Christmas at HOME

   Today was such a good day! Emma did pretty well opening some of her presents. We would rip a piece and she would hold on to it or grab at the piece herself. She is more interactive now and is being very entertained by her toys. We have been thinking a lot about a year ago when we were at CS Mott Children's Hospital in Michigan and how last Christmas we were "stuck" in the PICU, but it was still a much nicer Christmas than we thought possible. But it was soooo great having her home with us for the holiday. She has been home now for almost 8 months!! We all got lots of presents from Santa, Michael's parents, and each other, and we celebrated, just the three of us- with our dog, Sasha, but she was outside most of the time. My parents will come down in a few weeks for 2nd Christmas. :)

Mialyn, Meet Emmalyn

   The day I found out I was pregnant with Emma, I took the test that morning (October 26th, 2016) and hung out with my best friend, Mia, for three hours that afternoon. It was so hard not telling her the whole time that I had just found out that I was pregnant. Of course I wanted Michael to be the first to know and he was at work all day. I felt like I was being so awkward around Mia and I later asked if she noticed it, but she didn't. I think I told her that night or maybe the next day, but a few days after that, at our Halloween party, we got a picture together! That was her first picture "with" Emma. A few weeks after the Halloween party, Mia and her boyfriend moved to Denver. She came back last Christmas for two weeks, but I didn't get to see her because we were in Michigan for Emma's surgery. Finally this past Wednesday, she was able to meet her!

    Mia was VERY excited to finally meet Emma, although she sort of felt like she had already met her because of all the pictures and videos I post on Facebook and Instagram. She wanted to hold her right away and was super proud of herself when Emma fell asleep in her arms. Mia also got pumped to make Emma smile and laugh. I told her it would probably be very easy since she has so many ticklish spots- her face, neck, hands, tummy, thighs, and feet! Emma laughed a lot while they played and Mia even got more "aggressive" with the tickling after she saw what Emma likes. The second day, Emma made audible laughs while Mia played with her and she loved that!!

    Mia wanted to know more about what we do to take care of Emma with her medical needs. She watched when we suctioned her, and helped with what she could. She mixed up formula and primed the feeding tubes. On the second morning, Mia watched me do Emma's treatments, and then played with her while I was putting my makeup on. When I came out Mia had pulled out the zoo mobile and gotten Emma's Glowworm from her crib to entertain her so she wasn't just laying there, staring at the ceiling! Mia even volunteered and changed two diapers during her 28 hour stay in Orlando!! She noted that she didn't think she had ever changed a diaper before that.

 

   One of Michael's friends, Saida and her boyfriend, also moved across the country to California, so it was great that she got to visit in Orlando too, and see how great Emma is doing at home. Next week she will hit the 8 month mark, out of the NICU! Last night after I got home from work, they went out and met another friend and had dinner together. That was Michael's first night out in a suuuper long time. He doesn't like to leave Emma except for work, but I'm glad that he did. He deserves it!!

   **Do not be confused by this post's title. Emma's full first name is just "Emma". I laughed when Mia asked if Emma was actually short for something longer, like Emmalyn. Nope! Although I did think Emmaleigh, pronounced like Emily, was a really cool name/ pretty spelling, but Michael did not care for it. :)

Our First Christmas Cards

   This year we sent out our first Christmas cards!! Knowing myself and how it is so easy to procrastinate, I told Michael that I wanted to take our pictures the first weekend in November. Yes, November. We got all dressed up and took photos in the front yard, Michael using the Manfrotto Magic Arm as the tripod, attaching it to the roof rack of my car. I wanted my hair to be long in the photos, so I waited to get it cut until after I found the picture I wanted to use for our cards. However, when I got home that afternoon from getting my hair cut (it always looks too short right after), Michael told me that we had to re-do the pictures because they did not look Christmas-y. I'll probably post the original pictures in April since Michael keeps referring to them as "Easter photos".
   He pulled a bunch of Christmas decorations down from the attic like garland with lights intertwined and some winter wooden figures. He did all the work and set up the area in the living room and we did another, better photo shoot. The fact that Michael said we needed to take more photos, just heightens the fact that I married the right guy! :) We used the timer on 5 seconds, and sat there, tickling Emma for about 10 minutes to make sure we would get a good one. Emma was making weird faces for some reason when we had her glasses on, so we left them off. And we tried getting Sasha in the photos too, but then Emma and Sasha were not looking at the camera at the same time, so we didn't use any of those. Here are some runner ups:

   I love sending mail, so I was excited to address these envelopes, press on the festive Santa stamps, and add snowman stickers to the front. The back of the card mentions that this is Emma's first Christmas at home and lists this blog link, so everyone can follow along in detail, but most of the people who got cards already follow along on Facebook and Instagram. The blog is usually a lot more informative though. We got 50 cards this year, but next year might need to get 75 (a handful of them went to doctors and nurses who helped us along the way). We used Shutterfly and love the card stock it is printed on, but I know Walgreens is cheaper.
   In the envelope I also added a printed note that read:

❅ ❄ ❆ ☃ Merry Christmas ~ 2018!  ☃ ❆ ❄ ❅

   It has been a whirlwind of wonder since last December when we were in Ann Arbor, Michigan for Emma to get her big 3D airway splint surgery with Doctor Green. We were in Michigan until the end of February and then she was back in the NICU at Winnie Palmer in Orlando, where she was born. Emma was finally discharged from the hospital, after 323 days, on April 30^th!! We had waited for that day for so long. We were so happy to be able to celebrate Mother’s Day and Emma’s first birthday on June 12^th at home. Now Emma has been home for 7 months!! She is doing so well, especially since she has been getting physical therapy once a week. This Christmas in Florida will definitely be warmer! J

   Thank you for all of your prayers ~ Have a great 2019!!

❅ ❄ ❆ ☃ Love from, Rachel, Michael, Emma (and Sasha)   ☃ ❆ ❄ ❅

The finished product- there was an option to have the snowflakes be shimmery, which would have looked even prettier, but that really bumped up the price. Also I threw in a picture of two of the snowman cards we made using Emma's foot print. I think they would make great ghosts in October!!

    And here are some pictures of the Manfrotto Magic Arm. Michael normally uses it to assist in holding make up fx pallets, but it is currently being used to hold Emma's formula bag to the ventilator stand so we don't have to use that IV pole for it anymore.