Thanks-mas (More thanks at the holidays)!!

   These first pictures are not from Thanksgiving, but the two days that Michael's dad stayed with us recently (November 13 & 14) felt really nice like Thanksgiving because it was so great having an extra family member in the house around the holidays. The weather was lovely, around 70 and Michael and his dad went canoeing in Kissimmee, ran a couple errands, they fixed up the front yard (cutting back a lot of the overgrown plants and flowers) and then his dad made dinner for us. Michael asked about ten times if he wanted any help grilling the chicken, but his dad kept saying no.
   I spent the day wrapping presents while listening to Lea Michele's Christmas album, and the addressing our 55 Christmas card envelopes. I don't have a picture from our dinner, but Michael set up the table and we also had salad and mac and cheese with the chicken. I also like when his dad goes to Publix with Michael because he always tells him to pick out some flowers for me! I had not received orange tulips before. :)

   I loved seeing Emma playing with Grandpa Al and was very interested by a conversation we had when he said he wouldn't be opposed to seeing us have another kid (although it's 99.999999999% impossible with our preventative measures). He said, "Look at her! She's so cute! You don't want another one? And with her medical conditions, your chance of having another baby with the same issues would be one in a million!"
   Michael politely corrected him saying, "Yes, her Meier-Gorlin Syndrome is one in a million, but since we both carry the gene, the chances of us having another trach and ventilator baby are 1 in 4." At that point his dad seemed to understand why we don't want more than Emma. She's so wonderful and silly, and God gave us exactly what we needed. I do also like having a dog though, and Sasha has been extra nice lately, allowing Emma to pet (or playfully hit) her without snapping like she used to. Plus if you read one of last month's posts titled "The Hard Parts", keeping up with everything she already has going on is more than enough for us to handle. And Michael and I talked about only wanting one kid even when my pregnancy was going super smooth and we had not yet found out about any of Emma's differences. A lot of people (mainly those who had more than one kid themselves) say to us, "She needs a sibling", but we don't believe that is necessary, for a load of reasons. And I already stress way too much as it is.

   The weather was really perfect and cool the past few weeks. It was 53-60 degrees all day on the 17th and I kept the screen door open so we didn't have to use the air conditioner. I love having cold weather more now than I used to, especially with all of our good memories while we were in Michigan. 
    I just previously posted Canon photos from our Thanksgiving Friday that we just had and Christmas Tree Shopping. But the photos in this post, while same may be similar, were all from our phones. One reason I was glad to be at work on Thanksgiving Day was so I could watch the Macy's Day parade with my co-workers and hear Lea Michele sing her new "Christmas in New York" song. Also, I really don't mind working on the holidays if it falls into part of my regular schedule that year, because it's not usually that busy. For some reason people think 911 is closed on the holidays? And we did a potluck so getting lots of yummy food at work is always a plus too, as well as extra pay for working on a holiday.

   I did not end up having enough time to do everything I wanted to do the next day at home when we celebrated Thanksgiving, so I had to prioritize, which included not completely finishing a few crafts, such as this turkey headband thing Sasha is modeling and the pinecone turkey looks too empty and I need felt for the beak and . I did not have time to watch the Thanksgiving episode of Glee in New York where they sing, "It's Turkey Lurkey tiiiiime!" I was very happy that my friend Alex, from work, was able to come over and hang out with us this year. I do like it being "just us" (me, Michael, Emma and Sasha) on lots of other days of the year, but for me, not spending extra time with friends and family seems lonely. But that's how Michael prefers it.

 ^^ A note/ Facebook post memory about Emma's first Thanksgiving. For some reason I must have been busy or didn't think about doing a Thanksgiving photo shoot in her crib like I did for every other holiday during the 11 months that she spent in the NICU.

Here are some links to our pictures from last Thanksgiving:
---> Emma's turkey hand cards
---> Thanksgiving Day 2018

   Although this year's holidays really have seemed to blend together, the beginning of Christmas was spent with my parents who came down yesterday so they could help us pick out our Christmas tree this year. We also went to the Farmer's Market while we were in the same area. Last year Michael's parents came down and came with us to pick out the tree. You can see those fun pictures here.
   Yesterday I had to wake up early again (5:20am!) to work a six hour overtime shift (money, money!), which ended up going very well. I got home at 1pm and my parents arrived around 1:30pm. We exchanged some early gifts and my mom gushed about how much she loved the winter wreath that Michael made for her. She had been asking for one for a couple years after seeing ours. I think Michael enjoyed the compliments. Emma opened her St. Nick presents early, which worked out perfectly since she got a short sleeve Christmas shirt and all the other holiday shirts available for her to wear were long sleeves, which would be too hot since it was 81 degrees yesterday, darn it. But tomorrow and Tuesday will be back in the low 60's!

 Nothing like an emergency Mic-Key button change in public to get us in the Christmas spirit! My mom and dad and I had been in the Amish store trying some homemade jam samples and when I came out I saw Michael on the bench with Emma on his lap and rummaging around in her medical backpack. When I walked up he told me to hold and and keep the slobby rag pressed against her stomach. I asked if her G-tube came out and he said yes. I asked three times what happened, but he was focused and didn't answer me. He used a sterile wipe to clean the bottom (part that goes in Emma's stomach) of the Mic-Key button and put it back in, spinning it in hopes it would not hurt her as much. When he was done, he told me that the cord got caught on the side of the stroller when he picked her up to take her out of the stroller. Sounds exactly what happened to me a few weeks ago, when I went to move her from her crib to the living room, but she cried a lot that morning and only looked concerned yesterday.

   ^^ See, she's fine! :)

   So another reason why the holidays feel so blended this year, is because I am the one blending them! Since I was all done addressing our Christmas cards in the middle of November, I did a photo shoot of Emma and Sasha with some of the letters to my friends who wanted them early. And one friend (Ryan) is currently in Scotland working for Marvel Universe Live, so I figured it would take her a while to get my card. I had a few Christmas decorations in my scrapbook room so I didn't have to wait for Michael to pull all of the main boxes down from the attic.

Christmas Tree Shopping

   Yesterday my parents came down to visit and came with us to pick out this year's Christmas tree. My mom said this is the very first time she had ever been Christmas tree "picking" because the only time her parents got a real tree was when she was two years old, so she doesn't count that. My family always had a fake tree that we kept in the attic, but growing up Michael's family always got a real tree, and so far I have enjoyed that family tradition between us. However, yesterday Michael asked me if I don't enjoy it since I was caring more about taking the pictures while he and my mom narrowed down which would be the best tree for us. In the past, I have noticed that we don't usually agree on the same tree, so it seemed easier to just let him pick it out since he always picks a nice one anyway!
    Before going to the tree tent, we had lunch, received a raffle ticket for spending over $20 (apparently it was Small Business Saturday), walked around a few stores, tried a few Amish jam samples as "dessert", and bought a few squares of the peppermint soap that I had been wanting more of since I got some from a vendor at Cracker Christmas last year. It's like toothpaste for your skin!
   When we got home, my dad helped Michael get the tree off the roof of our car (no longer "his car" since we only have one car now), and then my parents left shortly after that. Michael suggested that I turn on my Glee Christmas music - alright!! I helped him get the decorations down from the attic, then ate some Thanksgiving left overs while he put all of the lights and most of the ornaments on the tree. Emma finally took a nap around 7pm. I was glad she wasn't sleeping while we were looking at the trees like she was last year.

 Emma says, "This really is a head scratcher. There are so many good ones!"

 The trees come with festive hats (last year was red Santa hats, this year was elf hats- to match the elf shirts that the employees were wearing!) and are kept in water until they are purchased. Michael says this makes the trees so much better than the dry, flaky ones that we used to always get from Lowes.

 They give everyone a piece of the trunk so you can see your tree's age. This one is only 6 years old!

 One of Michael's favorite things to do is making fun of me, so this was him exaggerating how I would have shown off the tree. He also did my signature pose of the right hand on the hip, shoulder forward, and leaning as if I'm in the middle of laughing.

 One of the first decorations I put up are those five big paper snow flakes. Those are very special to me, because one of Emma's nurses from Michigan (Bridget) made those for her PICU room.
  This is the time of year where "the baby" gets moved to the middle of the kitchen/ living room space since the tree goes in "Emma's Corner".