4 months old!

Emery turned 4 months old on March 23rd! She is becoming such a big girl! She is rolling over now and is very, very busy. I definitely have my hands full these days trying to keep her entertained during the day!

Here are some pictures that David took this weekend. We have so much fun playing with her in the mornings. She is always so happy in the morning and loves to smile at us.







Here are somethings that Emery is doing now:

Rolling - Emery will roll onto her tummy now and will play for a few minutes before getting tired of it. She hasn't quite figured out that she can lay her head down and relax on her tummy! She still needs some help getting back onto her back sometimes. She is starting to really work those legs and looks like she'll be scooting along pretty soon!

Talking - Emery has started making so many fun noises. We love to hear her cooing and are still anxiously waiting for her to give us her first little giggle. She will get really excited and smile as big as possible but still no laugh!

Occupational therapy - Emery's therapists are so pleased with her head control, rolling, and overall strength. She has done really well for her therapists and surprisingly stays happy for the most part during her appointments. We are looking forward to seeing more improvement in her left hand and arm and know it's getting stronger every day.

Riding in the car - Emery still is a good traveler. I have to drive to Houston from Katy for all of our appointments and she has been doing so well. She will play with her toys and then fall asleep. I am so thankful for that!

Baths - Emery is finally okay with her sponge baths. I am so ready for her central line to be out so that we can give her real baths. I even gave her a bath at the hospital the other night by myself! Usually my mom or David have to keep her warm with the blow dryer the whole time!

Sitting and Standing - Emery wants to be upright all the time now. She wants to be sitting in your lap or standing in your lap at all times! This can get very tiring but her smile makes it all worth it! She is just too cute!

That's all I can think of for now! I can't believe another month has gone by. Hopefully we'll spend her 5 month birthday back in Amarillo!

Lots of Pictures!

Well, there has been a lot going on lately! Emery finished up her last round of chemo on March 13th. She did well as always! We didn't get to leave as early as we would have liked on Saturday so my mom and I ended up staying Saturday night at her friend's house and we headed to Dallas on Sunday for Spring Break. We got up early Sunday morning and got on the road. Emery was a perfect little angel and slept the entire way! She tends to sleep quite a bit right after chemo. Her are some pictures...

Sleeping in the hospital - 4th and final round of chemo!

Mom and Emery taking a little nap at Lauren and Dan's. This was sometime before the 4th round of chemo. We were so happy to get so much time with Gigi and are sad that she has gone home. It was so nice having my mom here to help me and keep me company. This has been a really long couple of months but she sure did help it go by quicker! Thanks mom for everything you did for us! We love you and hope you are having fun back home.

When we arrived in Dallas, Emery was in need of a diaper change and feeding so we quickly said hello to David, our friend Matt, and David's cousin Michael who were all at Sarah's house. I went to Sarah's room to change and feed Emery and when I came out, my best friend who I haven't seen in over two months, Niki was sitting on the couch with her baby, Madeline. I haven't seen Maddie since the day she was born and have never held her. I was so shocked! I immediately made her trade babies so that I could hold little Maddie. We had such a good time catching up and playing with the girls. We are sure they will be the best of friends! Thanks for surprising me, Niki!
Future BFF's hanging out on Sarah's bed.

Getting tired of taking pictures!

This is too funny! They were not happy by the end of the photo session!

When in Dallas, I got to see two of my best friends from college, Katie and Tracy. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures when we were at Tracy's house. Here are some pictures from visiting Katie and her baby, Carter who was still in NICU in Frisco. She had to be induced at 32 weeks because his cord was wrapped around his neck and arm. Every time he moved his arm, he would choke himself. It was a pretty scary time for Katie and her husband, Andrew but thankfully, Carter is doing great! They were able to take their little boy home just a few days after our visit! We were so happy to hear their good news!


Baby Carter - just a few days before they took him home.

Katie and Carter

Then we got to see our newest family member, Willow Bentley Morris. David's sister, Hannah lives in Fort Worth so we got to visit them as well. We were happy to see lots of family over at their house. Bo and Rosanne were there as well as David's grandma, Joann. We also got to see some cousins Sidney, Shelby, and Kayla who were there with David's Aunt Mary. It was great to see everyone and have some much needed family time.

Willow, a little less than two weeks old here. Too cute!

Willow and Joann

Bo and Rosanne visiting with Emery
Bo and Emery

Back at Sarah's house, we decided to take some pictures of our girls. Sarah got Emery a precious little dress to match Elle's. Elle was about to take a nap but she cooperated so well and we were able to get some precious pictures of our sweet girls.






We had such a good time visiting everyone in Dallas. We don't have any pictures, but we also had dinner with some good friends, Jon and Camille. Their little boy, Grady is about nine months old and is absolutely adorable. It was so good hanging out with them and reminiscing about the good ole college days.

Friday we went back to the hospital for Emery's occupational therapy appointment and labwork. She did really well at therapy and our therapist complimented her on her head control and rolling. She is concerned about the muscles in her left hand but with time they should get better. Here are some pictures from her session.





After OT we went to the clinic for our usual after chemo labwork. Emery's counts were down so they had to give her some blood - again we are used to this. After her blood transfusion, she got a fever - did not expect that! This has never happened before. So, the clinic was closing and no beds were available on the 9th floor (oncology floor). They sent us to the ER where we would have to wait for a bed to become available. I haven't been scared in a long time, since all of this started really. But when they got us in the trauma room and started hooking Emery up to all of the monitors, the fear came back. She was screaming and there were doctors and nurses everywhere. I didn't know what was going on. The monitors were going crazy becuase her heart rate was too high and the doctors were rushing around and asking us questions. I hated ever minute of it. Finally, once they got her hooked up, I got to hold her and try to calm her down. She quickly calmed down and her heart rate went down pretty quickly. They moved us into a private room to wait and got her started on fluids and antibiotics. Thankfully, it didn't take long to get into a room on the 9th floor. No more monitors, no more beeping - freedom! We love the 9th floor! Emery has not had a fever since the blood transfusion but her blood culture did grow some bacteria so we are still on antibiotics. They took another culture this morning and we are hoping nothing will start growing. The doctor who checked on her today said he's expecting a clear culture since she looks great and hasn't had a fever. If her line is still infected tomorrow, they will have to remove it...don't want that to happen! They would have to put her under in order to do that and we would be in the hospital even longer. We will know more tomorrow morning.

David just headed to the airport. He always hates leaving. I hate it too. We are so ready for this to be over and to get back to a normal life! David wanted to stay until Emery is discharged but I assured him we will be fine! Emery and I will get in lots of playing and cuddle time.

Showin' Cancer Who's Boss

We have been working hard with Emery on rolling from her back to her tummy and returning to her back. She is getting so much better and is tolerating it well now. She used to just cry when we would put her on her tummy. She was so pitiful! We are happy to announce that she rolled from her tummy to her back all by herself today! Unfortunately, my mom and David were not here today to witness it but after she had done it a couple of times, I got out the camera and got one recorded! Her daddy is so proud!

Long Week!

Well, it's been a busy week! We had a clinic appointment on Monday to check Emery's blood counts. She needed a blood transfusion but we were not surprised. This has become quite routine for us now! Her counts were good enough for me to not have to give her the GCSF shot anymore though! Yay for that! While we were waiting for the blood bank to prepare her blood, I had one of our nurses check the dressing that protects her central line. It looked a little funky to me and they thought she may have a yeast infection on her skin. They changed her dressing and ordered daily dressing changes until it clears up. The home health nurse came on Tuesday to change it and mom and I had to hold Emery down while she screamed the whole time. She has never gotten upset in the past when her dressing has been changed. She gets a little mad when they pull the tape off but usually that's it. She kicked and screamed for about 20 minutes. It was awful. The nurse told us to call our doctor because she was afraid she was going to get a serious infection in her line if it didn't get checked out. So we called Dr. Thompson and he told us to come on in. We had to drive into Houston during rush hour but luckily it didn't take that long. He met us in the lobby and took us up to the clinic even though it was closing. He is such a nice guy...we think so anyway. I think the clinic nurses were a little annoyed with him for bringing us in without an appointment and for not following proper procedure. He didn't want us having to sit in the ER for hours just to get it looked at. Anyway, the nurses got us in the computer and looked at Emery's rash. They redressed it, told us her line looks good - very reassuring. They decided it would be best to have us come back the next day to have it redressed by them instead of the home health nurse. So, we made the drive into Houston again on Wednesday and Thursday for her dressing changes. Our home health nurse came today and Emery did great! She got a little upset a couple times but I think it's because our nurse has a very loud raspy voice. I think she was scared more than anything! Her leg looks much better today and I think it will be cleared up in no time. I am so glad it is getting better. Emery seems to be feeling better as well. She has been all smiles today and has even put up with a little bit of tummy time without too much fuss!

Last night we went to a dinner over at Craig Waibel's house. I'm sure you've read on my mom's blog about how he plays soccer for the Houston Dynamo. He and some of his teammates have started a yearly fundraiser for the cancer center. We, along with some other kids/families, are going to be on the flyers advertising the event in May. It sounds like it will be a lot of fun! People pledge money to volunteers who are going to shave their heads - Dynamo players, dads, teachers, principals, etc. The day of the event, there will be tailgating and head-shaving before the Dynamo game. Everyone who gets their head shaved gets a Waibel Warriors t-shirt and a ticket to the game. I think they are working on also getting Locks of Love involved so that women who want to donate their hair can get their hair cut as well. We are trying to convince David that he needs to shave his in honor of Emery's soon to be bald head...he says babies are supposed to be bald! I don't really want him to have a shaved head but it's for such a good cause! In addition to the pledges, they will be selling t-shirts, hats and bracelets. It will be a lot of fun to go back and see everyone. It sounded like the fundraiser was a huge success last year and they are anticipating this year will be even better.

So, Emery has started to lose some of her hair. I'm not sure if it is from the chemo or normal baby hair loss. Either way, I wanted to get her some cute hats to wear. I looked on Etsy.com the other night and got some of these precious beanies. I hope they fit her itty bitty head! I also got her a flower headband and some owl clips...the clips will have to wait a while!

I got a few of these beanies in different colors. Can't wait to see them on her!

This isn't Emery - it's just a picture of the headband I bought.

I got one owl in pink and one in turquoise. They are adorable! She'll have to grow some hair before we can use them though!

David's sister, Hannah had her baby girl today! Welcome to the world Willow Bentley Morris! We can't wait to meet you!

Tomorrow, my dad and his wife, Marsha are coming to visit for the day. They are staying the night in Dallas with Sarah and Miles and heading our way tomorrow morning. We are looking forward to their visit. I'll be sure to get some pictures and post some tomorrow!

Off to bed! I hope everyone has had a great week!

Three months have flown by...

Well, on February 23rd Emery turned 3 months old! I can't believe three months have already flown by. It does not seem like that long ago since we brought our precious Emery Jane home from the hospital in Amarillo. We had a wonderful six weeks together lounging on the couch in our PJ's till late in the afternoon waiting for David to come home from work. Occasionally, we actually got ourselves fixed up and would go eat lunch with him or we would meet up with some of my girlfriends. But really, most of the time we just hung out at home and cuddled! I loved every minute of it. Emery was six weeks old when we were admitted into the hospital in Amarillo. It's crazy to think that seven weeks have gone by since then. I am so thankful to have had this extra time taking care of my baby girl. We have had so much fun together despite all of the hospital visits and chemo treatments. We still spend a lot of our time in our PJ's and cuddling but she is getting bigger now and is a lot more active these days. Here are some cute pictures of our sweet baby girl. You can really start to see her personality shining through! I love this girl!

Sweet Emery Jane,

Here are a few of the things you are doing now at three months old. I'm sure there are many more but my brain doesn't work too well these days!

I love our mornings together. After I feed you early in the morning, I keep you right next to me in bed so that we can sleep a little bit longer. You always are so happy in the morning.

You smile at anything I say and I can tell you're going to be laughing any day now! I love how you smile with your eyes. They are so beautiful.

You are making the cutest little sounds now too. It's adorable when Gigi or I am talking to you and you act like you are joining right in with us. So cute!

You are holding your head up really well now but still don't like tummy time too much! We have been working really hard with you on rolling over and you are doing so well! Some kids at the hospital gave you a bright fuzzy catapillar that has become your tummy time friend! Gigi can always get you to hold your head up for a long time with him!

You hold your hands together a lot of the time and look adorable doing it!

You are so close to being able to put your paci back in your mouth when it falls out. You will use your hands to keep it in and sometimes pull it out on accident. Pretty soon you'll be a pro at it!

You have slept through the night twice! Shh! Don't tell Dr. Thompson! For a while you had been waking me up every two to three hours at night and Dr. Thompson didn't want you going longer than three so you could gain some more weight. Now you are sleeping for 3-5 hours a night. The night you slept from 11:00 to 6:00 am was wonderful! ;)

You are such a good girl riding in the car! Gigi sits in the back seat with you most of the time but I think you'll be just fine back there by yourself when she goes home...I hope I'm right!

You like the swing more these days and nap in it when we eat dinner with Dan and Lauren. It's really funny when the one of the dogs bumps into the swing and we can't tell who is more stunned, you or the dog!

You threw your first big fit at a restaurant not too long ago and scared Dan and Lauren into having dogs for the rest of their lives instead of children! Lauren said you sounded like a Gremlin getting drenched with water! Sorry baby girl, but she was right! ;)

You have had three rounds of chemo and have handled them beautifully! You are such an amazingly strong girl! I can tell you are going to be able to handle anything!

You have started to lose your hair...don't know if it's the chemo or normal baby hair loss. Either way, you are starting to look like an old man who is bald on top and has long hair in the back! Pretty funny!

Well, it's been a wonderful three months with you baby girl. Your daddy and I love you more than we ever imagined possible and can't wait to see your personality unfold even more. You have brought so much joy to our lives and we cannot even remember what our lives were like without you.

Yay for 80%!

Emery's tumor is now 80% smaller than it was when she was diagnosed! We are so thrilled to know that the chemotherapy is working and were absolutely blown away when we heard how much the tumor had shrunk. I honestly didn't have any expectations going into the scans this week because I didn't want to be disappointed like I was after the first round. We weren't the only ones pleasantly surprised by the scan results - our doctors were quite pleased as well! Our team of doctors had a meeting yesterday to discuss her treatment plan. There were three possiblilities:
1. Stop treatment and observe since this type of cancer should go away on its own
2. Continue with another round of chemo to shrink it some more
3. Remove what's left surgically

After much debate, they decided that it would be best to do another round of chemo since she is handling it well and the tumor is extremely responsive. There is still a small portion of the tumor going into her spinal column but the pressure on the spinal cord has reduced drastically. The surgeons decided that it still would not be an easy surgery to remove the tumor. They also decided that since it is still in her spinal column it would not be wise to stop treatment and observe. If the tumor were located somewhere else in her body, they probably wouldn't treat her anymore. We were prepared to hear that she would need another round since we really didn't know before this week that there were going to be other options. So, tomorrow we will go in to the clinic to see our doctor and will be admitted into the hospital for her third round of chemo. She will receive three days of chemo and then we will probably stay in the hospital for observation for a couple more days. After that, we will go into the clinic a couple times a week to check on her blood levels and get transfusions if necessary. Last time it took a couple of weeks for her platelets to recover so we will be prepared for that. After this round, they will do scans and re-evaluate her situation again. More than likely they will have to surgically remove what is left of the tumor if it is considered safe for Emery.

Thanks so much for all of your thoughts, prayers, and support! Emery is one lucky little girl to have so many people pulling for her. We are so happy we were able to give you all some good news!

Been a while...sorry!

Sorry it's been a while since my last post...I'm sure most of you have been keeping up with my mom's blog. She's much better about keeping everyone informed! Here are some pictures from the past couple of weeks.


Emery and daddy early one morning. I thought this was too cute!

Here's my mom talking and getting some work done! She's been such a huge help to me since David's been gone. I'm sure her work and her hubby miss her terribly but I'm glad she's here!!

Emery loved the crib soother at the hospital so mom bought her one from Target the other day. Emery is totally mesmerized by it...I think it looks like she's watching a movie! She's also started sucking on her hands a lot. I keep thinking she's going to become a thumb sucker but so far she's sticking with her passy.

Well, Emery is finally up to 9 lbs...doesn't sound like much but we're happy! She made it through a bath today without getting upset! She's not a fan of bath time since we have to give her sponge baths due to the location of her central line. Dr. Thompson called last night to tell us her platelets made the appropriate jump after the transfusion so hopefully they will stay up. We head to CyFair tomorrow for her audiology test. They started it the last time we were in the hospital but she didn't stay asleep long enough to complete the test. They told me to bring her sleepy and hungry tomorrow so that I can feed her when we get there and she'll go to sleep for the procedure. I hope she cooperates! Monday and Tuesday we have to be at the hospital at 6 am for her MRI and CT scans. If there is not a significant decrease in the tumor then we'll start the third round of chemo on Wednesday. It will be three days of chemo this time and then we'll probably stay in the hospital for a few more days for observation. It will probably take two weeks from first day of chemo for her counts to come back up. Then it would only be one more week before we would need to do another MRI and start the fourth round. So, you can see why it's hard to figure out when a good time would be to try to come home. It seems like we should just stay for all of it instead of coming back and forth. I hope we'll be coming home to Amarillo soon but it's so hard to figure out when. At the same time, I am so comfortable with our doctor here and the clinic that I can't imagine leaving and continuing treatment in Amarillo. After talking with our doctor Wednesday it was pretty obvious that he thinks we should stay as long as possible but he wouldn't come right out and say it. He wants us to get back to a normal way of life though and really emphasizes the importance of us bonding as a family when Emery is so young. I can tell he is really torn when we ask him what he thinks we need to do. He's such a great guy and I am so thankful that we have him taking care of Emery. He is so great with all of his patients - he makes all of us feel like we are his number one priority. Of course, since Emery is such a cute little 'peanut', we know we really are his favorites!

So, do we know when we are coming home? NOPE! This could drag on for a while but I'd rather be here and get the best care possible. In the long run, a few months being away from home is nothing if it means we are doing what's best for our precious baby girl! I hate being gone and I'm so ready to get back to a normal routine but for now, I'm going to keep doing my number one job and that's taking care of Emery!