The above photo was taken in St. Petersburg with a Canon PowerShot G3 on May 18, 2003.

It's been an interesting last couple of weeks around here, to say the least. Unfortunately I didn't end up being lucky enough to fight off the flu-bug after our germ-infested trip back to Oklahoma, and this is one of the few days I've been able to breathe since our return. The wee one is also cutting a cuspid tooth on the bottom row as well as what appears to be one of those dreaded "first-year molars". That's just been a barrel full o' laughs, lemme tell ya'. Then over the weekend the poor thing also developed a hacking cough. It's literally the first illness the child has had since he was born and I think I felt almost as bad as he did just watching him. Fortunately that was one of the only symptoms and it seems to have passed just as quickly as it appeared. Whatever portion of my soul that remained unsold is no longer mine since he didn't develop my flu!

In the rare spare time I've had as of late, I've managed to add a couple of posts over at "Idol Tongues" — a group blog for American Idol, season four.

Those of you dating back to the old tampatantrum.com days over at ATPTB might remember all of my old Gwen skins. I ran across this image the other day, and it's the perfect mix of my old style plus my love for tiaras. Rowr! Too bad those days are gone.

So just because I'm feeling all nice and nostalgic, here's a bit of the "old me" in downloadable form...enjoy!

And to continue with the hodgepodge-theme of this entry...

1. "Picture Perfect" — fresh ideas for taking great photos of your kids

2. "Taller babies make richer men" (our son measured 33¼" tall at his recent one-year check-up — this article makes it hurt just a little less)

3. L.A.M.B. — Gwen Stefani's clothing line (you, too, can dress like Gwen if you don't feel like paying the mortgage this month)

Well that should just about do it for this update. Carry on...