May Days

We've been busy since our return from Boston - mostly with hanging out and having fun.

Luke continues to enjoy holding hands with Harper in the mornings and requesting a photograph. When did he get so gangly??

Harper graduated from her cradle swing and bouncy seat to her excersaucer! (kindly on loan from the Tiedemanns)

She has also been giving rice cereal a try...

...with some success...

...SOME success.

It seems jackets are behind us for good now, so we went to the zoo! Breaking out bare feet and sun hats and everything!

Luke was tired after a morning of train rides and "feeding sheeps" and carousel rides and bear spotting and...

Another day, Luke and Mommy decided to declare it Wacky Hair Wednesday for no reason other than it was so nice out and we were all in good moods

Harper declined to participate

"Say cheese, watermelons!"

By evening, the wackiness had worn off and Luke & Daddy took in Hoboken's Memorial Day Parade. Luke was sure to bring along his Grand Old Flag.

We also took in Harper's first (and Luke's first that he remembers) Phillies game! Daddy imparted lots of baseball knowledge. [and no, his beard isn't THAT white (yet) - the sunscreen wouldn't disappear!]

Early on, the 90ish degree humidity wasn't getting us too droopy

But the Phillies store was a welcome AC'd respite

And Luke accomplished his 2 main goals for the day
1) Get a new RED Phillies baseball hat

2) Eat ice cream in a little helmet

By this point, we were all PLENTY droopy

But, even though Chooch didn't play OR Jimmy Rollins (Mommy's favorite), Utley was back in rotation and the Phils won!

Catching Up

While we haven't been posting, we've been out doing here in Hoboken.


First up - we took Luke and Harper to the American Museum of Natural History back in March. We're not sure if the museum was the best part of the trip for Luke, or the many methods of transportation that were involved (ferry, bus, subway, taxi).

I'M ON A BOAT!

Mommy's favorite part of the museum - the elephants!
Luke doing his best RAWR!


There was also time for fooling around at home...

BabyGap labeled these "boy clothes." I REJECT YOUR GENDERED LABELS, GAP!
Future English Major? (thanks to Mommy's intern, Erin, for the cool onesie!)

Mutual Admiration Society, Part 1,000
And Part 1,001

When Daddy returned from a business trip to CA, he took Luke on a special "dude trip" to Home Depot to look at tools & buy some seeds for spring windowsill planting. Luke was excited to purchase a proper "Grand Old Flag"
He wore his "Construction Guy" hat from Grandpa Casey in honor of the occasion


When they got home they planted their seeds - here Luke is doing his best Toad and yelling at his seeds to "GET GROWING!"

We also made our first trip to the zoo for the year and introduced Harper to the train



Lots of other fun on our docket - visits with the Kornbluhs, maybe a model train show, and Easter egg hunts!

Tattooch

Last weekend was a loooong holiday weekend in multiple ways. It came down to tattooing the baby for entertainment. COME ON, SPRING!



She didn't seem to mind.

Another Morning in Hoboken

Daddy's been experimenting with his commute of late and some mornings he leaves VERY EARLY, leaving Harper and Mommy to get Luke ready & to school (meaning Luke can show off his baby sister to the morning crew instead of the usual pick up staff - he's a proud big brother!).

The other morning, Mommy asked Luke to "entertain" Harper while she ran about like a crazy woman. She stopped to snap this picture - if you look closely, you can see that he's saying "Chooooooch." Harper seems to find him to be nothing short of mesmerizing.

A few minutes later, Luke called out, "MOMMY! Look! Chooch and I are holding ha-yands!" When asked if he wanted a picture taken he said "yeah!"

Awwwwwww.

What We've Been Up To...

We are thrilled to introduce Luke's new baby sister, Harper Rosella Casey (aka "Chooch"). Born on Friday, December 17, 2010 at 8:53 am, weighing in at 9lbs .04oz and measuring 20.5"

Luke came to visit Mommy, Daddy, & Harper in the hospital. He gave her a snuggle and the "Baby Bear" he had picked out for her during a shopping trip with Daddy a few weeks before she was born. Baby Bear has helped break in Harper's cradle swing, bouncy seat, and bassinet in anticipation of her arrival

Upon closer inspection, he also declared her to be "stinky"

The next day, we suited Harper up in the outfit Luke picked out for her to wear home from the hospital (declaring "I think this will be very cute")

We were ALL glad to be home

And once she was cleaned up, Luke found her to be quite cuddly

Grandma Casey got in on the snuggle action before heading back to Scranton after 3 days with Luke (THANK YOU, Grandma & Grandpa!)

And Grandpa Casey, too, of course

And in the last week, Harper has seen a lot of this....

And heard a lot of "Old MacDonald" and "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "People on the Bus." [Luke is especially proud of his own lyric, "The Chooches on the bus go wah wah wah, wah wah wah"]

Luke has proven himself to be a great big brother, giving his baby sister gentle hugs and kisses, singing songs, and declaring her "little hands," "little ears," and "CHEEEEEKS" to be his favorite things about her

Welcome, Harper!