Great weekend

    Saturday had to be the busiest day of our summer, but I feel like Paul and I were organized enough to handle the big day in Amsterdam. 
    This opera mama had to be at the hairdresser at 9AM, then on a train no later than 10:30 for a morning rehearsal at 11:30.  After rehearsal we took a taxi to the Zeedijk.  We had about 90 minutes to prepare ourselves before the show began.   I almost felt overwhelmed because I had to run to the ladies room to pump, get my dress on, put make up on, find some food to eat, stay hydrated, and take a look at my music.  But with all this to do I felt so calm and zen.  I had to step out of the conference room where all the other singers were because the atmosphere was to loud for me to stay focused on what needed to get done.

This was my third year singing in the Hartjesdagen festival, I feel like I really surprised myself this weekend.  In past years I've over sung and tired out my voice halfway through the day, but I just kept reminding myself not to sing out, but to sing into myself.  For years I always thought I had to sing out to be heard, but my wonderful teacher Wiebke has taught me that I need to sing in because the public will never have a problem with not being able to hear me, I have a pretty big voice and with a big voice singing out is a dangerous thing to do.

Paul drove to Amsterdam and brought Brandon with him.  It was a big day for them because it was Paul's first time taking Brandon on a big road trip by himself.  For the most part the trip was great.  Paul told me the last 10 minutes were the worst because he got stuck in line at the parking garage and Brandon started to overheat in his car seat (we don't have a/c, but it's only hot in the car when you're not moving)  Luckily he got out of the stand still line into the garage and found a new parking lot close by.  He and Brandon missed my first window, but got to the second window in time. 

I kept searching the crowded streets from the window I was singing in for them and didn't spot them until the end of my time in window no. 2.  I was so excited to see Daddy and Brandon, more so I could hand over the bottle of expressed milk I had been carrying around for the past 45 minutes.  But the crowd was so large I could not get to them until after I sung in my 4th window.  It was a pain to carry around the bottle and have inquiring minds ask why I'm carrying around a baby bottle, but I hate to waste good expressed milk. 

The crowd at this years Hartjesdagen was double the size of last years.  Normally you get a large crowd at 1 or 2 windows, but this year the crowds were extra large at every window.  All these extra people + beer + drag queens = many accidents.  On a walk to our first window my colleague and I witnessed a tourist accidentally trip an elderly Dutch woman, she face planted to the cobblestone street, I had my phone pre-dialed to call 112 (that's The Netherlands 911) But she recovered and the Hartjesdagen security handled it so we could be on our way.  Another incident was at our last window.  The piano could not get to the window because the crowd had gotten so large that no one could move forward or backwards.  The police even told Paul not to take the Zeedijk, going around with Brandon was much safer, when I saw the crowd get that large I was so happy Paul decided not to carry him in the baby carrier, people would have bumped, pushed, and possibly hurt Brandon unintentionally.  The last window performance was canceled due 6 people in the crowd fainting and the piano not being able to get to us.

I already knew Paul and  Brandon would not be at the last window just due to the location, it was the most crowded window because it was surrounded by 4-5 pubs and a bridge that was the bottle neck of the street because people stood on it to have a drink.  So I met him back at the hotel.  Brandon had a new battle wound from Daddy changing his diaper in the men's room. Paul told me he put Brandon on the counter and he pushed his legs off Daddy and that moved him under the soap, then he lifted up his head and banged his head into the dispenser, this happened all so fast, and didn't seem to effect Brandon to much, he cried for a couple seconds and survived the event with just a little red mark on his forehead.

  We left Amsterdam around 6.  Like clock work Brandon sounded his crying alarm 10 minutes before we were home.  I let him suck on my finger to pass the time and while he did this I noticed he was biting down a lot more.  After washing the city dirt off B I checked his gums and noticed 2 white dots next to each other.  They're very close to cutting, but time will only tell.


Sunday we took it easy, this Mama went to a morning zumba class and then had my friend Roshan over for lunch.  After we got Brandon to bed Paul and I opened up a bottle of champagne.  Paul surprised me with a bottle of my favorite champagne, Moet & Chandon vintage 2003.  It was a great end to a wonderful weekend.  Our days here are getting closer and closer to being over.  We're trying to enjoy them as much as possible before the chaotic move begins.