Christmas 2011

Merry Christmas to all of our friends and family!  We hope you all had a safe and happy holiday.  We had a busy weekend, but also a lot of fun. 

Friday night we took Connor to see Christmas lights at Tilleys Park.  Mike and I had never been there so we decided to go.  It was a long wait, but totally worth it-- Connor loved the pretty lights.

Saturday we started at Great Scott and Nancy's for dinner and fun with family.  Then we headed to my Uncle Ed and Aunt Nancy's house for more food, fun, and even a visit from Santa himself (Connor was still not a big fan).

Sunday we woke up to see that Santa had come to our house and Connor was so excited to see all the presents.  We had a blast opening all the presents-- I think I enjoyed watching Connor more than anything.  Then Grandma Jan and Drew came over for more present opening and a lot of play time.  That afternoon we headed to my Mom and Dad's for dinner, more presents and fun.  The best gift this year-- my brother Eddie surprised everyone by coming home for Christmas.  Mike and I knew for a little while because we picked him up Friday night at the airport-- but seeing him and having him home was AMAZING and topped any other gift.  We just wish he could of stayed longer.

Today we went back to Great Scott and Nancy's to open presents with them.  Then tonight we headed to Great Grandpa and Grandma Stewart's for one last Christmas celebration. 

We are EXHAUSTED!!!!  But are so thankful we have so many wonderful people to call family and spend the holidays with.  Here are a few pictures of our crazy weekend.

Waiting in line to get into Tilley's Park

Coming downstairs to see if Santa came

My brothers and sisters

My Family-- So glad my Dad was home for Christmas!

A Little More Bell

Today was yet another day we have all been waiting for.  My Dad has officially finished his chemo treatments which means he got to ring the bell at the Siteman Cancer Center to signal the end of a long road.  What a beautiful sound it was!  My Mom went with him today and a few of us surprised Dad after he was finished to show our support as he rang the bell.  Does this mean his long journey is over?  Well, not just yet.  He has finished receiving chemotherapy and now will begin his 10 day round of shots and medicine.  He also will most likely have to go get another blood transfusion next week.  Then in early January he will have a PET scan done to see if the chemo rid his body of cancer.  We are praying SO hard that it has. After all the cancer is clear, he will still have to have surgery on his broken arm.  So, no this journey is not over, but today marked that a giant portion, 18 weeks to be exact, is now behind him and we are so very proud of him.  What a strong man my Dad is and what a strong support system he has received and continues to receive from family and friends.  Chemo has not been easy on my Dad, but he has been such a trooper and has stayed positive throughout this entire experience.  We love you Dad!  We are so proud of you and couldn't be happier for you today.

To say my Dad was surprised to see us waiting for him today, would be an understatement.  I have never seen him so shocked and touched in my life.  What a great moment for our family!  I would love to hear a little more of that happy bell sound in 2012!

Surprise!

Ringing the Bell-  the whole waiting room clapped for him-- so neat!

Mom and Dad

Kate, Elizabeth and Cole got to be there for Grandpa

Marla, Bill, Maria and me got to be there with Dad.  Marissa and Ed where there in spirit cheering on Dad.

The Siteman center gave him a certificate and t-shirt.  They have been so good to him throughout this entire process.

Landon Jordan Steinhoff

The biggest anticipation of the year is here and he couldn't be any better!  Landon Jordan Steinhoff was born the morning of 12/9/2011 and weighed 6lbs 14oz. Mom and baby are both doing great and everyone is healthy as can be-- Thank you God!  Little Miss. Paige did an amazing job keeping everyone calm and making sure her little brother had a safe and quick delivery.  We miss her so much, but know she is doing wonders from above! Landon is adorable and is adjusting so well to our world.  Marissa and Pat are such wonderful parents and can't stop beaming with joy.  We are so happy for all of them!  We love you Mr. Landon and are so glad you are finally here with us!

We got to go see our new nephew/cousin yesterday and give him lots of hugs and kisses.  I even got to change his little diaper--  forgot how small and sweet they are!  I would not let Connor get too close, but he kept pointing to Landon and saying "baby", he is very excited for his new boy cousin!

Little yawn

Wide Awake! Love those cheeks!

20 Weeks

Today I am 20 weeks pregnant with baby Neiman #2.  Mike and I took the day off to go to our big ultrasound.  The ultrasound could not have gone better.  Our little peanut is measuring perfectly and looks great.  The baby weighs 11 ounces and we got some cute little pictures.  Baby #2 has been moving like crazy and today was no different.  The ultrasound tech said that she has never seen a baby move so much...I'm talking flips and big crazy movements!! She was having difficulty catching all the pictures because the baby was moving so fast-- another hyperactive child :-) We are so thrilled that everything appears to be right on track and that baby #2 appears to be a healthy, bouncing baby BOY!  That is right, we are having our second boy and couldn't be more excited!  Connor doesn't really understand yet, but I know he will love having a little brother.  Mike is already looking forward to the many soccer games we have in our future.  As for me, I am SO excited to have another little man to love, hold, and watch grow.  It will be a lot of fun for him as well since we are adding 3 other boys to the family in the next couple days and month.  We can't wait to meet our little guy in April!  As for a name-- well, he doesn't have one yet, but I will share once we do. :-)

What a great start to this week...

The baby bump is out at 20 weeks. :-)

St. Nick's Day

Mike and I made a phone call to St.Nick to see if he could come last night instead of Monday night since we were both off of work today. He agreed. So this morning, we celebrated St. Nick.  St. Nick brought Connor Christmas PJ's, The Lion King movie, and M&M's-- what a lucky boy! 

The stocking's were hung by the chimney with care...

...In hopes that-- St. Nick came!

Butterflies

I am sitting at work today with butterflies in my stomach and I cannot get them to go away.  I am nervous for the rest of the week to happen.  Tomorrow Mike and I go for our 20 week ultrasound.  I should be thrilled, right?  I am, but I am also really nervous given the past year we have had.  People keep asking me if I want a boy or girl and I mean it in the most sincere and honest way when I say, "All I want is a HEALTHY baby."  On Thursday my Dad starts his last round of chemo.  After he has finished they will do a PET scan in a couple weeks to see if they got all of the cancer or if further treatment is necessary.  On Friday my sister Marissa has her c-section scheduled to deliver their long awaited baby boy.  I am SO excited for her and Pat, but I can't help but feel their anxiety and nerves as well.  So as I sit here swinging my leg, picking at my cuticles, and thinking of all the different directions this week could take-- I thought it may help to calm my nerves if I could get my thoughts out.

Mike always tells me I worry to much and always think of the worse case scenario, which I do.  I can't help it though-- it's not like I ask for these horrible thoughts, they just come to me. So I worry and get butterflies and pray.

Chances are my ultrasound will go great and we will find out if we are having a healthy baby boy or baby girl.  Chances are the chemo did its job and my Dad will be cancer free and all of the horrible pain and sickness he has gone through will be worth it in the end.  Chances are my sister will have a healthy, beautiful baby boy to hold and love on.  Chances are this will be a great week for our family.

But today, I'm nervous...

Breakfast with Santa and Cookies

What a fun filled Christmas weekend we had!  On Saturday we went to Breakfast with Santa at Notre Dame High School-- thanks to Grandma G. To say Connor LOVED Santa would be a total lie.  He would not sit on his lap and didn't even want to sit on my lap for a quick picture.  He did enjoy playing the games and winning lots of fun prizes.  Thanks Grandma for a great time!

Not loving seeing Santa

Opening his present from Santa in Grandma's classroom

This picture just makes me laugh! Can you find Grandma and Connor?? HA!

Today we went to our annual Cookie Day.  My girlfriends and I have gotten together the first Sunday in December for the last 4 years to bake cookies.  It is always a fun time and we come home with SO many yummy cookies!  This is a tradition we plan to keep for years to come.  Connor enjoyed playing with Avery and tormenting Toby (the dog) while he was in his cage.  Sorry Toby!

These two are trouble :-)

 I apologize for all of the pictures.  We just got a new camera and I am loving it!  I need to figure out how to group some picture together-- anybody know how?

Locked Out

I share this story, not to embarrass myself, but to have it written down to remember and share with Connor what he put his Mommy through :-)

Connor and I got home for the day and he was scoring goals in the family room. I ran out to the garage to check on something and was out there for literally less than a minute. When I tried to come back in I heard Connor messing with the handle. I went to turn the knob and the door was locked! My heart started racing and I went into panic mode. I was locked in our garage by my 1 year old without an keys or phone. I started knocking on the door and yelling for Connor-- he would just knock back. Then I started messing with he handle and told him to turn the knob-- he would just yell back "turn knob, turn knob". I told myself to think-- I knew our front door was locked, but I also knew our deck door was open because I had put the cat outside when I got home. The problem is we do not have stairs up to our deck. I looked at the ladder we have in our garage and was trying to decide if it was tall enough to get me far enough up the deck were I could shimmy the rest of the way (probably not the best option!) After about 5 minutes of knocking back and forth with Connor I decided that I should go to the neighbors and call the police. Connor figured out how to turn the lock once, but the chance of him doing it again was close to impossible. Now I just have to figure out how to explain to the police that my 1 year old locked me out of the house. Just as I was walking away I heard a click. I thought surely he didn't unlock it. But as I stepped up to the door and turned the knob, what I thought was impossible happened-- Connor unlocked the door!!

What I learned from this parenting experience: Never underestimate the ability of a 1 year old and never go into the garage without a key.

16 Weeks

Yesterday I turned 16 weeks pregnant with baby #2. I went to the doctor today- everything looks good, heart beat sounds great, and just 4 more weeks until the big ultrasound-- we can't wait to get a peak at our little peanut! I have been feeling pretty good, minus my crazy headaches-- small price to pay, right? Here is my 16 week picture of the baby "bump"-- I use the word "bump" loosely.

Happy Halloween!!

Happy Halloween! We hope you all had a great day and fun trick-or-treating! We went to a Halloween party Sunday night at Aunt Patty and Uncle Dave's. A lot of my cousins were there with their kids and all the kids wore their costumes and got treats-- it was really cute! Then on Halloween Connor had a great day at Ms. Lisa's-- he wore his costume and they had a Halloween party of their own. All the kids brought treats to share. Then that night we headed to Great Scott and Nancy's house to have some more fun. We went to some of their neighbors and Connor got even more candy. Our little monkey had a blast and ate lots of candy!
We Love this little Monkey SO much!

Leaves and Pumpkin Carving

Today we took Connor outside and let him jump in the leaves-- every little boys dream, right? Then tonight, we carved our pumpkin to get ready for Halloween. Connor enjoyed cleaning out the pumpkin as long as he held the spoon. He didn't like touching the slimy gooey insides-- can't say I blame him.

P.S. Mike designed the pumpkin this year! :-)

World Champs!

Congratulations to the St. Louis Cardinal's for winning the WORLD SERIES!!! We have had so much fun watching all the games over the past few weeks and have had faith in them the whole time! Way to Go Cardinals!!

Pumpkin Patch

This year we decided to check out Rombach's Pumpkin Patch. Connor got to go on a pony ride-- he was SO excited! We had a great time picking out pumpkins, playing on the play ground, and eating kettle corn.