More of Boba's 2nd Bday

Here are some crazy cute pics from the days of Boba's birthday...I say "days" because we actually celebrated over the course of 3 days. Good times!

Squirming out of Mommy's grasp

Not sure what she's thinking here, but it don't look pretty

Happy Mommy trying to grasp the squirmy girl once again!

"Otter Pops....mmm mmm GOOD."

Helmet-ed and ready to ride!

Boba's first bicycle ride!

Enjoying one of her many birthday gifts - a book about doggies!

Two Year Old Boba!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BOBA!!!

Boba turned two a week ago. Because of the craziness last week (read the post below), we were unable to throw a big party like the one she had last year. Instead, however, she had not one, not two, but THREE mini-parties with friends and family! And of course, because I am lame, I didn't have my camera for any of them, but I know some pictures were taken by others, so I am HOPING one or two of them will send them to me. In those pictures' stead, I present a montage of "Boba in a Skirt". I also like to call these shots, "How Boba is Growing Up Faster Than Her Mommy Can Say 'Pre-Teen'". It's kind of amazing, really!

She's got her Daddy's legs! And his love for reading.

Can I just say that she has amazing hair? I had nothing to do with it, other than having the dominant "black hair" gene. Other than that, she's got her Daddy's mane, through and through.

Is it just me, or can you see glimpses of what she'll look like as a teenager? I think it's sort of uncanny, actually. Uncanny and freakin' SCARY.

Speaking of her Daddy, I never actually posted this photo on the journal portion on the blog, although it's up there on the sidebar. It's one of my favorite photos of the two of them, and absolutely super-cute how it came to be: She just walked up to Daddy, who was sitting on the floor, came behind him, and wrapped her arms around his neck. Luckily I had the camera. "Click!" The cuteness is captured digitally forever.

So, now that we are officially in the "terrible twos", let me share some fun, not-so-terrible stuff about Toddler Boba!

• One of her favorite saying is "I DO IT!!" She usually does this when I'm trying to feed her with a spoon and she insists on feeding herself. I'm actually quite impressed that she gets more than 80% of the food actually in her mouth. The other situation where she says this is when I'm applying makeup and she seems to think that she can do a better job. Hell, with my lousy makeup technique, she probably can.
• She loves to sing. In fact, while my boss (see below) was in the car with us, she just broke into song for a few minutes. I whispered to Jack: "She's auditioning for you." Jack: "I know. She's quite good. (to Boba) You're hired!" Me (laughing): "Boba, you're probably the only person in the world who doesn't get nervous singing in front of Jack O'Brien." Jack: "Yes, and that's EXACTLY why I'm hiring her!" Watch out folks...one of these days you may see How The Grinch Stole Christmas starring Boba as Cindy Lou Who!
• There is an AWESOME Mexican restaurant by my house, and I order from there frequently. Recently my in-laws were in town, and happened to order their chicken soup. They left some for us, and wouldn'tcha know it, Boba LOVED the stuff. She walked around for days asking, "Soup? Soup?" Well, I have to say, I've never been a fan of chicken soup, but man, this stuff was GOOD. What made it especially sublime was the addition of a lime, onions, and cilantro...which were not added into Boba's bowl, of course, but boy, I really enjoyed it. Anyway, nothing like Mommy and Baby slurping away happily side-by-side...Mexican chicken soup rocks!

Well, that was random! Anyway, that's all I could come up with for now, but I hope that was enjoyable. Daddy took the camera, so perhaps a photo post won't come for a little while, but I'll swing by and update sometime this week, hopefully. Cheers!

Success!!

That's right, ladies and gentlemen...that there post-title, up above, deserves not one but TWO exclamation marks! Because not only did I emerge unscathed from the chaos of last week, I emerged in TRIUMPH. That is to say: the week was a HUGE HIT.

And, ahem, I'd like to think I had something to do with it.

Let me explain. You all know who my boss is, right? Oh, you don't? See, I forget once in a while that most people don't give a damn about who's who in American theatre, but usually once I mention what he's done and who he is, there's this thing that sort of happens, and people say "OHHH, you mean HIM." His name is Jack O'Brien and he's the Artistic Director of the theatre company I work for, and if one were to gauge his success as an artist, you could probably look at the three Tony Awards he's won (among countless Tony nominations), or the people he's worked with (from Kevin Kline to Mary Louise Parker to John Lithgow, among others), or just the work he's done (Hairspray, dozens of Shakespeares, and his most recent hit, The Coast of Utopia). He's just a force to be reckoned with. And an amazing person to boot. So, you see, working for him and with him has provided me with some of the greatest professional experiences I've had thus far.

So last week, we held the first ever Jack O'Brien Directors Lab, which was essentially a week-long seminar for early-career directors. A directing boot camp, if you will. And guess who got to coordinate it? Uh-huh. ME.

I rarely talk about my work, and it is pretty self-indulgent of me to use Boba's internet screen time to discuss my career. I realize that. But I wanted to share this because I often wonder if being a working mother is worth the sacrifice of not being with her on a day-to-day basis. This is a complicated question, and one that I can't fully address right now, but I think writing about my job reminds me and others that one's work outside the home can be both worthy and rewarding, and can therefore nurture a person in a way that enriches the experience of being a parent. And as unbelievably cheesy as that sounds - I truly believe that.

Anyway, the Lab was a huge success, with some minor flubs along the way, but nothing I couldn't fix. It has partially addressed an ongoing issue I have with my career; questions such as, "How do I want to spend the rest of my professional life?", which is actually just a better-articulated way of saying, "What do I want to be when I grow up?" I realized, halfway into it, that I was very much in the right place at the right time, that even though my career has not (and probably will not) seen high monetary rewards, I have found an unusual path that has been remarkably well-suited to my strengths, passions, and interests. Certainly, at some point the monetary issue may become more important, but for now, I find myself very lucky to be in a place that both serves me, and provides an opportunity for me to serve. Last week's Lab confirmed this to me in many ways.

So - I'm back! And while things have slowed down considerably, I may not be completely present blog-wise since, a.) Jason is still out of town and thus I am still "single-parenting" it, and b.) My folks return this week, but will probably not be in full-swing babysitting mode until the weekend. (At least, that's what I hope.) I'm going to post some Boba-photos with some cute stories, though, in a minute...so thanks for indulging my virtual patting-on-the-back!

How things are going

I've been getting emails, phone calls, and various messages from people who have been wondering how I'm doing while Jason and my parents are out of town. You have all been so sweet to think about me and check on me. I wish I could answer everyone individually, but as you can imagine, I don't have a lot of free time on my hands; or, I should say, I don't have a lot of free time where I'm not sleeping. And god knows that in times like these, I DON'T GIVE UP MY SLEEP. (Or what little I get of it, anyway.)

I'm doing fine. Not the sing-song kind of "fine" that's tossed around casually and without thought; I'm fine as in, I'm not sick (thank goodness), all the bills are paid, the house is in one piece, and my job is, well, getting done. So, yes, in the grand scheme of things, I'm doing well.

The best part of everything is, Boba is doing GREAT. As in, just stellar. Her mood has been perpetually cheerful lately. I can't tell you how much better that makes everything!

The toughest part of this current situation for me is the lack of rest...I feel like I'm literally being thrown from one thing to another, with no break in between. Overnight sleep has gotten better, but BOY - those early mornings (6am-ish after only 5-6 hours of broken up sleep, usually) are kicking my ass. Pardon my french.

The other tough part is the constant guilt and stress over not being 100% available to Boba...while nothing has really changed in my time commitment to work, Jason and my parents definitely have always spent quality time with her when I was unavailable, so that appeased my guilt somewhat. Now that I'm her only immediate family around, I'm really feeling the pressure of being with her as much as possible. But the summer is the busiest season for my company, so alas, I often feel torn between Boba and the Globe. Of course I would rather be with her, but as we all know, I gotta make the big bucks too!

So there it is. I'm afraid I've oversimplified the situation somewhat, but I do want to assure everyone who has inquired about my situation that I'm holding up fairly well. I appreciate everyone's offer to come and hang with us, to simply spend time with me and Boba and give me something to look forward to. I will definitely take ALL of you up on them.

Tomorrow, I'll have fun and cute photos of Boba, as well as some great stories...she has been really entertaining lately! And then I'll probably be quiet for another week or so because my HUGE project at work begins on Saturday. Not that THAT'S big news...you're all used to that by now. :)