2010 already.

I love life. I really do :)

I'm generally a satisfied person. I'm always striving to be better, do new things, harder things, etc. but i love what i have and where i'm at most of the time. I can't believe i'm so lucky. I always wanted to marry young and have kids. and look, it's exactly what i have. I can't complain about anything at the moment, i should never complain but i know i do.

This last year was great. No need to re-cap, 1.i dont feel like it and 2.you've all been reading my blog every day right ;)

On to the new year! 2010 a few goals i have in mind:

More floor time with Riley. She really is a smart little girl, i need to keep her brain going and challenge her more.

Run a half marathon.

Eat better and feed my family better. I remember growing up we ate VERY well rounded. Veggies with dinner EVERY night etc. I want and need to cook more for my family.

I want to embrace coupons! I know they're out there.

Grow spiritually. This is on my daily list of things to do. But perhaps this year i will pick a church topic and study it more intensly or something of the sort.

I'm sure i have more goals, but i honestly can't think of them right now.

Riley has a few goals:

Learn to count to 20 this year. She's up to 10 and we're working on 11-15

POTTY TRAIN-she is in big girl undies as i type. we made it all morning and to stator brothers and back. Still doing good. I'm biting my nails waiting for that first accident...i have the carpet cleaner close at hand!

Letter recognition. She wants :) to be able to recognize the entire alphabet sometime this year, hopefully sooner rather then later.

Braden of course has goals...to be a baby! He's doing great. I do have to say i bragged that on thanksgiving he was batting at some toys, which he did but hasn't since then! can you believe it, what a tease. Just the past two days he's seemed closer, he stares at them intently and waves his arms around, he's hit them a few times but i think on accident. He is close! He smiles a lot and is a great sleeper-still ranging from every 4 hours at night to 10hrs! (i love those nights) We love having braden in our lives and riley is such a GREAT sister. We do ANYTHING to make him laugh-i'm a little addicted to it and try hard to get my fix most days.

As for Josh, you'd have to ask him. I'm sure he has a list of goals. I do know he is comitted to losing a few pounds, we've been doing p90x for a few weeks now-boy does that kick your butt! I'm proud he can actually bust out a few pull ups where as i just hang on the bar and wonder how people pull themselves up at all. He's the best husband i could ask for and exactly the kind of dad this family needs. So as far as him setting goals for himself i'd be happy if he just kept up everything he's doing for us :) (love you hunny)

I hope all of you out there have some goals and are motivated to kick off the new year!

Santa came!

My computer is acting up or i've forgotton how to do things, but i wasn't able to copy and paste my little commentary at the bottom to up here...so, sorry!

Above:Riley and her new ariel chapstick, i think she used half the tube Christmas morning. She LOVES this stuff.

And of course, a shot on her new trike.

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. Riley woke up about 5:30 i think and slept in bed with us until about 7am. Dad-Josh went downstairs to get things ready and the video camera started. Riley didn't seem excited walking down the stairs to see what Santa brought for us, but i think she was tired and just didnt know what to expect. She soon got into the spirit of things and was VERY happy to see that santa left her a tricycle, she can't reach the pedals enough to go anywhere but she loves it still. She loved ripping through her gifts and inspecting each one. When she got down to only 2 gifts left she went and started playing with all her old toys and told us she didn't want to open presents anymore :)

We got to start a few new traditions this year and it was wonderful. Josh's grandmother passed away this year so we did christmas eve at his mom and dad's house instead. It turned out really fun and of course we were lucky enough to have AMAZING food. Then Christmas day this year we stayed home ALL day, didn't get out of our p.j's even! My parents came over after Riley's nap to visit. It was so nice to enjoy the day and not have to rush to a bunch of different houses. Riley got to play with all her new things and we got to sit and watch.

I have a few pictures but our regular camera is broken, well the screen is, really crappy for Braden's first christmas to get no pictures! (im going to cheat today or tomorrow and dress them both up and stick them in front of the christmas tree and try to take a few and hope that one turns out!) I'll post my "fake" christmas pictures as soon as i take them!

Plague Update

I thought we got lucky, really lucky. The day riley woke up after throwing up and what not she was acting great besides some diarrhea...I mean i wasn't about to give her normal food yet, she was still stricly on pedialyte and dry toast or soda crackers but you know.josh was AWFUL. i've literally never seen someone so white. He slept alllllll day. So i figured wow she must of got a small case of whatever it was and josh got it to the max.

The next day she woke up not feeling well at all :( she wasn't throwing up or anything but you could tell she was very much under the weather. Josh was feeling slightly better but not 100% at all. He had to go into work anyway and even had to stay late to get things done, poor guy. My stomach had felt a little weird all day but i was hoping i was just being a hypochondriac. I used the last of my energy to CLEAN the house. I vacummed, mopped, srcubbed by hand and lysoled my ENTIRE house. I did bed sheets, towells and blankets. I wanted to make sure if i got sick i would have the house ready for christmas and "de-germed" as much as possible. turns out good thing i did that, I was calling josh begging him to hurry as fast as he could to get home, i got so weak and nauseated-all that fun stuff that night. He came home as soon as work would allow and rescued me. I took a bath and promptly did all the "flu stuff".

Then the stress started...how in the world am i going to care for my kids in the morning feeling like this?! no one to help me-i can't send braden anywhere since i nurse him and riley is still sick so she can't go anywhere, josh HAD to go to work. So we went to bed and Riley woke up 3 times i think josh said-ended up in bed with josh and throwing up again :( This morning she got up at 6:40-gotta love kids right? I put on a movie for her downstairs so i could catch more zzzz's and i awoke to her frantically calling my name, i figured she threw up so i ran down stairs to find out her diarrhea had returned full force...filled her diaper and all the way up the neck of her feety pajamas! gross huh?

I'm feeling "okay" today which is making caring for my babies SO much better than anticipated. My cousin katie ran to the store for me to buy riley more peidalyte which helped a TON-thanks katie! I couldnt imagine getting the kids out to even do that and i'd feel horrible breathing on people or touching things. so i hope i got the super mini version of this virus, my fingers are crossed.

Sorry this is so boring and gross to read, but i blog about my life and this is what's going on right now! We're still looking forward to christmas and all that comes with it. We'll most likely have to be quarantined in our home, but it's all about family anyway right? I'm super bummed out i won't get to see and share the holiday's with others but i'm TRYING-key word- to stay positive and realize how much worse it could be. At least i have my husband and kids to celebrate with :)

Merry Christmas to ALL. I hope everyone enjoys playing santa as much as i'm looking forward to it. Be safe and enjoy the holidays!

SERIOUSLY ALREADY! enough with the plague

Well, here we are again in the Fisher house hold. SICK. can you believe it? I sure can't. Ever since Braden was one 1 week old so about 10 weeks ago we have been sick off and on. Every time we get better something else wipes us out. I have NO clue what's going on. We eat pretty good, take vitamins, we go to bed and wake up at decent hours, Riley takes scheduled naps-most of the time-I have NO idea why our immune systems are so prone to EVERY sickness this winter is carrying.

Lets see we've had: colds so bad they required breathing treatments and oral steroids in the urgent care, sinus headaches/infection/colds, sore throats, more sinus stuff, STREP throat, now we moved on from the throat and head stuff onto some kind of the flu. Riley started throwing up at dinner last night-yes not too appetizing for her poor uncles at the same table trying to eat while her barf is splattering across the table-and she has diarrhea too. We were at my mother in law's when this started and took her right home because we didn't want to get anyone else sick-it's been through just about everyone there but we didn't want to get any of them re-sick or the poor baby luke(4months-could you imagine?) On the way home she said her stomach hurt, i was so nervous she was going to lose it in the car-thankgoodness she made it home and was cuddling on the couch with dad(on top of a towel with a bowl next to them)before the next wave hit her :( oh and that was only after i gave her pedialyte...I'm happy to report she did excellent througout the night and doing good this morning so far. Only nasty "number 2" so far. Josh slept in her bed and made her a bed on the ground out of towells last night and he said she only woke up to drink a ton. On another note i'm sad to report i woke up at 4:30am to the beautiful noise of an adult vomitting...josh is down with this flu now too. Poor guy. He has is pretty bad and i'm trying to let him sleep it up. All the while Braden is exhiled to our bedroom-he is not allowed to see, smell, look or even think about Riley or Josh right now, otherwise i'm sure he'll catch it too!

I'm SO dissapointed, words don't do it justice. My mom, me, riley and braden were going to go to sea world for the last time this year(our passes expire at the end of this month) tomorrow and take our cousins for their christmas present. I'm so upset we don't get to go and i already told riley that we were going on two seperate occasions(first one got rained out, now this!) It makes my heart just hurt to know she doesn't really understand why we can't go AGAIN.

On top of it i'm super anxious-is this the right word?-about christmas, i've gotten my own hopes up SO much about Riley's christmas morning. We've talked up santat SO SO SO much, and she is so excited. Josh and i are really looking forward to her first time that she knows what's going on, and ripping thru her presents and ughhh all of it ya know? The whole face when she see's her stuff santa brought for her...i'm getting depressed thinking about it. if she is sick christmas morning i'm going to cry my eyes out.

I feel so bad fo josh and riley i need them better just to see them smile...

Okay, i think i'm done venting...if anyone has any ideas how to get riley better ASAP i'd appreciate ANY ideas

hahahahahahahaha

Braden laughed for the first time yesterday! A full out belly laugh! I totally was not expecting him to do it either...he's been doing this little chuckle type coo thing for a couple weeks, he really only did it when i layed him across my lap when getting ready to feed him-he knows what's coming and he loves it, hehe.
But yesterday he was laying on the floor, so happy-which he normally doesn't do-he LOVES to be held, anyway i sat down by him to play with thim and i did the whole "i'm gonna get you, i'm gonna get you, get you, get you!" with a little tickle by his collar bones and he started laughing, just that easy! i got it on tape so josh could see and he actually laughed a lot later that night too. I tried to show him off to my mom today and i got him super close but he made me act like a FOOL just for one chuckle.
I love his laugh!

Egh...Will Power

Dictionary.com says will power is:

-noun
Control of one's impulses and actions; self-control.

Stater Brother's has Entenmann's doughnuts on sale for $1.99 a box (pretty good size box). I walked passed at least 3 stands full of them as I ran in to get milk. Did I give in and buy a box? Almost, but no. This must be what progress feels like.

But, let me tell you this, my mouth is still watering. I can taste the chocolate. Feel the doughnut on my teeth as i bite down. I'm posting about it guys, come on. I think i might just regret not buying those dougnuts!

i LOVE this so much.

Braden's Blessing

Last sunday was Braden's Baby Blessing. Josh did such a great job, the spirit was so strong and we had TONS of family that made it a point to be there for us. We are so greatful for our family and friends and all the they mean to us. Thanks to everyone who supported us!

This white little outfit means a lot to us. I was dissapointed at first because i really wanted to get a blessing outfit made out of my wedding dress for him but started on it last minute and couldn't find anyone to do it. Josh's mom thankfully found the outfit that josh was blessed in and it is ADORABLE and very sentimental. I hope one day Braden will know how special it was to share this outfit with his dad.

He wasn't happy when i re-took his pictures...i didn't get a chance to do it on Sunday.

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christams Tree!

A couple nights ago josh lugged out all our christmas stuff (his favorite party, right babe?) it only took us 3 nights to get it all up! I would explain why it took so long but i think anyone can understand how life gets busy... Me, Riley and our glow worm loving our finally finished tree

Growing up it was our tradition that my brother and i would fight-i mean take turns putting the tree topper on. This year was riley's first year old enough to do that...like how it turned out? haha we only had to move it slightly to center it!
I love starting new traditions within our little family

Braden took care of all these red ones...

So Riley really did a good job decorating the tree but for some reason she loved this one branch best of all...look four ornaments on one branch i think that should get some kind of award or something! what talent ;)

I hope everyone is getting into the Christmas spirit...whatever this may mean to you. Enjoy!

How embarassing!

I run with my cousin Katie most nights of the week. On our very first run together i warned her she would see me trip at some point.

Well last night was the night...

it looked a little worse in person. My right knee was swollen and blueish. i also scuffed my right hip and right elbow!

I guess i was getting a little tired on my run and wasn't picking my feet up high enough, i tripped over a crack on the sidewalk and it layed me out completely. The palms of my hands were only saved because i was wearing gloves! Luckily we were more than halfway done with our run so i didn't have too far to get back home.
Katie was so nice about it, didn't even laugh at all like she should have...pretty embarassing but i knew it would happen at some point!

Cousins...

From the left:Me, Stacy(cousin), Katie(cousin) and Lisa(sister in law) on 4th of july in "due date order" all with in 2months of each other!

This past week we got a shot of all of us with out our baby bellies and just our babies :) Katie's baby Nathan (third from the left) took cuts and decided he needed to be born first and arrived 3 days before Lisa's baby :)
We attended Ryan's baby blessing this past saturday (the baby all in white) and were able to get a shot of all the boys born in this just since July! Look how many boys were born in just a few months of each other! They are going to have so much fun growing up together :)

Nathan looks so cute in this picture(on the very right) looks like he's saying "what guys?"

We tried to get one of Riley and Hailey but you can see how Hailey felt about that idea! She looked so cute too!


*As you may have noticed. i added "Pick of the Week" (play on words-ohh getting fancy!) to the top right hand side of my blog. I got this cute idea from my friend sarah, who does a Photo of Week on hers. I'm going to put up some random picture from our lives each week! Enjoy

pretty random...

but i've got nothing else interesting to share. I haven't posted in a awhile and oddly don't have any crazy, and usually too long, stories to share. Here are just a few pictures and i'm going to use up one of my bragging moments (us mom's get about 1 million a year, right?)

Braden was 7 weeks and 7 days old (ha, details, details) and he was crying, as usual-i love my boy to death, but man he crys a lot-and anyway, my sister in-law lisa was over for our new thanksgiving morning tradition of "chocolate breakfast" (we made DELICIOUS chocolate waffles and regular pancakes with chocolate chip happy faces and whipped cream, and were planning on hot cocoa but braden was crying and riley wanted in and out of her high chair about 200 times, each time i had to wipe all the chocolate off of her so ya, we didn't do as much as planned because i was going a little crazy, back to the story) braden was crying and we were trying to cook so i stuck him in Lisa's baby's carseat just to set him somewhere. and before you know it Lisa tells me to look and Braden is totally batting at the toy haning from the bar! I was soooo excited, i took pictures, which i didn't post yet...and i took a little video, i am so PROUD! Riley didnt' even try to grab things until she was 3 months haha so i was shocked and ya, here you have it my bragging moment that i was able to turn into one of my infamous "too long stories".

Random Pictures of the past couple weeks:

Above:Lately I find my fridge like this, with any of the magnetic letters or pictures stuck inbetween the door of the fridge and freezer. riley likes to put them there for whatever reason...

This week's message to me. D.O.A.= Dead On Arrival. Is this what she thinks of my cooking?

I did a fun mom thing and as i was putting riley to bed i showed her the rain out of her window and decided to let her play in it before her nap :) She loved it, and was soooo thrilled to wear her rain jacket.

I'm not sure she understood the rain was coming from the sky, if i told her to touch it she would stick her hands int he puddles on the ground...

A little lovin. Man does riley love her brother but i think he loves her more. When he's crying and i ahve things to do i often just let him cry on our easy chair. Nothing stops it but me picking him up or His lovely sister laying next to him, talking to him, singing to him and just cuddling, it's really amazing. He will be full out crying and she just lays next to him and he hushes immediatly and stares at her. It's really sweet to watch :)

a "whoops!" moment

-Josh has been wondering why our grass is getting so brown, i mean it does that a little in the winter, but it hasn't been that cold here lately...well he figured it out yesterday. I turned the sprinklers off on riley's birthday so she could play with her new bounce house outside on the grass. Yep you guessed it, i never turned them back on. It's only been a couple or 3 weeks! whoops :)

-a little comfort that came to me in the car just a week ago and might help comfort other cold weather haters out there. Your carmax chapstick stuff gets super hard in cold weather so when you squeeze it, it doesn't come flying out and get everywhere like it does in the hot summer! At least one good thing about yucky cold weather.

-I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, although the end may still be quite a few miles down the road...braden didn't wake up until 6:30am this morning to eat! He went from about 9:30pm the night before alllllllllllll the way to 6:30. I have SO much energy today it's crazy. Just getting a few consecutive hours-anything over 4- feels FABULOUS.

-Braden smiled for the first time on purpose for his aunt crystina last sunday! It was sooo cute. Now i try allll the time to make him do it. He loves screechy kiss noises right in his open mouth, or if you kind of grab his lower gums and give a little shake :)

-Another feel good thing for cold weather despisers like myself. HOT TUBS. oh ya, nothing feels better than a hot hot hot, hot tub in the winter. awwwwwwwww

-Riley had her 2 yr check up, she is completey healthy thank goodness. funny part is that she is in the 10th percentile for heighth and 25th for weight...our little shrimp!

-Those are all my random thoughts for now, enjoy the pictures!

Now that will brighten up any day i'm having!

My silly boy enjoys looking at josh WAY more than looking at me. He seems to always look right above my hair line...I think he's staring at my halo-that's my best guess ;)

So hard to get the smile on camera, but this is basically it, sometimes it gets bigger. I LOVE IT.

Looks like he's thinking "ok crazy lady, bring it on. I'm not smiling until you are acting COMPLETELY foolish."Riley and Opa (German for Grandpa-what their grandkids call him) in a niceeee hot tub

Our flamingo (thank you to katie!) and our little pumpkin, sort of, just in halloween p.j. thing.

I've been waiting...

For the day i felt over whelmed beyond measure with LOVE for Braden. When he was born and i first saw him i felt unconditional love but i knew there was more room in my heart for him and i just had to wait for that to be filled up. It takes me longer then most people i guess, or at least friends i've talked to. With Riley, i specifically remember on day 3 of her life i had this moment where she just became undescribably perfect to me. I love my kids with all my might from moment one but for some reason to feel it completely it takes me awhile...well with Braden, it was when he was 5 weeks old. Quite a long time! I wasn't nervous, i knew it would come, but that was a long wait. I tried to think of reasons for this...maybe because he only let me sleep in about 2 hr intervals, and we are just now at 3 some nights! (no sleep makes it hard to be emotional in a good way and to get attached to something, it makes it easy to be grumpy though!)I know he only wakes up to eat-not his fault and something i love to provide for him but after a few weeks of no more than 3 hr of consecutive sleep i think my body goes into survival mode :) Maybe because i already have a child and so it was hard to sit and hold and talk and bond with braden when i have Riley to also take care of and love on and execute her demands. Who knows what it was but it's over. I looked at him one day last week and couldn't stop looking. I finally took the time to not care about the 100 million different toys scattered around the entire house(just typing that makes my skin crawl...ocd my friends...), about the dirty kitchen and laundry that has been in the washer for two days. I sat and held and stared into his sleepy eyes. A leaned to josh and said "Babe, i finally fell completely in love" aww what an amazing feeling...

The rest of braden's photo shoot

Just got the pictures back and wanted to share them with you all!

No Pumpkin Patch....

But a complete pumpkin patch experience. We visited a pumpkin patch near by but not only did we get to pick out pumpkins we went through a corn maze, fed some crazy goats and Riley got her very first pony ride.

**************

Feeding the feisty goats. I was more scared than riley, they were jumping on us..not cool. I got out of there with Braden asap and left Riley and josh to battle the beasts!

The super fun corn maze

Carving pumpkins at russel and Katie's house

Josh working on his skull pumpkin

And his brother ben working on his pirate ship pumpkin

feeling the guts, forcing riley to, she was not diggin' it

ewwww

She doesn't know what's coming...

Very first pony ride! She was nervous to get on but i forced her and then she LOVED it! She kept saying "giddy-up!"