Our 3 kiddos

Just wanted to post some cute pictures of the kids. It was right after they had a shower and were all in a good mood still. Emmaline was being a little cranky but that was probably because Lillian was holding her and she recognized the difference.

 2 out of 3 is good for smiles, right???

 Even in her newborn clothes she was still able to weasel her leg out of her pajamas'. Her little foot is just hanging out!! So cute. 

The kids both loved to play with my musical animals. This is one of them!

Santa Claus came to Visit

8 days after Emmaline was born my Sister-in-law had Santa Claus come over to a friend in their ward's house. Let me preface this by explaining why. My niece attends the same school that her mom works at and this year the kindergarten class was having a Santa Claus come and visit. Unfortunately the space was limited and u, if memory serves me right, had to sign up for. Well my SIL did that, right away in fact only to find out that Jenna wasn't chosen and that some other teachers who's kids weren't even in Kindergarten or at the school were included. Well as you can imagine that would be pretty hard for a five year old to handle. Jenna was quite upset!! Thankfully her mom has some good connections from all the times her father (who was an AMAZING Santa Claus) dressed up as Mr. Claus. She called one of her dad's old Santa buddies and he agreed to come pay a visit (for a small nominal fee.) Well eventually it turned into a little bigger than just us and my SIL's two kids and was moved to a member's home in their ward. All together I think there were about 13 kids there ranging in ages from 2 to 11 (give or take a couple of years.)
Since Emmaline was still too new I left her home and took advantage of the chance to get away, (Brandon didn't want to drive in the pouring rain), and brought Lillian and Preston. It was quite an adventure, the area we were driving to was in a lower area of Ontario so there were quite a lot of streets flooded. It was also night time and the street wasn't bright enough for me to find the street numbers, or maybe they were simply covered with water. Anyway, it took me a few minutes to find the place and then we had to part around the corner on a separate street because the member's home was on a street you couldn't park on. I parked on the higher end of the street to avoid any problems that might come up, unfortunately that meant we still had to cross it. Let's just say our pants and feet got a little wet, mine more then the kids but still we were a little damp when we got to the house and it wasn't a far walk at all!! LOL But then I did say it was pouring!!!
Lillian quickly found out why we were there and was even more excited then just seeing her cousins. The kids played and visited for awhile while we waited for Santa to arrive. I wish I could have taken a picture of the kids faces when he arrived. It was truly picturesque!! They all enjoyed visiting with him and listening to what he told them. Then it was time to tell him what they wanted. Lillian did her best to wait her turn and was very relieved when her turn came.

 Aunt Cami had little gift bags that she had prepared for all the kids. Johnathan the elf passed them out. :)

 Telling Santa she had been a good girl this year, and kept her room clean and made her bed.....(mommy clearing her throat)!!

 Such a cute picture of them! I love it!!

Santa gave a candy cane to each of the kids!!

 Preston was a little more reserved. He still has problems letting some of our own immediate family hold him. So I knew that a complete stranger, regardless of who it was, was out of the question. Santa talked to him for a couple of minutes, I told him what he liked and wanted, he gave him his candy cane, a quick photo and that was it for him!! At least it turned out cute!! Maybe next year he will be better.

Johnathan, Jared (Brandon's brother), Jenna, Santa Claus and Cami (Sister-in-Law)

HOHOHOHOH Merry Christmas!! It was a great evening and Family Home Evening activity!! Thanks Cami and Jared the kids had a wonderful time!!

Getting our tree!!

The day after we brought Emmaline home we decided to decorate our tree!! One of things we had gone and done the Friday before she was born was to go out and get a tree!! My parents watched the kids while Brandon took me out, even though I still felt miserable, to pick a tree. But with all the commotion of Saturday's events we never got a chance after that to decorate it. So Thursday night Brandon got the lights and the party began!! The kids enjoyed trying to "help" Daddy and he well let's just say he viewed the entire ordeal a little differently!! ;) We all enjoyed gathering around the tree and putting all of the decorations I have been collecting over the last 9+ years on the tree. When it was finished, I couldn't believe how much stuff I actually had. For the last 6 years we had been putting up some of our stuff along with Brandon's parents stuff on their Christmas tree. Brandon's mom has also been contributing to our collection over the years too. I owe a lot of my Snowman ornaments to her, and yes I collect Snowman ornaments. But I also enjoy other decorations too. Our tree turned out beautifully and we all loved having it. The kids really enjoyed taking "their" decorations off and on, after playing with them first of course.

 They loved the Santa and Elf hats daddy got last Christmas!!

 My little silly girl!!

 Putting on the lights!!

 Little, little Emmaline sleeping!! Awwwww!!! She was so small I had to get a few newborn clothes because the 0-3month clothes were way too big.

 So stinkin cute!! I believe he is holding one of the ornament boxes.

 My handsome little man!!

 Awake baby!!

 More "helping!" Hehehehe!! or should I say HOHOHO!!

 Our tree!! (with the lights on)

With the lights off!!

 My girls!! Snuggling time!!

 I love my kiddos!

 Just precious!!

 Me and my little Miss Emmaline!

 So glad my little baby is home for Christmas!!

Leaving NICU

Wednesday morning finally arrived. At the time it had felt like forever before that day came. But in reality it wasn't very long. The day before I had spent my time being chauffeured around by my dad (Brandon had both sets of my car keys) to and from the hospital so that I could be there for her day feedings. I was still trying to nurse her and it was becoming very clear that she was going to be difficult. I am sure getting a bottle from them was not helping either. I would try for a good 15 -20 mins on one side (she seemed to favor one over the other) and then when it came time to switch she would have nothing to do with it. It was quite frustrating to me. I didn't understand why she was struggling with it. So after 30 mins or so the nurse would bring in the bottle and I would feed her. Which I know must have confused Emmaline even further but I also wanted the time with her. They fed her every 3 hours on the dot. So afterwards I would go home and then return just before it was time to feed her again. It was a very long day, but it was worth it. The nurses and doctor were very helpful and informative. They were also very thorough. They ran all their test and such and found nothing wrong. They told us as long as none of the tests came back positive and she put on weight she would be able to go home. We prayed, and prayed and ultimately knew she would be fine. Weds morning arrived without any phone calls of distressing news. When I got there I wanted to try nursing her again, so the nurse did the exit procedure stuff with another family that was also taking their baby home. Unfortunately, they hadn't watched all the required videos, so they did that first and THEN she went through her check list. UGH Brandon and I had taken the time the evening before to watch those videos and go through most of the check list that we could so we didn't have to wait to take her home when she was ready. I arrived there around 9am and didn't leave until almost one!! It was great to spend the one on one time with Emmaline but I would have preferred to just take her home. The one thing that really got on my nerves is that by the time I was ready to leave it was getting close to Emmaline's next feeding time. I knew it would only take me a few minutes to get to my parents and she could just wait. So while I went out to move my car to the front of the hospital the nurse held her for me. I was gone no more then five minutes, when I walk in I see her feeding Emmaline a bottle!!! She says she was getting fussy and probably hungry. Really lady??? U knew I would be right back and that I could feed her at home!!!! UGH. She told me she was just going to give her a little, but she sucked almost all of it down!! Seriously?!?! @#%$!! Anyway, thus began my WONDERFUL nursing adventure. In case you couldn't tell I am being completely sarcastic. But I digress, that part of the Emmaline saga is to be continued!
Being able to bring my baby girl home was the most wonderful gift ever. That Christmas, the only thing I wanted was my baby girl home with us and now I finally had her!! I know that Heavenly Father was watching over our little Angel. Monday evening my brother came out and together with Brandon they gave Emmaline a blessing. I know that our Heavenly Father lives and is my constant companion in everything I do whether it be trials or blessings he is there. Without him I know my life would be totally different. Though I was unable to be in the room while they gave her the blessing (Some malarkey about 2 guests per infant), I am grateful to have men in my life who honor the priesthood so they can bestow our Heavenly Father's blessings!!

 Dad and I in NICU holding Miss Emmaline

 I know it's dark but it was a really good picture of us!

 Little Emmaline

  All ready to go home, this is just after she was fed too. (Looks mighty content don't you think. :/ )  She is so adorable!! We love her so much. I can't believe that I have another girl!! Still a little shocked. But it was a great surprise, all orchestrated by my little Miss Emmaline!! Thanks!!

Emmaline's Arrival

Our newest addition to our little family was born Dec. 12th! From before she was born I knew that she had her own way of doing things and in her time. 2 days before I had her I awoke in the morning feeling absolutely miserable. To this day, I still can't really describe it. It was like I was nauseous, light headed, extremely fatigued all over my body all wrapped up together plus I was having intermittent contractions. I somehow managed to get the kids breakfast before crashing in bed again. They joined me an I let them watch cartoons. Thankful for the easy distraction.  After calling my mom, I decided to call out sick from work that day. My parents, thinking I was going to go into labor sometime that day came out and brought us dinner. Although my appetite was basically non-existent. A Jamba Juice chocolate berry smoothie sounded good. :) My mom spent the night (in case it happened in the wee hours of the morning). Saturday morning arrived without interruption. Even though my contractions were constant just not close enough. They were like every hour, pathetic I know. While I slept they decided too as well!! GRRRR So my mom and I decided that a little coaxing was needed. So off to do my last minute Christmas shopping it was!! First it was Target for a couple of hours at least. That was enough to start the contractions again. The rest of the day was spent going to different stores and parking as far away as possible so I could walk for the longest time possible. By evening they had gotten a lot closer together. So my mom came out again to spend the night thankfully!! The contractions had gotten close enough together that I was unable to really fall asleep. By around 3am I could no longer take the pain and felt that they were close enough together that I could be admitted. So I called the L & D and spoke to the nurse practitioner who felt that I wasn't progressed enough!! She said I shouldn't be able to talk through my contractions!!! Argghhhh I hate those nurses!!! She told me that my contractions needed to be 5-7mins apart lasting a minute. Um stupid lady it's my third child!!! Anyway she told me to wait another hour. Well I waited another freaking half an hour and Brandon woke to my discomforts. He told me to call but I refused because the stupid nurse didn't believe I was in active labor. So he called and the desk nurse told us to come in. We arrived around 4am with my contractions occurring every 4 mins and lasting well over a minute!! I was admitted after they did all their preliminaries!! I even happened to run into the idiot nurse who said I wasn't in "active labor." She was surprised to hear I was there!! Whatever lady, excuse me if I can handle pain better than most!! After they gathered my blood to my make sure it was safe to give me the epidural I finally got it. By now it was around 7:40am (don't ask how I remember the exact time, no clue) and the epidural was a welcomed relief. However, I think my left side got a stronger dose then the right. I was finally able to relax a little. A couple hours later, they said my contractions had slowed a little so they were going to give me some petocin. I literally got just a few drops of it and Bamb my contractions were back and in charge!! I could even feel them, although they were much more bearable. From there on it was just minutes. I began to feel the urge to push and quickly summoned the nurse who intern began getting everything prepped. She then came over and wanted me to give a little push to bring her into the right position. Well lets just say it worked a little too well and baby Emmaline was already crowning and all I did was push a little. The midwife quickly came in and got ready while the nurse held baby's head waiting for her. One and half pushes later and we had a baby GIRL!! I was beside myself with joy, and surprise as I had fully expected a little boy. She was a beautiful healthy little baby girl!! The only thing different from all my other deliveries was that Emmaline had to be aspirated a lot because she had got some of the amniotic fluid in her lungs. (We later attributed this to the breathing problem and the NICU visit.)

We love her already and her big sister and brother were so excited to see her. We weren't able to bring her home the following day because she was making some funny breathing noises when she ate or got too upset. So they wanted to admit her to NICU!! At the time, it was very difficult because no one knew why and the doctors were just being cautious. I was extremely emotional and could barely hold it together. She had passed all of her test and such. We both had our discharge papers and were basically ready to go. It was while she was with the nurse in the the little baby room doing her newborn screening that the nurse really noticed it. I had mentioned it previously when I tried nursing her but the other nurses weren't overly concerned. So our little bundle spend a day and a half in NICU while they monitored her. I hated seeing her with the IV and vitals' wires attached to her but it was just to monitor her. In the end nothing was found, she met all of their goals and she was able to come home Weds. morning instead of Monday afternoon. For me it was one of the most difficult things I have ever had to do. I can not even fathom having to do it longer than I did. But I guess in the end it is for the best!! Even now 7 months later reflecting on it brings a flood of those same emotions. At the time, we were so emotional that we barely told  anyway including our own family!! We both felt that she was fine and we knew the Lord was taking care of our little girl.

 These next few are of Emmaline right after she was born!!

 My ecstatic hubby/Daddy!!

 Preston meeting Emmaline for the first time. He was very curious and gentle.

 The second mommy in the house!! She adores her sister and is elated to have her.

 Trying to get this one to smile for the camera was impossible. But I happen to like this one anyway! Shows his little personality!!

 No mommy!! No more kisses!! (evil cackle hahaha)

 Preston holding Emmaline for the first time with Grandma Anne's help of course.

 Grandpa Mickelsen holding Emmaline for the first time!

 Grandma Anne holding a cranky baby Emmaline, (in fact that part hasn't changed. Don't let anyone get between her and the food or you have the above exhibit.) LOL

 Getting ready for her very first bath in the hospital!!  Below is a picture of my curly haired little girl!! She has more hair then Lillian did at birth and Lillian wasn't bald!! LOL

 Taken the next day in the morning!! Such a doll!!

 Daddy all freshened up. He went home to be with the kids and came back late in the Monday morning.

 Just hanging with my little baby girl!!

As it turned out we learned about a month later that she has reflux or gerd as it is sometimes refer to.  We believe as does her pediatrician that this was part of what caused the funny breathing the other being the aspiration of her nasal passages!! Of course it seems like their always has to be some extra doctors visit as a prerequisite to being a part of the this family so this is by no means the end of the story. My little miss Emmaline feels the need to make sure her presence is known!! Keep a look out for more Emmaline updates!!