A typical day for a music mommy with a 3 month old.

I have recently ventured back into the land of the living since having my beautiful baby girl... and let me say, it has rocked my world. I no longer can awake 30 minutes before a studio session or rehearsal and fly out the door with my purse, sweet tea and cereal bar in hand, oh no... gone are those days. Now I must plan the night before and actually get up early! Boo. Yes, now I have to figure out feeding schedules and naptimes. Drag out of bed and make a few babysitter notes and make sure there are plenty of diapers. "Whaaaaa", oh, now time to feed, change and dress the baby, oh and try and shower and dress myself while she's happy in the bouncer for 7 minutes... yes 7 minutes! (that's a long time for mom's!)
"Whaaaaa" Switch her to the play gym for another 7 minutes of happy time so I can throw on some makeup (why do I bother) and dry my hair. If I am lucky she gives me an extra minute or so to curl or style my hair other than the usual 'mommy ponytail'.
Now its time to put on the baby carrier and head to the kitchen to wash and sterilize bottles and pump accessories.
Can I just pause and say what a pain it is to do this everyday. Thank you.
Now its time to pack the good ole' trusty breast pump. At least it is a discreet black shoulder bag (though I really miss carrying around my cute purses and bags) and "whaaaaa" time for the excersaucer... and she's happy again so make my caffeine of choice to go, and ding dong, hey thanks for coming to watch the baby, throw on shoes, coat, grab bag, keys, tea, something to eat, and goodbye. whoo.

Now, driving in the car without the baby is a luxury. I can crank my music as loud as I want and sing along. Or I can crank up NPR and catch up on what the rest of the world is up to. Or I can shut it off and have just pure wonderful silence. ahhhhhh.

My day is filled with rehearsals or studio sessions or writing sessions... and its bliss. I pour my heart into it. I don't do this everyday so I enjoy the time to be me again and ohhh, getting uncomfortable, pause at some point to go pump some milk. (we will talk about this later, public pumping.... not for the faint of heart) lol. By the end of the day I am missing my baby so much and can't wait to get home and hold her in my arms. Its the best feeling in the world when she smiles at me and my wonderful husband smiles at me as I walk in the door. Home again. Back to the crazy exhausting full time job I now have... being a mommy. :)

My 2 month old

I can't believe my baby girl is 8 weeks old today. Where has the time gone? Wasn't it yesterday I was huge and pregnant and wishing that time would move a little faster so I could meet her? And now, here she is smiling, melting my heart... and best of all sleeping a little longer! 4-5 hours of sleep in a row is a luxury these days. Yes, life is pretty good... even though we are sinking in diapers, and my new best friend is the breast pump, and my house is a wreck, and I have seen WAY to many episodes of the Golden Girls at 3am... it only takes one smile from my precious girl and nothing else matters.

I am the newest member of that elite club known as "Mommyhood".

So, after many sleepless nights of late pregnancy, and feeling like a little kid waiting for Christmas to arrive and life seeming to drag, my beautiful baby girl, Gracie, arrived! Its amazing the way life changes in an instant. I am no longer free to do whatever I want, I am no longer free to eat whatever I want, drink whatever I want, sleep whenever I want, life as I knew it is gone... but, one look into those baby blue eyes, I wouldn't change it for the world.

She is an angel sent here to rescue me.

So a new adventure begins, "mommyhood". I have officially entered the club. Bring on the breastpumps and diapers and sleepless nights! I got a feeling this is going to be an adventure I'll never forget.

knocked up and rockin' it out

Yes, though the two don't usually go together, I officially have a baby bump I can't pass off as "tour weight" anymore and I am proud of it. :) I have to tell you its such an amazing feeling to be performing and sharing an intimate moment with my audience, while at the same time, my baby keeps poking me and kicking me, sharing an intimate moment with me that no one else knows is going on. Its very cool. Usually the baby is very still when I am belting it out loud... I guess my sweet baby is going to be like me and can sleep through anything... and loud music relaxes and soothes. No doubt my genes were at play there!
Here is a pic of me and my amazingly talented friend Ryan Greenawalt recording in the studio together!

I can't believe I am holding my first album!

Well, the doorbell rang today, and three huge boxes of albums arrived! I can't believe it! My husband and I were like two little kids at Christmas, ripping the boxes open and pulling out tons of the albums and just laughing. It was really hard not to pull the polywrap off all of them! Looking at it, I just can't get over all that hard work, right here in my hands... its a great feeling. Now the big question is, how do I sell these suckers??? Yikes! The digital release will be in May, so until then, I am going to try and get out there just me, my piano, and a few of these albums in hopes to perform and sell. Here goes nothing...

Jenny Slate