December

Yup, I tried to keep up, but Lily is some seriously high maintenance right now. Know why? Because she's a baby! :-) So I've decided that one long entry each month is better than no entries for seven or eight weeks at a time because I'm so busy that the thought of sitting down to write all of this gives me hives. A little frazzled? You betcha. Don't get me wrong, I'm so very proud of our daughter, and I love her so much it hurts, but on days when i have a choice between spending my twelve free minutes either showering or typing this blog... I like bein' clean.

So let's get this show on the road. December was great fun all around. Jason's Dad came to visit, and meet Lily for the first time. He didn't like her.

KIDDING!!!! Of course he loves her - he's a wonderful guy, and she's the most adorable baby who ever lived. Not that I'm biased. Granddad even got to put in some quality babysitting time, as I dressed a show for the first time in a year. Yep, I was back at Lion King for one show, which was fun because it's the same show, but in a different theater. It's kind of like someone saying, 'Hey, I want you to cook me your favorite dinner... but we've completely rearranged your kitchen.'

And then I was back at Lion King for a few more shows. And some more daywork. And some more shows. And some more daywork. And then I took Lily to work with me. The Christmas season on Broadway is frustrating for Wardrobe Supervisors because all the people who normally cover sick days and vacations are working at Radio City Music Hall or How the Grinch Stole Christmas... the Musical. No really.

Lily has a blast coming to work with me, because she rarely has to play by herself for more than ten minutes at a time. She has her own playpen that lives in the wardrobe room (thank you, toys'r'us clearance sale!), and a set of toys that are only for when I'm at work. It's fun for me because taking her in to work for the day requires more than a diaper bag - we take a small (carry-on sized) rolling suitcase packed to the brim with diapers, food, extra clothes, and toys. So when we get on the commuter train, everyone assumes that we're tourists, and I'm traveling alone in The Big City with my tiny baby, so they're extra nice to us and offer to carry my bag up and down the stairs. I used to correct them, but people were so excited about doing their Good Samaritan good deed for the day, so I let them believe it. I don't want to harsh their mellow.

Christmas! Lily got tons of cool stuff, and ate tons of cool wrapping paper. Well she tried, but I'm pretty sure she didn't ingest too much. She's still at an age where the paper is just as cool as the gift, so in her mind, she got twice as many things!!! We cooked turkey and fixins' on Christmas Eve, and ordered pizza Christmas day. It was lovely.

New foods this month - peas, squash, plums, avocado, apples, banana, and green beans. Banana and avocado did NOT go over well, but she loves everything else.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Officially... Cutest hat ever.

More paper.... And cardboard! It's like Christmas! Oh, wait...

Is it me? Is it my color?
Yes. And yes. Absolutely adorable.

A book wrapped in paper?!? Best edible present ever!

The cardboard is for Lily to drool on... The cover art of Patrick Stewart is for MOMMY to drool on.

Lily, concerned she might inherit her mother's lack of stature, investigates calf extensions. Pink ones.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Week 22

Road Trip. Just me and Lily. Eleven days. Three cities. ...

Week 21

Lily and Josh hang out in the kitchen.

Week 17

I don't know how else to put it, it was a busy week, not always in a good way.

Jason is working 8am to midnight this week, so he is staying in a hotel across the street from the theater until Cyrano goes into previews. We actually came in and stayed the night with him for a few nights, so that he could have some baby/daddy bonding time, which was a journey in itself, believe me. (see Driving to PA, back in August.)

Wednesday was Jason's birthday, which he celebrated by... well, by working for 16 hours, and then going to sleep. We're planning a small celebration in a few weeks, when he's hopefully had some rest.

And sadly, we had to say goodbye to a dear family member. Diva, my 13-year-old cat and universally accepted first child, had to be put to sleep this week. His cancer had advanced and he had stopped eating, and the vet assured me that there was no recovery from what he was experiencing. I miss him terribly, but he will be in our hearts forever.

Our friends Laurie and Andy came to visit - it's always great to see them, plus Laurie brought us cool new clothes for Lily.

That's all for this week - I guess the lesson is cherish the time you have. And get some sleep. :-)

Studyin'

The overacheiver - already cramming for preschool entrance exams!

A Study in Sleep

Lily gets artsy on us. We really should get her an agent...

Laurie. Andy. Baby. Watching Andy feeding Lily was fun. And funny. Mostly fun.

My kid bevels.

Laurie and Lily hangin' out. Is Lily flipping us off just a little?

The Diva Rest in Peace, furry friend.

Week 13

13 weeks. Lily has officially been around as long as one season of a reality TV show. Seems like longer...

We went to our friends the Barrys' house for a Labor Day barbecue on Monday. We had a great time, and Lily and Josh are fast becoming friends.

I got tired of Lily spitting up in my hair, so I got it all chopped off - much better.

But aside from the spitting up, she's absolutely adorable. She's very chatty (in her own special language), very alert, and she stops traffic everywhere we go - little old ladies love her!

What We've Learned - The Binky Conspiracy-You may catch 99% of all pacifiers dropped, you may have lightning quick reflexes that superheroes envy, but you will never catch the one she drops on the bathroom floor. Or on the subway train. Or under the table at the greasy spoon diner. Or into the cat food dish.

Picture of the week - Lily and Josh hang on the couch together. Cute, ain't they?

How YOU doin'?

Lily's Sad Face

No! Not my toes!!!

Week 11

This week got away from me! Lily outgrew her diapers seemingly overnight - I looked ...

Week 10

Lily is gearing up for a growth spurt, so this week's update had to wait until Lily was asleep. Really asleep, not that fake-out 'I will only sleep while you hold me' sleep.
It was a quiet week here at Casa Wilkosz. Lily is slowly warming to the idea of her baby swing, but only for a few minutes at a time. She is enthralled by the mobile over her crib, it is one of the only things that will calm her down on fussy days. (YAAY Brenda for sending us the Magic Mobile!)
We babysat one-year-old Max for our friends Alexis and Matt on Sunday. Two things -
1)Toddlers are much heavier than Lily and
2)We are not used to fast-moving mobile babies. That said, we LOVED playing with him! Next year wil be even more fun!
What we've learned this week:
More Baby Myths Exploded-There are so many pictures and advertisements out there showing angelic, perfectly composed sleeping babies, with their sweet little cherubic faces hinting at dreams of sugarplums and kitens... my daughter falls asleep looking like a wino on a bus station bench.
Picture of the Week:
Lily Nods Out

Couch Surfin' Jason teaches Lily the finer points of TiVo and Picture-inPicture

Lily Nods Out

Sweet, ain't she?

Whoa... Lily makes contact with the alien baby in the mirror.
MeetMyMonkey

This is Lily's monkey, her favorite toy (most of the time).

Hello, Monkey!

Lily has a love/hate relationship with the monkey.

Love Monkey!

Actually, it's a bit more complex than Love/Hate...

Cheeky Monkey!

"Did you say what I think you said?"

Sassy Monkey...

"Don't make me angry... You wouldn't like me when I'm angry..."

Mad Monkey!!!

"Don't talk to me!!!"

No Monkey.

"No PIctures! I'm talking to the Giraffe!"

Week 9

Bath Time!

Finally, a picture to embarrass her in high school.

Crazy Sleeper!

She's comfortable like this. Really.

Week 6

Thought I was gonna miss a week, didn't you? :-)
Jason was away last week, doing lighting for James Taylor (I know, cool, huh?), and I'm afraid I let chores slip for a few days - we're just digging out this week, and enjoying some down time with Lily. Our friend Alex stayed with us a few days, in town from Seattle, and she was the first to say what I know many have been thinking - "I can't believe you're holding a baby, and I can't believe it's yours. And that they're letting you keep it." :-)
Lily had her first encounter with fine dining - Alex and I met our friends Josh and Kayla for lunch at Otto, one of Mario Batali's restaurants. She slept in the Baby Bjorn through the entire outing, which everyone found adorable. Me included.
Lessons for the Week -
Law of Inverse Driving Aptitude -
The closer a car is to mine, the less I am convinced that the driver of said car has any idea what he's doing. I truly fear what Lily's first words will be.
The Half-Life of Ridicule -
Sure, I could make fun of Jason singing the "Yes Indeedy" song that he made up to keep Lily occupied during daiper changes. But only until he catches me singing the "Who Let A Naked Baby Into The Kitchen" song to get her excited about her bath.
Photos of the week -
The black and white picture is Jason. The color one is Lily. I'll sign off while you're still ooh-ing and ahh-ing...

Week 5

Lily had many guests this week - our Houston friends Faye and Hannah Brown were here this week, and are now totally in love with our girl. And today, Lily got to meet her Uncle Doug and Aunt Angela, who snapped many many photos (that will be available as soon as I figure out how to set up a blog/website type thingy. In the meantime, she is starting to recognize faces, and make all those adorable cooing and squeaking noises. She went to the babysitter for the first time this week while we went out to dinner - I think she dealt with it better than I did. :-)
What we learned this week -
While there is no limit to how much time one can spend on the couch feeding the baby, there is a limit to how much Reality TV one person should watch while on the couch feeding the baby. Notice I said should, not can. It's a hollow feeling when you realize you can name all the girls on Flavor of Love: Charm School Girls, and secretly want to pair them up in cage matches against the chefs on Hell's Kitchen. Thank Goodness for Netflix!
Pictures of the Week:
'Sleeping' - Jason not only sleeps when the baby sleeps, he sleeps WHERE the baby sleeps
'Doug Punch' - Uncle Doug receives a friendly jab from his sleeping niece.

Week 8

Kyle gives Lily her first lesson in Rock and Roll - it's never to early for Led Zeppelin!

Week 7

Hello Folks!
Next week's installment will be late. Why, you ask? Well, Jason and I were discussing his schedule for the fall and winter, and discovered (a)we both had the upcoming week free, and (b) there was no guarantee that that would happen again before January or Februrary, so we're heading to the Erie, Pennsylvania area to visit relatives. We'll be gone for about a week, so if you're looking for us, try our cellphones. :-)

But enough about next week. This week was lovely - Jason had a few days off, so we were able to relax around the house, and run some errands. Lily continued her tour of Broadway theater wardrobe departments, visiting Spamalot, The Color Purple, and 110 In The Shade. She was mostly well-behaved, and everyone fell instantly in love. Several stagehands offered to put her on payroll, at this rate she should have her Local One card before she's old enough to drive. ;-)

What we've learned this week -

Crossing the Poop Rubicon - (The Poo-bicon?)

At some point, you spend so much of your day concerned with the eliminatory habits of your baby and yourself that you forget that poop was once a forbidden subject in polite society, and take to describing it over dinner, changng diapers on other people's kitchen tables, wishing you had the camera while changing said diapers... and to yourself you wonder, "doesn't everyone talk about poop this way'?

Picture of the week - Lily is shocked by my dscussion of poop!

Til next week -

-Joelyn, Jason, and Lily

Week 4

Yes, Lily is one month old and has decided that sleeping in the daytime is for sissies. We're hoping she rethinks that soon... but she continues to be fascinating and beautiful and perfect in our eyes, because we're mushy new parents. ;-)
What we've learned this week -
Law of Inverse Cuteness The amount of hideous red-eye reflection in any given picture is directly proportional to the cuteness of Lily's pose. At some point, I will have to figure out how to fix that in Photoshop.
What Lily has learned this week -
Customer Dissatisfaction and Returns If she times it just right, Lily can grab the collar of my shirt, pull it out a bit, and spit up inside my shirt. It's impressive and disgusting at the same time.
Pictures of the week - Lily Throws Gang Signs. Or she's just a big Led Zeppelin fan, we're not sure yet.

Week 3.5

hello everyone!

Yep, we're running a little behind this week - Lily hit a growth spurt and decided that sleeping more than twenty minutes at a time was for wimps. But thankfully, that has passed (for now). She had her one-month checkup today, and is now 9 pounds, 2 ounces and 21 inches long, and all the nurses are in love with her. My dad came to visit last week - we had a great time hanging out with the baby. She is starting to recognize faces, and makes the cutest noises when she sees me or Jason.

What We've Learned This Week-

Why Stagehands Make Good Parents

-Constantly wearing all black makes it easy to identify baby spit-up.
-Being awake at 3am with a bottle of something and a cute girl - something we've all done before.
-For some, watching a person pitch a screaming, crying fit about the state of their food, clothes and accomodations is a shock. For us, it's just, you know, Thursday.

Picture(s) of the week -
Independence Day - I wanted to take a picture of Lily at the fireworks in her American Flag outfit, but we had a thunderstorm and fireworks were cancelled. So I totally forgot about it until we got home, at which time I refused to wake her up for a pic. :(



Menaced by a Pirate - No good reason, I just thought she was cute.



Till next week -
-Joelyn, Jason, and Lily

Week 2

Yep, two weeks already. I get the feeling these e-mails will get shorter and shorter as we get less sleep, until it's just one or two words and a picture. :-)

Words of Wisdom: Baby Math

Sleep >Showering
Pacifier = Snooze Alarm
Clean shirt = Baby Spit-up Magnet
Playing with Baby > Pretty much everything else.

Picture of the Week - "Do Not Adjust Your Set" - So many bright colors in one place, I think the camera winced a little.

P.S. - Lily's first day in cloth diapers! Yay!!!

Until next week -

-Joelyn, Jason, and Lily

Week 1

We're going to try to send out a few pics every week, along with any jewels of parenting wisdom we feel we can share ;-) If someone isn't on the list and you think they should be, let me know. If you'd rather not be on the list, let me know, I'll take you off. (sorry if this is terse, but she's waking up - my keystrokes are limited!)

So, what we've learned this week - Scatology 101-Baby boys aren't the only ones who can pee DURING diaper changes.

-There is now someone else we can blame for our gas. The cat is relieved.-

There are three levels of dirty diaper - Easy, Not Bad, and Whoa. Easy and Not Bad diapers are not specifically tallied, for for optimum marital harmony, 'Whoa' diapers should be evenly divided.

Picture of the Week - Lily Ponders Deep Thoughts