Blah, blah, blah

Had appointment at UNC today.

Was not the best appointment.

Took my frustrations out on Todd and kids.

Don't think they enjoyed it.

Felt bad and apologized.

God provided in a huge way through facebook.

Ran five miles.

Ate a seriously unhealthy dinner.

Worked on stuff for Fam Jam.

Going to bed soon.

Tomorrow will be better.

Doctors and Marbles

Owen had his eighteen month well check visit today. It was not a bad appointment. He really has come SO far. Since his 15 month appointment he's gained 3 lbs and grown half an inch and that is huge for us! Huge. However, he is also still considered "failure to thrive" because even with that gain, he's only in the third percentile. This is difficult for me to hear because we have worked HARD for those three pounds and I am beyond ready to hear the words thriving and healthy!! Even though I'm frustrated, I am reassured by the doctors who keep telling me "he will get there." (Evidently, I am needing some lessons in patience right now.) We have a big appointment next week with a team of UNC doctors and we'll keep chugging along until we figure all this out.

After his appointment I got to hang out with four pretty cool, ridiculously funny kids at Marbles (the kids museum) while Owen napped and played with Aunt Allisen, Lachlen, and Grandma.

So, here are the four oldest Fischer Cousins hamming it up for the camera:

Silly Faces.

This man walking by offered to take our picture. Evidently, Emma Grace barely made it in there. (PS - yes, it was hard to hand my camera over to a complete stranger...and I wondered if he took off with it, would I run after him, thereby leaving the four children alone? Hhhmmmmm......what is more important.....camera or kids....camera or kids?)

This is clearly what a bike stand is meant for.

This one is my favorite.
Will (or Queen Cuts off Your Head as he wanted to be called) is seriously cracking me up.

In case you can't tell, they are obviously pretending to be statues.

After Marbles, we met Grandma and Owen at Chic-Fil-A for dinner, ice cream, one spanking and two time-outs. While there, Kenlee informed us that it is not healthy to go out to eat. While she may be right, we were thrilled to at least see Owen scarf down some french fries.

Lots of Good Advice

This blog post is going to be filled to the brim with good advice. No, excellent advice. In fact, you may want to grab a pencil and jot down some notes.

The first piece of advice goes to mothers of small children who are trying to sell their home. Now, obviously, if someone is coming to look at your home and there are toys all over the place, books in the toilet (like I found yesterday - thanks, Owen), and water spilled all over the bathroom floor, that person will probably not want to purchase the home. So before a showing, lock all three kids up somewhere where it is impossible to make a mess while you dash around picking up and making sure the home is presentable. Now, our realtor suggested loading the kids in the car and then running back in to make sure everything is in place. This sounds great... except for the fact that I don't have a garage and it is 100 degrees outside.

So what spot have I come up with?
Oh this is much better than the car.

Yup, the stairs.

If you can get past the horror of me allowing my 18 month old to play on the stairs, you will see the brilliance in this advice. First of all, Owen loves to climb, so really, I'm just giving him a carpeted outlet for his recreation. Second of all, there are no drawers on the stairs. There are no toilets on the stairs. There are no cubbies full of toys on the stairs. Therefore, while I am making beds in one room, they are not making a mess in another.

And to prove that I'm not a monster - here they are, relatively happy on the stairs:

After "stair" time, Emma Grace and I dropped these two boys off for a play date and went back to school shopping.

So, my next piece of advice is for mothers with strong-willed little girls:
Pick your battles.

This is a lesson that I have learned the hard way over the years. She's had strong opinions since a very young age and the stubborn side of myself (may be where she gets it) wants to win these battles. But, I've learned over time to wait and fight the ones that really matter. For example, this is probably not the outfit I would have picked for a shopping date, but she wanted to be fancy.

Shopping was going really well. We were having fun. She picked out a LOT of pink things and I let her. She wants the hideously ugly, princess themed lunch box - we're getting it. Picking my battles. We get to backpacks. Uh-oh. I knew we were in trouble the minute the words "I really like this one" left her sweet little lips. It was teal. Bright teal - all over. With glitter and sparkles - all over it.

Me: Uummm sweetie, that's really pretty, but we're not getting it.
EG: Why not?
(It should be said here that I wanted to lie and tell her it was too expensive. She never argues with that statement, but I took the high road and...regretted it later.)
ME: Because I don't like it and the glitter will end up getting everywhere.
EG: But, I LOVE it because it's fancy.
ME: I know that, but we're going to have to compromise here. Please pick from these five other ridiculously girlie choices.

She picked my second least favorite: pink zebra print. I let her, but then she sulked while we continued shopping. Big sighs and comments about how she never gets anything fancy. (You saw the outfit she had on, right?)

ME: If that's how you're going to act the rest of the day, let's put the backpack back on the shelf and I'll buy you one later.
EG: completely sobbing. "I'm sorry. You've bought me so many nice things today and I'm trying to compromise but I really, really like the sparkly one better and now you're mad at me."
ME: I'm not mad at you. I just don't want to spend our time together with you sulking.
GAP SALESLADY: In a nutshell while giving me the stink eye: That's not a battle I would pick, but everybody is different.
ME: Butt out or we're never shopping here again. Thank you kind saleslady for the heartfelt advice; however, this is a battle I have picked (one that I'm pretty sure her teacher will thank me for when her classroom isn't covered in sequins) and I'm sticking it out. (or something to that effect)

Ahhh....compromise. Such a tough lesson, but EG pulled through for me. She pulled herself together and we enjoyed the rest of our Gap experience. And what did we find when we got to the register? A small, pink, glittery case she could attach to her backpack to put erasers or tissues or something in.

Here we are ending our date with lunch and more girl bonding time. :)

So to sum up (in case you got bored during this lengthy post):

1. Don't be afraid of letting your children play on stairs even though parenting books probably advise against it.

2. Next time, lie and claim that the hideously ugly, blue, sparkly back pack is way more expensive than the other ones. :)

Pool Time

We headed to the pool this morning. It was a bit cloudy, so we pretty much had the place to ourselves which was quite nice....for me. The lifeguards didn't seem too thrilled about only watching my three hooligans.

Here's my little fish. Like her daddy, she loves the water.

This is the best shot I got of all three of them after they were threatened within an inch of their lives asked very politely to not splash me while I had my camera in the water.

Isaac was so proud he put his goggles on all by himself. He has come so far this summer. He used to only sit on the steps and refused to get his face wet, and now he's jumping off the sides and trying to float on his own. Go Isaac!

And this little daredevil was a little bit more cautious today. And by a little bit more cautious, I mean that 98% of the time, he actually waited for me to be in the same vicinity when he walked repeatedly off the ledge into the water. We won't discuss the other 2%.

Even though taking all three kids to the pool by myself is about as appealing to me as a trip to the dentist, we're trying to take advantage of our last few weeks of summertime activities. Someone starts kindergarten two weeks from today........AAACCCCKKKKKKK!

Littlest Lamb....

We had the pleasure of meeting our third nephew today. I might be a bit biased, but he's pretty stinkin' cute, and sweet, and he has that newborn smell that goes along with the softest skin ever. And while I held him, my uterus may have skipped a beat....but then my body reminded it that that was no longer a possibility, and then he started screaming, and then Owen saw me holding him, and then Owen started screaming, and then I handed him back and got the hell out of dodge. ;)

Here he is snoozing on his Uncle Todd:

Little Lachlen, ready to cheer on the Wolfpack:

Here we are having a great moment. I really think he loves me. He was probably just sad that I couldn't stay there with him forever or something like that.

Ahhhhh....back with Mommy at last.

Congratulations Kevin and Allisen!

You have a beautiful family and I look forward to many more bonding moments with your littlest guy. (PS - please tell Gwen the competition is on for favorite aunt. Heck, I may even buy him a pony or something.)

Down the Stairs? Check.

"Don't worry, Mom -

I totally got this."

Crazy kids

When was the last time you played ha ha?
You know, ha ha:
The game where you lay your head on another person's belly and try not to laugh.
I lost. I think it is physically impossible not to laugh while someone else is cackling with your head on their belly. It is a very complex and sophisticated game; so don't feel bad if you've never played it.

Or....when is the last time you piled on the couch and made silly faces?

Or feigned sleep?

Or played a game of Ninja with pillows?

If you can't remember the last time you did any of those things, then clearly your husband is not a youth minister.

Thanks Mom and Dad for letting us use the cabin! And don't worry, no pillows were harmed in the Ninja game.

One Decade Down...

Ten years ago today I walked down the aisle with this crazy guy.

And then we left for our honeymoon in this same exact car (different surf board.)

Fast forward ten years...
We just got home from a wonderful mini-vacation just the two of us and the car that now has 220,000 + miles on it. We got to see views like this

and take really bad pictures like this because it's just the two of us and there's nobody else there to take our picture.

And our plan was to go away and have no plan. And our plan to have no plan was an awesome plan. We slept in, read books, played frisbee, swam, surfed, ran, ate meals at crazy hours, took walks together, talked, rode ferries, played cards, and laughed a LOT.

And we agreed that we should do a weekend away more often.

And we got home last night to three very excited kids.

And now we feel refreshed and ready for the next several decades.

Nothing But Trouble

This is why I should never go to the bathroom again. Maybe I can just get a catheter or wear depends or something.

Yes, that is my HOT coffee sitting there.
Also, I know I'm not up for the Mother-of-the-Year Award or anything, but even I'm pretty sure he should not be standing on a swivel chair with wheels or yanking on a chord that comes out of the computer.


And this is why I should not run upstairs to switch the laundry from the washer to the dryer. Heaven forbid I try to get something done while he's awake.

And....this is the face I get to look at EVERY time he is removed from his various perilous perches.


I mean, seriously?!
This face makes me want to give in and let him climb whatever he wants to climb. "Sure Owen. Why shouldn't you scale the house and jump from the roof? Whatever makes you happy!"

And this is what we like to call compromise.
It usually lasts about .3 seconds.


And now we're off to our next climbing adventure.

I think we should take bets on the number of gray hairs this kid is going to give me. I'm not too worried though - I figure the gray hairs will go well with the depends.