Crawling, Christmas, and Everything

Well, a lot has gone on in the past couple of weeks. First of all, three days before Christmas, Alex really started getting the hang of the whole crawling thing. He now can get anywhere and everywhere (well, except he's not going up stairs yet). This is frustrating because he doesn't want to be kept in his play yard (not surprising) and yet if I'm doing something (like pumping or cleaning), I need to know he's safe. Luckily he can be very patientat times. But it is exciting to see him crawling around everywhere. He's growing up so fast.



Of course we had Christmas last week. It was fun to finally have a child to share the joy of Christmas with. Alex only got a few presents from his grandparents and two aunts because we didn't want to spend the money, and he has plenty of stuff anyway. Plus it's not like Alex knows. We would give him a present and he would move it all around exploring it, but he didn't try to rip the paper at all, so we had to help him pull off the paper.

He really likes the rocking horse, though we have to hold him on there and rock it. He's always indicating to me that he wants to ride it. Other than that, he got a Teddy Ruxbin and clothes (which he really needed, so yay!)

We also had a few things to open from Aaron's mom, which was really fun. We got some gift certificates to restaurants that we like (they're technically for Aaron, but of course he'll likely take me with him to eat), and I got some really pretty pearl earrings. Most of our family sent us money, which was really good since we don't know when I'll find a new job and so we definitely need some to help us get through.

Speaking of which, the job hunt hasn't been too great. I've had one in-person interview with Novell that went all right, but it may be another few weeks till they make a decision. The good news is I found out I am in the top 8 candidates out of everyone who applied (which is why I got an in-person interview). It's just frustrating because the manager thinks he's going to do a third round of interviews (phone, in-person, in-person). I don't know what else he would get from a third interview, especially since the in-person one was with him and his team (and was an hour and a half!). But we'll see.

Other than that, I haven't heard back from anyone (well, I did have two phone interviews, but nothing came of them). I think because of the end of the year, many companies aren't hiring. Some are waiting till they get their budget for the new year before they can decide whether they can hire anyone. At least, that's what I'm hoping because I haven't seen many job openings and since I was laid off, there really hasn't been many new ones.



So I've been enjoying spending time with Aaron and Alex and cleaning the house. I've made it a mission to go through each room of the house and organize it thoroughly. I'm going through each closet, each drawer, and each shelf cleaning out any trash, getting rid of anything we no longer need, and deciding whether each item is where it's supposed to be. It's amazing the things I've found that I'd forgotten about or didn't know where they were, and the things I had that I don't need. It's been really good for my psyche to clear out the clutter. Of course, I spend so much of the day doing other things (mostly taking care of Alex) that I only have a few hours to work on this project, so it's going slowly. Today (about two weeks into it, though I haven't worked on it every day), I finished the upstairs including the hallway and hallway closet. Of course, things haven't stayed "clean" exactly. I guess that happens when there are other people to mess things up, but they're still way more organized, and the bathroom is definitely cleaner.

Well, I guess that's all that's going on. Hopefully this year is a good one for us. I think it will be. It's so exciting to see Alex growing up, and he's definitely going to be changing so much this year. I love that little guy!