New Year, new adventures!

As is probably typical this time of year, I've been thinking about the passage of time. There is a song out right now that talks about a nostalgic desire to return to the "good old days." Man, I've never understood wanting to go back in time. I think it gets better and better as I move forward, so I'm super jazzed about 2016.

For instance: Just this morning, Mal and I got out and went to Best Buy to make a return, then to Chick-fil-A for (free) lunch (woo hoo!), then to the library to return and check out a couple of things for James. I remember very distinctly when doing any one of these things would have felt like a major accomplishment. Doing three stops today? No biggie. Fun. Love it. My boy is growing up, and I'm so happy about that!

Traveling on a plane and driving a few hours with him in the car over Christmas were all fine, too. A year ago? Stressful nightmare! We had some stress on this trip, but it wasn't because of my little guy.

He's starting to sign a bit, too. "More" was his first, then "all done." He also signs "shoes," "tree," "banana," which he uses for pretty much any fruit, "dog," and he made up a sign for "wash my hands." I've tried to teach him the sign for "nurse," but he doesn't do it on himself. Instead, he bangs his palms into my breasts, which isn't incredibly subtle. Oh well. Baby steps.

I'm pretty awesome.

He can also shake his head appropriately for "no" and "yes." If I say, "Look at Mommy, please," he literally never ever does it because he knows I'm wanting to make sure he understands something he's not going to like at all.  And he's finally gotten the bit about waving goodbye!

He says "Daddy" all of the time, but only "Mom!" or "Mama" if he's upset. *sigh*

Mal has gotten cuddly. He loves to hug and put his head on people's arms and shoulders. My mom brought him a doll for Christmas and he's had fun playing with that, changing her diaper, giving her hugs.

Daphne... well, I can't post pictures or tell you much about her because she asks me not to. She likes to keep her online presence at a minimum, and I respect that. I will say that so far, fourteen is going really well. I love that kid.

James' job got crazy right before Christmas, so we were extremely happy to have a full week with him! His office actually closes between Christmas and New Year's, so the whole week was a holiday, no vacation time needed.

We were planning a big trip in the fall but have decided (since airline travel period is stressful, regardless of how well everything goes, since the stupid pointless regulations are cumbersome and for some reason James always gets selected for the "personal" treatment... except on the way home from Phoenix when they pulled our our baby food because it looked "suspicious) instead to try to take advantage of the Texas things Texas has to offer.

For instance, we've never driven into Mexico. James has never been to the Space Center. None of us has been to the McDonald Observatory or Marfa. And it's been a couple of years since we went to the State Fair. So 2016 is our Year of Texas. We're going to take some long weekends and a few days here and there to explore.

(I just read the government's info on driving into Mexico; we might have to fly over and get away from the border a bit. Holy cow!)

Anyhoo, just a little update to let you know how we're doing heading into a new year. We had a great, healthy 2015 (no one went to the doctor the whole year!) and are looking forward to an even better 2016. I wouldn't ever want to go back to any other point in my life. These *are* the good old days.