Happy New Year!

Note:  I started this post the day before New Year's Eve.  Unfortunately, I spent New Year's Eve and Day, and the following day with bubbly and a headache.  And by "bubbly," I mean Alka-Seltzer Cold and Flu, and by "headache," I mean one of the top five most painful sinus infections of my adult life.

First, on the global scale, things have never been brighter.

Second, this year's end finds our family in a far better place (figuratively and literally) than last.

For the literally part, we now have our own house where I get to do stuff like put in bathroom shelves and mount D rings to the basement ceiling to swing my kids from.  The initial drain issues have been clear for 6 months or so.  We are not dealing with a front door handle that is frozen, water that stinks, windows with drafts, or a [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] landlord telling us all of the above is "just Montana."  And in our good deed for the year, at least one other couple will not be putting up with that either.

This year also saw the (hopefully) end of the Dot's craniosynostosis adventure.

Since her surgery has resulted in an explosion of development, I shall let the Dot explain her year in her own words:

Get onna air-----plane!

[Dot] fly to Te---xas!

Doctor fix [Dot]'s head!

[Dot]'s head get doo-ty!

[Dot] get a ban--nage!

Fortunately, her scalp has remained closed for most of two months now, so we may have in fact come to the end.

The Squirt added his own amount of fun and terror to the start of our year:

 

Bye-Bye Mommy!  I'll be good!

 

But came through in style and was well enough to accompany his sister on another flight two months later:

Any odd behaviours can probably be blamed on too much upper atmospheric radiation and rarified oxygen at a young age.

Our other added critter to the count, Chaos, has been a welcome addition.  No home is complete without a dog.

 

Last, but certainly not least, the real hero of the year.  While people are constantly impressed by how much of a trooper the Dot is (and she is, no doubt), in my opinion, the Lump has been the one who has soldiered on.  Being unceremoniously dumped at an emergency baby-sitter's for 3 days while Mommy and Daddy dealt with the Squirt's untimely arrival; being left behind during the surgical trip (not that it was that traumatic, since she got Grandma all to herself for a week); a short-notice move and a new dog; getting shorted attention because her siblings take up all of it; she has approached it all with an unflappable stoicism that does her Daddy proud.

Way to go, little girl.

There are several things out-of-place keeping the year from being perfect.  Mainly Nikki and Theseia.  Hopefully both will be repaired and repatriated next year.  The only other thing I could wish for right now is my antenna tuner (hopefully here by the end of January).

Other than that, I'm putting this year down as one of the best we've had.  Here's hoping 2015 will be as good.