Pre-walking fun

Abigail was practicing her walking skills the other night while I was getting her bath water ready. She was having a great time.

Her hair was sticking up because she has a pony tail in her hair earlier in the day.

Turkey Day 2007

Here are some pictures from our turkey dinner on Thanksgiving. We ended up having about half of our turkey left for left overs! The entire day was pretty uneventful. We ate as soon as Michael got home from work and then relaxed for the rest of the evening.

The 19.5 lb turkey

In the bag and ready for the oven. (Note: it is not easy to put a 19.5 lb turkey in an oven bag by yourself)

Austin made Kool-Aid while the turkey was cooking

Out of the oven & ready to eat

Everything else we ate (the gravy was still on the stove)

Abigail got to try mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes. I put some on a plate and let her go!

Before

During

After

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving always gets us thinking of things we are thankful for. Some things I'm grateful for are:


T is for Tradition. I love that our family is starting some of our own traditions.

H is for my Husband. Who has served for his country and always puts his family first.

A is for Austin & Abigail. I have two beautiful, healthy children.

N is for Nap time. Sometimes it is the only time I get to myself!

K is for Knowing friends and family can stay in touch with us through the internet and our blog.

F is for Family. We have the greatest family. I can't wait until we live closer to everyone.

U is for Unlimited night & weekend minutes. I always catch up with everyone on the weekends.

L is for Love. Without love we wouldn't be where we are today.

This year I'm making turkey dinner again. I got a 19.5 lb turkey to make this year! And of course all of the fixings. (I sounded southern there for a minute!) My parents had a good laugh at my adventures in finding a turkey the other night, so I promised them before and after pictures of our huge turkey. Michael wanted to make sure we had plenty of leftovers so we'll see how much turkey we have left. Last year I think I made a 12 lb turkey and didn't have many leftovers. I prepared the sweet potatoes, green bean casserole and five cup salad last night. All I have to do is stick the potatoes and casserole in the oven today. We're also having mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, corn, rolls and of course pumpkin pie!

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving.

A new video

Check out our Holiday video for 2007.

Click here to watch it.

New blog design

I couldn't wait until after Thanksgiving to put my new blog design on here! I think I've figured out all the tricks of designing my own template, and now I'm addicted!

What do you think of the new look?

Look for a new design after Christmas too!

Austin's routine before bed

Austin always has to take a toy to bed. Usually it's not just one toy, but several. Not just one tractor, but three. Not just one train, but three. Not just one doggie, but three or four. The other day he couldn't lay down in his bed to take a nap because there were too many animals in his bed. After he falls asleep, I'll go in and remove the toys from his bed so he has some room to sleep. Some days I think he might get some better sleep if he had a bigger bed, but then I'm afraid that will only mean he has more room to hoard toys when he goes to bed.


Do you see the big doggie in the picture? That's Barkley. Austin got Barkley from Michael & Judy at the Veterinary Clinic I worked at while Michael was deployed. He. Loves. Him. He told me yesterday that Barkley was his favorite. So you know what that means, Barkley also has to be in the bed most nights too!

I think my favorite thing about being a Mom is watching my kids sleep. They look so peaceful, and not to mention cute!

More teeth

Abigail now has four teeth. Her top two teeth have finally made their way through. It shouldn't be long before she smiles and we see all of her teeth. In the few short days since she's gotten all of her top teeth through she's already picked up the bad habit of gritting her teeth. If I remember correctly, Austin did the same thing when his first came in too. It must be because it's something new. It drives me crazy, but for now I'm ignoring it in hopes that the urge to grit her teeth passes quickly.

She is really starting to cruise along the furniture. She's also let go a few times when she's standing against something. She'll let go and stand by herself for about 10 seconds at a time. I don't think she realizes what she's doing yet, but it puts her one step closer to the walking milestone.

Our Christmas tree and decorations are going up on Friday so it should be interesting to see how she reacts to everything. We didn't have a tree up at our house for Austin's first Christmas because Michael was getting ready to leave for Iraq and we were packing our things up to put in storage. We also traveled to Michigan that year for the holidays. I can almost guarantee Abigail will test the waters with the tree. We'll see what happens!

Where are the kids?

Geared up for the big game

Yesterday was the highly anticipated Michigan vs Ohio State football game. Daddy dressed the kids in their Michigan gear to cheer on our team. We also had people over for a BBQ while we watched the game. Our team lost, but don't the kids look cute?!?!?!?!

What I love about Austin

I feel like I haven't blogged much about Austin lately. Every day he does something that makes me laugh or realize how big he's really getting. Here are some of the highlights:

Allergist appointment: Austin went last week to the allergist to have his allergies re-evaluated and discuss the possibility of him having asthma. The doctor determined from his physical examination that Austin does in fact have allergies and asthma. We are in the process of determining the severity of his asthma and experimenting with some medications for his allergies. He is taking Nasonex along with another medication at night before bedtime and Zyrtec (an antihistamine) each morning. The doctor thinks that Austin wakes each night at or around 3:00 a.m. as this is the peak time for nasal congestion. I haven't noticed a significant change so far, but hopefully it will help him in the long run. He goes back to see the allergist on December 11th.

He takes his medicine like a champ. (Especially when you tell him it tastes like gum!)

Potty training: He's almost there, thanks in part to Sponge Bob Squarepants. I really didn't want it to get to that point, but bribing him with Krabby Patties has helped with getting him to go poop on the potty. If he goes poop in the potty and not in his underwear, he gets three "Sponge Bob Candies". Some days are better than others but he hasn't pooped in his underwear in a long time. His biggest hurdle to overcome at this stage in the game is taking time to go potty when he's busy playing. The accidents are happening less often and hopefully one day it will all come together.



Just some random things I love about Austin at this age:

• He's becoming so independent. I love to watch him play by himself.
• I love the way he talks to his sister. He always speaks to her in a high pitched voice when he says something nice. For example, he likes to say, "Hey there baby girl". And when she's doing something she's not suppose to it sounds like, "No no sweetie, we don't play with ..."
• He's so polite and has good manners. If I had to say one thing we've done right in raising Austin, I'd be confident in saying we've raised him to be polite and have good manners. He says please and thank you for almost everything. Every once in a while he needs to be reminded, but he usually says it on his own automatically.
• He is really starting to get into sports. He is constantly kicking around a soccer ball, shooting a basketball at his hoop and asking us to play baseball with him. And I must say he can hit a baseball when we pitch it to him like a champ. I can't wait for another couple of years so he can start playing organized sports.
• He's so smart and absorbs everything. And I mean everything!
  

We love Texas weather. Where else can you get ice cream from the ice cream man in November? Especially Spiderman ice cream!

I can't believe he's going to be four years old in a couple of months. I realized today when he buckled his own seat belt in the car that he's not a "toddler" any more. He's a little boy, and he's growing up way too fast...

Our weekend

Abigail and I had a great weekend with Leslie and Reagan. Abigail and Reagan were so cute together. Of course, that was after they figured out they couldn't have each other's sippy cups. I'm hoping we can get together again for a girls weekend soon.





On our way home from Leslie and Reagan's we met up with my friend Emily for some lunch at Cracker Barrel. It was so nice to see her and catch up. I think the last time we saw each other was right after Austin was born. Maybe I can turn Abigail into a traveler after all, we had so much fun!

9 Months

Abigail is 9 months old today. I almost forgot her appointment this morning for her check-up. At 9 months she didn't have to get any required immunizations, but she did get a flu shot. The shot was over with by the time she realized what was happening. She puckered up her lip and then smiled. She did a great job. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for what came next. At 9 months they check for anemia which requires a blood draw. She was not exactly still for the blood draw and told the lab technician just how she felt about it. I hated the fact that I had to hold her down while she was crying. You can see in her picture that they took the blood from her little arm. She was fine after it was all over and fell asleep in the car on the way home.

At 9 months she weighs 17 lbs. 6 oz. and is 26 3/4 inches long. She's around the 25th percentile for her age, making her smaller than the average baby at her age. She's doing all the things she should be doing at this age. Abigail's Christmas song is going to be, "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth..." as her front top teeth are making their way through her gums. She let the doctor look into her mouth (she never does that for me) and we saw that her top right tooth is about 1/2 way through her gums and the other tooth won't be far behind. I have to remember to get her a tooth brush the next time I'm at the store.

I was informed that cruising will be the next step, followed by walking when she gets up the courage. Her next check-up will be when she's 12 months. I can't believe she's going to be a year old in 3 months...

Veteran's Day

Yesterday was Veteran's Day. Please take a moment to remember those who have and continue to fight for your freedom.

Wild woman

I keep forgetting to post a video of Abigail jumping in her jumperoo. She will crawl over to the jumperoo when she wants to get in and will start jumping before we get her completely in it. Most of the time she'll jump anywhere from 20 minutes to over an hour. Although, she has gotten into the habit of taking at least one nap a day in the jumperoo. Check out our wild woman.

Girls weekend

I've been trying to post a video all day and it just won't let me. I'll have to try to post it again first thing in the morning. The above picture of Abigail is a preview, except Abigail is actually jumping in the jumperoo instead of sleeping!

I'm so excited, Abigail and I are headed to Leslie & Reagan's house for the weekend. We're making the drive (3 - 3/12 hours) on Saturday afternoon and returning on Sunday. Hopefully Abigail will do good with the ride considering the fact that riding in the car is not her favorite thing to do. That also leaves Michael and Austin here by themselves to have a football BBQ with some guys. It should be a fun weekend for all of us.

Is it that time already?

Did you know there are only 47 more days until Christmas? Once again we have created Christmas Wish Lists for the kids. I've added them to the sidebar for easy reference.

Abigail's Wish List

Austin's Wish List

Make sure you check out Wal-Mart's Site to Store option. They offer free shipping to any store. If you're interested in doing this, send me an email (an8di@yahoo.com) and I'll tell you which stores are near us. You'll also have to tell me so that I can pick your gift up.

Is Abigail talking?

What do you think Abigail is saying? Leave a comment to let us know if you think she's saying her first word and what it is!

Caught in the act

Abigail got caught trying to get a snack out of the pantry

Who me?

Austin got caught eating his chicken nuggets in his police car

Up before the birds

Where were you at 4:30 AM this morning?

Here's what we were doing...

Michael was already out the door and on his way to work

Austin was crashed in our bed

And Abigail thought it was time to get up for the day...

Austin apparently heard his sister up playing, so he came out to the living room to investigate. Around 4:45 he was back to sleep in the chair!

She finally went back to sleep around 5:45, she thought it was so funny!

Here is some video I got of her bright and early this morning.

Halloween night

We decided to stay home last night because we did Halloween activities this past weekend. Instead, we passed out candy to the kids who came to the door. Austin kept asking why we were giving candy to the kids. Halloween is starting to annoy me because we had the following occur several times last night:

• The kids didn't say "Trick or Treat"
• The kids didn't say "Thank you" after getting candy
• The parents didn't prompt their kids say "Thank you" when they didn't say it on their own
• Kids were not wearing a costume, one kid didn't even have a bag to collect candy, he held his hands open
• An adult was Trick or Treating for her "nephew". I don't know where the nephew was, but he wasn't anywhere near her or the group she was with

Next Halloween should be fun because both kids will be able to walk door to door and trick or treat. Here are some pictures of our night at home.

Austin with his scary teeth from Grandma & Grandpa Richards

Abigail in her "My first Halloween" shirt and pumpkin slippers from Grandma & Grandpa Ringman

Both kids in their Halloween gear provided by Grandma & Grandpa Ringman

Thanks to both sets of Grandparents, the kids loved all of their Halloween treats!