Some of my favorite holiday moments:

Spending time with my ladies at the B&B. Despite runny noses (two), other unidentified lingering maladies (numerous), a schedule that would not be wrangled and a broken watch (Katy had a Bad Day), and overflowing Toddler Energy, Eden, Katy and I managed to steal some time one evening to drink wine and open lovely gifts. In the midst of an "Am I doing this parenting thing right?" crisis, it was a balm for my soul.

Taking part in my first Christmas celebration with my extended biological family. While I am sure that I will never be made fully aware of how my finding my biological mother and brother might have stressed them or any of their relationships, Marc, Olivia and I have always been made to feel so welcome. Everyone has done everything they can to help us find our place in the family. It felt good to be with them around the tree.

Watching Olivia CRACK HERSELF UP with the toy her aunt sent her. Over and over again, she laughed big belly laughs as she threw her head back and covered her face with her hands. She was the definition of fun.

Opening presents with O and Marc around the tree in our new house on Christmas Eve. Marc had to do rounds Christmas morning, so we celebrated a day early. It was nice and quiet and cozy.

Hope everyone had a nice holiday!

We're quickly closing in on our first blogiversary over here at tnmtcur and I am thinking about changing the name. Although I would be losing a lot of traffic on the site if I did. Just out of curiosity, is there anyone here right now who came looking for information on dogs and then stayed? If so, I would love it if you would leave a comment.

Anyway, I got this idea from Fuzzy Peach and thought it was a great way to review our first year. It's the first sentence of every month's first post for all of 2006. Some of the posts were written by Marc, the original owner of the site.

January

Is this thing on?

February

Went to go see Paige and Olivia over President's Day weekend.

March

This frame was taken at 1/1,000,000th of a second to capture a rare glimpse of the infant's ill-boding primary teeth.

April

Olivia is pulling up, cruising, taking little Frankenstein steps.

May

OK, deep breathing isn't working, so I am thinking of moving on to wine, though it is only a little after 2:00 in the afternoon.

June

I am the sleep maker.

July

OK, I'm doing it.

August

So much has been going on here, but I can't seem to get anything written about any of it.

September

A weekend away with a toddler is a lot of work.

October

To all of you who are here because you are looking for information on dogs, welcome...and sorry.

November

This is O at 5:45 this morning still wearing her costume (Damn you, Ben Franklin, and your stupid daylight savings.)

December

So if I had taken the time to sit and write to O this morning as I had intended, I would have told how she has caused my heart to spill over and out of my chest about 50 times the last couple of days, how seeing her be so affectionate with her grandparents has made the fact that we are back here in Tennessee easier to live with, though I have so been missing New York lately.

And so the leitmotif emerges: I don't manage time well and I definitely need to change the name of the blog. Goals for 2007, perhaps.

I've been called a lot of things, but never a homeowner...

So we own the house. Or the bank owns us. Either way, I couldn't be happier that all the proper signatures are in place. I felt a bit like a poser at the title company, as though I was going to be called out for trying to finally "close" or talk about "escrow" and "equity." For so long, buying a house was just off my radar. And then it seemed like a dream to aspire to One Day, when Marc's loans were closer to being paid off. Seeing as how that day is in so distant a future as to be another lifetime, I'm glad that this worked out now rather than later.

We are already well settled in here, so it is not as though we came fresh through the door this evening, shiny new key and champagne in hand, but as a gesture I will take down the old window treatments and make some other minor changes that I had held off on until closing day. I'll go ahead now that we are Home.

(Oh, and Olivia got kicked out of Parent's Day Out.)

This Too Shall Pass (Except for That Sleeping Thing Because It May Never End and She Could Be Three and Still Waking Up At All Hours and Don't Even Think About Having Another Baby Until This One Is Sleeping)

We're having a bit of a challenging time over here at House of the Rising Two Year Old. What's that? She's not two? Close enough.

Parent's Day Out is not agreeing with O. She has become very clingy, preferring my lap to any other. Well, not really my lap as she would prefer that I stand and not sit. Seriously, she makes this known. I'm worried. She's having fits that peel paint. And yes, I am being dramatic, but there has been a noticeable difference in her behavior. She's been going to the program twice a week for about 6 weeks and she has had one day that went really smoothly. The rest have been somewhere on the scale between me getting the call to come get her before I even get to work and "She did OK, as long as someone was holding her." The program will be closing tomorrow for two weeks and something tells me that this will be plenty of time for O to get any semblance of this scehdule out of her system. Sending her back will be starting over and I don't know that I have the heart for it anymore.

To get you in the spirit...

(This is the 100th post on the blog, by the way. Whoop.)

I can't remember where I got this list, so I can't link to them, but here (in bold) are some things that I have and have not done as of this morning. Maybe I'll visit Paris this afternoon.

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins. No, but I swam with sharks
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said “I love you” and meant it
09. Hugged a tree. I am not copping to this.
10. Bungee jumped. How about hang gliding?
11. Visited Paris.
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables. I will do this one day.
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby’s diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne. Duh.
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger. Sort of. Marc was practically a stranger.
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day. I have always wanted to do this to see if I could pull it off.
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer. Fascinating.
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country. Katy, this makes me think of you!
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign. Why do we do this as teenagers?
46. Backpacked in Europe.
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them. Loved this.
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs. Biggest waste of time ever.
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day.
60. Played touch football
61. Gone scuba diving. Snorkeling?
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight.
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an “expert”. A really embarrassing moment that I am lucky enough to have on video
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Kissed on the first date
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house. In two weeks. Lord willing
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one/both of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror
96. Raised children
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Touched a stingray
110. Broken someone’s heart
111. Helped an animal give birth. How about a friend?
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a facial part pierced other than your ears
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Touched a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad - and the Odyssey
135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions. All but one
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head. Half my head
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone’s life

I obviously haven't traveled enough.

If I had taken the time to sit and write to O yesterday as I intended, I would have told her how she has caused my heart to spill over and out of my chest about 50 times the last couple of days, how seeing her be so affectionate with her grandparents has made the fact that we are back here in Tennessee easier to live with, though I have so been missing New York lately.