I know that many writers have been out there filing their very last story before vacation, listing their top 10 movies, top 10 albums, songs, knitting patterns, whatever of the last decade.

Well, that's really subjective and just adorable.

While many of them have been doing not much more than cruising their iTunes Most Played list and typing away, I've been out on the mean streets -- pounding the pavement, kneading the dough, dotting the i's, crossing the doughnuts, pickling the peppers (it's just an expression) -- keeping a top 10 list that reflects not just art and culture, but EVERYTHING.

EVERYTHING!

Here, without further delay, then, is the only Top 10 of the 2000s list you'll need.

The Top 10 Things of 2000-late 2009:

1. Cheese.
   
2. The space bar.
   
3. Slides.
   
4. Raspberry lemonade.
   
5. Very old peckers.
   
6. Tiny socks.
   
7. Pauses.
   
8. The entire southern hemisphere.
   
9. That Nathan Fillion guy.
   
10. Boner pills. (See #5)

You're welcome, '00s!

We got home from the hospital on Christmas Eve, and as has been pointed out by many, having a baby around this time turned out to be the perfect gift.

What's been strange and unexpected was the relatively pain-free, easy time we've had so far. It's true what they say about how if you remembered all the sleeplessness and fear of having a baby, you'd never sign on to do it again. We kept trying to remind ourselves how difficult the first few months would be, how tired and cranky we'd be and how that pain would be compounded by having an energetic two-year-old in the house.

What we absolutely weren't expecting was a perfect, on-schedule delivery, three drama-free days in the hospital, and despite the requisite rough first nights, more sleep than we remembered getting last time.

Rebecca's recovery has been nothing short of astounding. Last time, I remember her being in pain for weeks, unable to even laugh much from her post-op pain. This time, she wisely opted to take the recommended meds and was up on her feet -- to my amazement -- the day after Carolina was born. She's been walking and talking and doing her normal stuff ever since with barely a look back.

Of course, she's also taking meds that could make a horse fly, so we'll see how it goes when those wear off. But, again, the last thing we expected was to have an easy time of this and, knock on wood, things have been a lot easier than last time. We're feeling pretty lucky and much less disoriented than we did in August of 2007.

Because we were expecting an apocalyptic winter, I decided to take a sizable chunk of sick leave I'd had built up, to take a few weeks off from NPR and to stop doing "Trailers Without Pity" until February. Now that I'm one week into this so-called "Babycation," everything suddenly feels very still. I have no deadlines that don't have to do with diaper changes and picking up Lilly at daycare.

Part of it is the season. Christmas-to-New Year is always when everything online starts to grind to a halt and when I can finally catch up on the DVR, RSS feeds and books that have piled up.

Of course there's more to do now. Carolina is very mellow -- she hardly cries at all and sleeps quite a bit -- but I know that will change quickly and she'll find her lungs soon enough. But I'm most thankful of all for this brief bit of time where everything feels manageable. We're hardly in normal territory and as soon as work and deadlines return, it'll be a whole different ball of waxy matter.

I've also been thinking a lot about the last 10 years and all that's happened. Like a lot of other people I work with, I had to be reminded that we were approaching the end of a decade. KInd of snuck up on us. It just doesn't seem like the end of 10 years, does it?

I had a story in the paper yesterday about the last decade of technology, particularly in how things have shaken out in Austin. 10 years ago, we started "Technopolis," which I've always said was the most fun I've ever had in my newspaper work.

That was until my current gig. For the article, I went digging back through the stacks of newspapers and was reminded of so many people I met and so many stories we wrote. I remembered starting Terribly Happy almost 10 years ago. I remember living in a crappy apartment in a crime-ridden neighborhood with a mean little black cat.

I hadn't met some of my closest friends yet and I was terribly homesick for my college days in Oklahoma. I was broke most of the time and ate a ridiculous diet of bachelor-crap all the time.

I didn't know I'd end up where I ended up, and at the time I probably would have thought that having two kids and living the way I do now was pretty lame. Sometimes it is, but it's also made me happier than I ever thought was possible.