Holden is creeping up on the two month mark.  Every day, he shows us more and more personality.  He loves going new places, being around people, and listening to music.  Holden knows the difference between familiar and unfamiliar people, but still loves attention from strangers nonetheless.  He has enjoyed two hikes already.  He slept for most of the first hike we went on, but during the second hike this past weekend at Elmore State Park, he stayed awake and alert during the ascent and most of the descent.  As we came back down the mountain, he tilted his head up and stared at the canopy of leaves over our heads.  Holden continues to enjoy his swing, but only for 15 minutes at a time; he gets easily bored and likes to be entertained with novel things all day long (which makes my job as entertainer rather challenging).  We recently got him a mobile for his crib, thinking that it might increase his interest in sleeping somewhere besides our bed.  The mobile has a “rainforest” setting that captivates Holden for entire 10 minute intervals.  When set on “rainforest,” the mobile projects sounds of crickets and birds, making us feel like we live in a sparsely populated region of South America, rather than on a busy street surrounded by drunk college students.

In other news, I finally saw the ophthalmologist last week.  He confirmed that I have an abrasion on my cornea and believed it was from that Wal-Mart incident back in 1996 since I couldn’t remember ever injuring my eye at any other point.  He instructed me to use an over-the-counter ointment every night, and that it would take 3 months to heal.  If it doesn’t heal during that time, I will need surgery to have the damaged tissue removed.  I really hope the over-the-counter stuff works because I REALLY don’t want eye surgery.

Things on the job front have stalled.  I have felt pressure to get this manuscript out, so I have been working on that in my free time.  It has been very slow-going, as I’ve done almost all of the writing with a baby attached to me.  In the meantime, I’ve opened up my job search to basically include the entire continental U.S., thinking that this might afford us more options.  I am not holding my breath in this economy.  Seems it’s a mighty bad time to be looking for a job.