Lots of pictures, little text

It's not always easy to find time to blog with two little ones. So here's some quick pictures with as little explanation as possible.

Gotta keep the cement short, right?

Being home is awesome

Henry and Harrison are getting along pretty well so far, but Harrison has a lot to learn about being gentle with his brother. Harrison rolls out of bed in the morning and says "Baby?" Then he runs into Henry's room, points at him and enthusiastically says "baby!" Then he hold his pointer finger over his lips and says "shhh!"

Kisses - in video form!

Laura and Henry headed home from the hospital last Thursday and everything has been going great. So far, so good. Henry is a great sleeper, which is making nights pretty easy for mom and dad.

Now some pictures!

Pool time for Harrison

Looking back a little bit, we did our best to make sure Harrison had a great time in the weeks before Henry was born. Harrison started to understand that he had a baby joining him soon and he'd kiss Laura's belly whenever we told him to give his brother a kiss.

We also took Harrison to the county fair just before Henry was born. He loved seeing all the cows and horses and pigs he sees in books in person. Harrison screamed the first time he saw a horse at the fair and spent the bulk of his time there pointing wildly at all the livestock.

We also took Harrison out to Olbrich Gardens in Madison for some portraits, a much more difficult task now that he's fully mobile. Here are the highlights.

On Being Henry

Henry Peter Corsten is named for Laura's Grandpa Henry Franz, who liked to whittle and play the accordion. Craig never met him, but Laura was awful fond of him. Peter, to those who don't know, is Laura's dad.

Young Henry doesn't share a birthday with a lot of famous people, but some of the highlights are French Impressionist Painter Edgar Degas, accused murderer Lizzie Borden, former presidential candidate George McGovern and a MLB pitcher-turned-outfielder, Rick Ankiel, famous for completely forgetting how to pitch in the middle of a playoff game. That's a mixed bag right there.

More importantly, Henry is a great name that has been bestowed upon a pretty admirable group of people as a given name and as a surname.

Henry Fonda and his famous role as Tom Joad in "The Grapes of Wrath."


American folk hero, John Henry.


Baseball legend - and the greatest Milwaukee player of all time -
Henry "Hammerin' Hank" Aaron.

Also, American Philosopher, Henry David Thoreau and a slew of guys named Henry that ruled England.

Henry fresh out of the womb.

Henry and Laura getting to know each other.

Henry with Grandma Kathy.

Henry with Grandma Cindy and Grandpa Phil.

Craig is a proud papa x 2.

Bonding with mom.

Showing off his hair.

Meeting his Aunt Liz and his cousins' Abby and Ben.

Henry Peter Corsten = born

Henry Peter Corsten completed his gestation today at 7:43 a.m. Weighed in at 8 lbs, 1 oz and measured 20 1/4 inches. Mother and baby are doing great.

Harrison seems to be doing well, too.

The waning days before the arrival of out next child

But mother, I do not expect to enjoy this ride on the propane locomotive!

Greetings! Since we have last spoken much has happened in our happy household! Some weeks back, we traveled north to Green Bay. Green Bay was originally settled by the native American Winnebago Indians, but later settled by the fur-trading French, who called Green Bay Baie des Puants - or Bay of the Stinkers, a name made appropriate by the smells emanating from the marshy shores. During the course of our trip we attended a surprise retirement party! It was a surprise, indeed! Much fun was had by all! The ensuing morning we brought young Harrison to Bay Beach Amusement Park for the first time. The park is owned by the city of Green Bay and despite the smells of the neighboring bay, it was a popular swimming hole at one point! To think!

Young Harrison was not enraptured by the idea of rides costing a mere quarter - but in daguerreotypes to follow one will see Harrison became more and more pleased with his situation as time progressed!

What a wonderful invention this horse-less buggy is!

The Wright Brothers and their discovery of flight are truly gifts from the Heavens!

Upon our return to pleasant Lake Mills we took yet another ride in a propane powered locomotive! This time at the Henry Vilas Zoological Park in our highly esteemed state capital of Madison! What a fine park - and what a fine city! We did this in celebration of Father's Day, which our Serbian brothers call "Paterice."

Father? Are you pleased with this turtle I have found?

Harrison enjoyed the many fauna the park had to offer, and was particularly enamored with this Galapagos-sized testudine he wrangled. What excitement for the young man!

Harrison also had a splendid time at the children's petting area, where he had yet another splendid time ensuring the goats nutritional needs were met. What majestic - and outgoing creatures - the caprinae are!


Using our motion picture camera, mother was able to capture for your enjoyment, the glee young Harrison experienced while feeding the goats! Unfortunately, a group of howling hooligan Gibbons drown out Harrison's screams of delight in the moving pictures!

Last weekend we returned to Howards Grove to witness the wedding vows of our good friends, Kara and Justus. Craig was honored to be the best man and fulfilled his duties to the best of his ability, including reading aloud the telegrams from those who could not attend. Laura, who is with baby to the better of eight months, looked positively radiant! Harrison wore a dapper shirt with a cage-ball on it, but alas, did not attend.

We leave you with this fine family portrait - and the knowledge that the next time you hear from us our next child shall have completed his gestation! Godspeed to you and your kin!

And we're back...

One has to go all the way back to March to find our last post with pictures. We've got a new memory card reader, so there's a lot of catching up to do. We spent Easter weekend in Howards Grove with the Franz family. Here's the family with Harrison doing his best to wiggle out of the photo.

Harrison is a total ham for the camera. Craig asked him if he wanted his picture taken and this is the result of that.

We went up to Howards Grove again a few weeks after Easter when Aunt Carol and Uncle Alex were visiting from Washington, D.C. Harrison had a great time sitting and playing out in the Franz family beer garden. Unlike some other cousins of his, Harrison exhibits no fear of his Grandpa Pete.

A few weeks back Grandma and Grandpa Corsten came to visit. We went to the Milwaukee Public Market for lunch and then headed over to the Lakefront Brewery where Grandma and Grandpa were forced to drink beer with flavor.

Since we're moderately cheap we don't like turning on the air conditioning. Harrison loves running around the house in nothing but a diaper when the heat gets to be too much. Fortunately for him he can pull off the look. He's sitting in his cool new rocking chair Laura found him to match the farm decor of his new bedroom (more on that later).

Harrison no longer uses the tray on his high chair and sits at the table like a big boy. He also eats his yogurt very carefully.

Craig went to a weekend of Brewers' games in Milwaukee a few weeks ago, so Aunt Lizzie came up with Ben and Abby and the crew went to the Farmer's Market in Madison and over to the Vilas Zoo. Harrison enjoyed it even more this time as he's starting to "get it."

With a new baby on the way, we decided it was a good idea to get Harrison into his new bedroom as soon as possible. Since he loves barns and animals, Laura painted his room in a farm theme with some cute animals on the wall. He loves it.

Over Memorial Day weekend we went "camping" with the Franz family in Portage. Harrison got all scraped up from falling on the gravel and wanted nothing to do with the pool (see what I mean by "camping"). But we found out he loves squirt guns and water balloons.



While camping we took a day trip to Wisconsin Dells to ride the Ducks - those amphibious vehicles that tour the Wisconsin River. Harrison slept pretty much the whole time. He wasn't very interested.

Harrison spent most of the camping weekend following around and imitating his cousin, Ben. Ben was pretty much oblivious to it. Ben's a pretty good kid, so we suppose Harrison could do a lot worse than imitating him.

Finally, Memorial Day marked Harrison's first night in his big boy bed. He went right to sleep and slept through the night, save for two falls out of the bed. We're working on finding a rail that will fit his strange bed, but it's a pretty small fall to the floor. So it makes a pretty loud bang when he falls out, but the bark is worse than the bit.