2. Did you keep your New Year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?  I’m not really one to make resolutions, although I might make a list of things I want to accomplish a la Jennie at She Likes Purple.

3. Did anyone close to you have a child?  Yes, yes they did! We had a baby, my best friend from high school had a baby, 3 of our college friend couples had babies, and a friend from my hometown just had a baby a couple weeks ago. I might be forgetting someone in there, but I don’t think so. There were a LOT of babies this year!

4. Did anyone close to you die?  No, thankfully! Let’s keep up that streak, please.

5. Where did you travel?  Miami; Georgetown, Cayman Islands; Cozumel, Mexico (and the Caribbean in general). It was great. We also did our usual travelling around the state of MN and we took a trip to Wausau, WI to visit friends.

6. What would you like to have in 2011 that you lacked in 2010?  Like everyone else, I would like a winning lottery ticket. There is something else I would like, but I’m not comfortable discussing it on here at this point. You’ll have to wait and see if it materializes.

7. What dates from 2010 will remain etched upon your memory?  February 24th, for sure.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?  Being  a better mother than I thought I would be. At least so far.

9. What was your biggest failure?  Keeping on top of things I should remember.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?  I think I would count my c-section as an injury. It definitely sucked recovering from it. Also, I had the cold from hell this fall (turned into bronchitis, lucky me!). 

11. What was the best thing you bought?  Our dishwasher, which is still not in use, but I’m still counting it, because the anticipation of having it is almost as awesome as being able to use it.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?  Ryan’s, for sure. It’s been so fun for me to see him as a dad, and he puts up with my complete lack of memory very well. Also, I think James deserves a round of applause for being such a terrific baby.   

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?  Various people; the news media, many of the players & the coach for the Vikings, my own at times.

14. Where did most of your money go?  Daycare and rent. 

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?  James, mostly. I was pretty excited about our cruise, but I’m almost constantly excited about the new things my son is learning daily. I love his laugh and his smile, and the way he crawls after me down the hallway. His “faux-hawk” is great, and his blue eyes are gorgeous. The way he can repeat actions or sounds, and how he shuffles around the furniture and walls, squealing with glee. His “kisses,” and the way he laughs when I say “Momma, momomomomom” to him (he still won’t say that back). I get excited about all of it.

16. What song will always remind you of 2010?  I don’t know. I’ve been listening to a variety of music. Maybe the Friends theme song, since we watched an entire season of Friends while in the hospital after James was born. 

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:  a) happier or sadder?  b) thinner or fatter?  c) richer or poorer?   Happier (I’m no longer pregnant, and I have an adorable baby!), thinner and probably poorer but it’s definitely worth it.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?  Take pictures. Write things down when they happen. Visit my sisters.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?  Being crabby/naggy toward Ryan. Wasting time online instead of sleeping in the evenings.

20. How did you spend Christmas?  At my parents’ house up North, with a side trip to my mom’s parents’ house for Christmas Day (all of her 7 siblings were home).

21. Did you fall in love in 2010?  Definitely.

22. What was your favorite TV program?  Glee and Raising Hope. 

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?  I don’t think so.

24. What was the best book you read?  The Hunger Games trilogy was amazing.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?  I don’t really have one. I had a rediscovery of my love of The Arrogant Worms, though.

26. What did you want and get?  A good and adorable baby, a Nook and a Wii Fit. I’m pretty spoiled. 

28. What did you want and not get?  That darn winning lottery ticket.

29. What was your favorite film of this year?  The only one I can remember seeing is How to Tame Your Dragon. I don’t even know if that came out this year or last. There are films I really want to see…does that count?

30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?  I turned 30. We went out for dinner with friends to a newish place in town; Clyde Iron Works restaurant. It was great.

31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?  Our own house, with a large kitchen, dining room and family room, and plenty of bedrooms so that people could stay with us. 

32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2010?  I wore clothes. That’s about it…the mostly didn’t fit well, they were mostly poor quality, and mostly I didn’t care whether they had spit up or banana on them.

33. What kept you sane?  Baby smiles/laughter. Ryan. Nights spent hanging out with friends. Restaurants, so that we didn’t have to do the dishes.

34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?  Meh.

35. What political issue stirred you the most?  DADT being repealed. Finally.

36. Who did you miss?  My family.

37. Who was the best new person you met?  James. He was literally a new person! Although our friends’ babies follow pretty closely behind.  

38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2010.  It’s ok if your apartment doesn’t get cleaned every night. It’s more important to spend time with your husband and son.

Today, I was reading Hyperbole and a Half (one of my favorite blogs), and just about burst out laughing at my desk. The title of her post? “The Year Kenny Loggins Ruined Christmas.” The entry is hysterical, even without the personal history, but that inside joke just pushed it over the edge for me. I’m still giggling about it now.

Other things I’ve read/seen recently that are worth mentioning:

The Bloggess made me cry, and not from laughing this time. This is amazing, and definitely fits the “true meaning of Christmas.” Read it with tissues handy. It’s good if you need a boost in the belief in the good of humanity.

My friend Adrienne has been great about sending funny videos lately. First this one (and the other videos like it are funny too. A good time waster, looking through them), and then this one.

Oh, and this makes me really happy:

He's so cute.

I was holding him during “quiet time” before bed tonight, and as he was laying in my arms looking at me he would just start giggling for no reason. If I looked at him he started all over again. I wasn’t making any faces or noises or tickling him or anything; apparently I’m just funny looking. It was definitely the bright moment in my week so far. That and the foot of snow we got last night. Although hearing that I don’t need anything other than a cleaning after not having been to the dentist in about 8 years (I moved, then my dentist retired, then I was uninsured and then I was lazy) was good too.

Sometimes I wonder if this is a self-esteem issue. Which sounds totally lame, and fishing for compliments-y. That’s not what I mean, though. I just think that there are so many people out there who are really talented writers. They know what situations they can spin into a great story, and they know how to tell the story so that it’s interesting; even if the event itself would normally be boring. But maybe I think that because it is someone else’s writing. It is hard to be objective about your own writing.

Anyway, that’s a large part of why it’s hard for me to write more often. I don’t have much to say that hasn’t already been said. You would think that would spill over to my verbal communication, but it doesn’t. Weird!

So tired…going to bed soon. Just had to pass that on…….

Anyway, things are improving, slowly, which is good. And so far it appears that I’m the only one who has this crud. Hopefully it will stay that way.

We are sitting at home watching Pirates of the Caribbean; Dead Man’s Chest. We rearranged the living room, and I like it. It feels much more open than it did before – the furniture is all at the edges of the room, so we have a big open space in the middle, which is great for James. Of course he prefers to stand and move along furniture lately, and so he hasn’t taken much advantage of it. But it will be nice for him to have more room when we have the tree too.

Speaking of James wanting to walk along the furniture (and walls) everywhere…yesterday we were at a friend’s house, having dinner and hanging out, and James was cruising around. He had started at the couch where we were sitting, which was next to a wall. He got to the wall and kept going, around a corner. But then he slipped (those darn socks, combined with wood floors). He fell and hit his forehead on one of those phone jack boxes. His forehead swelled up into a HUGE goose-egg right away, but he only cried a little, and then seemed ok. The swelling went down pretty quickly, and today he just has a little bump and a bruise. It doesn’t seem to bother him. I felt badly for him, but I’m sure that there will be other bumps and bruises as he learns to navigate his way around.

Well, time for my next round of drugs!

I coughed all evening, but I kept thinking to myself, “Maybe it needs to build up in your system or something.” They, at 9:30 I took some Nyquil and thought that I would finally get some relief and some sleep. No such luck. I was coughing all night. Ryan eventually went out to sleep on the couch, the poor guy. So yah. I’m very disappointed in the drugs. I’ll keep taking them today, but if I’m not feeling at least moderately better by the end of the day I’m going to call and see if they can recommend something else. This would be so much easier if I wasn’t nursing. I would just go find the strongest drugs I could get and not worry about it. But I don’t want to take more than I need, and although it appears that most cold/cough medicines are fine in moderation while nursing, I don’t want to just assume anything is ok.

So yah…the sickness continues. It’s very exciting to read about, I’m sure. Probably about as exciting as living through it. Not at all.

In other, more fun news, James is now cruising and army crawling all over the place. He also pulled himself to standing from sitting (just after the doctor’s appointment where we told her he wasn’t doing that yet). He babbles all the time. It’s very cute. I am loving this age; he changes so rapidly! Two weeks ago he could barely scoot along, and now he gets pretty much everywhere. He was chasing Auntie Lisa’s cat around when we were down there. He also likes to follow Grandpa around. It’s adorable.

What is not very cute is the fit he’s been throwing at night. When he’s tired he gets crabby, like any kid, but lately he’s been SUPER-crabby, and we can’t figure out what’s wrong. He won’t go to bed, even though he has been fed and changed, he’s got a multitude of toys and is allowed to roam pretty much anywhere. Last night I finally got him to sleep about 9pm after 2 hours of nursing, rocking, changing, letting him walk around, nursing, rocking, singing (boy is THAT fun with this cough). When he wakes up in the middle of the night, he wakes up screaming. But if it’s in the morning, when it’s time to get up for the day, he’s happy as a clam. I just don’t get it.

Anyway, if you have any tips (or even ideas as to why this might be going on) I’d gladly hear them. I would love to get back to where he slept from 7:30pm to 6am, but I would even take waking once (or even twice if one of the times was at like 10 or 11). As it is we are usually up at 9, 11, 2 or 3, and 4 or 5, and then up for the day at 6:30. It’s exhausting.

I would have started taking the Sudafed already, but the little drugstore in the skywalk downtown doesn’t sell it because they aren’t a pharmacy and they don’t want those meth-makers buying it all or something. I don’t know. I’ll have to stop and get some after work.

Needless to say, this illness is making me not care so much about making sure I write every day. I’m trying to care. I’m just not quite getting there.

Image from NurtureCenter.com

Our diaper care ritual looks something like this: starting with all clean diapers, we go for about 2 days of using them (at home & daycare). We dump any poop out in the toilet, but we don’t rinse them otherwise; they just go right in the diaper pail. On the second day, Ryan takes the wet bag(s) down to the washing machine & runs them through twice. One time on cold, one on hot. The liners go in the dryer, and the outer parts go up to the permanently set up drying rack in James’s room. Once the liners are dry, we either assemble the diapers all at once, or assemble them as needed.
Some people worry that dealing with them would be gross, but I don’t think it’s any grosser than changing a disposable diaper. You aren’t supposed to throw poop in the garbage anyway. The grossest part is the smell if you don’t wash them often enough. When he was small, these were the only diapers he didn’t leak out of. We did have a period for a few weeks where he was explodo-pooping up his back because he was sitting on the floor leaning forward. That was in the beginning of his eating solids stage, and now that he’s eating 2-3 meals a day regularly that has stopped *knock on wood*.

I had an email full of questions that friends had asked me about using cloth diapers, but my email apparently ate it. The general answers were: we’ve had no problem at all finding a daycare willing to use cloth diapers. We didn’t use cloth wipes at first, but we’ve started recently and I think it’s actually easier, although it increases the amount of laundry. As long as you wash them every other day you can get all the diapers in one load, even with cloth wipes. We haven’t had any issues with diaper rash; he occasionally gets a little red in his butt-crack, but that’s easily remedied with a little naked time.

I would really recommend cloth diapering to almost anyone. It’s not really that much more laundry (3 loads per week), and as long as you have access to laundry it’s not that difficult. You should try it. But if you don’t want to, I promise not to hold it against you!