Happy Birthday!

As I sit at my kitchen table, Jackson in his highchair, I celebrate his 2nd birthday. We are alone. The house is quiet, except for the odd rattle coming from the dryer, and of course nickelodeon is on. Jack cries every time I cough. Evelyn went back to school this morning. Jason did too. I try to be excited and proud for Jack, but I continue to reminisce in the wrong direction. Of course I am happy with all of the accomplishments Jackson has achieved over the past year, even the past two years, but I also have memories of the surgeries, the stays in the hospitals, the milestones Jackson hasn't hit yet, the mannerisms a 'normal' 2 year old has, the mannerisms a 'normal' 1 year old has. . .

I've now moved to the couch and Jackson is in bed! He asked to go to bed! He fussed and cried and pointed to his room. We have to leave in an hour to pick Evelyn up from school, but at least he's happy!

We only had 3 hospitalizations in 2010. Only the one surgery, which was successful! Jack's kidneys have been working GREAT! He missed his 6 months appointment in November but still had the renal ultrasound. He missed the rescheduled appointment in December and the urologist said that Jack won't need to be seen until May! WOOHOO! Jack sat up unassisted in 2010. He started school. Jack says Spongebob (bob bob), book (ook), and mom, and has recently started saying dadad, again (sounds more like uh-gah), go (guh), down (duh), and even said grandma (guhguh) once! Wow!

This picture is from 1/3/11, Jack's 2nd birthday! He's been quite a ham.


I love my little man. I remember the 3 weeks of contractions before he came into the world. I remember feeling like I was going to jump off of the bed in triage, because labor was so intense. I remember the moment I realized that Jack was 6 weeks early. I remember meeting Jackson for 15 seconds before he was wisked away to get oxygen. I remember holding Jack's fingers through the incubator before he was flown to the NICU. I remember sitting in the maternity ward for 2 days without my baby boy. I remember holding him for the first time. . .my list goes on and on.

This is the year of the CFC International Conference. We'll get to meet other children, and a few adults, with CFC. It WILL be a magical moment.