My Button

Dudes, I made a button for my blog!

It's not the most fabulous button you'll ever see, and I'll probably change it in the next week or so when I get a little more adventurous. And skilled. But, seriously, it took me a while just to make that teeny little button you see on the right. (Note: I've already changed it once since I put it up, and may again, who knows?)

The point of the button? To take you to the post where my songs are. I've got a couple of more I'd like to add in the next month, so stay tuned!

And, it's 7 hours and 50 minutes until cake. In case you were counting.

Maestro

I think Wiggle Man is learning to sing.



Lately, when he plays the piano, I hear him humming and doing what could be the beginning of singing. I've consulted with both of Hubba Hubba's sister's and they agree. He's singing.

This really shouldn't surprise me--I sing to him. A lot. Like when I change his diaper (click here if you're curious about what that might sound like). Or when we brush our teeth, or get dressed, or clean up toys...really, just about any time of the day you're likely to find me singing to Wiggle Man, or at him, or at least in the same room as him.




And, since it's a rare day that I'm playing the piano and not singing along, Wiggle Man has learned that the two go together--at least in our house.

These shots are courtesy of my sister-in-law and, judging from the circumference of his hair, are a little dated. They must have been taken shortly after his last hair cut.

If you look closely, you can see our attempts at "art" on the easel in the background.

No laughing--remember, I've already admitted I can't draw. If you look very, very closely, you can see my attempt at Curious George.

Sigh.

I Heart Music

**Another Update***

One request, friends. These songs are my property, and I own the copyright. Please play them and enjoy them, but don't download them, please!

***Updated***

It should be easier to play my songs now. You should see a player underneath each song--all you have to do is press play!

***Original Post***

I do, I really do. I heart music. I heart art. And this week, three great blogs are hosting We Heart Art. It's like an online arts showcase. How cool is that? Check out Domestically Challenged, Three Baby B Chicks and I'm Living Proof That God Has A Sense of Humor for some We Heart Art, and Mr. Linky will take you to other bloggers who are participating.

Some of you know I've been working on some songwriting lately. I did a little composing in college for a class, but nothing was "successful", at least, according to my prof. It wasn't something I felt I was very good at. But, I felt God prodding me to try again and just as I was wondering how to go about sharing it, We Heart Art came along. So, I'm taking the plunge. I've recorded three of my songs (the only ones that are really finished) and (crossing my fingers that I've set it up right) you should be able to hear them here.

So, friends--my songs. Keep in mind it's the song itself, and not necessarily my performance of it that I'm showcasing as "art". I'd love to hear what you think, even (helpful, please!) tips you might have! And get your art on, and join in the fun!

April 29th is the first song I tried writing, although Thank You was the first song I actually finished. April 29th is a reference to a devotional in My Utmost For His Highest by Oswald Chambers. The Scripture for that day is 1 John 3:2, which is where the chorus comes from. This devotional has always meant a lot to me, especially during times in my life where God's way seemed unclear.
02 April 29th.mp3
Common Bonds is a song for a little girl in Africa. I met Hannah in 2006 on a trip to Kenya with my church. Hannah's smile captured me immediately. She helped translate for me to her friends, and we played the craziest games. The time I spent with her and her classmates is indelibly imprinted on my heart.
03 Common Bonds (Hannah's Song).mp3
Thank You is a song I wrote for Stellan. Many of you probably follow MckMama's blog, so you already know Stellan's story. On the off chance that some of you aren't familiar with this little guy, Stellan's heart problems, both before and after birth, set off a firestorm of prayer from all over the world. I wanted to write something for Stellan, something that would try and convey what his little life has meant to me.

13 Thank You (Stellan's Song).mp3

I Just Can't Get Enough

I just can't get enough....of this adorable face.

I know, I know. I'm one of those mothers who insists her child is the most amazing child ever born.

But in all honesty, most days he just amazes me. If you have kids, you probably feel that way about them, too. So you know where I'm coming from.

My Wiggle Man is a bundle of energy, sure. (Hence the nickname.) But he's also growing up into such an amazing little boy. Helpful around the house? Check. His favourite chores are putting things into the garbage for me, and putting away his toys. (Ok, well, maybe he doesn't love that one, but he's getting pretty good at it for someone who's not two yet.) Tonight? He put his dirty socks in what would have been the laundry basket. Had his basket not still been sitting in my room, filled with folded laundry waiting to be put away.

He's also quite the love bug. One thing he never seems to get enough of is kissing boo boos. He will point out his two-week old very recent boo boo on his arm, pretend to cry a little, and come get his kiss. Also, you can ask if if you have a boo boo. For me, he points out any freckle he can find (and there are many) since I guess they look like tiny scabs to him. Nice. Once he's shown me me boo boo, I can ask for him to kiss it better, which he does so sweetly.

There you have it. My Wiggle Man--Mommy's Little Man.

And now for something completely different.

An update: I mentioned in an earlier post something terrifying I've been attempting:

songwriting. I've gotten past the initial jitters, and shared some of my stuff with Hubba Hubba, and a few other people. Now, I'm trying to figure out what (if anything) God would have me do with what I've written. Suggestions?

I'm enjoying the process, so I'll likely keep it up, even if no one ever hears my songs. Songwriting gives me a way to focus my prayer, Scripture reading, and even deep-thought thinking. It's kind of like my own unique devotional time.

And that's a pretty good thing, I'm thinking.

For My Peeps

Sara over at Domestically Challenged was asking about how a Canadian gal like me ended up living in Joisey married to a red-white-and-blue-through-and-through American, spawning a half-breed Wiggle Baby. So, naturally, I will oblige. I try and make My Peeps happy, when I can.

(Domestically Challenged, by the way, is a fabulously hysterical blog, and I highly recommend you go check it out. Plus, I'm mentioned there today, which makes it more fabulous. For me, anyway. Oh, and Poutine--fries, gravy and cheese curds. Tres yum. )

And now, back to "Days of My Life", starring Me.

When we last saw our heroine, she was graduating college with her BS of Music Performance (Flute). This was her first foray into living as a Canadian in America-land. For the sake of my sanity, I'll stop referring to myself in the third person right now.

I'd been accepted into a great school for my Masters, but alas, the money there were sure they could find among unaccepted assistantships, was not found. This, by the way, all went down about a week before graduation. Nice. There I was, graduated, and no prospects.

After much prayer (and I mean much) I decided to look for a teaching position in a private school. (It had to be private, because my degree was not Music Ed.)

My reasons for looking for something in the Northeast U.S. are a little personal--and some of those reasons just might be reading this. :) However, I found the school I eventually took a job at, and began the ginormous process of applying for visas, saying goodbye, saying hello, and moving to a land unlike anything I'd known--there were horse farms on the same road as my new home, for heaven's sake.

Anyway, some of that personal stuff led to some heartbreak, I'll admit. But my God is bigger than heartbreak, and He used that to lead me to Hubba Hubba. (And, He gave me one of my dearest friends back.)

God's a great healer of hearts, and Hubba Hubba and I were engaged soon after--I knew he was the one as soon as I met him, I actually did. You really do "just know." We've been married for 5 years now, with a Wiggle Man to bless our lives (and keep us busy.)

So, that's the backstory, Sara. If you want to fill in the blanks with some more details, you'll just have to come visit on your summer vacation. We'll talk over Poutine.

You Know It's Love When...

You're willing to accept chewed up food from the mouth of your child:

Wiggle Man has this thing--when he's eating food he'd rather not, he'll spit it out, and hand it to me.

I don't know why I take it.


But then again, how could you resist this face?

Also, I wanted to share with you my latest song for Wiggle Man:

(To the tune of "How Deep Is Your Love" by the BeeGees.)

How clean is your bum? (Is your bum, how clean is your bum?)
I really need to know--
Did you do a Number Two in there?
Or is that just air,
That is stinking you up so?
You have got to let me know!

Stepping Out

Lately I've been doing something that scares the bejeebuz out of me.

I'm a pretty open person, I think. Or rather, thought. I'll tell anyone pretty much anything they want to know about me. Some people might tell you I share a little too much about myself.

But there's something that I'm finding hard to share, even with Hubba Hubba.

Songs.

I've been writing songs. Or trying to, anyway. We're not talking major productions here--just some simple verse-chorus numbers featuring me and my piano. I've got 2 that are just about done, and another couple of ideas that are sketched out.

It's hard for me to play these songs for Hubba Hubba. I can't imagine trying to play them for anyone else.

Ah, vulnerability.

What I Did With My Gorgeous Spring Day

Aren't you dying to know? You know you are. So here goes:

First, Wiggle Man and I sat around in our jammies. We do this a lot in the mornings. After breakfast, there's a pretty serious lounging around time. Sometimes I pretend to be productive--this morning I chose to fold laundry and sort through hand-me-downs.

We watched Imagination Movers. Scott's my favourite--I think it's the Wobble Goggles.

Grammy came for a visit and brought Wiggle Man a shirt with Curious George on it. (We also watched us some George during our lounging around, might I add.) Shirts with George are Wiggle Man's favourites.

We went to the farmer's market, where we had an uber-healthy lunch of stuffed pretzels... yum-o-licious! I also bought good stuff, like fresh produce and glass-bottled milk straight from a local dairy where all the cows are grain-fed, and get weekly pedicures or whatever it takes to keep cows happy and healthy and their milk extra tasty.

Wiggle Man slept on the way home. You can't keep a Wiggle awake when you're the only other person in the car. It's hard to drive while reaching back to shake him awake.

We watered our chickens and fed our ducks. We watched our ducks, um..."wrestle." Three of them. Ew.

We made a mess, and cleaned it up. Wiggle Man coloured on my piano. (SOOO glad that crayon wipes right off those keys.)

I put Wiggle Man to bed, and got ready for the piano tuner to come. Wiggle Man is still awake and babbling in his crib. 2 hours later. At least he's not crying. Normally by now I would have accepted the fact that the 20 minute nap he took in the car was all I was going to get today, and would have brought him back down. But I don't dare let him down here with the piano tuner and all his tools. I can only imagine what chaos would ensue. And chaos like that I'd rather leave to my imagination, thank you very much.

There. That's my day, so far. What have you been up to?

Out Of The Mouths Of Babes...

Well, our little family was out and about this evening, doing Christmas-y things. Wiggle Man sat on Santa's lap, though we couldn't coax a smile out of him this year. Then it was off to my favourite place--Target.

You can overhear the funniest things in a ladies' bathroom.

Girl: Mom, what's that box say?

Mom: Where, honey?

Girl: Right there. One side says 'tampon', and there's a funny symbol on the other side.

Mom: Um...it says 'exact coin only.'

Girl: No, I can read that. What's the symbol with the circle thingy?

Mom: I don't know.

Girl: Mo-om....

Mom: I don't KNOW.

******

The school I sub for had their Christmas concert yesterday. I was playing the piano for the chorus, and we rehearsed during the day. Afterwards, one little boy came up and this was the gist of our conversation. (Names have, of course, been changed to protect my reputation as a stellar pianist.)

Billy: Um, Mrs. Maroo, remember how I was saying it sounds like the piano at the church is lower than this one?

Me: Nope. We never had that conversation, Billy.

Billy: Oh. Well, I was saying that I thought it was lower, or maybe the other teacher plays it higher or something.

Me: Ok...

Billy: But, no offense or anything, but now I think it's you.

Me: It's me?

Billy: Yeah, I think you're just playing it lower.

Me: Well, Billy, I'm playing the music the chorus teacher gave me. If she plays it differently, she hasn't told me so.

Billy: When you play it, it kinda sounds like a horror movie that's starting to get good.

I didn't know how to respond to that. So I didn't.

I Can Hear You Pee...

Am I the only one who likes to make up songs and/or rewrite lyrics to existing songs? I mean, one of Wiggle Man's favourite songs is "Ja-boom, Ja-boom." I made it up one day when he was little, and he seems to think it's funny. It's nothing profound--the actual words are quite silly.

It all started in college. My roommate was a singer, and she sang. All the time. Still does. When she talks to you, she's often actually singing to you. When she first met me, one of the first things she learned about me is that when I laugh, my butt shakes. It really does. She was sitting beside me, I started laughing, and she jumped up and told everyone that when The Canadian (as I was known) laughs, her butt shakes.

So she made up a song:

(To the tune of "Maniac" by Michael Sembello )

She's Canadian, Canadian--
And her butt shakes.
And she's laughing like she's never laughed before.

Again, nothing profound, but there were people on campus who didn't know me personally who knew that song. That was a little unsettling. I think you should be on a first name basis with someone before they know that your butt shakes.

I got my revenge, however. Years of living with someone provide ample opportunities, and I discovered her weakness. She, like many people, does not like to be heard peeing. Yup, she can't stand it. Naturally, with my perverse sense of humour, I thought this needed a song. I mean, who doesn't want a soundtrack to their bathroom visits? Maybe someone who doesn't want anyone to hear them pee....

So I came up with this:

(To the tune of "Breathe" by Faith Hill)
I can hear you pee,
Peeing next to me,
Suddenly I'm peeing next to you;
It's not a number two,
Baby all I have to do is pee.
Caught up in the gush,
The slow and steady flush,
Baby isn't that the way that pee's supposed to be?
I can hear you pee.

So, what I'm wondering is, am I the only one? Are there more of us who sing all the time, even if it's ridiculous? I'm anxious to hear your songs, friends. Leave me a comment with your favourite made-up song--yours, or someone else's. You probably won't win anything (OK, you definitely won't-I still haven't mailed out prizes from Pay It Forward, but they're coming, I promise) but we all like a chance to show off. Here's yours.