. Good times.

I'm feeling quite lazy today, so the only things I expect to get done is cleaning up the kitchen and running to the post office. (We have a package up there in one of the parcel lockers - I hope it's cookies! Hee hee)

Our church choir sang at a local nursing home last night. It was really cool to see how much the residents enjoyed it. Some of them clapped and sang along....others slept :)....but I bet they all appreciated it more than we know. I used to go to this particular nursing home every Tuesday night with a group of people from church and we would bring snacks, talk to the residents, and sing hymns. They LOVE those old-timey hymns, so we would pass out hymnals and they would request their favorites and we'd all sing them together.....although, a lot of us young whipper-snappers who weren't raised in church don't know the "classics" and had to fumble through them and learn as we went. I've been a slacker and haven't gone with the group in quite a while. I forgot how wonderful it is to see the looks on their faces when people come to visit. Someone in our group brought their baby last night and those old ladies just went nuts! I think it makes them feel young and vibrant to hold a baby in their arms. It's so sweet.

I didn't get to stay and visit for as long as I should have. They keep the heat cranked up to a billion degrees in there and I started feeling really over-heated and lightheaded while we were singing with our heavy choir robes on. As soon as we sang the last song, I rudely bolted for the door as I unzipped my robe. I couldn't wait to breathe some fresh air and drink some water. Whew! Once I got outside, I decided to head home. I needed something to eat so bad and I couldn't bring myself to go back into that sauna :)

Labels: music, prenatal appointment

We brought home a new addition to our family today! Isn't she...um...'it'.. ...cute? DH used to have a fancy set of electronic drums. Not like cheesy 80's sounding synthesizer drums (although you could make them sound like that), but super pricey top-of-the-line electronic drums. They were perfect because we live very close to a little old lady. I could probably throw a wadded up kleenex out our family room window and hit the side of her house, so being able to play drums that plug into headphones was a very practical choice.

Well, during the confusing time when DH was switching jobs and whatnot, he decided that it made sense to turn that sweet set of drums into a pile of cash just in case we found ourselves in a bad financial spot. Poor guy.....a responsible father-to-be, selling prized musical instruments for his family .....So sweet! This is the first time he has been without a drum set in 15 years and I bet that's a pretty sad state for someone who loves to play the drums as much as he does.

We have some extra money set aside because, thank our awesome Lord, we did not fall on hard times financially...even when DH was unemployed. On top of that, we also have baby money! (Yup, my husband is wonderful and has already put aside all our prenatal/birth costs as well as a chunk of money for diapers/misc baby supplies!)

So, DH and I went to a music store and bought a drum set that he has had his eye on for quite some time now. I don't think he regrets getting rid of his electronic set. He got a lot of money out of them, and this very basic set cost much less. He wanted to go simple anyway, because it is easier to be innovative with less drums and stuff to beat on. Grestch is a quality brand and the cymbals are super nice too. I'm glad he has his own set again. They are set up in our bedroom for now, but when the baby comes, we'll be moving them to our livingroom. The only reason we didn't put them there in the first place is because I will still be babysitting until our own little one is due and I want to guard my husband's nice things from curious/sticky/destructive toddler hands. :)

Labels: dh, music

Since I am not yet a parent, my knowledge of and exposure to children's videos is very limited. When I was 12 or so, I helped my Grandma babysit my little nephew and he was totally obsessed with Barney.

Back around the time when everyone was talking about the Teletubbies and the alledged homosexual undertones of the show, I remember watching a few episodes. Now I can't remember - Why did everyone think they were gay? I vaguely recall talk of the purple triangle-shaped antenna on one of the Tubbies' heads....maybe that was the concern, I dunno.

The mother of the little boy I babysit packs Barney and Baby Einstein videos in his diaper bag, so I've had ample time to watch those over and over.

While I appreciate how all three of those examples could definitely aid in children learning important things like shapes, colors, numbers, sharing, and how talking vacuum cleaners like to suck up large amounts of pudding through their hose-attachment snouts, none of them actually ROCK.

You know what children's video does most literally rock?

A while back, my DH bought a They Might Be Giants video called Here Come the ABCs. He bought it before I even knew I was going to be babysitting a toddler. I suppose at that point we knew that we were going to have children of our own soon, but that's not why he bought it. We are both really huge TMBG fans. I have seen them live 5 or 6 times and DH has seen them 4 or 5. John and John write music that we both love. I can't really explain why I love it.



Here Come the ABCs is the only kids' video floating around this house that I look forward to watching. Some days, it stays on repeat, shining from our bulky ceiling-mounted 80's projector and serves as background noise as the little boy and I play and piddle around the house.

Oh yes, and here's a quick recap of what I ate yesterday and today:

YESTERDAY:
Beakfast:
1 cup unsweetened Cheeri-O's ( I think their real generic name is "Oaty O's" or "Oatt Puffs" or something)
1/2 cup Skim Milk
1 Handful of Pecans

Lunch:
1 cup mixed veggies
1/2 cup cottage cheese

Dinner:
A gigantic bowl of Peach Jello w/ cream cheese/whipped cream stuff
4 pizza bagel bites
3 peanutbutter brownies
1 bowl summer veggie salad w/ italian dressing
3 cream cheese/pickle/deli meat roll-up things
1 bowl of queso w/ tortilla chips

Okay, okay, I know! But I was at a pot luck dealy and had to indulge!

TODAY:

Breakfast:
Nada

Lunch:
We went to a Pizza buffet. I won't even get into the details.

Snack:
small slice of peach croissant dessert
Another gigantic bowl of Jell-O (It was leftover! Uuuughh. It is now in the trash can.)

Dinner:
TBA

Labels: children's entertainment, food, music