The results

The doctor called me the other day with Abigail's bloodwork results. Her blood count was low and the doctor gave the diagnosis of "mild anemia". While she thinks Abigail tends to be on the lower scale of everything, she prescribed an iron supplement for Abigail to take once daily. She'll take the iron until we go back to the doctor in a couple months for her weight check. Along with being weighed at the appointment, she'll have to have her blood drawn again to see if the iron has made a difference.

Abigail better get going, her little cousin Brenden is outgrowing her like crazy!

Climbing

Austin was cleaning the top of his police car, or so he says.

And Abigail was attempting to climb into the window.

ELMO!!!!

The kids and I went to see Elmo, Rosita, Zoe, Grover & Cookie Monster tonight. The Sesame/USO Tour has been at Ft. Hood the last two days. The kids had a blast and got a lot of fun (free) stuff. Abigail really got into it, rocking back and forth to the music while Elmo and his friends sang and danced.

Some of the pictures are pretty dark. I was zoomed in on the camera and I guess the flash didn't work too well!

My friend from work had to hold Abigail for me because Austin had to use the bathroom right in the middle of the show. I guess the good thing about that is that Austin got to walk right in front of the stage and see Elmo & his friends up close.

Abigail crashed on the way home.

18 month check up

I'm pretty sure I wasn't Abigail's favorite person today. First she had to get two shots, then have her blood drawn and then I offended her by trying to catch a urine sample.

From the beginning...

Everything for her age looks great, except for her growth.

At 12 months she weighed 18 lbs even.

Remember at 15 months, she weighed 18 lbs, 3 oz and was 30 inches in length. Only a 3 oz weight gain in 3 months.

When we went back to the doctor at 16 months (for a weight check), she weighed 19 lbs, 6 oz. Gaining a pound and 3 oz.

Today, she weighed a whopping (drum roll please)... 19 lbs, 8 oz. Again, only a 2 oz weight gain in 2 months. She was also 30 inches in length, the same as what she was at 15 months.
Again, not on the chart for weight, and in the 10th percentile for height.

The only problem is, our girl can eat!

I was instructed to give her some PediaSure and come back in 3 months for another weight check. The doctor said she really wants to see her over the 20 lb mark.

We're not sure why she's not gaining weight, but the doctor is pretty sure it has to do with her family genetics. Michael doesn't have an ounce of fat on him, so it doesn't surprise me that one of our kids (actually, probably both of our kids) would take after him.

Which leads me to the blood draw. I took Abigail to the lab to have blood drawn so she could have a complete work up done. Even though the doctor thinks she's fine, she wanted to run blood work to rule out anything that might be causing her to not pack on the pounds.

She did rather well for the blood draw as long as you don't count the big crocodile tears that were springing from her eyes. My poor baby!

I also received a urine collection contraption to catch a sample from her. It's nearly impossible to catch a urine sample from an 18 month old, even with the contraption they provided. I got a small sample, lets hope it's enough when I take it to the lab tomorrow.

Hopefully we won't hear anything about the labs, and we'll pack on the few ounces she needs to make it over the 20 lb mark and onto the growth chart!

18 Months

One and a half already?

Abigail's on her way to the doctor for her 18 month check-up. I'll post a more detailed post later this evening.

I've been really busy lately. I'll share the reason why later too!

"One" more birthday wish

Happy 1st Birthday Brenden!

We love you and wish we could be there for your big birthday party today!

This concludes the birthday wishes. Three generations of Ringman birthdays in three days. All milestone birthdays.

Another birthday wish

Happy Birthday Grandpa Ringman!

Sending you hugs and kisses all the way from Texas too! Hope you have a great 50th birthday!

(Look how little the kids look! This picture was only taken a little over 11 months ago.)

Birthday wishes

Happy Birthday Uncle Ben!

Sending you hugs and kisses all the way from Texas.

Daddy's girl

Abigail loves to wear her Daddy's dog tags.

The sweetest thing...

is seeing this when leaving for the day. The kids were waving at Michael when he left for work this morning.

She got her flip flops

Abigail wanted to show Grandma & Grandpa Richards that she loves her new flip flops. They fit just right!

Not the greatest pictures, but at least you can see her shoes (and her girly hair bow!!!). She loves her shoes!

Flip flops

I caught Abigail wearing Austin's sandals. I still wish I could find her some, but they don't sell them little enough for her feet. Hopefully next summer her feet will have grown enough to wear sandals!

It must have been a rough night, look at that hair!

4.5

Austin is four and a half years old today. I can't believe how fast the time has gone by.

In exactly 30 days, he'll be attending his first day of school. (And yes, I'm having issues with him going to school.) He is absolutely ecstatic about attending "big kid school" and will be shopping for his school supplies tomorrow.

Contentment

There's nothing like a Dora the Explorer movie and a big bucket of cheese balls!

Abigail loves Dora the Explorer. Dora has been added to her vocabulary. It's so cute, she says it every time she sees a picture of Dora.

I hope he's ready

I registered Austin for school today. In exactly 40 days our son will be attending his first day of Pre-K.

I have so many thoughts running through my head about his first day of school. While I'm excited that he'll be attending school, I'm also scared to death.

This is where our parenting skills thus far are put to the test. Will he behave himself? Have we taught him the right things? Will he be polite and mind his manners? The list goes on and on.

I guess we'll find out after his first couple of days.

I'm going to ball like a baby the minute I leave him at school, I already know it.

What was it like when your first child attended their first day of school? Any advice on making the day any smoother for me?

She's a diva

Abigail thinks it's so funny when I where my Turbie Twist after I get out of the shower. She wanted to where one the other morning too!

An evening walk

We went for a walk around the block tonight after dinner. Austin rode his bike.

While Abigail rode in the stroller. Notice the fingers in the mouth!

Austin had a little technical difficulty when his pedal fell off. Daddy fixed his pedal and raised his seat when we got home. Hopefully he won't have the same problem next time he goes for a ride.

Even after Daddy fixed his pedal, we continued around the bigger block. This time Austin chose to ride his tractor. He had fun driving on the sidewalks. His favorite part was going up and down the driveways!

17 Months

In another month Abigail will hit the year and a half mark. I still can't believe she's 17 months already.

Her little temper personality is really starting to shine. She knows what she wants but can't quite communicate with words yet. She's really good about whining and pointing so she can attempt to get her wants expressed to us.

She's learning more and more words each day. She's added a couple words to her vocabulary since last month. "Juice" and "Grandpa" are the ones that come to my mind at the moment.

Shoes. The girl loves them. And it's so cute when she says, "zooz" while putting them on. She wears them around the house all the time. They're easily accessible to her so she's constantly putting different shoes on. And if I could find a pair of flip flops in her size, she'd be able to wear them. She wears all of our sandals around the house all the time. It's so funny to see her wearing Mommy & Daddy's sandals around the house.

She's still eating like crazy so I'm interested to see how much she weighs at her well baby check up next month. Just yesterday I was looking at her sitting in her car seat and thought she looked taller. Of course, she also has to get a couple shots next month, but they should be the last ones until she's two.

She's still trying to get some teeth. They must be really close to breaking through because her hands have constantly been in her mouth lately. I gave her some teething tablets this morning and they seemed to help keep her hands out of her mouth. This is the first time she's let us know she's working on some teeth. She has been pretty cranky with a capitol C.

Her hair is really starting to grow in the back. And it's still curly! Yay! She loves to sit in her Bumbo in the mornings to get her hair done. And as you saw in the picture, she still loves to sit in it even in the living room. She's so silly!

Pile on Daddy

Future Olympian?

Could Abigail be a future Olympic swimmer? I can't put too much water in the tub lately because she loves getting on her tummy to swim. Or to be a "ish" (translation: fish) as we've been calling her. As soon as the water starts in the tub she's running for the bathroom, she loves bath time.

She likes to feel the water come out of the faucet.

Don't you love the tan lines on her back from her swimming suit? And look how long her hair is getting (finally!).

Gotta love the smile and the baby butt! We're still waiting for the teeth to come in between her four front teeth and her molars on the top and bottom. It won't be long, I think they're all about to come through any day now.

The real reason...

And this is why we purchased a king size bed! Not really, but it does sleep three a lot more comfortably than our full size bed did...

Most nights Austin will make his way into our room. Of course with the king size bed, we barely notice he's there.

Independence Day

I hope everyone enjoyed their Fourth of July Holiday. Friday the kids and I headed to a friend from works house for a BBQ. Michael wasn't able to go because he had to work late that night at the Freedom Fest on post.

This is my attempt at getting a cute picture of Abigail in her Fourth attire. Obviously not a great picture of me, but a decent one of Abigail. Thanks Austin for taking a great picture of us!

After Austin's swimming lessons, he was ready to get into the water by himself. Eventually Abigail & I got in with him, but there were plenty of big kids in the pool to help with him if he needed it.

The kids loved the Little Tikes Jump 'N' Slide that was set up.

I attempted to get a cute picture of the kids together, but they didn't cooperate for me like they did Stephanie. I hope the picture she's taking turned out cute!

We could see the fireworks show put on by Ft. Hood where we were at. Abigail could have cared less because it was way past her bed time and Austin thought they were pretty cool. He was more interested in running around with the other kids then he was watching the rest of the show.

So stinkin cute

Abigail and I ran to the store this morning to get a few last minute things for the BBQ we're attending later. While at the store a couple older ladies made my day. Of course Abigail was in her 4th of July outfit with the cutest hair bow on (made by me!). I stopped to get some bags of ice and I heard them coming.

"Oh look how cute she is" one of them said to the other.

Then one of them said to me, "Your baby is so beautiful, you're a great Mom."

I'm not sure what the two have to do with each other but my heart swelled about ten times bigger than what it normally is. I do have to admit, she is pretty stinkin cute!

Stay tuned for a 4th of July post later after the BBQ. The kids look adorable today!

Asses, Asses Ashes, Ashes

Abigail loves jumping on Austin's trampoline. Here are a couple movies of her jumping.

And a little clip of her singing asses, asses, I mean ashes, ashes we all fall down!