Nice day, despite the drive

I have my car back! Woo hoo! There was one part they weren't able to get ordered in time, but it's just cosmetic. We'll be back in Champaign at the end of February for Emma's checkup, so we'll have it finished then. Turned in my sweet ride (yes, that's sarcasm) and got mine back. They did note some damage on the rental - apparently one of the front guards fell off and scraped along underneath the car. Ugh. Nothing can be simple. He told me that the Peoria branch would pay for it so keeping my fingers crossed. All I know is that I didn't hit anything (potholes, bumps, etc.) that would've knocked it loose on its own. Hopefully, that's the last we have to hear from them. Now we'll just have to wait for the insurance checks. And hope we don't hear back from the rental place on the "damage".

Carson was awesome for the ride, sleeping most of the way there. To salvage the day and at least do something on our trip, we stopped and had lunch in Bloomington. Today was the first Saturday I haven't worked in January and it was so nice to spend a leisurely meal w/ my guys. I feel like it's been a really long time since we've had any quality time together. I'm glad we decided to stop. :) We asked for a highchair and she took us to a booth and asked if we wanted to try a booster. I wasn't sure how he would do, but he was perfect! Such a big boy! It was so fun to sit right next to him in the booth. He fed himself and drank his milk w/ a straw. He's just the coolest little boy (to me). ;) He did such a good job! We got back in the car and headed home. He fell asleep again when we hit the interstate.
Here's my little man on the way home.


Turned out to be a pretty nice day. :) Looking forward to tonight as well. Grandma's babysitting and we're having dinner w/ Bob and Mandy! Yay!

Pics!

Just wanted to share some of the pics from Emma's photo shoot in December. She's so beautiful! :) They didn't scan in very well, but you get the idea. We had them done w/ Patty again - she did Carson's 1-year pics. She did a great job!

Last day of chemo!

Today was our last day of chemo - woo hoo! She was discharged with a report reading "we are so glad that she is in complete remission". And so are we! We were so devastated when we got her diagnosis, but we are so happy and thankful that she's responded so well to her treatments. These last few months (and hopefully many more) with her have been wonderful. The people at U of I are awesome. I just wish they were closer. :)

Today was actually Emma's first car accident too! (Mine as well!) We got clipped as we drove through Eureka by a little old man. He was pulling out from Hardee's and I guess he didn't see us. I saw him pulling out and tried to speed up to get out of his way. Didn't quite make it. We thought we got off lucky - didn't appear to be any damage. It looked like he hit the tire versus the actual car. I guess I should've thought then that that probably wasn't good either. :) We exchanged info and went on our way. We noticed right away that the steering wheel wouldn't straighten out. Figured it was just the alignment. We debated turning around and getting Lucas' car but figured it would be okay. Anyway, we decided to get it checked out in Champaign after we dropped Emma off - make sure it was okay to drive home. Turns out that it wasn't. :( Apparently, the rim was bent and the lateral pins that hold up the suspension were loose or broken. Who knows. But he said it wasn't safe to drive and parts would need to be ordered, etc. So the rest of the day was spent on the phone w/ State Farm and dealing w/ dealership and car rental. Not the day we had envisioned. We thought the most stressful part would be Emma's treatment! Who knew that would be the smooth part. Ha.

We made it home safely and the car rental agency "made an exception" and allowed Emma in the car. As if they had a choice. ;) She seemed to enjoy the new car and slept peacefully all the way home.

Anyway, we were able to meet with the oncologist today before being discharged. She said that she was pleased with Emma's response and she will need to come back once a month for the next 3 months to be rechecked. After that, every other month. So, it looks like Lucas and I will continue having our "date days" in Champaign for a while. Once the cancer is back, we'll talk about our options then. But hopefully it stays away for a long time! We got this little certificate too today. Cute. :)

Emma resting after a long day......

Happy Birthday Emma!

Happy birthday to our first-born! Yesterday was Emma's 7th birthday!! When we got her diagnosis a few months ago, we were afraid we wouldn't see this day. But it came and she's here and in remission. Thank God. We celebrated with lots of hugs and CAKE. :) Emma got her very own birthday cake from My Dog's Bakery. Carson wasn't too happy that he could not share with her......but he got over it. Finally. :) Her request for birthday dinner was her favorite - hot dog. She seemed to have a wonderful birthday. I hope so at least!

Toddler Room!

I know that I need to still post about Christmas, but January is always a busy, busy time and there's just no time to blog! So that will have to wait. ;)

For now, all I wanted to report is that I am officially the mother to a little boy. He is no longer my "baby". Well, as of tomorrow. Tomorrow, Carson finally moves up to the big boy class! He is officially a toddler! Of course, he has been for a while, but now it's official in the eyes of daycare! He will (finally) join his friends again tomorrow! Reunited at last. His buddies all moved up at the beginning of January, but there wasn't room for Carson. So it's just been he and Aubree as the only walkers in Infant II. He spent the first day without them wandering around the room. So sad! And he was SO FUSSY those first few days. He was also sprouting a mouth full of teeth at the time (TWELVE now!!). But I think a lot of it was to do with missing his friends. So while we will miss Ms. Kathy, Ms. Kirsten, and Ms. Molly SO MUCH, we're very excited to be moving up! It gets a little boring with all those babies!

With every exciting new thing, though, it becomes more clear that I have a little boy now and not a baby! I joked with Lucas last week that he doesn't even need us anymore! He's now feeding himself his entire meal w/ a spoon. It's so fun to watch him. He's so determined and so proud of himself when he gets that spoon to his mouth! He's getting really good at it. He won't let us feed him at all. It's actually not so bad because it means that I can eat a hot meal every once in a while too. :) But it's good practice, because they'll be using spoons in his new class. And Dixie cups! No more sippy cups. I still can't quite believe that one. We definitely will need to work on that - we're not even close on that one. They sleep on cots in the Toddler room too. No more cribs! I can't believe how quickly the time has flown by. I may get sad every once in a while that he's not a baby, but he is such an awesome little boy that I can't be sad for long. He's so much fun now. He makes us laugh every day. He chatters constantly - I can't wait until we can understand everything he's trying to say! Lucas was just telling a friend today that Carson is the best thing he's ever done. I would have to agree. We're pretty lucky...

What a boring post with no pictures, huh? Here's a recent one of him getting ready to brush his teeth. He LOVES it, but just this week, he's getting to the point where he won't let me help so we've had some battles. He utilizes the less effective "suck on the toothbrush" method. We'll keep working on that. :)