Happy New Year

This year we rang in the new year by getting comfy on the couch and renting movies.  The third movie of the day/evening ended at around 11:40 so we watched some TV waiting for a count down to the new year.  I was changing channels at the wrong time and we actually missed the official "New Year" by a few seconds...oops :) Paul had got some ginger ale to toast at midnight, so we still had our toast a little late and then went to bed.  I did not stay awake until midnight last year, so I was glad that I made it until 12:05 this year :)

I am looking forward to all that 2012 will bring our family!  Our biggest change will come in July with the addition of a new little brother or sister for Emily!  Paul and I are so excited to meet our new little one, only 27 more weeks to go (not that I am counting down or anything).

Emily had her 15 month well baby check right before Christmas and she had a great check up, we just need to keep working on helping her gain weight but other than that everything is going well.  Emily was actually up to the 1% in weight at exactly 18 lbs.  She is still far from being on the growth curve for her weight but is now gaining slowly!  She was 29 1/4 inches long that puts her between the 20-25%.  She continues to change every day and just amazes us!  At 15 months Em has at least 50 words if not more, runs, does tons of pretend play with her baby dolls, is constantly jabbering and playing.  She still enjoys books, but would rather you read out loud while she walks around and does her thing.
Sleep continues to be a battle at our house, we have our good weeks but those are followed by several bad ones...Even during a "good" week she still wakes twice at night but will at least go back down to bed without many tears.  Our more trying nights are her waking almost every hour and lots and lots of tears (like crying for an hour before going back to sleep) and long days with cranky Mom and Em.  These bad nights a usually due to days of mucous stools and once we figure out what was triggering it and get her to feeling better we get sleep back on track until the next flair up...I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to stay home with Em, I do not mind waking at night - I feel bad for Em that she is in so much discomfort at times.  I am glad that I can comfort her when needed and we can just take it easy the next day.  

I had some bleeding last week, so I saw midwife at UIHC and an ultrasound was done to check everything out.  Baby looked amazing (measuring 5 days larger) but my placenta has a small tear that they will keep an eye on.  All should be fine :)

Opening presents at my parents house

Decorating the Christmas Tree at my parents house the weekend before Christmas

Emily really liked the ornaments 

Em being Em :)

Em LOVES her new stroller she got from Santa

We had a wonderful Christmas, we were able to visit Paul's family all in the Rockford, IL. area it was very nice to spend time with them, as we only get to see them once every few months.  Emily even met some family for the first time!  Emily really got the hang of opening gifts by the end of the long weekend.  It was nice to see Grandpa and Grandma Jorgensen several times over the  last few weeks with my mom being on break from school and my dad taking some extra vacation days around Christmas.  Em loves spending time with "Gapa" and "Gama" and uncle Ethan and Tally the dog are big hits too :)