Six months...only a couple of weeks late

This kid is just about the happiest, most perfect baby we could ask for.

But despite how angelic he looks when sleeping....he is a spaz.

Cooper is much more energetic as a baby than I recall Fisher being. Does this scare me?
YES.

He has a little curly Q cowlick on the front of his head. His hair is starting to grow in more and has a similar strawberry tinge to it just like his brother.

Cooper is unstoppable when it comes to him grabbing objects that he desires. He is always moving and always trying to grab something.

One of his favorite things are my books.

He has been mobile in the form of rolling his way around to wherever he wants to go. Yesterday he was actually pulling himself with his arms a little.

He will get up on all fours but does not attempt to crawl.

He starting to jabber more "Da, Ba & Ma" with the occasional velociraptor screech.

After almost 2 months of being sick and coughing alllll through the night, he is finally healthy. I understand that by mentioning this on the blog I have now jinxed myself.

He drools more than a rabid dog and has an affinity for blowing massive amounts of bubbles.

Todd has this magic touch of being able to put Cooper to sleep whenever he is fussing.

He started sitting up, very unstably, right before Thanksgiving at about 5 months but now can sit up on his own with no problem. We do have to stay close for those occasions when he decides to shoot back.

There was a random, but funny, incident a few week ago when he developed some strange love attachment to my friend Julie's shoe. He laid down on it and cuddled for a few minutes until she had to leave.

Everything goes into Cooper's mouth with the exception of bottles and rice cereal. We had a late start on the cereal since he had been sick for so long. Thus far he only sees the spoon and bottle as torture devices meant to make his life miserable.

We'll keep trying on the food.

He loves balloons as much as Fisher and would become very upset when they were out of his reach.

He also loves to wiggle, jump, stand (with our help, of course), smile at people, and play with his brother & brother's toys.

He started out as a bigger baby but when we took him in for his six month check up they were surprised to see that he was down in weight from his four month visit. The doctors finally realized that he must be sick (which we had been telling them about the coughing, diarrhea and vomiting for over a month. They did not take us serious until the weight drop and finally tested for RSV (neg) and gave him breathing treatments & antibiotic.)

Six month stats:

Height: 25 1/2 inches (20th%)

Weight: 15 lbs (10th%)

When we went in a week later for a follow up appointment on his health (which was much improved) his weight was up to 16 lbs.

Christmas Eve & Day 2009

This year was really fun since Fisher completely "got" Christmas. He knew why we celebrate Christmas, understood the concept of Santa (which was a fantastic bribery tool for us!), loved the decorations and was excited about everything that had to do with Christmas.

We had borrowed Wii from a friend which made for a fun time.
(Thanks Mike & Megan!)

Christmas Eve we sang carols, complete with a lot of bell shakin' going on.
Just envision SNL's skit with Will Ferrell and the cow bell...

We read the nativity story from the Bible.

And we let Fisher open one present from both sets of Grandparents. As you can see, Fisher turned it into a production of The Lion King. The first gift of Christmas was a pair of matching pj's from G & G Lund.

There was a level of excitement that was borderline psychotic. :)

G&G Church gave Fisher the Monkeys in a Barrel game, which were appropriate with the monkey pajamas.

Grandpa Church had an incoming call from Santa to Fisher. Cooper slept through all the of the Christmas Eve festivities but we had a good time anyway.

Christmas morning started off with the normal stocking rituals. Fisher was kind enough to take care of Cooper's as well since, once again, he was sleeping through all the fun. So much for his first Christmas :)

Fisher wore the Santa hat and a pair of inside out and backwards monkey pj's. He passed out a lot of the presents until he became more interested in the toys that were inside the presents.

There were a lot of moments such as this. Lots of wrapping paper being torn. Fisher helped Cooper open his presents later after he woke from his nap.

One of the few pictures I have of them in their matching pajamas.

Fisher is really into this weird face right now. I have at least ten like this on my camera at the moment.

Both of the boys received a new hat & gloves.

Cooper modeling his new hat after he decided to wake up and join the party.

Christmas morning was spent doing a lot of this.

And a lot of this...Transformers, a Lightening McQueen remote control car and candy canes...life doesn't get much better than that for a four year old Fisher.

We thought we were staying on top of putting the paper in a garbage bag but we missed a few along the line.

We had so much food Christmas Eve and then grazed so much Christmas morning/afternoon that we actually decided to just bag the ham & turkey dinner on Christmas. This made for an even more relaxing and enjoyable day than we were already having.

Fisher spent a lot of time eating all the treats I had set out from friends who had delivered Christmas goodies.

G & G Church spoiled us with a Wii this year. Then between a gift card from G & G Lund and my gift to Todd were able to stock up on some games. It was a fun way to spend time with the family.

After almost two straight months of being sick, both boys started feeling better the day before Christmas. It lasted for about four days and then allergies kicked in for Fisher. Then yesterday both boys had four shots which made Cooper grumpy and Fisher has had some sort of reaction with red & swelling on one arm that is really bothering him.

And yes...I was present this Christmas. I tend to be the one taking all the pictures and am seldom on the other end. We had a great Christmas with Todd's family and can't believe that Christmas has come and gone already. Today I have spent the day making a mess by trying to take all the decorations down so we can get back to normal every day life. Todd has a few more days off and then it is back into the daily grind. But it is a good grind. :)

Thanks to Todd's fam for spending Christmas with us. We had a good time.

Grandma & Grandpa pictures

Here are a few of the pictures I was able to take with G & G Church and the boys. Fisher was hard to get into pictures since he was still so excited over playing with his birthday and then his Christmas presents. The last thing he wanted to be doing was posing for pictures.

Grandma & Cooper on Christmas Eve.

Fisher taking a ride on Grandpa.

Uncle Jedd having some cuddle time with Cooper.

The morning after Christmas.

Cooper and Grandpa while we were playing a game of "Would You Rather..."

Fisher's Birthday- the whole story.

I had done a short two picture post on his birthday but here is the official birthday post in typical Meagan fashion which means a LOT of pictures.

It is hard to overshadow all of the Christmas decorations to make Fisher's birthday like a birthday and not Christmas. Not that there is anything wrong with Christmas- we love it at our house- but we want Fisher to feel like it is his special day.

This year I went back to my high school days of decorating the halls and busted out the crepe paper and balloons.

The night before his birthday.

We let him open his present from Steve & Katrina since he was dying to open something and this way he had his cool t-shirt, that Katrina made, to look forward to wearing the next day.
The balloon sang this crazy birthday song if you hit it.
Fisher loved it.

It's all about Transformers and Spider man.

We blew up a gazillion balloons and put them all in his bedroom after he went to bed. When he woke up that morning he was one happy little four year old.
The rest of the morning was similar to Christmas. Fisher woke up early, was ecstatic over the balloons (instead of a stocking) and then was chomping at the bit to open presents. All of the presents were open before 7:30am and that is only because he slept in a little due to staying up way too late the night before. It could have been 6 am.

His card from Mom & Dad. Fisher loves to collect cards and carries a bunch of different ones (especially his transformer ones or any that make sounds) around with him all of the time.

He gave all of his presents a good shake before opening.
The night before he was looking at his presents which were separated from the ones under the Christmas tree. You could see his head going back and forth between the two stacks. Finally he looked over at me and said "Which ones are mine?" I pointed at his stack. He looked longingly back over at the Christmas tree and said "There aren't very many there." His sense of presents is a little warped since everything is so close to Christmas where there are presents for the WHOLE family under the tree. :) In the end he was very happy with his presents.

An art easel from G & G Lund.

His favorite present out of birthday and Christmas was hands down his big Bumble Bee. They are inseparable.

The aftermath.

We had planned on cake & ice cream for lunch but Fisher insisted on cake for breakfast. It was his birthday so we said what the heck. Originally Fisher had been saying that he does not like cake (which he doesn't really seem to all that much) and so I was just going to make some cupcakes since it was only the four of us, but the night before he said he wanted a cake so off to the store I went for a quick little cake.

Bumble Bee making sure he ate his cake.

We had a fun little birthday with him and although we had no extended family with us as we have in years past, it was a fun morning. Todd's family arrived the next day to spend Christmas with us.

His favorite card from this birthday.

A few things came in the mail from G&G Lund, G&G Church, and a few aunts & uncles. His birthday was complete since he received some stuff in the mail and he LOVES receiving mail. Thank you to everyone!

G&G Church found this cool ornament that is perfect for Fisher & 2009. I am taking down decorations today and we just had a discussion about how the ornament has to go in the box. Fisher wants to keep it up forever.

The rest of the day was spent drawing and playing with toys while we cleaned to prepare for family to arrive for Christmas.

We plan on having a birthday party with his friends in the beginning of January when everyone is back in town and everything has settled down from the holidays. This is the year where it seems like all of his friends have had parties and he is looking forward to his very much.

We love you Fisher! You bring so much excitement into our lives. You are our little buddy, always full of questions and funny little comments. You are a sweet little boy who is a great big brother to Cooper. You've dealt with some big changes this year after three and a half years of being the center of your universe and we are proud of you. This year was a little tough at times but we made it. We can't wait to see what four hold in store for us.

Love,

Mom & Dad

You know you have a little boy...

When you find yourself washing jeans that look like this: