Holy smokes time flies. I know that all our friends and family members that have kids have told us that for years but 'Wow!' were they or you (if you were one of the people that "told me so") right. I admit it. It's in writing. You have evidence of my guilt and admission thereto. I've come clean. I was so naïve but until you have kids it's just hard to comprehend how time moves at an accelerated rate. It was January 12th since we last updated the blog and it seems like it was only yesterday. Tasks that used to take seconds now take minutes and tasks that used to minutes to complete now seem to get spread over hours. It's hard to stay focused, on course and on task.
I guess it would only be considerate to conduct a minor recap of the events leading up to today. With a statement like that my recap better be worthy of such an introduction but sadly enough I doubt it will be so; reader beware of boring details to follow.
Since Dee's last posting, the girls, Dee and Lilia, and I have been fighting the good fight at home. Last Friday we had a quick checkup at the doctor's office and Lilia has grown to 10 lbs, 3 oz and 23 ¾ inches. For those of you scoring at home she started her "out-of-womb" experience at 7 lbs, 4 oz and 21 ½ inches. It feels like a Phil Donahue chart would be helpful here but I fear if I make another reference to Phil Donahue I might date myself. So I'll forgo the embarrassment of making that mistake and let you piece together a visual of the data points in your head. Needless to say, sans chart, she's progressing beautifully. She never misses a meal.
The week prior to that, we had taken the little "diaper-dirtier" to Children's Memorial Hospital down in the Lincoln Park neighborhood for an echocardiogram due to a heart murmur our pediatrician had observed during her customary inspections. Without going into the gory details, the results are positive and the murmur is most likely going to fix itself as she matures and grows. We'll have to have regular checkups with a cardiologist to monitor the progress. This was a huge weight off our collective shoulders. I didn't necessarily think it was anything other than that but I'm not sure if I was, again, being naïve or in denial not allowing myself to consider it was anything other than a minor, self-healing abnormality. Denial isn't a bad defense sometimes. I used it all through high school and most of college and look you're reading our blog now.
This past week my parents, Gary and LeNae Johnson, arrived and have been helping us stay sane as we continue to learn how to listen and react to her highness. It's been great having the help and visiting while they've been here. Dee's triumphantly returned to work, so their helping hands have been extremely welcomed. Trying to waste time while watching a baby is hard work and frankly it doesn't pay well.
Last Sunday, the day after my parents arrived, we had Lilia's baptism. She slept through the whole thing – water and all. In fact, I doubt she even knew it happened but regardless we're not doing it again so that she can experience it with cries and screaming. It was a nice service and we went out for lunch afterwards – which she also slept through. Come to think of it, my parents took us out for dinner this evening at one of our favorite restaurants, Koi in Evanston, and she slept through the entire meal again. I'm trying to find something funny to say in correlation with this phenomenon but comedy gods have denied my request for more funny.
Next Tuesday I return to Mamma Mia (North American Tour). I'm ready to be back to work but not ready to leave the comfort of my home with wife and baby. This too is a new transition. Such is life. Dee and Lilia will join me soon enough and we'll have new friends with their own new baby on the road with us. More details to follow and hopefully sooner than the time lapse between this post and the last one.
Thanks for biting the bullet and reading to the bottom. Too bad there wasn't any gold at the bottom of this bucket.
I got nothing…
