Christmas in New York City

Not an exceptionally dramatic one, but our first.

An Early Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa

Hey Grandma and Grandpa!

Jojo's Germans

Whoa! These folks came over to play the other day and they are way cool! I love Jack and Caroline! They don't make fun of my baby acne, and they like the way I kick. Also, they always bring cool handmade presents and oh yeah! they speak some crazy language I don't quite understand (which is different from the crazy language my parents speak.)

Speaking of kicking, I sure hope my mom gets better at taking movies of my showing off my super human powers!

Happy Turducken!

Not to be disuaded from throwing a party for their New York Pals even though they no longer live in New York, our intrepid hosts Mark and Yoko Donatiello, with their illustrious chef and sous-chef Christoff and Ashley Park-Frazier, cooked a turducken, an alligator gumbo, and a cornucopia of other tasty food. And everyone brought wine and other treats.None of which was available to me, Josephine, Resident Lactovarian. My parents assure me: it was stupendous as always, and even more colorful for its ever-widening assortment of colorful characters! Our only regret was not being able to trash 9-11 conspiracy theories with Mark and Ashley. Well, our only other regret is that Mark and Yoko won't be back for a while, but they're happy in Oakland, it seems, so all is right with the world.

If you view the photogallery, the last three of are Astoria Park and environs.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Hello, Loyal Fanbase! Well, in honor of my one month anniversary, my handlers have mangaged to wangle a PROFESSIONAL to do my bidding --- in the form of one Janet "Grammy" Winner Boutwell! Thank goodness she showed up to be my first babysitter, provide all sorts of useful advice, and generally calm everyone down (in a good way) while I am busy workin' it in the midst of a pretty intense growth spurt! Also, she got my boneheaded mother to lay off the refried beans, which have been giving me a royal pain in the butt. Whew! I will be sad when she leaves, but fortunately they've got a bevy of visitors lined up to take the parental edge off: Uncle Tim shows up for Thanksgiving, Grandma and Grandpa K show up soon after that, and then Grammy and a whole slew of Boutwellian aunts near Xmas. By then I should be a bit less fussy (oh, because, if you can fuss you may as well do it, right?) and ready for more closeups.

Thanks Grammy and See you all later!

Secrets of the Mystical Hand Dance Revealed

Last night, Josephine gave a commanding, defininitive wave of her hand to the telly, and the House of Representatives flipped from Red to Blue. She added a little flourish, and Virginia (spurred by the Boutwellian Vote Rampage) and Montana went Dem --- oh, we're all waiting for her to wake up and gesticulate meaningfully to the Voter Recount Boards, so we can really celebrate. Hooray! Turns out the Dems didn't need a policy to win after all ---just a magical cosmic baby with secret control over the halls of power!

I told Mike we should've named her President Buttercup!

Oh, and our little wunderkind has baby acne, too.

Movie with Pa

Here's a movie with Pa and Josephine together!

Juju and Jojo!

Dear Aunt Julie -
I had a great time when you were here! I am so glad you taught my parents how to do basic things like give me a bath without freezing my tuckus, doing a really good swaddle, and also I appreciate the fact that you cleaned out the fridge and other essential things that they have really let slide since I was born! Also, I couldn't tell directly, but your green bean casserole filtered through breastmilk was the bomb! And I love pink and you're right, I look divine in it, even if my bonehead mom has some ridiculous "feminist" notion about it. I can't wait to meet my cousins Lauren and Harrison and Uncle Dave, too, but in the meantime, just come on back to NYC whenever you can! Love, Jojo.

PS. Here's the link to the pictures of us when you were here!

This is the day

That our beautiful little daughter became the little screamer that could. Hard to imagine that 7.5 pounds of joy could shatter two grown individuals quite so hard. Finally she is resting, covered in snot and iron-fortified vitamins which will likely not be washed off tonight, as that may engender a new bout of panicky yelpings. So, no pix. Just in case you were wondering. Not that she's not magnificent, mind you; just that she's magnificently, heartbreakingly loud when she sets her mind to it. Rock and roll!

The Mystical Hand Dance of Ji-Ka

The nurses in the delivery room immediately commented on Josephine's hands and the length of her fingers --- "oh, she'll be a pianist for sure." But Mike and I (of the regular to slightly longer than average finger length only) have our doubts: we have proof positive that her natural inclination is to be a hula dancer. See for yourself in this small movie.

Spoiler alert: Josephine looks cute, but skeptical of life; she often moves her hand in an undulating wave; Laura waxes predictably maternal and trite. All in all, a chick flick suitable for first dates.

Do let us know

if all these baby photos get tiresome. On the other hand, though, that is sort of the point of this blog! I mean, you can't honestly expect us to do much about it. But I can imagine an exchange:
Grandparent of Jojo: Hi! Just wanted to let you know, we're sick of Jojo photos. How bout a nice political rant?
Parent of Jojo: Wha???? This does not compute.
Okay, okay, maybe my imagining powers have been diminished somewhat by lack of sleep. The point is, if you're sick of photos of Jojo, you've come to the wrong place.

The latest in the JojoPhotoSeries comes compliments of Ashley Parker-Fraze.

Happy Birthday!

Tonight we will celebrate Josephine's first week on earth with a:

1. Lovely shot of breastmilk
2. Cute spell of lookin'-around time; perhaps we'll look at black and white blocks, or maybe a drawing of a happy cow (since that's how at least one of her parents feels)
3. Big long nap!

What we won't do is have any more coffee, not even a tiny little cup.

First photos, hot off the presses!

We have proof positive! There's a web photo gallery at this link at Kodak Picture Galleries on line. Some of the grandparents have been requesting developable photos, so this is the place to get them.

By the way, here are some stats:
• Birth Weight: 7 lbs on the nose (So she likes whole numbers!) But, as is normal, she dropped to 6 lbs 3 oz after the birth swelling went down.
• Birth Length: 21 inches (Just like her dad, who was fatter at birth)
• Eye Color: Blue/Brown/Grey/Smoky violet... hard to tell, still.
• Hair Color: Basically brown, but with little reddish-golden highlights. The stupid nurses confused us at first, who insisted her hair was blond, and because it was wet and the lighting was poor, we may have misinformed you at first.

I won't bore you with the details of feeding times and lengths, etc, because I have already been so far outclassed with the amazing metrics page of Trixie.

The Ultrasound Development Movie

Here's a quicktime version, and here's a windows media file version.

Why Josephine? Why Isis? Why Kasenter?

Why Josephine:
Reason 1: Precedent
Well, because of Josephine Baker, of course, and also Napoleon's Josephine, but also because of Josephine Cochrane, the lady who invented the dishwasher.

Reason 2: Wacky Honor
Laura's sister Juliet has long been known as Juju (it was either Casey or Phoebe who came up with this abbreviation in the throes of their own babyhoods.) And Juliet named her daughter "Lauren" in what she says was partial tribute to Laura. In return partial tribute, or at least for maximum comedic naming value, (especially for family reunions when Certain Family Members who have Trouble With Names under the Best of Circumstances Have Big Mental Lapses) we now have an Aunt Laura/Niece Lauren/Aunt Juju/Niece Jojo Quadfecta of Zaniness.

Why Isis:
Reason 1: Rock and Roll, Indecipherably Cool Lyrics
'Cause Bob Dylan spoke to Mike.

Isis, oh, Isis, you mystical child.
What drives me to you is what drives me insane.
I still can remember the way that you smiled
On the fifth day of May in the drizzlin' rain.

True, it's October now, but Mike answered the question "what do you want to name your daughter?" sometime back in the spring of 1999, no one's really sure when, but he was unequivocal about Isis.

Reason 2: Paganism Ahoy!
And also because it's witchily magical.

Why Kasenter:
'Cause the Man always passes on His Name, of course.

And all together, lots of nickname possibilities: Jojo, of course, and later perhaps if she wants, Josie. Plus there's the acronmymistic possibilities: JiKki, Ji-Ka, J-ka, etc.

And here's another testy photo

Okay, this is a photo of Mike working on the crib.

Jojo's first closeup

You can tell she's not a kangaroo, right?

hello

Hi
Here's Grandpa Kasenter, dissambling the changing table in Pennsylvania.