Christmas in Hoffman

On Saturday morning we headed out for our Krusemark Christmas in Hoffman. We got eight more inches of snow on top of the already 18 that we received the two days before so this made driving really difficult. The roads were not good driving up to their house. We didn't see any pavement on the roads until we got past Morris which is about an hour away from Montevideo. I drove about 25 miles per hour the whole way there. On our way there Brad noticed that his wedding ring was missing. He thinks it fell off in the Wal-Mart parking lot when he was clearing off all of the snow on my car/windshield. So, now we will be looking for a new ring for him.

We arrived safe at grandma Deb & papa Jerry's house. We waited for Scott & Missy to arrive and then sat down for a turkey dinner. After dinner we opened gifts. Emmy loves her books and dolly/stroller. She walks around with them non stop. All of the grandkids received new jammies...Emmy has a little growing to do though. Her jammies don't quite fit yet.

Shelby, Madi Jo, Ellie & Maya

Ellie, Will, Papa Jerry, Shelby, Emmy, Grandma Deb, Madi Jo, Maya

Scott, Will, Missy & Ellie

Maya, Christy, Madi Jo, Shelby, Tony

Brad, Gina & Emmy

Jammie Time

Christmas With Grandma Linda

We spent Christmas Day with my mom at her house. She had the dining room table all filled up with goodies. It reminded me of all the times we used to go to Grandma Hazel's house and grandma had so much food on the table. Grandma would always say, "Oh it's just a little bit of this and that...not much."

My mom has steered away from a traditional Christmas dinner because my brother is such a picky eater. One year we ate hot dogs...this was a long time ago, but yes, we ate hot dogs and no it was not because we were poor or anything, that's just how picky my brother is. The year before the hot dog dinner my mom went to all the trouble of making a nice corn beef meal and we all wrinkled our nose. So she made a joke and said, "Next year we're eating hot dogs" and by God we ate hot dogs. So this year we ate tacos. However, she had lot of other food too...just like grandma. One can't ever have too much food.

After we ate our food, we all sat down to get ready for our annual scavenger hunt. My mom likes to hide our gifts around her house. She again did not make a master list, so when we're searching it gets a little difficult if we can't find it and she can't remember where she put it. However, we all found our gifts this year and my mom even found all of hers.

We got my mom a new wind chime that she can hang outside and annoy the neighbors with. We also got her a "grandkids" frame so she can put her favorite pictures inside.

Emmy got lots of cute gifts & books. We are excited to read to her...she LOVES books. My mom finds some of the most unique gifts.

One of my favorite gifts this year was so special. My mom found my Christmas stocking that my grandma Gort made. I have been searching for this stocking for almost ten years!!! When I opened it I cried! Now I just need to find someone who will make stockings for Brad, Emmy and the new baby.

Christmas With Grandpa Brad

With the nasty snowstorm that was coming our way, we decided to get a head start and get to Monte a day early. We arrived for our holiday festivities on Wednesday afternoon just as the snow was starting to come down pretty good. The roads were a little slick coming out. I didn't want to chance it so I kept my speed down and let everyone pass us. It took us a little longer, but we arrived safe. We stayed at my brother's house until Saturday morning. Our first Christmas celebration was with my dad on Christmas eve night. The weather was really bad and we received a lot of snow this day so a lot of Christmas Eve church services were cancelled. Salem's 5:00 service was still on so Brad, Emmy and I went to that. The weather was so bad even the pastor wasn't able to attend. However, it was still a nice service as always.
After church we headed back to my brother's house for our annual king crab dinner with my dad. It was so yummy!
After dinner we all sat down and exchanged gifts. We got my dad a new coffee pot that he wanted. Emmy and Tyler gave him a coffee mug and a container of his favorite coffee.
Emmy received so many cute gifts!! Grandpa Brad had trouble putting Emmy's new stroller together...he put it all together and then had two screws leftover and then had to take it apart again just to put the two missing screws where they belonged.
She loves her new table and chairs, tea set, monkey, stroller & baby.

Ear Infection...Again

Brad brought Emmy back in to the clinic yesterday morning to recheck her ears. She still has her ear infection in both ears although it isn't as bad. The doctor told Brad that we should talk to our regular Pediatrician about putting tubes in her ears at Emmy's 18 month check up which is in February. She's on more medication for another 10 days and then I suppose we will go back for another check up on her ears.
Brad said that she also got her H1N1 booster shot yesterday. She's starting to realize what the doctor/nurse is now and starts crying immediately. Brad said she did really well in the beginning of the appointment and even sat like a big girl on her chair. The doctor checked her over and then left the room. The nurse came in to give Emmy her shot and Emmy started crying right away when she saw the needle.

Growing & Itching

My belly is getting bigger and my whole body is itching. I'm currently 26 weeks along. I scratch all the time even though I have lotion on. The other day I was scratching my belly and Emmy said Ooh, Ooh, Ooh and started scratching under her armpits. She thought I was trying to act like a monkey. She's so darn funny!!!!!

I'm feeling fine most days. I tried to cut out my Zofran all together and only lasted a week. I just couldn't take throwing up every day. I figured it was best to stay on it and cut the pill down to a quarter of a pill a day rather than risk getting dehydrated again and lose weight. The doctor that I saw two weeks ago says that this should be fine.

Sunday evening I came down with a 24 hour bug. I woke up at midnight with a terrible stomach ache, but was able to go back to bed. I woke up again at 2:00 and got sick for the rest of the night/day. I'm not sure if it was some kind of food poisoning or just a bug. I was running a slight fever but nothing too high. I was out sick until 9:00 pm last night. I woke up this morning feeling 100% much better.

I'm usually sleeping fine at night. Sometimes I wake up on my back and realize I should turn to my side...other than that, that's the only thing that keeps me up. Unless Emmy wakes up during the middle of the night too...then I'm up. Brad has been really good about getting up with her and letting me sleep.

Our Christmas was very nice with our families and I'm planning on putting up some posts and pictures later this evening.

New Words

Emmy has learned some new words/sounds recently. She has been saying daaaaaaa deeeeee for a while now. It's really cute when she calls for daddy this way...her little voice gets so high when she says the "deeee" part.
She has also learned a couple of new animal sounds. She says "Bah" for sheep and when I ask her what a monkey says, she says "Oooh, Oooh, Oooh" and scratches with both hands under her armpits. This gets mommy & daddy to laugh all the time.
She now says bye bye as well and loves to wave and say Hi to herself in the mirror.

Lately she has been into everything and it seems like the terrible twos are coming a bit early...yikes!!!

We are getting excited to celebrate Christmas with her this year. She is excited about opening gifts - she has already opened one under the tree - it was a present that was not hers. So we've been busy trying to keep all of them away from her. For the most part, she leaves them alone. She's still more fascinated with the bulbs on the tree. She walks up to them and says "Ball."

Little Beauty

Brad had a full day with Emmy as I laid motionless on the couch. I have come down with a terrible cold. It's been about a week now and I thought it was getting better but then it settled in my chest. I had a doctor appointment downtown Mpls yesterday and the doctor said that I have a sinus infection as well. I've had a terrible cough and have been taking Robitussin DM. I would be feeling much better but I somehow have a huge kink in my neck and cannot move around a whole lot.
Brad had a big day with Emmy and as he was in the shower, she was playing and found some of my old eye shadow. Brad said that she grabbed one of my tampons and started to rub it into the eye shadow and then applied it to her face. :)

Triple Espresso - Round 2

Last year for Christmas we gave Brad's parents a gift certificate to see Triple Espresso. Well, we finally all went to see it last Saturday (almost a year later). I had already seen it with my mom, but thought Deb & Jerry would really enjoy seeing it too. I really didn't mind seeing it again. I knew what the skits were about, but I forgot about a few of them. We all had a really great time. Cousin Jen watched Emmy for us while we went to the show.

Emmy & Santa

Last Friday I took Emmy to the Mall of America to see Santa. She kept watching him as he would walk by us. Santa said he would walk around the corner for a bit so I put Emmy down on the little rocking chair that they had for the kids. They gave Emmy a book and then Santa snuck in behind her. She didn't even know he was there.
This place does a wonderful job! Santa does a great job with the kids! And...There are literally no lines!!!

All I Want For Christmas Is...

A vacuum. This is what Emmy put down on her list at daycare. She came home with a drawing which had a sticker of a vacuum on it. At the top it says, "All I want for x-mas is..." I think this is funny because she absolutely hates our vacuum at home. She cries at the top of her lungs when we vacuum the floor. She doesn't even like to walk by it when it's not running. So for her to want a vacuum for x-mas made me laugh.

Santa

Yesterday when I went to pick Emmy up at daycare, she walked over to one of Dar's holiday decorations, pointed at it and said, "Santa!" I was so excited and shocked. She must have picked it up from the night before when we went to Lowe's and saw the life size musical Santa. We brought her over by it but she didn't like it very much. We told her it was Santa, so she must have remembered. I think this is one of the bigger words she has said so far.
I hope she doesn't get scared of him when we go visit Santa tomorrow at the mall.

Time Out

Last night was our first try at "Time Out" with Emmy. She has been pulling the bulbs off of our Christmas tree. We only decorated about 3/4 of our tree. The bottom 1/4 is empty because we knew Emmy would get into them. I'm sure it looks goofy to people when they walk in and see a half decorated tree.

She is a little climber and gets on the couch and reaches for the higher bulbs. She has already broken three bulbs. We tell her no, but she doesn't listen. So, last night we put her in the corner and sat her on a little stool. She didn't take Brad seriously at all. She actually laughed at him...A LOT. I couldn't keep a straight face and had tears rolling down my face from laughing so hard. I know, I shouldn't laugh, but it was so hard not to while hearing her giggle at him. Brad couldn't keep a straight face either.

Emmy kept getting up from her stool. Each time she got up Brad said no to her and then brought her back to the corner. She wouldn't listen to him so I stepped in and became the enforcer. She stayed in the corner on her stool and cried the entire minute. I explained to her why she was in the corner. Brad said, "How do you get her to listen to you?" I told him that he was too much of a softy with her and she knows it. It's not like I am mean, I just use a tone in which she knows mama means no.

When her minute was up (one minute per age), I told her that she was able to get up and she stood up and gave me the biggest hug ever. She cuddled with me the rest of the night.

Most say to only use time out at an age when they understand what's going on. Emmy definitely knows what's going on and understands most things. She has caught on really quickly to everything. She understand what no means, but sometimes pushes our buttons to see how far she can get.

Fold Your Hands & Pray

Emmy has learned how to pray when we sit down to eat dinner.  The last couple of weeks she has been working on it and loves to pray.  She prays all the time now. 

She's also learned how to say "Hi."  She says hi and waves. 

Sick Little Girl

Emmy came down with a bad cough & high fever Thursday night.  We kept and eye on her all night and took her temperature a hundred times.  Well, probably not that much, but we did take it a lot.  She had a fever of 102.8 and a really bad cough.  I gave her some Tylenol every four hours.  She didn't sleep very well Thursday night and her breathing was really rapid.  Her fever kept going up and down all day.  I brought her into the doctor on Friday because I thought she might have symptoms of the H1N1.  She was really coughing hard, had rapid breathing, had diarrhea, was really zombie like and just wasn't herself.  The doctor checked her over and said that her breathing sounded normal.  I'm not sure how he could even hear it over her loud cries in the exam room.  He then checked her ears and made a really disgusted look and said her left ear was really bad and then looked into her right ear and said that one was even worse.  Here we go again.  I'm not sure if I can put her through this again.  Another winter of ear infections??  Great.  He wrote us a prescription for Omnicef which we are to give her once a day for ten days.  After two weeks we are to bring her back in to get her ears rechecked.  I think I'm going to make an appointment with her normal doctor to talk to her about tubes, etc.  I don't want her to get tubes, but I'm not sure what else to do at this point. 

Emmy's been such a cuddle bug lately.  She wants to cuddle with me all the time and I'm not complaining at all.  Now Brad knows how I feel.  She's such a daddy's girl all the time.  I told him to take a picture of her cuddling with me the other night. 

Relaxing Birthday

Brad picked me up from work on Tuesday to take me out for my birthday lunch.  We ate lunch at Pei Wei near my office.  We had a nice quick lunch and then headed back to work.  After work I picked up Emmy at daycare and then we dropped her off at our neighbor's house so that Brad could treat me to a spa pedicure.  He even joined in on the fun.  After our pedicures we went out to eat at TGI Friday's with our neighbors.  Brad gave me a nice card and some new Gucci perfume that I've been wanting for about five years.  I love it!  Oh...and last week he spoiled me so that I could get my hair colored and cut by Colie.  :)  Yeah!  I love my hubby!!

These are some pictures of us putting up our tree the other night. 

Hockel Christmas 2009

Here's a few pictures from our Christmas celebration with Brad's grandparents.  I didn't get many pictures.  These are very random.

 

Thanksgiving

We stayed around town for Thanksgiving and had a nice relaxing day. I actually just made a pot of chili for the three of us. We wanted something quick & easy. We got a few things done around the house and then left on Friday afternoon to celebrate Christmas/Thanksgiving with Brad's grandparents in St. James, MN. They are leaving for Arizona in a week and will be there until next spring.

We played games and ate until our bellies couldn't hold anymore food this weekend.

I didn't do any of the Black Friday shopping this year. I dislike crowds and long lines so decided to skip it this year.

We put up our Christmas Tree last night. We started hanging bulbs and then Emmy reached inside the box and grabbed a bulb and placed it on the tree and then ran back to the box and grabbed another bulb. She's was a little helper! It was so darn cute!

No More Zofran

Last week my doctor said that I should be weaning myself off of the morning sickness medication. Up until last week I had been taking one pill every other day. The bottle says to take one pill three times a day. I have never taken three in one day.

This week I've been trying to quit taking them all together. I haven't had one for three days now. I didn't feel so hot this morning and ended up running to the bathroom. I hate getting sick. I still have not taken one and I feel like I'm hungover. Hopefully I can be strong & get through the rest of the day without taking anything.

Zofran is used to prevent nausea and vomiting that may be caused by surgery or by medicine to treat cancer (chemotherapy or radiation).

Zofran was tested 10 years ago on pregnant women and they found that it helped with severe cases of morning sickness.

New Kid On The Blog

Yesterday was my ultrasound appointment downtown Minneapolis. It was really neat to finally see our little peanut. This baby sure is a mover...wow! It kept moving and moving and moving. However, the ultrasound technician seemed to get all of her scans despite how much of a mover we have. She was really great at pointing out all of the body parts & organs. We got to see the baby yawn and actually watched it swallowing the amniotic fluid. That was really cool! It's amazing how much you can see on the screen...all the organs and body parts are there and it's a tiny little baby formed right in front of you. Right now I'm 20 weeks and the baby is probably only 1 lb and roughly 10 inches long.

We decided not to find out the sex of the baby. We thought that when we got in the ultrasound room we might change our minds...but I just want to have that moment at the end when it comes out. There is no other experience like it.

I am generally a planner, but this is one moment in life that cannot be replaced. Plus, we have a bunch of neutral things from when Emmy was born so we should be just fine.

Wow!!!

Emmy's new word is "Wow!" She really tries to copy everything that we do right now. Yesterday, Brad's parents came to our place for a visit. Emmy loves to play music so her and grandma were dancing in the kitchen. Grandma was moving her feet and Emmy was trying to copy her...it was pretty cute.

When we say "Fast Feet," Emmy will move her feet really fast and she has learned to be quite the jumper already!

Lately Emmy has been waking up during the night. She screams pretty loud like something really bad happened. When we go get her, she hugs us really tight and doesn't want to let go. I'm not sure if she had a nightmare or what is going on?? She had us up at 5:00 this morning. Someone put about $2 worth in her this morning. She was ready to play.

She loves to go bye bye. She runs to get her coat and shoes and thinks we are going outside all the time.

She is experiencing major frustration when a toy gets stuck and she can't get it out.

She knows how to point to her nose, eyes, ears & belly button when we ask her. She loves to tease daddy by poking her belly button. Daddy hates belly buttons!

New Living

We finally received our new furniture and it looks really, really nice!! It really filled the main living room in completely. We got a couch, love seat, comfy chair & ottoman, and a few tables. That night when I got home from work, Brad was itching to go get a new tv. He wanted a flat screen to go on the wall. I told him that we could go look at them, but we weren't going to buy anything. He actually listened for once. I told him to wait until the day after Thanksgiving because there would be tons of sales on tvs.

Well, I couldn't hold him off any longer when he found the Target flyer from the Sunday paper. He's been searching all of the electronic stores in our neighborhood. He went to Best Buy, Ultimate Electronics & Target and found a 42" that he liked at Target. We got it home and he set it up, but didn't like the sound coming out of the speakers. Also, he found out that his coworker can get a discount because his wife is employed by Target Corp. Brad's coworker came over last night, they packed up the tv, brought it back to Target, and got a different one with a discount. This tv is a 40" Sony. It's better and with the discount, was about the same price as the other one. It was discounted $150 & then he got another employee discount on top of that. What a nice friend to give us his discount!

The tv looks nice but Brad still has a little work to do to get it up on the wall. Please pray that my husband doesn't knock the whole wall down during this project!

I Am Lion, Hear Me Roar!!!

Last weekend we went back to Monte to take in the Halloween festivities around town. My mom was hosting a Halloween party for the little kids at the American Legion. The ladies put on a nice party for the kids and had fun games & prizes for all ages. Emmy wasn't quite sure what was going on, but loved to see all the kids running around.

We dressed Emmy up as a lion and she was in character making her loud roar sound all day long.

After the Legion party we scooted across the highway to Luther Haven to visit the folks at the nursing home. We visited with a few people and Emmy filled up her bucket with candy real fast. She doesn't even know about it yet. I'm actually hiding it from her because I know she will get into it if it's left out. She loves chocolate.

I mentioned in an earlier post that Emmy has an ear infection. Well, on Saturday morning as I was grabbing something out of the diaper bag, I noticed that Emmy's whole bottle of medication had leaked out into the bag. I called her clinic in Minneapolis right away to have them send in a refill to the Wal-Mart pharmacy in Monte. When we went up to get the prescription, we were told that our insurance company would not give us the refill due to loss, damaged or spilled medication and the fact that it was too soon of a refill. This makes me so mad. Ugh!! We ended up going back to my mom's house and tried to get enough of the medication out of the bottle to give her one more dose until we could get back to Minneapolis and get her a new prescription. The pharmacist at Wal-Mart suggested that we take her to urgent care in the cities the next day (Sunday). I ended up giving her Dimatap which was recommended by a nurse friend of mine. I called Emmy's doctor on Monday morning and told them the situation. They gave us a totally different prescription, Augmentin...which last time Emmy got really sick on. However, she seems to be doing well this time. She will be on Augmentin for another 10 days. By then, I will take her back in to the clinic to get her ears rechecked.

Teva Marie

I would need volumes to describe the joys of the 15 years with Teva.

I brought her home during my first year of college in St. Cloud. I lived by myself at the time and wanted a cat so I answered an ad for a free cat at Petco. I went to pick up this petite, gentle grey & white tabby at an apartment in St. Cloud and learned from the lady that she was giving Teva away because her brother, the owner, was abusing the cat. She wanted to give the cat a better life and give her to a family that would take care of her and give her the life that she deserved. Teva was full grown when I got her and I was never really told what her age was. I just assumed that she was around a year old.

She was the most loveable cat & cuddled with me every night. She loved every chance to scoot outdoors and wander the neighborhood.

When we moved to our new house in Maple Grove, she didn't get to go outdoors as much because we let her outside one day and she got lost. She was gone for one month. Brad and I went out several days/nights to search for her and placed flyers in the neighborhood. After receiving several calls from the same area, we went out at midnight and found her about a mile away from our house. It was a total miracle that we found her. She came running to me and jumped in my arms!!

Teva has gotten me though so many rough patches in my life. It sounds corny to say that a cat can get you through something, but she sure did. She was really like my own child at the time...she was my family, my best friend.

About four years ago, Brad and I were getting ready to go back to Montevideo for the weekend. We had an appointment to get our engagement pictures taken. Brad wanted to fluff up his shirt that he was going to wear for the pictures - so he threw it in the dryer not knowing that Teva was asleep inside. I was in the shower at the time and kept hearing this loud noise. I hurried in the shower, got dressed and ran out to see what the noise was. I opened the dryer door and Teva ran out. She was severly burned and had lost a lot of oxygen. We rushed her to the vet and the vet told us that it didn't look good. She mentioned that this is a common occurrence and that she has never seen a cat survive a dryer accident. About an hour later our phone rang and it was the vet telling us that Teva was doing well and eating out of her hand. We were shocked beyond belief.

She was alive but had kidney & liver damage. We had to give her medication and put cream on her ears and paws.

Through the next four years she saw the vet a few more times. The last few times the vet told us that Teva had a heart murmur and had hyperthyroidism. She was getting old and since I really didn't know her true age I just had to guess that she was around 15 years old. Her eyes were starting to get glossy and she stopped using her litter box.

I had to say goodbye to my dear friend Teva of 15 years. Last Friday was by far the hardest day of my life. It was hard to make the decision to end her life even though I knew that there was no hope. I arranged to pay the bill before going into the backroom with her. I didn't want to have to deal with finances afterward. The staff at TLC Cat Clinic were so amazing and caring.

I was right next to Teva telling her how much I loved her as they put her to sleep. She went limp and was gone within a few seconds. I stroked her lifeless body and whispered in her ear, told her how much I was going to miss her, and thanked her for the last 15 years.

My brother Scott made a box for her and we buried her at my grandma's farm.

I love & miss you Teva Marie! You were the best cat ever!!

15 Month Check Up

Brad took Emmy to her doctor appointment last week. She weighs 22 lbs & is 29 3/4". She remains in the 25-50% category and her head is 47.2 cm = 75-90%. She's a little top heavy. :)

We had the doctor check her ears again because we were noticing that Emmy was sticking her finger in her ears. Sure enough...a double ear infection. She had a cold two weeks ago so usually that leads to an ear infection. She is on Omnicef for 10 days.

She also got three shots, but hasn't received the H1N1 shot yet because it's not available to children yet.

These are some of the things that Emmy has learned and loves to do:

• Running & climbing up on everything.
• Scribbles with a crayon...although she loves to try and eat them as well.
• She is feeding herself with a spoon & fork.
• She loves to say ball and if we say kick the ball, she will kick it across the floor.
• Daddy taught her to whistle. She walks around the house and whistles all the time.
• She loves to jabber and loves to hear her voice echo in the garage or small rooms.
• Loves when daddy pushes the fire alarms.
• She points at everything and shakes her arms and says Wsat, wsat, wsat really fast.
• Tickle, Tickle, Tickle is one of her favorite things to say.
• The best thing to come home to is a little girl who runs into your arms, gives you a hug & pats your back...this just makes my day!
• She loves to repeat sounds & actions (i.e. fart/burp) to make us laugh.
• The tantrums have started and she will throw a fit & arch her back when she doesn't get her way.
• We have noticed that she has started organizing everything. She picks up things one by one and arranges them just so.
• She really likes to talk on the phone and calls grandpa Gort all the time.
• She imitates us and likes to wipe the table with a cloth.
• Stacking blocks are fun!

Giddy Up

Emmy loves to ride her horse. She's getting really good at it.

Getting So Big!!

This is her "Funny Bunny" face...

The Great Pumpkin Patch

Yesterday my brother and his family came down to the cities. It was Tyler's 15th birthday yesterday so they brought him and five of his friends to Valley Fair. They dropped the boys off at 2:00 and then headed to our house. We were just finishing up yard work when they arrived.

We brought Emmy to a pumpkin patch down the road from our house. We had so many pumpkins to choose from. I wanted to pick a small one for her but we couldn't find any small ones. Here's a picture below of Scott in search of finding the perfect one. We ended up picking two middle size pumpkins.

Uncle Scott brought Emmy over to see all of the animals. They had cows, goats, and baby kitties.

After the great pumpkin patch, we headed to Eden Prairie where Scott and Rachel were staying. We went to the mall and found a few items and even found a cute little table where Emmy could play with some crayons, etc. After the mall, we headed to Jake's for some dinner.

After dinner we went to their hotel until it was time for them to pick up the boys at ValleyScare. We wiped Emmy out because it's almost 11:30 today and she's still sleeping. I better go wake her up!!!

Scott looking for the great pumpkin.