My goal was to do this as separate posts over the past few weeks however life. So I am going to try to break this up in logical ways... but fair warning this post might get long and will have a ton of pictures at the end because I want to make sure to document this great time of year!
12/15- Christmas with the Ganz family:
God has blessed us with some amazing people in our lives and we are so grateful for everyone who is walking along side us in life. Jaime and I have been friends since college and Brent and Jason have become great friends too. If you ask Jillian who her favorite people are Jaime and Jason (said together as one name) would be on that list. We have all been awaiting the arrival of their little boy and we had our last weekly meal before he was born and celebrated Christmas. Jillian let daddy open his gifts before her. She is really excited because she got Gator Goal (a game suggestion from her PT). It was a yummy night too of homemade beef stew and chocolate chip cookies.
12/16- Jillian's 3 year check-up:
It is hard to believe she is already 3! Her check-ups at this point are just the doctor and I talking about what is going on with all of Jillian's other doctors. Right now we are in a holding pattern until we see genetics in January and neuro in February (Prayers would be really appreciated for both of those appointments as they have the possibility of being big game changers). I talked to Jillian's dr about the random stomach aches she is getting (she just doubles over in pain and starts crying for a couple of minutes and then is fine) but she suggested to see what GI has to say as these are really random and have no correlation with anything else. We are still holding off on vaccines until we have a diagnosis because Jillian gets so sick with them. We also talked about how much better this fall went with her being on oxygen and not in daycare (NO nebulizer treatments this fall!!!!!!) and the doctor asked us to start to think about homeschooling Jillian as she feels it might be the safest thing for her body, we have some time but it is something Brent and I are trying to figure out. This might be one more way where God orchestrated our past to give us the tools we need now.
Also during that week we went out multiple times at night to look at Christmas lights. Sadly the lights in Lake Geneva were a let down but the Grand Geneva was as awesome as ever!
12/19- Christmas the three of us:
Brent and I started this tradition when we got married. I am not going to haul the gifts for the three of us to Kenosha for Christmas day just to bring them back home so we have our own little Christmas on the Saturday before Christmas. We open gifts, go out for breakfast and just have a low key day. We got up and opened gifts. Jillian let Brent go first! I was able to pull one over on Brent big time. We set a small budget for each other for gifts so normally we don't buy each other something large, however this year I got a new phone from Best Buy and was given a large gift card back for buying the phone and then when the sale ad came out with the Apple Watch on a good sale I knew just what I would do. Brent has wanted an Apple Watch since before they came out but it was not in the budget and he was fine with that, so when he opened an Apple Watch he was completely shocked! Jillian's big gift from us was an art easel with art supplies. Jillian loves making art! Brent got me some new Rachael Ray cooking tools which made me really excited (and some Star Wars stuff too). We then went to the diner in Lake Geneva for breakfast. My morning sickness had been really bad that morning before Brent and Jillian got up but thankfully I was able to eat some of my yummy banana break french toast at the diner. We then went home and I went to bed for a bit and Brent and Jillian started working on the living room/dinning room/play area. We decided to rearrange our main floor and put our table where all Jillian's toys were and Jillian's toys in the dinning room. In the afternoon we met Jaime and Jason and my mom at the movie theater in Lake Geneva and my mom and Jilli went to see the Good Dinosaur and the rest of us went to see Star Wars. It was really good! Then we all went to dinner together. Overall it was a great day!
12/20- Christmas with the Upton side:
Jillian's first Christmas was insane. Christmas eve we had her first ped appointment and they were really worried about her weight, and then we went on to cram too many Christmas celebrations into two days. It was stressful and frankly rather sucked. We were running so fast from place to place that we barely got to see anyone and I spent more time crying then anything else because I felt like we did not get quality time with anyone and spent more time in the car. I vowed we would not repeat that again and we have since spaced things out a bit. We now celebrate Christmas with the Upton side of the family on the Sunday before Christmas. We have everyone out to our house and have dinner and open gifts. Instead of spending a short bit of time in the running between places with them, we get an evening were everyone is able to sit down and take it slow. Jillian really enjoyed her new giant pen and her Anna doll. Brent got a cord reel for the garage that he is super excited about and I got a new waffle iron and scrapbooking supplies. It was a nice relaxing night!
12/21- Christmas with Dan:
Dan is another person who has been in our lives since college and has lived with us twice. Jillian loves that he gets down on the floor and plays Legos with her and I am thankful for how helpful he always is when Jillian is in the hospital. I was feeling pretty good that day and made a large dinner for us. We opened gifts and Jillian was excited to get Doc McStuffins Legos that she and Uncle Dan put together that night. We all hung out and watched the Christmas Light Fight and had a nice evening... until bed time were suddenly "morning" sickness got the best of me. I ended up being up most of the night sick.
12/22- ER
Being sick continued and by the evening I was not able to keep anything down even with a suppository to help me stop vomiting. I had also been vomiting so hard for so long that I was now vomiting blood and very light headed. We decided that I needed to go to the ER for fluids (this was the second time this pregnancy, back in early November I was in the ER because I could not stop puking as well). My mom met us at the ER so Brent did not have to take Jillian into a place with so many germs. After two bags of fluids and two different meds the vomiting stopped and I was able to go. I had no other symptoms other then vomiting so they said it was just how my body was dealing with being pregnant. My body does not deal well with being pregnant, but it is worth it in the end for the gift of a child. It was a very long day but I am thankful for my family and friends to help me through.
12/24- Christmas Eve
We had a rather low key morning of just hanging out at my parent's house. Brent headed to church in the early afternoon and the rest of us went to the 5:30 service. We got there early (car sickness is something I am having a lot of this pregnancy that did not bother me at all last time) and spent time catching up with people. The Christmas Eve Service was really nice. Then we headed over to my grandma's house for Italian Beef (dinner was good but the main event is the cookies and home made rice pudding!) We all just spent time together talking and catching up. Once we got home we got our traditional "big" present. This tradition started when I was little. Jillian got a Thomas the Tank wooden set and Brent and I got the double stroller we wanted! I am very excited! We got the Baby Jogger City Select so it can be either a single or double stroller and it works with the Upppababy carseat we have for the baby (the carseat was an amazing cyber Monday deal)
12/25- Christmas!
We woke up Christmas morning at my parent's house. Jillian was so excited she woke up at 6:20. We made her wait until 7 to wake up my parents. Brent then went and picked up my grandma and once she and Brent got back we headed into the living room to open gifts. Jillian's favorite gifts from grandma and bumpa were a set of princess dolls, a microphone with books and board games. Brent got the drill he really wanted and I got accessories for the stroller, new shoes, and books about Disney World's history. We had a yummy egg bake and french toast casserole for breakfast. My Grammy and Grandpa stopped by for a little bit and so did Brent's grandpa. We then headed over to my grandparent's house. We had snacky food galore and opened gifts. Jillian got a lot of really nice things from my family! Brent is super excited about his lightsaber grilling tongs and I am excited for the dutch oven, scrapbooking picture frames and oven mit! We then headed back to my parents where we watched ti Disney Christmas parade and Jillian played with toys.
12/26- after Christmas shopping
Our morning got a little bit slower start then I wanted because morning sickness but mom, Brent, Jilli and myself enjoyed going out and doing after Christmas shopping. My mom and I have been going out the morning after Christmas for a long time and it is when I buy all of my wrapping paper for the next year.
12/27- church, Dan and shopping
We got up and went to Church. Jillian loves singing at church! Then we came home (Brent picked up Subway for lunch, my love right now is their chicken bacon ranch sub with lots of veggies!) and Dan came over to celebrate Christmas with my parents and then Dan, Seth and my dad went to my grandparents house to watch the Packer game and Brent, mom, Jilli and I went to the mall to take care of returns and use some Kohls cash. We scored big at Kohls for Jillian as they have long shirts (needed to fit over the tube) on clearance for around $1 each! Other then a really creapy dude who reached for my purse and kept staring at me, we had a good time shopping and then went to Olive Garden where I could have drank a gallon of their peach iced tea!
12/28- Christmas with the Patel Family
We have celebrated christmas with my Aunt Sandi (my mom's best friend) and Uncle Todd all my life and it is a special part of our Christmas tradition. We always go to Bakers Street for lunch and then come home and open gifts. It is a fun time just being together! Sandi, Todd and Dan (cheese) were sleeping at my parents so we got to spend extra time with them which was nice! We spent the day together hanging out and watching the snow. Our plan was to go home that night however the snow was too bad so we ended up spending an extra night at my parents.
12/29- hang out and head home
Brent had to get up early and head to work. Jilli and I hung out at my parents house most of the day and then once Brent was done with work he came and picked us up and we loaded everything in the car and headed home. We got home to a very snowy driveway that Brent had to take care of before we could pull in. We unloaded the van and started working up putting everything away. The night was even more exciting hearing the Jaime and Jason's baby was born!
12/30- Therapy and baby
Jilli and I spent the morning working on putting stuff away. Our therapist was kind and let us move our therapy day for this week. We got up to therapy and I went to start her oxygen tank and a part of the regulator was missing. I left Jillian there to do sitting activities with her therapist and I drove home to find the missing part and grab the spare regulator. I am normally a part of her therapy so it drove me crazy to be driving instead but it ended up being fine. They kept an eye on her pulse ox and are able to use it to prove once again what her numbers look like when she is not on oxygen (they are not good numbers). We then drove to the hospital to meet baby Emerson! He is soooo cute! We spent time visiting and Jillian was even able to hold him. She kept saying that she is a big helper and talked about how he can come and play with her toys. Brent met us at the hospital after work with dinner and we all had our weekly dinner together with the newest member of our group! I am so excited to watch him grow and for Jaime and Jason. Jillian keeps talking about him and how excited she is!
So that has been the past few weeks in out life. Crazy but a lot of fun and it was nice to spend quality time with people. Thank you to everyone who was a part of our Christmas celebrations!
Now here is a couple of pictures :)
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| Jillian with her nativity finger puppets |
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| getting her Minnie Mouse from Jaime and Jason |
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| Jillian helped to pass out all of the gifts |
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| playing princess Candy Land |
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| We do "school" time a few times a week. I got a new laminator so I made some fun new things! |
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| baby bump! |
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| She looks so grown up! |
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| playing with some of her new toys |
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| cuddling her daddy |
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| this was setting up the Christmas tree at grandma and bumpa's |
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| waiting to go into the living room to open gifts |
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| she let daddy open first! |
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| Brent getting his Apple Watch |
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| Jillian's turn |
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| art supplies |
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| a book self |
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| stocking time |
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| she is too cute! |
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| Her art easel |
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| Jake legos |
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| that tongue helps get things out of the bag! |
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| she helped me open my gifts |
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| Our new dinning room arrangement |
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| Jillian's play area |
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| opening uncle Dan's gift |
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| showing off her new Christmas jammies |
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| Christmas jammie selfie! |
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| waiting for her big gift! |
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| Mommy and daddy's big gift |
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| Christmas feeding pump bag |
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| Jilli and daddy cuddling Christmas morning |
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| Off to get her stocking |
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| looking at her new princesses |
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| train tracks! |
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| Brent opening gifts |
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| playing with her princesses (they are really cool!) |
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| A puzzle to work on fine motor skills |
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| Seth opening gifts |
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| Jillian opening her new blanket that she has already taken to sleeping with |
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| Her cute Christmas outfit |
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| Opening gifts is best in a crown! |
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| Frozen books! |
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| Christmas nap on mommy |
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| The upton Family |
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| Jillian in the new stroller |
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| She made Brent push her around the house |
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| Playdough with Bumpa |
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| In a box |
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| Playing Ticket to Ride |
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| Jillian got new feeding tube belts from Kangrootique |
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| stickers at Olive Garden |
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| playing board games with Uncle Todd |
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| Playing Santa's house with daddy |
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| Her new Frog game from the Patel Family |
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| She got the Incredables! |
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| Uncle Todd with the frog eyes on |
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| Aunt Sandi pushing Jillian in her box "car" |
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| Coloring! |
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| Uncle Jason showing Jillian Emerson |
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| baby Emerson |
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| Jillian holding Emerson |
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| Jillian at Therapy |
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| They brought snow inside for Jillian to play in since her lungs dont handle being outside in the snow |
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| belly work out! |
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| Jillian and her awesome PT! |
