Hannah is Three!

Our baby girl is three today! It is hard to imagine, but we are loving this next phase with our daughter. Well, most of the time! :-) Here are some highlights of Hannah's life right now.

Check-up: At Hannah's 3 year check up, she weighed in at 31 lbs. (60th percentile) and is 37 in. (40th percentile). She continues to be a healthy little girl who has rarely gotten sick.

Friends: We have really enjoyed watching Hannah interact with various friends in her life. Whether it's at the babysitter's house, gymnastics, church, small group, play groups and others, she loves hanging out with friends! Whenever we tell her that she has friends coming over or we are going somewhere to meet her friends, she always asks, "What friends names?" I love her caring personality and her openess with others. She is definitely learning how to be a good friend.

Eating: Hannah is still pretty good at eating a variety of food. She usually says, "Mommy, I like this" which is for both likes and doesn't like depending on what she is doing with her head. She does pretty good at eating meals, but also has developed a sense of snacking. She also continues to have a sweet tooth (like her Mommy) and is usually bargaining for a "treat" or "candy" either after a certain number of bites or after naptime. She seems to be growing well regardless!

Sleeping: Hannah is such a good sleeper still, even though her patterns have changed some. Most mornings, she is up around 5:30 or 6:00 and crawls in bed with us to watch "Tartoons." This isn't bad, except I wish she would figure out the difference between weekdays and weekends! :-) She still takes a nap that ranges from 2 1/2 hours to 3 hours each day. She can skip them if needed, but not for too many days in a row. She then heads to bed anywhere between 7:30 and 8:30 depending on that days events.

Speech: Well, for sometime my Mommy gut has told me that Hannah was not quite talking like I thought she should. After a few different evaluations, it's been determined that she has a slight delay in her expressive vocabulary and some articulation issues, some bigger and some smaller. She will start speech at Mascoutah Elementary School this coming week. She will have two 30 minute sessions a week in a small preschool group of three. I've heard that some speech issues are genetic, so she must take after her momma. We look forward to watching her progess in this area as she goes through speech therapy.

Independence: I know it comes with the terrority of being three, but we definitely have an independent daughter on our hands! We hear "By myself!" multiple times a day whether it's going to the bathroom (and now even the stall), putting on clothing items, reading her books, putting puzzles together and so much more! These are the times we love! Watching her grow and change in this way is so fun. Then there are times that stretch our patience and parenting. Again, while not as fun, it's something we are getting through and we make strides with each situation.

Fun Stuff: Hannah is just a fun, happy little girl! Yes, she has her moments where we are praying to God to help us parent her in the right way. But the majority of the time, things are going well. She is a great big sister to Cameron and we love watching them play together and interact (he LOVES his big sister!) She loves all things physical, especially gymnastics. She has recently moved up to the "big girl class" where she goes by herself and is doing great! Hannah likes to show off her moves at home any chance she gets! We have also loved watching her grow and learn at church each week. This fall, she officially started in the Awana program as a Cubbie and is doing so well! We read through her book and practice her memory verse and she is doing great! I love that every night we have to read a Bible story and she is starting to want to pray by herself. That makes this momma's heart smile! We love our spirited daughter and can't wait to see what the next year of life brings!

Meeska! Mouska! Minnie Mouse!

Today, we celebrated Hannah's 3rd birthday with a day full of friends, family, food and fun! We started the day with Hannah's first friend birthday party. The theme was Minnie Mouse and it was so much fun to plan and host. Here is the birthday party girl with her Minnie Mouse birthday cake.

We had three of Hannah's friends over for the party. We started off by making Minnie Mouse bracelets out of buttons. They were super cute, but definitely more of a Mommy project than a 3 year old project. However, I think the Mommy's had fun making them!Then, we played "Pin the Flower on Minnie." We did blindfold the girls, but no spinning in this house. Most of the girls had fun and did a good job. The birthday girl didn't want to her close her eyes so her flower was the closest...stinker!

We ate some pizza, the girls played, then it was time for presents. Hannah got a lot of really cute things. The girls did a good job of watching Hannah, then they all wanted them opened so they could play with them. We gave Hannah a Minnie Mouse doll for her birthday party gift.It was then time for cake. Here are the girls waiting for me to cut the cake. This was my first time using a shaped pan. It didn't turn out too bad. I need to work on my icing -- I may need to make my own next year. Aunt NeeNee gets all the credit for the bow! It was our first time using gum paste and turned out pretty well.

After the party, it was time for Hannah to take a nap, even though she was pretty excited and didn't want to (then slept for almost 3 hours!) When she woke up, our families gave her a few more gifts. Tim and I bought her a new kitchen and everyone else bought various items to go with it -- food, pots & pans, dinnerware, etc. She was so excited when she came downstairs and saw her new kitchen!

We had such a fun day with our (almost) 3 year old! Our first friend party was a success and the day ended with all of our family around us to help us celebrate. Happy Minnie Mouse Birthday, Hannah!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from the Caseys! We have had an absolutely fabulous day! Our morning started out by reading the Christmas story as a family in our bedroom. I hope that this tradition helps us to start our day with the right focus. When that was finished, Hannah couldn't wait to see if Santa had come last night (although she was very sad that Larry had to go back to the North Pole with Santa). She quickly discovered that Santa had come! He brought her and Cameron matching sleeping bags with their names on them, new books, a baby doll for Hannah (what she asked for) and a truck for Cam (what big sister asked for him). Also, stockings full of goodies!

Here they are checking out all their Santa stuff!

Then we moved onto opening presents from us. Each got three gifts from us symbolizing the gifts that the wisemen brought baby Jesus. Cam got a Scout, a singing soccer ball and a Lil Zoomers Construction toy.Hannah got a camera, puzzles and Candy Land -- which we have already played a few times!After a day of relaxing as a family, my mom and dad came over for Christmas dinner and more gifts. Dinner was delicious and we quickly finished because our almost three year old was ready for the gifts! We were able to snap a couple of quick pictures before we got started though!

Hannah had so much fun opening her gifts -- and helping Brubba, Mommy and Daddy open theirs!

Cam enjoyed crawling around, pulling up on whatever he could, playing with toys, and trying to eat paper!

They both got some really neat toys that I know they already love playing with! Hannah was the most excited about any sort of baby or doll and she especially loved getting matching jammies for her and her Bitty Baby -- they had to wear them tonight!

As I write this, I reflect on a perfect day. It was a mixture of honoring our Savior, experiencing Santa and gifts and most importantly our family. What a day!

Christmas Eve

Today is Christmas Eve. We have spent most of the day preparing for upcoming meals with family and cleaning the house for visitors. But tonight, our Christmas begins. We met my parents for dinner at Olive Garden and then headed to church. Our church normally has a Saturday night service, and this year they are having identical services Saturday and Sunday. We decided to go tonight and be able to spend tomorrow morning together at home. The service was wonderful and was exactly the right way to begin our official Christmas. The sermon series has been entitled "Center Stage" and focused on how Jesus is the center of Christmas -- not just his birth, but his life and death as well. This Christmas, amongst the hustle and bustle of the season, we have tried to spend our free time as family, enjoying each other to the fullest. Yes, the magic of Larry our Elf and Santa has been so fun to watch, but the magic of Jesus far surpasses that. Every year, that is the true meaning and focus of Christmas and I hope we can continue to instill this in our children. What a great start to our Christmas festivities!

Wild Lights

Our big activity for break today is to go check out some lights. Every year, the St. Louis Zoo has an incredible light display they call "Wild Lights." They also have the penguin exhibit open and activities for children throughout parts of the zoo as well. We haven't been in a few years, and decided to head on over to check it out this year. Although it was cold, it wasn't as bad as it could have been. We walked through the light display and hit up the penguins, but then decided to head on back home. Cam wasn't really feeling the stroller so Tim was holding him and Hannah was starting to get antsy. Even though, it was a great evening as a family experiencing something new. I think it is another must each Christmas season!

Christmas Treats

On our first official day of break, our dear friends, the Kosters, came over for dinner. The fall has been super busy and we have not seen them in so long! We were so thankful to spend the evening with them catching up before everyone started their Christmas celebrations. When I was grocery shopping, I found this Rice Krispy Treat house kit to make and decorate and thought it would be a fun activity for Hannah and Talon to do. Talon didn't get into as much as Hannah, but I think they both had a good time decorating their houses (and eating them!) :-)

On our second day of break, Hannah and I worked on cookies for some of the helpful people in our life. We made peanut butter cookies, peanut butter and Hershey kiss cookies, and chocolate chip cookies. I also had some extra chocolate covered pretzels from when my students made them earlier in the week. We then made a little bag of goodies for our garbage man, the mail man and Hannah's gymnastic teachers. Hannah was so excited to work ond them and we watched all day for the garbage man so we could deliver them. It was such a fun experience and so nice to see the giving spirit begin in our precious daughter. I hope this is a tradition we can continue in the coming years!

Oh, and here is Cam hanging out in the kitchen while we work. I think he will be right in the action next year!

Larry the Elf

We had a very special visitor this month -- Larry the Elf! Although Larry was up last year, Hannah wasn't old enough to really understand the concept. This year, she really got into it! She loved reading the story about our elf and she loved every morning getting up and looking to see where Larry was at. She would get so excited when she found him and yell, "Larry flew to Santa!" What fun to watch the magic of Christmas come alive in our daughter! This was such a fun tradtion and I can't wait until Larry comes back next year!

Old Fashioned Christmas

I have always loved going to the Historic St. Charles to window shop and walk around. I knew they did a Old Fashioned Christmas throughout December, so today we loaded up and headed over for the morning. First of all, the decorations are beautiful with real garland all over the place. Then, they have about 30 different characters that walk around passing out their "trading cards" for the children to collect. At first, Hannah wasn't so sure, but soon she warmed up to the idea. They also have groups of carolers throughout the streets singing. We only stayed about an hour, but we will definitely be going back next year! What a great morning as a family spending time together!

Here are the first people we see -- Father Christmas from England and Pere Noel from France.
Then we also saw Mrs. Claus! Hannah was really excited about meeting her!

Our Great Eight Month Old

This picture is so perfect because Cam is ALWAYS on the move!

Today, Cameron is eight months old! Wow! This was such a great month. One of the biggest highlights was that we finalized Cameron's adoption this month! We are so blessed that everything in the last seven months have gone smoothly and enabled us to officially call him a Casey. We also had a great time celebrating Thanksgiving with Tim's family and can't wait for Cam's first Christmas at the end of the month. Cameron continues to be our mighty boy who never ceases to amaze us with his strength. Although he still isn't crawling the "official" way, he gets himself all over the house in no time flat by moving around. He kind of looks like he is always doing the worm! He also is pulling up wherever and whenever possible. He doesn't know how to get down, so that results in falling a lot of times, but it doesn't even phase him! He just gets up and does it again. Although the time change was a little rough, he still sleeps great at night going to bed between 7:30-8 and getting up between 6:30-7:00. Naps are still hit and miss. He usually takes about a one hour nap in the morning and 2-2 1/2 hour nap in the afternoon. He still loves to eat -- which isn't a big surprise! He loves his bottle and gets so excited when he sees it! We are also pretty much done with puree food and doing table food whenever possible. We are also starting to introduce a sippy cup and trying to find which one will work the best for Cam. Cameron is also babbling up a storm and we love to hear his voice when he is "talking" to us. I can't wait to watch his words get more and more prevalent and hear his little voice come through. Overall, it was another fabulous month! Cameron Casey, thank you for being our sweet, fun loving, happy boy! We love you!

Girls Morning Out

My mom treated Hannah and I to another year at the Big Bear Brunch today! As much fun as we had last year, this year was even better! We sat with some of our good family friends and enjoyed a morning of eating, playing, seeing characters and just having fun. Hannah seemed to enjoy the different stations and had fun decorating a cookie, making a picture holder, coloring and making a key chain with a bear charm on it. Most of all, Hannah LOVED seeing the characters this year, especially Elmo! Although she never did get a picture with him, every time she went to see him, she got closer and more excited. By the end, she even touched his nose and eyes! I think we have heard that every day since the Big Bear Brunch! We had such a fun morning and want to thank Nonnie for giving us this really special treat. What a great kick-off to the Christmas season!

Hannah and her new Build-a-Bear from the brunch.

Hannah with two of the princesses (the one in pink is a family friend we've known since she was born!)

Nonnie and Hannah

Mommy and Hannah

We are Grateful

We had such a fabulous Thanksgiving and the days surrounding it. Tuesday evening we headed up to Kyle and Nikki's in Lake Mills, WI for 4 1/2 days of fun with Tim's family. As previously mentioned, we were super excited to meet our nephew, Jordan, for the first time! But we were also excited for some low key family days, watching the Pack on Thanksgiving, Black Friday shopping and seeing Tim's extended family. It was such a great few days and we made some great memories with Tim's family. Here is my favorite picture of the trip -- the whole Casey family ready to watch the Green Bay Packers.

The St. Louis Casey's have so much to be thankful for this year. We have a wonderful marriage that continues to get stronger every day. We can truly say that we are married to our best friend and love spending every day together. We have two beautiful, healthy, loving kids that make us more and more proud everyday. We are continually amazed that God has blessed us as their parents. We have family that continue to support us in all our decisions and love us despite our flaws. We have friends who are always there for us when needed, celebrate with us when good things happen, and share a love for God that keeps our bonds strong. We have jobs that not only provide for our family but that allow us to share God's love with those around us. There is so much more, so I will end in saying that simply, we are grateful. Happy Thanksgiving!

Uncle Tim & Aunt Liz

Tim and I were so excited when we got the news that Tim's sister, Nikki and her husband were about to have their baby on November 11, 2011...yes, that is 11-11-11! We were even more excited when we got the text that Jordan Timothy Berg was born at 9:27 am, weighed 7 lb. 12 oz. and was 20.5 in. long. We loved seeing his precious picture on our phones and could not wait to get our hands on him during Thanksgiving! Kyle and Nikki graciously hosted Thanksgiving for Tim's immediate family so we spent lots of time with our new nephew, Jordan. We are so proud of Kyle and Nikki and thrilled that Hannah and Cameron have a new cousin.

Pull Ups

So, it shouldn't really surprise me that our Mister Man decided to start pulling up at 7 1/2 months, even though Hannah was 9-10 months old when she did it. It just proves once again how stinkin' strong Cameron is! We are going to have a walker on our hands in no time! So crazy! Here is Cam standing in his crib -- right before we lowered it! :-)

Our Adoption Day

Today is our Casey family adoption day! This morning, we headed to St. Louis for Cameron's finalization hearing and to make him an "official" member of the Casey family! We have been under the supervision of Bethany Christian Services for the last six months and that all ended today. It is also National Adoption Day so that makes our day extra special. One Saturday a year, St. Louis County opens up for Adoption Saturday for the sole purpose of adoption finalizations. They have three or four courtrooms open and that's all they do! Today, they did about 40! How awesome that so many families chose adoption for their families. This process has been so incredible for our family and clearly God's plan for us. We are so blessed that God chose Cameron to be our son and it feels great to have the whole process completed. We can't wait to see if God has more adoptions in store for our future. In the meantime, we love being the Casey family of four!

Bath Time for All!

Up to this point, Cameron has basically tolerated getting cleaned at bath time. It usually consists of us dunking him in the tub long enough to clean him off while Hannah plays next to him. However, now that he is able to sit up better, tonight's bath time was much more fun. Cameron sat right next to Hannah and played the whole tim he was in the tub. Hannah quickly ga ve him a rubber ducky to chew on and he was set! I hope this is just the beginning of fun bath times between Hannah and Cam!

Oh, and of course our clean little ones all snuggled up in their towels. How cute is that?!?

The Big 3-0!

Tim entered a new decade and turned 30 today! The original plan was to celebrate with some of our small group from church at one of Tim's favorite STL eateries as a surprise, however those plans changed when I needed my appendix out earlier in the week. Bummer! Instead, Hannah and I made yellow cupcakes with chocolate filling and chocolate icing and topped them off with a 3-0 candle. As soon as Hannah saw the set up, she couldn't wait for her Daddy to get home! She kept saying "Happy Birthday to Daddy" and "Surprise for Daddy" until Tim walked through the door. While it wasn't extravagant, we had a great family night at home celebrating Tim.

I am so thankful that Tim is in my life and beyond blessed to call him my husband. Our 20s were spent falling in love and beginning our family together. I can't wait to see what will come in our 30s! Tim, We love you so much!

Seven Months of Strength

I feel like every month creeps up quicker than the last with our baby boy. And it seems like the constant theme with Cameron is his size and strength. We went to the doctor this week and our not-so-little guy weighs in at 23 lb. and 28 3/4" -- that is over the 90th percentile for both weight and height! Wow! He is going to pass up his big sister in no time! The doctor says that everything looks great and Cam is one healthy and happy boy. He also continues to amaze us with his strength and mobility. He sits unassisted all the time and very rarely falls over. He can even gracefully slide to his belly to start moving when ready. Speaking of moving, Cameron is everywhere! Although he still doesn't crawl the correct way, he scoots and drags himself all over the place without any problem at all. We have also had our first taste at sibling disagreements because Cameron is so active. He could have a plethera of his own toys, but nevertheless, he wants to play with Hannah's. Sometimes, this is not a problem, but at other times, it starts a small meltdown with his big sis. I think this is the first of many experiences we will encounter. Other than that, things are about the same. Cameron loves to eat his food and especially drink his bottle. He also babbles all the time and continues to be one loud baby! It will be fun to see how this continues in the coming months. It's been another great month and we look forward to the next!

There Once was a Princess and a Dragon

I was really excited for Halloween this year becuase I thought it would be really fun to find some sort of "matching" costumes for the kids. While at a Carter's outlet one day, I saw some cute princess stuff on sale and decided we would have our very own fairy tale story of the princess and the dragon. I then found a super cute dragon costume at Gymboree (which I had a gift card for) and we were set! Our day started out with my parents bringing the kids to my school for the parade and my class party. Hannah and Cameron were the hit of the party and my 6th graders loved them! The weather was nice for the parade in which the kids peacfully rode along in the stroller. Then we headed upstairs to my classroom. Hannah got a plate full of goodies, and Cameron got passed around almost the whole time. They had a blast!

After naptime, some playing, and a Jack-O-Latern pizza, we were off to Trick-or-Treat. Again, we just did the short part of our culd-e-sac, but that was plenty for our fairy tale characters. Once we got home, Hannah enjoyed handing out candy about as much as getting it. It was a fun night and I think it will just get more and more fun every year!

I also have to add these two pictures of our "Adoraboo" son and "Little Pumpkin" daughter! Man...they both look so big!!!

The Quest for 11

Our St. Louis Cardinals had quite the season this year and for us fans it was full of ups and downs. In August, our post-season hopes were slim and most fans were talking about next season. However, the Cards made a historic run and came from 10.5 games back and squeaked into the post-season as the Wild Card team. And it wasn't over there. The Cardinals continued to win each series and became the National League champions. Onto the World Series! It was an exciting series, especially game 6 which will live on in baseball history. After winning their 11th World Series, Cardinal Nation came out in full force for a celebratory parade. My parents and I went to this in 2006 and we decided it was a must for our family. This afternoon, we all made the trip downtown for the parade. My parents scoped out the beginning of the parade route, or actually the "pre-parade" route and it was a perfect spot for our family. He had a great time cheering on our Redbirds and seeing them with their families.

Six Month Stud

Six months -- half a year -- I truly can't believe it! Cameron is starting to really come into his own personality. And it is one that we just love! For the most part, he is one happy, smiley, fun-loving boy. While he still gets fussy when he's over tired or ready to eat,. the rest of the time he is happy. What makes his personality really show are his expressions. He has the most expressive eyes that shine when he is happy! Cam is still our big boy! We don't go to the doctor until next month, but he is pushing just over 20 lbs. according to our estimate. Our son doesn't miss too many meals! Right now, he can squeeze into some 6-9 month clothes, but 12 month definitely fit better. He takes 4 bottles a day and each have 7 oz. for a total of 28/day. He also eats three meals a day including cereal for breakfast, and both a veggie and fruit for both lunch and dinner. He continues to sleep great at night going to bed around 7:30-8:00 and is up between 7:00-7:30 the next morning. Naps still aren't super consistent, but we get by with a short one in the morning and a longer one in the afternoon. Cameron also continues to amaze us with his strength. He is sitting up pretty well unassisted and only topples over when he is getting tired. He has also now figured out how to scoot himself across the floor to get where he wants go and what he wants in his hands. He will lift himself up into a push up position and propel his body forward to move. I don't think it really matters that he isn't "officially crawling" because I think he is going to start going fast here soon. We continue to be amazed at our beautiful baby boy and feel blessed to call him our son!