You make me wanna "La La"

I had the opportunity to sing in church this last Sunday, and while it was scary because it has been so long for me, I managed to make it through relatively unscathed. Ha ha. Actually, the other night was our ward talent show and Chili cook off, and I had several people ask if I would sing, and then was harassed when I told them I hadn't planned on it. But afterwards we went out to get frozen yogurt and ran into a friend in the ward who had missed my performance on Sunday, but whose daughter was there and retold a funny story of how someone sitting close to their family said "Nice pipes!" during my song. It made me laugh.

Now, I am dealing with the request to sing for various things, and I don't mind. It feels great to work at singing again. And Rhodri gets so excited whenever I get up to do something in church, it makes it all a little more special that I get to share something that means so much to me with the person that means the most to me.

Fall update (That's why the title isn't very clever)

I feel like I have less of a baby and more of a little kid every day. Rhodri is hitting so many new milestones at one time, it's hard to keep track. Mostly, his personality is starting to shine through, and I am having a blast getting to know the fun side of my little monster. Also, I don't know how I typed "babby" instead of "baby" in the video above, and I know I can edit it, but I think I will leave it.

It has been so much fun having my sister Kirstie close again. I love spending time with her, even if it's doing dumb things like watching reality tv, because there isn't anything better than hanging out with someone you love unconditionally and who loves you the same. Rhodri also adores his Auntie Kirstie, and his older cousins. Especially Rachel, who has the magic touch with babies. Pretty much  anything she does leads Rhodri to laugh hysterically.

Halloween was a lot of fun, trick or treating with Rhodri for the first time, and then going to a haunted house in someone's home. Any excuse to wear my awesome blue wig. Ha ha.

All the kids on halloween.

Rhodri as a Dinosaur or dragon, not really sure.

Crawling the wrong way

Per Request, I tried to make a video of Rhodri crawling, but he always gets distracted by cameras. So, while he's being cute, he didn't crawl much.

Trouble with a capital 'T' and that stands for TEETH!

That's right, Rhodri now has teeth. And while that is an exciting milestone, it is a difficult one as well. In the last 2 weeks I have hardly gotten any sleep at all and it seems it is because this little monster is in pain from teething, but I'm not so sure it isn't just because he doesn't want me to sleep. 

Rhodri is now crawling as well. I remember people telling me I would not be as happy once he started doing this, and now I understand. He is getting into everything already. He follows me into whatever room I walk into, even if it's just for a second, I walk into a room to grab something and I turn around and he's right there. And everyday he gets a little bit faster too. This crazy baby has just become high maintenance.  Anyway, I guess that's just part of life. 

My Other Gift

Rhodri is my best gift that God has given me. He was sent to me to remind me of who I am and why I am here. My other gift is the gift of music. I have in the last several years allowed music to become a part of my past and not the present, which is one of my greatest mistakes and regrets in life. 

Recently, I started to make an effort, with the help of my little music child, to make music an everyday occurrence in our home. I've even started to be in the ward and stake choirs in church, which surprising for me (since I've always been such a music snob), felt wonderful. It felt like being home again. I hope to continue in this direction. I'm sure Rhodri will appreciate it.

After performing in the last stake conference, I had some inquiries from people in my ward about when I was planning to sing in church as a solo, and somehow a date was set and I was able to find someone to play for me and now I'm preparing for my first solo since about 3 years and it's going to be in a little over a week. Am I nervous? You bet. But I'm also very excited because it's one of my favorite songs, and I've already had some practice with the accompanist which went really well. I can't wait to do this. I hope that the performance will be as good as our practice sessions have been. 

Beautiful Baby: Rhodri's Lulliby

I finally did it. So, here's my masterpiece minus piano, because I definitely would not have been able to do both in my first time ever recording myself singing in a video. I hope you like it, and if you do, please share because I probably won't have the nerve to share it myself. Even though I really want people to hear it so I can get feedback. Ha ha.

Rhodri's silly talking voice

I know I didn't update like I said I would. I never did get the pictures I wanted from all the fun stuff we did in California, but here's a cute video of Rhodri talking with a funny voice he's been using the last couple days. He is finally rolling over again, which I am very happy about. He's so close to crawling, I really need to watch out! He thinks his toes are the greatest toys in the world, he loves to eat Banana baby food, and he's just full of very strange sound effects. He is the light of my life, and I love him more every day, though I don't know how it's possible. I have been so blessed.