Meet Cahil!

We had a new addition to our family! This is Cahil:

 

Why did we get a fish? I’ll tell you. We have this stupid little shelf in our living room. It is tiny and in just one corner and it is probably about 4.5 feet off the floor. Maybe 5. I don’t know. Anyway, we haven’t for the life of us been able to find something to put there that actually looked good. So we were messing around with stuff the other night and I put some fake flowers up. Looked good, but a bit bare. So I put a candle next to it. Still good, but bare. So Mike grabbed this big vase and turned to me and said, “Imagine this… a fish.”

So on Monday we took a trip to the local pet store and they had betta fishes on sale. I didn’t know pets could go on sale, but apparently they could. So with the money we saved, we bought him a pirate skull. Because every fish needs a pirate skull.

And that is how our fish came to be.

Tennyson named him. We got out our baby name book and let him open to a page. Then we let him point to the name on that page that he wanted. Cahil is what it ended up being. We had to look up online how to pronounce it. It is pronounced like Cay-Hill… just for those curious minds.

So now we have a betta fish. Hopefully we’ll have him for a few years, but we’ll see.

Fenner Nature Center

So today we decided to get out of the house and see all that Lansing has to offer. We started the morning by going to the farmer’s market where we got some green beans for dinner, some zucchini for zucchini bread, some carrots to make food for Tennyson, and some donuts that didn’t even make it back to the car with us. We support local farmers!

Then we decided to go to the Fenner Nature center. We got there and Mike pulled out the camera to take pictures and we had no SD card. So we went to Best Buy to get an SD card. Then we went back.

It was a great little place! They have a visitor’s center with some animals to look at and then they have miles of trails. They even have a nice paved one that was stroller friendly and went in a little loop around a maple grove. We took the opportunity to take many pictures.

Here are some of our favorites:

 

Tennyson is SO CUTE!  

Four Months!!

Tennyson is four months old today! He is about 17 pounds and 24.5-ish inches long (according to our DIY baby measurements). But we’ll get more accurate measurements when we go visit the doctor.

What he’s up to:

-Sitting on his own (for a few minutes at a time)

-Eating solid foods (so far he’s had oatmeal and avocado)

-Trying to stand

-Playing with his knees and toes

-Playing with toys

-Loving his high chair and being a part of family meals

-Teething (and chewing and drooling on anything and everything)

-Getting tickled on his feet by daddy

-Wearing his 9 month clothes (what a chunker!)

My Pet Monster

 

The First Supper

(So you all hear the right voice in your head, this is Mike)

Today was the day that Tennyson has his first meal! Though he requested steak and lobster tail we decided that oatmeal would probably be a better start. Nichelle found an easy recipe online of how to make up easy oatmeal mash and we cooked some up. (Thanks, Quaker! Also, if you ever were curious as to the history of Quaker Oats, as I’m sure we all are, read about it here!)

When we first told Tennyson that he would soon experience his first foodular encounter, he was apprehensive to say the least:

To help put his mind at ease, we gave him a spoon to examine:

The first bite made was scary, and he took a moment to think about what had just happened:

The successive feeding had it’s ups and downs. Tennyson generally seemed to be enjoying himself, but still had some “moments”:

He finished off the meal with some fingers

…and in the grand Fiske tradition showed us all what he had just eaten

Afterward his mom gave him a nice bath and he enjoyed the rest of his evening.

New Tricks!

Lately Tennyson has learned a few new tricks that we’d like to show off.

Firstly, he is learning how to hold his bottle! He can only do it for a couple of seconds every now and then, but it is a work in progress.

Secondly, he FINALLY rolled over yesterday! Hooray! He’s not stupid after all!

Okay, so we never thought he was stupid, but we did think he might crawl before he rolls because every time we did tummy time he would just scoot himself forward and showed no interest in trying to roll over. But then yesterday, he just did it!

Here is video proof:

We are so proud.

A Little Preview

We’ve been here in Michigan for almost a week now and we are loving it! Mike started orientation yesterday and has been learning a lot about what the next three years holds for him. We’ve been getting all set up here which has taken longer than I had planned (Tennyson is such a distraction!) but here is a little preview of where we are at.

Okay, so this isn’t a picture of our place, but he’s so cute. I just had to include a picture of him. (By the way, that is a 9 month outfit he is wearing.)

We have stairs!! We actually have two staircases. We are pretty much thrilled.

A pantry!! Now all our food has a place to go. Just don’t judge us on the quality of food that is in there.

We got my piano in the living room. It is great to have it again. I am now very aware how unskilled I am and how much I have forgotten in the past couple of years.

WE HAVE A DISHWASHER!!! Fantastic.

 

We were really excited upon moving here that we might have a freezer with enough space to hold an ice tray. Oh boy were we in for a surprise. We have an ice maker! We love it.

We have our own washer and dryer too!! Now Tennyson’s poop can explode everywhere and we can put it right into the wash without worrying about them being full or anything.

NATURAL LIGHT!! And notice the green outside the window. We love that we are no longer in a dingy basement. Or a desert. Also, that is our car outside in an assigned parking spot. No more circling the block for a spot!

Here is one half of our basement. Our basement is basically the size of our last apartment.

Mike and Tennyson watching TV on our new couches:

We have a new table for our dining room. You’ll notice two pictures ago our old one has been repurposed for a desk. And we now have room for Tennyson’s high chair which he loves being in.

Here is Tennyson in his first bath NOT in our kitchen sink:

And this is our formal living room:

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That’s all for now. Once we are all set up we’ll get some better pictures.

I’m Moving Today!

We’ll be in Michigan in no time!

Let’s Take a Picture!

“Here… hold your hand like this.”

“Smile!”

“No, you are still doing it wrong. Just get out of the picture. We’ll do this one alone.”

Tennyson’s Blessing

Tennyson got blessed today! And he got dressed up so handsome for it.

We had a great time. All the family got together. After the blessing we had lunch at my Aunt Carol’s house. It was great to be able to see everyone one last time before we move tomorrow. And Tennyson loved being held so much and playing with everyone! (If you want to see any of these pictures in a bigger size, just click on them.)