Abbies New Bedroom...

In just a few weeks, we will be heading back to Texas to await the arrival of Baby #2. With that in mind, we wanted to go ahead and transition Abbie into her new "big girl" room before our departure. That way, when we return in the spring, Abbie will know her new room and be a little familiar with it. Today, we spent most of the day moving her stuff from one room to the other. These are a few pics of her new room...

Christmas Day 2009...

Today, I got to experience a whole new joy to Christmas...watching my daughter open presents. This Christmas, she is 16 months and she had so much fun ripping into the paper and pulling out the gifts. We gave her one gift at a time stretched out over the entire day. This way, she had the opportunity to play with each item and not be overstimulated with new stuff all at once. Each time, it was so much fun watching her open the gift and make noises of excitement.

New Piglet book for Poor Old Great Aunt Judy.

Puzzles from Mom & Dad

Pirate Tent & Tunnel from "Santa"

Checking out the Rocking Horse

Riding the Rocking Horse

Laughing with the Polar Bear because it is silly
for Polar Bears to be on the beach with Pirates!

Snuggling with the Polar Bear

Abbie playing with her new "Quiet Book" from Grandma O'Leary

Santa's Elf...

After Abbie went to bed, Jenny began putting together a wooden rocking horse ready for Christmas morning. I loved sitting and watching her put it together. As she worked, she told me the story of the rocking horse and some of her memories. You see, this rocking horse is over 35 years old and was built by Jenny's father for Jenny when she was about the same age as Abbie. Her dad has hung onto it for all of this time and recently shipped it to us in pieces after he had fully restored it for Abbie. Pretty cool, huh?

Leaving Cookies & Milk for Santa...

Abbie is old enough that we started the tradition of leaving cookies and milk for Santa. So, before bed, Jenny brought out 3 cookies and a glass of milk and handed each one to Abbie to put on the Snowman tray. Abbie placed each cookie on the tray. We thought we were done.

Nope! She is in a "sorting phase" so she had to take each cookie one by one off the tray and put on the coffee table. When she was finished, she threw her hands up in the air with a great big smile and then clapped. She was so proud of herself!

Christmas Eve 2009...

Our family usually watches "White Christmas" on Christmas Eve (or at least we have the past 3 years, however, kids change everything. We knew that Grandma and Grandpa O'Leary had bought Abbie the Vegetales "Saint Nicholas" movie, so we let her open it this evening. Abbie LOVES Vegetales and when she saw the DVD case, she immediately tried to get the box open and walked over to the TV holding the case open.

So, this year, instead of "White Christmas" we watched the Vegetales "Saint Nicholas" movie together. Whick is a really great movie if you haven't watched it before. Notice Abbie sitting with Jenny completely enthralled by the movie.

Abbie & Jenny Decorating Christmas Cookies...

Christmas cookies are a big tradition in our little family. It is something which both of our families did with us as kids and something we hope to pass on to our children. This year, Abbie was old enough to join in the fun. Here are a few pictures of Abbie helping Mommy decorate sugar cookies. She decorated a half dozen or so and loved "shacking" the sprinkles.

Abbies Toofers...

This is a little blurry, but gives you an idea of how the teething is progressing! Abbie has about 10 teeth at the present time and two new ones are cutting in, so it has been a rough few days for her. Her little kisses on Daddies nose are no longer allowed as sometimes they hurt.