159 Days (and 4 photos) of Lily

Watery Weekend

Addy, Lily & Sid, posing as much as 3 children can pose at the same time.

On Saturday, we strapped the young child into the Astra and headed downtown to the John G (Thang) Shedd Aquarium, where we met up with the Chungs and their wily and criminally adorable, almost-3-year-old twins, Sidney and Addison (that's Sid and Addy for those in the know). Upon our arrival, we were shocked (despite checking the forecast before we left) to find it pouring rain and alas, we hadn't packed an umbrella, ella ella.

I dropped Katy and Toonces out front but then had to sprint/walk/cry about a quarter mile in a downpour. Needless to say, by the time I made my way into the Aquarium, I was looking pretty sexy. Using Lily's blanket to dry myself off (bad parent!), we met Jami and John and all of our rugrats converged amongst the exotic marine life. Lily seemed engaged, if not a bit confused by it all, and Sid and Addy toured the place like they owned it (their family pass qualifies them as seasoned veterans). Given the varying napping/pooping/eating schedules of 3 itty bitties, the trip was short (I won't say mercifully, since everyone was well behaved), but not without purpose. We did after all, get to see sharks, which makes any sort of outing, aquatic or not, an unqualified success.

Sid crawling through some sort of labyrinth near the Penguin area.

Lily's cheeks make an appearance on the patio of the Shedd.

A damp Dad and Lily

Things We Like: Dunlay's on Clark

The Wrightwood Salad and Strange Daze omelette at Dunlay's on Clark, 2600 N. Clark Street. If there is one restaurant here in Chicago that qualifies as our Cheers, then no doubt, it would be Dunlay's. Comfortable, yet classy, always solid, sometimes spectacular and eminently affordable.

We've never had a bad meal here, but have had many good ones, including our recent brunch foray on Saturday. You can't go wrong with the Wrightwood Salad, dubbed by many a Handfelt as the 'best salad ever'. Chicken, craisins, avocado, corn, almonds, tomato and goat cheese? Shut the door! No, shut the door! Katy's omelette was good as well, although the real highlight of the dish were the hashbrowns. I fancy myself a bit of a potato connoisseur, and these were some of the best hashbrowns, if not the best, that I've ever had. Yes, I'm prone to hyperbole, but this place is legit, buh-lee-dat!

You can't go wrong with anything here, including the burgers, pizzas and Katy's favorite, the beer cheese dip with tortilla chips. This place will make you feel physically strong even if you don't lift weights. RAWR!

Food Inc.

Over the past few months, our once (seemingly) posh food forays have been diminished a bit due to the presence of the Handfelt who's idea of a posh meal is a nice bottle of room temperature breast milk, but none-the-less, we've managed to consume a few things worthy of the patented HHH snapshot. ('Say Cheeseburger!')

As seen in one post, it would appear that our eating habits rival the gluttonous ways of Ancient Rome, but keep in mind these span back to the Taft Era. Most of the other days of the week we eat nothing but iceberg lettuce and sunflower seeds.

The Gunthrop Chicken Torta at the new Rick Bayless (Top Chef Masters winner, doncha' know) Mexican street food spot XOCO. Accompanied by a side of tomatillo salsa and exclamatory "Oh God!" Homemade churros and hot chocolate for desert. Best lunch in town and anyone who begs to differ gets an elbow drop from the top rope.

The Godzilla and White Scorpion maki rolls from Indie Cafe. They look so cool, you almost don't want to eat them. But you do anyway. And you're happy you did.

Crappy cell phone photo of the Australian lobster tail at Gibson's Steakhouse. Sometimes I forget how much I love lobster (since I eat it about as often as I lift weights), but to not love anything that's dipped in hot melted butter is just un-American and grounds for treason.

Grilled veggie risotto that I cooked on Memorial Day. Healthy and pretty dang good if I must say so myself (self-congratulatory back pat).

The Led Zeppelin burger at the infamous Kuma's Corner. A burger topped with pulled pork, bacon, cheddar cheese and pickles. (Despite my best intentions, I still haven't ordered the Goblin Cock.) Good yes, but it wasn't quite as good as my brother's pick, the Black Sabbath (topped with homemade chili, Pepper Jack and Red Onion - my pic just turned out better). Holy SH. If you're gonna go out, might as well go out on top.

The make your own Mac N Cheese at Kuma's. We added chorizo sausage and onions. We had enough leftovers for not one, but two additional meals.

The old school nutella milkshake at the Edzo's Burger Shop in Evanston. The burgers were fresh, although a bit salty for my taste, but I'd go back for the shake and the truffle fries and stuff myself until the inevitable food coma washed over me like a wave of warm, nutella flavored light.

Handfelt Time Machine

(slight lisp) Drums please!

"Time is the only critic without ambition." - John Steinbeck*

Lately here at HHH there has been an ominous fourth 'H' serving as the elephant in the room...namely, 'H is for hiatus'. Said break was not planned, nor was it accounted for; instead it just kind of happened due to the perfect storm of contributing factors: Katy going off maternity leave, work getting busier for me, and of course, the general time crunch and overall sense of lethargic malaise that I imagine all new parents experience. That said, it's time to step into the Handfelt Time Machine and take a trip back to mid-February and retrace our Swayze-esque steps. (Insert Wayne's World dream sequence.) Clearly, the question that everyone wants to know the answer to is, "What happened to your beard?" Oh wait...I'm being told in my earpiece that no, people actually really only want to know about Lily and that my beard was about as hip (yet comfortable) as a Snuggie. A bit harsh, but fair.

Well, if you must know, the childhood of Lily Bryn Handfelt is progressing quite nicely. As I type this, she sits at a day over 5 months old, and seems to be changing (quite rapidly) with every passing day. Physically, she is growing like a female Manute Bol. Her hair, once barren on the top, has started to fill in like my beard at the 3 week mark. A bit peach-fuzzy, but enough for it to be 'sticky-uppy' in the morning and subject to unfair mocking unless combed properly. Her cheeks still maintain an effortless chubbiness, like a young Chip from Chip and Dale.

She's an extremely, almost comically happy baby ("Where is your sense of smug dread?"); her smiles and belly laughs have increased ten fold over the past month or so, and she loves to kick her feet and practice her Kung Fu grip on anything within her grasp. She's the rockstar/diva of her daycare...the only baby girl amongst of sea of weeping testosterone. It's not an unfamiliar sight for us to go pick up the young child, only to see the rest of the kids (6-8 give or take on any given day) huddled around Lily singing to her and quite honestly, courting her. There are a couple of other girls there that are a little bit older than Lily Bean (or, as seems to be the most popular nickname, 'Toonces'), but even Miss Linnette, her caretaker, has admitted that Lily runs the show there.

At a mere 5 months she's already more social and popular than either of her parents ever were. Really though, there are no complaints here. Whereas most babies seem to serve as birth control for all of the non-parents out there, if everyone could hang around Lily for but a day, Trojan stock would plummet and the US birthrate would rival that of China. I apologize if that comes off as a bit cocksure (what a word!), but you'll have to excuse me, as The Hammer is clearly my crowning achievement...and well, if you've spent but a few minutes with her, you'll know what I'm talking about.

Other than the continued growth of our first born child, things around the Handfelt Hacienda have been relatively quiet and unassuming. Work has picked up for the both of us. Katy's promotion at UIC brought upon an added workload, but despite her modesty, she's handled it all with the panache and skill of a baller (is that still a word people use? Doubtful). In regards to me, the Chicago PR Mob Boss, things have picked up of late as well; that said, I know that really, the question everyone wants to know is "what famous people have you met?"

To that end, name drop alert! John C. Reilly, Common and Jackie Chan have all graced my presence, all of them stand up gents. I'll spare you the mundane details of the rest of my desk bound lifestyle and instead let you envision me and Jackie Chan locking arms and feeding each other sushi while laughing gayly (that is, in a joyous manner). All of that aside, being a mere 5 feet away from Dave Grohl in a hotel lobby and meeting a random sports rep who works for the company who represents my American Idol, Kurt Warner, were probably as close as I've come to geeking out in my gig. In the case of the latter, I was able to score a sweet 8x10" autographed photo, so my geekiness wasn't all for naught. Now if I could just get the judge to revoke that pesky restraining order.

So other than the continued growth of our first born child and a quick and dirty overview of our jobs, what else has 2010 wrought? These type of queries are probably best addressed bullet point style.

• On April 1st, 2010 my beard died. It's funeral was sparsely attended and it's passing was met with a vague indifference. Dale Jr., as he was known to his friends, was a bit of a pretentious a-hole, and according to local mustaches, "he had it coming". On his deathbed, Dale Jr. could be seen shaking his hairy fist, yelling "You haven't seen, nor felt, the last of me!" It remains to be seen if Dale Jr. will make an ill fated comeback (think Jordan with the Wizards) or ride off into the sunset on a ascot adorned beard trimmer.
  
• My brother and I attended the Spoon concert at the Aragon. This was the day that my beard died and the Fu Manchu made a life cameo for a day. We also at ate Kuma's Korner beforehand and exchanged knowing glances.
• Mother finally threw a baby shower back in Loo Town, attended by a gaggle of relatives and Lily, who donned a floppy hat and wry smile. Gifts were exchanged, appetizers were passed, knowing glances were yet again exchanged.
  
• Food, a HHH stapl,e has taken a bit of a backseat to the child, although Katy and I have still managed to squeeze in few good meals (Lily is surprisingly well behaved at public dining spots), and have upped our game when it comes to making good meals at home...time provided of course. Look for a 'what we've ate' post later in the week.
  
• Visits. Whether it's us loading up the Astra for Iowa or breaking out the fine china (see: not paper plates) for guests, we've hosted and been hosted a plethora of times since Lily busted down our door. Great grandmothers, uncles, aunts, regular grandparents, vagabonds, and ne'er do wells have all graced our presence at one point or another. It's been one giant receiving line and we've enjoyed (almost) every minute of it.
  
• Thunderfist II: Gone Fistin'. The sequel to the highly rated (though critically mixed) original Thunderfist took place the second week in May, with numerous 30-somethings descending upon Wrigleyville and drinking way too much for their age bracket and regretting it later. Good times were had, 5Ks were run over in a hungover haze, insults were traded and taquerias were stormed out of. Classic Thunderfist shenanigans.
• HHH Hotcake Showdown? Out for lunch (pancakes?). Coming soon. Check back later. Oh, it's there, don't you worry your carb-loading little heart. We've got a homemade recipe that will make you rethink your life and possibly enter into a covenant, post haste.

I think that about covers it. Expect more frequent posts. Sweeps week if you will. Check back early and often and if there is nothing of note, feel free to send me and email cursing my name, just leave the kid out of it.

*I have no idea what that really means, but it seemed applicable to this post, given the long layoff. If not, it still sounds fairly smart, no?

These paparazzi follow Lily wherever she goes. Kind of hard to go off, Charlie Sheen style, since they're all female. "Lily, Lily, Lily, who is your stylist?" "Target."

Ted and I at Thunderfist. Specifically, Gingerman, the unofficial gathering point. Actually, at this point, I think it's the official gathering point, like it or not. Kind of like a common law marriage.

Lord willing, the last time you'll see our daughter topless.

Mommy & Daddy + Martini = Me. Not to far off, to tell the truth. In that regard; martinis? Best thing ever!

Date Night! This is one of the last times the beard was seen in public. If you see him, please know that he's armed (with handsomeness) and dangerous (with whisker rubs).

Daddy Issues

"Hello daddy. Are you writing a blog post? How very exciting!"

"I just checked the blog and it hasn't been updated yet."

"Dude, you're not going to update the blog are you? Can you at least change my diaper?"

Love

Punky was ready for the Easter Bunny last weekend.

The last few weeks have been a blur of working, day care drop off and pick ups, and everyone getting sick in the Handfelt Hacienda, but we've been surviving, and dare I say, falling into a routine.

Lily seems to be adjusting to her day care very well and Ben and I couldn't be more comfortable with our choice. Each morning and night her teacher Miss Linnette gives her a kiss and a hug hello or goodbye. LB's face lights up with a grin when Miss Linnette wraps her up like a burrito in a blanket and carries her around. Lily is the only girl baby at day care, and so gets lots of attention. We joke that she has lots of boyfriends...Liam, Brody, Adrian, and Leif (that hippy), among others! The other morning when I dropped her off, I met some other kids, one of whom told me that she was singing to Lily the day before and Lily was smiling and laughing. It is so funny, cute, and strange to think that LB already has little buddies that I don't know!

Going to work usually isn't too bad and I'll even admit that I enjoy the routine of work, getting coffee, listening to the radio on the drive in, joking with work friends...but by the time about 3 o'clock rolls around, I am itching to get out of there as fast as possible. I speed to pick up Ben and we run in to pick her up. Then we go home, Ben usually cooks the dinner that I've prepped the weekend before while Lily and I play and cuddle.

This afternoon Ben went to Wrigleyville to watch the Cubs game, but before he left he snapped a picture of us getting ready to take our walk around the 'hood:

Lil always gets lots of comments and compliments when we're on the street.
It's hard to go unnoticed with such a cutie!

She fell asleep on the ride home from the library...

Life is so good to us right now. I'm not one to be too mushy, but we are blessed...the windows are open and a breeze is coming in because it's a beautiful spring day...Lily's napping and making little, adorable, sweet snoring sounds, recovering from our walk...she's smiling and laughing more every day...making friends and learning more all the time...everyday I fall in love with her a little more...we have good friends, good jobs, and everything we need...and we're all getting a little more sleep! Hallelujah!