Queensland Pops Orchestra

This year has had it all. Some was expected, some not. And some aspects (yes, I’m talking about the pandemic here) that we hoped would be over just kept coming back in different forms.

Here is our 2021 in numbers, result compared to expectation.

Most exciting: new baby (1/1). The best.

Most horrible: accident with new baby. Never expected. One horrible accident, and one that turned out to be not so bad but was still nerve-wracking when it happened. (2/0).

Concerts: (3/? Thanks to COVID we never knew what to expect). 3, that is, that I was brave enough to attend with the girls (Glenn has performed more than that). Each has been a learning experience and I feel tonight’s NYE Pops concert I did the best. Naps, food, sleep, all worked out fairly well. Anxiety level for me was very very high but I’m so glad we went. And both girls behaved beautifully.

New appliances: ooh there were so many. It was really the year of the new. We knew we would be buying a new mattress – the old one had deep troughs on either side from years of use (and, let’s face it, pregnancy). We were not expecting to replace the toaster, kettle, microwave, vacuum cleaner battery, printer, laptop, or fridge. (So, numbers… how many is that, 8? 8/1.) It has been an expensive year. I would like it to stop now.

Sickness: there has been some, of course – hello daycare. There was the Gastro Experience of September. There has been the No It’s Not Covid Cough of December. There have been other sniffles that have gone away after a week of resting at home, just like doctors and mothers say they will. Amazing.

And then there are the things of life that cannot be numbered. The joy in seeing each girl grow to be more themselves every day. The frustration of adult-young child communication. The immense delight seeing the love between our girls, and between all of us. The worry – oh the worry. Worries. When C is ‘just a bit nervous’ going to daycare. When E doesn’t reach a milestone as early as C did. When there’s a lockdown due to a cluster of Covid cases in our area. When I can’t give either girl the attention she needs. When C doesn’t pick up small objects or sharp objects and doesn’t understand the danger they pose to E.

This year has certainly held surprises. Some delightful, some not. Some scary, some not. I feel we’ve handled it the best we could and have definitely grown through all these experiences. Like everyone, I am hoping for more of the good stuff next year, and less of the not-so-nice surprises. Please and thank you.

Today was huge. Glenn was playing in the Queensland Pops Orchestra Celtic Spectacular concerts, and I took the girls. Huge.

The last concert we went to was the New Year’s Eve concert. I was pregnant (so, huge and tired). C was hugely excited but then screamed and screamed for most of the whole entire concert because she couldn’t be on stage with daddy. It was not really how I wanted to see out the year but, then again, maybe it was rather fitting for the year that was 2020.

I was both keen and anxious for today’s concert experience. Oodles of planning and mental preparation happened on my end. Naps to be tweaked, outfits, nappies, snacks, meals, water bottles, cardigans, and (most important) a helper.

And, all in all, I think it was a success.

C was, again, hugely excited. On the way to daycare during the week she told me all about the last concert and how she was upset she couldn’t be on stage with daddy and she promised, she really promised in the earnestness of a 3yo, that she wouldn’t scream this time. She leapt around all morning and was too excited to eat anything except a handful of grape tomatoes for lunch and got ready without any fussing. She held hands all the way to the ferry and sat on her seat without any reminders and, when we met up with my helper (my amazing future sister-in-law, Auntie A), held hands with her. She was, unsurprisingly, ravenously hungry when we got to the viewing room, and ate the leftover cheese from her lunch as well as all three of the yoghurt pouches I had packed for us. She danced whenever she felt like it and told me the Irish dancers in the second half were ‘doing it wrong’. She twirled her way through the evening and built a concert out of her blocks before dinner.

E – well, this was her first ever concert experience. The ferry ride was in the zone of ‘ummmm what? This is… new…’ and this held until we were safely seated in the viewing room. She was transfixed by the tuning and the bagpipes and drums. She began jumping on my lap and, wow, this child has amazing rhythm. The Scottish dancers had her cooing. And then the singer came on stage. The grizzling began and that escalated to screaming and expressions of actually mummy we are only just ok here and I’m not really sure about what on earth this is and whoa so many people and they all seem to want to look at me and ok you’re here and what’s that thing on your face I’m going to pull it off oh that’s funny your face makes funny sounds but ohhhhh I’m hungry but there’s too much going on for me to feed and I’m tired too did I mention I’m tired so so tired and hungry and over-stimulated and when can this be over?

So we left shortly after interval.

Yes, I wish we could have seen more of Glenn playing, especially his solos. Yes, I wish we could have seen more of the dancing. Yes, I wish we could have seen Glenn (and so many others) afterwards at the Stage Door. But, baby steps. Seeing my girls experiencing it all in their own ways is a joy nobody told me about before I had children but it is right up there as one of my favourite things.

The Stuff of Our Life

The Stuff of Our 2021

A Concert: Queensland Pops Orchestra Celtic Spectacular