Short Visit in Dallas and Our Week at Home

After we talked to our surgeon and they scheduled surgery for April 21st, we got to go home for a little over a week. Emery and I stopped in Dallas to stay with my sister and her family and David drove down with his mom. We stayed a couple of nights in Dallas and then David and I drove our baby girl home for the first time in over three months. It was so good to go home even if it was just for a week! Emery was great in the car - slept for a few hours and then was happy to sit and play in her car seat. We were so thankful she didn't mind the long drive from Dallas to Amarillo!

Here is sweet Elle giving Emery kisses. It was hilarious trying to get a picture of these two. Elle was very patient while Emery was moving all over the place! We tried to get one of Elle holding Emery but none of them really came out.

Emery tasting Elle's baby doll!

Emery not really wanting to be held by Aunt Sarah! I thought her face was pretty priceless here!

Emery on her way home for the first time in over three months! Such a good traveler!

Emery's new obsession is playing with her feet. Here she is in her room grabbing her feet and growling! She's a funny girl!

Niki and Maddie came over to play! Emery and Maddie had so much fun playing on the floor together. There was lots of hand holding and staring going on. Niki and I just loved watching our girls together. They're sure to be bff's real soon!

Serious girls.

We had a little get together over at Niki's house for me and Emery. It was so good to see my girlfriends and their babies. We look forward to lots more play time this summer! In the pictures is Hilary and Channing, Jennifer and Saylor, Me and Emery, Niki and Madeline.

Lindsay missed the first picture, but here she is holding Emery and I have her little boy, Gray. Lindsay just had her second baby yesterday morning! We now have seven little girls in our group of friends and one more on the way! We can't wait for all of the slumber parties we are going to have with all these girls!

We had a birthday dinner for me and David over at Bo and Rosanne's while we were home. It was so good to see all of the family who by the way were all wearing Emery's Army t-shirts. I wish we would have gotten a picture of them all. Here's David's grandma Joan holding Emery. Emery had a good time seeing all of her Amarillo and Pampa relatives that she hadn't seen in so long. It was a wonderful night, but she was a little tired and grumpy by the end of it!

We were thrilled to have a week at home before heading back to Houston for surgery. It was so fun to be home with Emery and to get to enjoy her room and my own bed! The week flew by pretty quickly before we had to head back. Surgery was scheduled for April 21st but it got moved up to the 19th. We were happy with the date change because that just meant we'd get it over with sooner and I'd have a couple more days with her at home before I had to return to work. Surgery post coming soon!

Last few days in Houston

It has been a long time since I have posted! Here are some pictures of our last few days in Houston before we went home for our week long vacation.

Here's Emery worn out after playing in her hospital crib. She was rolling around and fell asleep with her little caterpiller.

Here she is back at Lauren and Dan's house in Katy. She enjoyed hanging out on the quilt Dan's aunt Angela made for her and soaking up some sun. The lucky girl was happy to be missing out on all of the snow in Amarillo!

Whatcha looking at mom?

Playing with her favorite doll. Usually she is trying to eat her face!

Lauren's parents, Mike and Tish are so much fun! We got to hang out with them several times while we were in Houston and they actually were Emery's first baby sitters, besides family. They are terrific parents and have always been so wonderful to us. Every time they would come over, Mike was always the first one to want to hold Emery. He needs a little grand-daughter!

Lauren and Emery after dinner one night. Hudson, their chocolate lab wanted to be included in the picture as well. They have four big labs. Emery just loved them!

Here are Dan and Lauren with Emery. They had a lot of fun trying to get her to laugh for them and were my assistants when we had to do Emery's dressing changes. They were so much fun to stay with for as long as we did. We miss them tons and can't wait to see them again the end fo May.

Well, that's it for the end of our Houston pictures. More to come!

Emery Update

Sorry, I haven't done any updates lately. Emery had her MRI and CT scans the end of March and they showed that her tumor is another 40% smaller! It has also come completely out of her spine! We couldn't be happier! Our doctor was just as excited and is looking forward to Emery being completely cancer free really soon. We are scheduled for surgery April 21st. Emery's surgeon is one of the best in the nation at removing Neuroblastomas. We are so thankful he is going to be performing the surgery. I hate that it even has to happen but to have such an experienced surgeon is very comforting. He said to expect a 5-7 day stay in the hospital for recovery. She'll have a chest tube again which I am not looking forward to but hopefully it won't have to be in for too long. We are so happy this crazy journey is coming to an end. It will be so great to return to Amarillo the end of this month completely cancer free. I can't believe three months have gone by since Emery was diagnosed. David and I were just talking about it yesterday with my sister and Miles. We have had such different experiences throughout this whole ordeal. I think the past three months have flown by - driving back and forth to the hospital and taking care of Emery has kept me busy. David, on the other hand says that it has felt like an eternity. The poor thing has been so busy with work, the house, our dogs and flying to Houston every weekend. I'm sure he is absolutely exhausted! He is more than ready to have us home! Speaking of, we are currently in Dallas at Sarah's house and are heading home tomorrow. Emery and I drove in yesterday from Houston and David arrived last night with his mom who is visiting her sister. David and I plan to hit the road tomorrow during Emery's naptime - she slept the whole way from Houston to Dallas but this trip is a couple of hours longer. I hope we are lucky enough to get a few hours into the drive before she wakes up! We will spend a little over a week at home and then we are planning on flying back to Houston a day or two before surgery. It will be good to spend another night or two with our Houston roomies, Dan and Lauren. It was so sad saying goodbye to them Wednesday night. They have made the past three months so easy for me and Emery. We couldn't be more thankful for such great friends.

So, that's the plan for now. We will have a relaxing and restful week at HOME and then head back to Houston for surgery. Emery can't afford to get sick before surgery so we will have to limit the amount of people we are around while we are home. :( We will have plenty of time to see everyone once she is home for good though, I promise! We are so looking forward to being back in Amarillo and catching up with everyone. Thanks again for the incredible support and prayers over the past three months. We can't believe we are so close to the end!