Andrew Brooks, 6 months

Andrew Brooks, 6 months old 

Stats:
Height - 27 inches
Weight - 16 lbs., 5.5 oz.
Clothes - size 9 months
Diaper - size 3
Teeth - 2, bottom
Hair - Blonde
Eyes - Blue

*Eating: Our little guy has been enjoying this new world of eating! He opens his mouth wide, and we can't shovel it in fast enough *when it is something he likes*. He tried Puffs, Mum-Mum crackers and Yogurt Melts this month. As for food, my Vitamix is getting used to make pureed green beans, mango, peaches, pears, chicken, squash etc. He is slowly getting the hang of self-feeding, and generally more puffs on the floor than in his mouth. Andrew is doing well using his sippy cup, and while he spills a ton, he also surprises himself when he gets a big mouthful of cold water. LOL. We are still breastfeeding 6-8x per day, and a couple times at night.

*Sleeping: Andy goes to bed around 7pm, and wakes up around 6-6:30am where he will talk to himself in his crib for awhile. He is no longer swaddled, and will wake up 2 times per night to nurse. I have been putting him in his crib to nap, but can't get him to take longer than a 45-50 minutes. He goes down at 9am, 12:30pm, 4:30pm (only for 30 minutes). Jarrett and I don't understand how this kid of ours functions on such short naps...he sleeps well at night, so I guess it is ok?!

Check out my cool kicks!

*New Stuff: Sitting Up! Eating More Foods! Trying to Crawl! Kisses and trying to wave!

Happy Morning Boy!

*Likes: Sitting up, rolling around the floor, toys that make noise, digging in baskets/purses and pulling everything out, bath time, Yogurt Melts (he sees the package and starts making MMMMM sounds), making razzing noises, touching your face, pulling hair, standing on laps, going for walks, being sung to, sisters playing with him etc. Favorite Foods: Pears, Peaches, Sweet  Potato, Chicken, Mango, Oatmeal. Will tolerate if mixed with something he likes: Green Beans, Squash, Peas.

Big Boy at the table. He's watching what Lindsay is doing.

*Dislikes: When it's too quiet, napping for longer than 45 minutes, when sisters take toys away from him, being by himself (uh oh), we're beginning to see some shyness around strangers. Cutting teeth (top ones are coming in soon).

Escape Artist

Loves to lay on the floor and play with his toys. Watch out! He is rolling all over!

Sometimes he rolls onto the hardwood floor, which happens to cover 90% of our house. He then scoots all around until his back legs hit something solid. He is trying SO hard to crawl, and getting his tummy off the ground.

Sweet smiles

*Personality: Andy B is still our sweet, smiling little boy. He is definitely busy, and has go-go gadget arms that will grab anything in reach. He is happiest in the middle of everything..  in the kitchen while i'm cooking, on my lap reading to the girls, or sitting in the stroller while we putter in the yard, in the middle of the playroom floor with his sisters playing around him etc. The only times he is ever angry is when he is 1. tired or 2. hungry. He gets a little cranky when he is teething, but really not bad. He is actually getting better at pickup time too! Maybe because the weather has been nice and we have been walking, but still, it's much better than it was.

Daddy's Boy

Boys and Tractors: He was loving watching the yard waste tractor the other morning. 

We love you our sweet Little Man!! xo

Easter 2016

We hope you and yours had a very Happy Easter! This year we celebrated Andrew's first Easter and it was a sweet time filled with lots of fun! 

Andrew's Easter basket: Puffs and a fake remote control... he always wants to teeth on ours!

 First thing in the morning the kids ran downstairs to find their Easter Baskets!

Ready for warm weather! The Girls got sandals and bathing suits. 

 In true Madison form, she sorted out all her stuff, including her candy ;)

 We attended the 8:15 am service at Stone Hill this year... I still don't know how we made it with 3 kids. LOL. It was so worth the early getting ready, because of the small crowd we felt comfortable bringing out entire crew to sit together in the sanctuary for the first time since Andrew's been born. We usually sit in the cry/nurse room and the girls go to Sunday school, so there was something so special about getting to worship as a family!

How are all these kids mine? LOL.

 Here's a puzzle for you... Look at the two photos below and try to guess the difference:

 Notice in the first photo Lindsay is wearing her white bow? Now look at second photo. Where'd it go? Little Mr. Sticky Fingers had fun pulling it out of her hair and chewing on it. LOL. I would like to have just ONE family picture of everyone looking at the camera and smiling in a normal way.

Pretty Easter Girls

 The Babes in their coordinating Easter outfits... Thank You Nonna!!

 Daddy and his handsome little Mini-Me...

Andy was stylin' in his purple and grey suit and tie!

 After church we came home and I fixed Easter lunch: Honeybaked Ham, Party Potatoes, Green Beans with Maple and Dijon...yum yum! We had lemon bars for dessert ;)

Before lunch we opened the last of our Resurrection Eggs, and it was empty ;) He is Risen! After lunch we went outside and did several Easter egg hunts in the back and front yards. Although we didn't sing it at church this year, J and I were singing it all morning while I was fixing the meal. It is one of our favorite Easter hymns, and oldie-but-goodie!

Happy Easter! Love, The Fisher Family

Howell Living Museum Farm

The day before Easter we visited Howell Living Museum, a real-life functioning farm from the early 1900's, where you can see demonstrations by people dressed in character. We came on Egg Collecting and Grading day, and the girls had the opportunity to collect eggs from the hen house and grade them! Lindsay has been before on a school field trip, but it was the first visit for the rest of the family. We are totally going back again for some other upcoming demonstrations... maple sugaring, hog weighing (because who doesn't want to know how to weigh a hog?), and ice harvesting (no seriously, looks really cool!). 

 Sheep! One of the demonstrations in May is sheep shearing. You can buy the wool they spun into yarn in the gift shop. The girls had a fit over the baby lambs. There was a black on and a white one, and they were baa-ing. What a fitting reminder to see the lambs the day before we celebrated the resurrection of the Lamb of God :)

 Daddy and Maddie Girl. She stayed far away from those geese.

 My Little House on the Prairie heart leaped for joy when I saw they had a water pump. I had fun explaining how they used to get water, and Lindsay had fun taking a turn pumping. She said, "This is hard work!"

 Little Man was unimpressed, and napped while we visited the farm :)

 Daddy and his Baby Chicks! Lindsay's kindergarten class had just watched baby chicks hatch from eggs last week, and she loved sharing everything she learned with us!

Baby Chicks!

 Inside the hen house the girls and I saw the roost and boxes where they lay eggs.

The girls were a little hesitant to dig around underneath a hen who was occupying the box to get an egg. They would spread their wings out suddenly and startle the visitors to their hen house. Madison kept asking me, "Are they mad we are taking their eggs?" LOL.

The look of success! Her egg was warm!

 Did you know you don't have to refrigerate an egg that has just been laid? It doesn't have to go in the fridge until you wash it, and take off the protective coating?!

Proud of their hand-picked eggs. 

 Now was time for the grading process for their eggs...

 They weighed them on the scale...

 Then "candled" them, looking at them under a lighted candle to check for imperfections. Made sure they weren't "bad" eggs. LOL. This precious old gentleman talked our ear off and told us his family owned a chicken farm a few miles away for over 50 years.

 Our resident horse-lover, Madison wanted so badly to pet the horses. They were work horses though, and were getting ready to plow later in the day.

Pretty like a postcard!

 Madison did get to pet a steer, and was somewhat okay with that.

 Sweet Bubs woke up from his nap and was all smiles. He enjoyed watching the geese wander around the farm.

We bought some maple syrup in the gift shop and it was yummy! The Fisher's will definitely be going back to visit the farm again!!

BFF Visit

My very bestest girlfriend Debra, and her son, Thor came for a visit the weekend before Easter! We toured Princeton, NYC and took the kiddies to see Zootopia all while enjoying lots of laughs and great conversations. Our precious friendship is a gift that spans years (29 to be exact!), miles (she lives in Nevada) and life's up's and down's, and yet when we get together, it's as if we lived next door ;) I wanted to post some pictures of us through the years but realized most of the photos I have are pre-digital camera days. Maybe that is a good thing. LOL.

Thor 7 years, and Madison  4 years

After I picked them up from the airport on Friday morning we took a quick tour through Princeton by a handsome tour guide *wink* :)

Debra got her fill of baby snuggles from Andrew

Love my sweet friend

We went to NYC on Saturday with Thor and were going to take Lindsay but she came down with a nasty cold. A huge thank you to Jarrett for watching Maddie, sick Lulu and Andrew all day Saturday so we could go into the city. I was a little nervous about leaving Andrew for so long (8 hrs and had to bring my pump), but he was the perfect angel for his Daddy!

Deb & Lindsay 

We did the tourist thing and fit as many big sights in on their day in the city. We visited the Empire State Building and took pictures on the top...

Radio City Music Hall... I think Deb and I wanted to be Rockettes for at least a year of our lives. LOL. We also cruised around 5th Avenue, Central Park, Rockefeller Plaza and the Museum of Natural History!

Thor loved riding the train into Penn Station :)

All the kids got along great, and had fun playing together and being silly! Here's a blast from the past...

Then: Baby Lindsay & Baby Thor 

Side Note: Do Andy & Lindsay look like twins or what?!

Now: Big Kids Lindsay & Thor

We took all the kids on Sunday to see Zootopia, and were cracking up right along with them ;)

Later Sunday evening after we put the kids to bed, we went to Triumph Brewery in Princeton and had a glass of wine and shared a yummy dessert. Love you Sweet Bestie! Can't wait to do it again, next time I'm coming your way! xoxo