the adventures of Fisher and his Family

new blog for both boys

2009-06-17T20:44:00.000-07:00

check out this link and update your Reader...

http://fishfaceandsoybean.blogspot.com/

I hope to be there often!

a new accomplishment!

2008-10-10T14:58:00.000-07:00

When I came home today, Fisher and Daddy were outside enjoying the beautiful weather (I love the Fall!!). Fisher learned something new that fits in the "big boy" category. Here it is in pictures:

Dave said he showed him just a few times, then he did it about a hundred times today! Fisher was so proud of himself-you can tell in this short video clip...

How do they learn these things?-part 2

2008-09-20T07:03:00.000-07:00

Fisher's new favorite thing to say right now is "Uhh" before he answers your question.
As in-"Fisher, what song do you want to sing?"
"Uhhhh-Sunshine!"
"Fisher, what do you want to eat?"
"Uhhhh-chicken!"

It really is too funny, but I can't figure out where he picked it up.

and other things-

"You are My Sunshine" is Fisher's current fave to sing when we cuggle. I love singing it because he repeats the last word of every line :).
-sunshine
-sunshine
-happy
-gray
-dear
-love you
-take
-away!

When we go outside lately, we have to look for 'hoppers-as in grasshoppers. I'm not sure about anyone else, but we have some monster hoppers in our yard! The other evening while Dave was cutting the grass, he saw a huge one and I caught it (ew!!) and put it in Fisher's bug box so he could get a up close view...

a few things I forgot...

2008-09-05T19:12:00.000-07:00

I have to add a few more things that Fisher is up to.

The mess Fisher makes in his room (that I referred to in my last post) is NEVER created by him. Anytime you ask him how his room got to be a mess or who threw toys down the basement stairs-his answer-"Schwartz-y" (our cat!). So I say, "Schwartz-y, huh?" and his response is always-"Ye-ahhh" as if to say of course it was Schwartz! I took him to the store tonight and he kocked something off of a shelf. Schwartz-y did it. :)
Fisher knows about half of his letters. He loves bringing them to us and telling which one he has. I recently got him the Leap Frog alphabet that is really cool-it sings "B says buh, B says buh, every letter makes a sound, B says buh!" He really likes it-when he's not raking the letters off the fridge, then blaming it on Schwartz-
y!
One of my favorite things that Fisher does right now is when we cuggle before bed. We sing songs and he will reach over and touch both Dave and I and say, "Us." LOVE it!!
The songs in our nightly repertoire include: Itsy Bitsy Spider, Row Row Row Your Boat, You are My Sunshine, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Hey Good Lookin', and we also say our numbers and letters.
Fisher also wants Schwartz-y to cuggle with us. If the cat isn't already in bed, Fisher will call loudly, "SCHWARTZ-Y!! -Are you?!?" And usually Schwartz makes his way in.
Fisher got to see-and hold (eek-squeeze!) his first real fuzzy caterpillar today. He loves the book The Very Hungry Caterpillar, so it was neat for him to see a real one. I'm hoping the fuzzy friend survived the encounter. I put him back on the bush where I found him, but FIsher isn't the gentle-est of holders. He was moving when we left him, so I'm going to trust he'll be okay.
I let Fisher do some painting tonight. He loved it and I'm betting we'll do it often!

Fisher and his Mom are up to...

2008-08-30T06:17:00.000-07:00

I'm such a bad blogger, but life is so BUSY right now!! As I said in my previous post, I'm taking classes for my Master's. School has also been in full swing now for over 2 weeks (23!! kiddos as opposed to 16 last year). And, if you have the time to read to the END of this post, I'll have more on my busy-ness for you to find out about :).

As for Fisher...he seems to learn more each day! And when I say "learn", that doesn't always mean it's positive and productive ;-). For example, he has learned the fine art of the full-blown temper tantrum. Lucky for me, this usually happens around 4:00-right when I get home. It's usually due to no nap all day. He has decided that it's more fun to play. And since he doesn't have a crib, he just gets up and does what he pleases. But it's not limited to no-nap days. I have come home to find him napping-and me being relieved! But when he wakes up-he is mister CRABBY pants anyway. His tntrums consist of us trying to figure out what he wants-milk, banana, fruit snacks. Fisher will say he wants the offered object, but then screams it away. He lays on the floor kicking, screaming, and crying. It certainly is a practice in patience! We usually try to wait him out (about 20 minutes!) because picking him up just makes it worse. When he finally comes around, he's back to the funny, sweet boy who loves to play. I've been told this is a phase-and phases pass, so I guess we'll just wait it out!

I taught Fisher how to throw things in the trash can. Big mistake. The other day I found 3 cars, a cup, and some letters from the fridge sitting right on top. Fisher has the singing Leap Frog alphabet, and I'm afraid the "J" is lost forever. There is a chance he threw it down the basement steps (another new game he has taught himself...), but we haven't found it yet. Maybe the cats have batted it around somewhere. If it is truly lost, I guess he'll never learn the letter J...

Fisher has learned how to destroy his room. And this is what it looks like (and the hall outside his door) if left to his own devices for long enough...

Oh well-I'm sure it's fun. He is at an age where he can kind of help clean up, so I assign him a category (like animals) and he manages to get all of those toys put away while I do everything else. I'm looking at it as bonding and learning time right now. We'll see how long that lasts :).

We got Fisher an easel a few weeks ago. He loves it! One side is a chalk board, the other is dry erase. I just got him some paint, chunky brushes, and "no-spill" cups (we'll see about that one!). I need to get something to cover the floor then we're ready to go! He painted at the Magic House a while ago ad didn't want to stop! I'm sure it will be a hit.

Fisher likes sharing his Cheerios...

He enjoys wearing other's shoes...

Fisher has discovered that he has control over his door...and he knocks when he wants to get out!

And he has discovered that closets are are a great place to play hide and seek!

Thanks for reading this far...If you want to know more about what I've been up to, click here and check out my new blog! I know...you might be thinking-she's starting ANOTHER blog!?! But you'll see why when you go there!

reason or excuse?

2008-07-29T21:35:00.000-07:00

I am taking two classes for my master's degree right now. That is my reason (excuse?) for not updating this blog. Shame on me!! This is my journal of Fisher and how he's growing and changing. I know that if I don't update it, I will never fully remember these amazing times. First-I have to say that the transition to 2-years old has been a big one. Here are some bullets:

I finally took Fisher's strapped-to-the-chair booster seat off and he is officially a "phone-book-boy". He does really well, I just have to make sure I am always sitting next to him because if he decides he's "all done", he'll just try to get down. In a normal chair, this might not be a big deal, but we have the tall pub-style chairs and if he slides down, he might hurt himself.
Fisher now drinks from an open glass ("gass") when we eat meals. He is so cute-he knows to use two hands and to go slow. He really thinks it's cool-I do too!
My "baby" has not used his pacifier since July 18th. Daddy and I got him a real fish (a Betta) for his birthday and it sits right next to his bed. He LOVES him-we named him Bruce (after the shark in Finding Nemo). That night, he asked for his "sassy"->paci->pacifier. I said-you're a big boy now-you can watch Bruce to help you fall to sleep. He fussed for a BIT, and by the time I was to the door he was quiet. And I didn't hear a peep after that. The hardest transition has been at nap time, but he gets over it pretty quickly. He asks for it almost every time he goes down to sleep, but I remind him he's a big boy and that's all it takes! It has been much easier than I thought it would be.
I've put Fisher on the potty a few times-and he doesn't mind sitting there-but I don't think he gets it yet.
We put together Fisher's toddler bed last week. He was super interested during the whole assembly (and dis-assembly of the crib) process. Fisher wanted NOTHING to do with the bed once it was all set up-screamed running out of the room! We had to coax Lucy to get on his bed before Fisher decided to try it out. He didn't nap in it that day (friend's birthday party), or the next day (Botannical Gardens for Gramma's birthday), or the next day (went to Gramma's so we could get ready for his party on Saturday), OR the next day (HIS birthday party). But each of those nights were amazing! NO paci, and he went right to sleep like he's been sleeping in that bed forever. The first struggle came at Sunday's nap time. He cried for an HOUR-mixed in with me going in reassuring him that he was a big boy and it was nap time. When he was finally quiet for a good amount of time, I peeked in and saw him curled up on his floor with some toys. I wish I had taken a picture! I gently picked him up and put him in his bed-he stayed asleep! The next day's nap-cried for 3o minutes. The next day, he cried-NOT AT ALL!! He stayed in his bed and talked to Pablo, and soon just fell asleep. I hope this is not jinxing anything...
At Fisher's 2-year check up, he is 3o and 1/2 inches tall (which if you believe in those height predictors-double their height at 2 years old-Fisher will be 5'1"...poor kid-I hope that's wrong!). He also weighs a WHOPPING 2o.8 pounds (a gain of o.5 ounces from the 18 month check up)! Needless to say, the doctor was curious about his apetite and eating habits. In my opinion, Fisher is a pretty good eater. The doc suggested beefing up the calories by adding things like pudding and Ensure to his diet. Problem is, he doesn't like pudding (what!?!) or the strawberry-flavored Ensure I got for him. I tried to mix the Ensure with milk, now he doesn't want to drink milk-he thinks I'm trying to trick him! We'll see...
and file this under "Just because he's NEVER done it, doesn't mean he'll NEVER do it". The other day my Mom called and I was on the phone for less than 1o minutes. I heard Fisher playing, but it didn't occur to me that I had left the bathroom door open. We never close the bathroom door. After I got off the phone, I found him in the bathroom having a GREAT time putting EVERYthing in my make-up drawer one-by-one into the TOILET!! Needless to say, I've done a lot of replacing of items. I couldn't really get mad-I'm sure it ws a lot of fun. I can even laugh about it now. We keep the door closed now.

I can't choose which pics to post so I decided to make another slideshow. **Michelle-there are pics of Fisher's room as requested (better late than never, right!).

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Bubby

2008-07-19T20:27:00.000-07:00

To my sweet Bubby-

It's hard to believe that just two short years ago, you came into this world and changed my life in the most amazing and wonderful of ways. Two years ago at this time you were only just over 3 hours old, yet it was hard for me to remember what life was like without you.

You have changed so much and you amaze me all the time with your sense of humor, cuteness, and intelligence.

The past two years have been amazing watching you grow and change. I can't wait to see what you have in store for us next.

Love, Mommy

numbers

2008-06-30T08:00:00.000-07:00

We have a routine of singing the ABC's when we brush teeth. Now I've started counting to 10 as I change his diaper. Both are a good distraction for him so I can get what I need done. Fisher will count with me now, and every so often he says the next number before I do! And for some reason, he has to yell most of the numbers :). I love the way he says 7, and I had to include the end where I try to get him to do it again-too funny! thx for watchin'!

reasons being a mom is marvelous...

2008-06-28T18:43:00.000-07:00

It was nights like tonight that I have envisioned motherhood to be like.

During our cuggle time before I put Fisher to bed, I sang a few songs to him. I'll admit that I don't have the best singing voice (or even A singing voice), but he says YAY! after every song. One of my favorites to sing is the Itsy Bitsy Spider and I do little hand motions. Tonight was the first time he tried to imitate the movements.

He also asked for my hand and held it close to him (while my heart was melting). I sure do love that kid!!

a typical conversation

2008-06-20T20:58:00.000-07:00

I feel like Fisher's first sentence is right around the corner. He may not speak in full sentences yet, but he sure does know how to carry on a conversation. Here is a pretty typical example:

F-'rari

Me-that's your Ferari (it's from the movie Cars)

F-red

Me-yes-it's red

F-open

Me-who let you open the ferari?

F-uh'den

Me-uncle Den let you open that ferari?

F-yah

F-eyes

Me-he has eyes

F-yah

aaaand...repeat this SAME conversation multiple times a day-just insert a different car/toy. If you aren't really paying attention or don't engage fast enough, he will repeat repeat repeat & REPEAT until you respond so he can move onto the next phase. And if Dave and I are both in the room/area, he will repeat until we have both respoded.

And a little background on the ferari. As I had posted back in April, my brother has this "thing" with not letting Luke open some of his Cars cars and other "Matchbox"-type cars-thinking they'll be worth something someday. A few weeks ago, Fisher found this Cars ferari still in the package. He asked me, Missy, anyone who would listen, to open it. Everyone told him to ask Uncle Den-who actually said yes! Fisher slept with the 'rari that night and it was "the" toy he had to have for the next few days-and so began the conversation dictated above...

new best friend

2008-06-20T19:52:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures I just *had* to post of Fisher with his new best friend, Pablo. Fisher got Pablo on our last trip to Toys-r-Us 2 days ago. He literally has not let him out of his sight since. Pablo came to Red Lobster for Papa's birthday last night. Pablo came to Kohl's tonight. I ran into a co-worker and her husband in the check out at Kohl's and I tried to get Fisher to say hi or give some acknowledgement. He gave them nothing until they noticed he had Pablo. Their grandkids love Backyardigans too, so they asked Fisher who he had-"PAH-BO!!" They talked with him about the other characters and Fisher totally opened up. He loves his Pah-bo!

TT

2008-06-20T19:32:00.000-07:00

is for Temper Tantrums! And Fisher has been having quite a few lately. He seems to save them more for me-which usually includes him trying to bite me or hit me. We're working through it-and I'm *hoping* it's just a phase. And while on the topic of tantrums, Fisher is not the most fun to shop with lately. Grocery shopping is okay-as long as we go to Schnucks because they let "babies" have a cookie while we shop. What a great investment of 41 cents for Schnucks! That 41 cent cookie has allowed me to spend so much more $$$ in that store since 1 cookie is pretty much able to occupy Fisher for our entire trip. It's when we go to stores like Target where he tends to loose it. I seem to remember posting back in December about how easy it still was to shop with him during Christmas time. I also admitted that I knew a day would come when shopping would not be such a pleasant experience. Here we are. We went to Target the other day to go shopping for Lucas. I didn't find what I was looking for, but I did find a few (Cars) things for Fisher's birthday. Problem was-he wanted them all now. Then we had to go to Toys-r-Us (and I found what I was looking for for Lucas), but we saw more Cars toys and books, and a stuffed Pablo (from the Backyardigans-if you didn't know). We left with Pablo-of course! I'm such a push-over...

new stuff

2008-06-06T14:44:00.000-07:00

It's been too long (gee...I think I've blogged that before...). I really need to do a better job with this blog-seeing as how my main purpose is to chronicle Fisher's development and goings-on. Sooo-

~A few weeks ago, we went to Eliot's 2nd birthday party-which had a Backyardigans theme. I had heard of this show, but never had seen it. Katie made a very cute "Pablo" cake, and Eliot sent his guests home with a treat bag filled with Backyardigans loot. I let Fisher play with the cards, and since I only knew Pablo, that's who I introduced him to. The next time the show came on, I recorded it for him. Fisher was hooked the very first time he watched it. We have several episodes on the Moxi, and when we let him watch, he loves to dance to the theme song (and other songs in the show) and he is glued to the TV. It actually makes me wonder what kind of subliminal messages Nickelodeon has put in the background. Hmmmm. And here's a short video of Fisher as he dances to the show-opener.

~A few days ago, it wasn't insanely hot, so Dave and I took Fisher to our local park and I got some cute pictures to share. Even though the temp wasn't too bad, the equipment was HOT! So no tunnel, swing, or slide play-we just walked around the lake, talked to the geese, looked at the cannon (that Fisher insisted was a tractor), and played with some rocks.

~Fisher loves his lawnmower. When he asks to go outside, it's so he can play with his lawnmower. Luke has one just like it, and the last time we were there, Fisher did laps around (the outside of) the pool. It gets to the point at times where we have a mini-tantrum on our hands of he can't go outside-or has to come back inside.

~Fisher is obsessed with eyes right now. He loves to point out my eyes, Daddy's eyes, the cats' eyes, the eyes on his Cars cars. Weird.

~Fisher really likes watermelon

and pizza.

~A few nights ago there was another occupant in Fisher's bed when I went to put him down for the night.

Fisher thought it was great! But Lucy soon got kicked out and it was time for bed.

and to end this post in one of Fisher's favorite phrases-Later Mater!!

This really was not my intent-I swear!

2008-05-22T20:24:00.000-07:00

My husband Dave has changed his appearance quite a bit since we've been together-but the most dramatic changes have happened within the last 9 months (of the over 9 years that we have been together).

Here we are in November of 2oo5. I know I said we've been together for over 9 years, but this was the quickest pic I could find to illustrate the transformation. When we got together, Dave's hair actually went to about the middle of his back.

And here we are at our wedding in March of 2oo6. He had it cut to shoulder length.

Then in September of last year, he shocked me with this one...

We got up one morning, and he said he was going to run an errand. He was being really secretive and wouldn't tell me what he was doing. When he came back, I was SHOCKED! Dave had been saying for weeks that he was going to get his hair chopped, but he kept chickening out. I would tease him every time. I never thought I would see his neck like this. It might be hard to tell, but in the picture above, he is holding his senior picture-where he had the exact same hair cut!

And then when I came home on Wednesday...he walked out of the front door looking like this

WOAH!! He had been saying for a week or two that he was just going to buzz his hair. I begged him not to-I just couldn't imagine it!! But you know what? I really like it. I think he looks about 10 years younger! SO-as for the title of this post-when we got together, my intent was never to "tame" him by taming the hair. Actually, before each transformation I would almost DIScourage him because I was worried about the end result. But I ended up liking each one.

By the way...I was thinking that I need a haircut now. I really liked the way my hair looked in the November of 'o5 picture above. What do you think-should I go for it?

And also-Dave got me the Wii Fit for Mother's Day and it came yesterday...I'll be posting about it soon. But for now, it's so much FUN!!

Re-post of Pics

2008-05-18T19:01:00.000-07:00

In my last post, I said I was playing around with "slideshows". That one really bothered me because the layout of blogger was cutting off the right side of the pictures. I used One True Media again and made a "montage" (I don't like that word for some reason) of the same pics. If you a ready saw them once, ignore this post...

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

How do they learn these things?

2008-05-18T18:55:00.000-07:00

So Fisher is already a comedian. His joke of choice? Poo-poo jokes! Anytime he randomly says HEAVY, HIDING, or UCKY and you ask, "What's HEAVY/HIDING/UCKY, Fisher?" His response-"Poo-poo!" with this silly grin on his face!! Seriously-I do NOT know where he got this from. The "ucky" probably comes from diaper changing-as best as I can guess. But the heavy and hiding-no clue. He's already a "boy telling poo-poo jokes"!

7 for Fisher

2008-05-06T21:41:00.000-07:00

This is a hard one...It seems like more of an update on 7 new things Fisher is doing right now.

1~Lemons. He loves them. When we go to a restaurant, I order ice water with lemon. As SOON as he sees the lemon, he has to have it! He will try to put the whole thing in his mouth, which usually means his tries to eat the peel too. Rather than try to fish the peeling out of his mouth (and risk getting bit by a screaming toddler), I peel the section like and orange and just give it to him. He eats the whole thing with hardly a pucker! Anyone at the table puckers-but he just wants more :-).

2~Fisher's bedtime is SO easy. I hope this doesn't come off as bragging, but he truly is amazing in this department! He is usually in bed ASLEEP by no later than 7:45 (when we are at home). At 7:30, we brush teeth (while singing the ABC's-me, not him), change the diaper, get on jams, say night-night to Daddy and Mommy, then to bed**. Rarely do we even hear a PEEP after that! Sometimes we let him stay up a little later, but Fisher has this "switch" and when it's flipped we know he's had enough. He starts to get frustrated with his toys and throws temper tantrums. He's ready for bed, and goes willingly. He has always been like this. I attribute this to getting him on a regular feeding and sleeping schedule by 2 months old. So by my count, we've been doing good for about 20 months. I'm just keeping my fingers crossed for this to continue well into childhood-how naive am I???

3~Fisher's "stinker" sense of humor is starting to come through. He got a Sarge jeep (from the movie Cars) for Easter. By default, any vehicle that is not a car is a truck (or "kuk") to Fisher. Sarge is his first jeep. When he first got it, I tried to teach him the difference. I would say jeep-he would say kuk...back and forth-back and forth. A few days later, he showed me Sarge and said, "beep!". I was so excited-yeah bud! that's a jeep!! He looked at me, smiled, and said "kuk" then laughed!! Stinker!! Now it's a game. Every time he finds Sarge, we have the same beep/kuk exchange :o). Fisher has had (Taco Bell) soft tacos twice. I cut it up and he really likes it. Now, if we ask him what he wants for dinner, he says "caco!". Oh-you want a taco? He then smiles an says "NO!"

4~I'm sure this next one is a stage that all kids go through, but it CRACKS ME UP!! Fisher is Mr. Pete-Repeat. He will say the last word of whatever you say. And speaking of repeating, it's really funny when he says things that you know he's picked up from you on his own. Like the other morning, Dave was still in bed, but Fisher thought he was in the basement. He sat at the top of the steps saying "Oney!" over and over again. It took me a few minutes to realize he was doing what I do-I stand at the top of the stairs and say "Honey!" when I need Dave and don't feel like going downstairs. Too cute, right??

5~Right now, Fisher could live on chicken nuggets and oatmeal. Don't get me wrong, he eats other things-loves **vegetables, as a matter of fact-but "ah-tum" is his FAVORITE breakfast, and "kah-kin" is his favorite lunch/dinner. This could change as quickly as tomorrow, though. He definitely goes through food phases. Strawberries were a real hit for a while, now he acts like he never wants them. Same thing with blueberries and grilled cheese. One day I made him a whole grilled cheese for lunch (thinking I would eat what he didn't) and he ate the WHOLE thing. Two days later, he wouldn't even eat 1/4 of it. Go figure!

**edited to add**Fisher stayed overnight with my parents a while ago and they took him to our "Sunday breakfast place"-which Fisher loves. My Mom had to call me to say that Fisher was loving the vegetable soup and SALAD! Yes-the kid loves salad. I never knew a not-yet-2-year-old would even try salad, much less love it!!

**6~Fisher's new thing is to cuggle-a combination of the words cuddle and snuggle. Our new bedtime routine is to cuggle after brushing teeth. We read books and wind down from the day. He's such a little schemer though! Fisher uses cuggle if he gets in "trouble" or as an excuse to not take a nap. Sometimes when we cuggle, Fisher gets a little rowdy and likes to run around and jump on the bed. As soon as I say it's time to go to bed, he rushes back over to lay on the pillow saying, "cuggle cuggle cuggle". I love that kid!

7~Fisher still uses a pacifier. Only when he sleeps. I don't like it. I hope this isn't a hard habit to get rid of. I plan on phasing it out at nap time-"reasoning" with him that he will only get the "caci" at night time when the moon is out. He's pretty smart (I must say), so I hope this first step works. My goal is to have it gone completely by the time he's 2 (July 19)-or at the LATEST, by the time I go back to school in August. If anyone out there has any advice-please let me know!!

I've been tagged!

2008-04-13T08:26:00.000-07:00

Thanks, Katie...I figured if I would get tagged, it would be by you ;)! This "Seven Things About Me" tag game has been going around for a while and each time I read one, I would wonder what I would reveal if I got tagged. I've been thinking about it for a few days, so here goes...

1~I have a few superstitions-although I'm not sure if they are ALL superstitions. My main one is the "if you find a penny, pick it up...all day long you'll have good luck". I take it a few steps further. If I find a penny and it is heads DOWN, I do NOT pick it up. I heard somewhere (or maybe I just made it up...) that it would be BAD luck if it was heads down. Also, if I am wearing shoes that will allow it, I put the heads-up penny in my shoe. When I was younger, I would keep a penny I found in my shoe for a long time-days and days! The heads up thing is so important to me that when I put a good luck penny on my students' desks this Tuesday for MAP testing, I went back and made sure they were all heads up before they got in the room!! A couple other superstitions (that I'm not sure if they are really superstitions) are if my nose itches it means someone is thinking about me, and if my palm itches I will be getting :) or losing :( money soon.

2~For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to be a teacher. These pages are from my school memories book and if you click on them, you will see that (in my own handwriting) in Kindergarten and 1st grade I wanted to be a teacher. I think 2nd and 3rd grade, it was "babysitter" :). I had an internship as a senior in high school. I got to go to Bridgeway (where I went to school AND where I teach now) and work with my "old" 3rd grade teacher-who then taught 5th grade. The year that I was there, construction was completed on the new "wing" of the building that I now teach in!! My cooperating teacher, Mrs. Schott, got to move into one of the new rooms before the school year was over. I wouldn't have believed then that I would be teaching RIGHT NEXT DOOR a decade later. I recently found pictures of me with that group of kids-wild! The fashions...my hair! Bridgeway still has the same DARE officer from 16!!!! years ago and I happened to find a couple pictures of her too!

3~Tomatoes. Before I was pregnant, I hated-no, better word,LOATHED- tomatoes. Don't get me wrong-I was fine with the bi-products...ketchup, tomato sauce, spaghetti (?), etc. But tomatoes by themselves, on sandwiches, in salads-I ALWAYS picked them off. Even to the point where those around me would make fun of me. But at some point in my pregnancy, I had a BITE of a tomato on a sandwich and did not spit it out. Hmmmm...I kinda liked it. Much to my own embarrassment-because everyone I knew was astounded that not only did I tolerate tomatoes, but I would actually eat them solo! This appreciation has continued, and Fisher LOVES tomatoes to this day ;-).

4~My brother and I grew up as total opposites. I was very much a "don't rock the boat" kind of kid. I was a teacher's pet and loved school (go figure!), never got in trouble (unless you count when Den and I fought), and tried to smooth things over (unless you count when Den and I fought). My brother-HATED school and loved being a rule-breaker. He and I fought HORRIBLY growing up. In the short amount of time that we were home after school before Mom got home from work, we could really whip ourselves into a frenzy! I remember times when we would call her at work-each on of us on a different phone-yelling at her about what the other one had done. Many times she would just hang up on us...meanwhile we would keep yelling until we realized by the horrible tone that she had hung up. Our relationship is much better now. It's amazing what growing up can do!

5~I could never live anywhere besides here in St. Louis. Don't get me wrong, I think it would be a great adventure to move somewhere like here, here, near here or even here. It would be fun to get to experience a different part of the country and make new friends, but I would MISS my friends, family, and comforts of my hometown. It is so important to me to have Fisher form close bonds with his cousins. And Mawmaw and Pawpaw are so important to him-he LOVES them!! I would also really miss not being able to see Luke, Brandi, and Jack grow up.

6~Days of Our Lives...or to fans-Days...or to even bigger fans DOOL. "Like sands through the hourglass..." I have pretty faithfully watched that show for over TWENTY years. Yes, I'm one of "those". I really can't help it...it's in my genes. My Grandma (Mom's Mom) was a fan, my Mom IS a fan. I had no choice! It really is such a guilty pleasure, but it is a TOTAL escape from reality. I record it every day and watch a few eps every couple of "days" (ha!). It's fun though, because my Mom and I usually end up catching up over Sunday breakfast (boring Stan and Dave-"not that show AGAIN!!!"). We can't help it!

7~I've been writing this post for over a week! Mainly because I check up on about 50-yes-FIFTY-blogs a day!! "Thanks" to Google Reader, it's so easy to add a blog to your subscription list that I've gone a little crazy. Sure, I could delete some, but then I would be wondering about what I've missed. I need to figure out how to prioritize my blogging so this one doesn't get neglected. Any suggestions?

So the idea of this "tag" game is to tell 7 things about yourself that people might not necessarily know, then "tag" 7 others. I will be tagging Aunt Brenda, cousin Katy, Fisher (to be completed by me :), and Michelle W. Yes, I know...I check up on 50+ blogs, but I only know 3 (not including Fisher) to tag personally. Seriously-it's an addiction!!

lesson learned...

2008-04-01T17:30:00.000-07:00

It's been too long since I last posted, so now I have a huge (photo) post!!

Spring Break was two weeks ago. Yucky weather, but it's all good when I get to play with my Bubby!

We had my parents over for corned beef & cabbage and I made lemon cupcakes for dessert. Fisher is a cupcake junkie-he eats it like a pro and goes straight for the icing first!

He also had to help out with a little cleaning...

Brandi and Jack came over for a visit. They love Fisher so much!!

My Little Leprechaun-last year (no St. Pat's pics this year-he yanked any hat off before I could snap a picture!)

Last year and this year with the bunny...

Last year and this year egg-dying...

We went to cousins Brandi & Jack's to decorate this year. Fisher loved it! His hands looked like the Incredible Hulk :)

We also decorated bird's nest cupcakes (with green dyed coconut and jelly beans). Poor Fisher just didn't understand why he couldn't EAT the cupcakes...we did give in and let the kids eat one while they worked on the assembly line.

Easter LAST year

Easter THIS year

living room egg hunt

He got a "Ramone" ('Mone) car in his basket. Fisher LOOOOOVES the movie Cars...

Opening eggs with Grandma.

Playing peek-a-boo in the drapes.

Fisher had already opened his Cars Easter egg with a mini Fillmore and Sarge. Then he was on to Luke's Mater and Lightning. My brother was napping, but Fisher had to get Uncle Den's permission to open Luke's cars. **A little back story-Luke has a pretty respectable collection of cars. He doesn't get to play with them though. They are ALL still in their packages on little shelves all over his room-my brother thinking they will be collectors items one day. Poor Luke. I wasn't going to be the one to let Fisher open the package, so I told him he had to ask Uncle Den. It was so cute-he sat there (pic 1) just holding it saying, "open-open-open". My brother was under the weather, so it took him a while to realize Fisher was there making a request. He finally did wake up enough to give his permission-success (but only short lived because we had to leave a few minutes later-oh the FIT he threw when he had to give up Mater & Lightning!!).

Now-just a few more from last year...

This one has always been on of my favorites-there's just something about that look...and the second pic is a rare encounter with Schwartz.

Grandma's sink baby

something pretty cool...

2008-03-23T20:34:00.000-07:00

I think I stumbled on something pretty cool! I found this website where you can make a BOOK out of your blog!! This is right up my alley since this blog started out as a journal! I just downloaded the software, and am currently uploading my blog, so-we'll see... :0).

New Stuff-2 for me & 3 for Fisher

2008-03-08T06:37:00.000-08:00

THANK YOU Katie for posting about Google Reader!!! I love it so much and it has totally changed the way I read my blogs!! For those of you who read lots of blogs (like me), this a valuable time-saving tool!! Check it out!

I took another page from Katie's blog the other day too. She's so inspirational ;). I don't know about you, but this is what the bottom of my pantry looks like.

I REFUSE to throw away the bags I come home with from the grocery store, so they get stuffed into one another and shoved in the bottom of the pantry until the next trip where they (presumably) will be recycled. Problem is, I NEVER remember to put the bags in my car on my next trip. I have now joined the ranks of "one of those people" though. On my last trip to Schnucks, they were running a "10 for $10" deal on their canvas grocery bags.

I have to tell you-it felt good to make that purchase and have my groceries filled into those bags-rather than the plastic ones I knew would just end up in the bottom of my pantry. The trick now will be to make a new routine for myself--as soon as the groceries are unloaded, put the canvas bags BACK in the car so they are ready for the next trip. I just know that I feel better knowing that I will no longer have to face "Attack of the Killer Plastic Bags!" every time I open my pantry.

And now for some new stuff from Fisher...

*His new favorite snack seems to be tomatoes. He is currently on his 2nd WHOLE tomato for his morning snack. I guess it's better than wanting cookies...

*He has moved on from yellow as his favorite color. Before, everything by default was "wewo", but now most things seem to be "geen". I say "most things" because sometimes he actually gets some colors right! When he plays with his cars, he seems to consistently name the black, blue, silver and green cars correctly.

*Fisher loves animals. I can't wait to take him to the zoo for the first time this year. It will be such a new experience for him. One of the new things we like to do is "talk about animals". We do this in the car mostly, but he has gotten so good at it, we do it all the time now for entertainment :). It all started with this book.

He loves to read it-and believe me, we've read it a LOT. Now we can say the alphabet-sans book-and he can tell us EVERY animal A to Z! In this video clip, he has the book, but I do have other proof that he can do it without the book (I just can't find the dang cable to hook the video camera up to the computer). I also realize that some of his words are only understandable by his parents-but trust me-he's saying the names.

And now for some pics of the last year/this year variety...

He still loves Nemo! These 2 are also from the same JC Penney photo shoot.

Here are Lucas and Fisher...sitting in Oscar's dog kennel.

And here they are on Luke's Cars couch.

And at Grandma's in a basket.

This year...he still loves to play the hiding game...with a view from above.

These were taken last Sunday when we had the weather in the high 7os-before the 10 inches of snow. He had fun playing in the backyard.

LONG post-another Fisher First, Big Snow, and FF

2008-03-05T10:25:00.000-08:00

Fisher had another first on Wednesday of last week-one that I hope we don't see very much. He threw up (or as Luke calls it-the spits). It all started when I got him up that morning. The "other end" was a yucky surprise-which happened one more time before we even left. Fisher seemed in fine spirits though-he ate all of his oatmeal-so I thought it was just all the fruit and juice he had had lately. When we got to my Mom's, I asked her if she had noticed a fever the day before. No sooner were those words out of my mouth, that the poor little guy threw up all over the place! Then he started crying. I asked him if that scared him-yeah-does your tummy hurt-yeah. Then I started to cry for him too. I went up to school, got a sub, made some plans, and went to pick him up. We went to the grocery store to get some Pedialite and other good stuff. He did just fine...until we pulled into the driveway. I heard a little cough and when I looked back Fisher had thrown up again! I ended up staying home with him Thursday too because he was running a 102 fever all day. After a trip to the doctor, we were reassured that it wasn't and ear infection or strep-just the virus running its course. Whatever it was, it took about 6 days for him to be back to normal. Whew! Glad that's over.be

How 'bout St. Louis weather-Sunday it was in the high 70's and Fisher was playing in the backyard in shorts and a t-shirt. Then 2 days later-SNOW-SNOW-SNOW!! We just got dumped on!! About 10 inches here in St. Ann. I had a snow day on Tuesday-and WEDNESDAY! When I got the call on Tuesday at 5:30 am, there was NOTHING going on. And nothing happened here until around 8:30. So up until that time, I thought the district jumped the gun on calling off school. Well, as anyone in St. Louis knows, the weather people were right. When it finally started coming down, it certainly made an impression.

At this point in the school year, I really don't want anymore snow days. It's time to get the year over with, and snow days just means we go longer. So I was not expecting a phone call THIS morning saying NO SCHOOL again. Roads are clear, so the only thing I can come up with is that they were not able to get the schools' parking lots cleared. Oh well-it was a fun day at home with my boys anyway!

Fisher went out in the snow for a bit-and cried when it was time to come in.

There seems to be issues uploading pics to blogger...these are the only ones I've been able to get up for now.
They are the next JC Penney installment.

The look in this one kills me!

The Blues Fam

funny smile

new words, cute stuff, and FFSunday

2008-02-24T18:44:00.000-08:00

I know...I know. I started this series as a FFFriday, but I have been slacking! First, the post would come LATE Friday night, then on Saturday, and now I'm to Sunday. And as I sit here, it is now 9:00. So even my earliest readers won't see this until Monday (Sylvie :). Oh well. For myself, if I get it in once a week, that will accomplish my goal of using this blog as my journal for Fisher.

First, the new words and cute stuff...
Fisher's favorite color seems to be yellow-or as he says it-wewow. If you ask him what color anything is, his answer is yellow. I think it's pretty great that he understands what the question is and it needs a color as an answer! **Mommy note: he might know blue (boooo) now too. Just today, I went to get him up from a nap and he was holding a blue stuffed crayon saying, "boooo, boooo!". I asked him a few times later what color it was, and he still said blue!! So smart!!

Our favorite word to hear Fisher say is "baby". It sounds more like "beebee" and "beebeesh" when it's plural. We ask him things like-Are bananas good for babies? or any question where baby is the last word. He responds with "beebeesh" because he is into repeating the last word you say.

Fisher knows most everyone's name in the family now. Some cute variations are: Woocas or Wuke for Luke, Didi for Brandi, Ack for Jack, DenDen for Uncle Den, Dissy for Aunt Missy, Ecky for Aunt Becky, and Tent for Uncle Kent. When we go to Aunt Becky's house, he knows where we are when we pull in the driveway and says "Didi".

I have been working on Love You for a LONGGGGG time now. Fisher has been really good at saying 2 syllable words for a while, so I thought he would get it pretty quick since he hears it so much. Nope. Not until today...finally!! We were playing what does the (insert animal) say game, and I asked him what does Mommy say? My heart absolutely melted when he said, "wuvooo"!! It also works for what does Daddy say and what does Fisher say!! This will be his newest, cutest trick that I do as many times until he gets sick of it-because I know I never will :).

And now for the pictures:

We signed Fisher up for the AquaTots class at the local pool last year. He really liked it!

I know he will kill me later for posting this picture, but it's one of my favorites-and I'm the MOM, so (for now) I'm in charge ;). On his head is one of those ponytail-fake-hair things that my Mom had.

reading Ralph the Rabbit with Grandma

Fisher can only have his pacifier (or as he calls it-sassy) when he sleeps. But from time to time, he is able to reach in his bed and pull it out. If we are in the living room when he does this, we hear him come down the hall giggling-because he knows he's not supposed to have it. On this day, this is how I found him after I realized he was quiet for a while.

Swim class started again this Saturday. Fisher spent the first few minutes in the pool crying. And in an indoor pool, that sound was AMPLIFIED! He finally calmed down once he realized how fun splashing was. Hopefully next week will be better!

Dave's parents were able to come for a 4-day visit this weekend. Fisher had a great time showing off ALL of his cuteness. They were very impressed!

short video & pics from last year for FFSaturday

2008-02-16T14:31:00.000-08:00

I remember this time last year. Fisher really became aware that what we were eating was different than his mushy food. He didn't actually get a bite of the pizza-we just thought it made for a funny picture. :)

The next 2 pictures are from the monthly JC Penney photo shoot.

Our Little Cupid

My Handsome Valentine

I saw this little activity center in my parent's basement the other day. It's hard to believe he used to fit in it!!

I love this one...

Fisher loves "Finding Nemo". When the scene with the whale comes on, he yells at the top of his lungs, "WOLLLLLLLL!!!!". I also got him to make his elephant sound. He screeches like that every time and it cracks us up!!

Going Private...

2008-02-11T14:37:00.000-08:00

I think I'm going to make my blog private. Others have done so recently, and it's just made me think...you never really know. I'm not even sure how many people actually read my blog. If you would like an invite, just leave me a comment and I'll invite you. Even if I don't know you, if you've "stumbled" across my blog, give me a little info and I'll probably :) invite you too! I will set it to private starting next week-February 18th.

FFF on Saturday

2008-02-09T14:58:00.000-08:00

I was too tired last night to put together my FFF post seeing as how I stayed up past midnight Thursday night. I participated in a market research study and didn't get home until after 8:00. Then, of course, I had to watch Lost. Then I had to watch the new Survivor premiere (see ya Jonny Rotten!!). Then I had to watch Celebrity Apprentice-40 minutes of which was pre-empted with coverage of the shootings at Kirkwood City Hall. What a SAD situation!! By the time I finished watching my recorded TV, the local news was way over, so I had to search the internet for the latest information. After seeing the interview that the shooter's brother gave THAT NIGHT, I just couldn't get my mind around any of it and could not get to sleep for the longest time. I guess one can only hope that relations in that community will improve over time.

and now for the fotos...

LAST YEAR:

no...we really didn't give him White Castle's-he really wanted some though!!

he looks so chunky in this picture!

THIS YEAR:

We had amazing snow last Thursday-so much so that I had a snow day on Friday! And just in case you didn't know...teachers get just as excited for a snow day as the kids :)!

This was really good building snow. When I went to roll the first part of the snowman, the snow rolled up just like a carpet! Yes-the snowman is wearing the Elmo hat and mittens.

Fisher did NOT want to come back in!! He was having too much fun with the "no-ma". You can't tell from this picture, but he is sobbing calling the snowman and saying please!!

And typical of our St. Louis weather, this was all that was left of the snowman just 2 days later.

check out the new blog I'm part of...

2008-02-01T19:34:00.000-08:00

My Aunt Brenda started a Lost blog to discuss the ever-changing show. There are 4 members of the team so far...Lost the TV Show...and we're on a roll with posting after the first new episode!

FFF

2008-02-01T18:46:00.000-08:00

LAST YEAR:

Avacados were one of Fisher's first foods. He liked them!

Wearing his "Cool Dude" glasses.

THIS YEAR:

Fisher inherited this pirate bathrobe from his cousin Jack. I think he looks pretty cute...and then it was perfect that he wanted to play with his pirate ship!

A little reading time with Daddy. He loves this animal pop-up book right now.

When he sees his sunglasses, he says "Doooo" and has to wear them. On this night, he spotted them right before dinner and wore them throughout the whole meal :).

There are times when Fisher goes back in his room by himself. When we go back to check on him, he's usually reading himself a book!

New Favorite Words-and fun at the Little Gym

2008-01-29T19:11:00.000-08:00

So a couple of weeks ago, Fisher started the pointing and whining "thing". I wasn't ready to listen to that for the next how many years. So it was my bright idea to teach Fisher how to say "please" when he wants something. He caught on really quick! Within a couple of days, he knew what to say when I asked, "What do you say?". It is so cute-he points and says, "Peeees-peeees-peeees!" That said, I think I've created a monster. I'll give you a few examples. When we were out to lunch/breakfast with my parents last Sunday, Fisher wouldn't stop looking at the father and small daughter (about Fisher's age) in the booth behind us-peeees-peeees-peeees! He wanted some of her food! The embarrassing part-it sounded like we never feed the kid! When he wants to play with toys, its peees-toys-peees-peees! And that sounds like we never let the kid play! {{sigh-lol}}. I guess he gets it.

Fisher also uses the word help appropriately now-it sounds more like "hup", but you definitely get the idea. He uses it mostly when there is a book or toy out out of reach or if it is too heavy. He also has a handle on the words open and on-and uses them often!

It's really fun to watch not only his motor growth, but his social, emotional, and intellectual growth. These new words show that he really understands that he can use his words to make requests.

I love the journey this little guy is taking us on!!

Fisher got to go to the Little Gym last Saturday for a friend's birthday party. He had a fun time once he realized there were balls to play with and stuff to climb on! He is still a little young for the organized activities that were planned-but he was fine exploring on his own! Here are a few pictures...

He had so much fun!

18 month check up & check-in and Wii FFF

2008-01-25T15:37:00.000-08:00

Fisher had his 18 month check up today. He has finally (officially written in the doctor's charts) broken the 20 pound mark (20 pounds, 5 ounces to be exact). And as the nurse practitioner put it, he's almost back on the curve! He is 29 and 3/4 inches "tall". At his 15 month check up, the doctor was concerned at his lack of adequate weight gain. Blah blah blah!! They got me all concerned-I watched like a hawk what he would eat (or didn't eat). Dave and I would question whether or not he got enough to eat that day. We would even resort to maybe giving him ice cream a little more than we should have-just to get extra calories in him for the day. When we shared the doctor's concerns with our Parent's as Teachers lady in December, she reassured us that Fisher was fine-just looking at him you could tell that he was healthy and proportioned. She was actually frustrated because she had heard parents making this comment from doctors before. Today's check up went fine-except for the fact that Fisher is going through a HORRIBLE separation/stranger anxiety stage right now. He was pretty much screaming the whole time except before we were called in and when we were in the exam room alone and he got to read "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" or play in the mini-sink. He screamed for the weigh-in/height/head circ/temperature check. He screamed when the nurse practitioner checked him over and talked to me about his development. And of course he screamed when it was time for the SHOTS! The best that I can say is that he won't have to go back (knock on wood he stays healthy) until he is 2 years old. {{big sigh}}

And on the topic of the separation/stranger anxiety stage-YIKES!! If I'm not in the room, he wants me. If Daddy is not in the room, he wants him. When we were at my parents the other night, if "Mawmaw" wasn't in the room, he wanted her-and vice-versa for "Papaw". I've had to leave for school this week with my last vision of Fisher moving towards the door screaming "Mommy!!!" Wow-those were some rough days. I'm sure this is just a phase that will pass-hopefully much sooner than later!

The weight issue-maybe this kid is lucky to have been born with a high metabolism because sometimes I can't believe how much he eats! We went to breakfast/lunch with my parents last Sunday. Papaw ordered vegetable beef soup with his lunch-Fisher ate most all of the veggies and broth. He LOVED it. I ordered the kids spaghetti with green beans for him. He ate a lot of that-along with some of Mawmaw's pancakes. **Funny story about the week before when we met them for breakfast-while no one was really paying attention, Fisher reached over a grabbed a whole pancake off of Mawmaw's plate and started eating it-oh how I wish we had the camera for that one!! Dave made steamed broccoli-Fisher ate his portion AND mine. He loves cheese and strawberries and green beans and apples and the fruit cocktail cups Papaw got for him.

now for the FFF
LAST YEAR:

This picture of Luke and Fisher is one of my absolute favorites of the 2 of them together. The looks on each of their faces is so cute. And it almost seems that this is the time that Luke realized that he could PLAY with Fisher.

THIS YEAR:

Den, Missy and Luke came over last Saturday for a little Wii action. We all bowled, but since I was the photographer, you don't get to see me and my "form" ;). Den and Dave like to get fancy and put "curve" on the ball.

Missy and I throw like girls-straight on with no fancy stuff. But hey-it works-we kept up with the guys just fine!!

Luke even got in on the action.

But he had to take a cupcake break.

I love this face!!

Have a great weekend everyone!

FFF

2008-01-17T19:04:00.000-08:00

LAST YEAR

For the first year of Fisher's life, I dragged him to JC Penney to have his picture taken once a month. Some months were better than others (i.e. stranger anxiety/needed a nap/hungry/or just plain crabby). This is one of the pics from January.

...yes...same outfit. These pics with Grandma and Grandpa were taken later that day. Seeing these pictures from last year have really made me realize how much Fisher's relationship with them has grown. He loves them so much! If they are coming over, he can't wait and says their name until they arrive. And when they get here, they better put down whatever they are doing and pick him up! And now when I'm on the phone (with whoever), Fisher thinks I'm talking to "mama" and wants to talk too! When Grandpa is here, he carries Fisher around in circles and sings "nonsense" tunes that Fisher just LOVES! He has a constant smile on his face when Grandpa is doing this.

THIS YEAR

and some fun with Photo Booth on the Mac...

Fisher thought it was pretty funny to see himself on the computer.

Congratulations Katy & Brian!

2008-01-17T18:57:00.000-08:00

My cousin Katy (and her husband Brian) gave birth to their first child-a baby girl-Madeleine Christine on Wednesday. She is so cute with her chubby cheeks! You should check out my Aunt Brenda's blog and see the fun pictures she posted of the baby and also of Katy herself when she was born.

w11w`W11!w!.....

2008-01-15T15:40:00.000-08:00

"w11w`W11!w!WWW1W`!~11``145∑Ω´Ω´≈ 1111 xokl,c xgrgx

cdfczdddddddddxdddd B ƒcvc"

...said Fisher. He gets so jealous when we are on the 'pooter. He'll reach up and tap the keys, and sometimes we even pick him up and let him go to town. Here is the result of tonight's fun. He was doing things that I've never seen. How did he get those Greek letters anyway? He was closing and opening windows, searching for gibberish on the internet, and who knows what else. He was having FUN!

FFF

2008-01-11T20:33:00.000-08:00

...or Favorite Foto(s) Friday-my first installment. I was going to write a post that was going to be VERY foto "heavy". The goal being to choose my favorite fotos from 2007. That is very daunting...way too many to choose from. So I decided to modify the FFF idea. Many bloggers have a weekly FFF post, so that's how I got the idea. And seeing as how I am using this blog as an online journal of Fisher's childhood, this will work out great! I will post a favorite foto (or 2 or 3) from this week, and post another from this time last year. It will also be fun to see how much Fisher has changed over a year.

Since I am a week late, here is the installment for last week, January 4th, 2008.
Last year:

Happy New Year Baby

"I found my feet!"

This year:

Happy New Year Boy-he thought he was hot stuff sitting on the chair eating crackers!

Magna-Doodlin' with Grandma

Fisher loves his animals!

And for this week, January 11th.

Last year:

This year:

We enjoyed the amazing-unseasonably-warm weather (high 60's) last Sunday and went to the park. Here is Fisher looking at the geese in the pond-he looks like such a big boy in this one!

These two pictures are of his first injury-if you can even call it that! Either we are way to over-protective, or we have just been lucky over the last 18 months, or it's because he has only been walking for a little over a month-who knows-but Fisher has been surprisingly injury-free (except for the time he got burned by my curling iron-you'll have to wait until August for those pics). Here's how it happened...Fisher was standing on a small stack of books that slid under his feet and he banged his head n the window seat in his room. It actually bled, and my Mom and I thought he would end up with a shiner. These pictures were taken 2 days later...it only looks like a scrape, and not even a hint of a bruise. Guess we were wrong.

Fisher loves to have a 'nana at breakfast. He likes it even more now that he can hold it himself.

...until next time :)

(not so) Random Thoughts...2

2008-01-09T18:27:00.000-08:00

Fisher had a big day today. Actually for the second time around. He was a champ. It is just amazing how much your life can revolve around another person. That's it for now.

Fisher's Fun Favorites

2008-01-09T14:30:00.000-08:00

It never ceases to amaze me how Fisher can make his own fun. For example, if I had wanted him to endlessly send his cars (or any other toy) down his slide, he probably wouldn't be that interested. But this activity can occupy him for a strangely long amount of time and cause him to giggle so much about it.

A new game of his is to send his animals off the window seat in his room. I really think he is enjoying cause and effect, and he's learning a lot about gravity in the process. Here's what the new game looks like:

The animals all start out in their plastic home...

Then, one at a time, they take the plunge...

And here's where they end up...

Another silly thing Fisher does is "pretend sleep". He paused in the gravity game to take a quick nap with the tiger.

He does this all the time. I think his favorite is when he gets to nap with our cat Lucy. We have 3 cats, and Lucy is by far the most tolerant. She lets him "pet" her, pull her tail, and use her as a pillow (then he pretend sleeps! :).

He has also discovered hiding. He pulls pillows and blankets over his head, or he crawls under this archway and gets all the way to the back and pretends we can't see him.

And finally...Fisher has learned how to put himself down the slide. The first time he did it, he looked pretty surprised at the bottom and looked to us to see how he should react. We cheered and said "Good job!". That seemed to give him the confidence needed to try it again-and again and again!

I'm sure this is not the last of this type of entry. We'll just have to see what he comes up with next!

...and to all a good night!

2007-12-26T23:40:00.000-08:00

Christmas takes on a new and different meaning when you have kids. It is so fun to see it through their eyes. And I have also realized that every Christmas will be just a little different as Fisher grows. Last year he was just 5 months old, so the hustle and bustle was only that, and he really didn't get any of it-not even the presents. Here are just a few of my favorite pictures from last year.

This year has been different in so many ways.

First of all he's talking up a storm. He "says" tree, lights, Santa, snow, snowman, present. He is also walking, which means the ornaments are "walking away" from the tree. And our tree is bare of ornaments on the bottom third. We have either moved them up, or they are in a toybox/wagon/truck and I will be finding them until March.

Fisher's favorite word at the moment seems to be "no" with a head shake. The other night, he was lying on his Elmo couch near the bottom of the tree, saying "tee, tee, tee". I laid next to him and asked him if Santa was coming to see him soon. Very confidently, he shook his head and said "no". Maybe next year he'll get it.

Shopping has been a completely different experience. He came with me most of the time and did a PRETTY good job. BUT...he knows what toys are now, so the toy section was less than fun at times. There were a few items added to the cart that were not on the list, but at least I'll know he likes his presents :). I got his cousin Luke (1 year older) and cousin Jack (2 years older) some dinosaurs. I had to head right back to the store to get the same type for Fisher because he was having so much fun with theirs before I wrapped them. I wonder how different my shopping will be next year?

The holiday started on Sunday when we went to my Uncle Bobby and Aunt Brenda's for a pre-Christmas get-together. My cousin Katy is pregnant with her first child and could have her any day now. It was good to see her and her cute belly! I will let the pictures tell the rest of our holiday story (I apologize for the sideways pictures...I can't figure out how to turn them).

Aunt Brenda got the boys Christmas presents.
Fisher got Elmo puzzles and Luke got
Thomas the Train ("Lucas loves Thomas!").

I made cupcakes for the party. Here is Luke
and Missy enjoying theirs ("Lucas loves cupcakes!")

My Mom, Aunt LaVerne, and Uncle Bobby.

The boys loved playing in the stairs-probably
because we didn't want to chase them upstairs.

Fisher thought this was funny...I'm telling him
no and get down. He just laughs and goes higher.

Fisher "helped" me wrap presents. I made
him a paper crown that distracted him for a while.

This is the cake I made for our Christmas dinner with
Dave's sister's family. It is chocolate (with cut up Andes
mints in the batter) with mint icing. It was SOOOO good,
but I think after this holiday season, I will be so sick
of it that I won't be ready for it until next Christmas. I made
2 batches of cupcakes AND this cake (Fisher loved
it too...check in on Friday for pics of him
enjoying one of the cupcakes)

On the way to Aunt Becky, Uncle Kent, and cousins
Brandi and Jack's on Christmas Eve. We practiced
their names on the way there and he did a pretty
good job. We also taught him how to say dude
(as in "Cool Dude" when he wears sunglasses). It comes
out more as "Doooo", but we know what he means :).

So cool...enough said.

Cousins in their Santa hats.

Fisher played with this pirate ship for the longest time.

Peek-a-boo with Uncle Kent.

A little before dinner playtime. Uncle David is
a horse! Becky made us delicious London broil,
homemade french fries (a Christmas Eve
traditional meal for Dave's family), and
steamed lemon broccoli. SOOOOO good!

One of Fisher's presents-a bean bag pillow (or as he calls it-a bah-po).

Christmas Eve night. Fisher had to check on
the tree one last time before Santa brings his presents.

Our day started around 7:30 when Fisher woke
up. After his morning milk, he ventured down the
hall to check out the results of Santa's visit. And
look what he left behind! The overall theme this
year was animals, cars (to put down the
slide, of course), and Elmo.

Getting ready to go to cousin Luke's house.

Two cool dudes!!

Grandpa and Uncle Eddie takin' it easy.

Missy and Luke.

Reindeer Fisher.

Fisher LOVED playing with Luke's cousins-especially Zoe!

I have been writing this last for the last 3 days...time to post. Merry Christmas everyone!!

Random Thoughts...1

2007-12-20T19:43:00.000-08:00

My biggest inspiration to start a blog was reading my friend Katie's blog. She has a series of "Note to Self" posts, so to steal her idea (again!), I thought I would start my own Random Thoughts.

Why is it so hard to clip a toddler's fingernails? I tried tonight because the nails on his left hand were OUT OF CONTROL! Yes...only his left hand because when I clipped his right hand a couple of days ago, he decided he had had enough and wouldn't let me near the left hand. So I tried while he was brushing his teeth (he loves to brush his teeth). I thought he would be distracted enough to get a few clips in, but I *think* I only got 3 of the 5 claws down to a scratch-free length. Oh yeah...when Fisher is frustrated, he likes to "slap" at my face. A habit I am really trying to break him of, but in the meantime those slaps also turn into claw marks. How is it that such little fingernails can seem to cut like tiny daggers? Anyway...he is amazingly strong. He can squirm and yank his hand in such a way that makes it impossible to safely cut his nails. So I end this night defeated by a 17 month old (again :).

Where does the time go?

2007-12-07T23:50:00.000-08:00

I haven't claimed to be a very good blogger, but there is no excuse for such a long time since my last post. It's been over a month, and it seems as if Fisher has changed so much. Anyone who has kids-especially young ones-knows what I mean when I say how amazing it is to watch them grow, change and learn new things almost daily. I guess if I think of this blog as a written, photo, and video diary (that other people have the opportunity to read), maybe I will write more frequently so I won't forget what an amazing time this is in Fisher's life!

Fisher's favorites:
Elmo, animals, Grandma & Grandpa, Lucy, Sesame Street, chicken nuggets, goldfish crackers, graham crackers, Christmas cookies, ornaments, dancing, reading books, bananas, ice chips

words he says:
mommy
dah-dee

mama-> grandma

papa-> grandpa

ah-ma-> animal
ah-mo-> Elmo
ma-mo-> Nemo (notice that animal, Elmo, and Nemo are very similar)
ah-rirah-> gorilla
popo-> hippo
tee-> tree (as in Christmas tree)

moo-> moon (and when you ask him where the moon is, he points to a door or window-he knows it is outside; even when we read books with a picture of a moon, he would point outside; he is just now pointing to the picture when reading books)
no-ma-> snowman
no-> snow
yes/no(of course)
chee-> cheese
choo choo-> train :)
tuk-> truck
cat/kitty
hat

baa-> ball
joooo-> juice
mah-> milk
ala-> koala
boo-> caribou

He knows so many more words than this...he's just not saying them yet. When we look at pictures, he knows family members and gives their pictures kisses. As a matter of fact, he gives everything/everyone kisses! He sometimes kisses his food before he eats it (so CUTE!); he kisses the underwater creatures painted on his walls; he kisses his toys and books. It is so sweet-one of the MANY things I love about this kid!

Animals are a big part of Fisher's life right now. He loves any book with animals and can point to almost any animal you ask him about. He knows and says sounds for: cow, lion, horse, elephant, cat, monkey, sheep, chicken, frog, duck, and pig (I think I got them all :).

And the biggest new development is that the little bugger is FINALLY walking! He has been basically running with his walking toys for a couple of months now, but he finally took real steps (that haven't stopped) on December 5th-two weeks shy of 17 months. Here he is walking to his Aunt Missy-

He is so proud of himself. He holds his little hands in the air for balance; he can turn in any direction he wants to, and if he stumbles he get right back up and keeps walking rather than resorting to the crawl. I'm not saying he ONLY walks now, but it's pretty consistent.

We had our first snow yesterday...and the first that Fisher can go out and enjoy. I searched high and low and finally found his snow suit. Getting him dressed reminded me of the classic scene from one of my favorite holiday movies-"A Christmas Story". You know the scene...the one where the mom is shoving the little brother into his winter gear and at the end he looks like a tick about to pop. That was Fisher.

Once outside, he seemed to like it. We spent a lot of the morning looking out the window talking about the snow, so I'm sure he was pretty excited to get out there and see what it was all about. He even did a pretty good job at walking in that snow suit!

His favorite part was trying to eat the snow.

sick baby & a 4-day weekend

2007-11-12T18:17:00.001-08:00

The best part about being a mom is being able to spend time with your child(ren). But the worst part is seeing them not feel well. Especially when they are not old enough to talk and tell you what is wrong. So you continuously wipe the nose (which has become such a sad battle-more on that in a minute...) and give some type of medicine in hopes it will make them feel better. Well, I had both worlds this weekend. Because of parent/teacher conferences and STATE teacher conferences, I had Friday and Monday off. So great!! I've been looking forward to this long weekend for a while. We stayed home, relaxed, and had fun around the house. The sad part of the story is that Fisher has a cold :(. He hasn't had many in his 15 (almost 16) months of life. But when he's sick, he still manages to stay in a pretty good mood. Our weekend in a (not so small) nutshell:

On Friday, Grandma and Luke stopped by after a visit to Kohl's. Luke likes to have Fisher sit in his wagon and pull him around-down the hall, around the dining room table, through the kitchen, then back again.

Then he likes to have Grandma pull Fisher so he can chase (and crash) behind with the dumptruck.

Fisher even got Grandma to read his favorite book-Goodnight Gorilla.

When it was time to go, Luke wanted to stay at Fisher's house. So we gave Grandma a break and kept Luke for the afternoon. It was pretty much lunch and then a nap. Luke wanted him and Fisher to nap in Fisher's bed. Here's what THAT looked like:

But not for long. When I heard bouncing on the bed, Luke ;-) decided that if he wanted to get any rest, he would have to sleep on our bed. And that was Friday, pretty much.

Saturday was low-key. Just hangin' out at home. Fisher got to do one of his favorite activities-"help" me rearrange my plastics cabinet. I think he knows the bowls and lids are not toys, so he really thinks he's getting away with something when he plays in there.

On Sunday, we went outside and raked leaves. Fisher mostly watched while he was on his swing, but he did get a chance to play in the leaves.

And the last day, Monday, I made chicken chili and Grandma, Uncle Eddie, and Luke came over again for a visit. The boys played their usual antics, we ate lunch, and we watched a little Ratatouille (very cute movie-if you haven't seen it yet). Luke was ready to go when it was time, and he had fun stomping in a puddle on his way out-oh, to be young like that again!

Now to my sick baby :(. As I said before, he does stay in good spirits when he is sick. Really, the only tears that come are when he has to get his runny nose wiped. Oh the drama! Why is it so hard to wipe a 1-year old's nose? How can such a little head move so fast to make it so awkward to wipe that snot before it gets to the mouth? And how can something that literally takes 2 seconds cause so much distress and tears? I'm ready for this cold to be over just to avoid the nose drainage.

And speaking of said baby...it's 10:00, and he's been asleep since 6. With no dinner in his belly. So I'm off to wake him up (am I crazy?) and try to get him to eat something (hopefully to avoid a hungry boy at 2 am).

I ask you...

2007-11-04T20:41:00.000-08:00

Is there anything cuter than a baby or toddler or child in footie jammies!! I love the Fall!

and I can't resist...Fisher thinks it's funny when I take pictures of him with Photo Booth, so here's the next installment:

The Watercooler-pt. 1

2007-11-02T23:00:00.000-07:00

It's Thursday night (well, actually it's NOW Friday, but I had to discuss the ep with my friend Jenny at school today, and watch it again with Dave so I could catch some of the "finer things" that I missed the first time). I love this night of TV! Survivor, CSI, ER, Earl (if I can stay awake long enough to watch everything my Moxi recorded), but my FAVORITE of the night...The Office! So here goes my first attempt at a weekly blog to express my views and REviews of the new episode.

Let me start this off by saying...talk about a woman SCORNED!! Karen certainly still has some pent up feelings about Jim. She really let him have it before he skulked out of her office. I, for one, am so glad the Jim-Karen thing is over. They seemed so awkward last season. Karen never really got Jim's sense of humor (remember the episode where Jim and Pam pranked Andy by stealing his phone?). Even when she played him (the episode where they were at the exec's house for a party and Karen made it seem like she had dated everyone in the room), the chemistry was not quite there. But I'm sure I wasn't the only one rooting for their demise so Jim could get together with Pam (I cheered and squealed-yes, squealed-on the finale episode when Jim interrupted Pam at the very end to ask her out to dinner). And as a side-note, I am very pleased with how they are handling Jim and Pam's relationship-not so much "right in your face", but sprinkled in here and there to keep it cute.

The Finer Things...You know that Toby looks forward to this as his time with Pam. I feel so sorry for him-not sorry enough to see him with Pam though. I just don't get why Michael HATES him so much. When Toby walked in with his bow tie...so cruel (but strangely funny too). And when Andy wanted to join their club-ha! I have to say that Andy's antics last season got on my nerves a little, but I actually miss them this season (I loved the "give me a break" scene with him last week).

I'm sure if it was not midnight, I would have more energy (and brain cells) to comment about more, but it IS midnight and I have a little boy who will be up bright and early ready to play! So I leave you with this, "The eyes are the groin of the face."

and this-enjoy!

fun & cute stuff

2007-10-31T19:43:00.000-07:00

Since my first post was griping about a negative aspect of baby-hood, I thought I should follow up with more positive ones.

I am amazed all the time as I watch Fisher's personality grow. I love watching him use his walking toy to "run" laps around the kitchen. My friend Sylvie comes over every Tuesday to watch The Biggest Loser. Fisher's favorite part of her visit is when she plays the "I'm gonna get you!" game. It goes something like this...Fisher starts his laps, and every time he passes Sylvie, she crouches down and says "I'm gonna get you!" Fisher squeals then goes faster. If she doesn't "get him", he looks back as if to say "Hey lady, didn't you just see me pass?". And then here we go again!

Another one of Fisher's favorite activities is playing with his cars. He'll roll them around (and off) the table for a long time. He has also discovered that it is even more fun to roll them down his slide (thanks Aunt Becky!).

His favorite books right now are Goodnight Gorilla, Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See, and 2 other animal books. If we are in the same room as "Gorilla", I'll ask him "Fisher-where is Goodnight Gorilla?" He stops and says "ah-rirrah" and searches around for it. He is such a fan, that I can't even read it to him anymore-HE has to be in charge!

Fisher has so much fun when he is at Grandma's and can play with cuzzy Luke. At home, he takes two naps a day. But not at Grandma's! Luke and Fisher have too much fun together! They actually "tag team" her when she tries to get them down. One rests while the other jumps around and plays on the bed. Fisher is always excited when we pull in the driveway!

And last but not least...something just plain silly! My friend Katie has posted some pretty hilarious pictures of her son Eliot using Photo Booth and I just had to post one of my own.

The Office

2007-10-28T18:33:00.000-07:00

So, many of you know that The Office is my FAVORITE comedy. If I get the chance to talk to another fellow Office Obsessor, we could go on forever quoting favorite episodes and scenes. By far, my favorite scenes are when Jim pranks Dwight. I did a search on You Tube tonight and came across a top 10 that someone had put together and decided to see how easy it would be to put a You Tube in my blog (very easy to do by the way!) So fellow Office fans...enjoy!! My personal favorites are numbers 2 & 3 ;-).

Dracula in the House

2007-10-26T19:02:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to start a blog for a while now. What's stopped me? Time being the main blog blocker. But also wondering who would actually read it. So here goes...

I think Fisher might want to change his Halloween costume from Elmo to Dracula.

He has started the bad habit of biting! Actually, "started" is not really the right word. He started this over a month ago. It just seems like he's doing it more now, and mostly to me. He does it when he's being silly...but he does it more when he is frustrated. It's actually kind of scary to see a 15 month old coming at your face with an open mouth. It's hard to figure out if he's coming in for a kiss (he hasn't got the pucker down yet), or a bite! He will actually pull any part of me closer to try to bite when he is really frustrated. Anyone out there have this problem? I feel like if he were doing this as an older toddler, I might be able to correct the behavior better. But it is really hard to discipline a 15 month old. The best I can come up with is a very firm "NO Fisher!" The worst that happens is that he gets this really sad look on his face then cries with real tears (or the other extreme-he gives one of his cute looks and tries to make me laugh). I am up for any advice. I don't want Fisher to be "that kid who bites". His biting is never hard enough to break the skin, but I want to break this habit before it does!