A green Christmas

Having narrowly escaped an epic storm system, the Wily Jeneric family spent a lovely 10 days in an unseasonably warm Florida.

We started off simple, with a dip in the pool (do note the lovely hair clip Eric is sporting):






And followed that up with a concert and Christmas parade.

Look at all those beads! Are they shiny enough to distract from her pox marks?


More beads, please! and candy, too!


Listening to smooth jazz Christmas carols with Grandma & Grandpa.

We hung some ornaments.




Baked a few (dozen) cookies.

Those cookie cutters make the best animal shapes ever!


Yeah, I convinced Grandpa to share the beater. Yum!

We visited the penguins at the zoo:


Fed a giraffe or two:


And communed with the fishes.


There were presents on Christmas,


And swimming, too!


For Boxing Day, we hit the beach:


Then we hurried home, quick as a snail:

where someone slept as we waited on the tarmac in Fort Wayne, Indiana (an unscheduled stopover on our return flight).

Although the sun and sand are gone, we're keeping our spirits high with our own kind of aquatic fun:


To our friends and family,
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and a peaceful New Year!

(Pox)^2

Oh, yes. And baby makes two.

(FYI: Baby Wily had her 2-month check-up yesterday, weighing in at 13#, 3 ox (63rd percentile) and reaching 23 1/4 inches (88th percentile). We'll have to return next week to get her first set of vaccines. Apparently, sick kids do not make for good vaccination risks.)

A pox upon our house!

Huzzah!

Many of you know we love science, but perhaps you did not know that we've been shunning the vaccine for Varicella zoster (chicken pox). It's not a bad vaccine, but it just seemed like too much. A shot for a disease that is typically harmless (yes, there are rare complications and we are keeping an eye open for those). Since Toddler Jeneric successfully contracted the virus on her own, we're done with that debate. And the timing couldn't have been better, since most of the activities have wound down for the year and she will be better by the holidays.

You might wonder about Baby Wily. In children under 6 months, chicken pox is quite rare as they still harbor the antibodies from their mother (provided she had chicken pox and, as I'm sure Jenni's parents can attest to, she definitely had the chicken pox). On the off-chance that Baby Wily does come down with chicken pox, it is likely to be quite mild.

Brought to you by the number 2!

What does 2 mean to the Wily Jeneric family today?

a. The number of ounces Baby Wily drank from a bottle.
b. The number of shoes Eric can now wear.
c. The number of job searches that Jenni applied to that were suspended due to economics.
d. Baby Wily's age
e. All of the above.

Got your answer? If you chose e, you'd be correct!

By the numbers

Alas and alack, it's been far too long! We've had a 2-year check-up for Toddler Jeneric (30 lb (~85th percentile) and 3 feet tall (~95th percentile)) - she's on target for all major developmental milestones (speech, gross and fine motor skills) and took her Hep A vaccine like a champ.

No babies were harmed in the making of this photo.

Baby Wily cruised through her 1-month check up with nary a peep (11 lb, 7 oz (~90th percentile); 20 7/8 inches (~65th percentile)). She continues to have a weepy eye (due to a blocked tear duct) but is otherwise strong, healthy and happy.


Baby Wily oversees the playing of Carcassonne, the Castle. We don't let her play anymore, since she always wins.

Somewhere in November, Toddler Jeneric had a birthday where the best part seemed to be the cards (many contained stickers!).

Stickers on the tummy? Can a tattoo be far behind?!


Toddler Jeneric picked out the vest (she favored the purple over the pink, floral or gecko print - who knew??) The bright object in the foreground is her first computer - which she uses to send e-mail.


This is what Mama came home to one day - can you see the stickers on her belly - again?

Stay tuned for next time (who knows when that will be!) when we present the Wily Jeneric train escapades!

I can't wait to take the A train!

Snot so much!

Aye, the Wily Jeneric house is full of snot and boogers! Well, just Baby Wily - she's got a sinus infection (thus breaking our nearly 2 year record of never visiting the pediatrician except for well-baby visits). On the positive side, we finally have a good excuse for Baby Wily's poor sleeping habits - who can sleep with that much snot?


Hello? Who's up there?


Baby Wily denies being a noisy sleeper, who wakes up every 2 to 3 hours at night. See? Sleeping just fine!


A little comic relief. Now with moose ears.

Happy Halloween!

Last time we met, Toddler Jeneric was hesitant to dress as a Lion. Never fear - time and patience won the day.

A few days after that post, Toddler Jeneric got a little giddy about her Lion hat...


Which resulted in this on Thursday afternoon:

Toddler Jeneric was eager to get suited up for the Great Pumpkin walk downtown. Note the key ingredient: a pumpkin bucket.


Also note the tail. Toddler Jeneric would very much like for you to know that she has a tail. See?


So we headed downtown to trick-or-treat on Thursday, where Toddler Jeneric never said trick-or-treat, but she did say Thank You! and maybe an occasional roar (very quietly, though). Here she is at the first stop:

This little lion was seriously confused - I hold out the pumpkin and people put in candy?

Baby Wily politley ignored the hullabaloo and dozed in her pumpkin outfit.


We repeated the festivities on Halloween, with a parade around the neighborhood and trick-or-treating, too.

Don't let Toddler Jeneric fool you - she enjoyed being a Lion and going from house to house (so much so that we had to beg her to take off the costume!).

Baby Wily says, yes, I am in the pumpkin outfit again. Mama dressed me in this all week. I am a person, people, not a pumpkin! (but she's a cute pumpkin, eh?).

Leo the Lion goes Grr!

While waiting for Baby Wily to make her grand entrance, Grammy put together a fantastic Halloween costume for Toddler Jeneric. We took an afternoon to haunt the local craft store and Toddler Jeneric picked out a lion costume - so she'd have a good reason to practice growling. In near record time there was a tail, paws and a mane. Grr!

But Toddler Jeneric wanted no part in wearing the costume.

Below, we present the few images we snagged of Toddler Jeneric not wearing a lion costume. Nay, she is wearing lion paw slippers and pajamas. If we're lucky, we'll get her to wear a lion hat later this week (she put it on very briefly and we were too slow with the camera).

We started with the slippers:


Then we told her about the tail:


In the end, she was pretty happy with most of the ensemble:


But the mane! Well, wee've got a few days to work on that!

Who's who?

It's come to our attention that our girls looked rather similar at birth. We thought it would be a fun to challenge readers of Wily Jeneric to guess who's who in the photos below. However, in a test of the local residents of Chez Wily Jeneric, it seemed altogether a very easy task (5 for 5 guessed correctly - even Toddler Jeneric got it correct). So go ahead, take a guess - you're probably right!

Image A:


Image B:

Update!

It's been a few days, eh? Some everyday news, fresh off the press:

1. Baby Wily
She passed her 1-week (ish) check-up with flying colors. This little piggy is gaining weight at 3 oz per day (typical is 1-2 oz). She's long past her birth-weight and gaining on Toddler Jeneric.

2. Toddler Jeneric
Infatuation can be cute - no really. Toddler J is enamored with her little sister, very keen on finding toys for her to play with, pointing out her eyes, elbows, etc and helping with diaper changes. Toddler J is less impressed with Daddy's boo-boo, however. She doesn't have much sympathy for the cast or his limited mobility.

3. Eric!
Surgery went fine, recovery from surgery went a little less well. He's hobbling around the house and doing his best to play with Toddler J and help with Baby Wily.

Finally, gratuitous photos!

Someone got her first bath - and hated it!


Some got a new coat (hand-sewn by Jenni) - and loved it!


And some people read a story... over and over and over again!

ETA:
4. Jenni - is recovering nicely, although she still can't pick up Toddler J ('twill be a few more weeks before that can happen). As Eric likes to say, Jenni was walking better 4 hours after delivery than he was!

Conversation with Toddler Jeneric

Question: What do dump trucks eat?
Answer from Toddler Jeneric: Corn!
A future biofuels researcher? Perhaps!

Gratuitous and unrelated pictures:

Toddler Jeneric and Baby Wily's first meeting. Toddler Jeneric is imparting her nearly 2 years of wisdom to Baby Wily.


Baby Wily can blow bubbles, too!


Someone loves holding her little sister.

Now we are four

Announcing the arrival of Baby Wily! Born October 1 at 2:24 pm, she weighed in at 8 lb 11 ounces, 20.25 inches tall. Total time in labor and delivery: 4.5 hours. Jenni was barely admitted to the hospital when Baby Wily came screaming into the world. Mom and Baby are doing just fine and Toddler Jeneric is pleased as anything to have a little sister. Dad is pretty chuffed, too.

Oh, eew!

That's the reaction of most people when we tell them about Eric's Achilles tendon. Snapped clean in two, what we thought was swelling was actually the tendon. Yeah - eew.

But you're probably tuning in for an update on Baby Wily. Both Baby and Mama passed their tests today (a non-stress test and ultrasound) so we're good to go. We'll keep you posted.

In the meantime, we leave you with some fantastic images!

Here's Eric's right leg:


And here's the left!:


How awesome is that?