May 20, 2005

Our little Jimmy always surprises us; this time with the stomach bug.  He woke up last Thursday, May 12 (early morning - 3:30 a.m.) and vomited.  At that point we weren't quite sure what was going on, then he drank some ba ba (bottle) he got sick again shortly thereafter.  Then we knew it was a bug rather than something else.  When he woke up at 8:30 he took a few sips of water and couldn't keep that down either.  Luckily that was the last time he was sick.  A bit later he was able to eat a few bites of Chex Mix and drink a few ounces of milk.  His mood was still fine, but he was a bit tired and slow since he was up for a while at night.  He is the only little boy we've ever known who gets sick and smiles.  After each of the 4 times he got sick he had a smile on his face when he was finished.  He is so amazingly precious.  Ricky and Joey also got the same bug a few days later, so it's been pretty busy at home trying to keep on top of who was sick, but luckily they are all better now!

Last Wednesday night at Ricky's game you would have never known that Jimmy was getting sick (since he was pretending to run the bases after he hit a home run with his invisible bat).  He was busy behind the fence while Ricky was busy on the mound.  That night was probably Ricky's best pitching performance yet, as he struck out 13 batters and had no walks!  His team won and they were pretty excited!  It is so cute to hear Jimmy cheer them on.

We are so lucky that Jimmy (and the other boys) is in full swing again.  We had a great weekend and Jimmy just loved sitting by a campfire at Joe and Patti's neighbor's house.  He had his first taste of a smore and the expression on his face every time the fire got bigger, was priceless.  He thoroughly enjoyed his first late night out at a campfire.

Jimmy also loves to play in his new sandbox.  He hasn't been able to play in one until now, and loves experimenting with it.  He thinks it's quite fun to build castles and fill his shovel up with sand then toss it up into the air.  It's a beautiful sight! Thank you dear God and precious donor!

Jimmy's next appointment will be next Thursday (the 26th) at noon.  This time Jimmy will need an IV since they need to draw a larger amount of blood for more thorough testing.  We pray all continues to go well.  Given Jimmy' behavior, energy, and short lived virus, we're sure that he is still thriving, thank God.  Jimmy and Grannie will have their birthday's very soon!  Jimmy will be 2 years old (two weeks from yesterday)!!

May 10, 2005

Jimmy did a great job at his vision exam yesterday morning!  His optic nerves look very healthy and so far there is no evidence of cataracts.  The ophthalmologist said that she typically sees effects from chemo and/or radiation approximately 18 months after treatment, if there are any.  She suggested that our next appointment with her be in January or February.

Jimmy had a very hard time staying off the field at Joey's first tee ball game on Saturday.  I actually had to go sit with him in the van because he was so upset that he couldn't play ball with Joey.  That boy eats, sleeps and breathes baseball!  (Well, Zak and Annie, too!).

He also loves being outside--it's finally nice today.  He got run over a dirt pile and loved it!  It looks so strange to see him have a bit of dirt on his clothes and/or face.  He has gone through a lot to get to play. Yay for him, he deserves it!

May 6, 2005

Time continues to fly by with Jimmy healthy, thank God,  as today marks 10 months post BMT.  We are almost there.  Jimmy still looks super and is acting like a very typical toddler since he loves to say "No" at almost everything we say.  He also learned how to spit while brushing his teeth so now experiments with spitting in more situations than brushing his teeth.  Little stinker!  He of course loves going to Ricky's, and now Joey's, baseball games.  It's even harder to keep him off the baseball field than it was the soccer field or basketball court.  Luckily they have fences!

Jimmy has his vision exam scheduled for Monday morning, so we pray that goes well.  We think he can see perfectly fine since he's quite adept at picking up small pieces of lint from the floor.  Sometimes we have to squint and tilt our head so we can see what he is picking up.  Jimmy is still saying more and more every day, and quite clearly too!  A few of his new words include, "laugh", "broke", "rainbow", almost all of the colors, "Zak" (the BIG ox at the farm), "Annie" (the horse at the farm), "flower" , "Robert" and "Josh".  Robert is a boy on Ricky's baseball team, as is Josh, Ricky's best friend.  Jimmy first said flower when he 'picked' one out of a silk flower arrangement.  He called out "Mama", then when he found me,  I saw his smiling face and tilted head, as he stretched his little arm out as far as he could to hand me the flower saying "fowa".  It was such an amazing and priceless sight.  He was so proud of himself and I was so happy (and cried and cried)!  Jimmy has also developed a special 'spring' to his step as he almost hops or skips while he's walking or running.  Therefore, he has earned the new nickname, "T--I -- Double GG --R"  --Tigger!  Yet another positive sign in Jimmy's behavior that he is thriving with his beautiful angel marrow.

Luckily that is about all we have to report for now.  We'll let you know how his vision appointment goes on Monday.  Also, in case you're wondering why we haven't changed the home page photo recently, we're going to keep that one up until we hit the one year point.  We are so blessed that God continues to watch over Jimmy for us.