Job update

Well, so far this whole being without a job thing has been lots less stressful than I would have imagined. Aaron spends at least 4 hours a day working on freelance projects (which pay more per hour than his other job) and they keep becoming available. Really, he hasn't had to look for work. People he knows keep calling him with projects and websites to do, so he is keeping busy and we still have money.
Also, my uncle told us about a job at the place that he works. The pay is EXCELLENT and the it is a government job, so the benefits are great. The downside is, it's in Utah. We would have to move. Another downside is that it's at Dugway. That is a military base in the middle of the desert. Dugway proving grounds. Aaron would have to get a very high clearance status to work there. Top secret stuff? But it's close to nothing. About an hour from Tooele and an hour from Lehi. Middle of nowhere. But because of that, he would receive an additional $3000 bonus every year for travel. This is almost too good to pass up, financially. But really we haven't looked for anything in the area. We don't need to make that much money, and would definitely rather to stay near family and not have to hassle with selling the house in today's market.
So there you go.

And now, the not so good

Yesterday I was home with Morgan and my sister's kids. It was about 1:30 when I heard the garage door open. Strange, Aaron shouldn't be home for another 5 hours. But in he comes saying, "I've got some good news and some bad news. The good news is that I get the rest of the day off." It was here that I interrupted with my correct prediction of the bad news. "Did you get laid off?!" Zounds! And thus it is.
Aaron was asked to attend a meeting while at work yesterday. After the meeting he went and packed his things and went home. The bad kind of meeting. So we spent the afternoon together and took the kids to the park. But now comes the serious work of finding another job.
Fortunately Aaron is a skilled graphic designer and web designer/developer. There are a lot of freelance projects out there for just that, so until he has a regular full-time job, there will at least be some sort of income. As it stands though, the next month or two will probably be very financially tight. I blame this on myself. When it's my turn to say the family prayer I often include a petition for help to become better at managing our finances and such. I guess we are about to get a huge lesson in it! I hope we learn well and learn quickly and can move on.

Sleepy, sleepy Morgan

Morgan's regular sleeping routine is thus: wake up around 8-8:30, take an afternoon nap around 1-2 for 1 1/2-2 hours, and then to bed around 9-9:30. On Wednesday he woke up at the normal time, then my niece and nephew came over to be babysat and at 10:00 we headed to playgroup. Morgan is a pretty active boy; not hyper necessarily, but busy. He always loves to play at different houses because there are new things to see and toys to play with. Wednesday was an exception. Morgan was very sensitive, and cried passionately about things that normally wouldn't bother him. So I held him in a little rocker and he cuddled and fell asleep. !!! This is behavior that is very strange for Morgan. Later that day he took his regular afternoon nap. Then at almost 6 in the evening he crawled up onto the couch by me with his bottle and went to sleep again. So I put him in his crib. He didn't wake up until 7:30. In the morning. And then he went back to sleep at 8:00 and slept for another 2 hours. CRAZY! He had a little bit of a fever sometimes, but other than that he just seemed very tired. But now things are back to normal.

Reading Morgan

Morgan loves to have books read to him, and he loves to look through them by himself. He's been read to almost every day since he was born. Actually, Aaron even read to my stomach every night while I was pregnant with Morgan. The story he read was, The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear, by Don and Audrey Wood. That has always been a favorite of Morgan's and is now pretty thrashed.
Anyway, he has a little book case in his room next to a glider chair. That's a reading chair.

So, with a book in hand, Morgan climbs up into the chair.

Then he looks through a book or two and jibbers away, since that what Mom and Dad do when they read.

And when he's done, he scoots off.
Ta Da!

Yummy

Morgan ate a green crayon yesterday. I didn't know that eating a crayon would color your whole face green. In fact, when my son approached me with a green mouth I was very confused about what he ate, thinking it was something sloppy and messy. But further research led me to the firm conclusion that it was a crayon. I couldn't get a good picture of it though. Oh well.

Also, Morgan loves bead necklaces. He had a couple from the 4th of July that he would always play with and wear around the house. So the other day I was at the dollar store and saw a pack of 6 bead necklaces. I bought them. Aaron was definitely not thrilled. I guess he doesn't want me to encourage anything remotely feminine in his son. :) Whatever. There is no harm in them. Plus, if you'll notice in the picture below, Morgan often wears them over one shoulder. Perhaps he is pretending that it is an ammo belt thing, like Rambo would wear. :) Of course, his adorable pose there isn't very Rambo-ish. :D

Valentines Day

You know those candy-bar poster things that people make and they substitute some candy with a word? I've always thought that they were fun and cute and delicious, so I made one for Aaron for Valentines day. But I needed to present it to him in a good way, not just hand over a big piece of cardboard box with chocolate taped all over it. So I came up with what I will call a brilliant idea. I rigged it up so that when Aaron came home from work and opened the garage, it would be hanging there in his path. Even the idea made me gleeful. I was pretty proud of my crude engineering to make it work.

The poster reads thus: (I will italicize the words that are candy.)
Dear Mr. Goodbar, (Aaron)
It would be Outrageous (a doctored Nutrageous) if you would Be My Valentine. I know I'm a Lemonhead and create many a Rocky Road for you to Rolover, but you're my Big Hunk! I don't care that you're a Nerd and don't bring home 100 Grand on Payday. You're my Idaho Stud (I taped a t where the p was) and always make me Snicker. And I know that when I'm a Butterfinger you'll be there as my Lifesaver. You are Too Cool (the heart box of chocolates said too cool) and I really Skor-ed big with you. I'll love you Now and Later, your Runt, Melanie.

I'm pretty sure that I liked it better than anyone else, but that's okay. Oh, and when I was at the store buying the candy, I had to get chewy runts, because they are a favorite of Aaron's, but I had a terrible hard time figuring out where to put it in. Eventually, I called myself his Runt, which I know is incredibly silly. Oh well.
Also, the Be My Valentine thing was a box of Little Debbie's snack cakes. It ended up being to big to fit it nicely on the poster, not to mention too heavy, so I cut out the words and taped the cakes to the Happy Valentines Day sign. :)

Morgan's mischeif

If I don't wait to shower while Morgan is sleeping, (not till the afternoon) I usually have him in the bathroom with me. We have a fairly large bathroom, so there is plenty of room to play. But he usually doesn't choose to play with his toys. He often makes his biggest messes and has fun playing with things he isn't allowed to play with. He knows from experience that when Mommy tells him no from the shower, she usually doesn't follow through with anything. That would require getting out and dripping all over everything.
Today while I showered Morgan was in the bathroom. I looked out at him and found that he was playing with the plunger, (gross!) the rubber part even, (grosser!) Then I noticed he had something else in his hand. He was sticking it inside the plunger and then putting it in his mouth! (Grossest!) I yelled and yelled all the "no"'s and "don't play with that"'s that were required. Then I realized what it was that he had been plunging into the plunger then his mouth. A razor. He got it from a drawer. Thankfully it had the cap on. My no's increased but he didn't care. Finally, I said, "Morgan, bring that to mommy." And he did.
How dangerous is that? He could cut open his mouth with the razor and immediately get a bad infection because of the germs from the plunger. Oy vey.