If you can believe it, it took us FOUR YEARS to get the cousins together, and we only lived two hours apart! (At the time, when we were living in Orlando before. Since we moved further South, now it's three hours.) It would have been a little under three years if it wasn't for Covid because we planned for them to meet in March 2020, but obviously that didn't work out. I still think we should re-plan that day; going to the retired horse farm and the butterfly garden- where I don't think I have ever been!?
For a long time, whenever I would come up and visit, Peyton, my brother's older daughter, would always ask, "Where is Baby Emma?" I would reply, "Oh, she's at home with Michael." She would make a sad face. "Is she still sick?" We always told her and her younger sister, Helena, that Emma was sick (kind of true) and that we had to wait until the doctor said she was healthy before they could meet her. Finally on Tuesday, July 6th, 2021, she was "healthy enough". A lot of the times Peyton and Helena would be sick from a cold they caught at school so they weren't able to come visit Emma at our house.
That July, Peyton was 6 &1/2, Helena was 4 &1/2, and Emma had just turned four a few weeks prior. We all met up with my parents at a resort in Orlando and spent the day at the pool. Helena was shy at first and didn't want to go up to Emma right away, but Peyton passed a toy back and forth. We had been working with Emma -and still are- on not throwing things/toys and to "please hand it gently" (although that is confusing when we tell her to throw a ball).
Once we were in the room, Helena warmed up and had a lot of fun playing ball with Emma for a while. Emma never gets shy because throughout her life in the NICU and hospitals, and with so many doctor visits and therapy, she is used to meeting and us introducing her to new people all the time! (That makes me a little nervous for the future with her not having any "Stranger Danger" boundaries.)
You can see Peyton in the background working hard at coloring. She continued to hand Emma her drawings (mostly of different colored hearts) every few minutes. I thought that was really sweet.
After a little while we headed to the pool and had a lot of fun there. We didn't have a floaty for Emma at the time, so I kept her on the ledge, but she still liked splashing with her hands and kicking her legs in the water. She was sprinting during that time, and after a while, I kept asking her if she was all done, but she didn't sign "all done" for a long time. Obviously she was having a good time!! I finally took her back to the stroller where Michael was though, because she really sounded like she was starting to having a harder time breathing and needed to be suctioned.
When we got back upstairs, the three girls got changed into their matching Minnie Mouse shirts that my mom got for them! She had gotten them matching outfits and dresses on a few prior occasions that we had planned to meet up for, but those times didn't end up working out. I think the cousins were supposed to meet on Easter 2021, but then Zach's work schedule got changed so he and I didn't have the same days off anymore? I'm not sure. She sure loved the bounce level of that couch though. I got a good video of her on it before we took these pictures.
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| Emma's Love Language is physical touch; Peyton's is not. Haha! |
Again, this was their very first time meeting. Their second time seeing each other was on December 4th, 2021, when we celebrated early Christmas at our place (where we lived for seven months at ShoreView Apartments) while Emma had her hip spica cast. That was a really fun day!! You can click the link that says "early Christmas" to see/read all about that. :)
The third time was at the beginning of April, when they came to visit for a few hours when we were moving from an extended stay hotel, where we "lived" for 10 days into the apartment we live in now. Buuuuut I actually haven't posted about our current apartment yet. Ha, sorry. It's on my long list of "blogs to post about". I have seven drafts that I am currently working on!
Most recently, we went to the Fountains resort in Orlando on Saturday, June 4th, before Michael drove us back up there again the following weekend for my birthday, and Emma's birthday- combo party!
The day before we arrived, on June 3rd, they went to the craft class that the resort was hosting and made princess crowns. They even made one for Emma that said EMMY! My mom said they didn't have any A's. Haha.
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| Even though Helena is blinking in this picture, I still like it. :) |
Of course, we had to go swimming again! This year we had a flamingo floaty for Emma. It did rain shortly after, but we still got some good laps in. And I walked into the sauna and steam room with Zach and our dad for the first time. The sauna was interesting and kind of smelled like a campfire because of all the hot coals. The steam room.. whoa! Once our dad opened the door, my glasses immediately fogged up- we barely even made it inside. After we dried off and went back upstairs, we headed to the arcade for some games! I had a super fun time playing air hockey that day!
This mini Polaroid was taken by Helena. Great job!! :)
Although Zach is my only sibling, I consider Emma to have "extended cousins" that I definitely want her to meet and play with! I guess they would be her second cousins? Our cousin's kids. My cousin Jessica has five kids and is pregnant with her sixth, but they have never met Emma. I am very happy that Jessica has met Emma, thought it was several years ago when she was a little chunk. :) And Michael's cousin, Ashley, is pregnant with her second son, but we haven't even met her first kid, Oak, who's birthday is about two weeks after Emma's. But we haven't even seen Ashley in over 12 years, since the first time I met her at Michael's older brother's wedding.
Now, to get a bit more technical about these cousin meet ups.. you can read the following posts about when Emma "hung out" with Peyton and Helena.. before she was born, while I was pregnant with her. Those posts are on my pre-medical blog. I started this Emma blog once my pregnancy was no longer "normal" and our whole life changed. For the better, am I right? ;)
>> Halloween 2016, with Peyton, five days after I found out I was pregnant. I was at least four weeks pregnant at this time. At this point Emma's heart and other organs would have started to form.
>> Announcing in November 2016, and proudly doing that thing where I put my hand under my stomach in every photo even though there is no bump for a while. But we prayed for this baby for a long time, and already suffered through a miscarriage, so dagnabbit, I want the world to know there is a baby growing inside of me!! Family photos when I was about 6 weeks pregnant, while Emma's brain and spinal cord were developing.
>> Early Christmas Visits. Helena had just been born towards the end of November 2016 and Peyton turned two years old a few days later. I was 11 weeks pregnant around the middle of December, and Emma was about the size of a fig. Her body began to straighten and length, as well as stretch, roll, and somersault. (I always wonder if her growth was steady and on track up until the 26 week mark when she began measuring small? I'll add it to my questions for God when I get to Heaven. Also, why do cockroaches exist?)
>> Second Christmas on December 26th, 2016. I was 13 weeks pregnant. Celebrating Christmas in Gainesville with my parents, Zach, Peyton, Helena, and my Grandpa Narles!!! Oh, I miss him. At this point, Emma's bones would have begun to harden, especially in her skull and long bones.
>> Lots of Cousins!! Back for more fun with Emma's great-grandpa "Papa Narles" in March 2017 for his 92nd birthday! I was 24 weeks pregnant at his grand celebration and Emma was about the size of an ear of corn! Her face was almost fully formed, complete with eyelashes, eyebrows, and hair. Sadly, my Grandpa Narles went to Heaven just two months later, which was about a month before Emma was born. My mom told me that *Grandpa gave Emma the last of his strength* when he heard my mom crying about the doctor who told me that she might not survive, due to a heart condition he saw in a sonogram. (Spoiler: she survived!)
I wish my Grandma Belva (my dad's mom) could have met Emma, but I was glad that the last conversation that I was able to have with her, on the phone, was telling her in November 2016 that I was pregnant. She was so happy and excited for me. She passed on Christmas Eve 2017 while we were in Michigan before Emma's big airway surgery. She did get to at least meet Peyton! That was actually a very important trip. It possibly "changed my life", because on my drive home, I seriously, finally decided that I was ready to have a baby. It took Michael a few months to get "in baby mode" too.
>> Zoo Fun, end of March, 26 weeks. At this point in my pregnancy, Emma's eyes would have been closed for a while so that her retinas and all parts of the eyes had become fully developed. She may have started to open her eyes around the end of the month! Also she would have grown fingernails.
>> Our Baby Shower, at the end of April 2017, which was basically the last normal weekend of our lives. Up until then, Emma was a regular, healthy baby without any issues. I was always picturing another version of Peyton. Nope! She looks very different. And we are perfectly happy with what God gave us!! (I don't see Helena in these pictures, but maybe my dad was taking care of her inside, in the back room?) I was 30 weeks then, and at that point Emma's brain began to wrinkle so that it could hold more brain cells. So interesting! Also, her hands were fully formed and it was common for her (all babies) to grab her feet.
>> Finding Dory, one last visit while on "bed rest". Once we found out all the medical stuff, the doctor didn't want me working, so I stayed at home most of the time. Zach and Peyton visited at our house one night and we watched a newer Disney movie. If you click on the link to see the pictures, you can't even really tell that I'm pregnant because of my dark shirt, but I was 35 weeks pregnant. :)
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