Happy Halloween, Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!

Sorry it's so long, really there isn't a major excuse other than I've just been getting used to the working life with 3 kids. At times it's overwhelming, but we're getting it down.

Today Jim took Lauren to see Dr. Danter for me, she is growing so big, so fast. At 6 months old (on Jan. 9th) she weighs 17lbs-2 oz and is 27.5 inches long. She's in the 96th percentile for height...I can't believe how long she is. She is a smiley happy giggly baby. She is easily amused by Allie and Jake and giggles at them when they scare her. She's eating like crazy and sleeping good as well. We are working on her sitting up, she can sit pretty well in a "tripod" stance but she likes to arch her back, so we can't leave her yet. She enjoys her jumparoo a lot and is rolling over. I don't think she is going to be too ambitious to begin crawling. Anytime we lay her on her back instantly she rolls over, she even starts to roll before her tummy hits the floor. I guess she'll roll her way around the floor.

Jake is doing good. His allergies are taken over him right now...poor thing. He's growing like a weed into a tall, lean, little boy. He is enjoying his Geotrax that he got for Christmas and he loves to cut paper. He likes to make grass. He's maturing into a "kid" now and out of the toddler phase. He's still doing preschool at Angie's where he's been working on manners. He's still crazy about Lauren, he calls her Lolo Paige, and invades her space with hundreds of kisses STILL! She's learning to bat at his face and he gets so insulted by it, but she's showing her frustration.

Allie is still 5 going on 25...she's my little Diva. She had a great Christmas and got her wish...she asked Santa for a plane ticket to Vegas. About every adult that asked Allie what she wanted about choked when they heard her response. After explaining that her aunt is there it made sense. She is doing good in school. She's still a social butterfly and makes a new best friend everyday. She will be turning 6 in a few weeks and she is so excited to celebrate and has a master plan for the big day. She cracks me up. She's extremely motherly to Lauren and such a great help. Lauren just loves her and loves the attention Allie gives to her.

Matt and I are both doing good. I was surprised by the best Christmas present ever (besides my leather jacket in 7th grade, Mom and Dad :-) ) by Matt. He bought me the Digital SLR camera that I have been wanting forever. It is so awesome and I just love playing with it. I can't wait to learn more about the settings...in the meantime, I'm driving everyone nuts by snapping pictures all of the time. I just love it. He also got me a "Family Necklace" that has a different charm for each kid, our anniversary, and our initials. I love it. I'll try and post pictures of it when I get a chance.

Hope everyone enjoyed all of the Holidays between now and my previous posting!

Hope everyone is doing well.

Congratulations Kendra on your new baby girl, Alana Michelle, born this morning!

Hugs!!

Sorry it's been so long. . .

Well, I can't believe that it's been 2 months since I've last updated...time flies!! I attached a few pictures that I took with my phone...the quality isn't great, but they are what I have on my computer at the time!

So, things are going good for us. Allie is back in school. She is in Kindergarten and doing very well. She is wearing a uniform and I love it! She has homework every night but Fridays. She is very good with it and keeps me in the loop with the Kindergarten gossip.

Jake is doing well, he's doing Preschool with Angie. He doesn't understand why he does it every week. He keeps telling me, "Mom I did school last week". I hope that doesn't last long...he's got a life of school ahead of him. He's been a puzzle junkie lately. He got a wooden puzzle for his birthday and since he's mastered it he has been racing through puzzles. There have been a few occasions where he's gotten up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night and I will hear stirring upstairs and it's Jake doing a puzzle at 3am. He can't leave a puzzle incomplete either. He's such a funny little guy. He has also started soccer. Our neighbor boys his age are all playing. Jake would rather be on the sideline drinking Gatorade or just playing with the red soccer ball by himself. He does like to give the high fives at the end of practice though. He is also potty trained 100%!! Yay Jake!!

Lauren is now 3 months old, can you believe it? I can't!! She is just a little sweetie. She's smiling like crazy and even will chuckle time to time. It's not all of the time, but I sure tickle her hoping for a laugh. My Dad got her to giggle and I know it's in her little body so I'm determined to get one at least once a day. She sits in her bumbo now and talks to me (cooing and growling). She is growing like a weed and just so much fun. We just sit and talk a lot of the time and somehow the day just flies by. She is sleeping her in bed and doing great! Her favorite thing is to take a bath. We usually try and get all 3 of the kids in the tub together. Allie usually holds her and Lauren just loves it. Allie is such a great help. She is my Binky girl...she pops Binky's in her mouth when she starts to cry. She also loves to carry her around. She does very good I must say. She's just a big help to me.

Matt is doing good too. Of course he's busy with work, he's been traveling a lot. It's his busy time in the year and he's got a few trips that he had to make up for while I was on bed rest.

I'm returning to work in November. I miss my friends at work, but love being home...I was away for so long that it's nice to getting stuff done at home and enjoying my time with my little monkeys.

Well, I just wanted to update with a few pictures. Take care!

Busy Busy Busy

We have had an extremely busy and sad week. Matt's Grandma Betty passed away on Tuesday. We all miss her so much, but it was nice to "celebrate" her life with family after the funeral. There were many fun stories shared and it was great to be in good company with family and friends. Today is her birthday and we wish her a good one.

Yesterday was busy as well. We had a shower for my soon to be niece (Derrick and Jen's baby girl). It was a lot of fun. There were so many people that I had not seen because of being on bed rest, so I was able to get caught up with everyone.

Matt's 30th was yesterday as well. So he had to leave and go hit golf balls while there were 5o women in his house. I know he didn't mind hitting balls. We celebrated with naps in the afternoon and then dinner and presents. Next year we'll have to throw him a big bash...we both knew that it would be hectic this year with little Lauren arriving so close.

We celebrated with his family this morning at First Watch. The last time I had eaten there Matt and I found out that we were having a little girl. That was about 20 weeks ago...time flies. Renee then treated the girls, everyone but Lauren, to pedicures. It was fun for all of the girls to go out and do something. Allie ended up with purple toes and polka dots. She knew what she wanted!

I think we are beginning to adjust to Miss Lauren. Jake and Allie have learned that coming in our room isn't so fun with a baby crying in the middle of the night. They are both very helpful and are looking forward to taking a bath with her, I don't know why, but they want to so bad. Allie picks out her clothes for me and blankets. Jake is my diaper and wipe boy. They are great siblings to her. She is growing, at least to me she seems like it. She doesn't have all the rolls I would like, but soon she'll get there. She loves to be held and during the day when the kids are gone and Matt's at work I just hold her and kiss her and snuggle.

Well, I will update later in the week.

What is sleep??

So Matt and I are experiencing the sleepless nights again. Lauren has had some tummy aches that appear the second that she is tucked into her bed. It starts at about 10 pm and lasts until about 2 am. Sounds like the cholic that Allie had. We have been trying different home remedies...last night was much better. She was crabby earlier and just wanted to be held from about 6:30pm until 9:30.

Things are going great other than that. She is an angel during the day and manages to sleep through the noise of Allie and Jake. They aren't quiet kids by any means so I think she's getting used to the loudness of our house.

Lauren Paige

Sorry for the delayed update. Lauren Paige arrived on Thursday, July 9, 2009 at 5:03pm. She weighed 6lbs-14oz and measured 21 inches long.

We are all doing good, a little on the sleepy side, but that's to be expected.

Here are a few pictures of the newest member of the Fishering Family.

Wow! We made it!

I can't believe I'm full term...today is 37 weeks. Matt and I have talked about getting to this mark the day we found out I was pregnant. I must say that this has been the longest 37 weeks...being worried about having Lauren prematurely was in our head everyday. I am just estatic today that we can say we made it! We are getting very excited about meeting this little girl!

Allie and Jake are ready. Allie often tells the neighbors all of the details and I must say she is so convincing of the news. She's not usually accurate but it is definitely believable. She keeps saying that this baby is going to be so chubby. I hope she's right. After Jake I would love a chubby little girl. Jake checks my belly everyday to make sure she's still there and I get a hug and a kiss. He's so sweet. I can't wait for them to hold their little sister.

My Doctor is out of town until Sunday...once he's back I'll stop my procardia and I hope to be mobile. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to drive or not, but when we get to Sunday I'll find that out. Driving sounds so fun! So does strolling down the aisles of Target ;-)

Well, if anything happens we'll make sure to at least post a quick update. Until then have a great 4th of July weekend!

Happy 36 Weeks!

Today marks Lauren's 36 week birthday. We are thrilled to put another week under our belt. Yesterday I had an appointment and things are pretty much the same as they have been despite that my cervix has thinned a little bit. The true test will be any change in timing and the intensity of contractions or obviously my water breaking.

We are slowly putting away our "don't go into labor" thoughts and getting very excited about the arrival of this little girl.

Lastnight my friends came over and showered me with lots of clothes and goodies for Lauren. One night in the hospital I realized that Lauren can't share clothes with Allie because their sizes and seasons won't work...I panicked (just a little) because I am not where I can get out and get the stuff that we need. My friends obviously listened to my hysteria. Thank you girls for the clothes and goodies and of course the good time.

Allie and Jake have been busy as ever. They get to go swimming on the days where they go to Nae Nae and Papa's house. They are so bronzed right now they don't even look like my children. They cannot get enough swimming right now. After they get home from the pool and they have eaten dinner we typically go to the neighbor's house for another swim with the neighborhood kids or pull out the slip n slide. I sit outside in my chair and just laugh.

The neighborhood boys (4 of them at about age 3) are going to be trouble. In fact they already rule the roost. It's pretty funny. Each of them are working on their potty training and so there is a lot of in and out action going on in the pool. Allie's typically the ring leader getting everyone to race or splash.

Speaking of potty training, Jake is still doing pretty good. He has the pottying down, it's the number 2 that we still need a little help with, but yesterday he did do it. I had to sit with him in the bathroom because it was taking so long and he was getting frustrated. I am very proud of him for doing so well. He loves to get high fives and praise after each visit.

Well, I'll keep you posted on everything. If something happens I'll make sure to update as quickly as I can.