Auld Lang Syne

Apparently, 2010 is already the year of the slacker. Good lord, January 3rd has almost gone the way of the dodo and I have nary a post up and running. But, I do have good reasons. Really. Seriously. As soon as I think of them, I'll let you know.

In the meantime, just a brief word about this here new year. A lot of people seemed relieved to leave 2009 in the dust. I do not share in these feelings. While there were some, perhaps, unfortunate or less desirable changes that occurred for me, the good very much outweighed the bad and any icky changes that happened have had (perhaps unintended) really positive outcomes; a bunch of silver linings, if you will. For starters, in January, we found out that we were going to have bebe #2 come visit us and take up residence. Unadulterated joy was followed by 18 hellish weeks of morning sickness (I am seriously considering poking whomever came up with the "morning" part of that term's eyes out). Come July, however, I started feeling simply swell. And in August, I started feeling huge and wondered why people really like being pregnant (crazy Liz). And come October, well, I'm not sure any mom can put into words how amazing it is to hold a new addition to the family in your arms for the first, fourth, fifteenth, or five hundredth time. Jack is... well, Jack is sweet, full of smiles, already in love with his big sister, chubby, happy, and full of love. His birth was a transformative and empowering experience and my seemingly mellow little guy is my little slice of daily peace, fun, and love who sits faithfully alongside his fantabulously funny sibling.

June was our other big change with our move to BC. The downsides are still there -- mostly that I really, really miss our family and friends. The silver, maybe even gold, lining for this one, however, is that we've had some really great extended visits with family (and Ez gets the friend hero of the year award for being our first non-familial visitor). Our little family has also been able to become a really strong little unit and go on all sorts of adventures together since it is mostly just us. I have ants in my pants and need to DO something (not like some people who have fire ants in their pants and REALLY have to go go go, I just have the regular kind) most days and being up there, we've had ample opportunity. We've seen some overwhelmingly, take-your-breath away beautiful places and we've barely left a hundred mile radius. Once we decided to move and actually got there, there was no point in being bummed out on a daily basis so we make the best of a not really so bad situation and just do stuff that we can't do here in order to take advantage of this once in a lifetime opportunity.

There's more -- more ups and downs, more goods and bads, but really, for me, I'll mostly remember this year for those above two milestones. I'm proud of my kiddies, feel so lucky to have family that goes out of their way to be with us, am immensely thankful for the friendships that have not only sustained but grown, and am grateful for a husband who puts up with my quirks, habits, rants, and the occasional memory lapse.

We've been very busy this trip (hence the slacking), and while there have been moments when I think how much I would like to be back in a routine and know that Molly was going to go to bed in a snap (sorry mom), it's a blessing that we've been busy. It's a full life that we lead and while I wish I had some inventive new year's resolution, I think mine will remain the same as it has in prior years -- to simply to count my blessings, to not get too hung up on the junk and crud that can occasionally gunk up our gears, and to thank all of you folks out there that allow us to lead these mostly happy and very full lives. 2009 is the year of the thanks... and now on to the good stuff.

Rounding out 2009 for Mr. Jack Peter...

Truthfully, Jack spent most of our trip to the Children's Museum snuggled tight in the Bjorn but we broke out the big gun to say hi to Big Papi.

Molly "helped" Jack make some phone calls. Helped... riiiiight. She just didn't want to get busted for stealing her dad's phone and instead offered her services to her baby brother.

Mr. Happy Pants

The Divine Miss M's end of year fun...

dining with her pal, Hannah. We have a similar picture from Valentine's day with these two gal pals.

Besides the construction zone and bubbles (see below) at the Children's Museum, Molly enjoyed the beauty parlor the most. How she knows what to do with hair is beyond me... she has more of it herself than she used to but she's not exactly swimming in it nor will she let me doing anything with her mullet.

Bubbles were f.u.n.

Like I said, I get ants in my pants to get outside. My children get to come along on this joy ride.

We took the kiddos bowling (Jack slept) -- how funny are little bowling shoes. Molly was surprisingly good and it was SO funny and cute to watch.