...and to all a good night!

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

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?

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

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...

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: