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!