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Dear Rosebud,
The year of your birth has come and gone. It seems mere seconds since I held you for the first time. Now, you are rolling over, smiling, and laughing out loud. You are the happiest, most delightful baby I have ever had the pleasure to know. And you are mine. That’s the amazing part. This wonderful little creature whose joyous giggles cause strangers to turn and smile is mine. No matter what gifts await me in 2012 or in my entire future, I am blessed because I have you and Big Brother.
You are using your hands now, grabbing everything. And your favorite things to grab are your own toes. Oh the sheer triumph and joy you showed when you could finally grab hold of your own toes. Well, it was something to witness. You also love baths, and are an ace when it comes to sl...

I don’t put much stock in resolutions. Maybe because it’s so arbitrary to look at January 1st as being a time to change everything. I mean, it’s as good a time as any, but no better. Everyone decides to make big changes at the beginning of the new year, and they often fail, because they’re not really ready. They just saw the date on the calendar, stared down their own mortality for a moment (holy $&#%, it’s two-thousand and what now?) and thought, “Enough of this bullshit.”

Which is all well and good. Unless you’re not ready to make the changes. Then you’re just going to try and fail and be frustrated.

The time to change things is when you are ready to change them. If you know something needs to change, and...