Recount of 2008

Overall a much better year than 2007! Here are some of the highlights of 2008;

January - Penelope was recovering so nicely at home, having just came home from surgery on Dec. 22 for her TOF repair (2nd surgery was on Dec. 17, 2007) and at just seven months old, her first tooth erupted. The most exciting thing of Jan. '08 must of been when I joined blogger, of course! My first ever blog post was on Jan. 12.

February - My father turned 59, Penny worked hard on sitting up on her own and with the exit of Feb. she was very close to doing it. She also was holding herself in a standing position on the coffee table. Scott and I were both back into our routine at work having found a babysitter to come to our house three days a week.

March - Penny celebrated her first Easter in March. I also hosted the annual Easter candy hunt at my mother's house. I learned that Penelope could drink through a straw. She also had her 9 month well baby check up where we learned our little monster was over 18 and a half pounds!! We were so proud of her growth. She also started to say "dada" this month.

April - One of my brothers celebrated his 19th birthday and my mother had a birthday as well. Penelope continued to grow and tried out new foods. My god baby, Shamus, was born to my best friend Jessie and her hubby, Nate.

May - Such a busy month. I went up to visit Shamus and en route to NH with Penny my car broke down. I was able to get picked up from my break down location and I rented a car to resume my trip. We ended up buying a 2008 Honda Civic before the month was over. My family was proud to celebrate Penny's 1st birthday!!! Penelope wasn't too happy because her molars erupted the weekend of her birthday party. She also had a cardiology visit that concluded her left pulmonary artery miraculously grew and everything else looked great.

June - We started out the month when we took the kids to the Little Hearts picnic. This included Tanner. I know that I had a great time and I can't wait to go back this year. Having decided that rolling around was not very effective, Penny learned to perfect her military crawl. Another brother of mine turned 27 and Nathaniel graduated from Kindergarten into first grade.

July - Nathaniel had his sixth birthday at Chuck - E - Cheese. I had my 29th birthday. We placed Nathaniel in summer vacation camp through the parks and rec department for a few weeks and on July 25, Nathaniel fell off the monkey bars and broke his arm. Penelope started putting herself into a sitting position on her own. This was huge!! We also went to the Down syndrome picnic where we met up with Melissa and Dillon. We also ran into Jessica and Joey as well. Diana, who is our current babysitter, came on board. She is absolutely wonderful!

August - WE WENT TO CAPE COD!! It had been 3 years since Scott and I went on vacation together and we had a wonderful time with the kiddies. My mother, father and brother Michael were with us for part of the week.

September - I found out that my job will be consolidated to another claim center. At the present time, we still do not know where this claims office will be. The deadline is supposed to be Aug. 1, 2009 so we were given 11 months notice and a severance option if we are still with the company by the time Aug. comes. Nathaniel started 1st grade.

October - This brought Halloween of course and lots of fun fall activities. I had my first Usborne home show with Jessica where I picked up a lot of cool books. I made two trips to Burlington, VT. Scott and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary on Columbus Day weekend up there. Penny came with us, but my friend Jessie was great enough to keep her overnight. Nathaniel stayed home with my brother and sister - in - law and niece. Then my other best friend Irene flew in from Chicago and I took her to Burlington so that us girls could party. It was a crazy weekend. We finally started speech therapy for Penny, and have been continuing with the PT.

November - I was reacquainted with blogging and made a real effort to blog more than once a month. lol. Penelope began to crawl on her hands and knees more consistently. She had her check up with the cardiologist which will lead to a future MRI. Her growth is awesome!! 23 lbs in November. Unfortunately, she was sick through Thanksgiving. First she had croup, then walking pneumonia, and then an ear infection. We celebrated Thanksgiving at Old Sturbridge Village in Sturbridge, MA.

December - Scott's birthday, my other brother's 22 birthday, and CHRISTMAS!! Nathaniel told me Santa brought him everything he asked for, so he must have been a good boy. Penelope began to stand without holding onto anything for close to a minute. We also learned that she likes to eat the crib when we are not looking.