I Haven't Posted In Two Weeks

So sue me.

This has been a crazy holiday season, the craziest I can remember in a long time. It's had some incredible highs and some difficult lows. But overall, it's been the best Christmas season I have had in years. I'm back home for the holidays, REALLY home, for the first time in a long time. I actually spent Christmas Eve at my parents, with just them and my sister and me. I don't think that's happened since before I was married the first time. I also got to reconnect with some very old friends, the parents of one of my childhood best friends. It's actually kind of funny because I hadn't seen them in ages but now I've seen everyone in their family except for their son, who was my best friend in elementary school. (I know where he lives now and how to get a hold of him, so I hope to see him soon.)

Getting to actually be home for Christmas was the best part, even though Heidi and Donovan and Owen were up in Colorado for Christmas week. I couldn't make the trip with them because I was short on vacation time, only being in the job a few months, of course. Next year we'll get to be together on Christmas. Even though I was by myself, I wasn't lonely; I did lots of stuff with my parents and got to still thoroughly enjoy my Christmas holiday.

There are a lot of "this hasn't happened in a long time" things going on...in fact, I would say that since I got back to Oklahoma, "not in a really long time" has pretty much been the story of my life. I've been sick the past two days, sick in a way I haven't been sick in a long time. I take multivitamins and generally avoid serious illness (except for the digestive kind, which is usually of my own doing). However, the past two days I have had terrible sinus problems and my head feels like it's about to explode. I've been sore and achy and really sick. Of course, my kids are in town and I'm on vacation...go figure.

On a related note, nothing tells you you're getting older like taking a bunch of pills. I normally take five in a day (and ideally it would be six), but I threw in two more today to help get rid of this cold or whatever it is. So in addition to my usual low-strength aspirin, multivitamin, two St. John's Wort caps, and Prilosec OTC, I took a couple of Coricidin HBP (yes, don't forget that whole blood pressure thing from early 2008). And we'll have fun, fun, fun, until Daddy takes the T-Bird away.

Owen turned 21 months yesterday, and he is a firecracker. He is a VERY physical little boy, enjoys hitting things and banging on things (future linebacker, I'm sure). He is also working harder at using his words. He says "mama" and "dada" just about any time we like. He also says "please" and occasionally "night-night". But more importantly, he responds more when we ask him to say things, like he's really trying. The consistency of his attempts is a more recent development and a very big step in his language acquisition. I'm thrilled to see it.

As I said, Katie and Connor are in town this week and it's actually gone very well this time. Their time here has had a few challenges (there are always challenges in blended families) but those few have been relatively minor and we've managed to overcome them all. Chong was also in town this week and stayed a couple of nights with us, so this week we've had a full house (also something that hasn't happened in a long time). It's kind of nice to have folks visiting and spending time here with us in the new place. We finally have a home that is not only worthy of such visits but also large enough to accommodate everyone in relative comfort. The house in Westminster was nice, but not nearly as big, and that made guest situations difficult to handle.

I think that's enough of an update for now, and life will be getting back to normal soon. That means more posts, more regularly, like I was providing before. In any case, Happy New Year!