Thanksgiving

As always, this year we went shooting on Thanksgiving morning! Scott and Maddie came this year, along with mom, Jeff, and Alex! We had a blast shooting clay pigeons and our mess of garbage targets!

Scott and Maddie

Ben was not a fan of his ear protection and decided to take a nap in the car

I have so many pictures of us like this but I love them all!

Matt and Alex

Mom

Jeff

When Ben woke up, he needed his ear protection off!

We kind of like him!

Jeff made a delicious turkey and the family came over that night for dinner. After dinner, we played Zion's Bluff and then Matt taught everyone how to play Settlers of Catan. Ben was a cutie all night! He was laughing at everyone and smiling and just being so good! He was great for his first Thanksgiving!

Family Pictures!

I wanted to make Christmas cards this year now that we have Ben, so I had Trish come over and do a little lifestyle session at home with us! I love the way they all turned out!

I love seeing Ollie and Ben together! It is going to be fun when they are both big to look back at them so small!

4 Months

I'm a month late in posting, but here are the pictures of Ben at four months!

At his four month appointment, Ben weighed a little over 16 pounds and was a little over 26 inches long! 90th percentile for height, 50th percentile for weight.

Ollie

When Charlie died, Matt and I were pretty devastated. After we had Ben, we realized that we needed a dog in our home. Ben needed a little friend to play with and get into trouble with. Little boys need a dog! So we've kept an eye open for the right puppy to come along. A few weeks ago, Matt saw a post on KSL about some chocolate labs and we went for it! I took a half day off work to drive down to Salt Lake and pick up our puppy!

This is Ollie. She is mostly chocolate lab with a little German shorthair in there too. She has a cute white stripe on her chest and had blue eyes that are slowly getting darker.

The beginning of life with Ollie-
Things were a little weird when I went to pick her up. The lady wouldn't text Matt back, and then would only text one word answers. When I went to the address she gave us, it wasn't even a house. There were some town homes/apartments and a church across the street. I called and she said she would bring the puppies (there were 2) outside. Then we waited for 25 minutes. She finally brought the puppies outside and told us that they were six weeks old and that they had been weaned from the mother and were eating solid food. I picked the female and we headed home! The whole next day Ollie barely ate anything and when she did she threw it up. She was having accidents all over the place and even peed and pooped in her kennel. Matt said that dogs don't usually poop where they sleep. We figured that she was just struggling to adjust. She was really struggling to eat for the rest of the week and had diarrhea. Matt tried everything to get her to eat- he put water and milk in her food to soften it and even fed her chicken from the fridge! Things were just still a little weird. We discussed taking her to the vet to find out what was going on. I called and they were very concerned and urged us to bring her in. Matt took Ollie to the vet the next day. They were way worried about her having a parvo, which is very dangerous for dogs, so Matt had to take her in the back entrance and everyone wore gloves. Matt said one nurse snuggled up to her and the vet sent her away to get washed up and change clothes. The vet took one look at Ollie and told Matt that she definitely was younger than we were told and severely malnourished. She has a cleft palate because she couldn't/didn't nurse (not sure why). She had MONO and probably had worms. They gave her some medicine for her diarrhea and sent them home. CRAZY! We are assuming that the people who sold her to us breed puppies and sell them before they are ready to get them out of their house. They probably keep them in kennels all the time (which might explain why she poops in her kennel and why she is so clingy). People have asked us if we regret buying her after the sketchy situation, but we are actually glad. Matt and I are grateful that we have the opportunity to help her get healthy and take care of her and give her a home with a ton of love! Luckily, now that we have switched her food and she has grown a little bit, things are going really well! It feels really good to have a dog in the house again!

When we brought her home, she was soooo tiny! She had to climb into her food dish to get close enough to eat.

At first, she would hide under the cabinets. She was so tiny that she fit under the cabinet. Seriously.

From day one, Ollie was the mostly cuddly little puppy. She had to be right where you were at all times. The first night I sat on the floor with her and was holding Ben, but she couldn't just be near us... she had to climb right up into my lap and get in on the action!

And who cares if your bum is hanging off where you are sleeping?

Getting literally in the MIDDLE of Ben and I.

Getting a little nibble of Ben's fingers...

Matt's chest is a good spot too...

His face is better!

Sleeping was rough at first. Matt slept on the floor with her for a couple nights, but got tired of that and moved the kennel into the mudroom. He set his alarm to get up every few hours and take her outside. When I woke up to work out, I would get her out and let her play/sleep (whatever she felt like doing) with me while I worked out. Let me say that it is hard to do any kind of plank with a puppy nipping at your face while you do it!

More snuggles. This puppy is going to struggle to learn that she can't sit on the couch.

Ben and Ollie are still figuring each other out. Ben doesn't like it when Ollie nips at him or licks his face, but is always watching her and will smile when she is playing around with Matt. Ollie does not like it when Ben cries. It freaks her out! Things are going to get interesting when Ben starts crawling!

Ollie has finally earned a little independence. She had so many accidents for the first couple weeks. Like we would take her outside to pee and she would come inside and pee again. I think Matt almost killed her. Now she is doing so much better! She has earned a little freedom to roam. She really likes the mudroom. I find her in there sleeping on Matt's jackets that are on the floor, or this time she was sleeping on my boot! Anything that smells like us!

No dog will ever compare to Charlie. As I'm sure is true of everyone's first dog. However, Ollie is making her home with us and we are loving it. She has such a funny personality! She always wants to be where you are. I let her out in the morning and she follows me around the kitchen. If you are sitting on the floor, she will climb right into your lap. If you pick her up, she will climb up your chest to lick your face. Ollie is super playful. She figured out how to play with her toys so quickly! She loves toys! Ollie has a great nose. She has her nose to the ground sniffing out the nearest smell. Matt had some ducks in the garage and she found them within a minute! He thinks she is going to be a good hunting dog. It is even more fun to have a dog now that we don't have to watch her like a hawk! She is so sweet and we love her! Here's to a new adventure!

The Fischer House

While October was a crazy busy month for us, I still feel like we didn't do anything! And of course I didn't take any pictures when we actually did do something, so a list is going to have to suffice. In October we spent the first weekend in Salt Lake and got to go to Witches' Night Out and Thriller, we went to the Harvest Festival and Ben slept through his first corn maze, we went to another Aggie game with Ben and one without Ben, my dad came up and we all went to dinner for my birthday, Ben and I joined Jenny and the kids at the Pumpkin Walk in North Logan, and we celebrated Halloween with a big party at Jenny's house!

Our day-to-day is pretty boring... Ben and I snuggle... A LOT

This cute munchkin is figuring out how to wiggle out of his swing! He is always moving! One morning, he was sitting in his swing while I worked out and I had to lunge forward to grab him before he hit the floor! He has to get strapped in now but luckily still likes his swing.

He is soooo big! I remember putting him in the swing when he was tiny!

Ben and I tried the tub again. He is too wiggly in the shower! Good news! He liked it! He figured out how to splash and loves it! He also likes to sit by himself. I think that's one of the reasons he didn't like it at first, he was basically just floating and didn't like that!

Ben has figured out how to look at the phone and TV. I'm not sure how I feel about this. Okay, I hate it. But at least he's usually looking when I take a picture!

Ben's schedule is changing. He is eating less often during the day and napping less. He's usually fairly cranky in the evening because he doesn't nap anymore before bed. It makes it hard to come home and make dinner when you have to hold him, but it also makes the snuggles that much sweeter.

Ben needed a little Halloween outfit! This also reminds me that he has started drooling like crazy! His shirts are always soaked in drool. It doesn't help that his hands are always in his mouth making it like 10 times worse!

Ben has continued to put on weight and grow taller! I can't wait for his 4 month appointment to find out how much he really has grown! Baby fat is the cutest!

Ben still loves his blanket and binkie when he's tired. I always lay the blanket next to his face and down across his tummy so he can grab onto it. He will only take his binkie if he is tired, and then he pushes it out within seconds of calming down. I think it is just a comfort object now, which will hopefully make it easier to wean him when it's time.

Ben and I both have been sick- and now Matt is getting it too. Ben started with pink eye and then a nasty cold. He shared his pink eye and cold with my mom and Alex, and Matt and I have both picked up his cold. It is so weird to be sick. I can't remember the last time I took a real sick day, and this week I had to take two.

Hands in the mouth! Always!

Mornings are the best time of day. Ben is soooo happy in the morning. He has a huge smile on his face when I get him out of his crib (yes the crib is done!) and just smiles at me all through my workout, shower, etc. Jenny watched Ben one day and Randy was late for work because they had so much fun playing with Ben!

My cute neighbor Lacey Abbott has been sharing some of her boy clothes with us. Her baby boy isn't coming until the end of  November so there's a lot that is the wrong size for her little one that will fit Ben. She brought over these snowman pajamas the other day and said, "Maybe they'll fit him around Christmas." Well Matt grabbed them from the jammie basket and I didn't think they'd fit (9 month size!) and they totally did! My baby is growing way too fast.

Poor baby. I can't control myself. I'm always kissing on him. He's already used to it, which is good because it probably is never going to stop!

Ben is really getting more involved with toys. He really likes his hanging toys now- he is sometimes entertained by this for an hour or more- and is getting better at grabbing things and holding onto them. We bought him a little ball that he can hold on to, and he loves it. This week I learned that he is starting to like toys that light up and make noise. I had to put batteries in the toys on his bouncer and he loves them. Guess what he's getting for Christmas?

More snuggles from the sick baby. Considering that he doesn't feel good, he has been a really good baby. His sleep schedule is screwed up (he wakes himself up when he starts coughing) and this was the only position that he would calm down and sleep. I definitely love the snuggles.

We have such a beautiful, simple life. I wouldn't trade it for anything.