Um... wow. I'm a bad mommy. Last week, May 21st, Frankie turned 6!! And, I feel bad that I haven't updated for that or since April, for that matter!

Frankie is doing well. He does not, however, produce enough steroid on his own, so the doctors want him to go back onto steroids. He's been off of them for almost 2 months now. And, he's been doing alright. So, I've sent an email to get another opinion on this situation. So, until I find out more on that issue, I'll just leave it at that.

As for my six-year-old! He is amazing. His vocal sounds and word approximations have greatly improved. On occasion, you even get an actual word. His eye contact, participation and genuine desire to connect with others is so much more apparent. All of this since he came off the steroids, thus my issue noted in the first paragraph.

He's gotten to be such a big boy. As I type this, I'm watching him run around the living room, laughing and hopping around. He is such a happy child, despite everything we have put him through. His strength and resiliency constantly amazes me.

We had an birthday party for Frankie a few weekends ago. It was his first actual birthday party since he was a year old. We had both sides of the family there, with a few friends as well. Luckily, the weather cooperated. It was cold, but it didn't rain, so that was good. My parents were very gracious to open their home for us to host the party there.

You may ask why he hasn't had a birthday party for so long, and the reason is two-fold ... one, we have a big family, so we always split it up... and two, transplant and hospitalizations prevented Frankie from having anything until this year.

That being said, I have been made painfully aware that I had forgotten to invite some family members. And, trust me when I say this... it was a complete brain lapse on my part. We threw the party together in a week, and there were about three sets of relatives that we missed.

I feel like I'm all over the board today. And, I think that's because I'm rushing to update the site since it's been so long. I do have photos from his birthday party that I'll be posting, but I can't guaranteed that I will get to it this weekend.

Another note... on June 18th, Frankie "graduates" from pre-school and will be attending kindergarten in the fall. We're still not sure which school he will attend, but I think I know which one I want him to go to. More on that later.

Thanks for reading and keeping up with Frankie!