Ingram the Conqueror: Monday and Tuesday February 25th and 26th, Oh No :( and Oh Wow :)

It was great to wake up in our beds Monday morning even if it meant another cold and possibly rainy day awaited. Craig headed out early for work while the rest of us slept in a little before having to ready for school. Ingram helped take the girls to school instead of riding the bus and we got a little breakfast while we were out too. Beau was still at the kennel because he was getting groomed so we made good progress with the laundry before we headed to pick him up. During our lazy day at home, Ingram was starting to not feel good so we just took it extra easy at home. Craig, on the other hand, had a super busy day at work including an interview for work on the Fox Business channel! Ingram watched the interview with me and we got a kick out of Daddy being on TV. It was great too because at the end of the segment, Craig and the hosts of the Market Now were laughing about the economy and race cars and those are two things that we talk about a lot at our house too! I was able to get a link to the segment and put it at the bottom with the pictures.

Tuesday morning after the girls were off to school, Ingram was coughing more, had lots of congestion, and even a little fever so I called our clinic at St. Jude to see what we needed to do. This was the first time he's been sick despite everything going around and we weren't sure which direction to go. Our nurse Tricia talked with Dr. Gajjar and what he said next was very exciting..."Ingram's far enough out of treatment that he can go to his regular pediatrician." Seriously did you hear that?? I didn't realize how exciting that statement was until we walked into Dr. Ellis's office and it hit me. We hadn't been there since Monday, April 2nd of last year for an appointment for Ingram. Everyone was super excited to see him and couldn't believe how much hair Ingram had either. After an exam, watching the trucks and trains across the street, a flu test (Ingram didn't even flinch as the q-tip thingie went all the way up his nose!), and waiting on the results, Ingram picked out a ton of stickers to make up for lost time. It ended up that he only has a nasty infection and has earned the privilege of having Mommy wait on his every need for the next few days while he gets better.

Lindsey and Madison didn't have soccer again due to the weather so Craig took them to play soccer in the gym at our church! While they were there, the girls got a huge surprise from Ms. Sherri. Sherri Bonnar, aka Ms. Sherri, had come across a note Madison left at church the week before about misplacing her Vera Bradley purse and had mentioned it to some of her "Vera" friends. Then she went on to tell them about Ingram's battle with cancer and how the girls had raised over $200,000 for St. Jude. Those special ladies wanted to replace Madison's purse and even had already collected some money to do so before Ms. Sherri found out that it had been found. Well, long story short, the "Vera" gals still wanted to give Madison and Lindsey a little something special for all they had been through with Ingram and Ms. Sherri gave it to them last night on behalf of her and all her "Vera" friends. The girls were totally surprised and shocked by the generosity of strangers, but were even more excited that it was from their favorite Ms. Sherri and her friends. Ms. Sherri is very special to us because she has been a part of our church's nursery and has taken special care of each of them from the day they were born. What makes it even more special is that Ms. Sherri is battling own cancer and when she was undergoing her first round of chemo, she sent me a message that she "kept thinking if Ingram can do it, so can I."

Since Beau got a haircut before he came home from the kennel, both Craig and Ingram started talking about haircuts too. The funny thing about their hair though is that neither of them have had a real haircut since they shaved their heads after Ingram's first round of chemo. Craig had trimmed his hair a time or two, but Ingram wanted for Daddy to keep growing his hair and he did...even when everyone else kept commenting at how long his hair was. Craig would always say something like "yea I guess I should cut it" but the truth was that Ingram didn't want him to cut it...until tonight. AND Ingram wanted Craig to trim the back of HIS own hair too but he didn't want the girls to know. Craig cut his hair then trimmed the back of Ingram's hair and then he snuck off to his room without telling the girls that Daddy cut the hair where his surgery scar was. Silly little boy!