Christmas Fun

Pictures for a Christmas card here at the Ringman house with a two and an half year old toddler and a four month baby is not a task that comes easy. We tried to get a cute picture of the two kids together but I was not real successful. Here are some of my attempts.

This picture is cute but Riley started to cry because Brenden was falling and she could not pick him back up. I guess Brenden did not care because look at his face.
Riley being a pretty, pretty princess. She wanted to take a picture without Brenden.
Brenden trying to tell me that he is hungry and teething. His hands are in his month 24/7.
Here is another picture of the two of them together. Not to bad but Brenden has to cover his face with those hands all the time. I will try again later to see if I can get one for a Christmas card. I might have to choose one of these which would be ok too.

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree.......

Riley is not too much into the Christmas mood just yet. She did not want to have her picture taken with Santa Claus but we are still working on that. Riley did not want to help put the tree up (together) but she did want to put the "toys" on the tree. There were a few that needed a hook so she sent those under the tree until we got the hooks to hang them. When we were all finished we turned the lights on and she was very excited to see what we had done together.

Our finished product.

This is what Brenden did while we put the tree together and added the toys. He has learned to wiggle himself out of this seat if he is not buckled in so we make sure that he is buckled each and every time he is in his seat.

Visiting Grandma and Grandpa Ringman

Grandpa Ringman with his two grandkids, Eddie George and Suzie. I know they look a lot like my two kids Brenden and Riley. We had a great time playing with Grandpa and watching Christmas movies. Elvis was the popular music choice for dancing.

Grandma Ringman had the job calming the kids down when they were upset or if they got upset while sitting on Grandpa's lap. The kids had a great time sitting and sharing with both Grandma and Grandpa. They look forward to returning in just a few weeks for Christmas.
Thanks to Grandma Ringman's working oven Riley was able to make some beautiful suagr cookies for Daddy, Uncle Dustin, and Uncle Tommy. Our oven at home is not working correctly so baking cookies was out of the question. She had a blast. Just look at how serious she is when she works.
Riley took a time-out to smile for the camera.
Look at that mess those should taste great. The bigger the mess the better the taste as my mom always says.

Dress Up.... Dramatic Play

My little Princess with an attitude.

Cute as a button but she does have an attitude.

Riley and her cousin Jacks(on) playing with 3-D glasses.

We had a hard time keeping the glasses on while we tried to take their picture. Riley helps hold her glasses on by holding her head back and Jacks(on) just stands still.

Brenden with his beautiful blues eyes.

Who ME?

Our Visit to Michigan

Here we are in Michigan at Nana and Papa's house. Nana took this picture of us. One of the few with all three of together. We had a great time in Michigan. It was very cold to us southerners but that is what the holidays are all about.

Riley and Brenden with their cousin Jackson. They had a great time together.
Brenden with Uncle Paco (Jeff).

Jeff received his name from Brock our oldest nephew and it stuck.

Look at those cute kids. If you look closely you will notice a red spot on Riley's nose. She was jumping on the bed (a BIG NO NO) and she fell hitting the TV stand. She walked away with just the a scrape on the nose. No black eyes or broken parts.

Once we made it home Riley wanted to go back to Nana's house. We also all came home with colds. Brenden was the worse. We made it home just in time to make it to the ER. He was not breathing too good and spiked a fever. They run a couple of tests and decided that Brenden has RSV. We were given some oral meds and sent home. We were in the ER a total of four hours. My hands are full with a sick baby and a toddler who is very needed all of a sudden. Other then that things at the Ringman house are good. Happy Holidays to you all.

Ready for the Holidays

Brenden's class at day care made this cute Indian (Native American) hat. It was cute to walk in and see all the babies wearing these hats. Most of them left them on their heads.

Riley is ready for her Holiday pictures. She picked out this fancy dress and then had to wear it right away. I had a hard time getting her to take it off to go to bed. She is not that much of a girlly girl but when she wants to be a princess watch out. She is looking forward to going to get some matching shoes too.

Little Mommy

Bath time is always a fun time here at our house. Brenden enjoys playing in the water and Riley loves to help. She can't wait until Brenden can sit up so they can take a bath together. This time Riley helped me by washing Brenden's hair. She took the shampoo and put into her hand and rubbed them together and then washed his hair.

Here she is still washing his hair. She made sure that he was really clean before we could rinse the shampoo out.
Look at that face. Sissy are you almost finished I am ready to play.
Look at this clean baby. He is so happy after a bath. He talks and smiles long after we are in our PJs.

GO BLUE!!!

The Ringman's support their team today. Riley and Brenden were dressed in their Michigan gear in hopes that Michigan would pull off a win against Ohio State. As we watched the game the kids cheered up their little voice were not heard. Michigan fell short and lost to Ohio State.

Riley in her cheerleader outfit.
Brenden in his Michigan gear.

We need a football jersery for him to go with Riley's cheerleader outfit.

Bed Time

Here we are sleeping so sound in our bed. Now that we are three months old, we are sleeping through the night. We are spitting up less and becoming more social with others around him. He has learned to giggle and smile when you talk to him. He enjoys school/day care and is growing use to the noise of the other children and learning to sleep with the noise around him. Brenden also likes to snuggle animals/blanket when he is sleeping. He has to hold something in his hands or he will hold his hands together and sometimes he squeezes hard that he leaves marks on his hands. That is why we hold an animal or blanket now.

Jump Jump Jumperoo

We are growing up way too fast. We put our swing away and are now jumping in our jumperoo. Not that Brenden is doing a whole lot of jumping our his own. Looking close at this first picture you can see Riley's little foot helping Brenden jump. The look on his face is priceless.

Here his is looking at the little toys in front of him trying to decide what he is going to do with them. Each time he jumps or moves the little kangaroo jumps and starts to play music and the lights dance around him. Once he learns that he can make the lights dance, there will be no stopping him.
And of course we could not pull out a "new" toy without Big Sister trying out too. She wanted to play in the jumperoo too. So we pulled it up to the tallest position and she got in and look at those smiles. She had a blast.
Look at that hair. She was jumping hard and she had pulled out her ponys just before she started to jump. I guess it was a good purchase since Riley still enjoys swinging and jumping.

Trick or Treat

Well me made it through out first holiday, Halloween.

Brenden enjoyed walking around with Riley while she went trick or treating. Mommy pulled the two of them in their wagon around our neighborhood.

Brenden in his "My first Halloween outfit"

Riley dressed as a pumkin. She did not want a costume so we dressed as a pumkin.

Brenden and Riley in their "costumes". Brenden's hat and bib look like a black cat. His hat had the little ears and cat face on it.
Here our my two little pumkins. Both dressed in their orange and black.

First Week of Day Care

Well we all made it through our first week of work/school and child care. Brenden is enjoying himself as he is growing more and more socially. He is smiling more and more and starting to use those little words too. Riley enjoys having her brother at school too. In facted she lets everyone know that he is in his classsroom. I have learned that she does like to help drop him off because her friends want to see her baby but she has to help go and pick him up. She likes to go and see Brenden's friends.

I made it through my first week back to work. It was difficult to leave Brenden at day care but we both made it through the day and then the week. We are all on a better schedule/routine now too. The kids both go to bed by 8:30 and sleep through most of the night. Brenden wakes up around 1:00 to eat but then goes right back to sleep. Riley will get up around 2:00 to use the bathroom but that is not every night. Its hard on me getting up back to back but we are making it. I am glad to be back to work after a 6 month break.

More pictures too come.

Life Lessons with Sissy

Lesson 1:
Riley is showing Brenden how to play with his piano. She wanted to lay down beside him and kick her feet to make the lights dance and the music to play. This lesson was learned just in a few minutes. Brenden enjoyed himself. His little legs would go a mile a minute.
Lesson 2:
Riley is sitting in her Boppy pillow eating cereal. She had a mouth full when I took this picture.

Brenden is laying in his boppy with his listening face.

Here is what he learned......
I can sit up just like Sissy.

Yes I know that he is not sitting up right but he is sitting and can hold himself up with the Boppy pillow there for support. Before he would just fall all the way forward or straight back. He is getting so strong and loves to play with Riley that he wants to do the same things that she is doing. No matter if its sitting or having a fit about something. I just thought is was cute that Riley wanted to teach Brenden the things he knew.

So Helpful

Riley what all about helping Brenden one morning that she started to climb into bed with him. I was worried that she would fall and hurt someone that I helped her into the crib. She had a great time. Brenden on the other hand was not too sure what she was doing in his space.

Riley is getting up-set at Brenden because he is still crying while she is trying to give him his binky. She does not like to hear him cry for very long before it up-sets her.

2 Month Check Up

Well we had our first well-baby visit and things are going well. Brenden is eating great and sleeping through the night. He loves to play and talk with his sister and will always give her a smile. Here are a few new things about Brenden: We weigh 10 lbs 6 ozs. We are 23 and 3/4 tall which is short for his age. Surprise, Surprise. He also is starting to talk more and more. He loves playing with Riley. He will smile and laugh at her regardless of his mood. He could be upset or mad and he will still find a smile to show his BIG sister. We also like playing with our buddy Reese. Here are a few pictures of Riley, Brenden, and Reese.

Here Riley is holding her little brother, Brenden.

Brenden with his buddy Reese. Brenden is older by 3 days.

Here is the gang. Riley, Brenden and Reese.

Look Who is 2 Months Old!!!!

Here we are at 2 months old. We will go to the doctors on Friday for our first round of shots. We will learn how much we have grown in the past two months. I have noticed lots of growth in him phyically and emotionally. Brenden has learned to many new things in the past two months including the following:

Smiling

Laughing

Choing/Talking

Sleeping through the night

Piggies

Here is Riley being her own human Piggie bank. She is having lots of fun placing her money between her toes. She did a nice job holding them in place. She loves to put things between her toes. Riley has lots of fun playing with money and saving our change in her piggie bank.