All In Good Time

LIFE HAS BEEN A WHIRLWIND FOR DAYS ALUM JEN LILLEY

- Janet Di Lauro

Since Jen Lilley’s last stint on DAYS as spitfire Theresa Donovan, her life has changed faster and more dramatically than any soap plot. Her family of three has morphed into a party of five. Yet, the energetic actress continues to forge ahead with her career while managing her hectic home front. How does she do it?

“Coffee. Lots of coffee,” delivers Lilley with a laugh. “My life is, like, sponsored by Keurig. I also have an amazing husband [Jason Wayne] and just live and die by a calendar and Google alerts. I have 17 alarms that go off every day to remind me not to have mom brain.”

The family expanded when Lilley and Wayne began fostering Baby J, the half brother of their son, Kayden, who the couple adopted in June 2019. Then, Lilley discovered she was pregnant with a biological child of their own and, on July 30, 2019, welcomed new daughter Julie.

Next up: officially adopting Baby J. “We have been named the adoptive parents, and we’re still meeting to figure out when it’s going to be finalized. It’s not formally done yet, but we’re very positive and going in that direction,” explains Lilley, noting that she has “a great relationship” with Kayden and Baby J’s birth mother.

Lilley acknowledges that life with a trio of wee ones is challenging. “I have three children in diapers,” she points out of Kayden, 3 1/2, Baby J (almost 2), and 6-month-old Julie. “Kayden was potty-trained at age 2, but then he had some medical complications. He had to be circumcised and have a lot of surgeries, so that unpotty-trained him pretty fast. We’re going to refocus on training him and our middle child at the same time. It will be a fun competition, maybe make them more motivated. So that’s my next project.”