This one is mostly about snot. But Happy New Year!

My mom has been on my case about not blogging this week. I know, Ma! I may have seem to have fallen off the wagon (the blogon?) but I assure you, I have been blogging in my heart. In my heart, in my heart. Lord, I want to beeeee a blogger. In my heart. (Did you sing that song in church?)

Jason, Grace and I are in Dallas for a few days to see our peeps here. Tonight, we are spending New Year's Eve with our good friends Joseph and Melissa. Our party so far has consisted of this: eating massive amounts of chicken wings, lighting sparklers at 10:15pm (waiting till midnight is so predictable), and wiping Grace's nose.

Poor baby has a cold and a very stuffy nose. She woke up crying just a bit ago and was all blocked up. I was lamenting this fact and the probable long night in front of me when Joseph asked if we had one of "those battery powered nose bulbs". And I said, "Whoza Whatza?"

These kids today and their wacky baby gear inventions. I tell ya. I hear tell that there are some fancy machines that allow you to actually hear your baby from another room. I know! It's something to do with radio waves. Amazing. But about the snot. So the old fashioned way is to squeeze the bulb and then let go, and it halfheartedly sucks some snot out. It is frustrating cause you do all that and your baby still has a blocked nose. Plus she kind of hates you now.

So we used this fancy newfangled contraption and my oh my. It sucks, y'all. And I mean that in a good way. It really did the trick. I mean, don't get me wrong. She was royally ticked off. It was heartbreaking to have her cry so much but at least this time she screamed with a clean nose! Even so, I have a feeling I'll be welcoming 2010 with a snotty baby sleeping fitfully on my shoulder.

All this snot talk reminds me of something Becky and I witnessed one time. We'd taken Ava, who was a baby at the time, to the doctor. While we waited to be seen we shared the waiting room with another mother and her little girl. This little girl apparently had a stuffy nose, cause Becky and I watched the mother--I promise you this is the truth--lean over, put her mouth over the girl's nose, and suck the snot out. I nearly died when I saw it, I nearly die when I think about it, and I am nearly dying writing about it right now.

I respect her commitment to her daughter. And I have vaguely heard of others doing similar things. Wow. Ava, Nate and Grace--I'm not sure that Mama loves you that much. I hope you understand. Can I buy you a pony instead?

Perhaps I should change the subject? In other news. Just now, Jason, Joseph, Melissa and I went outside on the back porch to light our sparklers. Yes, we did it an hour and a half early, but hey baby--it's 2010 somewhere! Joseph lit something called a "fountain" that hissed and popped and squealed and spewed sparks. It was a little more celebratory than we were hoping for. And uncomfortably loud. We were laughing and cringing at the noise. Having two sleeping babies inside the house changes your perspective on fireworks! Of course it woke them up. So that was awesome. We deserved that.

So from our snotty family to yours, happy new year! It's gonna be a good one, I think.