At 18 months, Morgan was old enough this year to understand a little bit about Easter. We went to my parents' house for the weekend and Morgan got to participate in her first Easter egg hunt! She caught on right away and didn't seem to notice that we kept taking eggs out of her basket and re-hiding them! She got so excited about all those eggs that she would shake them and bang them together with her goofy mouth face - it was pretty funny. Fotunately, she isn't old enough to realize that Mom ate her candy, but next year may be a little different. 
She had the most fun with her cousins, Noah and Avery (aka "No No" and "Avewy"), admiring those big kids and how fast they ran around. Avery held her by the hand, playing with her, and loved having Morgan sit on her lap (although Morgan probably weighs nearly what she does!) Morgan was drawn to Noah as well, having fun tickling and playing on the floor. He also fascinated her with bubbles and helped her blow her own bubbles in a very sweet way (see the video below). Morgan is very lucky to have such curious and fun cousins!
Morgan also got time with her other cousins - dogs, that is. Aunt Kay and Uncle Hans came for Easter so she got to play ball and watch squirrels with Sophie and Luna. They are the gentlest dogs and Morgan gets such a kick out of them. It was a fun weekend with lots of family time. Now that Morgan is old enough to remember people and places, it was so fun to hear her say the names of her extended family and recognize them and all the good memories she has with them so far in her life. 
Can I blog in twenty minutes? That's all the time I have until I have to go wake Morgan up from her morning nap. I normally never wake a sleeping baby, but since Morgan has decided that she prefers not to take afternoon naps (although happily goes down in the morning two hours after waking up, go figure?), I am attempting to cut her short on the morning in hopes she will go down in the afternoon, when she really needs the nap. I know our days of two naps per day are numbered but I am hoping to drag it out a little longer. There are so many things that I can only do when she is secured in her room sleeping.
Like painting, for example. Sam and I tackled part two of interior door painting this weekend. We did three doors last fall (see the photo below), and it was so much fun we waited six whole months to do it again. With the clock ticking on our move, we spent part of our spring break getting things checked off our to-do list (ok, my to-do list). So we painted four more doors, door jambs, hall cupboards, a couple windowsills, and one set of bi-fold closet doors this weekend... all with a toddler dying to be Mommy and Daddy's little helper. The first day we had our nanny here to keep Morgan occupied and take her to the park. That was awesome, and Sam and I together were able to get a lot done. Having all the doors off to rooms made it way too hard to have her around. But the second day, we were on our own with Morgan. 
And since she only took that little morning nap, we were forced to be creative. Add to that, the hall closet doors would not come off the track, so we had to paint them in the house. So I took Morgan out to lunch and to wander the mall while Sam busily got the first coat on. (Speaking of coats....these dark wood doors take THREE coats of primer and paint to look good, so this is a long process.) When I got back I thought Mo would nap, but "nope" (one of her new favorite words). So it was my turn to paint and Sam took Morgan to get groceries and a few more supplies at Home Depot. Fortunately, Morgan is in great spirits the whole time, loving all these fun outings with Mom and Dad. So after 11 solid hours Friday and trying to make the most of Saturday, here it is Sunday and there are still sawhorses in the garage, a drop cloth in the hall, and dried paint on my fingernails. But overall, we got an amazing amount of work done and the house looks much brighter and more modern.
This weekend reminded me of when we first moved into our house and did all that painting and work. Morgan wasn't even a thought then and we were just figuring out how to be homeowners. That was a really fun time in our lives - a lot of work, but fun too. Even though we are moving a few months and won't get to enjoy all this hard work, it was still fun and worth doing. Of course our main motivation is to get someone to buy our house in this crazy market, but also it feels good to finish what we started. This house has brought us lots of good times, comfort, and happiness over the past three years. I will really miss it, but the idea of being renters for a while makes me smile a little too.
Here is Mo helping me out the other day in the garden. She decided to use her shovel for a spoon and eat some dirt! I guess gardening with a toddler isn't any easier than painting! Well, it's time to go wake up that peacefully sleeping little girl..... here's hoping she will nap this afternoon so I can put that last coat of paint on those darn closet doors!
A couple weekends ago we had fun over in Central Oregon, and Morgan continues to be amazed at the world around her. It is so much fun to watch her explore and discover new things that we take for granted. Sam was gone for most of the week, secluding himself in his aunt and uncle's house in Sunriver so he could concentrate on writing his dissertation without being interrupted or feeling guilty about not being home. Morgan and I headed over Thursday to meet him and the sun was shining! Sam's aunt Amy and uncle Ron came that night and we had fun hanging out with them. The next morning Morgan was delighted to wake up to see two Yorkie pups waiting for her! 
She adores dogs and had lots of fun talking to them and watching them. Later, we took her to the indoor pool at the fitness club where she modeled a cute little pink swimsuit. We had the place to ourselves and Morgan got to swim and splash. She loves the water and shows no fear (resulting in a couple mouthfuls of water!)
Friday we headed over to Sisters, to visit my Aunt Kay and Uncle Hans. Their little ranch is a like the world's best zoo for a toddler. We hung out with the horses, mini donkeys, and mini horse. Morgan "threw" the ball for the dogs and watched the rainbow trout jump for food in the pond. Later, we saw ducks and deer pay a visit to the pond. We had a gorgeous afternoon that day so we hung out outside for a couple hours in the sunshine. It felt like spring (for a moment anyway!) 
Sam and I hadn't been over to Kay and Hans' for almost exactly one year. It was right around the time my aunt was diagnosed with breast cancer and there was a lot of uncertainty. While it has been a challenging past year for Kay and Hans, the cancer is gone and life can go on! My Aunt Kay has always been such an important person and role model for me, and I am so happy that she can continue to be that for me and Morgan too!
For the rest of the weekend, we enjoyed Hans' amazing food and just relaxed. Kay took me a to "tea party" that a friend invited her to, and it was lovely being able to enjoy yummy food and several cups of tea (that was still hot for a change) at a farm out in the countryside. Morgan had fun with the dogs and they tolerated her inability to throw a ball and spur-of-the-moment hugs. Best of all, she had no allergic reactions (hives) to the dogs so that was a pleasant surprise! Of course our weekend fun and the sunshine had to end, and winter returned with big winds and lots of mountain snow. We were able to make it back to Eugene before things got too bad (and I became a nervous wreck) thanks to Sam's good driving through the snowy mountain pass.
Here are some videos of Morgan from the weekend - scaring away the donkeys and swinging in the tree swing. She loves life, quite fearlessly, and it makes taking her out into the world so much fun!
We took Morgan to ride her first Carousel this week. Here's a short video of our future parade princess waving at her Mom.
We are celebrating today with a family day at home - how novel! We realized as we were sitting around reading the paper and drinking coffee this morning, that is has been weeks since we did this. We have either been out of town or both working weekends, tag-teaming our shifts with Morgan. We are enjoying a relaxing day at home and having friends over for dinner tonight.
Here are some recent Morgan funnies. When people ask me what Morgan is up to lately, it's hard to explain exactly how she's changing, even though she is. But it's little things like the way she disciplines herself: she will do something like dump food on the floor or stick her fingers in the VCR, and then say "no no no!" She is suddenly interested in her stuffed animals and dolls. She carries them around the house and chit-chats with them in a very high voice. When we were eating dinner the other night she snatched a paper napkin from me and proceeded to open it and lay it out on the couch, put her head on it and said "night night." Yesterday she took a baby wipe out of a pack and went around "washing" things - a toy dog's face, the dining room chair, the inside of Cookie Monster's mouth (he must have been naughty). So... we are enjoying lots of cute little moments with her, as well as fun tickling and chasing each other around the house!
Morgan graduated to taking big girl baths - unfortunately she likes to stand up and walk around.
Morgan loved this sculpture in Jamison Square last weekend, and we had fun playing peek-a-boo around it.
Morgan and her friend "Bob" dance to the music of Grandpa Ron's jukebox. Bob is actually an old toy of Sam's, and despite his scary plastic face, he is one of her favorite toys at Grandma's.
This is Morgan's terrific nanny, Justine. They have lots of outdoor adventures together, and Morgan has nicknamed her "Teen."
The other day Mo and I made a fort out of two chairs and a static-inducing blanket. She thought it was the coolest thing ever, and made sure all her toy friends came inside as well. Can you tell she was having fun? Here's a video of her explaining to us just how cool it is. The second video is Morgan dancing with Cookie Monster. She requests dance parties - and we turn on the iPod. Here she is dancing and singing (I am proud to say I taught her to sing "doo doo doo.")
Last week we flew to Denver to spend five days with our friends, Pete & Beth Anne, who used to live in Eugene. They live near the University of Denver, where Pete now works, and Sam got a taste of life after grad school. Sam can't wait to finally be "there," getting paid to work at a university, living the dream. We are just a dissertation away! (By the way, Sam has been diligently entering his data for weeks, and was able to finally run some statistics today. He was seriously geeking out because his data support two of his hypotheses! )
In Denver, the weather was sunny and the mountains were gorgeous. We had a great time hanging out and watching our kids play. We took them to a cool children's museum and even got a grown-up dinner out. My college roommate, Chris, and her family also live in Denver, and it was so fun seeing her again. They live outside the city and have animals, so Morgan got her first experience petting a chicken and riding a horse! Here are some photos and videos of her farm adventures.
Here's Morgan on "Little Buck" (who is nearly as old as me), riding with Chris' kids who are already quite good on horseback. Thank goodness they held on tight to her!
And here is a priceless video of Mo back at home having a pretty in-depth conversation on the "phone" (our t.v. remote). Is that how we talk on the phone??
At 18 months, Morgan was old enough this year to understand a little bit about Easter. We went to my parents' house for the weekend and Morgan got to participate in her first Easter egg hunt! She caught on right away and didn't seem to notice that we kept taking eggs out of her basket and re-hiding them! She got so excited about all those eggs that she would shake them and bang them together with her goofy mouth face - it was pretty funny. Fotunately, she isn't old enough to realize that Mom ate her candy, but next year may be a little different. 
She had the most fun with her cousins, Noah and Avery (aka "No No" and "Avewy"), admiring those big kids and how fast they ran around. Avery held her by the hand, playing with her, and loved having Morgan sit on her lap (although Morgan probably weighs nearly what she does!) Morgan was drawn to Noah as well, having fun tickling and playing on the floor. He also fascinated her with bubbles and helped her blow her own bubbles in a very sweet way (see the video below). Morgan is very lucky to have such curious and fun cousins!
Morgan also got time with her other cousins - dogs, that is. Aunt Kay and Uncle Hans came for Easter so she got to play ball and watch squirrels with Sophie and Luna. They are the gentlest dogs and Morgan gets such a kick out of them. It was a fun weekend with lots of family time. Now that Morgan is old enough to remember people and places, it was so fun to hear her say the names of her extended family and recognize them and all the good memories she has with them so far in her life. 
