Officially a Fisher and Funny Phrases

On September 11th around 4 pm, our little Maggie was officially deemed a Fisher in the eyes of the court! We had our finalization hearing in Greenville, SC and were accompanied by Grandmama and Papa to this special event.  Ray Godwin, our attorney who helped us with both Riley and Maggie's adoption, was present as well as our Guardian ad Litem, June Bond (who was also appointed to Riley's court appearance as well back in October 2010).  What we have known to be true in our hearts since the moment we met this precious girl was verified by Judge Jenkins; Margaret Grace will forever be a part of our family! The 15-20 minute proceedings included Chris giving his testimony about why we wanted to adopt, how we will continue to meet Maggie's needs emotionally and physically and how we would honor her cultural background. I then took the stand and verified that I agreed with Chris' remarks. I was asked to describe our marriage and to which I replied it was based on faith, love, and hard work.  The judge seemed impressed by the fact that we were both teachers and talked about how 1st and 2nd grade teachers especially leave a lasting imprint on how children remember school.  Towards the end of the hearing, the judge asked Riley to approach the bench and he gave him a lollipop. Riley couldn't have been more thrilled! We were able to take a few pictures with the judge and have him sign Maggie's baby book.  He signed his name and then wrote: "May God bless your family!" He certainly already has and I know He'll continue to do so!

 Maggie has become increasingly more alert of her surroundings and people around her.  She now gets upset if she is left in her swing or in a room by herself.  She loves to watch her big brother play with his toys and she is also mesmerized by the TV shows that Riley likes to watch.  We try to limit her exposure to this the best we can, but the little gal seems to always find a way to turn her head or body to see the screen.  Speaking of turning...Maggie now scoots all over her crib, especially at night.  She slides down in chairs and is constantly on the move when she is awake...kicking her feet and wiggling around.  She is also picking up on Riley's constant chatter and is becoming quite the talker herself lately.  She makes all kinds of coos and sticks her tongue out at us as she smiles and laughs. Riley loves dressing her up and posing for pictures with her now. He's really doing a good job in his big brother role!

Riley is learning so much! He can count up to 13 or 14 without any mistakes and then skips ahead to 17 through 20.  He is learning to count objects and the other day had 1 to 1 correspondence counting 8 cars.

 Now, I've been collecting some funny phrases for a few weeks and finally have some time to share them.  Here they are in no particular order:

• While eating spaghetti one night, we asked Riley how he liked his noodles.  To which he replied, "It's not noodles, it's pasta!"
• He dives right into eating supper now and we have to remind him to stop and pray.  He's still doing his usual "Dear God, Thank you. You're welcome. Blessings. Thank you for the food. Amen." prayer and as soon as he finishes he adds loudly, "Let's eat!" and picks up his spoon or fork and digs in again! 
• With all his crazy antics, we often say, "Riley, are you a silly goose?" Every single time, he answers, "No, I a Big Boy!" 
• A week or so ago at dinner, Riley was eating his chicken and dipping it in ketchup.  Once he finished those, he ate his apples and because he loves ketchup so much, he started dipping THOSE in ketchup up too.  Once his apples were all gone, he picked up his spoon and started to eat the ketchup all by itself.  When it was gone, he turned to us and said, "More ketchup please!"
• Sometimes we'll say, "Riley, you are hilarious!" He's started picking up on this word and will see something that's funny himself and say, "That's rare-ri-ous!"
• His language continues to build at a rapid speed. The other day, he was playing upstairs with Daddy.  There's a certain Little People toy that Riley is especially fond of and has nicknamed "Person Boy." Chris asked Riley, "Is Person Boy going to drive the car?" Riley responds confidently, "Of course, he will!"
• Our church had a fundraiser at Bruster's ice cream not too long ago and had some special visitors dressed up as Snow White and Cinderella. When we introduced the characters to Riley, he was particularly fascinated with one of them and kept asking to see "Cind-umbrella" again and again.
• While playing football or any other kind of ball with Daddy, Riley has invented a new game in which he falls down on the floor every time that the ball is thrown back to him and announces: "Riley get tackled." I think someone has been watching a few too many sports!
• Bedtime has become a more drawn out procedure in recent weeks as our little rascal has learned new stalling tactics.  He must first gather at least 6 different toy cars, trains, or trucks to sleep in his bed with him. In fact, he even has a matching set of twin dump trucks that he calls "the Brothers" and they are frequent visitors in his bed. Other guests include Grover, Thomas, Henry the red train, Mater (Tomater from Cars movie), and a hodge podge of other vehicles he has managed to collect over the years. Next, he has to make sure he has he green and blue blanket in his bed and ask that you "cover up" his body with it. Then he might say he needs a drink or remind you to "leave door open". And 9 times out of 10, once we're all settled downstairs we'll hear a little voice start crying out "Mockingbird song, Mockingbird song". I didn't realize he would grow so attached to this silly little song, but he knows all the words and when Daddy tries to change them or make up his own version, Riley is often quick to correct him! The trick after we finally get our dear boy to sleep is figuring out how to keep him asleep. Riley's internal clock has somehow been waking at 5:45 or 6 am and no amount of trying to convince him to go back to sleep, it's dark outside and the toys and TV are still sleeping work. He eats repeating the same thing: "Go downstairs, eat breakfast. No Mommy and Daddy's room." We also were unsuccessful in putting him in our bed and trying to get him to fall back asleep. So for the time being, we're all very early risers right now.
• This precious child loves to make us laugh! And I'm not sure where he got it, but he has learned to do a really deep laugh and cover his mouth with his two hands when he thinks something is really funny. David (our friend/neighbor down the street) loves to egg him on with this! We have to admit, we think it's pretty cute ourselves too!

Zoo, Month Two, and Summer Highlights (Just a Few)

 ***This is the beginning of Blog Book Number 2! I published our July 2011-July 2012 memories and loved the result, so here's to another fabulous year of special family moments!***

At the beginning of the summer, I made two lists. One was things we needed to do around the house (clean pantry/closets, paint deck, landscape, etc.) and the other was summer activities just for fun! I can definitely report that we crossed off more of our fun items than our work items! So while our house may not look in the best of shape (especially with all the kitchen and living room repairs going on), we have managed to have quite a few exciting excursions!

Here we are at Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia. We headed down on a semi-cloudy day (hoping to avoid the heat, but ended up sticky with humidity). Nevertheless, Riley had a blast seeing all his favorite animals in a zoo for the first time! The highlight of our trip was when Riley saw the giraffes and went up on a landing to feed them. He found pieces of lettuce (people had left behind) and fearlessly fed the giraffes as they poked their heads through the railing. He got such a kick out of it; we had to come back again a second time before we left! Other sweet moments included when Riley "hugged" the gorilla through the glass cage, waddled like a penguin at their exhibit, and tried Dip 'N Dots icecream for the first time! 

 On August 2nd, we celebrated our darling Maggie turning 2 months old and our dear daddy turning 41 years old! Maggie (unfortunately) had to go to the doctor for her 2 month shots in the morning and her regular check-up. She weighed 11 lbs. 10 oz. and was 23 inches long. She's in the 75th percentile for both weight and height. Her personality is starting to shine through more and more each day. Her smiles come easily now and we even think we've heard her cackle! She's still sleeping through the night most of the time. She is content most of the time to lay on the bed and watch a fan or listen to her brother play.  She is making more babbling sounds and loves to hold a hand/finger when she falls asleep. To celebrate Chris' birthday, Grandmama and Aunt Kelly came to stay with Riley and Maggie so we could go out to dinner at Lupie's (Chris' favorite dive restaurant that serves up great Chili Mac). This was Kelly's first time meeting Maggie since she had been away at a camp for 2 months.



A few weeks later, we had to evacuate our house so that workers could sand, stain, and finish our hardwood floors that were also damaged by the refrigerator leak. So luckily, we were able to make a family vacation out it and headed to Charleston for about a week. We arrived on Monday and went to play with Amanda, Liam, and Tripp before checking into our hotel in Mt. Pleasant. Then on Tuesday, as you can see by the picture below, the weather was rainy most of the day so we took the kids to the Children's Museum.

 The boys all had a grand 'ol time playing in the pirate ship, shopping area, ball ramps, water table, craft center, Medieval castle, and the toddler area. It was the perfect rainy day activity!


 The following day we were hoping to go to a water park in the area, but the weather chose not to cooperate again. So we made the best of it and headed to the Aquarium instead. We'd been once before, but now Riley is really able to appreciate it more.  Our fearless little man loved touching the shells in the touch tank and liked having his picture made holding a starfish. Can you tell that he is now saying "Cheese" for every picture? Hence the wide eyes and slightly open mouth! :O)  We loved having Tripp, Liam, Edward, and Amanda along to share in the journey! Maggie, surprisingly, was actually awake for part of the time this time! We ended our time at the aquarium with a 4D movie that lasted about 15 minutes and was full of special effects (water, bubbles, smoke, snowflakes, etc.). Riley loved it so much that he actually cried when it was over and kept saying, "More movie!"

 

 

Ah...the beach!!  This is by far my favorite vacation spot and is a family tradition! This year, we headed to Folly Beach and had a blast digging in the sand, making homemade peach icecream, playing games like What's In Your Milk? (ask Kelly!), Categories, Greedy and Stickem (a very complex, yet intriguing game that Edward taught us), and eating out at places like the Crab Shack and the Taco Bar (yum!!). Most of what I enjoy the most about the beach is just the fact that we can all hang out together and enjoy each other's company and the craziness of the kids. In fact, Chris and I gave up one night of our hotel stay to camp out on the condo couches and be near family. It sure was a nice week and we were sad when it finally had to come to an end. Oh well, there's always next year! 

Photo Book

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Smiles, Trials, and Hotel Dials

Well, we officially survived our first ever road trip with 2 children to Indiana and back! We left on the 4th of July around 3 pm and drove until 10 pm (stopping in a little town to stay at a Budget Inn).  Both kids did really well in the car and were calm and content most of the time (of course the DVD player and bag full of toys and arts and crafts  certainly helped with this as well!). 

Riley had been asleep for about 2 hours when we arrived at the hotel and that’s when he caught his second wind.  You should have seen our little maniac running back and forth and around and around in our tiny room all the while pushing every button he could find and turning every dial in sight (especially the fun-looking ones on the AC unit!).  What an adventure! It took over an hour to settle him back down again. 

Thursday just happened to be my birthday and my darling husband surprised me with a beautiful pair of pearl earrings! Pearls are Maggie’s birthstone, so it’s extra meaningful. We drove about 4 more hours and pulled into Nan and Pap’s driveway around noon.  We let the kids play and be held and then ate lunch. I got to order my favorite treat….a pork tenderloin sandwich. For the life of me, I don’t know why we don’t have this down South. I mean it’s fried, slathered with mayo, on a bun, and extremely tasty! That night we let Riley try out the pool before the other “campers” arrived for Camp Nan N’ Pap.  We didn’t really think he wanted to get wet, so we didn’t bother putting a swimsuit on him and just let him splash around with his hands.  But one thing led to another, and before we knew it, we had a “Nature Boy” running around with no clothes  on hopping in and out of the pool.  Such fun and I bet it entertained the neighbors too!

 The next day, Ben and Brandy arrived with Lucy and Alice around 3 pm and Tim and Jen came about 5 with Anderson.  Then the excitement really went to a whole new level! All four of the grandkids (Maggie didn’t participate this year), got in their swimsuits and splashed around in the pool.  It was so neat to see their different personalities shine through. 

Nan and Pap were extremely brave and decided to keep all 5 kids Friday and Saturday night, while the parents got to go spend some adult time.  What a nice, relaxing time we had together! We hung out for hours at the hotel pool and then on Saturday we went to Hoosier Park where Chris won $200 on his very first 5 cent slot machine and Jen won $100 by the end of the 2 hour period. While our children were busy sponge painting,

  filling buckets with dirt (dumping them out and and then reloading them) , 








making spider crafts, reading books together,    

 going back in the pool,  and decorating photo frames with Nan and Pap, we found the kid inside ourselves and went go-karting.  Then after freshening up a little, we had a delicious dinner at The Nile restaurant in Anderson, IN which served Egyptian, Greek, and Mediterranean food. The highlight of the meal was definitely the flaming cheese appetizer and the wide selection of foreign beers. By Sunday though we were anxious to get back to our little ones and couldn’t wait to kiss their little faces.


Some time during these last 2 weeks, our sweet Maggie has learned to smile! Here are two of her precious grins we managed to capture on camera along with a few other candid moments:

I am so proud of Maggie! On Wednesday, July 11th our almost 6 week old slept through the night! That really made Mommy and Daddy smile!! She slept from midnight until we woke her up at 7:30.  Then the next night, she slept 9:45 pm-6:15 am (8 1/2 hours), and to keep up the streak the following night she slept 7 1/2 hours (12 am until we woke her again at 7:30).  Then she had a few nights of the regular 4 to 4 1/2 hour awake times, but last night she graced us again with 7 hours of sleep (10:45-5:45).  It’s so nice to get a solid 7 hours of sleep (I had forgotten how much I missed it!). Thank you, Maggie! Keep up the good work!


Now onto the “trial” portion of the blog. Within a day or two of arriving home from our Indiana vacation, Chris felt like he kept stepping in small puddles in the kitchen and his sock was getting wet.  Upon further analysis, we discovered that we had all kinds of new cracks in our tiles where water was seeping through!! The culprit:  

 (a leaking valve in the back corner of our refrigerator that sprung a big enough leak while we were gone to saturate our floors and cause mildew behind the fridge and all the way through the wall to the garage sheetrock outside).
We have had to call in a water damage restoration company (Rainbow International) and they began trying to dry out the floors and underneath of our house where the installation and subfloors were also very wet using massive fans and dehumidifiers.    
 It sounds like a landing strip 24/7 in our downstairs living area now.  We have to unzip a tarp to get in and out of the kitchen. It’s made for a very stressful living situation this week.  We hope to hear good news from our insurance adjuster when he arrives to inspect the damage tomorrow.  I’m hoping with all my heart that we can get the kitchen floor replaced and put back in working condition very soon!

UPDATE: Our insurance company has agreed to cover the claim and replace not only our kitchen floor, but also help with the damage that is now being done to our hardwood floors in our living room.




So our summer is halfway over and while the kitchen fiasco is causing a lot of unwanted frustration, there are still many bright spots in our day.  Here are just a few recent anecdotes that have brought a smile to my face lately:

• Andrea (my hairstylist who dabbles in photography on the side) came last week to take pictures of Maggie.  She was able to recreate several shots that she posed Riley in 2 years ago.  I can’t wait to get back the pictures so I can see my precious babies at this adorable stage of life and start framing them! It’s hard to believe how fast the baby stage goes by!
• Riley picked up his toy cell phone last night and said “Hello, it’s Riley Fisher (pronounced Peesher). Come play?” and then promptly hung up. When asked who he was calling, he replied, “Some kids.” Upon further investigation, he said he was calling Blake and Delaney (who have been away at the beach for several weeks and it’s obvious he’s missing them!). So sweet! We’ve set up a playdate when they return!
• Chris caught Riley reading books to himself the other night before bed. He has a few new favorites right now like one by Eric Carle titled Does a Kangaroo Have a Mother Too?.  He was able to flip the pages and recite the text almost verbatim.  Then he picked up another book and transferred the same pattern.  This time instead of saying “Does a giraffe have a mother? Yes! A giraffe has a mother too.” He said, “Does a motorcycle have a mother? Yes! It has one too!” How cute!
• Chris also swears he heard Maggie give him a full-on giggle recently too! I can’t wait to hear it myself! For now though, I’ll just busy myself with trying to make her smile during her awake time. Although I must admit she responds to Daddy’s voice more than mine right now! Guess that whole Daddy/Daughter bond is starting early!
• Whenever Riley sees a bug now, he automatically says: “Just look. Don’t touch it!” That might just be his mother’s influence! Something he gets from his dad is his phrase “Be careful!” which he says often as he’s climbing down the stairs.
• Riley really enjoyed going to the Toddler Time at our local library to sing songs and listen to a book be read aloud. He knew almost all the songs and when in the right mood, loves to show off his dance moves. For instance, we took him to a fundraiser at church this past Sunday that served us a BBQ dinner and then had people in our church performing songs and skits like an old-time radio show.  Our son danced in his highchair, played air drums, and nodded his head up and down to show his approval! The skits didn’t quite hold his attention as well so after a while, we decided to head out.
• Maggie must be going through a growth spurt! She’s starting to eat every 2 to 2 1/2 hours instead of every 3 to 3 1/2. Her little belly is starting to stick out now and her cheeks are getting chubbier which makes her all the more adorable!

Summer Lovin’

I can’t believe our first month of summer is over! So sad how quickly time can fly by.  Our little family has started getting into a somewhat of a routine.  One or both of the kids usually wake up around 6:30 or 7 and we all eat breakfast (bar and banana for Riley, the usual 4 ounces of Similac blue box special for Maggie, cereal for Mom and an Everything bagel with cream cheese for dad). Then Riley gets to watch a show (typically Elmo but sometimes Animals or Thomas the Train).  At some point during the morning, we get dressed and lately one of us has been heading to the YMCA with Riley.  We can workout for about an hour while Riley goes to ChildWatch and plays. He’s always hesitant at first to go in, but within 10 minutes he’s stopped crying and is distracted with a new toy. Sometimes we go to the pool afterwards.  Riley really enjoys going in the “big” pool (holding on to Mom or Dad) over the “little” pool which is a kid-friendly water park.  On occasion Riley will work up the nerve to go down the Frog slide or put his hands in the water jet that comes out of the ground. Then we head home for lunch and nap.  Our afternoons vary but usually include time spent riding a bike in the park, blowing bubbles, drawing with sidewalk chalk, coloring or finger painting, playing trains upstairs or some sort of ball game downstairs, and eating snacks. Once a week, we’re trying to go somewhere special.  This past Thursday we had a blast taking the entire family on a train ride from Pineville to Uptown Charlotte to go to Discovery Place museum.  Riley absolutely loved looking out the window and all the stop and go of the Lynx train. 

He also had a great time splashing in the water table in the Kid Zone, playing drums, creating a giant LiteBrite picture, and going over a pint-size bridge in the well-padded toddler area.

Of course, I forgot my camera so these are just random Google image pics. Oh well! Next time I’ll be better prepared!

So here are just a few other highlights from our time together so far this summer:

• While staying at Grandma and Papa’s last weekend so Mom and Dad could go out to eat and celebrate our anniversary, Riley heard Aunt Jeannie sneeze and without any prompting, told her “Bess You!” She couldn’t believe his manners.  What a proud moment!
• One of the other afternoon activities I forgot to mention above is that Riley likes to dance to a CD that Blake and Delaney gave him for his birthday.  It has exercise songs that are personalized with his name. We caught on video Riley doing the grapevine which I think he learned from me doing a Zumba Wii workout with him awhile back. It’s so cute! He looks like a crab sliding sideways! His favorite track right now is the one about jumping up and down which Riley loves to do now.  I’m so happy he’s learned how to jump (that was his next big milestone that Kathy, his physical therapist for a year, mentioned that we should look for around age 2). 
• Another precious moment occurred at naptime a week or two ago.  Riley has started saying “Love You” to us before we even say it or when he’s pretending to take a nap and playing downstairs. It’s so sweet.  And after our usual routine of bath (every other night), pjs, teeth brushing, and reading 2 books, Riley will climb in his big boy bed with all 3 blankets, Ruff the Pillow Pet, the big-eyed turtle (that Kristin gave him before we left Washington), George the monkey, and most of the time a random toy like a motorcycle or train and he’ll repeat a prayer.  Two nights ago, Riley said “Thank you my family” and then named Mom, Dad, Riley, Irving, Maggie, and the wall!! Too funny!

Haphazard Hodge Podge of Happy Memories

• When we got back from our 5 day “vacation” to Georgia to get Maggie, we came home to Riley speaking in full sentences.  One of his first statements was “I want ‘sometin’ to eat!” Now, that’s my boy!
• Speaking of eating, sometimes Chris will ask Riley if he wants to eat chicken (to which Riley when he’s in a contrary mode will reply no), so he’ll keep going: “Do you want to eat ham?” “No.” “How about yogurt?” “No.” Then he’ll randomly throw in--“Do you want muskrat?” Well the other night, Chris asked Riley what he wanted to eat for supper and Riley replied: “Muskrat!” Great, just great!!
• One of the sweetest moments we’ve experienced lately is listening to Riley say a blessing at dinner. He requests to sing the song and then proceeds to belt out his rendition of “God our Father (repeat), We thank you (repeat), For our many blessings (repeat), Amen (repeat)” that is sung to the tune of “Frere Jacques”.
• We continue to be surprised by how many songs Riley knows. Some of his favorites right now are “Baa Baa Black Sheep”, “Ten Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed”, and “Where is Thumper?”.  It is so cute to hear him sing.

• Well, it’s official.  Our son is ALL BOY!! He loves every kind of ball there is on earth and he likes kicking them, hitting them, swinging at them, catching them, dribbling them, shooting them, and throwing them.

Recently, Riley turned a pink balloon into a ball game where he’d ask someone to throw it to him and he’d kick it with his foot.  He was only satisfied if it went really high in the air! Just this past Friday, Riley went to a half birthday party for his friend Blake and while everyone was running through sprinklers, splashing in a pool, and sliding down a Slip ‘N Slide, our son had managed to find a golf club and ball and was busy entertaining himself on the lush green lawn. 

 

• Overall, Riley has adjusted fairly well to having a little sister.  A big improvement from the first day he saw her and he turned his head and refused to look at her! Now he helps bring her a pacifier, kisses her on the head, tells us if her eyes are open or closed, and lets us know when baby Maggie is crying. One of the biggest changes we’ve noticed however if that Riley is a little more cuddly these days.  He loves laying down with Daddy on the couch to “take a nap” and watch golf (or baseball, or hockey, or race cars).  He’s very attached to his green and blue blanket now and won’t let it far from his sight when he’s tired. 
• Another big interest of Riley’s right now is dinosaurs.  His new favorite toy and show is called “Dinosaur Train” and the talking dinosaurs have taught him everything from being an omnivore to forest fires being hot and burning trees.  It’s amazing to me still how much this little guy can take in!
• Not everything is all smiles all the time though.  Take yesterday for Father’s Day for example.  We took the whole family out to eat at Buca diPeppo’s and met my mom, dad, and brother Joel there as well. Riley proceeded to refuse to sit in his highchair, throw his milk down, sling his green guy toy into Chris’ plate of food, and scream at the top of his lungs for fun.  Not an enjoyable eating experience to say the least.  We did damage control the best we could and took Riley outside several times, but being 2 and being quiet and well-mannered for an hour just isn’t quite his forte right now.  We’re also still dealing with Riley getting upset and wanting to lash out by hitting.  We’ve used time out and for the most part it’s been effective.  Up until just the last few weeks, that is! Riley now scoots himself out of time out the minute you put him there and then tells you NO over and over again when you tell him to move back or we place him there again and he repeatedly tries to escape.  Meanwhile, he’ll laugh while he’s doing it, so that really makes him hard to discipline.  Ah, the joys of parenthood! Oh well, our saving grace is that everyone keeps telling us this is “just a phase!”





• Let’s focus on baby Maggie for a minute.  This little one is starting to track objects and sounds and move her head from side to side very slowly.  She responds to Chris’ voice very well and will often open her eyes for him instead of anyone else.  She’s beginning to hold her head up off our shoulder and check things out.  She’s still a great eater and burps well most of the time.  But the poor gal has yet to figure out that she’s supposed to sleep soundly during the night (not during the day!!).  Chris thinks she’s part vampire because she’ll fuss the majority of the night and the minute the sun comes up, she’ll pass out and no amount of noise, jostling, or putting an ice pack on her feet will wake her up (yes, I’m ashamed to admit I’ve exhausted just about all options).  It helps that when one of us starts to get frustrated, the other can step in, but it’s still no fun to go hours in the middle of the night without sleep.  Hopefully, “this too shall pass!”