Orange October

This weekend we had Uncle Dan, Aunt Stacy, David and Erin over to carve pumpkins. Eli wouldn't come near the pumpkin as Craig and David were cleaning out and carving them because he thought that the insides were "super gross"  but he was happy with the end result.

 

I'm not the only one who has a hard time getting a real smile from my child, right? We've been listening to a lot of giants games online and watching them at Dan and Stacy's, so naturally Eli is becoming a Giant's fan. He will walk around shouting "Go Giants!" as he does a few fist pumps for emphasis. I tried to capture it, but this is all I got...

And there we have it... a genuine smile from our Eli.

Brother Love

If it takes longer than a couple of minutes for Craig or I to get to Owen when he cries, Eli often takes matters into his own hands...

When it's cold outside...

One Cup of Flour, Trucks, and a cookie sheet will...

...entertain Eli for a good hour!

Off to work

The past couple of days we have taken Craig to work and each morning Eli insists on helping by carrying dad's lunch even though "it's SO HEAVY!"

He drags it around the house then out to the car and then refuses to put it down even when he's in the car. then we have a mini melt-down when it's time for dad to leave because he wants to continue holding it. 

Time...

If only time would just slow down! It is so fun to have a newborn again and even more fun to watch Eli learn and grow too! Here are a few highlights from the last week or so:

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Our sweet Owen was given a name and a blessing over conference weekend. We were so lucky to have so much family for Eli's blessing, but we knew that with everyone's schedule that we probably wouldn't be as lucky this time around. We've had lots of visitors and will have more in November, but none planned on staying on a Sunday, so we got permisison to have a blessing in our home the Sunday that Craig's parents would be here. The blessing was so sweet, and made me so grateful for the man that I married. He is a good husband, father, and priesthood holder. A special little surprise for us was the fact that my parents could "come" to the blessing via skype! It's not the same as having them there, but it wasn't something that I had planned on, but the member of the bishopric that was there gave us permission, and it was really nice to have my mom and dad, AND my Grandma and Grandpa Wagner AND my cousin Devyn and her sweet baby Hazel. :))

 I feel like I say this all the time, but I haven't said it here on this blog: We are so lucky to live close to my Uncle Dan and Aunt Stacy and their cute family. It has been so fun getting to know them better over these past few months!

 I think this is one of my favorite pictures because it captures Craig's dad to a "t" from the way that he holds his grandbabies to the smile on his face... love it! It was so nice to have him here to play with the boys last week. Here are a few pictures from Grandma and Grandpa Fisher's trip:

We went on walks...

and to the Zoo! We didn't get very many pictures, we were having too much fun chasing Eli! I think he is at the perfect age to go to the zoo. He knew a lot of the animals and was so excited to be there. The Denver Zoo is way big... we'll have to go again to see the rest of the animals!

 "I ride the TIGER!"

 On the train

 

And some pictures from Sunday, October 14...Owen's one month mark!

 That's right... he rolled over three, yes three, times on Sunday! The last 3 pictures prove it! When his head goes one way, his body follows BUT we'll take it.

 He's still Mr. stoneface. The day I see a smile AND open eyes is one I am looking forward to!

During our little "photoshoot" we had owen on his belly. Craig asked Eli to show Owen how to crawl, so Eli spent about 10minutes crawling around the room. hah. silly boy.

I feel that lately a lot of attention has gone to Owen, but I want to remember what is going on with Eli. He is a little chatter box and is starting to carry on conversations with us.

Some common Eli phrases include:

"Oh HIIII mom!"

"I like it!"

"My name is Eli Paul Fisher! (Pronounced E-I Pow Fissure)"

"What you doin'?"

"I try it."

"OOOhhhhhhkaaaay!"

"Oh hi baby Owen! He's so cute!"

He still loves cars, trucks and trains, but lately he has spent a lot of time playing with his letter puzzle, magnetic letters on the fridge, and his letter flashcards. He loves the alphabet song, barney and is starting to really LOVE singing. It is so fun to hear him sing to himself. While playing with his cars and trains, I frequently see this little concentrated face:

Man, I love my Eli guy and my Owen man...I'm really enjoying this time that I have at home with them, so time please just slow down, pretty please? :)

Our Owen

 September was an eventful month! I will always love summer, but having all my boys' birthday in September makes fall a season to look forward to! Here are some pictures from the last few weeks. Because I want the birth story for my records, I'll write it here. It might be a little long, so feel free to skip ahead and look at pictures(I know they are WAY more exciting anyways.) The first is a little "graphic," but it's the FIRST picture we have of Owen, and for that very reason I love it....

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Craig's 26th Birthday!(Yay!) For the evening, Craig and I treated ourselves to a night out(thanks Erin!) and went to a Rockies/Giants game. At the game, I lost my mucus plug which I know really doesn't mean much, but I was excited because I knew my body was getting ready to have a baby! But I didn't want to get too excited because I still had a good two weeks until my due date(September 29). We did a lot of walking to the stadium from the parking garage and back(not to mention all the STAIRS in that stinkin' garage.) For months I'd have cramps that were awfully annoying but not terribly painful, so I didn't think much of the cramps that I got after walking so much that night. We got back that evening around 9:45, and went straight to bed...my body ACHED! 

Here is a picture from the game.  Last picture of me pregnant.

Thursday, September 13, 2012

At 11:30 pm(Wednesday), I had my first noticeable contraction. I was so excited! They were about 10 minutes apart and really pretty consistent. They got closer and more painful, so I called the on-call nurse to see when I was supposed to go in. We had scheduled a C-Section for the 22nd, so I wasn't really expecting to go to the hospital until then. The nurse told me to go in. We called my aunt over(BLESS her!) so Eli could stay asleep, and then went over to the hospital. Once there, they checked me and I wasn't more than a 1, and checked the fluid levels then sent me home around 3 and we got home at 4. There is a lot more to that visit, but that's the short version. I was mad and in pain. The contractions continued aaaallllllllll day Thursday. I was so frustrated because I knew that my body was getting ready to have the baby, but also knew that the hospital wouldn't admit me because I was a little early(I was 37w, 5d) and wasn't really progressing. BUT I never progressed with Eli, so I knew that the only way that I would get admitted early was if my water broke. I went to my 8:50 doctors appointment and had them re-check me because i was still contracting and I knew something was up. aaaand NOTHING. So...I tried to keep my mind off of having a baby(which is really hard while being HUGE) I took a nap, ate, laundry, and went to the store with my Aunt and Cousin(Stacy and Erin) once Craig went to school for the night so I would be distracted from being so frustrated.

Friday, September 14, 2012, 

MY WATER BROKE at 12:30! I was SO happy, but SO tired because we didn't get much sleep the night before.We called Stacy in the middle of the night...again, and we were at the hospital around 2:00. I was feeling great! The contractions stopped by then, but I knew that I had a "free pass" to be admitted. It seemed a little backwards because just the night before I was in a ton more pain(yes, I have a low tolerance for pain) the night before, but because my water broke I would be admitted even though I wasn't in any pain. i started contractions again around 2:30, but was given medicine to make them stop/slow down, because I was scheduled for a c-section the next week and that was what we had decided to do. During my whole pregnancy the decision to have a repeat c-section or a VBAC was at the forefront of my mind. Whenever I would think or talk about having a VBAC, there was something about it that was unsettling(for the lack of a better way to explain it.), so we went ahead and scheduled the C-section. After scheduling it, I knew that this was the right decision for me, because it just felt...right. So... at 3:00am, the anesthesiologist came in and said that we were good to go at 4:30. I remember thinking "oh my goodness, we'll have a baby in less than 2 HOURS!" The hospital was really busy that night(15 babies were in the nursery with Owen!), so the time kept getting pushed back. After some prep, a spinal, AND an epidural, our sweet boy was born.

 6:53am:

While they were prepping, the doctors each made a guess on how big they thought he would be. And I quote, "Considering your due date, I'd say about 6lbs, but it looks like he's a little bigger so I'll say 7." As they were pulling him out I heard lots of comments like, "Oh my!" "Big boy! I think we were all a little off!" "Look at those cheeks!" 15 days early 8lbs, 4oz, 21inches... big boy, no wonder I had awful back pain!

I can't even describe the feelings that I felt hearing my boy cry and cry and CRY. He sounded so healthy! The moment I saw him, all I think was how much he looked like Eli. Wonder why? Take a look at these pictures(can you tell who is who?):
1.

2.3.4.

1. Owen, 2. Eli, 3. Owen, 4. Eli

Our first family picture:

Getting ready to leave the hospital:

First week home:

My mom was able to come out from Saturday, Sept. 15- Saturday Sept 22 and it was so nice to have her here! She made meals, cleaned, played with the boys, and let me have lots of rest!

 Seriously, I have the cutest mom!

First "bath"

I love this one because it is so Eli. haha

I'm outnumbered, but I couldn't imagine it any other way! I'm crazy about each of them.

Eli playing with his little brother:

First official bath:

We are SO smitten by him, and are so happy he's here safe!