We went to Boston for five days in January - Jason was done with White Christmas, and wasn't back at In The Heights yet, so we decided it was a good time to visit all those folks who live just a bit north of us, but we somehow never manage to see. And do you know what else? We didn't take a single picture. It was enough to just schlep our two kids and the astonishing amount of crap involved in taking the four of us out of the house.

It took seven hours to drive the four hours to Boston. Here is an example of why: we had crossed the state line from Connecticut to Massachusetts, and decided to just power through the last hour to Boston. Then Lily announced that she had to use the bathroom. While Lily was in the bathroom, Lexi woke up and needed to eat. Then she needed a diaper change. Then Lily wanted a snack. Then Jason needed a snack. Then I needed the bathroom. Then Jason needed the bathroom, and by then, enough time had passed that we took Lily back to the bathroom just in case. An hour and forty-five minutes after we pulled into the rest area, we were back on the road!

Since then we have been settling ( a bit) back into routine - Jason is back to his usual job. and Lily and I are back to waiting for Spring. Lexi is understandably not a fan of winter yet, so we're not doing a lot of playing outside as a group. I'm a pretty creative Mommy - we have had tea parties, spa days, cooking parties, and all manner of arts and crafts, but Lily and I are both ready for a good run around the park without ten minutes of coats, scarves, and mittens.

Lexi is sleeping a little more at night, so I am trying get some sleep myself - trying to bank a few extra hours before she starts teething!

Thank you, Friend Who Is Better At Photoshop!!!

Remember when I said I would love to add weapons to that picture of Lily and Lexi? It's good to know I have loyal readers. Said Loyal Reader actually went one better - I got these in my mailbox today. Thank you, Loyal Reader.

The aftermath.

Big on opening presents. Cleaning up, not so much.

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone had a glorious, and peaceful, holiday season. We had a quiet Christmas at home, complete with porcupine ham (that's ham with pineapple rings and cherries skewered onto it with toothpicks).

Our friends Sonya and Shoshi came over for an old-school pajama Christmas - when we lived in Queens, Christmas meant movie marathons, porcupine ham, and everyone hanging out in their jammies. We watched UP, and after the kids went to bed, we watched The Hangover - just as good the second time.

Lily was a gift-opening whirlwind, and is smiten with all of her presents - great toys, cute clothes, awesome books. Lexi got equally great presents, but was less enthralled by the process.

We continued the tradition of Christmas jammies, though.

It's tough to be the only non-photographer in a family full of experts. But truly, this is the funniest image I have ever captured on film.

It looks like the movie poster for Children of the Corn: The Next Chapter. If I were better at photoshop, I would totally add a tiny meat cleaver to Lexi's clenched fist.

Early New Year's Resolution: I will blog. I will.

But in my defense, the past three months have been the most hectic in recent memory. Why, you ask?

Welcome Alexandra Genevieve Wilkosz, born October 22nd, 2009 at 12:24 p.m., 6 lbs., 12 oz., and 19 inches long. Lily adores being a big sister, and I adore being the mother of two beautiful little girls. The last nine weeks have been a haze of broken sleep, late night feedings, and diaper changes, but I have to say I love it.

...and I can say with authority that even with over a hundred channels, there is nothing good on tv at 4 a.m. Nothing. There's not even Law & Order, and I thought that was on 24 hours a day. (L&O is on at 3 a.m. and 5 a.m., but I digress.) I have become an avid NetFlixer, since Lexi thinks that a proper middle-of-the-night feeding should last 60-90 minutes.

But now that I have wireless internet and a laptop, maybe I can start blogging during the 4 a.m. feeding.We'll see how that goes.

July - from Colorado to Pennsylvania

So at some point I announced to everyone that I wasn't traveling after my sixth month, because it's just too uncomfortable. And then we got lazy with scheduling. So then we ended up doing all of our traveling in July. This is all my fault.

In the second week of July we went to Colorado to visit Jason's mom and her husband Larry. It's a long travel day, because they live about 90 minutes outside of Colorado Springs, but it's a gorgeous drive, and Lily weathered it quite well - we didn't even have to use our "Special airplane undies" (read: Pull-Ups). Lily had such a great time - Pat and Larry have three dogs and two horses, and for her it was like living at the zoo. And then we went to the zoo - does it get better when you're two years old?

Lily learned the horse feeding/care routine with Larry. She came back the first day from the barn and announced to me, "Mommy, there's horse poopy. Don't touch it." She sat on the horses, but it may be a few more years before she's allowed to actually sit on them while they're, you know, moving.

Colorado is truly beautiful - we spent quite a few hours just sitting and looking at the mountains. Admittedly, I did this in part because it was about 104 degrees outside. But all in all, we had a blast - we even got to make the Onorato Family Ravioli Recipe.

When we arrived home, we discovered that the part we had been waiting for had arrived, and we could finally make - wait for it - Lily's Big Girl Bed. She was an eager assistant when it came to assembly, and still periodically points out to whoever will listen, "I put that bolt in!" So the crib is now bye-bye (err, in the basement), and the Big Girl Bed is decked out in Tinkerbell sheets, pillow and comforter.

Next post - Pennsylvania!