We have a MIRACLE

As you all know, I love to look back at where Jack came from and how far he has come. So below are pictures from around this time one and two yers ago. His transformation is so incredible.

May 2006 (first time without oxygen when he was at home)
May 2007 (playing the fountain at the zoo)

May 2008 (stuck in the hamper)

I'd like to share a quick little story with you that Matt shared with me today. A lady that he works with asked him ALL about Jack and wanted to know all what happened with me and him so Matt gave her a pretty quick version and then shared our website with her. She came into his work today and said how amazing Jack was and said that she would look at pictures of Jack and just have tears rolling down her face. She then apologized to Matt for having to endure all that pain, emotion and heartache and then Matt told her not to be sorry but to congratulate him for having such an awesome Miracle!!!! And he's right. There are so many people out there that apologize for having to go through what we went through with Jack but I'm not sorry, Matt's not sorry but we are happy. We are who we are for going through it all. We have such an awesome bond with Jack and we always will. He is such an amazing little man and I couldn't ask for more.

Okay, enough mushy stuff. On to the updates. I have a lot to update you on with Jack as well as BOB and my sister!!!!

1st; BOB!!! Bob is doing awesome. His surgical biopsy went well but he had to have the chest tube in for longer than planned because he developed an air leak in his lungs. He did finally get discharged late last week and then had an appt with his oncologist and it turns out that he has chemo-induced pneumonia!!!! (which is a good thing because it's not cancer in his lungs) So, he's off chemo for a while and then they will do another scan and go from there. PRAISE GOD!

2nd: My sister, Amy, had/has type 1 diabetes and she got a call last tuesday night that there was a pancreas for her. That night she had a full pancreatic transplant and today it's been a week and she is doing well. I believe she will be discharged to a living center/rehab for about 2 months. Her sugars have been awesome since the transplant so we pray that she continues to do well

3rd: JACK!!!!! He's awesome. We had a great long weekend with him. We traveled up to Angola to go to the humane shelter puppy/kitty birthday party and then to Matt's sisters house. We fell in love with a puppy at the shelter but I don't think we will bring her home. It's been a really tough decision for Matt and I. We both grew up with dogs and now we are having such a hard time deciding. At Matt's sisters, Jack got to see bunnies (bonga bonga bonga), chickens, geese, kitties, kitties and more kitties. He had a great time and he got to see all his cousins!!! Sunday we worked in the yard allllll day looonnngg and Jack had a great time. He helped plant grass seed, he helped put up trim along our flower bed, he rode his bike, he had dirt covering most of his face, he ate cookies all day, and he helped water the flowers. AWESOME day!!! And then Monday we took a long nap and then went to the YMCA to their splash park. It was free to the public for Memorial Day so we took advantage and had a great time with our friends Sam and Kaden.

Jack's ears are also doing well. He has been off of antibiotic for almost a week so keep your fingers crossed. We go for the follow up appt Wednesday so we will know more then. I was just looking back and he had his adnoids and tubes in 1 year ago on the day he just got his tubes last week. WEIRD!!!! We have just been dealing with this forever!!!!

Sorry I don't have more recent pictures. He is soooooo hard to get good pictures anymore because he never stops moving!!! He is a crazy man!!!

NEW WORDS:

kack mowlning= Jack Bowling

deeedeee= T.V

dahdee map= Daddy Matt

immmy= Uncle Jimmy

ohhhh maaaamm= oh man (like swiper the fox on Dora the explorer)

pupp ies (two words)= puppies

When you ask him is name he automatically says, "two Kack" because we always ask how old he is after. He is so darn smart. HA!

boooo= blue

dead= red

lellow= yellow

He says orange but I'm not sure how he spell what he actually says

puple= purple

geeeen= green

Oh, he says a lot more, I just can't think of anything else cute off the top of my head.

HAVE A GREAT WEEK!!!

p.s. keep looking at my sidebar, I may have more website for you to visit!!!

quick update

Just wanted to let you all know that Jack got another set of tubes in his ears this morning. The surgery went well. He had a hard time wanting to wake up from anethesia but after an ENTIRE happy meal from Mcdonalds, 2 fig newtons and a 3 hour nap......he's back this old self!!!!!

Also, Bob's surgery went well. He is waiting for his chest tube to come out and he can get out of ICU!!! Keep in him your prayers still as he awaits results!!!!

HUGS

jack's Godfather

This is Jack's Godfather, Bob. I am sharing Bob with you today because we would like to send out a prayer request for him. Bob has been dealing with lymphoma for a little over 10 years. He had been doing awesome for quite sometime and right now he is dealing with some lung issues. Tomorrow he will be undergoing a surgical lung biopsy to help determine what is going on. He has also been on chemotherapy recently so his immune system is shot as well as his platelets, which makes this surgical biopsy even more scary. SO............PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE pray for Bob as you all go to sleep tonight as he goes thru surgery tomorrow and endures the wait for the results. He is one awesome Godfather and friend . He just adores Jack and Jack likes to call him Bobby!! ;-) No one else is allowed to call him that!!!! Bob and Jack back in the day! (haha)

Bob and his wife Jaime (Jack's Godmother) are awesome friends. They were a great support system when jack was in the hospital. Jaime sat with me many a nights with Jack in the NICU!!! thank you guys for everything. WE LOVE YOU!!!!!

jack and mommy

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY WEEKEND

First of all, I want to say HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all you mommy's out there. I hope each and every one of you get to do something a little special this weekend.

I'll start off our update with Jack's ear doctor appointment on Friday. It was short and not so sweet. I happened to see Dr. R in the hall at work on Friday afternoon so we had most of our appt in the hallway and when we got there he just wanted to look in Jack's ears. Since the left ear has been infected since the tube was out, we will now be putting it back in. So on May 15th Jack will have yet another surgery on his ears. They are going to put T-tubes in this time (the permanent ones) and so hopefully his helps!!! My poor little peanut. I know it's a simple, easy procedue but i hate that he has to go through it AGAIN. And now he's older and smarter and he knows when something is up. When i pull into the parking garage at the pediatrician he knows and tells me, "all done go bye bye" before we even park. Breaks my heart. So..........we will defintely keep you posted post-op.

Now onto the fun stuff. THE WEEKEND!!!! we've had a good one. After the ear appt we went to Jack's cousin, Jake's baseball game and Cousin "abba" was there. It's always good to see them. Then abba came over for a while since we were getting rained on and abba gave jack a bath and abba played and abba even put jack to sleep. we just love abba!!!!

Today was a great day as well. We started off running a few errands and as soon as we got in the car at 8am Jack informed me he wanted to "deat dot dog, peeees and lellow n daddy" Translation: i want to eat a hot dog, peas and banana with daddy. Actually lellow can be just about anything. it could have been corn or crackers or noodles,....anything. Well, daddy was in Warsaw working so that was going to happen, nor were we really going to have hot dogs for breakfast. So we went to mimi and papa's and had coffee cake and oranges. hahah. After that we went to a few garage sales. Jack wanted a bus. A lellow but of course. We didn't find one. Then I got a call from a friend of mine that Lowe's was having a mother's day craft for kids. Of course dads were supposed to take the kid to make something for mom for mother's day but daddy was working so alas, i took him. We made a cute little picture frame that has a cut out hammer, saw and screwdriver. Way cute. Way fun and they have it about 2 times a month. He got a little workers apron and googles and then when he was done he gets a patch to put on his apron for each thing he makes. it was just the cutest thing ever!!!!!

Then we went home and napped for 2 hours......

Then we went to lunch with daddy........

Then we went to Menards with mimi and bought seeds and plants and flowers......( I am going to try my green thumb for the first time. Not only with flowers but with tomatos, cilantro, onions, jalepenos and strawberries)

Then mommy came home and made a big mess in the yard with daddy. We pulled up about 8 bushes/shrubs in our front yard and just made a huge mess. That wasn't really my intention at 4 in the afternoon but we had a good time. I let jack get dirty (WAY TO GO MOMMY) and he loved it. Our front yard is going to be great. There was a bit toooooo much out in front and heck, we have already cut down about 15 trees in the backyard too.

Anyway, Jack's now asleep in our bed and will have to be transferred to his bed shortly. What a fun day.

I CAN'T WAIT FOR TOMORROW..............

PICTURES TO COME

okay, i will add some from this time last year. i love to see how he has grown!

My first Mother's Day (2006)

May 2007

Mommy and me road trip

We will start with pictures first!! :-)

CHEEESE!!! daddy's hat and glasses!

"frowing" the ball at uncle jimmy's

Looking at the engine of daddy's car with uncle jimmy

Daddy's anniversary, birthday, father's day and christmas present for the next 5 years!

Jack helping daddy fix the tires (pulling those little rubber pokey things off that come on brand new tires!!!)

Jack checking out under the jeep with Daddy and uncle Jimmy

Jack having words with me "meow"

Schuyler and Mali (one of our visits on our road trip)

I found Jack right here one day when he disappeared upstairs to get a train. I found him in the laundry basket, diaper only watching Thomas!!!

Okay, now with an update.

First we will talk about our Roadtrip that Jack and I had on Friday. Jack had his 3 month routine appointment at Riley with his pulmonologist. I decided to trek it by myself with Jack and it went 100% better than I thought it would. We had a great time. So we got to the appt about 1/2 hr early and ate our packed lunch and went to see Dr. M. I LOVE HIM. First he got weighed (AHHHH). 3.5 months ago he weighed 11.0 kilograms (24.2 pounds) and this appt he weighed 11.2 kilograms (24.6 pounds). So really he didn't gain any weight. That's a huge not good thing for us. At this age, weight really starts to plateau so we already have a hard time gaining weight as it is. He is eating more we think, but he is also running around outside constantly so I am sure that doesn't help. So we are going to start adding some high calorie/fat foods to his food. ie) butter to his veggies and noodles and try carnation instant milk and high fat snacks (pop tarts and fig newtons). So......he needs to gain a pound and honestly this is hard. It took him 6-7 months to go from 22 pounds ot 23 so............AHHHHH

Anyway, his lungs sound great. no changes with meds. Actually, we are adding claritin and he helps tremendously I think. We go back in 2 months!

After his appt we stoped in Zionsville and met my friend Rachel for lunch and then headed to Lafayette to see my friend Tristan and her twin 2.5 year olds (Schuyler and Mali) They had a great time playing and it was just enough activiity to get jack back in the car and head home. he was AWESOME in the car and so for that, he got a new Thomas train today!!!! He's great

Just a few other random jack updates!!!! doing awesome in the talking business. starting to talk a lot of sentences. He loves pretending. he pretends a lot that he is diego! And is now starting to do the color blue as well as yellow. So everything is yellow and blue now!!! hahah

that's all for now. it's past my bedtime!!!!!

enjoy!