a boy and his dog...

I am a bad blogger.
It seems we've been swamped lately. In a good way. but still..no blogging.
Since my last post Alan started his new job in downtown Indianapolis-- meaning we have both been commuting. He likes it so far and seems to be getting interesting projects to work on in which he's learning a lot. The bad news has been we're never home, meaning poor End has been a bit neglected. While we are home though--North and her are the best of friends so I don't think she's TOO miserable (see photos below).
Also, I turned 30. North and Alan got me a Wii and a great book. Both truly excellent gifts.
And finally, we decided to rent a summer sublet in Bloomington for May, June, & July and found a little place that allows pets--North and I picked up the keys today and move in Saturday.
Still haven't sold our house so we'll have both places for a bit at least.
whew!

North's favorite book lately is ABC by William Wegman. He is, naturally, a big fan of weims.

Here are some photos of him "reading" it to End. She licks in appreciation.

North and End are also, lately, a big fan of the bath in kitchen sink strategy I have resorted to as a means of bathing North while also getting other stuff done. End likes to help out with the bathing by providing ample soapy licks.

The Children's Museum!

On Tuesday we took North for his first visit to The Children's Museum of Indianapolis! I worked at this museum between college and grad school and consider it to be one of the funnest places that I have ever worked--it was great getting to share this place with North. He also loved it!

Playing in the sand

Arguably North's very favorite spot in the entire museum--the water table/falls in playscape. He could have spent all day at here. After about 30 minutes when we made the soaked, pruney fingered baby move onto something else he cried. He was quickly pacified by the other exhibits though.

The baby obstacle course--he had a great time crawling through/up/over/under it.

Pressing buttons to make the clown face light up--he wanted to press them all at once I think.

Opening and closing the window to let a breeze blow in

We caught a baby with a slice of plastic pizza!

Riding the carousel!

The mirror maze!

Having tea with some bears

Alan and North with the Silver Surfer and Batmobile

Lego Castle Land! North with a Lego knight and dragon!

Dinosaurs! We looked for a Nothosaurus but there wasn't one in the exhibit.

The glass sculpture exhibit!

Star Wars!

North making friends and pointing out fish to us at the aquarium

Baby Claydon!

On Monday and Tuesday of this week Bridgett took time off from work to get in a little bit of family time before Alan starts his new job and we go back to having no vacation time.
Monday we took the opportunity to visit North's newest cousin Claydon (and also see older cousins Connor and Madi and Aunt Angie and Uncle Adam). We had a nice time on our visit--North gets better able to "play" with his older cousins as he gets older himself and it all just gets to be more and more fun.
Baby Claydon was adorable and we were all happy to meet him.

Baby Claydon -- so little!

Connor and Madi are such good older cousins!

Madi gave North a wheel-barrel ride (Uncle Adam helped)!

stairs..

North loves them. And has gotten ridiculously fast about getting up and down them.

It's a bit of a problem.

10 months...and other news

North is now 10 months old!
And in the time since my last post it seems so much has happened.
First off--North has started using a few words. Namely "ball"; "dag" (for dog--he's got a bit of a Boston accent for no clear reason); mama; and dada. heartwarming.
Also, Alan was laid off from Sony and got a new job--he'll be starting at NuOrbit Media in a week and a half and is really excited about the transition.
Additionally, North got a new cousin--he's no longer the baby of the family on Alan's side. Claydon Loren Milner was born yesterday.
In other news, today North waved at me as I dropped him off--this was the first real day of waving.
And lastly, also today, North got sent home from daycare and taken to the doctor where he was diagnosed with acute idiopathic urticaria (or a weird case of hives caused by something unknown in English). Not bacterial or viral, nothing contagious, just a weird allergic reaction to something.
Exciting times these.
Here's a pictures of our hivey baby with a tube of baby benadryl: