Mama's Turn

I finally started voice lessons with Chrissellene Petropoulos in June. It's been great. At first I appreciated the fact I was learning to think objectively - I've been known to be over dramatic at times. Then I was loved the fact that I was singing around the house again and singing to Helena. And I didn't get upset if Helena started crying while I sang. But the biggest things have been I'm not getting upset if Omar says I'm flat or rolls his eyes when I mess up the words and my voice is coming back (I haven't really sang at all since I got pregnant last year).

Last week I was on a kick and watched a bunch of old tapes and DVDs of shows I've done. What started out as a quest for choreography clips turned into me making Omar watch Birds of Paradise, Grease! and the Spring concert from my senior year of high school. Between these three things and me watching my Junior Recital from college I came up with two goals:

1. Sing Gretchen am Spinnrade like a woman instead of a young girl.
2. Be vocally prepared to audition for Nunsense at Kensington Arts Theatre (KAT) in the spring.

So, I've started practicing everyday, either by blowing air, vocal exercises (although next lesson I need to bring a tape so I can record them because I can't remember them all) or talking British. I only have lessons every other week right now so I've got to practice everyday and really take in all I can at my voice lessons.

On another note. Saturday night Omar and I attended the KAT Gala. It was great fun and we got to see a lot of friends we haven't seen in a long time. We also won some items in the silent/live auctions. Omar won an XBox and I won three personal training sessions and a three-month membership to Fitness First. Which is great on its own, but my company subsidises memberships at the gym so I'll only be paying $4 a month after the first three months.

I had already started the Couch to 5K program with the goal of running a 5K in October and run/walking the Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon again in September 2009. But this is exciting. Omar was just as excited as I was - which is something since we've had our treadmill for 2 years and I wasn't using it for over a year, which he reminded me every time I complained about losing the baby weight.

Now I have some new goals:

1. Ask the trainer to design strength training programs I can do on my lunch break.
2. Go to a yoga class at least once a week.
3. Either run at home or workout at the gym after Helena goes to sleep 3-5x a week.
4. Be in shape by the time I audition for Nunsense.
5. Be able to run a 2 - 3 hour Hexagon dance rehearsal without losing my breath or getting tired.
6. Running at least 70% of the Half Marathon, if not more.

So there you have it. Mama's goals.

Spoon Full of Sugar

Helena has started to baby babble. It started with "ba" - which worked great for Ba Ba Black Sheep. She loves that song and somedays i nthe car I can hear her even singing along.

Next came "mama" - and she meant it! Omar had just come home from his two week reserve duty and took over the nighttime routine so I could relax. Then I hear "mama" and then and even louder "MAMA." As soon as I went into the bathroom to see what was going on, she stood up in the tub and reached for me. She did this again when he was putting her in the crib. She stared right at me and said "mama." Over the last few weeks she's gotten bored with saying "mama" and moved on.

Yesterday and this morning I noticed her making these "heh" sounds. I thought this was a weird progression in her vocabulary, until I started doing my vocal exercises in the car on the way to work this morning. They are all use "Hey" - which sometimes come out "Heh" because I forget to but the "ay" on there.

I laughed and thought, " Man, I really need to talk to her more in the car on the way home each day instead of doing vocal exercises."

And since my voice teacher wants me to talk with an English accent so I get used to lifting my soft pallete, Helena will get Mary Poppins mommy in the car. Win-win.