They know

They know when I'm taking their picture. The difference is that Abigail will give me the biggest smile and Austin won't. After obsessively taking his picture for 3 years, the kid won't smile any more. He says "Cheese" and he's done. He won't even look at me for 3 seconds. Little stinker!

A semi-smile, and he's looking at me!

Abigail will smile at me any time!

Rain rain go away...

It has rained the last three days. It hasn't rained the whole day, just during the times when it shouldn't. Rain makes it very difficult for me to get the kids in and out of school. It absolutely poured when I got to work yesterday. Of course it was a fine time to find out that my umbrella didn't work! I got soaked running into work.

The same ole same ole is going on down here. I do the same routine every day. Get up, get the kids ready, take them to school, work 8 hours, pick the kids up, come home, make/eat dinner, wash bottles, get the kids ready for bed, get them into bed, finally collapse into bed myself just to do it all over again in the morning. Thank goodness Abigail sleeps through the night. I don't know what I'd do if she didn't. Probably walk around like a sleep deprived mummy all day. Oh wait, I already do that!

Anyways, it's time to get Austin into bed. Here are some pictures of the kids.

This looks like the same picture as in this post, but it's not. This is a little closer picture of that cute smile!

Pajama time

Here are some cute pictures of the kids in their jammies.

Sometimes Abigail doesn't like Austin right in her face, can you tell?

Working outside

After I picked the kids up from school yesterday we came home and put dinner in the oven. While we were waiting we went outside. Austin rode his tractor while I worked on the laundry and then I put him to work. He had to water his flowers and then we pulled some weeds. We also took the screens off some of the windows and washed them. Here are some pictures.

He really wanted to pull the weeds under this bush/tree. While we were working Abigail hung out in the stoller and watched us.

Austin's appointment

Austin went to the doctor today to get his eye checked out. The spot under his eye turned out to be just an irritation. He must have rubbed his eye so much it has caused it to turn red. The more he's rubbed his eye the more irritated the area has gotten. The doctor gave him a prescription for some cream to put on the area twice daily. It should be interesting in the morning, he gets to go back to school tomorrow. He and Daddy were still sleeping this morning when Abigail and I left the house!

Here are some pictures of Austin's new bike accessories. He got an Elmo bag, horn and name plate for his bike!

Busy weekend

Or at least it seemed like a busy weekend. It went by way too fast! Michael went golfing on Saturday morning and the kids and I went to a couple of stores. After Michael went to work Saturday afternoon the kids and I ventured out again. This time we went to Lowe's to get some flowers to plant. Austin ended up picking out some flowers of his own to plant. He did a great job helping me. His job now is to water the flowers.

Sunday we hung out at home all morning. Abigail and I ventured out to Wal-Mart to get her pictures taken and get our groceries. To make a long story short...we spent about three hours at Wal-Mart and didn't even get her picture taken. By the time it was her turn she wasn't in the mood anymore. Once again, she was hungry and unwilling to cooperate. Oh well, I really wanted to get Austin's pictures taken too so we're going to try it again this weekend. This time I'll make an appointment!

Abigail has really found her voice the last week or so. She is cooing all the time. She's thinks Mommy, Daddy & Austin are the funniest people. She's so cute.

Austin got to stay home with Daddy today for some one on one time. They were supposed to go to the gym and play basketball but never made it. They were also supposed to mail some packages for me but never found their way outside the house. Well, Austin didn't even find his way out of his clothes from yesterday. (He fell asleep at 7 p.m. last night because he didn't take a nap all day). I took his shorts off and let him sleep in his t-shirt for the night! He gets to stay home again with Daddy tomorrow because he has to go to the doctor. He's had some little red pimple like bumps under his left eye the last couple of weeks and it got worse this weekend. We're going to have it checked out because it's starting to concern us.

Here are a couple of pictures from this weekend:

Smiling baby

This is going to be fun

I'm going to have so much fun dressing Abigail up in cute little dresses! She's going to be such a girlie girl!

Scratch that thought

We received some disappointing news this week...we're not moving to Virginia. Michael's orders have been cancelled. It looks like we'll be finishing out Michael's contract (until February 2009) here in Texas. We're really bummed but what can we do? We're going to continue living each and every day with our beautiful children!

Happy one minute

Mad the next

Realization

I never really realized what parents who bottle feed their babies go through every day until I went back to work. I love being able to feed my baby without having to measure the water, mix the formula and then trying to get all the bubbles out while holding a crying hungry baby! I also never realized that a baby can go through so many bottles in a 24 hour period. I've been lucky that I've only had to supplement Abigail with formula 2 or 3 times a day while I'm at work. It seems like all I do at night is wash bottles! She takes a total of 5 bottles with her to school and I take 3 bottles with me to work. I must say that I am lucky because she is not picky about what or how she eats. Well, I should say she does really well with formula when I'm not around! Although those 2 or 3 bottles of formula sure do make for some nasty smelling toots!

Hanging out in bed

Abigail was taking a nap in her bed the other day while Austin and I were trying to clean up around here. Abigail started crying and off Austin ran into her room. Here's what happened!

No, he didn't climb into her crib, I put him in when he asked! I then started to take a movie of them. Austin didn't realize I was taking a movie until about half way through the movie. You'll notice when he realizes I'm standing there with the camera when he says "Cheese" not once but twice!

Abigail's Appointment

I started this post on Saturday when I did the crocodile post. I got all the way done, went to add a picture and the stupid computer froze on me! I was too mad to type it all over again. At the moment I have a minute to spare! So, without further ado...

Abigail had her 2 month check up and shots last Thursday. The little chunky monkey (I really need to come up with a better nickname) now weighs 10 lbs 13 oz. Her weight puts her in the 50th percentile making her average for her age. She is now 23 inches long putting her in the 75th percentile for her age. Surprisingly her head circumference is smaller than the average. Everything looked great. She has to go back in 2 months for her 4 month check up and shots. In all she got a total of 4 immunizations. She got poked twice in her left leg, once in her right leg and received another immunization orally. She wasn't too fond of the pokes and neither was Mommy! I swear they hurt me just as much as they do the kids when they get shots! I didn't get a chance to get any Tylenol into Abigail before I dropped her off at school because she fell asleep in the car. She was a little sore when I picked her up so Austin and I brought her home and gave her a nice warm bath. We'll see how much she weighs in a couple of months!

Austin's crocodile

When I take Austin to the mall to get his hair cut I like to take him to the candy store afterwards to reward him for doing such a great job. The candy store is also my bribe for him to sit still while getting his hair cut. After his hair cut last weekend he got 2 gummy sharks and this crocodile. The crocodile is one of those toys that will grow up to 3 times the size it originally was after being in water. When we got home we put him in the bathtub because a bowl wasn't big enough for him. Austin thought it was really cool to put him in the bathtub! Here are the pictures showing how big he got.

Before picture

After pictures

2 Months

Abigail is 2 months old today! It seems like she's been with us longer than 2 months. I'm taking her to the doctor this morning for her 2 month check-up and shots. I'll post her weight when we get home from work & school. She's growing like a weed. She's starting to get chubby little legs and her cheeks are really filling out. I'm a little exhausted at this point so I'll have to post a picture slide show of her second month this weekend or whenever I get the energy! Enjoy these pictures for now!

Happy Easter

I took a lot of pictures yesterday and today! We colored Easter eggs yesterday morning and of course they got their Easter baskets from the Easter Bunny this morning. I think I'll start with the weather pictures. This time last year the weather was a record high of 95 degrees on Easter. The chocolate melted in the eggs for the Easter egg hunt. This year...well, we had snow on the ground! No outside Easter egg hunt this year!



Here are some pictures of Austin & Daddy decorating Easter eggs. Abigail was hungry so we just watched and took pictures! They did a great job.



Here are some pictures from today. Including Abigail in her Easter basket!

Her shirt is the cutest, it says "Just Hatched"! (Thanks Aunt Linda & Uncle Jim!!!!)

Look at Austin go

Grandpa & Grandma Ringman got Austin a big boy bike while they were here. Of course he was too afraid to get on it while they were here. I've been working with him the last few days and he has finally gotten the hang of it. We went from death grip on the handle bars while we pushed him around to him pedaling by himself. I'm so proud of him.

We've been very busy this week finding a routine. I've done well the last couple of days when dropping the kids off. Austin & I have been taking Abigail into her room first as it's on the way to his. He's been a big helper when we drop her off and pick her up. In the morning he helps me put her bottles in the refrigerator and helps to collect the extra unused bottles from the refrigerator when we pick her up. I think it has really helped him knowing that his sister at school too. He's actually been excited to go to school the last couple of days. He's even been working on going potty at school...

I've got it bad

I've got separation anxiety bad! Usually this is for kids, but I've got the adult version! What a rough day today was. I have always had a hard time leaving Austin, but today was really bad! Of course what Mom isn't going to feel emotional when leaving their baby for the first time. I cried before we left the house. I cried in the car. I thought it would be best if I took Austin to his room before I dropped Abigail off in her room so he wouldn't see me get upset. Wrong. I teared up front of him. I cried when we got to her room. I cried when I left her. I cried on the way to work. When people at work asked me how she was doing, I cried. I cried all day. To make it worse I had to get a "new parent" slip at daycare when I picked her up stating that it was ok to take her. (Note: they make everyone who is picking up their child for the first few times do this. This is so the daycare staff can get to know the faces of the child's parents.) So of course I got all upset again and you guessed it, started crying! I just wanted to see my baby. The teacher assured me that she had a good day and even took a couple of good naps. I guess that's if you count two 25 minute naps. Other than that she took another couple of 10-15 minute naps. I'm sure it will get better. She's been pretty sleepy tonight and I expect her to sleep well tonight. The little bugger slept last night from 10 pm until I woke her up at 6:30 am this morning so she could get dressed and eat before we left! She's so good to me! Of course I was up at 5 am getting myself and all our things around. Here is a picture of Abigail snoozing on the couch. She was awake when I put her down so I could help Austin get his jammies on and then she was snoozing!

Here are some pictures of Austin looking at the deer with his "knockulars." He is so funny to watch when he's looking through his binoculars. He thinks he can touch the object he's looking at because it's seems so close.

Happy Birthday Grandpa Richards

Let the chaos begin! I'm off to work today...