Congrats, Papa!

We went to Papa's retirement lunch today. His last day of work is March 3. The lunch was tasty and everyone seemed to have a good time. Casey remained at prison for the duration of the lunch, as Matt & I wanted to get to actually eat our food. Papa might have a career as a stand up comedian after the speech he gave. Cristen & I are going to miss having him at work. A lot.





Later in the evening we attended happy hour for the retirement occasion. There was drinking of beer, dancing, and eating of tasty food...all done by Casey. He was EXCELLENT and seemed to enjoy being out and about.

Casey is over babyfood & has been for some time now. He had waffles, yogurt and Cheerios for breakfast. For lunch he had chicken from fajitas we had the other night, and of course some shredded cheddar. As a snack he ate puffs and cheesedoodles. And for dinner he ate chicken parm (1/2 a breast) & a few bites of pizza. He also ate some apple today...

He LOVES to play with these spoons. He falls asleep holding them sometimes.


Casey hates this hat. Absolutely detests it.

We had a nice family day. Casey did lots of giggling, he danced, played, crawled around & we got to enjoy him. Matt is in AC for the night and, I'll probably jinx myself, but I'm enjoying the quiet.

The day in photos.

Snow Day!

There was a decent amount of snow on the ground when we woke up this morning. I crossed my fingers as I dialed the 800 # to find out if work was closed...and it was not. That's when I made the executive decision that Casey and I would be having a snow day. Matt is working from home, so I let him participate when we went out in the snow. Otherwise we have not seen all that much of him, as he's been working.
So far we've had breakfast, played in the snow, played in the house, roamed all over both floors of the house, and taken 2 naps (we're currently on nap 2 as I type). In addition, we've gotten 6 loads (and counting) of laundry done, ironed and re-hung some curtains from said laundry, and put all of Casey's laundry away. All this and it's only 2:15.
I'll post pictures when Matt steps away from the computer, Casey permitting of course.

He loves to point.

10 months old

We played, took some trips to the store, and then played some more. Casey also went on a bit of a nursing strike, which ended at bedtime tonight.
In celebration of his very merry unbirthday, Casey actually ate dinner. After dinner he pushed his high chair around, played a little, then took a bath and went to sleep.

Happy Valentine's Day

Luckily, we have outlet covers...

Double ear infection. That was our diagnosis Monday morning. Matt took Casey to the doctor in the morning, and I took him for a test in the afternoon. No RSV for us, which is good to know. I vaguely remember some friends/former coworkers kids having this, and it was no fun. Casey spent Monday mostly with his dad, yesterday Grandma came over to watch him while Matt worked from home, and today he's back at prison. He has been slowly regaining his "Caseyness". Last night he pushed his high chair all around the kitchen and tried to push it down the step into the family room. He was not happy when I stopped him.
I have been waiting for snow so I could bundle Casey up and take him outside. It finally snowed yesterday. Reasons Casey did not get to go outside and get his picture taken in the snow:
1) he was sick
2) the snow was turning to rain when I got home from work
3) he screamed when I took him near the door to show him the snow, so I do not imagine he would have been happy to actually go outside.
So, after dinner Casey took a bath instead.

The little man is sick again. He woke up with a cough and runny nose and just out of sorts. Poor baby. He's been blowing enormous snot bubbles, and has still been in a good mood, which has made his ailment easier for us. Looks like someone will be headed to the doctor tomorrow. In other news, we now have a gate at the top of the stairs to prevent Casey from taking a tumble, so we can let him crawl around freely upstairs.***
Casey wishes Aunt Berta a Happy Birthday.

*** This is a joke. We will obviously keep an eye on him if he's crawling around, but the gate is a precautionary measure.

Today we shopped. Food shopped, house shopped, clothes shopped. Casey is the only one who got any clothes, though. Then we had dinner with the Grandparents and Aunt Rubin. Casey threw most of his food on the floor, so the dog got to eat a couple arrowroot cookies.

Casey's been enjoying school this week. He's eaten all sorts of interesting things, played with his friends, and made artwork. He's also been exposed to a few more illnesses, so we're hoping he stays healthy. This evening, he clapped on his own. He gets very excited and claps his little hands together. Sometimes he's so cute I can't stand it.

This evening Casey started rubbing his eyes, so I thought he was tired. I realized I was mistaken when the red hives pooped out around his right eye. Not sure what caused them, as he had been smearing food on his face and rubbing it on a variety of surfaces throughout the house. On the bright side, the hives were only in his face. Our fabulous new doctor promptly returned our call & suggested we give him some Benadryl. Upon my return from ShopRite for the Benadryl run I recalled Casey had used my shirt as a canvas for finger painting with his dinner. I realized I incorrectly gave credit for the cheesy beef yesterday. While Grandma prepared the cheesy beef, the recipe is really from my Aunt Sue, so I suppose I should have said Casey dined on Aunt Sue's cheesy beef as prepared by Grandma. Thanks for the recipe Aunt Sue, it was a hit.

Casey dined on Grandma's cheesy beef, some fruity yogurt, and little potato latkes. He's been playing up a storm, all while rooting on the Giants.

Cheers!

We've had a busy day so far. We had pancakes and cinnamon rolls for breakfast, did some things around the house, took a couple naps, fit in a trip to Target. Now Casey is preparing to watch the Super Bowl. He's sporting Giants colors and is excitedly looking forward to a large selection of finger foods to try out. Perhaps you'll see some pictures of his food covered self later. While he wishes his cousin Brady a Happy 1st Birthday, he still hopes the Giants win the Super Bowl.

Casey crawled into that nook while chasing after the Yankee ball Papa got him the day he was born. He got stuck and needed some help getting out.
Also, please note the stuffed Smurf in the picture. I got that when I stopped using a bottle. No, it wasn't last week.