Tumultuous

A million apologies for slacking off on my blog... and returning phone calls... and being a cognizant person in general.

As many of you know, Aaron lost his job. In the past week and a half, he's put out almost 200 applications and resumes, and not a single interview. With a degree and years of experience, you'd think it would be easier than this. But it's not, and we're all pretty stressed out.

He's still applying, but we're also formulating a back up plan. His friend Ralph owns a landscaping company in Grinnell, and has offered to make Aaron his manager. This would mean moving back to Iowa, which would make me sad, but our measly savings aren't going to last us much longer down here.

Anyway, enough with the depressing news. Declan is great! He smiles so much now, and loves to babble. Aaron swears that he can say "Iowa." Which is kind of true, but it's more like "ow-ow-ahh," and he has no idea what he's saying. I've been coaching him on "mama," but it's still very early for that.

He loves riding around in the baby backpack, especially because he can use my hair as reins. He's also a big fan of the mobile hanging above the changing table. He smiles and smiles at his friends the whale, the lion, the alligator, and the polar bear.

Anyway, I apologize again for leaving you all hanging. I'm going to post a whole bunch of pictures later today, but first I have to Picnik them. And put together Declan's three-month movie, because today is someone's three month birthday! My little guy is one fourth of a year old!