Monday, April 12, 2004 3:52 PM CDT

Happy Easter to everyone!

There is no real medical news on Aidan these days, which in itself is good news! With no new neurological problems, and liver and kidney both working just fine, Aidan is putting on weight and flourishing developmentally. He talks ALL the time now..... a sample of his conversation "Hey Liam, guess what?? ---- "What?" "I have a question!" --"What?" and then the conversational loop starts all over again, since Aidan can't quite think of a question to continue the interchange. But he will get there, I'm sure!

Aidan tries hard to keep his lively 16 month old brother Paddy out of danger, saying earnestly, "All done, baby!" when Paddy is trying to turn up the TV's volume, or blast the water faucet in the bathtub, or any of the other things that toddlers do.

And every day, he wakes up wanting to go somewhere, "Mama, take Aidan-boy to swings." "Mama, go to Grandma's house." "Mama, I need you to take Aidan to appointment!" (that was his new idea for getting out of the house, just today!)

The first year after Aidan's transplant, our transplant coordinator told us that Easter would be a turning point for us -- indeed, a lot of his problems resolved around spring and he had several relatively smooth months after that. This year, again, it seems that the Easter season has brought peace and joy to our life. It's strange not to wake up every day wondering if we will need to bring Aidan down to the ER that night. I'm not complaining in the least, though! Last year at this time, Aidan was yellow from liver disease, wearing oxygen cannula taped to his face, and painfully thin except for his belly filled with fluid from his cerebral shunt. It's great to wake up these days and hear Aidan laughing, "reading" his books and proposing plans for the day instead of crying, with his oxygen meter alarming, and wanting only to lie around watching videoes, like he was last year.

A happy Easter to everyone reading this. There are some new pictures in the photo album courtesy of Grandma Ryan. We keep the intentions of all those praying for Aidan in our prayers.