Oh Christmas Tree

We enjoyed our visit to Utah, but it felt so nice to be home! We jumped right in and started decorating the house for Christmas. The kids were very eager to help and make the house look "just right."

The stockings were put to a literal use rather than a decorative use. (Only for about 5 seconds before "no-fun mom" ripped them off- those are some serious family treasures that Bryan's mom makes for each family member.) 

The newest gun at the Nielson residence. It "fixes" bad lights or finds the one bulb that is causing the problem. Revolutionizes hanging Christmas lights.

Decorating the Christmas Tree.

One needs to be creative when limited on vertical space for ornaments.

Perfect.

This video is a typical home video-nothing too thrilling. It does capture me saying, "Christmas 2015." Yikes. The sleep deprivation and prego brain struggle is real.

 

Santa Claus is Coming to Town...

on a Firetruck! That's right. My hometown, put on quite the show for the arrival of Santa Claus. I couldn't get Emma within 2 feet of Santa and Luke wasn't convinced that he needed to sit on his lap. I'll be honest, not my favorite Santa and I think Luke's face in one of the picture's below sums up his thought on this impostor.

By the Courthouse, they have miniature houses with various displays in them. Most of the displays are very well done and cute, a few others are just down right creepy. The kids were more into the displays this year than last. The fact that it was 50 degrees instead of 10 degrees also helped.

Thanksgiving

We had so much to be thankful for this year. As I mentioned in the last post, our lives were quickly given a different perspective. A much improved perspective of things that really matter.

Things like really big piles of leaves to play and jump in. :)

I don't know what I was thinking (or not thinking), but I don't have one single picture from actual Thanksgiving Day. Huh. There were lots of cousins-Luke and Emma were in heaven.  Lots of food-I was in heaven. It felt so good to be surrounded by family.

Luke and Emma met their 2 newest cousins. Sadie was a good sport and let Emma "hold her" for a few  minutes. Gave me a terrifying glimpse of the extra-helpful hands I will have when Myles joins our circus. 

Emma was all about snuggling baby Lainey…until the baby woke up. :)

Oh Luke, he would have packaged up Tom and Staci's dogs for an early Christmas gift to himself. 

It was a great Thanksgiving and one that will not be easily forgotten, even if I did forget to take a picture.

With Time

I kept holding off writing this post, because I kept thinking it would get easier to write about the recent events with Emma. But, even as I start typing I can feel my eyes filling with tears. Tears of gratitude, worry and happiness.  It's hard to know how much to share in regards to this experience. While this is a far cry from the whole story, it is a glimpse into the last month.

Emma started having seizures a month ago. Talk about turning your world upside down. I quickly gained a different perspective of my children and the blessings, as well as difficulties, that come with motherhood. It was terrifying, to say the least, to watch my child go completely limp and only slightly nod or shake her head in response to us. It broke our hearts watching Emma be poked and prodded for the various testing even if it was 100% necessary. We asked family members and close friends to keep Emma in their prayers and fasts as we searched for answers. I know that Heavenly Father heard those prayers and blessed Emma, our family and the medical professionals we came into contact with throughout this experience.

Through tender mercies, we were able to get Emma's MRI scheduled in Utah the day before Thanksgiving, a month sooner than we could in California. A few days before her scan, she spiked a fever of 104. She had no other symptoms, but they would not sedate her for the scan if she had a fever. The morning of the scan, she still had a low-grade fever, but we decided to go and see what they would say. When they took her vital signs, she did not have a fever, not even a low-grade one. I know that Heavenly Father was more than aware of our little girl. After the scan, the Neuro-Radiologist came over to give us the news that we'd been praying for-everything was completely normal:  No tumor, no lesions, no malformations. He came directly over because of a "friend of a friend" connection. Otherwise, we would have waited until 5 days later when we met with Emma's doc in California.  I need to mention how incredible Bryan has been with all of this. He has been my rock. He is such a good man and incredible father.

I can't even begin to put into words how I will forever remember the gratitude in my heart this Thanksgiving for Emma, family, prayer and a knowledge that Heavenly Father is aware of the details in my life. We still don't have complete answers at this time for why Emma has seizures. For now, we don't need those answers. Her Neurologist feels confident with all of her test results that Emma will most likely outgrow the seizures. If the seizures change, then our plan will change. For now, I'm just trying to hold my children a little closer, hold my tongue a little more and hold onto the little things in life with my kids that I've learned can so quickly change.

We put a video monitor in Emma's room to help us monitor for seizures. The fun part about this is to see what she's really been up to when I thought she was sleeping!

Bryan said, "that's creepy" when he found out I snapped a pic of him with the video monitor. I only took the picture and post it here to reiterate my point of him being such a good man. To say that I was restless or worried at night about Emma would be quite the understatement. Bryan would sleep on Emma's floor to ease my mind. He did this for quite awhile.

Bryan stayed with Emma until she was completely sedated for her MRI. He was stronger than me-It was too much for this mama's heart. Again, so grateful for Bryan and his ability to know how and when he is most needed.

As we were going through all of the testing, one night the kids decided to read each other their bedtime stories. Love this picture and the memory. Love these kiddos.

G&G Kotter: Friday and Saturday

Friday we headed to Apple Hill. The Fall colors were out and it was nice to see that everything wasn't just dying! We tried a new orchard, El Dorado, for the train ride. Let's just say this orchard has the market on "train rides" and makes Disneyland look like it could be decent deal. :) 

We had our picnic at 'Rainbow Orchards' and enjoyed the quiet, sunny setting. We perused the apples, and made our hot apple cider donut purchases (again, the food thing). The kids played for quite awhile on the tractors and straw bales. 

Our last stop was 'High Hill'. The apple press captivated all of us, even Emma's doll. We continued to stroll down the road and found a kiddie playground that entertained the kids until I pulled them away. There was also a "Fudge Factory" that may have claimed some of our business. I thought with "Factory" in its name, there might be more behind the scenes, but nope---just lots and lots of chocolate and fudge. 

That night, my parents watched the kids so Bryan and I could go to the temple. It was our first time inside the Sacramento temple. It was beautiful and so peaceful.

Saturday, grandma and grandpa flew back on the airplane. I was pleasantly surprised with how well Emma and Luke were doing with the airport drop-off. Well, as soon as the doors were closed and we were driving away, the flood gates opened. Luke was so distraught. He made me promise that I would help him make a paper chain so he would know when he could see them again. That tugged on my heart strings. We love our family.

G&G Kotter: Wednesday and Thursday

Wednesday, we hit up one of our favorite places to show people: Old Town Sacramento and the Train Museum. This prego also makes sure that we include our mini-donut and salt water taffy stop  (thank you Elizabeth) as part of our day here. 

We finished off the day with Luke's last soccer practice and made our own individual pizzas with Rhodes Rolls. I was pleasantly surprised with how yummy they tasted and easy they were to assemble (even with kids). I would switch to convection bake and pop a few trays in at a time for the next go-around. Bryan was out of town on business Monday-Wednesday, it was nice to have him back!

Thursday was a busy morning with the usual routine and then we had a laid-back afternoon. That evening we went to our friends' mandarin orchard and "picked" (you actually clip them off the branch) some of the most juicy and delicious mandarins. 

After we soaked in the sunshine and citrus we headed to Taylor's, a local hamburger and milkshake joint. Have you noticed how much of my entertaining involves food??? It was such a simple night, but easily one of the highlights of the trip.

G&G Kotter: Tuesday

We dropped off Luke at preschool, then "the girls" went out for a little fun. We hit up the local shopping: Target, Ross and TJMax. To top things off, we tried the local donut shop, "The Pink Box." YUM! Definitely a good choice. 

We picked Luke up from preschool and headed to a nearby park for a picnic and watched the trains roll by.

That night we headed to 'Food Truck Mania'. The timing was perfect and the trucks were in Lincoln.  I can't remember exactly what we ordered…heart attack in a basket??? Delicious. The kids loved playing in the plaza after dinner. Great evening.