Hannah received her blue belt today in Karate. She is now 1/2 way through to becoming a Black Belt.

The daily Anakinra shot is working, sometimes she says that her joints are sore, but seems to work through it.

Happy Valentine’s Day from “DAD”.

We went back to the Dr’s Office at Children’s Mercy this week.

Hannah getting her weight and vitals checked before we went into our patient room.

Dr. Kessler checking out Hannah’s joints for any signs of Systemic Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (Systemic JIA).

Dr. Kessler ordered new blood labs today, so we were waiting in the lobby of the lab to get some blood drawn … watching old Tom and Jerry Cartoons. We were suprised that Hannah was drawn into the old cartoons.

Since Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City is close to Crown Center, we took Hannah over for lunch and found a life-sized Lego Girl in the lobby.

Hannah had some blood drawn last week at the local hospital, and we got a report today from Children’s Mercy that her arthritis count is back to normal.

Hannah and “R” have been back at school this week and karate, so haven’t had much time to work on their rainbow looms, but I’m sure by the time this weekend comes around, they’ll be back at it again.

Hannah had a birthday this weekend.

One of her presents was a rubber band neclace/bracelet loom. She was so excited after opening this present from Grandma “K”. It was a huge hit!

Over the past few weeks, some neighborhood and school friends had given some bracelets to both Hannah and “R” and now they have their own loom!

We had to buy more rubber bands for Hannah and “R” because they worked on the craft non-stop for almost 2 days! (We even bought a loom for “R” at Walmart.) Hilarious!

Mom and Dad made a few bracelets, too. This is what its like to “stop and smell the roses”.

Hannah has been symptom free from her Systemic JIA since we were called to Childrens Mercy Hospital over a month ago.