Double dose of cuteness

For those of you who were wondering (grandparents), yes, we did notice a family resemblance between our two cuties at birth. They've both got my nose, and both were born with those awesome cobalt blue eyes. Although our son proved to be much more of a chunk than our daughter.

Happy Birthday Caleb!

Welcome to the world baby Caleb!
Caleb Steven Fisher
January 28, 2009
5:28 a.m.
8 pounds, 1 oz.
20.25 inches

Happy Birthday Caleb!

Welcome to the world baby Caleb!
Caleb Steven Fisher
January 28, 2009
5:28 a.m.
8 pounds, 1 oz.
20.25 inches

Great works of art take time

We actually got enough snow today to make a snowman! Alas, Abby's attention span only allowed enough time for the bottom third of Justin's masterpiece to take shape. Maybe tomorrow our backyard buddy will get a midsection...

Waitin' on Caleb: Week 40

142 pounds.
41 inches around.
And still pregnant.

We'll let you know when that changes.

Young Theologian

Apparently those lift-the-flap books are no longer stimulating enough....under her dad's tutelage, Abby's moving on to meatier topics.

Tough times for the tooth fairy

Maybe the other kids told her she'd get a sticker and a prize.

Maybe she thought a professional would do a better job brushing her teeth.

Maybe "x-ray" sounded like some fun new toy to her.

Whatever the reason, would someone please tell our daughter that next time she wants us to take her to the dentist, growing a cavity or running out of floss would be just as effective?

Seriously...diving off a chair and breaking a tooth in half is a little overkill, don't you think?

I wonder what the tooth fairy's going rate is for half a front tooth?

A little dusty

After weeks of listening to predictions that the worst winter in history was certainly headed our way, we finally woke up to what our friends down south might consider a winter wonderland. In actuality, it was just a light dusting of snow that had blown away by noon, in spite of temperatures that still have not climbed above freezing.

Noting that Mother Nature had decided today was a good day to adhere to the "everything in moderation" rule, I decided to break my "never get Abby up early" rule so we could enjoy the 2 millimeters of snow that had fallen. A half hour and a quick bowl of oatmeal later, my toasty toddler was bundled into her fuzzy hat, ski jacket, snow boots and oversized mittens and pitifully wandering around the house trying in vain to pick things up with her winterized hands. Her dismay at not being able to get a grip on her puppy was soon forgotten when I took her outside.

After walking up and down the driveway and beating tiny flurries of snowflakes out of our bushes, she looked up at me with tear-filled eyes and a runny nose and gave me an earful of what she really thought of our snowy morning outing. "Cold!" she informed me. "Cold! Cold!" So back inside we went to set her free from her cold weather wardrobe and wipe her nose.

If this wintry weather keeps up, stay tuned for pictures of the 2-inch tall snowman we might be able to build by the end of the week.

Waitin' on Caleb: Week 38

39.5 inches around. 139 pounds. And still very, very pregnant.

Meanwhile, all our bags are packed and I'm ready to whenever the time does come for this baby to be born. This morning's doctor's appointment finally gave me a glimmer of hope that I won't be pregnant forever. Caleb's head has, for the last two weeks, been at 0 station (that means his big old head is pretty much as low as it can get in my pelvis for now) and the doctor confirmed today that he's still there. Also, the annoyingly strong and frequent Braxton-Hicks contractions are doing their job of helping my body progress toward labor...though it's still a guessing game at this point as to when the big day will arrive.

Other than the basic discomfort of slinging around an extra 23 pounds on the front of my body, I'm doing well and trying to catch up on all the sleep I'll be missing out on once our little boy arrives and we re-enter the world of nighttime feedings and irregular naps.

Please pray for a smooth delivery, a healthy baby, and that Caleb would not decide to be born during a blizzard or the inauguration or any other time that would make driving to the hospital any more of an adventure.

Setting the record straight...

There are some ghastly rumors flying about that apparently stem from my lack of blog updates. Lest her fans and family start to believe that Abby hasn't done anything cute in the past few weeks, I figured it was time to set the record straight. The truth is, our dear daughter has simply done so many cute things since I last updated that my big belly and I have had trouble keeping up. My apologies to the grandparents and other relatives who rely on me to supply their weekly dose of cuteness. I'll try to be better, I promise.

So what's Abby been up to while I've been shirking my blogging duties? Let's recap...

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	In what might just qualify as the cutest thing ever, Abby's sensitive side has started to show itself in the nurture and care of her stuffed animals. She's insistent on sharing whatever is in her sippy cup with whatever puppy, duck or baby doll happens to be nearby. When there are no care objects around for her to feed and water, she'll head into the playroom and find one, then drag it into the kitchen and smack her lips while she feeds it. When she's done, she'll look at us and offer a resounding "mmmmm" to let us know that the puppy/duck/baby is full, and then she'll proceed to feed herself again.
	Abby's getting more and more independent by the day. She's got an extremely low tolerance for being helped with simple tasks that we try to teach her, like holding a fork properly, and insists on doing it herself most of the time. To her credit, if we wait long enough, she often gets it right. I sympathize with her impatience at not being able to master things on a first try. Unfortunately, I think she gets this from me. (We'll deal with why I still haven't learned to drive a stick shift in a later post...) But along with this fierce determination to get things right the first time comes a short fuse when things don't go her way...like when I had to take her puppy book away to repair the page she tore out of it. This is the face of someone whose world is crumbling around them at the hands of a mom who needs to rescue a book from further destruction. It was not a pretty sight.
	We're discovering every day just how much she's soaking in everything she sees and hears. After reading her new Bible story book to her one afternoon, I left her in her playroom while I went into the kitchen to start dinner. A few moments later, I heard her saying "noh-noh" and making her elephant noise over and over again. When I went to see what in the world she was doing, I found her organizing her Noah's Ark toys (noh-noh is her name for Noah) around the book that she had opened back up to the page about Noah and the flood. When I asked what she was reading, she pointed at the book and said "noh-noh" then showed me the Noah figurine and did the same. Later that night, I read her the story of Noah's Ark from her toddler Bible and asked her to point to the rainbow, and she promptly did just that.
	Overwhelmed by the influx of Christmas goodies that are taking over her playroom, Abby often finds solace in the privacy of her trusty old cardboard box fort. She's discovered that turning it on its side leaves her completely enclosed, and she's not a fan of being interrupted when she's in her cozy little book nook trying to read about her dear friend Clifford the Big Red Dog.
	Inspired by her friend Abby Mae, curly-headed Abby Jean tried out a new hairdo, much to the chagrin of her dad. It seems he prefers the wild bed-head look that her flyaway tendrils ordinarily fall into, and was quite distressed to find his daughter had been replaced by a Cindy Lou Who look-alike. That's ok...it's too much trouble to wrangle her and twist those little elastic bands into her hair anyway. Next time I go to that much work, I want to be rewarded with more than a half-inch long pigtail.
	She's successfully mastered following the command to "sit down on your bottom" when she wants something to drink. This serves multiple purposes, not the least of which is saving me the trouble of wiping up orange juice as I chase around a supposedly no-spill sippy cup. Also, whenever she's thristy, Abby has gotten in the habit of tugging on the refrigerator door until we notice her, then promptly falling down on her tushie in front of it while she waits for us to get her something to drink.

In other news, I'm still pregnant, and waiting anxiously* on little Caleb to make his debut.

*Waiting anxiously=whining pitifully about not being in labor

Waitin' on Caleb: Week 36

At 39 inches around and boasting a weight gain of 22 pounds, I'm just one inch and one pound shy of my final tally when we went into the hospital to deliver Abby. Too bad it looks like I've got more than one week left...

Our doctor's appointment this week confirmed that the baby is in a head down position and very low, but so far no dilation. Things are, however, "softening up" as they should, according to my doctor, and she and I are hopeful that his low position will speed things up when the time comes for Caleb to make his grand entrance.

Caleb must be able to hear all our talk about our preparation for his arrival, because he has been jumping with excitement for the last week. His movements are violent and unmistakable and I'm certain that if he keeps this up much longer he will indeed kick right through the walls of my abdomen. Perhaps he's annoyed with all the intense Braxton-Hicks contractions I've been having lately (the fake ones that are readying my body for the real thing). While annoying and painful at times, these false contractions are a good sign that my body is doing what it should to get ready to push our little one out into the world where he belongs.

In other news, Caleb's nursery is officially ready for his arrival, though I'm sure we won't have everything in place for a while. I'm still waiting to hang a few very cool pictures of his grandfathers and great-grandfather flying fighter jets and need to ship some fabric to his Nana to make some curtains. Mimi's visit over Christmas yielded some bedding essentials that allowed us to get the crib all set up, so at least he has somewhere to sleep when he gets here, and Justin's hard work paid off to give us the perfect blue and khaki colored walls and, finally, some overhead lighting in the nursery.

In Mommy news, I'm officially over being pregnant, and the countdown to our arbitrary due date is constantly running through my head. I'm back to taking one or two naps a day as Abby allows, and have given up all hopes of checking things off my to do list in favor of sitting down and reading Clifford the Big Red Dog to my daughter while she tries to make room for herself on my ever-shrinking lap. We've tried to explain the impending arrival of a baby brother to her, but I'm certain she has no concept of what we're talking about. I have shown her some pictures of a baby inside the womb and explained that mommy has a baby inside her belly too, and that little lesson did end with her trying to kiss the baby...it's real cute to see my 16 month old plant a wet one on my stretched out tummy!

Please join us in praying for a safe delivery and a healthy baby boy when the time comes. I'll be praying that the time comes very soon!