First Day of School

Here they are...ready for another fun-filled year at Granger. Jase and Jackson were up early, ready for their big day. However, Gracie was not so excited. Her partners in crime were about to be gone for the whole day. What's a girl to do? I was able to get a few pictures. Jase informed me that this year things would be different with me and my camera. Boo Hoo! I knew this day was coming...but hoping not so soon! No cameras allowed in his classroom. I did sneak one picture of him from the hallway(he never knew I was there). HeHe! The following post contains picures from the first day of school. Hope you enjoy!

First Day of School

Last Day of Kindergarten

These are a couple of pictures that I took on the last of school. We took one "serious" picture and of course we needed one silly picture too! Jackson had a great year and he really enjoyed Mrs. Smith's class. He made friends with a lot of really neat kiddos too!

Field Day Fun 2009

This is Jackson enjoying himself at Field Day! There are some pictures of him and his friend Ava. He thinks the world of Miss Ava. I love, love, love these pictures because his smile so represents his love for life! He is my one kiddo that gets the very most out of every moment....Jason always describes him as our "Little Life Lover".

Kindergarten Celebration

Today was Kindergarten Celebration for the kiddos at Granger Elementary. The theme of the celebration was a Hawaiian Luau. The children sang a few songs...but, I did not get any good pics of that(sad face). Guess I was just too far back in the audience. The students were given leis to represent their awards. It was so cute! Jackson received three awards ~ The Saddle Up Award (for great improvement during the year), Walk The Line Award (for outstanding citizenship during the year), and Hats Off Award (for all of his hard work and dedication). He also received a special music award for this six weeks! Yee Haw ~ Jackson! Mom, Dad, Jase, Gracie & Bella are all so very proud of you!

Wrangler Round-Up @ Granger

Today was Wrangler Round-Up (awards day for this 6 weeks)at Granger. Jackson was recognized for his academic progess and his citizenship within the classroom. We are so VERY proud of you Jackson!

Boosterthon Fun Run

Here are the cheerleaders for the "brudders". Woooooo! Hoooooo!

Jackson's Boosterthon Fun Run @ Granger

Jackson with his PROUD Mom at the Boosterthon.

Boosterthon Fun Run @ Granger

Jackson's Easter Basket

Would you ever have guessed that Jackson wanted was Legos in his Easter Basket? Well...that's just what he got ~ SpongeBob Legos. He also got a few things for baseball, sunglasses, and his all time favorite.....candy! He was one happy boy!

Our Roll of Thunder

These are pictures from Jackson's first baseball game this season. This season his team is called Thunder. He really thinks that is a super-duper tough team name! He had a great game. He caught a ball and got someone out at first all on his own! I wish you all could have seen him celebrating his play. He was so proud of himself and he was not afraid to show it! You gotta LOVE that about Jackson. Pretty much the rest of the game, he used his ball cap as a broom to clean first base. His cap will never be quite the same!

Jackson's Appointment

Today was Jackson's follow-up appointment with Dr. Pena (Pediatric Nephrologist). Basically, there is no new information for now. He confirmed that Jackson does have IgA Nephropathy. Jackson will continue taking the daily supplement to aid in
re-building his immune system. He will also remain on a low sodium diet. There wasn't any blood in his urine today. That's good news! That means for now what we are doing is working. Jason and I believe that the Lord has a big hand in it also! We also discussed a kidney biopsy, but for now we will just wait. Thank you for your prayers. They mean so much, and we have definitely felt them. Please continue to pray for us as we travel down this unknown road.

100th Day of School

To help celebrate the 100th day of school each Kindergartner was asked to make something with 100 things on it and wear it to school. After days of brainstorming we decided to make something using the letter J for Jackson. So using my Cricut machine, Jackson and I cut out J's for what seemed like an eternity. Before we finished the entire project, Jackson was worn out. So....his Daddy and I finished gluing all of the little J's on the big J. The next morning he was so excited to see his project had been completed. He was really proud of his 100th day project. Can you tell?

Update on Jackson

Jackson had an appointment with the Pediatric Nephrologist on Monday. Thank goodness, Dr. Pena was awesome with Jackson. He was so gentle and Jackson responded well to him. However, the news was not quite what we had hoped for. After reviewing Jackson's past labs and sonograms - he highly suspects that Jackson had an autoimmune disease called IgA Nephropathy. This particular disease is very rare. Basically, it's a disease that attacks the kidneys and bladder. The bleeding will come and go. The next time the blood reappears in his urine - he will immediately have a biopsy done of his kidneys. This will give Dr. Pena a more exact picture of what all we are dealing with. In the meantime, he has made some dietary restrictions, alleviating sodium from Jackson's diet. He hopes this will give his kidneys a chance to rest and rebuild. More blood and urine samples were collected on Monday and we will meet with Dr. Pena in February to get more details. We did not discuss in detail what might be down the road for us. For now, we are just trying to process the information that we were given on Monday. As hard as it is to understand, we know that we will not face this alone. Jason and I know that God has been with us thus far and He will continue to walk with us during this uncertain time. As most of you know, we have faced many challenges in the past year, but at the same time we remain to feel so blessed. Please continue to pray for guidance for Dr. Pena, strength for Jackson and for peace of mind for me and Jason. I will update with more information as it become known. Thank you for your love and support.

Update on Jackson

I just wanted to post a quick update about our Jackson. We saw his pediatrician a few weeks ago to go over the results from his blood work and to have another urine check. There was still blood present in his urine - but it was less than before. Thanks goodness. All of his blood results came back negative except for his ANA (antinuclear antibody). This test helps doctors to determine if there are any autoimmune diseases present in the body. Because of my arthritis - I had a positive ANA blood test at my last Dr.'s appointment. Which this is very common in individuals who have certain forms of arthritis. Because of my history and Jackson's positive blood test, he has been referred to a pediatric nephrologist. This is a doctor that specializes in the kidneys. Some forms of arthritis can effect the major organs. His appointment is in a couple of weeks. Please continue to pray for Jackson. We love him so very much - but God loves him so much more. From this we trust that God will hold and protect him. We ask that you pray for guidance for his doctors - that the Lord will provide the wisdom that is needed to determine what is going on in his little body. Please pray for peace for me and Jason. I will update as soon as we know more.

Jackson's Christmas Party @ Granger

Here's me and Jackson at his class Christmas party. We had so much fun! It was really fun to watch him enjoy himself and interact with all of his little friends. He was sad when it was time for me to go to Jase's party. He doesn't want to understand the concept of "splitting time".

Jack Jack and one of his many little friends. So sweet!

Jackson with (as he says) "The bestest teacher in the whole world". He so loves her and she loves him right back!

Jackson was so excited to be having his very first school party!

Jackson's Scare

Well here we are after a real scary weekend with Jackson. For those of you who don't know - Jackson came home from school on Friday and had to go straight to the potty. All of a sudden, I hear "Mom, Mom, it's spraying red!". I ran to the bathroom as quickly as my legs would carry me. Very frightened, I see blood. I was terrified and Jackson thought it was really cool! I immediately raced to the pediatrician's office with all three kiddos in tow. Dr. Phillip took two urine test and both showed high levels of blood in his urine. The test for a urinary tract infection was negative - so we had to look at other possibilities. She checked his blood pressure and that was good - she was concerned about possible kidney failure. After spending a couple of hours in the doctor's office, Dr. Phillip thought it was safe for us to go home for the night. As my pediatrician, I had to trust her. All the while, I was praying for God to give her wisdom on what we should do next. She had scheduled Jackson for an ultrasound for today (Monday), and she sent us to have labs drawn on Saturday morning. After returning home from the lab on Saturday, the amount of blood was quickly increasing. Meanwhile, Jackson is not having any pain or discomfort. I called Dr. Phillip looking for more answers. She sent us directly to Cook Children's ER. Jason was at work and nowhere to be found. I dropped Jase at Christy's. Gracie, Jackson and I headed to the hospital. When we got to the hospital, they immediately took us back and began running some test. The ER Dr. was very nice, but he told me we could be looking at a blockage, a kidney stone, or a tumor on his little kidney. Wow! My mind was going 90 miles an hour - all the while trying to keep by composure for Jackson. Jason made it to the hospital as soon as he got the word from the plant security guard. I had so many people praying for us - I could honestly feel their prayers. God had given us the peace that passes all understanding. Several test and several hours later - we finally got some good news. His kidneys were normal! Thank you Lord! The lining of his bladder was very thick and that indicated that he had a viral infection in the lining of his bladder. The ER Dr. said that he was going to be okay. The infection could take 4 to 6 weeks to completely heal. So blood is something that we might see for a while. Jackson will see Dr. Phillip on Wednesday to have another urine test. If there are still visible amounts of blood in a few weeks - we will see an Urologist. Jackson is doing fine. Thanks for all of your prayers! Jason and I could really feel them on Saturday! Please continue to keep Jackson in your prayers. Thanks Again!