The Boys Are Back In Town...

First of all, we are back in AL and had a wonderful Christmas! Emma was so great throughout the whole trip and got lots and lots of toys. In fact today I am boxing up her old toys for storage and replacing them with her new toys. We had such a great trip but if feels good to be home too. I plan on posting lots of Christmas pics but it will take some time to sort through so for now here are some other things that have been going on the past couple of days.

My 2 youngest brothers and step-mom Betsy drove in from TX. I LOVE my baby brothers sooo much and I always look forward to seeing them. Hunter, my big bear of a brother, just celebrated his 19th birthday on 12/27 so George and I made him a birthday cake which was awesome! They also got to see our Granny Dunham and Uncle Arnold before staying 2 nights with us in Alabama. I was so sad to see them leave this morning but I hope to see them again this summer. So here are some pics of our visit...

Hunter, Granny D, Chandler

Chandler playing on his IPhone which is what he always does! And Hunter with a cute eyes closed smile. :)

Chandler and Miss Emma. He looks so much like my dad!

Hunter Dunter and Emma Bemma!

Hunter making Emma smile by throwing her up in the air. Have I mentioned that I have the best brothers ever?!

Happy 19th Birthday Hunter!

Hunter posing with the cake

About to dig in!

And my babies...My mom got Emma this tent for Christmas and it just pops up. Emma LOVES this tent! Braxton and Lily do too.

Cheese!



I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas! I hope to post more pics soon. We've got a busy next couple of days. Emma has conjuctivitis (pink eye) and we took her to the dr today. Her poor little left eye has been so swollen, red, and yucky. You can kind of tell in the pics that it is red. It definitely looks worse today. We are giving her eye drops 3x a day and we also got more Augmentin in case it is infected. The pedi was worried b/c it is so red and we don't want it to get into her eye tissue or something like that. So hopefully it will get better and not worse!

More to come later!

We've Been To Nashville!

Yesterday Emma and I took off to Nashville to spend time with 2 of our favorite girls! Emma played super hard and had a blast climbing of both sets of stairs. Lucky for me the girls chased her up and down the stairs the majority of the time so mommy didn't have to exert too much energy. :) As usual, Aunt Marsha had wonderful food and I gained 5 lbs from her yummy desserts. Thanks for having us and playing so much with Emma. She had a great time!

My 3 girls! Aren't they so pretty?



I think Melica taught Monya to make this hat and Emma loved wearing it! Love the colors!



What a diva!




Monya and Emma hard at work.



Emma playing on the stairs...her favorite thing to do!

Melica and Emma dancing! Actually I think Emma is laughing at Melica's dancing skills!

Emma up to something. She has crazy amounts of energy these days! She just runs around in circles and laughs. What a doll!

Monya and Emma! I've got such a beautiful little princess!

Love this picture!

Once again, we had soooo much fun in Nashville! Thanks again for everything and we'll see you on Christmas!

Our Christmas Decorations

As Christmas day approaches I realized that I haven't shown off our decorations. So I snapped these a few minutes ago and we have our tree turned on but with the flash you can't tell. So here are some of our decorations at our house. Enjoy!

Looking at our tree from the computer area.



Looking at the tree from the other side of the living room. It looks kind of tilted in this pic. Look at all of the presents! I have more shopping to do today. :)



Our stockings hung by the chimney with care...and you can see lots of our Christmas cards! I love getting cards in the mail. We've got more cards that are sitting on our end tables and on the fridge. Oh and Braxton has a stocking too but Lily's is hiding it. I really want different stockings and the ones I want are at Pottery Barn on sale but I keep forgetting to buy them! Hopefully they aren't out of stock.



Our fridge! I love having pics of Emma and our friend's babies too. It makes me smile everytime I'm in the kitchen!

We have a few more things around the house but didn't take pics of but you get the point. Now I'm off to finish my shopping!

Happy 1st Birthday Addie and Alex!

Addie and Alex celebrated their 1st birthday with us tonight at Rosie's. I hadn't seen them in person in about 3 months and they have grown so much! Alex was so quiet and Miss Addie was trying to shove everything in her mouth!

Emma, Me, Jennifer, and Addie



Handsome little Alex! He's my blue-eyed lil man that likes to flirt. Don't you just want to pinch those chubby little cheeks? Emma loves to talk about Alex.



Jennifer and her princess Addie. Addie is a total mommy's girl and when I tried to hold her after dinner she wanted nothing to do with me! She really liked flirting with George. Watch out Dale, you've got a cutie!




Daddy and Emma. Emma was getting squirmy at this point and was ready to run the restaurant. Don't you just her face?



And addie with cake all over! As soon as she got cake she started diggin in with her hands and loved licking the icing off of the candle. She was cracking me up! When I looked across the table at Alex he had nothing on him and Addie was going to town.

Thank you so much Jennifer and Dale for bringing the kiddos to dinner. We had so much fun celebrating their birthday! Hope you enjoyed your big day sweeties!

Please PRAY For Baby Reed!

A couple of weeks ago at the hospital tree lighting I met a sweet sweet couple that has a little boy in the NICU. Baby boy Reed was born at 23wks and weighed 1 lb 6 oz just like our little Emma. During Reed's 1st month of life he had 2 surgeries and has been having problems with his kidneys and liver. Reed had been improving over the past couple of days but then this morning his mommy updated saying he had started swelling again and his bloodwork wasn't looking good. I feel so sad for this family b/c it reminds me so much of our family except little Reed is having a harder time. This is their 1st child too and I just feel so helpless. Please be thinking of baby Reed and his family at this time and pray that he will get through this.

Emma's ENT Appt

Yesterday we took Emma to the ENT due to all of the sinus issues she's had over the past 3-4 months. As you all know she has been on 4 different antibiotics including steriods and 3 weeks of Omnicef which didn't help at all. Then last week we started Nasonex which is a nasal steriod. So we were hoping for some answers and to get miss Emma healthy. Unfortunately, we didn't learn anything that we didn't already know except now we are going to start another medicine. We are going to continue with the Nasonex for 4 more weeks and we are going to start something for acid reflux which she took when she was younger. Then in 4 weeks we will do another cat scan or a face x-ray and see if there has been progress. If the medicine works then that is awesome, and if not she will probably have to have surgery. The surgery would consist of draining her sinuses, removal of the adenoids and possibly her tonsils. So for now we wait 4 more weeks.

Also, when we went to the pedi a few days ago due to Emma's nasty cough she said to start doing her albuterol 2x a day until yesterday. Well the ENT said we could stop that and drop her Pulmnicort down to once a day unless she started having coughing problems again. So yesterday she only had 1 dose of both and this morning she wakes up with her nasty cough again. :( I think I will give her 1 more day and see how she does but wow, when can the girl get a break!

That's it for now. Emma has been super cute and sweet recently and making mommy and daddy smile alot. Her vocabulary is quite amazing and she can read several books probably b/c she has them memorized. She can also sing her ABC's! I've been trying to get that on video but when she notices the camera she stops singing. I hope to post pics later today or tomorrow.

Forgot the Frosty Pictures

Here is Emma checking Frosty out. She didn't care about anything else but seeing Frosty. Her jacket had scrunched up so that's why it looks funny.



While George and I waiting in the LONG line for Santa, Emma and Barbra took off to say hi to Frosty again.

Santa's Village!

Last night we took Emma and Barbra to Santa's village in downtown Huntsville at the Alabama Constitution. There were so many people there but we still had a good time. Emma was fascinated by Frosty but once again, wanted nothing to do with Santa Claus. If you have a chance to go I highly recommend taking the kids.

Daddy and Emma in the gift shop before we left. Emma loved the Rudolph nose!

Daddy/Emma pic

Look it is 2 Frosty's!

We got to put icing on a gingerbread cookie!

Santa wouldn't let mommy sit on his knee! j/k. Emma wouldn't smile for anything last night.

Asking Emma what she wants for Christmas and then bribing her with a candy cane. She wouldn't even take the candy cane from Santa! Mommy had to get it.

Barbra, mommy, and Emma

After Santa's village we went back to mommy Tracy's house to visit. They wanted to give Emma her Christmas presents early so here is part of it. Isn't she is cute???

"Yay!"

Barbra tickling Emma!

Oh and they also got Emma a pink shopping cart with lots of play food to go with her kitchen! I'll share pics later of that. Thank you Barbra for going with us!!

Our NICU Visit

Yay, I finally got another picture with our favorite nurse Mrs. Sandy! Earlier this week Emma wouldn't have her pic made but with mommy in it she was ok. It was so good to see lots of our nurses and it is always so emotional for me to go visit. Just seeing all of the new moms and grandparents visiting their babies brings back so many memories. One man was wheeling his daughter in to see her new triplets! He was so proud.

When we got there they told us to come on in the doors and George and I always feel weird about taking Emma back through the NICU doors. I remember the first time we took her back I was so afraid they were going to take her back from me and keep her. :) Seriously, it was hard. Anyways, it was awesome to visit and can't wait to go back with some receiving blankets for the little ones. We love you nurses and Mrs. Sandy! One last thing, earlier this week when we were there Emma kept saying "I love you Sandy" when it was time to go. She said it 4 or 5 times and then would say "bye Sandy!" It melted Mrs. Sandy's heart. I like to believe Emma knows her from the 3 months she took care of her. :)

Making The Goodies!

Here are two pictures from Friday night when we were making the goodies for the NICU nurses. We made M&M cookies, chocolate/vanilla dipped pretzels, and chocolate dipped peanut butter balls. Emma had so much fun helping. Really she just ate the chocolate!

Here she is posing and saying "cheese" before bedtime. She loves to help mommy cook and always wants to stand in the chair or sit on the counter. She will drag the chair over to the counter.


Here are some of the pretzels we made with pink sugar crystals.

Emma Knows Her Alphabet!

Emma has known most of her letters for awhile now and we finally got it on video tonight. She is so good at memorizing just like her mommy and daddy. What a smart cookie we have!

Look At My Big Girl!

Finally here are some pictures of Emma doing her nebulizer. She is such a trooper and LOVES doing it b/c we let her watch Super Why (a pbskids.org) show. Now she is able to hold it all by herself.

Look at the big girl!

NICU Nurses, Here We Come!

I'm so excited b/c tomorrow we are going to visit some of my favorite ladies at our NICU. Emma and I stopped by last week for the tree lighting and the nurses mentioned that noone had made them any goodies so far this year. So of course I am on it! We are taking pretzels, m&m cookies, and either dipped oreos or peanut butter balls. Hopefully I can get a few pictures too. I had my camera last week but Emma did not want her picture taken so maybe tomorrow will be the day. I'm so excited!!!

Dedicate An Ornament to Emma!

I am copying this from Amy George's blog and I don't think she will mind. :) We have donated an ornament in Emma's honor and if you would like to do the same please read below and follow the link or call the phone number. You can donate the ornament in Emma's name or just as anonymous. Any questions, just let me know. We are planning on attending tomorrow night and I can't wait. Thanks!

Lastly, it is NOT too late to dedicate a light on the tree in honor or in memory of a special child in your life. To do so, call the Foundation at (256)265-8077 or click here. All proceeds benefit the Melissa George Neonatal Memorial Fund at Huntsville Hospital Foundation. This is such a wonderful way to thank God for the blessings in your life this holiday season, while also helping to save the lives of other little blessings.

Emma Loves Her Kelsey!

Kelsey came home with us last Saturday and she had fun primping the diva. She fixed her hair and painted her toenails since Mommy was slacking in that department. Look how cute!


Kelsey and Emma

We love you Kelsey!

"Sit In Elmo's Lap?"

Our neighbors have this Elmo chair and Emma is in love with it so today I broke down and bought her one. It rode in the backseat beside her and she kept saying "sit in Elmo's lap?" It was so cute.

Here she is giving the chair some love and checking out what's new on the IPOD. She's so tech savvy!



This face was too cute not to share!

Christmas Cards Are On Their Way!

I sent most of the family Christmas cards out yesterday and the rest will be shipped out tomorrow. I hope everyone enjoys them. It feels so good to get things done early this year. All of the cards are finished and most of our gifts are already wrapped. Now if only my house would stay clean...

Thanksgiving At Granny Dunham's

After Aunt Kathy's on Thanksgiving we went to my Granny Dunham's house in Sparta. We were way too full to eat but we got to visit with the family. I wish I would have gotten a group picture of everyone but didn't think about it at the time.

Emma with Melica. She LOVES Monya and Melica!



Me with 3 of my favorite girls!



Emma and my daddy! I thought this was so cute! I had Emma calling him "old man" and it was so funny.


And another cute one.