So as 2011 came to an end, I realized there was much I meant to tell you that I just didn’t – but my response after my sister related her recent pat-down experience at the airport due to a piece of paper she left in her pocket was to scoff: "I never empty my pockets cause I never have anything in them". So, you know, we're not at fighting weight here, and clearly I should be hesitant to commit anything to print.
Nevertheless, there are a few things that I’ll venture to mention despite my addledness:
First, that upon my return to the States, I quickly (though systematically) concluded that In-N-Out is better than Five Guys (possibly swayed by the fact that never once did Five Guys give me the bacon and mushrooms I ordered each visit – but really, I think if you’re honest with yourself you’ll agree). But then I had a Whataburger not even considering it would be in the same league as the above burgers, and it was super delicious. However, I figure that most of that is nostalgia since The Archaeologist pretty definitively dislikes them, so we’ll stick with the In-N-Out verdict (I was pregnant for a good part of the year).
Ok – so there’s the hamburger decision. In other news, we have a new baby boy. He was dubbed Chip-O in utero, so we’ll continue that moniker in blogosphere. He’s almost 3 months now – at 2 mo he was 2 ft long, almost 13 lbs. Here’s my favorite picture to date:
As you may have deduced from the above pic, Half-O did not responded to the new family dynamic with, as they say, great aplomb – fits and bits of fury seem more apt. She loves him, mind you – she’s just taking the whole not-center-of-the-universe realization a little hard. Fingers crossed, I think we may be through the worst of it – we’ve slogged our way back from megalomania to simply willful.
In addition to encountering a significant stage in early childhood development, Half-O spent the year pretending she and we were various fictional characters, various people we knew, and/or each other. She began this back in 2010, but in 2011 she went whole hog. The Archaeologist was a bit concerned that she was predominantly living different personas, but I responded that I remember pretending like that – didn’t he? He looked doubtful, so I said that perhaps he should just pretend that he did.
Here’s a collection of some of Half-O’s alter egos (yes, a good part of my day is spent fashioning costumes – it’s not a bad gig):
(can you find a nun, an owl, mater, the kung fu panda guys - as well as debbie reynolds as tigress, daisy duck, a number of cowgirls, the statue of liberty, princess leia, a hipster, a princess, grandma, and a one-eyed nautical cat?)
Back in July we took some family pics:
Then there were the holidays:
Halloween
(I made those chaps - and am inordinately proud that I managed to make them while mothering a 2 week old and an adjusting almost 3 yr old, and that I figured out how to make them without having to sew a thing - just cut them out that way ...I didn't make anything for Chip-O)
and Christmas:
(That's not what yours looked like?)
So, Happy New Year from the Chases. If I were a New Year's Resolution type of gal, I suppose I'd resolve to post on this blog more than 3 times a year.
