Here are some pictures from this past month…graduation, Mother’s Day, DC. etc.

Graham and Tina………………………………….Graham and Grandpa Seckinger

Ryan, Dad, The Graduate, me, Mom Ruthie and Nama

Mother’s Day at the nursing home visiting Mimi

Our little traveler, he makes this flying thing look fun!

Seth was determined to get Jackson’s picture in front of the weenie truck when we spotted it in DC…I told them it would make it to the blog with the caption “The Two Weenies”

Jackson is on his way to 6 teeth! He cut the second set in DC and the third set is breaking through!

Jackson playing with my cousin Johnathan and Aunt Carrol

Play dates with friends in Falls Church- Ellie and Alison, Micah and Kelley, and Abby and Rebecca (below). Jackson got and gave lots of kisses. He was more aggressive with Abby…but she held her own! Micah dominated among the boys! Ellie was just the sweet big sis to these crazy little ones!

First time in the grass with bare feet.

Hope you are all having a fun summer!

We had a whirlwind week before heading to DC. Jackson met his great grandparents on the Seckinger side and got to go see his other great grandmother, Mimi, on Mother’s Day at the nursing home. We also got to attend my parents farewell party as they are taking a hiatus from ministry after 30 years! Even though we didn’t plan to be in Houston during this time it was fun to coincidently get to be there for some big family events.

We are currently in DC taking care of other family medical stuff while we are back in the states. It has been fun to see friends and today we are getting to visit with my Aunt Carrol and cousin Johnathan. We return to Houston on Sat and then Seth heads back to Bogota on Tuesday afternoon. Jackson goes back to MD Anderson on Tuesday as well. It will be a relief to have all of this behind us. Our lives were kind of catapulted out of order and we are looking forward to getting back to some kind of normal..even if it’s a “new normal”.

Jackson is having the time of his life these days! Ever since we “set him free” from confinement he has been a little wild man. He is cruising holding on to the couch and doing pull-ups on the high chair. We think he might be walking by the end of the summer. The most desirable objects in the apt are the wires, plugs and doors. He is giving everyone a good workout. His Mia (grandma Kolb) was here for a few days last week and spoiled him with lots of walks and tickling. My mom came on Sat and will be here until we head back to Houston. Yesterday he got to go to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History with his Nama (Grandma Seckinger). They had quite an adventure with Jackson’s diaper bag getting stuck under the stroller in the security line and eventually spilling it’s overflowing contents when it was finally dislodged. As you can imagine this held up a line of anxious tourists. He was also obsessed with removing his socks (this is one of his favorite pastimes). My mom got more sympathy for his cold feet than I get in Bogota. In Bogota I get lots of dirty looks for “under-dressing” him.

On another note, we are celebrating a few things these days..the first, my brother Graham graduated from Texas A&M and just started his first job. He graduated on a Friday and was working the following Monday…pretty impressive. AND our friends the Maney’s just welcomed little Jonas into their family yesterday! You can check out his pictures by clicking on their blog link!

We are missing our cord to upload pictures so we will post some pictures from graduation, etc when we return to Houston. Stay tuned.

Thursday was a major milestone in this roller-coaster of a life we’ve been experiencing the last couple of weeks. We took Jackson to see the surgeon concerning how his leg was healing and if we could take the drain out yet. Kristen and I had decided we were going to do our best to convince the doctor that she should take it out. You see, they had originally told us that we could likely take it out before we even left the hospital (we left on Saturday). Then they said that if we called on Monday, we could set up an appointment to take it out, potentially that day. We called on Monday and they said we should come in on Thursday.

So, we went in on Thursday. The surgeon said that everything had healed very nicely. He didn’t seem to have any mobility issues. He could stretch and bend his leg without any pain or resistance. And he was able to stand on his leg without any problems.

Then came the drain. The doctor said she would take it out, although there was still several ccs’s of liquid coming out. We were so relieved. So she quickly yanked it out, much to Jackson’s chagrin. He let out a yelp and cried some, but I think he’s glad to not have that impediment any more. The doctor also said that he can now crawl and stand and do anything else, except for take a full-fledged bath. That’s because he still has a hole where the drain was, and that has to heal. She thought it would take around a week to scab over.

In the meantime, he has been making up for lost time. He’s crawling, wanting to stand and climb on and over anything in his way. He especially likes the Seckinger’s dog, Noah.

We will see the surgeon for the final time on the 27th, at which point we’re assuming she’ll say everything has healed perfectly, which will then allow Jackson to get his medical clearance back so he can travel to Bogota.

I’ve attached a short video we took with our camera of Jackson in a wagon, before the surgery. You can tell why he feels like a prince. It has been quite a let down for him to come home to normal life!

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=9Cul43hTX3Y]

Thank you all again for your prayers and support. Continue to keep us in your prayers as we all recover from such an emotional time and continue to provide lots of care for Jackson. He came home with the drain in his leg and they told us we could come back Monday to get it removed. The weekend seemed daunting to try to care of it but with Monday in sight we thought we could handle it. When Monday rolled around they said they couldn’t get him in until Thursday afternoon. Ugh. Yesterday was the first day that we didn’t have a leakage problem….we have already had one at 5 AM this morning. We will be very excited to have it removed!! Jackson appears to be in a little more pain now and then but overall he is being so tough and is so happy.

We are enjoying time with our families and are excited to be here for my brother Graham’s graduation this Friday. Seth is going to go to an Astros game tonight and we are enjoying PLENTY of American food.

We leave for DC on Monday to take care of some other family medical stuff. We are excited to reconnect with our friends from our small group there.

That’s the scoop from here. Hope you are all well!

PS- We are anticipating the birth of the Maney and Seabourn boys! Keep us posted! Hang in there Meredith and Sarah…these last weeks will be gone before you know it!