Seriously? It's October?

Wow. I cannot believe we've reached October already and yet, here we are. It got me thinking about the rush of holidays we are about to be hit with - the first, of course, being Halloween. I don't typically do a ton of decorations for Halloween, but I do plan to add a couple things to our household to help get us in the fall spirit. 

Here are some really fun DIY Halloween decoration ideas:

Find out more here.

Terrariums are a super popular decoration for dining tables and this Halloween take would be a blast for the kids to help with. Creepy...and fun.

See more here.

I love these creative takes on using pumpkins for decorations. They'd be great indoors or out and they are much easier (and cleaner) than having to carve pumpkins.

DIY tutorial

Create your own "Spooky Village" with items from your local Dollar Store and a bit of paint. Such a creative idea that would be a big hit with the kiddos. 

DIY tutorial 

I just love this one! Make your own candy corn inspired garland with some paint chips from your local hardware store.

Make your own

As long as you have a covered front entrance, this would be a great way to greet your trick-or-treaters! All you need is a template, some black paper and a pair of scissors. Too bad our bats would get soaked. 

These ideas are really getting me in the mood to do some decorating around the house. I'll see what I can come up with and will show you all the details later. I'm sure I'll find an excuse to use my Cricut. :)

Until next time...

Fisher is 4 Months!

Fisher turned 4 months yesterday and had his 4 month check-up (and shots) appointment today. He now weighs 15.58 pounds and is 25.5 inches long. He is just above the 50th percentile in weight and height and is looking healthy as can be. Such a blessing!

The doc said we can start him on rice cereal whenever we'd like to just to help get him used to eating with a spoon. Once he handles that well we can then move on to baby foods. Just thinking about him moving on to solids makes me feel like is growing up so fast! I'm not sure I can handle it.

So here's what's been going on the past month:

• He has really grown this month and is starting to look different. I think he starting to look a little like me too now which I love.
• He has MASTERED the roll on to the belly and is now OBSESSED with being and sleeping on his tummy. We tried getting him to sleep on his back or side and he just rolls right back onto tummy so his crib bumpers have now been removed.
• He is super observant these days. He watched everyone at the Family Reunion and now notices the pups too. 
• He likes to stand up, "fly" and bounce on our knees. He likes to be moving around.
• He is getting better at sitting up. He can't sit up on his own yet, but he can now sit in the Bumbo seat for a bit before slumping over.
• He has started drooling more and more. Last month is was cute. This month it's more messy than cute.
• He still loves his hands. He basically shoves his entire hand in there and sometimes even tries to fit both hands.
• He is starting to reach out towards his toys. He especially likes holding onto his red ball.
• He has found his feet! I've always thought it was so cute when a baby holds on to their feet so I was excited once he started pulling on them.
• He seemed to be losing his hair, but now it just looks like it's getting lighter in color. We'll see...blonde or brunette? I'm hoping it stays dark so he looks little more like me.
• He is now (fairly consistently) sleeping through the night!  He typically wakes up around 5 am, talks to himself and fusses a bit, but he has learned to put himself back to sleep. Then we are up for a feeding and to start the day around 7:30am. (He goes to bed between 7:30 - 8pm. I wake him up to nurse around 10:30pm and then is up around 7:30am. Not too bad!)

• Fisher attended his first Kee/Love Family Reunion this month at the Blue Ridge Mountains. It was the 25th annual reunion and it was great having our little boy there.
• He also visited his first brewery! Don't worry...we didn't let him try any beer.
• This month was our first time celebrating our birthdays (mine on the 25th and Brent's on the 30th of August) with Fisher in our lives. Let me tell you, a birthday is so much sweeter with a child in your life. 
• Fisher now regularly attends the Kid's World nursery at church and does great. Everyone seems to love him!
• We still try to attend "Mother Goose Time" at the library once a week. 
• I just started a mother's group at church on Tuesday mornings so he is in childcare then too. I think it's great getting him used to staying with other people and it gives me some "adult-time" during the day. 

Here are some pictures of Fisher's adventures over this past month:

His favorite position: laying on his belly.

Celebrating Daddy's 28th birthday!

So happy with Aunt Heather!

Trying out the  baby walker for the first time. 

Hanging out at the Yazoo Brewery. 

Enjoying a visit from Momma C & Pops. 

The very first nap with no bumpers. Silly boy.

Loving on Aunt Liz at the Family Reunion.

Giggling with Nana at the Family Reunion.

Rocking his 25th Annual Family Reunion t-shirt. (This is the day he did his first belly-to-back roll.) 

Posing with Gran & Pap on the Family Reunion. 

Hanging out with Maeby.

His favorite things: chewing on his hand & grabbing his feet. 

Playtime with daddy.

Enjoying bath time. (He is so adorable when he's naked, but I'm not showing the "goods" on a blog. Sorry, guys.) 

Seriously, this kid is too cute. (In my very humble, non-biased opinion, that is.) Go check out a few more absolutely adorable pictures on my hubby's photography blog... www.snapfisher.blogspot.com. 

Until next time...

I Still Don't Know How to Sew

Brent was out of town this weekend so my parents came in town to keep Fisher and I company. Since we didn't have any big plans, Momma C and I decided to tackle a couple house projects. The original idea was for my mom to use this opportunity to teach me to sew. I've had a sewing machine in its unopened box for about four years now and after this weekend...it still hasn't been used. I think we both figured things would get accomplished a bit faster if mom just took care of the sewing. 

Project One was a curtain for our kitchen window. We've talked about doing this for awhile now in an effort to hide some random ugly tile featured above our window. It isn't really noticeable, but it has still always bothered me so off to Hobby Lobby we went. We snagged a fun fabric, some ribbon and a curtain rod and went to work.

Looks great, right? So fun and the best part is it also looks good from the outside. (See below.) It adds some cheer to our kitchen and works really well with our brightly colored chairs. Pretty great.

Our other project was to recover our dog pillows in a fabric that didn't hold dog hair quite as much. The fabric we had on them was UGLY. It was an old plaid fabric that basically attached itself to every dog hair possible. Even washing them didn't get the hair off. Needless to say, it was time for an update. 

We found this great graphic pattern in three colors and since it seemed to be an dog-friendly fabric, we went with them all. Mak and Maeby are very happy with their updated pillows and I love that the style now fits our home decor.  

Thanks, Momma C, for helping me out! (Even if you didn't teach to me to sew.)

Until next time....

My First Cricut Project

So once I received my Cricut, I of course couldn't wait to test it out and start making something. I decided to send my little sister a "happy" and make her a card using card-stock I had sitting around the house and my new machine. Here's the result:

Fun, right? It's pretty awesome that the Cricut actually cut out the pattern for the envelope too. All I had to do was fold it down and glue it together. LOVE!

Overall I think it was a good practice project and my little sis already said she loved receiving it. (Although, the "S" was missing when it arrived at her door. Oh, well. It's the thought that counts, right?)

Until next time...

Fisher is 3 Months!

It's true! This little guy is now three months old which is completely nuts. He is changing everyday and it is so much fun to watch. We don't have another doctor's appointment until he hits four months so I'm not sure on his weight, but I'm thinking he's in the 14 pound range. He surely feels heavier.

Look at those chunky little legs!

Here's what's been going on the past month:

• He is giggling, cooing, smiling and screeching more than ever which we love.
• He is much more alert and observant.
• He likes to stand up. He sometimes even pitches a fit when we try to lay him back down. Stubborn.
• He likes to sit up. He can't sit up on his own yet, but his head control is getting better and better.
• He likes when we make him "fly".
• He started drooling and making spit bubbles with his mouth. It's quite adorable.
• He likes to check himself out in the mirror. Who can blame him?
• He loves his hands. He chews on his fingers and is now starting to grab on to toys around him.
• His tummy-time skills are seriously improving. He can hold himself up for minutes at a time rather than just bringing his head up and dropping it down over and over again.
• He is losing his hair in front, but seems to be keeping the hair in back. I'm thinking there is a mullet in our future.
• He is getting to be a little more fussy when he is overly tired. He arches his back and can make some serious noise. Mommy and Daddy don't enjoy that new element.
• He still sleeps quite a bit during the day and we are up (on average) once a night to feed around 4 am.



• We took our first trip with Fisher this month. We made a visit to Memphis and he did great. He was a little off his schedule, but was a good sport overall and slept the whole way there and back.
• Fisher has been away from mommy and daddy 4 times now. Once with Momma C & Pops, twice with Gran & Pap and once with a friend. It is getting easier each time for me to trust him with someone other than myself or Brent. (Fisher doesn't care either way.)
• Fisher and I now go to the library once or twice a week for "Mother Goose Time". We meet up with some of our friends to hear stories and sing nursery rhymes. Sometimes Fisher is awake, other times he's fussy or sleeping, but today he did great! He looked around at all the kids and even gave a few grins to the baby next to us. So fun!
• Next Sunday we plan to put him in "Kids World" at church for the first time. He's been sleeping through the service so there hasn't been a need to drop him off, but we figured that now is as good of time as any to get him into childcare.

Here are some pictures from the past month:

Cuddle time with Pap.

Karate Kid.

Rocking some tummy-time.

Loving on Aunt Cray-Cray.

Tuckered out on his playmat.

Spending time with Momma C and Glenda in Memphis.

Chilling with Alex (and probably pooping.)

Nap time with Daddy and Mak.

The "Dad" and the "Son.

For a few extra, super sweet photos, check out my hubby's blog @ snapfisher.blogspot.com. 

Until next time...

Momma's New Toy

My awesome hubby hooked me up with an AMAZING birthday gift and he gave it to me early! Even better, right? We are really bad about waiting til the actual day to give each other birthday gifts which probably has something to do with the fact that I'm constantly asking for clues to what the gift might be. (I'm basically a small child when it comes to gifts...so impatient.)

Alright, hold your breath because here it is:

Isn't she beautiful? For those of you who don't know, this is the machine of all craft machines. It's like a printer, but it cuts things out of the paper rather than printing on it. It can tackle cardstock, vinyl, poster board, basically everything a happy little crafter might want to use. I'm thrilled!

Be prepared for all sorts of crafty projects in the near future. Woop, Woop!

Until next time...