Good-Bye to 2009 and Welcome to 2010!

As we welcome 2010, I think back on 2009, not in review of what I should "resolve," because heck, I'm perfect. Of course not! I just don't really "resolve" at the New Year. Instead, I do tend to think over the last year and go, "whoa."

First, now that I have a little boy I wax sentimental and want to smush him back into being a baby for a few minutes more. I flicked back through the old entries and as of this month, holy crap, I practically have a man. I base this on the totally unscientific and absurd notion that he can function in society without wetting himself.

As of this month, he's been completely potty trained for a whole year! A year! I can't believe it. I can't even remember the last accident we had. Maybe eight, ten months ago? Maybe longer? What a man. A man, I tell you. And, as much as I thought it was horrible, when I actually looked back on it, the trial of it wasn't all that long and truly wasn't as bad as I remember. I think it's like a kidney stone; no one volunteers for it but once it's over with, you feel way better, it's worth it in the end, and you are a little proud for having gone through it. I can't believe how proud I am of him, even if it makes me a little sad.

And, today as Bryon and I trudged through the storage closet to start the process of actually selling all Collin's baby stuff for real this time, it finally dawned on me that he is never, ever, ever going back.

Really. It wasn't the fact that I haven't seen a diaper for a year, or that he tells me what to pack in his big boy lunch box, or that he points out the difference between carnivores, herbivores and omnivores at the zoo; it was that I stood in the middle of the pile o'crap with an empty BabyBjorn on my chest and sniffed a little. In one year, my lil man went from toddler to preschooler and it's all growing up from here.

Bryon forcibly took the BabyBjorn off of me, by the way. In truth, he picked me up, Bjorn still strapped to my chest and said, "You either take this off, or you go in the box with it. Either way, it's getting put away." Then, he put me in the box. That's Bryon for you. I think Collin gets his "woman" skills from his Daddy.

Bryon this past year meanwhile, came home from work one day and said, "I've been asked to interview for this really demanding job. I don't think I'll take it if they offer it to me." When he told me that it was for the General's executive officer, I told him that if he didn't take it, I'd never speak to him again.

I think this would've made rearing our child really, really awkward and living together kind of weird. Incubating our progeny put the kibosh on my Air Force career so Bryon's carrying the torch for the two of us, something I don't think he realized until the whole not speaking to him threat.So, he's "enjoying" the fruits of being an overachiever these days which include eating microwaved dinners on the bathroom floor in front of Collin's bathtub so he can at least see his son for a few minutes while at the same time not passing out from hunger because he never did get to eat lunch and a bagel in the car at 0530 just doesn't cut it for the whole day.

Don't worry, I didn't do anything to add to Bryon's load this past year, like make him sign up for a half marathon with me for this coming February, or enroll at Cal State Long Beach to start my Master's Degree.

Bryon doesn't have to do much for my master's, except listen to me do the following: cry, complain, cry, talk about things he's not interested in, cry, talk about people he doesn't know, cry, wait up until 10:30 to meet me at the door after class (awwww), cry some more.

Anyway 2009 was a great year. My baby grew up more than I was ready for and it turned out to be more wonderful than I could imagine in the long run. Every day that he grows, it changes me in more ways than I could ever have guessed because it makes me love him in exponential measure in return.

And next year, he'll have grown even more. Darn it though, if I didn't want to jam his way too big body in that BabyBjorn for just a few minutes!

I look forward to my family staying busy, having just as much fun and, more growing and more love in 2010 and hope for the same for your family!

Enjoy some pics from 2009. Isn't he a cutie-pie? I think so! Oh, the haircut! Oh, the pacifier! Oh! Oh! Oh! I think I feel my ovaries stirring. Nope. It was just gas. I think I'd be hard pressed to create another child as perfect as this one.