Hilmans (mainly Emily's) life

New blog!!

2011-07-18T16:25:00.002-05:00

Since Payton' birthday there has been lots of craziness in the Hilman world...so there is lots to blog about! That post will be coming later though....this one is just to announce the new blog www.hilmanfamilyadventures.blogspot.com. I decided after P was born that it would make more sense to combine Emily and Payton's blog into one, since most of our adventures would be done together, and sadly it has only taken me 7weeks to figure out how to make that happen! Well here it is...and the next post..hopefully soon...will have everything that has kept me from figuring that out :) via pictures...lots and lots of pictures!

Emily's new role!

2011-05-27T08:12:00.002-05:00

Emily took on a new role this week....the role of big sister...and after watching her, I am pretty sure she was made for it! Her little sister, Payton Charlotte, was born on Wednesday, May 25 (more details over here-www.asiblingforem.blogspot.com). Emily came to visit Weds. night and during the day Thursday. She loves to hold her little sister, and cover her with blankets, but her most favorite thing is to try and give her the binkie. Anytime Payton moves, or makes a noise, Emily is immediately hunting for the binkie to make it all better for her.
While they were here yesterday the hosptial photographer came to take pictures. They put baby in a basket naked and just cover them with a white sheet. Well, Emily was just insistant that Payton was going to be cold and tried repeatedly to cover her again and again. It was cute, but I am sure slightly frustrating for the poor photgrapher.
Emily also helped gma change a diaper yesterday. She was quite the helper, getting out the diaper and wipes, and of course, trying to give Payton her binkie when she cried.
She very much does not like Payton crying, and wants to make it all better for her. It will be interesting to see how this plays out when we get home. Hopefully things will continue to go as well as they did at the hospital and Emily and Payton can grow into bestest of friends.

Here is a pic from the prof. photographer. Chuck added the words with all of his photo editing savyness.

Zoo!!

2011-04-09T19:54:00.003-05:00

Last weekend it was finally warm enough to take Em to the zoo! All winter long, whenever we have driven by the zoo she asks if it is warm enough to go see the animals. When I tell her no she will tell me, "animals sleeping inside to keep warm". So she was very excited that it was warm enough and the animals would be out. As soon as we got there we had to ride the train, I am pretty sure it is her favorite part of the day. We got there close to closing time, so after the train we hit the highlights (elephants, giraffes, and big cats) and picked up some other animals along the way. She was especially fascinated by the goats this trip and spent about 5 minutes looking at them and talking to them. Here are some pics from our day! And a bonus I found when getting the zoo pictures--Emily doing the chicken dance--you just have to smile :)

Our own personal highway clean-up crew

2011-04-05T18:54:00.002-05:00

Emily decided that she and Grandma needed to go for a walk this morning. They got out the door and headed up the hill of 1200E for a change of scenery. Shortly after going around the corner Emily sees a bottle in the grass. She picks it up and tell gma, "garbage, you carry it". So gma takes the bottle and they continue on their way. A few more steps and another bottle. Em picks it up and repeats "garbage, you carry it". Gma realizes where this is going so she tells Emily that they don't have a garbage bag, but if they leave the garbage by the side of the road they can pick it up on another walk. So Emily very carefully continues down the ditch, picking up all of the garbage and placing it on the side of the road. Once they get to the top of the hill gma decides to see if she can find a garbage bag. She finds a house with someone home, rings the doorbell, and explains to the lady that her granddaughter would like to pick up garbage, but doesn't have a garbage bag to put it in. The very nice lady gives them a bag, and back down the road they go. By the time they get to the house the garbage bag is overflowing!! Em and gma put it in the trash can, just in time to see the garbage truck come to empty it!
She was quite the proud little girl :) I'm guessing this story can be attributed to wonderful training by gpa....he is known for picking up trash when he sees it. Now he has a helper :)

Big Sister!

2011-03-22T10:55:00.003-05:00

Last night we took Em to the big sibling class our hospital offers. Of the 5 kids there, Emily was the youngest by several years, so I was a little concerned with how she would do, but she did great! They had a baby doll that the kids go to practice holding and changing the diaper on, we got to tour the floor and they learned about how the baby grows in mommy's belly. I'm not sure how much Em learned about baby growing, but she sat front and center and listened to the whole thing...so maybe she absorbed something in there? She loved the baby doll part....she was pretty much a pro at holding and changing diapers :) And made herself quite at home on the tour of the rooms. When we left we talked about how her new baby sister would come from the hospital and she seemed pretty good with it...we will see come May how that actually plays out :)

She also told Martha and I that she will feed the baby cheeseburgers when she comes :)

Here are some pictures from our class....

Emily's 3rd ER visit in 3 years...

2011-02-27T18:13:00.005-06:00

We seem to be averaging out to 1/year, although trips 1 and 2 occurred in the same night, just different hospitals. Oddly enough, all 3 have been to ER's that are far away from our house (like hours and hours).

This weekend was YAR, which is a big youth retreat we take our kids to every year. Chuck and I are part of the leadership team and this year I decided to take a personal day so we could go down and help get ready on Friday. Friday afternoon Em and I were getting ready to go from one building to another so I went into a side room to grab our coats. Em came running towards me as I was holding open the door, and as she typically does, got to running to fast and fell forward. Unfortunately this time, she broke her fall with the edge of the door and her head. I quick scooped her up and went to find Chuck. At this point I was thinking it was a "simple" goose egg to the forward and a very scared little girl. Once I found Chuck we pulled her off my shoulder to exam her face and were shocked to see it covered in blood! We had no idea where the blood was coming from so we started to wipe it off and discovered a decent size gash on her forehead. By this point Gma Peggy had come in and immediately took charge (cause she is amazing like that!) She took Em to the sink and ran her hands under cold water (apparently this calms children down...who knew?), so we could better exam her forehead. Upon further examination Peggy says "if it were my child, I would take her to the ER". Umm...you don't have to qualify that Peggy..if you say take her, we will take her, no questions asked. I see in Chuck's brain he is trying to figure out how he is going to get everything done that he needs to have ready for the night session, fortunately our friend Susie also notices this and offers to go with me. It's a good thing she did...I'm not sure I could have done the ER trip on my own.

We get to the ER and upon seeing Em's bleeding forehead they quickly get us checked in and into a room. It isn't too much longer the dr. comes in to exam her. He seemed to be a good dr. but definitely not a pediatric specialist! He says definitely stitches, as well as x-rays to rule out whiplash. We wait about 30-45 min. for the xray tech during which Em falls asleep, since all this drama occurred very close to nap time. We wheel her to the xray room and Susie graciously agrees to stay with her, since I couldn't. Susie and the 2 techs do a fabulous job of getting Em calm and cooperative in a very scary place for a 3 year old.
We head back to the room and are told it will probably be 15-20 min. because the x-rays have to be sent to Springfield to be read. Finally the dr. comes back in and is ready to do the stitches. It takes a nurse, Susie and I to hold her, and there is lots of screaming from one unhappy little girl. After 4 stitches the dr. says we are good to go, and tells the nurse to stick some neosporin and a band-aid on it before sending us on our way. I am pretty sure they had to go to the store to buy the band-aids, because this seemed to take way longer than it should have. But finally the nurse comes back. She also brings steri-strip with her, and asks "are you planning on taking the stitches out yourself?" Ummm....no!?! Apparently the dr. somehow got the impression we would be....nope..definitely taking her back to a dr. for that procedure!
Once Em gets her band-aid it is off to Dairy Queen for some ice cream to make everything all better! By the next morning you wouldn't have any idea Em had stitches in her forehead the way she is bouncing around! We go to Dr. Petre on Weds. for a follow-up and hopefully to remove the stitches.

Here are some pictures of our excitement--

Waiting in the ER...not a happy girl!

Several hours later back at camp sporting a pink bandaid!

The next day sans band-aid...our happy girl is back!

Emily is 3!

2011-02-21T16:32:00.006-06:00

Emily's 3rd birthday was a couple of weeks ago...I can't believe my big girl is growing up! We celebrated with a family birthday party and had a great time with Hilman's and Leader's! Some of the presents she got were legos ( a new fav. in our house!), clothes, books, car seats (not fun..but very practical and needed!) a zany zoo toy, and some glow in the dark bracelets. Some highlights of where Em is at now at 3 (more for my benefit 3 years from now when Ninja is this age and I want to compare..sorry if they are boring)

**potty training--Em will sit on the potty willingly. She will go potty quite regularly and loves "going" with someone. She will sit on her potty while mommy or gma sits on the big potty. She is still unphased by a dirty diaper though, and has never once asked to go potty on her own. Dr. thinks we are well on our way though, and thinks she will be there within 6 months.

**talking--Em is talking up a storm! I can't believe just a year ago she wasn't talking at all. She asks for what she wants, tells us stories, and even talks on the phone.

**favorites--Some of Em's current favorites--books, going to the fitness center to play (and guilting mommy into working out), helping cook and take care of the animals, doing things herself (her fav. phrase-"me, do it!"), and tickles on the big bed with daddy (which are really more like tumbling!).

**eating-Em pretty much will eat anything. Meat is probably her least favorite, but will devour veggies, fruits, pasta and cereal. Milk is still her beverage of choice, although she enjoys juice as well. Again with eating we hear "me do it" alot!

**binky--agg...the dreaded binky! Before her 3rd birthday we spent a lot of time talking about getting rid of the binky and how big girls didn't need binkies. We had been to the dentist and he had told her she needed to get rid of it, and she said regularly "Dr. Tom says no binky!". So the night before her birthday we made a build a bear binky bear, gave a binky to the binky fairy and thought we had it made. She went down for bed willingly, and then fell apart! Every night for the rest of the week she was up after midnight, still getting up at regular times, and not napping. She had only been using the binky to sleep so this was the only time she was bothered. The following Fri. we had her 3 year appt with Dr. Jim, so I asked him about it. He said if it was causing her that much stress and anxiety to let her have it, as long as it was only for sleeping. I almost hugged him! So we are still using the binky for now...maybe we'll tackle it again later....maybe she'll take it to college!

So that's where she is at...and as a reward for making it this far..some pictures from her birthday party!

2011 Blizzard!

2011-02-02T17:10:00.003-06:00

The 2011 Blizzard hit last night and dumped a mere 16 inches of snow on us...as well as lots of wind...which left some fabulous drifts. Here's a few pics of our driveway and Em enjoying it!

Emily's new room!

2011-01-17T14:08:00.002-06:00

Emily moved into a new room over Christmas break...we painted and bought all new furniture for her. She loves her new room and will play for hours in it. I finally got around to getting it clean enough that I could take pictures to share.

Sledding!

2011-01-17T13:54:00.003-06:00

Em went sledding for the 1st time over Christmas break..and LOVED it! Chuck made this little video to show some of the highlights...it is one of my favorite Emily videos...she also loves watching it and will ask for it repeatedly when she sees a computer.

Artwork

2011-01-08T17:04:00.003-06:00

I haven't posted an artwork post in a while and decided over Christmas break it was time to start clearing out some of the artwork--so here is a sampling of the art Emily has been creating.

Lots of pictures

2011-01-08T16:45:00.005-06:00

Emily had a very busy 2 weeks of Christmas break....here is just a sampling of the pictures from our time home!
She decided one day to "play school" with her animals and dolls.

Naptime

Storytime

Art time-notice all of the animals have paper and crayons!

This was the Christmas dress Emily's Nai and Gramma made for her and bay doll this year. This is very possibly one of my new favorite Emily pictures.

And of course--opening presents. This is the 1st year Emily has really gotten into present opening. Her big present from us was her new bedroom set (pictures someday soon) and because of snow our travel plans changed, so she only had 4 presents under the tree Christmas morning. This was probably a good thing--because she got 3 opened and declared she was done. We left her 4th present, knowing we'd be doing more later that day any way, and sure enough, later on she was more than happy to open it. From us she got her bedroom set, some games (Cooties and Hi-Ho Cherri-os), a Dora bed tent and some books. Mar and Nick got her an art easel and an elephant pillow pet and Papa and Gramma got her a book and a tractor. From the Hilman side she got some clothes, a bowling set, a Dora power wheels, a portable dvd player and videos, a Dora snuggie and some other stuff I can't remember off the top of my head. Overall she got everything she wanted and then some! We still have Kingma family Christmas to look forward to in Feb.

This is a picture of Em helping Daddy paint her new room....she was very proud of herself and loves her new room!

Emily stories

2010-12-11T07:33:00.003-06:00

Emily has had some good stories lately, so I figured I would put them here so we can remember them 15 years from now.
Driving home from preschool on Weds.
Mom-Emily we are on our way home now. Emily-No home, mommy, no home Mom-Where do you want to go Emily, if we don't go home?? Emily-The circus!

Also driving home on Weds.
Emily-Jumping on the slide! Mom-Did you jump on the slide today Emily? Emily-Sit in time out! Mom-Did you have to sit in time out for jumping Emily? End of conversation

On Friday I asked her preschool teacher about the time out story, and she said indeed, Emily did have a time out on Weds. for jumping off the slide with another girl. Not surprising as Emily jumps on and off everything in sight. She said Emily took the time out really well until the other girl started crying and then of course she had to cry as well. Silly girl.

And now an Emily video. This is her "reading" her David Goes to School book. She has memorized the book and recites it practically word for word. I have been trying for months to get in on video and finally succeeded in getting most of it.

Emily's latest "thing"

2010-12-01T20:24:00.002-06:00

Emily has come up with a new "thing" that I'm not sure I'm entirely thrilled by, but not sure how to end. Ever since she has gotten her big girl bed, she has always played before going to bed. This has never been an issue, she plays for a little while then puts herself back to bed. Well just recently she has discovered that she is tall enough to turn the light back on after we leave. This seems to be leading to longer and longer playing time. A minor issue, but it seems as though 2 or 3 times of us turning the light off again and she gives in. Except for the last 2 nights. Monday night I stayed up later than usual (9:30..crazy/wild I know!) and as I was going to bed we peeked in on Em, her light was still on. She was in bed however, approaching sleep, STARK NAKED!!! As in no p.j.s, no diaper, nothing! So we put her jammies back on, much to her protest, put her back to bed and move on. Tuesday night, I fall asleep on the couch and it is after 10 when I go to bed, only to find Emily sound asleep STARK NAKED again! So apparently she likes sleeping in the nude, however it is winter time, and I am a cheapskate, and the heat drops down to 60 at night...definitely not warm enough to be sleeping in the nude! I suppose we will see what tonight brings!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-25T07:13:00.002-06:00

A blog that I read regularly has suggested the challenge of listing 50 things we are thankful for this year--I thought it would be a great way to start our Thanksgiving before the chaos of cooking and travel begin so here goes-
1-A God who loves me despite my flaws
2-Our friends who love and support us in countless ways!
3-Our house
4-The furnace that is blowing out heat right now
5-A full refrigerator
6-Baskets of laundry to fold which means we have lots of clothes to wear
7-Winter coats to keep us warm
8-Jobs for both Chuck and I that provide paychecks to pay the bills as well as personal fulfillment
9-A classroom full of students that come to school excited to learn
10-Toys all over my living room floor
11-Modern medical science that put ninja in me to grow into our new baby
12-Money to buy our wants as well as our needs
13-A car to take us to visit family today
14-A safe community to live in
15-Wonderful neighbors
16-Freedom to post this
17-Running water
18-Technology that allows me to be all over the world
19-Our health
20-A husband who loves me and would do anything for me
21-A daughter who is simply amazing
22-Parents who support everything I do
23-Siblings who are friends as well
24-In laws who I consider family and friends
25-Extended family who are awesome
26-The library and the fact that Emily loves it so much she cried when we couldn't stop there yesterday
27-a fitness center membership that allows me to walk even when it is bitterly cold outside
28-all of the military that are having to spend Thanksgiving away from their families so we can feel safe and secure
29-all of the people that support the military, and allow us opportunities to show our support as well
30-the drs. that keep us healthy
31-the blogs and message boards that I read, and the support they provide without even knowing it
32-the struggles in our life that remind us to count our many blessings
33-My pets who provide unconditional love
34-My education--as much as I hate doing homework I know it is such a privilege to be able to continue to learn
35-A warm bed to sleep in
36-Feeling safe and secure in my house
37-A preschool that Emily loves going to
38-Parents who give of their time to take care of Emily and provide her opportunities
39-Music
40-Comfortable furniture in our house
41-Indoor plumbing
42-Health insurance that affords us the opportunity to stay healthy without major financial concern
43-My 5 senses and the fact that all of them work
44-The opportunities I am given to serve others
45-Yummy smells that tell me I will have lots of good food to eat today
46-Sunshine
47-Cloudy days that remind me to appreciate the sunshine
48-For the baby growing inside me
49-Technology that will allow me to talk to family in 3 different states today, even though we can't be together
50-Milk...it keeps my girl happy all the time!

Your turn...can you list 50 things you are thankful for today??

Capturing the perfect moment...

2010-11-24T17:11:00.004-06:00

With Thanksgiving tomorrow, it is time to start "thinking about" Christmas cards. For those of you know me well, you know that I have a tendency to not actually get cards sent out until the week after Christmas, but this year is going to be different, thanks to an awesome promotion from Shutterfly. I am going to be on the ball and mail them out before Christmas actually comes, and maybe even in time for you to enjoy them before Christmas :)
Ever since we have had Emily, the big question is what kind of design to use for the card? Prior to Em it was just Chuck and I, and I went to Hallmark, bought a box of cards and sent them. But now with Em, we like to share a picture or 2 for those that don't get to see her as often as they would like. Well, Shutterfly makes that easy :) All we do is pick a design, upload a picture, and tada...a Christmas card is done. So, now we have to pick a design....here are some contenders...any opinions?

http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/cards-stationery/woodblock-joy-christmas-card-5x7-flat?sortType=1&fa=2&storeNode=93476&fc=1

http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/cards-stationery/snowflake-sprinkles-christmas-card-5x7-flat?sortType=1&fa=2&storeNode=93476&fc=1

http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/cards-stationery/get-glowing-christmas-card-5x7-flat?sortType=1&fa=2&storeNode=93476&fc=1

And then...once we decide on a card, we have the next challenge...capturing the perfect Emily moment to be forever shared on our 2010 cards. Emily has 100s of cute moments every day, the challenge is capturing one of them. She loves to look at her picture, so the minute she sees the camera come out, she wants to look, not be photographed. We are hoping when we set up the tree this weekend, to catch her off guard at some moment and have the perfect picture to share with you all!

Check out more Shutterfly cards and learn how to get 50 free cards here.

Emily's surgery part 2...

2010-11-12T10:34:00.003-06:00

Emily had her 2nd surgery yesterday. It was quite the day for sure. A couple of weeks ago we had a drs. appt with the ENT to check her tubes. Our speech path had mentioned several times she was concerned about her adenoids and tonsils getting in the way of her speech. I had asked at a previous appt and he had said she was too young to do anything about it. I brought it up again at this appt and he said her adenoids were indeed swollen and set up the surgery to take them out.

Overall the day went well. Surgery was fine, once it got started. The hospital was aobut 45 min. behind schedule because they had an emergency. Em had been no food or drink since 8 the night before and was not very happy about the wait. Our room was right by the nurses station and she walked out multiple times and told the nurses "ready". Fortunately Pastor Lou stopped by to visit so that filled some time and they had a wide assortment of magazines Emily enjoyed reading.

The dr. took the adenoids and then had said he wanted to check her tubes that he had put in July 09 to make sure they were ok. When he checked the tubes he said she had a significant amount of wax buildup (this is nothing new and is what they tell us every time we get her ears checked). Since she was under anesthesia it was much easier to clean them out. He cleaned them out and discovered the tube in the left hear was smashed up against the ear drum, and the tube in the right ear was out in the ear canal, so neither where they belonged! He took the old out and put new in.

She did great in recovery, they said she didn't cry at all, but was rubbing her face, to the point she has scratches on it now. They bought her out to us, and she immediately fell back asleep on me. She slept for about 1/2 hour and then they said we needed her to drink something before we could go home. This is where things got difficult. She flat out refused to drink anything. We had juice, milk, popsicles, ice cream, you name it we tried it, and she sobbed hysterically the second you put anything near her lips. About the time the nurse said she was going to call the dr. to see if he would just let us go home, she fell asleep again, so we said we'll wait until she wakes up and see how she does. 2 hours later (it's now 3 o'clock!), she wakes up and still refusing to drink. I happened to be eating a banana, she sees it and decides that is what she wants. One bite of banana and she is happy as can be, downs an entire glass of apple juice and is good to go.

She did good once we got home, ate a ton, and vegged on her beanbag chair. She seems back to her happy self this morning, enjoying being a lump on the bean bag chair watching her new Dora movie. The dr. said no school for a week (I had planned on sending her back Monday), but fortunately my mom is free and is going to stay with her next week.

So hopefully the hard part is over and we are on the road to recovery :) Thanks for all the good thoughts and prayers yesterday!

Here are some pictures of our day.....

Picking out stickers before surgery...they had Dora stickers!

Watching some weird cartoon on cartoon network while we waited....

Sleeping on mommy after coming out...

Looking very grumpy after waking up the 1st time....

The car ride home...this was banana #2 because banana #1 wasn't enough!

Fall Happenings...

2010-10-23T10:13:00.004-05:00

We have been busy, busy this fall...enjoying the amazing weather that has come with it! We have been fortunate to have beautiful weekends to go out and play and have all sorts of adventures. We have been to the pumpkin patch...Em loved pretty much every minute of it. Her favorite was the cow train, she also thoroughly enjoyed getting lost in the corn maze and looking for the perfect pumpkin in the patch.

Gma took Em on a walk by the canal, the highlight of this trip was throwing walnuts into the water and watching them splash. They ended up walking over 2 miles and Em was not even close to ready to being done!!

Last weekend we spent at Lake Williamson at YAR (Youth Annual Retreat) with loads of jr. high kiddos. Em loves every minute of this, hanging out with the big kids, running around outside and seeing all of our friends we don't see often enough! She also spent a good chunk of time playing with Ben and Jack, the other 2 small people that were there. Her and Ben thought "I get you" was by far the best game in the world!

Next weekend we are headed to St. Louis to see Martha and Nick. The big girls are spending Sat. wedding dress shopping, Em will get to hang out with Papa for the day, which I am sure will be great fun!

And now...the pictures--

Our annual trip to Ohio....

2010-09-08T13:51:00.004-05:00

This weekend was our annual trip to Ohio--we bumped dates a little bit so Martha's fiance Nick could join us and of course had a great time! This was Em's 3rd trip to Ohio--her previous trips were blogged about here-http://emilyannslife.blogspot.com/2008/10/ems-1st-trip-to-ohio.html
and here-http://emilyannslife.blogspot.com/2009/10/our-next-adventure.html

This year's trip included wedding dress shopping for Martha as well as a trip to the Renaissance Festival again. Emily got to stay with the boys while the girls went shopping....2 year olds and wedding dresses a good match do not make. So Em watched football and played video games and we went shopping! We had a great time and found some good possibilities for Martha.

Sunday we headed to the Renaissance Festival. As usual the highlight is people watching--there was definitely a lot of that. As we started walking through the shops Em saw a carousel that she decided she wanted to go on. I wasn't really keen on paying the $3 just for her to go around in circles, and saw through the trees camel rides, so I told her we would do that instead. As we made our way through the Festival and around to the camels Em was very insistent about getting there! We finally made it and of course discovered a line. Fortunately it was moving pretty quickly--and in no time Em and Chuck were on their 1st camel ride! She was on cloud 9 and thought it was the most exciting thing she had done in a long time!

Back to school...

2010-08-24T20:50:00.002-05:00

We are officially back to school and back into our school routine this week. That means Em is in a different place every day and loving every minute of it (well except for the get up at 6:30 to go to school on Mon. and Fri!). Yesterday was her 1st day back at preschool and she apparently never missed a beat. Here is the note her teacher left for me.
Emily had a great first day back! It was like she did not leave for the summer. We had a new Pooh Bear (her class) start today so we painted and played and read stories. We will start all of our class activities in a few days when everyone is settled. She had a great lunch (as usual)
As much as I hate leaving her every day I love the fact that she loves how she spends her days! Mon and Fri are at Kids and Co with Miss Deb, Tues are with Gramma, Weds are with Miss Tanahya and baby Molly (and possibly Brennan) and Thurs are with Papa. The girl has a lot of love coming to her from lots of different people and we really couldn't ask for a better arrangement!

Some pictures of our summer...

2010-08-18T20:06:00.002-05:00

It is hard to believe that tomorrow is the start of the school year! Here is a small sampling of some of our summer adventures 1st in pictures--

Click here to view these pictures larger

Emily has been very busy this summer. Here most favorite activity by far has been swimming. She loves anything swimming related, slides, jumping, splashing, all of it. She has no fear and no problems going under water.
We've also spent a lot of time this summer hanging out with the high school girls from church. We had Bible study and book club at our house so the girls were here quite a bit and Em loved every minute of it!
We took a quick weekend trip to St. Louis to visit Martha and Nick--it was ridiculously hot that weekend, so we spent a lot of time in air conditioning, but we did venture out for a few hours to go to Grant's Farm which overall was a great time, except for the tram ride, when Em decided about 3/4 of the way that she was done, and repeatedly tried to tell us "all done".
Some of Em's current favorites--
roni's and hot dogs
noodles
jumping off high things and landing on soft things
running down the hill in the front yard
playing wii
repeating EVERYTHING anybody says
the phrases "I do it" and "watch Emily" (which is usually followed by some dangerous stunt)
Dora and Diego and talking in Spanish
cookies and milk with Daddy

New bed??

2010-07-06T19:10:00.003-05:00

Apparently the new bed isn't the hit we thought it would be....last night and naptime today were both spent here--

VBS Songs...

2010-07-04T14:54:00.002-05:00

Emily spent the last week at VBS--she is still in the nursery, but this year all of the kids in the nursery were old enough to participate in parts of VBS, so we did music with the 4 and 5 year olds. I'm pretty sure this was Emily's favorite part--she seemed to love the songs, and of course loves singing and dancing! Here is some video of her dancing from the program this morning. We started out at the back of the sanctuary, by the end of the program she was up front and center with the big kids having a blast!!

Happy 4th of July!

2010-07-04T14:41:00.003-05:00

We spent last night with some friends who had an awesome view of the Geneseo Fireworks. Emily had a fabulous time hanging with all the big girls, she spent the majority of the time jumping on the the trampoline, I think that may be her new favorite toy. After it got dark we did sparklers--Emily was fascinated by them, but refused to hold one (probably a good thing!). We then cuddled up to watch the fireworks. She thought they were "awesome, cool, pretty, loud and boom" (all her words). She was happy as could be watching them, as long as she was safe and secure on mommy or daddy's lap!

Emily's new trick

2010-06-29T22:00:00.002-05:00

This afternoon was a typical afternoon. Em went down for her nap around 1, around 4ish I heard her stirring and thought she will be up soon. Her diapers were still outside drying and I wanted to get them in before getting her, so I went out, collected them and came back in. As I walked into the living room, here comes Em walking down the hallway! I asked her, "Em what are you doing" She replied, "nap done". I took her back into her room and put her in her crib and asked her to show me how she got out. This is what she did.

So clearly it was time to retire the crib and go to a big girl bed. Our original plan was to convert her crib to a toddler day bed, but after looking at bed railings to keep her in, we decided it would be just as easy to put her in the twin bed that was in our spare room. As we took apart her crib, she kept asking, bed?? bed?? And I told her we were putting the crib away and getting a big girl bed, and her response every time, "no".
But once we got the big girl bed in, it was a whole new story. She and I had gone to Target and picked out a comforter and new sheets, and she was happy as can be.

She seemed to go down willingly and has been quiet for over 45 min now, so here is hoping that this transition is as easy as it seems!!

Summertime!!

2010-06-19T20:25:00.002-05:00

It's been 2 weeks since I finished school and we seem to be busier than ever! Our 1st summer activity was signing up for the summer reading program at the library. I figured since Em loves reading it was the logical thing to do!
We then spent a week at church camp with the big kids and had a great time! Em loves hanging with the high schoolers, and they seem to love hanging with her. She went swimming multiple times, rock climbing, and puddle jumping among other things. She also learned some new dance moves! I'm pretty sure we have video, I'll have to see if Chuck can get it posted.
We're also continuing our speech lessons, at least for a little while longer. I think they may end up ending the services sooner than planned because she is doing so well with her talking! Some of her favorite phrases are "I do it" and "I get you". She is also counting in both English and Spanish! (thanks Dora!)
A funny talking story that happened today. We were at DQ after camp and she was running around jumping with everyone, and kept saying a word that sounded like santa. We were all confused and couldn't figure out what she was trying to say. When we got home we were watching Dora and discovered the spanish word for jump is "salta". Our 2 year old is smarter than us!
We also love playing outside, Emily has a slide, swimming pool, and water table that are her favorite activities. She is also still a big fan of the swing. We've taken a few walks to the park in town to play as well.
Hopefully I will get a picture post up soon...we have lots of pictures, they are all just sitting on the camera waiting to be uploaded. I am sure we will have lots more summer fun to share!

Busy, busy...

2010-05-16T17:11:00.003-05:00

Lots has happened since our last post--most importantly, my laptop crashed and therefore my picture organization has fallen apart. We have pictures on both of Chuck's laptops, on the camera and who knows where else, so it makes it hard for me to get them posted. So for now we'll just do a quick recap, with pictures to come later.
March--We celebrated Easter with Gpa and Gma Leader and Uncle E. The day before we went to an Easter Egg hunt at the nursing home and then to the park to play. It was a great day for both and had lots of fun.
April-In early April Emily ran her 1st "race" at the St. Louis Marathon. She completed the 50 yd. dash, and even passed a couple of kids. She got a medal and everything. The next day Aunt Martha, Nick and I ran the 1/2 marathon...we didn't do quite as well as Emily, but still had fun.
May--In May, Emily finally started receiving speech services--she was originally tested in Nov. and didn't quite qualify--when she tested again in Feb. she qualified due to her lack of 2 word phrases and unintelligibly (did I make that word up??) She's had one session so far and is already making great progress! Her 1st phrase has been "I get you" she loves to say it when jumping on daddy's back :) We also finished up another semester of Kindermusik--she continues to love Miss Adrienne and playing with all of the other kids there.

I think that is it for now-we are looking forward to summer with camp and 2 VBS's and music class and hopefully some swim lessons thrown in there--it should be a great time!

Spring has sprung!

2010-03-27T15:32:00.004-05:00

It seems as though spring is just around the corner and we are definitely enjoying the warmer temperatures! Emily's swing is hanging back up and she is constantly going to the door and asking out? out? Once she is out it usually takes a bribe of a bath or Diego time to get her back in. She has recently discovered how to open doors, so we are keeping all doors to the outside locked now, to keep her in!

She has continued to enjoy going to story time at the library with Papa (see artwork below). This weekend Mama and Papa Hilman came to visit and we went to the Children's Museum and had a wonderful time (more pictures below).

We are back in the midst of a speech eval. This time it seems as though she will qualify to receive some services due to her noninterest in speaking understandable English. She loves to talk and throws in some English, but likes her Emilyisms quite a bit still. On the flip side, the children's therapist evaluator said her gross motor skills are definitely not lacking, some of her favorite activities are jumping off of things and climbing. Wrestling with daddy is also way up there! Reading books continues to be a favorite activity, Mama and Papa H. just bought her a pop-up tent that I'm sure she will spend many hours hiding in with her books. She refuses to go to bed without a book and will often be heard reading her stories to doggy before falling asleep.

And now--the pictures--

These are both pieces of art created with Papa's help at story time. Emily enjoys coloring with the markers the best, and makes papa do a lot of the other work!

These were all at the Children's Museum. Emily had a wonderful time playing and painting!

This is just a very random picture, it was the 1st time Emily drank out of a milk carton--such a big girl!

Emily's 2 year appt

2010-02-02T20:31:00.002-06:00

Emily had her 2 year appt. today at the dr--the big "surprise" of the day--double ear infection! Antibiotics and ear drops for the next week.
In other information-28lbs and 34 inches tall, so growing but still a peanut! She still loves her baby food veggies, which I'm still convinced she'll be taking to school in her lunches. He had us start her on Vitamin D to hopefully boost her immune system and get rid of the winter yuckies we've had. He did comment that she has great speech skills--just that we can't understand any of what she is saying. I'm still on the fence whether to have that checked again, we'll see.
Other than that a pretty boring appointment, no shots which is always a bonus!

Welcome baby Shea!

2010-01-30T14:10:00.002-06:00

Last week our dear friends Andy and Mattie welcomed their first baby into the world--Shealynn Michelle--we were very excited to go visit them, but worried Emily wouldn't be able to join us because of hospital policies. Luckily nobody seemed concerned and Emily got to meet baby Shea with us! She was a little leary at first but warmed up very quickly and enjoyed giving Shea kisses and making sure she had her stuffed animals at all times!

Emily's artistic side

2010-01-30T14:00:00.004-06:00

Emily started preschool in Dec. and with that has discovered an artistic side that Chuck and I aren't really great at fostering--it's a good thing she has Uncle E in her life! Here is a sample of her artwork thus far!

This one was done with Papa at story time at the library--hopefully a new weekly activity for them!

Happy 2nd Birthday Emily!

2010-01-30T13:35:00.002-06:00

Emily turned 2 yesterday! We celebrated with family a couple of weeks ago and had a great time! Both sides of the family were here, Great-Gpa and Gma Hilman, Great-Gma G, and Great-Gpa and Gma Kingma were here, as well as Gpa-Gma Leader, and Gpa Hilman. Aunt Kathy, Garrett, Aunt Martha and Uncle Ethan, Great-Aunts and Uncles--Hildy, Dave, Sissy, Doug and Karen, Myrna, Lyle, Ted and Rich and Cousins, Jenna, Lilia and Garrett all came! (I think that was everybody!) Our house was packed but everyone seemed to have a good time--here are some of the pictures from the day!

Where has time gone?

2009-12-30T20:16:00.005-06:00

Life has been busy here in the Hilman household....in November we went to Gpa and Gma Kingma's for Thanksgiving. After thanksgiving we were supposed to go to the State High School football game, but Em had a fever so instead we headed to Gabe and Sarah Beth's for the night before going to a funeral. Sat. morning everything seemed fine, so we figured it was a teething fever.
Monday she went to her 1st day of preschool at Kids and Company (which she loves by the way!) At about 2:30 I got a call at school saying she had had a great day, but had a rash that had been quickly spreading all day long. I call the dr. and they agree to see her that afternoon. Diagnosis--Fifth Disease--starts out with a fever, then a very tell-tale rash a few days later. Completely harmless at that point.

December has been lots of Christmases (with more to come). On Dec. 12th we celebrated Christmas with the Hilman side of the family---

Hanging out with cousin Garrett and the doggie that cousin Allen got...it's almost as big as Emily! At Hilman family Christmas Emily also got a kitchen that took lots of people a long time to put together, but well worth it. She also got a Leap Frog tag jr. reading system that is way cool! And of course lots of clothes...a girl can never have too many clothes!

Christmas Eve Gpa and Gma Leader, Uncle E and Aunt Mar came over for dinner, church and we opened presents with them---

This is the dress Great Gma Kingma and Gma Leader made for Emily and dolly to wear for church

Opening presents with Gpa....Gpa and Gma Leader gave Emily an OSU sweatshirt, a new bookshelf, and a stool (that serves as a side table to the Elmo couch).

Christmas morning we opened presents from Santa and from us--

Christmas morning in new pajamas and Elmo slippers!

Lounging in the Elmo couch Santa brought...this is definitely a favorite present of the year! Santa also brought some new books.

Showing off some of the new clothes

Lounging with the puppies

Emily very quickly figured out the present opening gig--the only problem was she wanted to stop and play with each toy--present opening easily could have turned into a several hour project.

During Christmas week Em developed a snotty nose and cough, Sunday after Christmas a fever. I kept her home from school Monday and we went to the dr. to find out she had an ear infection and and bronchitis, so we have an oral antibiotic an oral steroid and a neubulizer treatment (that Em hates) that we get to do for a week. Because she hasn't been feeling good, she also hasn't been sleeping...most nights she is up at least once if not 2 or 3 times. We are hoping that it is just the sickness and nothing else causing this!

This weekend we are going back to Indiana for Christmas with the Kingma's. We will be cheering on OSU in the Rose Bowl and hopefully making a trip into Chicago to go to the aquarium and get Lou Molnoti's pizza.

Growing Up...

2009-11-22T12:23:00.001-06:00

Em reached another milestone this week.....we turned her car seat to forward facing! It's such a little thing, but just one more step in her growing up....she loves it being able to see us and talk to us while we're going somewhere, and we love it because we can actually adjust her carseat without fighting the straps every time!

Long overdue--

2009-11-10T19:53:00.003-06:00

Emily's Halloween pictures--this was her first year trick or treating, and we were lucky enough to be in Cincinatti for Chuck's work convention for the weekend. So Aunt Jennifer took us trick or treating--Em loved it, figured it out very quickly, and also figured out that if she did "Go Buck's" she would get more candy...

The last picture was our last night in Cincy-Em figured out how to drink out of a straw and was absolutely thrilled with herself!

Our next adventure

2009-10-20T19:55:00.004-05:00

Our next adventure was going to Ohio for the weekend. We had a great time going to the pumpkin patch/apple orchard on Sat. and then the Renaissance Festival on Sunday. And of course hanging out at Mike and Jen's!

We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo....

2009-10-20T19:41:00.003-05:00

It's clearly been a while since I've updated, much less with pictures, so here goes. The first post is going to be of our many trips to the zoo this summer, there were several!

It has been a while

2009-09-25T17:35:00.002-05:00

School has started and life has gotten busy again! Emily has learned 2 new tricks this week that I wanted to share before I forget how fun they are. She has learned how to put silverware from the dishwasher into the correct drawer. While this was very cute to begin with, it is turning into a problem as well. Because, not only does she put the clean silverware in the drawer, she also puts dirty silverware in, as well as anything else you ask her to put away, including an empty yogurt container, sippy cup lids, a pan lid, etc. So opening the silverware drawer is always a surprise now!
Her other new trick is to ask for a cracker, show Keeno the cracker, and then run around the house with the cracker so that Keeno will chase her. She enjoys this very much and laughs hysterically the whole time! It's really great fun, until Keeno catches her and takes her cracker.
We go to Dr. J on Thursday to check on speech, it's still not progressing like I would like it to, but we'll see what he says. We'll update after her appt. with any news!

Summer in Review

2009-08-01T09:28:00.004-05:00

Our summer is finally winding down and boy has it been a busy one--here's a quick recap, complete with pics-

June-
In June we went to camp (see previous post) then came home for VBS. Unfortunately Em had a fever, so she missed 2 days of VBS.
The following week we sent Chuck on a mission trip to Minnesota and had a week of Mommy and me time.
In July we traveled, traveled, traveled! First we went to Wisconsin to spend a night with Chuck's parents, sister and the kids.
Later that week Em had ear tubes put in--she took them like a trooper and so far no problems!
The next weekend we went to Indiana and spent several days with Nai and Pop, Uncle Mike, Aunt Jennifer, Aunt Martha, Uncle Ethan and lots of other Kingmas. We spent lots of time on the beach and a day in Chicago (our first train ride). It was on this trip Em learned "Go Bucks!"
We came home for just a few days before heading back to Living Springs for family camp.
Our final travel weekend of July took us to Aunt Martha's in Missouri.

All we have left for the summer is a quick trip to Aunt Kathy's and then an overnight to Springfield!

And now....pictures!

Preparing for surgery (a very hungry and tired baby)

Go Bucks!!

Riding the train to Chicago-

Hanging with cousin Camden--

Playing on the beach--LOVED the water!!

18 months

2009-08-01T09:01:00.003-05:00

Em celebrated her 18 month birthday this week, with a drs. appt! Luckily it was a well-baby check, so she was feeling good, no sickness here! The dr. checked everything over, and gave her a clean bill of health! We are still concerned about her speech, so he is going to see her back in 2 months and if she's still not talking then he will refer us to therapy. She got 2 shots, and goes back in two weeks for her last shot until she is 4! Yippee!
At 18 months--here's a snapshot of Em-

**Climbing and into everything! Loves to rearrange whatever she can get her hands on, pots/pans, tupperware, dvds, toys, it's all fair game.

**She can do stairs like a pro and has even figured out how to do bump by herself.

**Loves watching Jack's Big Music Show and knows that the remote makes that happen, so will request her show by handing you the remote.

**Eats pretty much anything, is still fed primarily by an adult because she likes to feed Keeno when left to her own.

**Knows lots of body parts, will clap when you say yea, will do touchdown when you say touchdown or Go Bucks.

**Has words for cat, dog, milk, and says mama and dada indiscriminantly.

**Can sign, please, more, milk, love and eat.

**Makes squinties and blinky eyes....you just have to see them, there is no way to describe them!

**Sleeps 12 hours most nights and 2-3 hour nap. Is working on phasing out the bink, which she uses only at night and for naps.

Next up--our summer in review!

A day off and new pics....

2009-07-04T18:19:00.003-05:00

Yesterday after having Em all week by myself, since Chuck was on mission trip-2 of the girls from youth group came over and kicked me out of the house for the day. They took care of Em, and made dinner! They tried to clean, but discovered how truly difficult it is to clean with a toddler around. They also took some fabulous pictures.....

Summer Camp

2009-06-28T16:13:00.005-05:00

Emily attended her 3rd Marked Leadership camp a few weeks ago (granted the 1st was still in utero) and had a great time! Not only do the campers love her, but they include her in everything they do....as these pictures are evidence of--

Slip and slide with daddy-

Rock climbing--

Worship--

Swimming in the pool--

In a hard spot....

2009-06-09T20:02:00.002-05:00

For the first time in a while, I am posting with no pictures or Emily updates, just some thoughts to get off my chest. When we started this blog it was shortly after Emily was born, and was a place to record the events leading up to her existence and her ensuing life. And it has served this purpose well. But part of me is torn, and I just really need to get these thoughts out somewhere. We have 2 good couple friends of ours who are struggling with infertility and going through treatments to get pregnant with baby #1. While none of them have ever said anything to us, or ever would, just because they are wonderful people, I feel an incredible sense of guilt at times, that we have Emily, and that even though we went through treatments to get her, our road was much easier than so many others. I know they all love Emily dearly, but I also know that every time we see them, or every time they come to the blog, they are going to be reminded of their pain. I wish I knew the words to say, or how to comfort them, knowing that at times, we bring them pain that no one should feel. My heart breaks, becuase I have been there, and know their pain, but also know I can't take it away, no matter how much I desire to. I wish I had all the answers, but I don't. If any of you are reading this (you know who you are!) please know that it is one of my deepest desires for you to feel the joy that comes with a child and you are in my prayers every single day! And we will totally understand if you need to at times distance from us because of the struggles occuring in your own lives! Love and prayers to you all!

Busy couple of weeks....

2009-05-30T19:12:00.004-05:00

We've had a busy couple of weeks--here's just a quick review--

We spent Memorial Day at Nai and Pop's in Indiana, it was a wonderfully relaxing weekend and got to hang out with lots of family--

Playing with cousin Camden--

My first taste of hot dog at Hot Dog day, definitely didn't like it!

Reading on the couch with papa-

Sleeping on the ride home with Aunt Martha's new puppy Wrigley-

This weekend we drug out the pool that our friends gave us and had a great time in it!

Happy Belated Blasty Day

2009-05-11T18:09:00.003-05:00

Blasty Day was "celebrated" on May 7th....with not much fanfare....but still a day to recognize.

Two years ago today this was "Emily", at that point she was named Blasty--

And on Blasty Day 2 years later---

Our amazing miracle!

2 years!

2009-05-02T21:34:00.002-05:00

Two years ago today, Emily came into existance as a 2-celled organism in a petri dish in Iowa City. On May 2nd, 2007, Chuck and I were in Iowa City for the egg retrival that created Emily. So many memories in the coming days...it seems like it was just yesterday, and watching her today toddling around in the back yard....she is such a miracle! I have a few pictures to mark the occassion, but haven't gotten them onto the computer yet, maybe tomorrow!

Emily's week in review....

2009-04-26T18:43:00.003-05:00

This was actually supposed to post on Sunday-but a small person living in my house turned my computer power strip off, so it never happened, let's try again!
Just a few snapshots from our week--

Emily's first skinned knee--we spent Sat. afternoon playing outside, and she discovered the joy of running down the driveway and down the street...she got running a little too fast and went down..but bounced right back up-seemingly unphased.

Emily's cute green dress reading one of her favorite books....thanks Aunt Martha for both!

Trying to eat spaghetti...because she doesn't need help from mommy and daddy!

As promised...

2009-04-13T16:54:00.009-05:00

Pictures of Easter Weekend..the only thing missing is Em in her Easter dress, which will have to come later, because the picture didn't get taken! Oops :)

Emily at the Easter Egg "hunt" at the zoo...she was perfectly content picking up her 2 eggs and shaking them---

Meeting the Easter Bunny---more intrigued by his big tongue than anything else.

Riding on the train for the first time--great fun!

Getting her 1st haircut from Aunt Cathy--and coloring with the crayons that came in her Easter present from mama and papa....

The results of the 1st haircut--we can see her eyes again!!

Ear Infection #5

2009-04-10T14:27:00.002-05:00

Em has had an on and off snotty nose and cough for about a month...and it had come back Weds. Since I had the day off today, I decided to call and get it checked. I was convinced they would tell me it was just a cold and there wasn't anything we could do about it, but I was wrong. Em has ear infection #5 :( We have another round of antibiotics, if the antibiotics work, we go back in 3 weeks to check and decide if we want to get tubes or not. If it doesn't work, we go back sooner and definitely get tubes. Glad I took her in...not thrilled with the results though! Also thankful that Em is not horribly cranky with this infection, had I not taken her in, at this point we wouldn't have even known it was infected...so at least she is a happy sick baby!
On a happier note, tomorrow Em is going to her 1st Easter Egg hunt at the zoo....be watching for pictures! Also very excited about the Easter dress Aunt Jen bought her :)

New pics....

2009-03-25T17:43:00.006-05:00

As promised here are new pics of our dear Em...she is growing up way too fast!

This is why my house is never clean...in the time it took me to put two small boxes of clothes into a big box...Emily did this to her bedroom....

Emily in her John Deere dress...means spring has arrived!

Emily experiencing grass for the 1st time this spring....not quite sure how to walk on it, but definitely intrigued...

This toy is way more fun upside down.....

And yes, I realize she is in desperate need of a haircut, I promised Chuck's sister that she would get first dibs on the cutting, she is coming Easter, so in the mean time we fight with barrettes and deal with too long hair.....

In other Emily news, 2 bottom teeth are here, and we have about 4 teeth on top that are thinking about coming in, but aren't quite there yet.
She has been fighting the cold bug for several weeks on and off, we're ready for it to be off for good!
She is becoming a picky eater, eating only what she wants when she wants, unfortunately figuring out what that want is, is incredibly difficult without language....

What a month...

2009-03-19T20:52:00.001-05:00

Man I'm a slacker, a whole month without a post...very busy and nothing exciting I guess. This weekend, or next week when I'm on spring break I will work on getting some updated pics and video up! You will be amazed at our big girl!!

Interesting stats....

2009-02-19T19:37:00.002-06:00

This isn't about Em perse...but interesting nonetheless--so I thought I'd share. The SART (fertility thing) posted a list of the 25 most successful clinics in the U.S. Ours is number 23--which rocks--but what I found even more interesting is that ours has the lowest number for average number of embryos transferred at 1.6 per cycle...most other clinics were closer to 2...yet ivf gets a bad name for multiple births?? Clearly the most successful clinics in the country aren't transferring 8....
Our clinic had 168 cycles out of 486 attempts...61.4% success rate---and yes--Em is one of those 168. When you look at it in those numbers, it reminds me yet again how unbelievably blessed we are!
In other news Em has officially become a walker--moving and grooving all over the place!! Our lil girl is all grown up!

On a more exciting note!

2009-02-07T13:52:00.001-06:00

Em has taken approximately 10 unassisted steps in the last week--once at home and once at the gparents house! Before we know it she'll be running! She has also figured out how to go down stairs, watch out world!! It's very cute to watch, once I vaccum my stairs I hope to get video of it :)

Oh what a week.....

2009-02-06T18:47:00.002-06:00

actually couple of weeks--let's recap. My last post was on Sun. the 25th, thinking Em was getting better--she puked again that night, I puked that night--so we both stayed home Monday. She puked again Monday--daddy didn't feel good but fortunately never got the pukies--he took Tues. morning off, I took off the afternoon. Weds. she went back to drinking milk instead of pedialyte and did ok, Thurs as well. Thurs. night I gave her a formula bottle--back up it came. Oh--happy 1st birthday on Thursday!! Based on how the week was going we didn't celebrate much--went to get pictures Friday and did dinner out. Friday no formula, no pukies. Saturday, formula bottle=pukies. It was then decided we were officially done with formula. We had been working on milk anyway--so we went cold turkey and went fine. The pukies were gone!! Sunday she started out a little cranky at church, and got progressively worse until she was full fledged screaming during 2nd service. We called the dr. and they said to go ahead and take her to convenient care-most likely an ear infection. Definitely ear infection #4 had arrived. Sunday night feeling much better---off to the Super Bowl party and had a grand time! Things have gone much better this week! Today was her 1 year appt. 19lbs 8oz (25th percentile) and 29 1/4 in (50 percentile). We got 1 shot and will go back next week for another. We are being referred to an audiologist/ent dr. to get the hearing checked and see what our next step is as far as the ears. I am concerned that she is not getting the speech she should be and dr. agreed. So we are to call Mon. morning for a referral.

Poor baby

2009-01-25T08:22:00.002-06:00

Emily had her first visit from the pukeys yesterday--and it was definitely not fun for anyone involved! She seems to be doing better today--I'm thinking the 20 hours she slept helped quite a bit! Hopefully we are better now...and can move on from this experience!

Happy Birthday!

2009-01-19T15:33:00.004-06:00

We celebrated Emily's birthday this weekend with a family party! We had lots of aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents over at the house. My dad made a typical dad suggestion of--we need to do this in July for her 1/2 birthday, so we can go outside, but we made due in the house. We had simply food--lunchmeat sandwiches, relish tray, and of course deviled eggs (my favorite) and ham-pickle thingies (Chuck's favorite). Here are a few pictures to capture the day....

Riding the pony Aunt Martha and Gma and Gpa Leader got me---my legs aren't quite long enough yet!

Going for a ride around the house in my new wagon with cousin Jenna--thanks Mama and Papa Hilman!

Helping mommy open presents! I'm getting good at this present opening stuff! (And yes that's money in my hot lil hand :) )

Taking a ride in my sled from Mama and papa Hilman.

My very own cake! I tried to put the candle out with my fingers, but daddy insisted on blowing it out!

Mmmm.....this is some good stuff!!

I don't know why we don't eat this every day!! I also had a great time sharing my cake with Keeno--he thought it was enjoyable as well!

Staying at home....

2009-01-15T19:46:00.005-06:00

I think I could get used to this staying home business. We had a "cold" day today so no school, and Em and I got to hang out all day long and it was fabulous! She took 2 wonderful naps, I got quite a bit of cleaning done, and we got to play and read and listen to music and it has been great. I think I could do this everyday :) Lucky me--another cold day tomorrow and the MLK day Monday--Tuesday is going to be a really hard day!

More Christmas Pics

2009-01-01T14:21:00.004-06:00

Well Emily's 1st Christmas is over...and boy did she make out nicely! We had Christmas with the Hilmans, Christmas with the Leaders and Christmas with the Kingmas. It was quite a month. Christmas with the Hilmans is in the previous post--here is Christmas with the Leaders and Kingmas.

Helping Daddy open a present at the Kingmas.

Her new American Girl doll---she was sooo excited and loves carrying her baby around.

Opening presents on Christmas Eve after church.

Chuck, Sarah and Emily after Christmas Eve service.

The promised pictures....

2008-12-22T22:12:00.004-06:00

Here is a sampling of the last month in pictures...

Emily hanging out at O'Hare on our way to Nashville.

Yummy Thanksgiving dinner!

Thanksgiving with the Kingma's playing under the table with cousin Camden.

Helping to decorate the tree. We have learned that real is definitely the way to go--she very much leaves the prickly branches alone.

Emily opening her 1st Christmas present--she looks much more into it than she really was.

Emily meeting Santa for the 1st time.

These Hands....

2008-12-22T22:08:00.003-06:00

Way back in July, Aunt J sent Mar and I this neat e-mail, that we decided would be a really cool thing to personal for our mom and gmas for Christmas. Well it is 2 days before Christmas and it is done :) It has been made so much more meaningful with gma Leader's passing a couple of weeks ago--a great memory to remember her by!

These hands.....
These Hands…
Helped me, as an infant, explore the new world before me
Braced and caught my fall when as a toddler I crashed upon the floor
As a child, my mother taught me to fold them in prayer
Hold hope for a life barely begun
Are decorated with wedding bands as an expression of love for someone special
Were uneasy and clumsy when I tried to hold a newborn baby
Clapped with joy as children reached new milestones
Supported those same children as they grew to leave their own mark on the world
Hold children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren
Cooked meals to bring family and friends together to the table
Bless marriages and baptize babies
Teach and guide young children
Have been the comforting touch in a painful world
Provide an education to the pushed aside and forgotten
Expressed the thoughts of the heart through words of letters written
Have soothed, consoled, and healed the sick
Trembled and shook when they buried loved ones
Consoled neighbors and friends in times of need
Traveled the world and reached out to change lives
Sew tapestries in an artistic expression of love
Put food in my mouth and clothes on my back
Shook in fists of anger when I didn’t understand
Covered my face in times of fear and doubt
Have been dirty, scraped and raw, swollen and bruised
On the days when not much of anything else works real well, hold me up, lay me down and again continue to fold in prayer
Are the marks of where I’ve been and the ruggedness of life
Have changed the world
These hands represent 287 years and hold stories of the past, experiences of the present and hope of the future.

The hands in the picture include Martha, me, our mom, our grandma Leader, our grandma Kingma and Emily....

Wow..am I behind

2008-12-15T21:26:00.002-06:00

I've been a lousy blogger lately--life has been busy and I just haven't had time. That and there hasn't been a whole lot of excitement to blog about, and what excitement there has been I'd like to use pictures and they aren't on my computer yet. Yes I am full of excuses :)
Here's the cliff notes version--and hopefully there will be pictures to accompany it next week when I'm done with school.

Emily's 1st Thanksgiving at Aunt Hildy's--great time was had by all

We set up the Christmas tree and Christmas decorations

Gma Leader (my gma, Emily's great gma) passed away after a wonderful 96 years of life. Emily has been very fortunate to spend at least a day a week with her since my mom started babysitting in August. It was always a dream of mine for my children to meet their gma Leader, so we were very blessed that Em got to spend as much time with her as she did.

Emily has figured out how to stand up by herself without holding on to anything and is very proud of this accomplishment.

Emily had her 1st Christmas with the Hilman side of the family and had a fabulous time being passed around to everyone all day long--and got some fabulous presents!

We bought new, grown up living room furniture--that I can't wait to get delivered!! No more slits in the couches and missing cushion stuffing!!!

That's it for now--Christmas break starts Friday at 3:15--and we will have 2 weeks of no work :)

That's it for now--I promise to get pictures up soon!!

Nashville....

2008-11-22T14:40:00.002-06:00

Emily has successfully made it to Nashville for the 1st time :) It was slightly dramatic getting here however. Thursday morning she woke up pretty snotty--the past 2 times she has been snotty it has been followed by ear infection, and I didn't really want a repeat of Ohio--so I asked my mom to take her in and get her checked before we left Thurs. afternoon. She seemed to feel fine--and I wasn't concerned--but wanted to play it safe. Mom got her in 1st thing and low and behold--not 1 but 2 ear infections!! Icko. The dr. was hesitant to let us even fly--but decided to let us go with lots of precautions and warnings about ruptured ear drums and such. She gave us a new antibiotic after the amoxiciallan reaction last time and a numbing ear drop to numb her before flying. So we're off--Em and I make it to the airport with plenty of time to hang out in the terminal--especially since our flight ended up delayed almost 30 min. Emily was perfectly content crawling around the terminal making new friends. We load the teeny tiny plane and get situated, and start down the runway. I pull out the bottle to get through take-off--she's eating and then the plane stops, and Em finishes the bottle. And then the pilot comes on to say that we are delayed at least 20 min. Woohoo--Em is squirmy wormy but we make do until we finally take-off and start bottle #2. We get up and Em falls asleep before finishing the bottle. She sleeps until we touch down in Chicago--no problem :) Delayed again in Chicago--but our friend Michelle was there--so we hung out with her until plane 2. Flight 2 uneventful--she falls asleep at the beginning of the descent to Nashville and sleeps until we get into the terminal. Chuck picks us up and off to the hotel.
Oh yeah--have I mentioned that the hotel had been telling Chuck all day that they were out of cribs, but working on finding us one. When we got there at 9:30 they still hadn't found one--so I went to the front desk with Em to ask about it. I was told that we were on a waiting list--but not to expect anything, so I simply asked what he suggested I do with Emily that night. He said hang on-made a phone call--and by golly--found us a crib.....hmmm.....
Em's 1st's this weekend--
1st plane trip
1st trip to Nashville
1st hotel stay
1st David Crowder concert (totally not impressed and almost fell asleep)
1st breakfast with Marko (one of the super high ups at YS)
We'll update more when we get back--hopefully with pictures!

Sleep??

2008-11-05T06:23:00.003-06:00

Apparently Em has decided she's been too easy on us for 9 months and is now making us work a little harder. She didn't nap more than 1 1/2 hours yesterday--and then decided to stay up till 11 p.m. Ok--great--but then she woke up at 5:30 this morning--far too early!! Fortunately Chuck was able to give her a bottle and she went back to sleep--however by that point it was silly for me to go back to sleep--so I'm up for the duration. Maybe I'll be productive and get bottles washed before work??

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-31T06:44:00.003-05:00

~~Happy Halloween~~
We bought Em a nice warm Halloween costume--and it's supposed to be 71 today!! Silly weather. Oh well--she's still cute! I also have a fabulous Halloween card that Chuck made that I will share with you if I can ever get it off Chuck's computer :)
Have a fabulous day!

And now we have a rash....

2008-10-26T20:46:00.002-05:00

Will the excitement ever end? Friday night while we were pajaming Em she had a bunch of little bumps on her....we thought they were bug bites and went on with life. Well as the weekend has gone on they've multiplied/gotten bigger and just all around ickier. Well today I called my mom to tell her we were going to take her to the dr. in the morning and set up babysitting plans and she freaked out...our two thoughts were reaction to amoxicillan or chicken pox....well she wanted me to take her to the ER immediately, I convinced her to let me call the on call service first--so we did, dr. thinks it is an amoxicillan rash, which is apparently not the same as an allergic reaction--and he said to bring her in in the morning to confirm it. So that's the plan. The interesting thing about this whole story, was my mom freak out--you see, my mom never freaked out when we were sick--we had to be dying to stay home from school--let alone go to a dr. The long running story is when Martha fell off the swing set and broke her arm, and my mom told her to take a nap and it would feel better after the nap. So to hear her freak out about a rash was just very surreal. But like Martha said--everything changed once Emily showed up.....for the better of course :)

Amazing 2 weeks....

2008-10-25T09:57:00.002-05:00

In the past 2 weeks Em has become a superstar--here is a snapshot of what we have done-
*Finally diagnosed with ear infection after 7 drs. and 5 sleepless nights--started pink medicine and feeling much better!
*1st tooth came through
*Started crawling for real--when I want to
*Can go from laying to sitting on my own
*Can pull up to standing
*Have started babbling with vowels (ba, da, ga)
*Went to my 1st sr. high YAR

Needless to say it's been an amazing couple of weeks--our lil girl is growing up!

Em's 1st trip to Ohio.....

2008-10-13T20:24:00.003-05:00

Get ready--this will be a long one.....

Friday (day 1) We left home shortly after 4, pretty much on time and started driving, and driving, and driving....we stopped in Champaign for dinner and Em hung out on a blanket for about 10 min out of the car, before we headed on. I guess before I go on, I should explain what our travel looked like--we were in the neon-Emily, Chuck, me and Keeno (the dog). Emily and Keeno were in the back--Keeno not a big fan of sharing but making due. Chuck rode in the back for a while with Keeno in front so that Em could have some company. Em did really well until shortly before Cincinatti (we were pushing midnight by then) so I went into the back and Keeno joined us--it was definitely cozy! We got to Wilmington shortly after 1 a.m. and Em was wide awake and so ready to go! So we played for a while and finally went to bed around 2 a.m.

Saturday (day 2)-We were woken up by the puppies who were dying to play (my aunt and uncle have 2 black labs as well) much earlier than we intended. Got up, had breakfast, sent the boys on their way to the OSU game. We then headed out for our adventures. We hit the book sale at the library, the pumpkin patch and the outlet mall. Lots of fun had by all. Emily's Halloween costume was purchased-much to Chuck's dissapointment it wasn't a ninja...but even he admitted, way cuter! We headed Em and spent several hours vegging on the couch watching tivo'd shows. Em napped a little, but not nearly enough....made yummy camping goop for dinner and hung out some more. Shortly before the boys got home (about 8:45) Em woke up screaming--in a way she has never screamed before--it took about 30 min. to get her calmed down, and we decided to go see if the urgent care clinic was open--thinking it was an ear infection that had her upset. Urgent care was closed, so we went to Kroger and stocked up on tylenol, baby orajel (in case it was teething) a thermometer and some teething toys. We went home, gave her some tylenol and she seemed better. Played a little bit and headed back to bed. About 1 a.m. she woke up screaming again, so we decided to take her to the ER to try and get some antibiotics since we were still thinking ear infection. The dr at the ER checks her ears and says they look fine and he was kind of stumped. He decided that he thought it was intersuseption, a weird bowel issue, but said they couldn't do anything for us and sent us to the children's hospital in Cincinatti (1 hour away). So we gathered the diaper bag, told Uncle Mike where were headed and left (now about 3 a.m.). We get to Children's hopsital, checked in, see a nurse, a resident, a dr. in the matter of about 3 hours. Dr. 2 says she will order u/s to check the bowels....in the meantime there is a shift change....we go back for x ray and u/s (now about 7 a.m.) and back to the room to wait. At this point we were told about 30 min to read the u/s. Em has slept on and off and seems to be doing much better. The problem with intersuseption is that you have to check it in the "attack" and now that it's been several hours, we're convinced they won't see anything anyway. 9 o'clock comes and new resident comes in, says u/s was negative and they'll work on getting us out of there. 9:30 comes and goes--10 a.m. dr #4 comes in and verifies u/s was negative and he'll get our discharge paper in about 10 min. 35 min later we are discharged to go home! What a night!!!

Sunday (day 3)-Get back to the house, eat brunch and everyone naps for a while. We had originally planned on going to the Renaissance Festival but that plan was nixed early on and changed to the saurakrat festival....we were going to nap for an hour or so and head out....well 3 hours later when we woke up from our naps, we decided to stay and veg instead. So we did. Mike made a fire in the pit, we grilled pork burgers and had a fabulous evening hanging out. Em spent oodles of time sleeping which seemed to do her quite a bit of good. We stayed up later than we should have and all crashed.

Monday (day 4)-everyone (including the dogs) slept in and it was fabulous! We had one of my favorite breakfasts of scrambled eggs and cinammon rolls before packing up to leave. We drove, and drove, and drove and finally got home about 7 tonight...

Even with the trip to the ER it was a fabulous weekend that we are hoping to make a yearly tradition (minus the ER trip!) Without further ado....the pictures!

The day the camera died.....

2008-10-06T06:47:00.002-05:00

Well Chuck gets his wish--we will be replacing my beloved sony cybershot.....last night Emily was taking a bath in her brand new ducky bathtub, and the cybershot wouldn't turn on :( It's been finicky for a while now, and apparently it's done. So now we have a week to find a new camera before we go to Ohio......

Then and Now.....

2008-10-04T12:56:00.004-05:00

As many of you may remember--a mere 8 months ago we took several pictures of Emily in an adorable striped jumper with matching hat. Well, here she is, in the same adorable striped jumper, minus the hat.....

Cubs game....

2008-10-02T21:05:00.001-05:00

I just finished posting about the Cubs and cheering them on--I think the Dodgers have scored 2 runs in the time it took me to make the post--Emily just turned off the tv....clearly we know how she feels about things!

Go Cubs Go!!

2008-10-02T20:58:00.002-05:00

It's Oct. and we are still playing--Em is doing her best to cheer them on--but so far they aren't giving us much to cheer about! Aunt Martha--how could you even suggest disowning a gorgous face like this :)

More pics....

2008-09-14T16:19:00.005-05:00

Sorry I just couldn't resist posting more pictures--just cuz she is so darn cute :) Godfather Andy thought it would be fun to put Emily in the guitar case--she loves listening to daddy try and play the guitar and is very fascinated by the case--so apparently this was a logically choice!

Update...

2008-09-12T23:18:00.004-05:00

My puter is being cranky and won't let me move the pictures--so apparently they will be 1st in the blog today--with words 2nd...not my choice but such is life I suppose!

Also not the best pic we have of the football game--but the others must still be on Chuck's computer--I'll have to work on getting those up another day!

Ok...clearly it has been forever since I've updated--but I've been back to work, and starting grad classes and life is just a lil crazy right now-with no signs of slowing down--but here's whats new. Em is growing everyday--she's army crawling across the floor, prompting daddy to start building something to block the banisters. We've decided to do cubby shelves on one side and probably just plexiglass on the other--I think that will also solve the baby gate problem, so no falling down the stairs for Miss Em! In the world of first--Emily had her 1st tastes of spaghetti and seemed to enjoy it, and watched her 1st osu football game--since you're all more interested in the pics and not words--here they are :)

Big night

2008-08-23T14:07:00.001-05:00

At 6m 3w old Emily slept in her crib overnight for the 1st time last night! It was very exciting, she is now such a big girl! Granted she's been napping in there for months, and sleeping through the night even longer--but it still seems like such a big step. Suppose it's time to turn the pack and play into a playpen now......

Too much gymnastics??

2008-08-18T18:29:00.003-05:00

Apparently we have been watching too much gymnastics--Emily has decided she is in training. Or she is just showing off her flexibility. She spent about 1/2 hour sleeping in this position in Chuck's office on Sunday.

Sippy cup intro.....

2008-08-14T09:52:00.004-05:00

We tried the sippy cup this morning with breakfast--I put water in it, so as not to waste any valuable breast milk---I think the pictures pretty well tell how she felt about it--

Reflections......

2008-08-11T09:01:00.002-05:00

This post isn't really about Emily, but she was there--so I guess you could say it was an experience for her...not one that she will likely remember. For those of you that don't know the history, my gma Leader is 95 years old, and last month after a week of really icky sickness had to move to the nursing home. Saturday afternoon my mom called me to say that her and my Aunt M were over at gma's house, cleaning out the attic. Now, I know from stories that the attic is probably crammed full of treasures and what not, gma had lived in the house for 50 years, and grew up in a world where throwing things away wasn't an option, "because we might need that someday". (Unfortunately Chuck will tell you, I have a little bit of that gene!) So I was intrigued as to what they would find, Emily and I packed up her stuff and headed over to the house. I am so glad I did. We found treasure upon treasure and Aunt M was able to tell me stories I had never heard about gma.

For example, we found several notebooks from when she was in nursing school (circa 1930) one of which was notes from a music class, I learned gma had once played piano.

I knew that in my lifetime gma had never driven a car, so I asked Aunt M if she had ever driven....nope....when she was growing up Uncle D learned to drive 1st, so was given the job of driving her and her sisters, then she would take the train or bus wherever she needed to go. Can you imagine.....never ever driving a car?

We found the Leader family Bible, it had belonged to Thomas Leader, who was LC's dad, who was Lestor's dad, who was my gpa.

We found boxes and boxes of letters, some of which were postmarked as long ago as 1930....I can't wait to read through them and see the stories they tell. Hopefully someone will have the time to put them in albums to save them.

I learned that gpa Leader built the china hutch that gma's china was stored in.

I learned that Great Uncle D painted the 2 pictures that have hung on the wall of the living room for as long as I can remember.

I learned that there was stuff in the basement that Aunt M can remember moving into the houes, that hasn't moved since that day 50 years ago.

We found the small child's chair, that is in the picture of my gma when she was 1 year old.

I again realized, what a good idea it is to label all pictures while you still remember who the people are, because 100 years from now, people will find those pictures and have no idea who they are and wish they did!

I could go on and on......but I won't :)

I'm heading over to the house again today with dad--so we'll see what stories he can add to the list!

While it is sad to know that gma Leader will never live in that house again, and that we will never gather there for family get-togethers, it is a blessing to know she is doing well and being taken care of. And that she saved all of these treasures for us :)

Busy weekend

2008-08-11T08:38:00.006-05:00

We had a busy weekend of 1sts and lots of pictures to document them!

1st--Emily became an omnivore--she had meat for the 1st time, so shredded chicken with rice and carrots, and loved it :)

The other big first of the weekend was Emily is officially able to scoot her way around the room--very well I might add. We can thank Howie the cat for teaching her this---he likes to lay just out of reach and taunt her to come and get him. Usually Howie loves Emily attention and will often seek her out--so the fact that he ran away in the video is odd--but her giggle that follows is too cute to pass up......

1st a picture--

and then a video--

6m appointment.....

2008-08-08T16:50:00.003-05:00

As promised-here is an Emily update. We went to the dr for our 6 month visit today. She is 15lbs 2 oz and 25 in long (5 oz of that came from the bottle she ate in the waiting room...) Dr. said everything looked wonderful--gave us the ok to start her on pretty much any table foods other than the high allergens. I'm starting to think that could get pretty overwhelming--I'm not entirely sure where to start now---I think I liked it better when it was simple-fruits or veggies. Now I've got to work in meat, pasta, and such....oh my!
We got just 1 shot today--we'll go back next week for 1 and the following week for the last...then we don't have to get any more shots until 1 year! Woohoo!!!
That's pretty much the story for now......I'll try to come up with something more exciting to blog about soon. And for your viewing pleasure--a lunch time picture.

To keep Martha happy.....

2008-08-08T09:32:00.002-05:00

I promise a blog this afternoon/evening after Emily's drs. appt. Lately we've just been enjoying life and hanging out so, as much fun as it is for me, I'm not sure how intriguing it is to write about.

Camping.....

2008-07-28T21:53:00.002-05:00

We went camping again this weekend.....well kind of. We went to camp this weekend--and stayed in the air conditioned lodge. It's kind of the same right?? This was Emily's 2nd camping trip--and she seems to really enjoy it. She loves campfires, and swimming, and just being around people in general--so she had a great time! It was a family camp that we were asked to help lead at the last minute, so it was a tad stressful, but I think everyone had a great time. We got to meet lots of new people, Emily was very popular with the 4-6th grade girls.....I had a hard time getting her back. Chuck discovered Emily's new favorite song is the birdie wake-up song--I'm going to have to figure out a way to video it for all to see--she laughs and smiles every time he does it with her. I think it's going to become a daily ritual with daddy and daughter........
On a sadder note....I only have 3 weeks till it's back to work :( I will have to cherish each and every moment of my days they are going by way to quickly---the plan is for my mom to watch Emily when I go back to work--at least for a while--so that is a huge plus :)

The adventure just continues...

2008-07-22T11:25:00.002-05:00

Monday was quite the eventful day in our lil world. We were woken up (is that grammatically correct??) at about 6:30 am but a horrible storm. I come out into the living room to investigate whether we should be taking cover in the basement or not--and the satellite is out--about 5 minutes later the power is out! So I go back to bed--not much else to do.

We wake up about 8:30, still no power. I call the power company and they said the entire grid was out and they had no idea how long it would be before we were up and running. Fortunately we had a meeting planned in Galesburg, so we get packed up and head out about 10:30--still no power. Come home after lunch at about 4 (mind you it's about 90 degrees out at this point), still no power. Chuck needed to go into the office, so Em and I decide to go with him, because A-it's stinkin hot in the house and B-there wasn't a lot to do in the house. We stay at the church until about 7:30, find out that there are 4 poles down that are part of the transmitter line--so until they get those fixed they can't even figure out what problems they have locally--we're told it could be up to 4 DAYS! Yikes!! I'm starting to seriously panic about the 20 or so bags of breast milk in my freezer--not something I can just go to the store and replace!!!
We get home and hang out outside until it gets dark--then light a bunch of candles to feed Em. And decide at the early hour of 10 o'clock to go to bed. Fortunately my breast pump has a car adaptor--so I go sit in the car in the driveway to take care of that--let me tell you how much fun that is! And off to bed we go!

Good news--we wake up this morning--and power is back :) Woohoo!!! All is well--hopefully today will be much less exciting!!

Is 6 months too young to potty train??

2008-07-22T11:19:00.003-05:00

Just an advanced warning--if poo grosses you out you may just want to skip over this post altogether--cuz that's what it's about!
I figure since I'm a mama and mama's talk about poo--and this is quite the story--it's only appropriate I blog about it :)
So Sunday afternoon we were hanging out after church and Chuck had made lunch and Em was playing in her exersaucer and all was good. Chuck grabbed Em to put her in her chair to eat and after putting her down said "how did she get blueberries on her foot?" and I said "what??" She hadn't eaten blueberries since Sat. lunch. So I come in to look--and said "Oh--that's not blueberries--that's blueberry poo" How in the world did it get on her foot??
Well after further investigation she must have pooed while in the exersaucer--and leaked--big time--as there was blueberry poo all over the bottom of the exersaucer--which she had basically been dancing in!
So--we now had poo in the exersaucer, in the booster seat, and all over Emily!! It was quite a mess--and about 1/2 hour later--we finally got to sit down for cold lunch!!
Hopefully that will be the last of the wow poos--I'm thinking potty training is looking more and more appealing!!

It's like she knew....

2008-07-17T22:19:00.002-05:00

Em must have known that I created a blog all about her--so she felt the need to give me something to write about. First the background story--it has been stinkin hot here today--and Em went to my parents' house while I tutored tonight. They don't have air conditioning-so it was stinkin out there too! We stayed for dinner since Chuck's gone and she was horribly fussy--like a fussy I've never seen before. I wasn't sure whether to blame it on the alleged ear infection-or the hot. But after coming home she has been a dream baby--leading me to believe that she definitely is a daddy's girl and can't handle hot without being cranky. Anyway--we now have happy baby and I'm getting her ready for bed and she sat up--all by herself!! Never done that before--granted it wasn't for long before she bounced off my leg--but she did it!! What a big girl she is!

So here we are......

2008-07-17T21:27:00.002-05:00

I've decided since I love reading blogs I might as well create one of my own. I'm not entirely sure what I will write about at this point--so we'll just see where it takes us. I'm hoping to use this as a way to document Emily's life and milestones so that I don't have to try to remember them all. With that being said--here's what is happening in our current life--

Spent the past weekend in Indiana with Great grandpa and grandma Kingma and family. We got to meet our new cousin Camden who was born in March and is already 3 lbs heavier than Em. Em went swimming in Lake Michigan for the first time and loved it! In fact she loved it so much that she fell asleep in her floaty not once--but twice!

We came home Tuesday and am pretty sure she is fighting her 1st ear infection :( She started amoxicillan today--hopefully it will make our mood improve. For all of you that claim she doesn't know how to cry should have heard her tonight!!

Let's see--what else--Chuck is hanging out with Andy tonight playing cops--that ought to be interesting!

The Cliff notes of our beginnings

2008-07-17T15:21:00.000-05:00


Friday, May 02, 2008 1 Year Ago Today.... Emily was created. It is so hard to believe looking at our little peanut that 1 year ago today she was being created in a petri dish in Iowa City! We are so blessed to be sharing our lives with Miss Emily. We've updated the pic page with some new pictures of what's going on in her life--we've had Easter, our 1st Cub's game, our 1st smile--it's been a busy 3 months!! Stay tuned for more updates!

Friday, February 01, 2008
The rest of the story--- So it has taken me a while to post this-but here is the rest of the story of Emily's entry into the world. As planned we started pushing around 11 p.m. It was an interesting experience since I still had the epidural pumping through me-but once I figured it out it was wonderful. Chuck commented that I'm the only person he's seen smile when I get ready to have a contraction-I responded with I hope I'm the only person he's seen in that position!! So we pushed, and pushed, and pushed. My contractions were about 4-5 min apart, so while it seemed like it was taking forever, we really weren't pushing that much. Dr. came in about 11:30 and took over for the nurse and we continued until 1:11 a.m. on Tuesday when Emily finally entered the world. She had the cord loosely wrapped around her neck so dr. cut that and we got to hold her for a few seconds before they took her to the warmer to get her cleaned up. She had quite a bit of mucus on her lungs and wouldn't scream for the nurse, so it took a while to get that taken care of. She never did let out a good scream--until about Weds. afternoon--we thought for sure we were going to have the quietest baby on the planet! They thought they'd have to keep her under the warmer for the night, but she managed to get her lungs cleared enough that she was good to go. We did a quick attempt at breastfeeding and the nurse got chuck and I some supper which was the best food I'd had in a long time! Then the nurse tried to get me up to the bathroom and I made it there ok, but then blacked out while in there, so I was confined to bed for the rest of the night. When we woke up the following morning, I again got light headed when I got up, so I spent all day under bed arrest. I finally was allowed up at 3 p.m. Weds. to shower and such--what a wonderful feeling that was!! We were ok'd to go home Thursday morning-and made it home late Thursday afternoon. It is now Friday morning--so we survived the first night-and I'd have to say we did a pretty good job if it! Thanks for all your well wishes and prayers--we can't wait to share Emily with all of you!!

Tuesday, January 29, 2008
It's a girl! Emily Ann Hilman was born on January 29th at 1:11am. She weighed 7 pounds 1 ounce and was 20 inches long. more details and pictures soon

Monday, January 28, 2008
I just got off the phone with Sarah. She has checked into the hospital and the induction process has started. She told me when she checked in this morning her contractions were 7-8 min apart. She still had no idea she was having contractions. She seemed very comfortable and bored out of her mind still...but hopefully blasty will get the hint and come out soon :) more updates to come as I hear more!

Monday, January 28, 2008
Continued update....it is now 10:30 pm. I figured I will recap the day's events so I don't forget. We checked in at 6 am and were having contractions 7-8 min apart but I wasn't really feeling them. They started pitocin at about 7:30 and upped the dosage every 30 min. I spent the majority of the morning on the excercise ball, we also spent some time walking the hallways until my dr. said no, since baby's heartrate wouldn't stay on the monitor. Dr. came in about 12:30 and broke my water--at that point I was about a 4 and contracting every 3-4 min and not feeling them still. Water breaks and they put internal monitors on baby, so movement became much more difficult. Contractions start to get more noticable but still not miserable as the afternoon wears on. Chuck and I watch Oceans 13--didn't really get it, but it was something to entertain for a few hours. About 5ish the contractions start to get uncomfortable enough that I had to breath through them, but still feeling ok. By about 6 I was ready for some drugs, so they gave me a shot of Stadol in my iv, which I love :) When she checked me I was between 5 and 6 cm at that point. The Stadol definitely took the edge of the contractions, and basically put me to sleep for about an hour which was oh so enjoyable. By the time the stadol wore off, about an hour later I was almost 8 so they wouldn't give me more stadol :( I was feeling ok though, so I said let's see how we go. I was still slightly terrified of the epidural and having to push with it. I did pretty good until about 8:30, at which point I thought I was going to die. The contractions were coming one on top of the other and were riduculously intense. I was terrified that I was too far to get the epidural, but dr. agreed to it and my favorite person Dr. K came in to set me up very quickly. In the meantime we managed to get to 10cm, but baby was still at -2station. The 20 min. before the epidural were very definitely the worst pain in my life! Chuck was amazing talking me through the contractions and keeping me from going absolutely crazy! He even attempted to fix my har for me :) Epidural went in at about 9:15 and I was immediately happy again. It is now 10:45 pm and we are going to start pushing around 11--at last check baby was at 0 station, so we are making progress, and I feel good enough to check e-mail :) That's it for now...to be continued......

Saturday, January 26, 2008
Final pregnancy entry--despite the fact that this website says Blasty is 3 days old--I continue with preggo updates--because--we are still pregnant. As of Thursday we were almost 4cm and 80% effaced and waiting. Induction will be Monday morning at 6 a.m. unless baby decides it has finally warmed up enough to come before then. Be watching for an update!!

Thursday, January 17, 2008
Today was the 39w drs. appt, and it went as well if not better than I thought. I have progressed from last week (1-2cm 50% effaced) today I was a good 2 almost 3cm and 60-70% effaced, so that was definitely good news. We also set an induction date of Jan 28 if baby doesn't arrive sooner, which excites me even more. It's amazing what have a specific date to shoot for does for the morale! (is that spelled right??) Oh and I've officially gained 25lbs, so I'm in the average expected weight gain range of pregnancy...it's so nice to be average :) That's it for now, hopefully this was the last drs. appt and our next update will be with Baby arrival news!

Friday, December 21, 2007
We had our 35w appt yesterday and I have made the decision Chuck is no longer allowed to come to appts. with me. The few that he has come to always run way longer than normal!! Yesterday's issue was the fact everything was double booked in honor of Christmas! Anyway, everything is good, I finally gained a lb. so that makes up for the one I lost last appt. I had a group B strep test done that I will get the results of next appt. I had blood drawn to check iron again and so I can get my rhogram (rh-) shot today. All in all it was about 1 1/2 hours before we got out of there! Very excited though, because I now start once a week appts!! Only 5 more (or 4 or 3) before we finally will get to meet baby Hilman!!! I'm done with school for 2 weeks, so we will be working hard to get everything ready before I go back to work in Jan!

Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Quick update--of not much to update! We are going to the dr. every 2 weeks to be checked and everything is so far so good. As we get closer to baby day I will try to update more often and promise that when baby comes we will announce it here for all of you out-of-towners!! I wanted to share the Advent devotional that Chuck wrote for church this year--it made me cry and I thought it very appropriate as we prepare for Christmas! I Think I Get It Now Chuck Hilman �You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.� I think I finally get it now. For hundreds of years the Jews looked forward to the day their messiah would come and restore their kingdom. They wrote about their desire for him to come. They prayed for his coming deliverance. The eagerly expected him. I think I finally understand their sense of anticipation. As Sarah and I wait for our first child to be born I am beginning to understand the anticipation felt by the entire Jewish nation (on a much smaller scale, of course). We have spent the last six months preparing ourselves, and our home, for our child�s arrival. We have prayed for our child every day. We have put together baby things, cleaned, and prayed some more. Sarah has eaten and I have taken that as a challenge to eat more than her. I think I�m winning. The level of excitement about Christmas is a little higher this year because I know what it�s like to anticipate the birth of a child. I would like to remind everyone about how exciting this Advent season really is. There is a reason the whole world is not excited about the birth of our child. He (or she) is not the savior of the world! We are anticipating the one who has saved us from our sins and redeemed us from the curse of the fall! I pray that you would enter this Advent season with a sense of excitement and eager anticipation.

Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Just had to share...we get a weekly e-mail telling us what is happening with baby. Every week it will tell us the size of baby and compare it to something, usually food and this week's had this information "You're baby weighs about 3.75lbs, or the size of a large jicama." If anyone can tell me what a large jicama is without googling it or looking it up elsewhere...you win the prize! What an interesting thing to chose.......

Sunday, October 28, 2007
Yesterday was baby shower day! Actually baby shower #2 day, baby shower #1 was last week at work. We have 3 soon-to-be mommies there, so we did a group shower...it was tons of fun! They gave us a wonderful basket full of baby goodies as well as a target gift card that we are going to buy our pack-n-play with. Yesterday's shower was the church/Hilman/Leader shower. There were LOTS of people there and we had a great time!! My favorite activity was decorating "baby" pumpkins, it was great fun to see everyone's creativity. We received tons of wonderful stuff for Baby Hilman and thanks to Grandmas and aunts for helping sort it all out and put it away when we got home! There are new pics on the picture page!

Friday, October 26, 2007
Drs appt update-I had both a drs. appt and blood work today. Everything went well at the drs. office, still measuring right on (new belly pic on picture page) and we are starting our 2 week appts! That means the countdown is on! Less than 13 weeks to go! The blood work wasn't so enjoyable. I failed my gestational diabetes test by 1 point earlier in the week, so I had to do a 3 hour test. That means I had to fast for 8 hours, go to the lab, have blood drawn, drink their lovely sugar juice, and then have blood drawn 3 more times over 3 hours. Needless to say it was a long afternoon!! Hopefully the results will be negative though and we can go on with life!

Sunday, October 14, 2007
Daddy felt confirmed movement from the baby today! Once he figured out that was baby, he said he's felt it before, but it was very definite today!! I'm so excited for him...and now I can allow others to feel my belly, I was refusing until now, since I wanted him to be the first to feel the baby!!

Friday, October 05, 2007
Huge dilemma~ I just got a phone call from my dad...my cousin just had a baby and named her Emily Grace...now the question is, do I keep Emily Ann?? Just to complicate things, based on our last names and addresses they will most likely go to the same school and be very close to each other alphabetically.....what to do, what to do???




Tuesday, September 18, 2007
22 week ultrasound was today. Everything looked wonderful, all of baby's measurements are right where they should be...baby is a little over a pound in weight...only 6 more to go :) Chuck's guess is girl, based on his 30 sec. of ultrasound analysis, we'll see how right he is....but not until Jan!

Saturday, September 08, 2007
The registries are done!!! All 4 (yes 4) of them! Here is the breakdown in case you are interested...... jcpenney-- (Chuck's gma insisted...she gets an amazing employee discount) babies r us--Oodles of baby stuff, unfortunately we don't have one anywhere near us, so we'll have to depend on all our dear friends and family for this list target--the standard registry place, who doesn't love shopping at target?? mygiftlist.com--the cutest and highest recommended cloth diapers fuzzibuns as well as 2 super cute only available online onesies that I dream of having! So if you are interested in seeing the tons of stuff babies "need" to be babies, feel free to check out our lists!

Thursday, September 06, 2007
Another routine drs. appt today. I got to see Laura, the nurse I went to h.s. with and we chatted way longer than she's supposed to, but it was fun. She's due with baby #2 in Nov. She gave me a great idea that Chuck seemed to really like so I think we're going with it. When Blasty is born Chuck will get to be the 1st to see the gender and announce it to the room! She said her hubby did it with their first and was just thrilled with his very important job! Everything looked good, baby was trying to hide from the doppler and even kicked it at one point, but we managed to find a heartbeat in the 150s. I don't think I'll ever get tired of hearing that sound! Dr. came in and said cf test came back negative which was great, since we've seen how much it cost, Chuck couldn't have gotten tested anyway since his insurance won't pay it, we would have just had to chance it! My belly is measuring at exactly 20 weeks, and we were up 8 pounds from the ivf, 6 pounds from the last appt. I really need to get another belly pic to see if I've really grown as much as I think I have! Our u/s is scheduled for 9/18 so just a couple more weeks and our next appt 10/1!

Monday, August 06, 2007
We had another drs. appt today. The nurse found Blasty's heartbeat in seconds, and it was in the 150s which she said was great. Everything else was hohum, which is also wonderful, no excitement is good news as far as I am concerned. I had blood drawn to check to see if I am a cf carrier, if it comes back positive they will check Chuck, to determine if our baby has a 25% chance of having cf. I'm not sure when we get those results back, probably not until my next appt, which is almost 5 weeks away because of Labor Day....5 weeks is a long time! Hopefully with school starting it will go by quickly! Tonight is the 1st new mommy class, it's called Best Beginnings and we will learn all about what pregnancy is going to do to me and my body...doesn't that sound exciting?? That's it to report for now, hopefully we'll be posting baby's first movements soon!

Friday, July 20, 2007
Another appt with Dr. Pohl--this time 2 nurses and the dr. couldn't find your h/b so mommy got a bonus u/s and there you were hiding up high in mommy's belly, with your heart beating away! Everything looked good and we get to go back in 2 weeks. We also got to schedule the BIG 3d ultrasound for 9-18....right before Mommy's birthday, what a great present!

Monday, July 02, 2007
Another appt with Dr. Pohl--we got to hear your h/b for the first time with the doppler, very cool, but not as cool as seeing you live on the u/s! We also learned no swimming in Lake Michigan for mommy this summer, and no walking around Chicago, oh well, it's too hot for Chicago anyway!

Friday, June 22, 2007
1st appt with Dr. Pohl. We were hoping to get another u/s, but the machine was broken :( So, mommy and daddy met with the dr. and went over the next 9 months of your life!

Thursday, June 14, 2007
2nd ultrasound-your heart is still beating strong. You've started growing arms and legs already...even though they are really hard to see, they were definitely there. This was our last appt with Dr. Figge, felt good to move on, but will miss the attentiveness and caring of his staff! They did a wonderful job!

Thursday, June 07, 2007
We got to see your heart beating for the first time! It was an absolutely the most amazing sight, you are barely six weeks old, and already have a heart beat! Wow :) God has blessed us!

Thursday, May 17, 2007
Mommy got the call from the nurse that we are indeed pregnant. Beta number of 248 which is great for 4 weeks pregnant! She called Daddy who immediately told everyone he was with! The grandparents were notified tonight also and were so excited they called everyone they know I think!

Monday, May 07, 2007
After 5 long days, we head back to Iowa City for the transfer. All 7 eggs are still growing, before the transfer the embryologist brings us a picture of all 7 and shows us the one that will go back in. She tells us it is a 5 day blastocyst, which is the ideal stage to put back in. Chuck decides the baby should be called "Blasty" from here on out. We get to see something that very few people get to experience, and watch "Blasty" go into his/her new home in my womb for the next 9 months.....what an unbelievable experience!! We then head home for my mandated 3 days of bedrest.

Wednesday, May 02, 2007
We go to Iowa City for the egg retrival. I am put under, when I come to I find out they were able to retrive 19 eggs!! 13 of those eggs fertilize later that day!! That means we have 13 growing babies!! They immediately take 6 to freeze for future use, and leave 7 to grow. Becuase we have 7 growing, we will do a 5 day transfer, meaning we go back in 5 days for the best 1 to be put back in.

Saturday, April 21, 2007
It's house closing day in Lincoln as well as the 1st day I have to give myself a shot. I will be giving myself shots daily until sometime in May. Kind of scary to begin with, even scarier to do it in a public bathroom in Lincoln! But I survived.

Saturday, March 24, 2007
I start birth control pills for 1 month. It is very strange to be taking birth control to get pregnant, but it allows us to super control what my body does and when it does it.

Monday, February 26, 2007
We meet with our dr. from Iowa City. She is wonderful and answers all of our questions and then some! We also meet with the financial advisor who will be taking care of all of the insurance paperwork. All of our tests checked out with Dr. F so we are approved to start with the next round of cycling.

Tuesday, January 30, 2007
We meet with our specialist Dr. F and he agrees our only chance is ivf with icsi. He says he can do all the monitoring and we can go to Iowa City for the actual procedures. He sets up an appt with the Iowa City Dr. for us at the end of Feb. In the mean time he will run some preliminary tests, to make sure everything else is in good working order.

Wednesday, November 15, 2006
We see the first specialist and he feels our only chance at conceiving with be with in vetro fertilization using icsi (assisted fertilization). He agrees that we should see the 2nd specialist. I look into our insurance coverage and discover (Thank GOD!!) that all procedures will be covered! We quickly call and make an appt.

Wednesday, November 01, 2006
We discover from the quick/easy tests that there is indeed a problem and we will not be able to do things the "natural" way. My dr. refers us to 2 different specialists to further investigate the problem.

Friday, September 01, 2006
I see my "new" old dr. in the Quad-Cities and find out she is no longer delivering babies. She refers me to an ob/gyn since we are working on getting pregnant. Later in September, I visit the new ob/gyn and am very impressed. She agrees with previous 2 drs. that there is no reason why we should have any problems, but offers to run some quick/easy tests on both Chuck and I to rule out any problems.

Wednesday, March 01, 2006
Chuck and I decide to start working on expanding our family with a baby. I see my dr. for my yearly check-up and she sees no reason why we shouldn't be successful and gives us the go ahead.