Piano Recital

Last Saturday (April 6) was my spring piano recital.  I had a smaller group this year, so we were able to perform at the nursing home, which is where I normally do my Christmas recital.  It was a wonderful recital.  It was short and all the children were well prepared and listened attentively to their peers.

This is a picture with Lilly and my neighbor Cara.  I have been teaching Cara for about 2.5 years.

I always have a great sense of relief when a recital is finished because it is a lot of work and I usually have some sort of break following the recital.  This time around the recital marked the start of my piano "maternity leave" that I gave myself and it was a huge relief to know that I made it through this year of teaching while pregnant and I now have a break until the end of August.  This winter was probably the sickest our family has been and I also had two nights in the hospital for preterm contractions and labor.  The fact that I made it to my goal (the recital) without quitting lessons and refunding a lot of money was a huge success.  

Here is an idea of how pregnant I actually am:

I get pity looks everywhere I go and comments about how I am about to pop, which I don't enjoy. Side note: At my last appointment the midwife talked about helping labor along next week and my response was "I just finished piano lessons and this is technically my vacation, so I am in no hurry to have this baby."  I was shocked to find I feel that way, but it's true.  Baby girl is doing a great job of taking care of herself on the inside while I spend a few days taking it easy.

Lilly did a wonderful job performing her two songs at the recital and I was very proud of her.  This year I had 18 students and it is pretty hectic teaching all those lessons, running a household, and caring for my two children (adding pregnancy to all that was a bit insane), but I am very blessed to have such a great part time job.

Here is my sweet Lilly at the recital: