Happy Friday!

We had a busier week then usual so Friday came really quickly this time around!  Yesterday, I went to the boys' school to help them with an outreach project.  They wrote letters to members of the military and families of military members.  I was hoping they would get a couple done in the hour that we were there, but they get so detailed oriented that it took them the whole hour to make one card each.

I was there early to help with the set-up.  I had thought about volunteering to help organize other outreach programs, but changed my mind after yesterday.  It was a madhouse.  I definitely am thankful that there are moms willing to put in the time. I do not have the patience.  I will stick with helping set up. I know my limits.

I went to a moms' group meeting today.  I'm trying it out to see if I want to become a member.  I met a couple of nice ladies there and it seems like a pretty active group so I'm thinking about it.  They have playgroups by age which would be great for Mark.  They also have ladies night out and other events for moms only. We had a personal shopper come in to give us tips on how to dress for our body types.  I thought most of it was common sense, but I did pick up on some great tips that I will use.

The boys are so excited to go to the Dragon game tonight!  Michael wore his jersey to school and Matthew had his dragon shirt on.  This is our first game of the season.  Go Dragons!

Beautiful Day!

It's been just so beautiful here in the past few days that it seems almost a crime to hang out inside so I've been trying to get Mark outside as much as I can.  Yesterday morning, we went to the Town Square and walked around again.  I wanted to stop by the fountain and hang out for a little bit, but they had just laid down some mulch that had the repulsive scent of manure. Yuck.

We came home and after his nap, we went and played outside for a little bit before it got too hot.  He discovered that the pumpkins will roll if he just gives it a little push.  Then he discovered that if he pulls on the flowers enough, they will come off. Next, he started to pick up acorns or anything that was on the ground and put it in his mouth.  It got a little tiring after a little bit, so we came back inside.

How cute is my little boy?!

Ohhh...these things roll

If I pull on these, they will come off!

No way Mommy can get mad at me.  Look at me!

11 Months!

You are 11 months old and walking like a pro. I've seen you run a couple of times.  A couple of nights ago, you pushed down a huge suitcase-it make a very loud sound and it FREAKED you out. You froze, realized that you were scared, screamed, and ran/walked as fast you as can towards me still screaming and crying.  It was one of the funniest things I've seen!

You definitely love your bottle at night.  When it's close to bed time, if you see your bottle, you'll point to it and say "Bou." If you don't get it, you'll whine and keep pointing. Even at night,when you are half asleep, you'll say "bou" when I'm getting ready to give you a bottle.

You are making so many differently noises and it cracks us all up.  It's hard to describe so I'll try to get on video, but you will make these noises on demand. We have so much fun with you and I might be crazy, but I think you will have such a good sense of humor.

You love your big bros.  You are excited to see them when they get back home from school.  At night , when we are all hanging out in mommy and daddy's room, you will whine for them if they leave the room to do something else.

You are starting to play with your toys.  You can sometimes do your shape puzzle with very little help. One of your favorite things to do right now is throw all your books out of the book basket and climb into the the book basket.  You'll hang out just sitting in there.  You also love to play with the step and play piano.  You push the keys to make music and you start to shake your groove thing.  Dancing is another one of your favorite.  I can such sing "Shake it, shake it, shake it!" and you'll start bouncing up and down - your version of a dance party.

My little man, you are growing up so fast.  I can't believe you are 30 days short of being one! I love being with you and I love you to pieces!

Getting pictures of you is getting to be a challenge.  You won't sit still!  These were the I best that I can do for this month.

Things to Remember:

Weight - I think you are about 22 lbs.

Height - I'm guessing you've probably grown an inch to about 32

Head - a little over 20 inches last month - maybe add another inch for this month?

Teeth - Still 6!  There are 2 full bottom teeth and 4 on top, but you are super cranky at night for the past couple of weeks so I wouldn't be surprised if we don't see a another couple of teeth breaking through.

Food - You will eat anything we give you. You are now OK with the jarred baby food too, so that's what we've been feeding you.  You will go through the whole stage 3 jar and another stage 2 plastic container of fruit for dinner and lunch, 2 containers of fruit mixed with rice cereal for breakfast.  We'll usually give you a snack in between lunch and dinner of either fruit or yogurt (which you started to love!). You want to eat whatever we are having.  You've had:

• Veggies - squash, green beans, sweet potatoes, corn, asparagus, and anything else we eat
• Fruit - bananas, blueberries, strawberries, mangoes and pears.  Your favorite is probably the blueberries and grapes.
• Meat - Chicken, beef, pork.  New - you love Korean Barbecue! 
• Formula - You've cut down on formula since we've started giving you table food.  No more bottles during the day, but  still have 3 bottles at night though. Pretty sure it's comfort thing.

Sleep - You are napping 2-3 times a day anywhere from 1-2 hours. One morning nap and 1-2 afternoon naps. For the past week, I've been putting you down for your nap on the couch so I don't have to hold you while you are sleeping.  This is a huge relief because I can get some time to myself.  I'm hoping this will last. We usually put you down for bedtime between 9-10 and you'll sleep to about 8-9. You've been pretty cranky at night and sleeping fitfully.  You'll wake us up every couple of hours with your whining and thrashing around. We give you a bottle every 3-4 hours.  No bueno.

Clothes size - You're wearing 12-18 months clothes.

Diaper size - We've depleted our size 3 supply, so you are officially in size 4 diapers!

Happy October! -My Birthday Month Starts Now

Happy Monday! It was such a beautiful morning that Marky and I went on a walk around Town Square.  It was so nice.  We stopped by the Starbucks, got a scone and a coffee for me and hung out by the fountain. Mark insisted that I share the scone with him, but I drew the line when he wanted some of my pumpkin spiced latte.

I can't believe it's already October! Things are going to go very, very fast from now on.  Halloween, Thanksgiving, and then CHRISTMAS!  I love this time of the year. I'm so excited to dress Mark up for his first Halloween! And I've got to get started on planning his 1st birthday party. Hurray!

We had a nice rainy weekend. Michael's soccer game got cancelled on Saturday and practice on Sunday was rescheduled because of the rain, but Matthew's lacrosse game went on as scheduled on Sunday.  I had hoped that it would be cancelled because the fields were going to be a mess.  We went and had fun anyway. The game was in Frisco, so we met up with some friends for lunch after the game.

Doesn't he look thrilled?

Michael had a sleepover birthday party this weekend so we didn't see much of him.  I guess I have to start getting use to that.

Mark has been really cranky at night and waking up every couple of hours so it makes for a cranky mommy.  I hope this is just a short phase that he's going through due to teething.  Teething sure messes him up.  But he's such a little cutie!

My handsome #2

He loves his little bro

My silly #3 right after he woke up from his morning nap.  How can you not adore him?

High Five for Friday

High Five for Friday at From My Grey Desk time again!  Y'all enjoy your weekend.  I'm looking forward to a nice, quiet weekend at home with my hubs and my three little monkeys.

1. Things are cooling down finally in N. Texas.  We are down to the 80s. Ha, it's sweater weather!

2. I found another use for empty baby food jars! I hate throwing things out.

3. Caught Mark trying to hide the TV remote in his book box last night. High five because I found it before it got buried in there and the Hubs goes crazy looking for it this evening.

4. New expression!

5. Now that it's cooler, I can light my scented candles and make it really feel  like Fall.

Have a great weekend!

This and That

It seems all that I've been doing is posting summaries.  I hope to do better.  I'm so glad the weather is getting cooler. By cooler, I mean in the low 90s instead of the 100s.

So here's the week in a nutshell:

Job Hunting
I did not get the marketing job.  I'm thinking it might be a good thing because the office location was less than ideal.  I wasn't feeling completely safe in that area.

I have another interview scheduled for next Tuesday with one of my former vendors I used to work with.  It's a business development position so I don't have high hopes.  Sales is not my thing.

Weekend Recap
We had a wonderful weekend without the kids in California.  We flew into LAX and checked into the Ritz-Carlton Marina Del Rey and then had a lovely dinner with the bride and groom along with their out-of-town visitors at an Italian restaurant. After dinner, we all went to a nearby bar for a few drinks and then back to Adrian and Crystal's apartment to hang out. Everyone was drunk by this point. And were indulging in herbal inhalation. I felt a little too old for this type of gathering, but these were nice, fun people so I didn't mind it much.

View at the Ritz-Carlton Marina Del Rey

On Saturday, we went to Peet's Coffee and then checked out to drive to Pasadena.  We checked into the Westin, grabbed some lunch at M's old stomping ground (Lucky Boy Burger), and got dessert at an old-fashioned pharmacy and soda fountain.  And then, OMG, we went to the Norton Simon Museum! We had a wonderful time and the museum was so much more than we expected.  They had a whole gallery devoted to Degas' works and even a Botticelli and a Raphael! They also had a bunch of Rodin's bronze sculptures in the front lawn.  No "Thinker" but it was impressive nonetheless.

Norton Simon Museum

After an amazing afternoon, we went back to our room and changed for the post-wedding party.  Crystal and friends did an amazing job transforming Adrian's childhood front yard into a beautiful reception area. We had a fun time and it was nice seeing M's friends from way back when.  It's been a long time since we last saw them.  All in all it was a nice weekend getaway with my Hubby.  I enjoyed it and now that we know the kids are OK staying with the G-parents for the weekend, I'll try to plan more of these.  Haha.

Fall Decorating and Etc.
I started decorating the house for Fall last week and I'm satisfied with it.  I picked up a few new pieces this year, but I did not go crazy.

M and I have been mulching for the past 3 days.  I can't say that it's been fun, but I'm proud that we decided to this ourselves.  We didn't even get into an argument once! Now our beds look so nice and clean without the weeds sticking out in between my rosebushes.

I also replaced our pots of dead plants with live ones! Ha! We now have colorful pots of mums, Gerbera daisies, and snapdragons.  I also hung our Fall wreath and pulled out our scarecrow man from the garage.  To complete the decor, I bought some pumpkins and placed them by the front door.  Viola! Fall has hit our house. Now if only the weather would cooperate.  I can't wait to be able to wear sweaters.

Randomness

Just some random things going on right now with the Fishers...

1. Mark is walking like he's been going it for months.  Walking, walking.  My baby now is a toddler.

2. Went to lunch with Terry yesterday with Mark.  He was so well behaved and got lots of attention from the nearby table.

3. After a week of fevers and general crankiness from teething, my Mark is back to his happy, sweet little self.

4. Checked Michael's progress at school and he's doing really well.  The lowest score is in writing at 87 out of 100.

5. Matty has decided that he likes lacrosse after practice yesterday.

6. Surprised my boys with lunch today at school.  Michael said, "Mommy!" when he saw me.  Love it when he's happy.

7. Went to the DMV this morning to get my licensed renewed.  M came with to keep me company. It was like a date!

8. After struggling with Matthew to start reading something else other than comic books and "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" series, he's discovered that he likes the "Magic Tree House" series.  He's reading #4 - 4 books in a week.  Good boy!

9. M and I are flying to CA for a friend's wedding.  We are leaving ALL the boys with the G-parents for the weekend.  Nervous is an understatement.

10. Biting my nails waiting to see if I'm going to get the job that I interviewed for. Again, made it to the final 3. No phone call yet, and it's almost end of work day.  I hate waiting!