SPECIAL INSTALLMENT: The Rosa Report, by guest blogger Zarah

the june 15th show at the box factory

As Katie's bandmates, we were very excited and engaged during her whole pregnancy process. We had a lot invested in what would happen. Would Katie be available to play while pregnant? Would she stay in the band after becoming a mother? Would she have a boy or a girl? (This was important as we have an all-female band, so would her child be allowed to play with us?) And yes, Eva said a big "hello" to the baby every Wednesday at rehearsal by leaning down and talking to Katie's belly.

when katie could still play standing up. red devil lounge show, april 30th

Everything turned out great. We had a show on Father's Day, just two weeks before Katie gave birth to Rosa. With a pillow and a stool, Katie rocked out, with barely enough space on her lap for her bass! Katie is still dedicated to the band and since we saw her belly grow each week at rehearsal, we now wonder where's the belly and/or where's the baby? Did it all really happen? It's great to see Katie have *grown-up time*! And, though we planned an amendment to the all-female band rule (allowing sons up to age 8, then they have to get their own band) it's nice to keep it pure. Now we just debate over which instrument Rosa's going to learn first. She's already got a mini tambourine.

So you can imagine when I got to babysit Rosa and have some special time with her all to myself, I had to share the joy with the band. What follows is an email to Making Dinner about my day with Rosa-Pants.

The Rosa Report, February 5, 2009

hi ladies,
thought i'd let you all know how it went babysitting miss rosa today. it went great!

when i heard her waking up i went and patted her back in her crib then got her up. she had a few minutes of quizzical brow but still fully smiling as she figured out if it was ok to hang with me. maybe like, "i recognize this fun lady, but how'd she get here?!?!"

we played with all her toys on the mat and crinkled the crinkly stuff in the star and butterfly wings. we even played with the lamb handmade by marianka! rosa liked shaking it to make it jingle.

rosa was really good at rolling herself over and twisting about. if i held her hands she could pull herself up to standing then wobble around on her cute toes. she'd smile when daddy jeff came over and sang her a song, but then he'd have to take a work call and left for the office. she helped turned the pages (backwards) when i read her the english/spanish bi-lingual book.

rosa's a beautiful big baby girl full of smiles! she helped me move my car from 2 hour parking, then we met her mama at the park. when we saw katie coming towards us rosa had the biggest smile yet of the day!

then two of us had grilled cheese and soup and one of us had oats and apples.

ltb&b,
z$