growing baby

Yesterday, Ilya and I had our first baby shower–a shower hosted by my mother’s friend, Margarita, a truly lovely person.  The shower was a hoot; my mom’s friends are so funny in addition to being really nice people.  I laughed so much that my cheeks hurt and my throat is still sore from talking so much.  You’ll need some Spanish-language fluency, but if you want to get the shower highlights you can look at the video Ilya put together here: 

During present-opening time, the first present was from a longtime family friend, Patti, who included a copy of Khalil Gibran’s poem “On Children” with her gift.  It was a perfect way to get started because I happen to love this poem–it totally speaks to the kind of mother I want to be.  In fact, my friend Ellen read a different poem by Gibran (“On Marriage”) at our wedding.  This poem has been adapted as an a capella piece by Sweet Honey in the Rock (a fabulous group!)–a great piece that I love to sing.  I restrained myself from actually bursting into song at the shower (Ilya could tell I was just itching to give them my own rendition), but I couldn’t resist recording a little version of me singing “On Children” here: 

You can read the lyrics and listen to the real version by Sweet Honey in the Rock.