Kitty cat fun + new game with Dad

*****

Computer fun

Uncle Paul came to visit this afternoon so he and Jeff could work on his new computer.



This is Jeff's new office. Don't ask how many computers we have around this place - I think I've lost count.

The boys taking a break to watch some tv. Sean was enjoying some mango for the first time.

Playing with Uncle Paul.

Also I have some more videos, of course I'm still waiting for them to upload.....

More crawling action!

Trip to the aquarium

We went to the National Aquarium in downtown Baltimore on Sunday just for something to do. It was really cool, although expensive. I think it was worth it though. It was pretty crowded, at least we thought so. Almost every display had so many people packed around it, you couldn't see it at all from far away and had to wait to get a peek up close. Maybe that's normal for a cold Sunday. We just keep saying to each other, "Too many people!" (meaning we won't miss the mass of humanity when we move away from the East Coast.) Anyway, on to the photos....

Waiting in line to get tickets.

Maybe he'll be a SCUBA diver someday!

Um, Sean, LOOK OUT!

Sean enjoyed watching these fish go back and forth in front of him.

Taking a break at the cafe.

Watching the dolphin show.

Jeff snapped a photo of this dolphin mid-air.

And now, for something completely different: one of Sean's favorite "toys" is a wet rag. Cool, huh? He thinks so. We're hoping this doesn't mean that he'll be in the color guard someday. (He's got to be a horn player, right?)

On the move!

Sean has made great progress in the past few days in crawling and pulling himself up. He's all over the place and we have to keep a close eye on him. His favorite things to go after are the piano foot pedals, the carbon monoxide detector plugged into the wall, the curtains, and of course Maggie.

Here are a few photos and video from the past week:

Cute as ever!

He crawled under the musical table....

and got stuck!

Here's some crawling action:

Videos, as promised

Here are a few videos.

We gave Sean some little bits of rice cake to see how he would like some finger foods. He likes to play with them, but doesn't put them in his mouth. When we put a piece in his mouth, he doesn't know what to do with it really. It's quite entertaining.

Sean is very close to crawling. He gets very frustrated sometimes, but he's making progress.





Here's a quick ba ba.

Life Change #239861987

So, we have a request from Aunt Elizabeth to update the blog. Here goes.

Tomorrow is actually Jeff's last day at Day 1 as a full-time employee. He (or I guess I should say we) has decided to return to contracting/freelancing work. We'll be in Cockeysville at least until the end of May, since that's how long we have our apartment for. Then after that, who knows. We are exploring a few options and we'll know hopefully later this spring where we'll be headed. Among many factors, the main reasons for not wanting to stay here are that it's too far away from our families. Also it's just way too expensive and busy. We miss the Midwest. We took for granted how quiet it is there (i.e., Champaign) compared to the East Coast. We'd love to find a house out in the country (but not too much in the middle of nowhere) on a few acres.... we'll see if we can make that happen.

For an example of what I mean by "way too expensive," this house, in Cockeysville, is listed for $300,000. No, this is not a joke.

Anyway we'll be sure to keep you all posted as to our plans. We are excited! Hopefully this will be our last move for a while (5 years, we're hoping - given our track record, that would seem like an eternity to stay in one place!).

Ok, onto the cuteness that is Mr. Sean. He's hit a few milestones lately. Over the past couple of weeks he's really gotten the hang of going from lying down to sitting up. Also, the other day he managed to push his butt up into the air and push his head along the floor a bit. He's still kind of figuring it out and getting frustrated (moaning, moaning, moaning). He does get up on all fours, but usually doesn't make it more than a few "steps" of crawling before getting distracted by a toy or just twisting around to sit back down again.

Yesterday, Sean managed to pull himself up from a seated position to standing, all by himself! He pulled himself up to get a look at Maggie on the ottoman.

And speaking of Maggie, Sean definitely knows her name, so he's starting to associate words with things. Jeff said "Maggie" yesterday and Sean turned around to look right at her. "Maggie" was the first word association we noticed. I'm not sure what else he recognizes. We're now focusing on Mom, Dad, and Oliver, as well as "milk," "time to sleep," and "diaper change," etc.

Ok enough rambling. Here are a few photos.

Last weekend we visited Uncle Paul in Arlington. He and his roommates have Rock Band, a new video game. It's a lot of fun, even though I got stuck singing the first time around. Sean was helping out.

Paul took a turn singing an REM song he had never heard, so that was pretty funny. We managed to keep Sean from falling off the couch too, so that was good.

Dad on the drums.

And, Sean in control, as usual. ;)

We also have some videos but those take forever to upload so I'll get those up soon....

Christmas journey, part II

Our next stop over Christmas was to good old Fairfield, OH. We stayed at my parents' house for a few days.



The generic baby-with-food-all-over-his-face picture.

Sometimes you just have to strip down after dinner if you want to get clean.

Sean got his own cell phone and loves it!

Playing on the floor at Grandma & Grandpa Hogans'.

We got my parents a new camera for Christmas, so I was playing around with the settings. Ooh, sepia!

"I LOVE MY NEW SWEATER!"

Our last leg of Christmas was a stop in Indiana, PA. We met up with Ev & Erica (friends from Champaign) - Erica's parents live in Indiana and were kind enough to let us stay the night.

Thanks to all for a great first Christmas for Mr. Sean and for all the gifts, food, laughs, and above all things, love!