Firefighter Pickles reporting for duty

As you may know Oak has a slight obsession with firefighters and firetrucks, so I think that he might have just had the best weekend of his entire life!

A friend of ours invited us to take a tour of the Fuquay-Varina fire department on Friday. As you can guess Oak was so excited about going to the fire station. He wore his fire hat (which is falling apart because he wears it so much) and everything right into the station.

He made himself right at home from the moment we walked in! He loved seeing where the firefighters slept, ate and hung out, but could not wait to see those firetrucks.

As we were walking out to see the trucks, one of the firefighters asked him what his name was and he said "Pickles." Ahh!! That is his pretend clown name. It was so funny! The rest of the time we were there all of the firefighters referred to him as Pickles. It was a little embarrassing.
Oak had a blast at the fire station. He loved driving the trucks and he loved giving the firefighters high-fives. The kid has no fear, which he definitely gets from his dad. All the firefighters were so sweet to him, it was an awesome time!

Today we found out about a firetruck parade in downtown Raleigh. It was so fun! There were firetrucks from all around the state. There were new ones and antiques. After it was over there was a big expo that had a zillion firetrucks that you were allowed to get in and drive. It was a blast! Oak's face was priceless as we walked up and saw all the firetrucks and he yelled "oh my goodness!"I will be really shocked if Oak does not grow up to be a firefighter!

Bye-Bye Paci

It's been a BIG week for our family. We got pictures of our new addition that will be joining us in March. It was amazing to see that little thing. I was surprised how much it looked like a baby and not just a blob. It really is amazing that there is a little person growing inside of me.

Oak loves that he is going to be a big brother and is very excited about the baby. He constantly points to my belly and says "baby out." He doesn't quite get that it is going to be a little longer. When he sees little babies, he looks at me and asks "baby ours?" Wondering if that is our baby. It is super cute. He also thinks that it comes out of my belly button, which is pretty funny. I'll leave that talk to his daddy when he is a little older.

Just as big as seeing our baby, Friday, August 6 was another big day for the Fischer household, especially for Oak. Oak has had his "ba-ba" which eventually was renamed paci since he a was a little guy, however, Brian and I decided that it was time for that thing to go bye-bye.

We decided that we would go to build a bear and let Oak build a bear and put his paci inside of the bear so it will always be with him and he would have something to sleep with and cuddle at night.

We built it up for a couple weeks that he would be able to dress a clown (because of his obsession with clowns), and that paci would go inside of the bear. He was very excited about the idea of dressing a clown.

We decided at the beginning of the week that Friday would be the day. I knew it had to be a weekend so Brian could help out more if Oak had a hard time. Driving to Crabtree was a little bittersweet to me. It was almost sad in some weird way. We were saying goodbye to something that Oak loves so much.

Oak picked out his bear and we picked out that it should be a fireman, they didn't have any clowns, probably because every other child in the world is afraid of them except for Oak. We stood in line, Oak holding his paci ready to put it in the bear. He helped the girl stuff him, he willingly put his paci in his belly next to his heart and then she sewed him up. It was over. Paci was no more. Oak named his bear Chester and even got a birth certificate for him.
Once we were home, Oak had a hard time going to sleep and kept saying "paci out belly." He eventually fell asleep and slept all night long. It has been a week and it has been way easier than I thought. Naps are a little shorter and he wakes up a little earlier in the morning, but all in all, it has been good. However, he doesn't sleep with Chester, and I think he resents him just a little bit.

One night I asked Oak what he should tell God he is thankful for and he said "paci in belly." It was really sweet. We are going to attempt potty training and a big boy bed in the near future. Hope it all goes just as smoothly.