Our sweet Emma girl

Our Emma girl lost her fight yesterday. She was my baby girl and a part of our family and she will be missed greatly! I wanted to write about her a little on our blog since she was such a big part of our family. We found out just before Carter's first birthday that she had a tumor near her kidneys. We were devastated since we knew we couldn't afford to do any treatment or medications. She was only seven years old which is super young to have a tumor! She had been losing weight fairly quickly which is why we took her in. After blood tests and x-rays they discovered what they thought was a cancerous tumor. We did do a couple rounds of meds just to help her feel better and to get her to eat but they were expensive and we had to stop. The vet reassured us that they wouldn't do much for her anyway. At some point this would take her life. She seemed to be doing okay but over the last week started declining quickly. She stopped eating and drinking and then on Friday started showing signs that walking was very difficult. By Saturday, she could hardly walk at all. We started carrying her into her food and litter box but she would just flop to the floor as soon as we set her down. We tried to make her as comfortable as possible and had decided we would take her in on Wednesday (tomorrow) to put her down. Yesterday, however, she was showing obvious signs that she wouldn't make it that long. Jay was able to stop by at noon from work to verify for me that it was bad. We called the vet and made an appointment for 1:20. We got her in the car and I started driving. By the time I made it to Commercial street, she had stopped breathing. It was heartbreaking!

I got Emma my junior year of college. I was living in the on-campus apartments with three other girls. One night we came home and she just showed up and followed us to our door. This happened for a couple of days. She would even follow us out to our cars and then be there when we got home and follow us back to our apartment door. One of the times this happened, she ran into our apartment before we could stop her. We fell in love with her quickly and just couldn't stand the thought of throwing her back out, so we kept her. She lived with us for a couple of months until people found out we had a cat. Apparently, you can't have pets living with you on campus ;) She ended up going to my mom's and living with her for a while. Well, my mom also fell in love with her and let me keep her there until I could take her. Once I was done with school she came back to me and has been my baby girl ever since. She was super sweet and super sassy! She loved to snuggle with us, but was a little sassy and scrappy with other people. She loved laying on our chest and snuggling while we watched tv at night. If we stopped petting her, she would paw our face until we continued. I actually grew up never liking cats! I didn't really think they served much purpose and always said I would never have one. Emma changed me. She made me see how great cats can be and now we have Max as well. We truly loved her!

She loved high places and always looked like she was the queen of this family!

Meeting her new brother Max for the first time. She was not sure about this small, annoying, crazy little guy at first but quickly realized he was okay. She really did love Max and was always good to him. He adored her till the moment she died! Emma was so patient with Max and would let him lay on top of her, lick her face, bite her neck, wrestle her, chase her, etc... Whenever they were playing/fighting, you always new she had the upper hand. When she was done playing, look out Max!
Queen of her house!

Here is her sassy and scrappy side. She loved playing and wrestling!

She LOVED boxes!!!!



She also loved this new man in my life. They became quick friends! Sometimes I actually felt like she was Jay's cat and Max was mine. She always loved me but she definitely loved her daddy too.


Max has never understood personal space!




At our apartment, we finally discovered that we could let Emma out on the balcony. She would hang out there for hours and never try to jump off or come back in. She was in her happy place sitting on the balcony, watching the world go by. We have always felt guilty when we moved to our house and she couldn't go outside at all anymore. She didn't like the snow however!

Our first picture as a family a few days before we got married.





Before Carter was born she loved sleeping in his crib. As soon as Carter came home, she never tried it again.


I think she was in heaven those six weeks I was on bed rest. She laid with me all the time!

Meeting her new baby brother for the first time.

She was so good with Carter. He would pull her tail so hard and she never tried to hurt him! She let him pet her so much and would just lay there and take it. Carter learned really fast how to pet "gently." He was so precious when he was petting her!

She even took it like a champ when Carter spit up ALL OVER HER!

Max loved his sister!



This was on Carter's first birthday. She was sick here and was sleeping a lot. She was such a sweet girl and we will miss her always! She blended in with our area rugs in the living room and hallway and would get kicked quite frequently because we couldn't see her. Yesterday, I caught myself looking in the hallway before walking in there to make sure I didn't step on her. It is really weird not having her here anymore. Everyone asks if we will get more cats. The answer is no. We loved our two kitties but when they are gone we will probably be done with cats. We need a break from all the hair and litter. I sure loved my sweet girl though!