Where has time gone?

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...

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--

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

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....

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

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

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

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....

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

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....

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....

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

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!

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....

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!