Christmas Morning

We let Abby sleep in until 7a on Christmas morning before we woke her up. She was very excited to go downstairs to find what Santa had brought her. She wasn't very excited when she found her goldfish under her stocking. I think she just assumed Santa wasn't going to screw up her order so she wasn't too surprised. Once she started opening presents, she got more excited about her new friends and every once in a while would jump up to show something off to the fishes. We suggested the names "bert" and "ernie" but she shut us down quickly on those names. Once all the gifts were open we made some cinnamon rolls for breakfast.

On Christmas Eve we got about 4 inches of snow so we ventured outside for some Christmas morning sledding! Something I would like to make a tradition but Dave quickly reminded me there's not always snow on Christmas here. Bah Humbug!

One of Abby's favorite things to do is to fall face first into the snow, don't worry she doesn't let her face touch the snow.

On the right side of the house is a good 20 foot sledding hill.

This year we decided to let Abby go down by herself. Proton must be half wolf, she loves this snowy weather.

Poor Dave got quite a workout pulling her up the hill.

It was fun for the first few trips and then she fell out of the sled.

Whitewashing herself. It made her very upset.

She hasn't asked to go sledding again. She would much rather watch these two, "Dorothy" and "The Wizard of Oz".

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Christmas Time in St. Louis

It's been a busy holiday week at the Pleimann's. Tuesday I took Abby to her first show at The Fabulous Fox we saw "Cirque Dreams Holidazzle" a holiday show with a lot of acrobatics and singing. I do a lot of work with the Fox and scored the tickets for free, and on top of that we were just rows from the stage. Abby had a blast. I was afraid it would be too loud and scary but she was a trooper. At intermission she thought it was over and she asked if we could go home for "night, night" so we called it a night. She was so good during the show sitting on her booster seat through the whole. She kept pointing at everything on stage, waving to Frosty and the Gingerbread Man. This was the only picture I took when we got home, well past her bedtime.

On Thursday, my aunt Heather, uncle Dan and their girls Alanis and Shelby stopped from Wisconsin on their way to Arkansas. Abby loved showing off the new house and hanging out with the girls.

Christmas Eve it started snowing, I was off to work but Abby had a blast running around the new yard with Dave. She loves snow as long as it doesn't touch her face!

This is a side view of the house from the driveway. Do you see Abby way down the hill by the tree?

This is the backyard. Both Abby and Proton love to run all around the house.

Christmas Eve night we went over to Dave's parents house, Abby loved playing with her cousins. This is one of three pics I got of the whole night. Oops.

Before bedtime Abby put out some cookies and milk for Santa.

What would Jesus Do?

Early this morning, 2:30a, Abby woke up having an awful, awful coughing fit. Not like the cough she's been fighting for three weeks, it was wheezing, short, shallow breathes. So after bringing her back in our room and calling the nurse exchange we decided to let Abby sleep in our bed so we could listen to her breathing. She was still sounding a little funny but seemed to settle down. So Dave and I tried to get her to settle down to sleep.... it wasn't working. She was talking to us, singing and turning over and over. It was awful. This is just a reminder why she doesn't get to sleep with us on a regular bases. We kept reminding her that it was bedtime and she needed to go to sleep.

So she's singing and talking, Dave is sort of sleeping. And I was counting down the minutes until the sun came up. Abby started singing her "Baby Jesus" song from her daycare Christmas program... when I rolled over and told her "Jesus wants you to go to sleep." Dave kinda wiggled on his side of his bed and I had a hard time keeping a straight face. It did work for about 3 minutes but Abby was quickly chatting again and by 5am it was breakfast time.

Dave's Edit: We had already been laying there, not sleeping for almost an hour. Abby was kicking me in the back and head, and didn't want to stop. I asked her several times. Apparently one time she turned to mommy and said "daddy no kick." Peggy told me this morning that she was actually elbowing me, not kicking me. Hah, I guess that makes it okay. Then out of nowhere came the "jesus wants you to go to sleep" comment. I couldn't help but laugh....it was pretty darn funny.

Update: Abby has croup, Dave took her in this afternoon. Apparently the urgent care center misdiagnosed her cough last week as whooping cough. The medicine she has been on wasn't treating her cough at all. So now no meds just more humidifier and cold when she starts coughing. Hopefully the croup will clear up on its own.

Festivus, 2010

This year's Festivus was quite the event, between the move and the hospital visit we weren't quite sure we would pull it off. But we did. I'm still recovery 24 hours later but all in all it was a great time. It was also a good goal to get the house organized before everyone came over. This year's event included not only 2-6 month olds, 4-toddlers and a kindergarter. Santa was very busy. We didn't get a lot of pictures of last night, mostly because our toddler was attached to one of us all night. She had an off day that continued into the party. She spent the first 30 minutes taking a nap trying to get a handle on the day.

A special thanks to Santa who made a big entrance through the front door this year! Both Abby and Charlotte were very excited. Charlotte was happy and Abby cried. Once we got Santa settled in front of the fireplace, Charlotte was happy to sit near him and talk about what she wanted. We tried to bribe Abby closer to Santa by delivering a cookie to him....

it didn't work.

Once I volunteered to take her up there she was all smiles.

She even told Santa about the fish she wanted for Christmas.... (which by the way were belly up by the end of Festivus!) But thats another post.

Charlotte was much happier sitting next to Santa then on him, and her little sister Audrey seemed to sense that this was scary man and didn't last long on his lap.

Santa didn't seem to mind any of it taking it all in stride.... hopefully we can get him to stop by again next year, when I'm sure there will be even more children.

Labor and Delivery Visit

So after multiple days of some awful contractions I finally decided I needed to get checked out. So after Abby went to bed last night Dave's parents came over and we headed off to the hospital. We've become pros at this, we didn't even take a bag with us. Dave had the iTouch and a magazine and that was it. Not even the camera.

Apparently Baby Booger is taking cues from his/her big sister making his/her presence known 9 weeks early. After watching the contractions on the monitor for a while and an exam the doc on duty decided to give me a shot of terbulaine to stop the contractions. So far its working. I see my regular doc this afternoon to decide if I should go back on the procardia. The same medication I was put on to stop the contractions with Abby. So it's a low key day, we got home around midnight. Dave got up this morning to go to work, and we sent Abbers to daycare. But I'm just keeping it low key. I might try and bake later, but I have a feeling thats on the list of things I should be trying to do.

New House

We finally have a majority of our boxes unpacked or hidden in the garage. And it feels like we are settled more and more everyday. So here are some pictures of the "new house" as Abby still refers to if. This is the main level, I haven't taken any pictures of the upstairs or the basement yet. Oops. This will have to tide everyone over for now.

This is the view from the kitchen, Dave had a fire going today it was wonderful.

This is the breakfast nook and kitchen, still a mess but it gets cleaned every night before bed.

This is the formal dining room off the kitchen and living room.

This is the living room, its actually the front room on the house. The only carpeted room on the main floor!

The beautifully decorated stairs to the upper level.

The main floor half bath.

Sally took this of us, we had a fire going. This is after spending the morning outside in the cold and snow.

Winter Wonderland

It's nothing like our friends and family to the north are experiencing, but we woke up to two inches of snow today. Abby was so excited. She is fighting whooping cough but we bundled her up for about 10 minutes to play in the cold white stuff.

Abby wasn't a fan of the big wind gusts, she kept grabbing onto Dave.

Even Proton only lasted about 10 minutes outside, it was cold!

Dave taking Abby sledding down the hill on the side of the house. Proton didn't stray too far. We still haven't figured out the electric fence to keep her in the yard. Thankfully she doesn't have much interest in exploring the neighborhood.

A tired two-year-old after some fun in the snow.

Christmas Program

Thursday was Abby's Christmas program at daycare. It's only week two at the center, and Abby is loving it. It's a little more play and a little less learning but Abby is definetely fitting in. She likes to hug her teacher before leaving at the end of the day, and has only had one accident!

The show was great, and went rather quickly! Each classroom came out and did two songs and moved on. Abby is quite the leader in her room. She was in the front row during their songs. She knew all the motions.

After her class was done, Dave brought her up to watch the other rooms with us. She loved that we were sitting up in the balcony. (I guess we should have taken that whole "get there early to get a good seat" thing seriously.)

We skipped the 4 and 5 years olds nativity scene so that Abby could go to bed on time. But since we weren't staying for treats we let Abby have a small brownie. She was so happy and all about posing for the camera.

St. Nick

We celebrated St. Nick's day a little early at our house. Both Dave and I wanted to be there in the morning when she got her presents. So St. Nick stopped at our house Saturday night.

Abby didn't really understand why Santa was coming but she drew a picture and told me what she wanted.

What does Abby want this Christmas? fishes, big clothes (compared to the small clothes we make her wear?), and more chalk.... I'm pretty sure she just saw it and a box and yelled that out. The next morning when we woke her up to take her downstairs to find her goodies she had a minor meltdown. She thought Santa was still here and she was worried about seeing him again. Once we sorted out the Santa drama she was very happy with her new jammies and chocolate.

Abby Stories

Last night driving home from Walmart and we pass a church with green spotlights for the holidays, all of a sudden Abby starts yelling "wizard of oz, wizard of oz". Did you figure it out? Yeah, she thought it was the Emerald City. She is so smart, I tell ya.

Abby also started her new daycare last week, so far no major problems. The program is through the Methodist Church about a block from our house. This week is their Christmas program. I've been asking her what she is singing at school. And she keeps making weird hand signs, now I know I haven't been to many Christmas programs in recent years but I had no idea what she was doing. So after dinner we were playing by the Christmas tree when she noticed the nativity on top of the piano. So I let her climb up on the piano and check it out, she was asking who everyone is. When I told her about Baby Jesus, and she started singing about Baby Jesus with the weird arm movements. Still not sure what they mean but the song has to do with Baby Jesus, rocking, and giving him a kisses. I can't wait to see the program and solve the rest of the puzzle. I think she is also singing "Jingle Bells" every time she hears the song she points to the sky and says "bells!"

Unpacking

We've been busy unpacking the house for the last few days. There are still boxes everywhere, so no pictures for you yet. They're coming soon, I promise.

Abby always refers to the house as the "new house." She loves it. Well, we all LOVE it.

Yes, it does have its faults. For example, last night around 9:00PM, I was sitting here watching TV. Peggy was taking a shower in the master bathroom. I heard this dripping noise start. I didn't think much of it. I thought it was water inside the drain dripping down and hitting the bottom of the pipe in the basement (I've never lived in a two story with a basement, so this made sense to me). But, then the dripping got more constant. So, I went to investigate. I went to the furnace closet in the basement, and there was a lot of water dripping from the ceiling! At least 6 or 7 drops per second. AHHHHHHHHHHH I thought as I ran up two flights of stairs as fast as possible to tell Peggy to turn off the shower.

After 30 minutes of investigating, I narrowed down the problem to the drain basket. I didn't think I could see any plumber's putty between the drain and the shower insert. So, I finally (took a while) got the basket off and sure enough, no putty. Idiots. It's becoming clear to me that some of the stuff that was replaced/fixed in this house was just plain not done right. Very frustrating. If you don't know what you're doing, then whey are you doing it? I'm pretty confident that this drip didn't just start for us. I'm guessing it's been going on for a while. Argh.

I also fixed the ceiling fan light in the master yesterday. That one we had already known was broken. Then there's the doors. All of the interior doors look as though they've been replaced recently. Well, whoever did it had no clue. There are weird size gaps in places, they're not square, some of them you can see through the crack when they're closed. Argh again. Not to worry, they are fixable, but it's going to require pulling off the trim and rehanging the doors. Maybe that's a project for next summer.

Don't get me wrong, we all looooove the house, but there are quite a few little things that still need to be fixed.

When I pick Abby up from school, she automatically starts talking about the "new house." She hasn't even been able to run in the yard much. I know she'll LOVE this house in the spring when she can run around outside.

In other news, Abby has also fallen in love with christmas lights. Everywhere we go "mama, daddy, christmas lights!" Or, "where christmas lights?" Major cuteness. We'll have to plan a couple of trips out driving to see some more christmas lights. I'm hoping to put some up on our house tomorrow. We'll see if that actually happens. I fear that I've already missed the last good and warm weekend.

Home

We are in the new house! Despite many last minute hiccups that could have delayed everything. We are officially sleeping, eating and cleaning the new place. Pictures to come, if you need our new address or phone number, yep we've officially moved out of the 314 area code, email us.
Much more to come as we get settled.