Another comparison

This is not a comparison between Austin and Abigail, but a comparison between Abigail and myself. Abigail is wearing the same dress I was wearing in my picture.

This is also the same bonnet and dress that I wore. She wasn't too happy when I put the bonnet on her head!

I had my Mom take this picture because I thought Abigail's hair sticking out of the back of the bonnet was hilarious!

Here are some more pictures to take you back in time!

Here I am with my Mom!

And with my Grandma

Another picture of me.

And a picture of me with my little brother.

Baby pictures of Michael are coming with his parents. I'll be sure to post them after I've scanned them!

Decorating fun

Austin decorated some Easter Peeps the other night. At first we started out by making a smiley face on the eggs, then the smiley faces turned into one big blob. Here are some pictures!





Of course I had to include a picture of Abigail. She hung out in the bouncy seat while Austin was decorating!

1 month old

Wow, Abigail is a month old today. The time has gone by so fast! She is still doing all of the typical new baby things. She continues to always be moving her arms or legs just like she did inside me! Her hand and arm movements are becoming more controlled so she has almost found her mouth with her hands but doesn't have quite that much control yet. She holds her head up like a champ, has from the day she was born, and constantly wants to be up on your shoulder looking around. Did I mention she's on the verge of smiling! That or she's got some serious issues with gas!

Abigail's second night in her crib proved to be a success. I put her in the crib at 10 p.m. and she didn't wake up to eat until 3:45 a.m. Of course the little piggy go up, ate and went right back to sleep until around 7 a.m. when Daddy got home. After a little soothing, we went back to sleep until around 8:30 a.m. Surprisingly, Austin slept in until 8:30 a.m. after sleeping all night too! He even went to sleep without me sitting in his room next to his bed last night! He did have to have music on, but at least I didn't have to be in the room!

All in all we had another successful night with just the kids and I. I even managed to give Austin a bath, however it was cut shorter than normal because his sister got hungry! He's done some adjusting the last couple of days and I must say that I'm really happy with the way he's been acting. He's such a big boy now, I'm so proud of him. I'm going to head to the grocery store this morning with both kids so that Daddy can get some sleep after working all night.

Here are a couple picture comparisons of how much she's grown in the last month. Also, the older she gets the more she looks and reminds me of Austin when he was a baby! If she's going to look anything like Austin, she's going to be the cutest girl around! (I'm not prejudice or anything!!!!)

We did it!

The kids and I survived the evening by ourselves! I even managed to make dinner without interruption! It was nice to spend some time with just Austin while we ate dinner. Abigail was sleeping in her bouncy seat so Austin and I got to spend some much needed time together with just the two of us!

Abigail's first night in her crib didn't go as planned. It wasn't at all her fault either. My favorite place to nurse her is in the rocking chair in the living room. Well, that chair also happens to be a comfortable chair to sleep in! I've been so tired lately that I've been falling asleep with her while she's nursing. By the time I put her back in her crib last night and crawled back into bed, she was up in another hour to nurse again! Back to the chair we went where we remained for the rest of the night. Hopefully I'll do better tonight!

Here are some pictures for today! We haven't taken a good family picture with the four of us yet. I keep forgetting to have someone take our picture. I'm hoping that Grandma & Grandpa Ringman can take one for us!

Austin & his doggie bubbles

Abigail & Mommy

Austin, Abigail & Mommy

On our own

My parents left this morning so we are officially on our own until Grandma & Grandpa Ringman get here next Saturday. While it's been nice to have everyone here, I'm looking forward to the next week. We'll be able spend some time with just the four of us and hopefully find a routine that suits us all. I'm really jumping in head first as Michael is now at work until around midnight and will be returning to work tomorrow evening to pull a 12 hour shift.

Along with not having company, this also means that Abigail will get to sleep in her own room for the next week. We'll see how she likes sleeping in her crib. Speaking of sleeping, both kids are asleep right now so I better get my laundry switched and get clean up around here. We'll see what happens when they both wake up! I have total confidence that things will go just fine.

Here are a couple cute pictures of Austin and Abigail. The second picture is not my best photography, but the look on Austin's face is just priceless. You can tell how much he's in love with his little sister. Doesn't that look just melt your heart?

Happy Birthday Aunt GiGi

Aunt GiGi

All about Austin

Austin saw Dr. R yesterday for his ear check up. His tubes are still in both ears and everything looks great. Dr. R stated that he would only remove the tubes if an infection were to flare up around the tubes themselves. His experience with the type of tube Austin has in his ears are that when the tubes finally fall out, a hole remains where the tube was and does not close on it's own. If that should happen, Austin could require surgery to repair the holes. All looks good at this point and we now just wait for the tubes fall out. He goes back to Dr. R in another 3 months for his next check-up.

The last couple of nights Austin has slept through the entire night! It may be due to the fact that we have been so busy with Grandma & Grandpa Richards, but hopefully it will carry over into the week when we do not have any company! He's been getting a lot of attention from his grandparents so I'm a little interested to see what's going to happen when he has a week with just Mommy, Daddy & Abigail before Grandma & Grandpa Ringman get here. Of course, at three years old, he is so INDEPENDENT that it's not funny. He should do fine, we'll see how I do with juggling two kids on my own!

Here are some cute tractor pictures

Cute kids

I haven't had a lot of time to write a post, but hopefully the pictures are good enough for now! Michael and I are taking Austin to see Dr. R this morning to evaluate his ear tube situation. I'll be sure to post about the appointment later. Until then, here are a couple of pictures!

Hanging out with Daddy

First bad hair day?

How old do you have to be to have your first bad hair day? This is what Abigail's hair looked like the other day after her bath!

A little bit of Abigail

Hungry Abigail that is!

Oh what a night...

A good night it was! Austin slept all night last night! Alright! It's pretty sad when you get more excited about your three year old sleeping through the night and not your newborn! I kept expecting him to walk into our bedroom when Abigail and I were up during the night but he never did! Abigail and I were snoozing in the chair in the living room when we heard a big kaboom this morning around 7 a.m. Austin woke up this morning and went straight for the cupcakes on the stove that he and Grandma Great made yesterday. He didn't even go into our room or try to wake me up! Needless to say, he's been in a good mood all morning. He didn't even throw a fit when Michael, Abigail and I left to take my car to the Saturn dealership to be serviced. My Grandma pointed out that he had a breathing treatment just before bed last night so that may have been a factor in his ability to sleep all night. We might be doing a breathing treatment before bed on a regular basis if we determine that it helps him sleep at night.


Here are some cute pictures of my snoozing babies! I couldn't resist taking their pictures!

Fun pictures

The weather was absolutely gorgeous yesterday so we all took advantage of it. Michael and I got the cars washed and cleaned out while Austin and Grandma Great played and took Abigail for a walk in the stroller. I took some really cute pictures of Austin playing in his sand box last night so here they are!

Here are some pictures of Abigail's first ride in the swing. She must have had a bubble as you can see in the partial smile in the second picture!

Happy Birthday Grandma

Grandma Richards

We'll see you in 4 more sleeps! Are you getting excited yet?

Doctor's appointments

Austin's 3 year physical:

Austin proved just how big he was at the doctor's office today. He was excellent during his exam. He allowed the doctor to look in his ears, his eyes and nose without a fight but required a little wrestling when it came to looking at his throat! The nurse even commented that he did really well with his vision test, cooperating better than most three year olds. We still can't get him over the 30 lb mark but we're almost there. He weighed in at 29 lbs 5 oz and was a little over 35 inches tall! His tubes are still in place which we kind of figured by the amount of drainage coming out of his right ear the last couple of weeks. He has some fluid in his right ear so we'll be doing ear drops twice a day for the next seven days. Hopefully this will all clear up by the time he has to see Dr. R, his Ear, Nose & Throat Specialist, on March 7th. We also received some advice on how to get him to stay in his bed when he wakes up at night. It seems that he is spoiled by having Mommy or Daddy sit with him when he falls asleep at night. He associates us with falling asleep therefore can not soothe himself back to sleep when he wakes up during the night. We will be implementing the advice over the next couple of months in hopes that he will be able to stay asleep all night or in his room when he wakes up during the night.

Abigail's 2 week follow-up:

Our baby girl is eating well and gaining weight! She weighed in at 7 lbs 12 oz this morning meaning she's gained 9-10 oz in the last two weeks. They measured her at 20 1/2 inches long, but the doctor thought this measurement might have been a little off. It's a little unusual that she would grow over an inch in two weeks. She has to go back to the doctor at 2 months for her next check-up and immunizations! After her appointment I had to run her over to the lab at the hospital to have a follow-up PKU test done. Once again she had to have her little heal poked!

2 Weeks old

Wow, Abigail is 2 weeks old today! She has proven to be a great baby so far. She is quite the eater and boy does she fill those diapers on a regular basis! We're headed to the doctor's office this morning for her 2 week follow up along with Austin's 3 year physical! Look for an update later in the afternoon! Here are some new pictures!

One of many diaper changes!

Once again, petting his sisters head!

Where is Abigail?

Oh, there she is! She was getting kissed yet again by her big brother! Isn't he the sweetest! He likes to pet her head also. He says, "Abigail's hair is beautiful" except his Abigail sounds like Agigail, it's so cute! He's doing a wonderful job at being a big brother, I'm so proud of him. Now having Abigail makes me see how big he's actually getting! Just by the way he's talking makes him sound all grown up! Where has the time gone?

A few new pictures

Here are some new pictures of our cute baby girl and her big brother! Austin and Grandma Great have been spending a lot of time outside lately. It's been absolutely gorgeous outside so the sand box and tractor have been getting a lot of use!

Cheese!

Comparison

I've been looking for pictures of my kids (it's weird to say that!) to compare their looks when they were little. The picture of Austin is from the day he was born and Abigail was 5 days old in her picture. Do you think they look alike?

Austin

Abigail

I must mention that the photo of Abigail is courtesy of my very own photographer, Austin Ringman. Doesn't he do a great job!

The last week

I can't believe Abigail is almost a week old already! We've all been doing some adjusting this last week and I must admit that it has been nice to have things go by at a slower pace. It's been nice to stay at home, but it was also nice to get out of the house this morning. Austin and I ran up to the gas station this morning to grab a newspaper thinking that Abigail's name might be listed under the recent births. The births were only listed up until February 10th so we'll have to remember to grab the paper next Sunday.

Abigail has been doing the typical newborn routine in sleeping, eating and pooping! She is doing a wonderful job sleeping at night. She is sleeping on an average of 3-4 hours at a time, waking to eat, then going right back to sleep again. Her brother on the other hand is waking at opposite times making it difficult to get more than a couple hours of sleep at a time for myself. I probably just jinxed myself, but hopefully Abigail will keep up her same routine!

It has been nice outside the last couple of days so Austin and Grandma Great have been able to get outside. Austin has been playing in the sandbox, riding in the wagon and riding his tractor. He continues to kiss on his sister when he has the chance. I knew he would make a great Big Brother!

Here are some new pictures!

Don't I look sleep deprived!

Happy 2nd Birthday!

Riley!