A clean baby is a happy baby

Paige is away on business until friday, so I shot a video for her.Luke is getting a new tooth and recovering from shots, but once he got home he was all smiles, especially after his bath.




We miss you already Mom!

Rock-A-Bye the Vote

Since OUP gave employees a half day today, Mom decided to take the whole day off to hang out with Luke and also to give him his first civics lesson by taking him along to the polls.

Dad got up early & went to vote as the polls opened at 7. He waited for two hours...as did fellow Hoboken resident and NJ Governor Jon Corzine.

When Luke woke up from his morning nap, he was ready to put on his best voting gear (thanks to his friend, Nolan, whose Daddy works on the Obama campaign and sent him this HOPE onesie in exchange for a coveted Bob's Clam Hut model from Luke's Grammy).

Once suited up, he and Mom departed for Hoboken Ladder Company 1/Engine Company 3 to hit the polls! ....and then promptly waited in line for 90 minutes. (According to one of the news crews, they had just missed neighbor Eli Manning, which is just as well. As Hoboken graffiti once taught us, Eli is #0, Big Ben #1)

The line was quite long...

But it was a beautiful day out, and Luke didn't seem to mind.

He busted out Fuzzy Bee for a while...

And the little girl in line ahead of us was more than glad to entertain him with her dance moves and musical Barbie...

Then he played with the shakey bottle - which was praised twice today for its ingenuity. (I know, who knew?)

Another kid came by to show Luke his "batwing" trick.

Eventually, Luke had had enough of stimulation and opted for his pacifier and some quiet time.

Finally, Mom voted and we returned home for lunch!

Spooky Lukey!

Dad can't resist a deal, and Mom can't resist adorable outfits. When these glow-in-the-dark skeleton PJs were on sale at BabyGap, everybody won! Luckily, Luke wasn't the only baby dressed in Halloween finery, but he certainly was the most handsome (in our humble opinion).

Here, Luke shows the flirty kind of look that makes the ladies at daycare go wild:
Then he tried to scare mom with some spoooooky ooga booga moves:And after that he went plain old oogly boogly:

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Your 2008 World Champions

In Town Long Sailor?

Before Luke was born, his Grammy bought him a fleecey peacoat for him to grow into. As Luke is a superstar at growing (12-18 mo clothes, for those of you making shopping lists...), he will have to cram a lot of wear into this coat at the front end of cold weather season. We broke it out last week, and, at Grammy & Grandpap's request, had a little photoshoot with Luke.

First he went with a classic baby model "happy baby" approach:
Then he showed his sporty side with this "action" shot:He next wanted to showcase how much this coat allows him to move by standing up:
This coat came with a matching hat, but his big ol' bean didn't begin to fit in it so Mom had to find a matching hat (and mittens!). Again, he started with his classic happy baby move:
He once more showed how versatile it is by standing, but this time decided to take a more "coy" approach:
And in case the picture above made him seem too dainty, he gave his best gangsta:Finally, to show his full range, he summoned some tears for the end of the roll:
The coat is a big hit. When Mom suited him up at daycare last week, all of the women ooohed and ahhhed, and his caregiver, Miss Stephanie exclaimed, "Oh! He looks like a little man!"

Thanks, Grammy!

One for Each Grandma (and the Grandpas, too)

OK, Luke's not doing anything terribly exciting in these videos, but he's being pretty cute and showing off his sitting up skills, his newfound playing skills, and does lots of babbling. And his outfit is rather adorable as well - thanks to pants on loan from The Ronan & Jacob Collection and a sweater from Aunt Cathy (alas, the last of his "Year of Sweaters" from Mom's baby shower), and his stuffed puppy from Auntie Lisa (and it's not too late to click on the link at the right to donate to Team Lisa & the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. Cough cough).

Since Grammy Rosella gets a shout out in this one, we'll call this one for her:

And in this one, Luke makes toys out of two Casey relics. The first is a tupperware pitcher Paul has had since before Paige was in the picture that I think was originally Grandma's pitcher. It's now so old it was put out of service (due to some decomposition occurring in the tupperwareyness) and Luke rescued it from recycling. The second is a recent gift to Paul from Grandma & Grandpa that has been donated to the teething cause. Or, rather, comandeered by Luke for the teething cause - sacrificed so that the Phillies and Packers hats may go undrooled upon. And so, we'll call this one for Grandma Casey:

Catch up Post II: Viva La Madonna

One of our favorite Hoboken events is the Feast of the Madonna Dei Martiri, which sends summer out with a bang. This year we were joined by Luke (for the first time) and Charlie and Sharren (for the umpteenth time). Not only was the weather beautiful, but the beers were also cold, and the rice balls hot.

It took Luke a bit to get into the swing of things...


But Soon he was having fun with his BFF, Sharren



Guess which bottle is Luke's?


Later on, Charlie played with Prince Buster...

And pulled the old "Look, I'm giving the baby a drink" trick.