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.

We Went on Vacation...5 months ago

Remember back in August when we went on that vacation to ME/NH? We barely do (well, Mom & Dad barely do, anyway). Herewith, some more pictures!

On the one overcast/rainy day of our week, we took a trip up to the Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport, ME. A really cool morning/afternoon excursion for any of you visiting ME with wee ones (or old men who love trains as much as the wee ones). It's staffed by volunteers, and real life "trainspotters" give tours and rides on retired trolleys along a restored swath of the Biddeford-Saco line! (you can read more about the mission of the museum - and its importance in history of rail transportation - here)

Upon our arrival, we boarded the first trolley we could. Luke was so excited he could barely speak (thanks for the cool t-shirt, Uncle Joe!)

After the trolley ride, we toured the extensive collection of trolleys throughout the site - this one, from Chicago's North Shore Line, goes out to Grandma Casey!

This one is for the Leary Infantines - it's a car from Boston's aborted attempt to have "rail cars of the fuuuuuuture"....back in the 60s. It's like Luke's in Tron, no?

He enjoyed climbing on and off & sitting in/on the various cars...

Inside the museum, he acted the part of conductor (and would not allow Daddy to share the controls with him)

Later that day, Daddy introduced him to one of the "luxuries" of hotel stays - the weird, oddly-lit, poorly-temperature-controlled, too-small-for-laps indoor pool. Being a Casey, he LOVED the pool and didn't want to get out despite chattering teeth. A kiss from Mom only made it LAMER

That night we went out to dinner at the Gaslight - a place where Mommy may have spent a good portion of her wild & crazy nights out in her younger days...cough cough. Anyone else see Grandpap's "Yeah, and...?" face here?

The infamous "poop toilet" at Macro Polo. This was without question Luke's favorite part of the vacation - more than the beach, more than daily ice cream, more than the indoor pool or the hotel breakfast. We had to stop & behold its beauty each & every day of our trip - but he would not pose for a picture with it, so this is the best we could do

(Whew, a long day!) On our walk back to the hotel from getting ice cream and genuflecting at the poop toilet altar, we took in the fancy, new (new to Mommy, anyway) Portsmouth sign. Mommy is caught making the face that Luke's long, rambling stories often evoke from his parents.

And in this next series, Luke is giving a long, detailed explanation of who lives in each of the letters - Mommy, Daddy and Lukey live in one, and Grammy and Grandpap live RIGHT NEXT to Uncle Joe

Still to come from this vacation, sometime before Luke's in kindergarten, pictures from our days at THE BEACH! [Dad just needs to move the pics from his computer first...]

Harper's 1 Month Old Today!

To celebrate turning 1-month old, Harper quickly outgrew her size: NB clothes and has moved on to 0-3 mos and 3 mos options. We (ok, Mom) broke out the fancy Danish onesie that Uncle Lenny gave to Baby Luke, and matched it up with the fancy sweater & cashmere booties he bought just for Harper. Ooh la la!

As you can see, she is very suspicious of the camera.

Luke and Harper Have the Rhythm in Them

We hereby lobby Jimmy Fallon to make this "Neil Young's" next Pants on the Ground.



No, we have no idea where he came up with this song, nor what it inspired it. (Actually, it was because after falling, he had a Spiderman ice pack stuck in the back of his pants to make his back bruise feel better.)

And here is how we rocked New Year's Eve. Harper likes to dance, too - even with her brother streaking & shrieking through the background.

Here Came Santa Claus Right Down Hudson Street

So in the midst of Harper's arrival, we prepared for and celebrated Christmas. This was the first year that Luke grasped the build-up to the holiday and enjoyed learning about Santa, the reindeer, the Christmas tree and PRESENTS.

A few weeks before Christmas, we got our first real tree for 1333 Hudson, and let Luke go through our "cornaments." [and disabused him of the notion, much to his distress, that they were not to be eaten]

Football Team Guys were a favorite

As was "Nut Guy"

Luke helped Daddy with the lights

And Daddy placed our robot tree topper just so

This Christmas spirit, it is strong with this one

Finally it was Christmas morning! Luke promptly took all of the presents from under the tree where Santa had left them and arranged them on the sofa (or the "delivery truck")

And Luke the Delivery Guy drove the truck to Luke's house (sadly, he does not observe 10 and 2 hand placement on his steering wheel)

After some pajama collateral damage, Luke changed into pajamas of his own design - including "Grandpap's sweatshirt." He also enjoyed some peppermint tea

He used his new doctor kit to check and run tests on all of us

Paging Dr. Luke

He loved his fireman puppet from Grandma & Grandpa Casey

And took a cinnamon roll break!

Busting out his Legos from Grammy & Grandpap required that he roll up his sleeves

"I'm building a ROAD!"

In the background, the fire station (with animal statues) he and Daddy built for the firetruck ornament from Grammy & Grandpap - in the foreground, the fireman puppet reports for duty

Dr. Luke "checks" baby sister

Dr. Luke declares her to be "just fine." Phew!

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!

Thanksgiving

Luke enjoyed the Macy's parade for the first time this year. The combination of U2's "Beautiful Day" and "guys" singing & dancing in a preview for Sing-Off made him get up and move his butt around.