Excerpt: Band on the Diaper Run blog
August 1, 2008
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On breastfeeding while making a music video
We made a music video in Brooklyn this weekend and we had the baby with us. We loved the idea of having us both playing in these enclosed boxes while balls filled up around us. Only, once we were in them, we couldn't get out for hours.
Breast pump to the rescue! I looked like an art installation on modern-day maternity. I had to stop the shoot and have my pump handed to me through the roof of the box. Then, I sat in there pumping away until I had a whole bottle of milk to pass back over the box so my sister could give it to June.... I'm pretty sure that has never happened while filming a music video before.
On nap time while touring with Death Cab for Cutie:
Magnolia had to take her naps in the dressing rooms backstage, so we brought a little mattress for her and put a "Shh, Magnolia is sleeping" sign on the door. The Death Cab crew gave her her own dressing room after a few nights. By the end of tour, Magnolia started pounding it out with the boys. Every rock kid should know how to give knuckles.
On kid-friendly venues:
I want to start some sort of petition to insist on rock clubs making accommodations for family bands. Like, a little clean play space, a breast-pumping area or a free, background-checked babysitter. That would be so rock and roll.
On missing instruments and
the Zen of parenting
I'm not sure how the show went ... I think we pulled it off okay. Now that we're parents, I feel like we just accept situations with s----y circumstances if there is nothing we can do about it. That's Zen, right? Maybe that's what parenting gives you, Zen capabilities. Despite all the new worries, sleep deprivation and responsibility, you can shrug your shoulders when there is nothing else you can do about bad luck.
Answering criticism of rock 'n' roll parenting:
Getting into music is a great hobby – it's more fulfilling for us than, say, getting into sports – but we also take Magnolia to museums and concerts, basketball games and parks.... I don't think singing Bob Dylan's "Blowing in the Wind" with my 2-year-old or buying her a great pair of headphones so she can see bands play should really bug anyone.
On pain of separation:
That feeling of saying goodbye to your family in an airport has always been hard for me. I walked with them all the way to the security gate. Mags kissed me and we said, "I love you" to each other. Then I started crying while I hugged my mom and said, "Take care of my baby." My mom knows we're tired. She knows we've worked hard. She knows I'd rather be home with my kid. She has always been happy for us that we're "following our dreams," but as I get older, I realize my dream is just being a good mother, daughter, friend. Music is the soundtrack, not the goal.
Source: babble.com/CS/blogs/bandonthediaperrun
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