November 4, 2008

Ok, so I am upset the Obama is the next president of this great country. Really, really, upset, but at least I know I went and voted yesterday to show my support for McCain in this Blue state.

I am more upset over the recent additional layoffs in my office yesterday. November 4, 2008 will not be remembered as a great day day in my life.

However, I did have some fun at Joey's place -well, it is really Jess and Pat's, but they let him stay there :). You can head over there and see some photos of the kids playing. Even Nathaniel was getting into it. I think we need one of those blue tube things in our home to play in.

We really miss Dillon and Melissa, my life has been so hectic I cannot say when I will be able to get together with them again! Especially with all the boy scout stuff in there. Maybe Sunday after our portrait session at Target. Maybe. . . .

Also, I need to welcome Rainer into this world. He was born on Halloween and is a wonderful addition to the family that was 3 and now 4 : Tricia, Alex, and Georgia!

Let's see, can I sneak anymore tags in my blog post today. :)

I can't wait to upload my Halloween pictures. More of that to come.

THE JOB MARKET

As some of you know, I was technically laid off. I know it sounds bad, but I was given a 10 month notice and I will have some severance. This does, however, come at a very stressful time. Many places are on a hiring freeze right now. At least I have the luxury to wait it out, but there is a gamble that things will get a lot worse before it gets better. I don't know, I am not that worried about it. I think that I will end out ok. . .

Oh that Penny

She likes to wake up around 11 or 12 screaming at the top of her lungs. Could she be having night terrors? But she is way to cute for that.

Speech Therapy

So she finally had ST. About time!! Well, I think it went really well. The ST sat there with a toy and practiced "in and out" and "on and off" and "all done". She was impressed that Penny can follow some simple directions such as "go get it," because when she throws a toy across the room it is her responsibility to get it; and "can I see?" when you need something from her before she puts it in her mouth.

Penelope also eats almost anything now. Her favorite is meat generally. She loves salmon, steak, chicken, turkey keilbasa, and hamburg. She will tolorate brocolli and carrots, but she really likes spaghetti, rice, and noodles. She tries so hard to use that fork. It is very frustrating when she can't get the food to stick to the fork!

I found a new blog today through Master Dillon's blog. It is this blog. I hope I have time to read it every day as I would love to get to know Sarah.

Scott signed me up to be the Tiger den leader for Nathaniel and I have just been so busy lately. I am having a lot of fun guiding the little ones. :)

This summer just seemed to wiz by. In August we went to Eastham at Cape Cod and we had a really wonderful time. Penny and Nathaniel loved the beach. Good thing I splurged for the water-proof liner on his cast. By the way, he got it off on Sept. 3 without any complications.

Penny and I went with Melissa and Dillon to the Buddy Walk on the shore in CT to raise money and awareness for folks with Down syndrome. After that we went shopping at Tanger Outlets too :).

I had an Usborne book show last week with Jessica. This Christmas will be the year everyone got books. Including Scott because, who doesn't need to read more?

Mostly, I have just been busy trying to keep the house clean and knitting this sweater for Penny. I started it in July hoping that I will be finished in time for the winter because I know how slow if a knitter I am. I am almost there.

Nathaniel caused some trouble

Here he is actually just faking it. I asked him to make a face!!
I was trying to get a good picture of how swollen his arm was.
That lollipop must have kept him occupied!! Here, the waterproof liner is going on.
Now, the cast is being rolled on, I guess this wasn't too bad for our brave hero.
TA-DA!!!! I'm healing.

So, as I said in a previous post. Nathaniel is in a cast!!! On July 25, the day before the picnic, I got a call while at work from Nathaniel's day camp that Nathaniel fell from the monkey bars and was upset that his wrist hurt. They weren't sure if it was broken or not, but as the counseler said, "I'm not a doctor." I picked him up as fast as I could and off we went to the pediatrician. I had picked him up at 10 am. At the pediatrician visit we were refered to an orthepedist (and they set up the appt for us), but the appt wasn't until 2:20. I was told that they squeezed Nathaniel in so I might have to wait awhile once I got there, but to get there early to do paperwork. Well, we took a lunch break and went to Burger King for lunch, and then to Friendly's for ice cream since we had so much time in between. Wouldn't you know that my kid did not cry this whole time and barely complained. I was so proud. We got to the orthepedist at 1:50 and we weren't seen until 3:15 and then they had to take x-rays! There was a confirmed buckle fracture on Nathaniel's left arm, near the wrist. He was finally casted at just before 4. What was truely remarkable to me was his attitude. These are just a couple of Nathanilisms from that day: "Good thing I broke my left arm and not my right." "Good thing this happened in the summer, because my winter coat wouldn't fit over my cast." and "Good thing they have yellow casts because yellow is my favorite color." The only down side to this is that Nathaniel does use his left hand to wipe himself, but he has adjusted I am sure. They even have waterproof casts now. It was an out of pocket expense because, of course this is a luxary, but it was worth the $55 this being in the summer and all. We have the Cape to consider, and the picnic, not to mention he was going back to that camp where they have morning swim and afternoon swim!!

Down Syndrome Picnic

I must be really dumb because this was entirely too hard for me. Does anyone else have issues with Flickr?

www.flickr.com

where have I been?!?!

I know it has been a whole month since I last posted. This July was insanely busy. I such kudos to the mothers out there that find the time to blog daily. This is just a quick note to please stop by another blog to catch up on Kennedy. She is such a cutie! Please keep her in your prayers!!


Once I get all my photos uploaded I will update you on what a crazy July this has been. Penny is doing great!! Nathaniel is in a cast!! boo!!!

She finally did it!!

I was so happy to see Penny put herself in a sitting position all by herself today!!! She is such an amazing baby and everyday she shows me something new that blows me away. She lays down on the ground and puts herself onto her hands and knees, which is funny because she doesn't crawl that way. She still slinks along on her belly. Then she sits back on her butt putting hersef in a folded in half position and then she pushes her back straight up. What a cutie!!!

Everybody say Hi to Dillon

Penny had a date last night with her friend Dillon. She kept trying to steal his glasses. I felt bad for him until later on when he was shrieking with delight, he scared Penny to tears. Other than that they had a really good time, I think. And I had a good time with Mel, Dillon's mother. Sometime we will need to leave the babies at home and go out without them.

4th of July

Happy July 4! I can remember 6 years ago today it was about 106 degrees and I was 40 weeks pregnant with my son Nathaniel. My due date for him was the 4th of July, and I was so miserable. It was a Thursday and it was hot. I had been working at TGI Fridays but I took my last day on June 26. Not because I was uncomfortable running around, (my feet were more swollen with Penny then with Nathaniel) but because my very close friend, Irene had come up from Arizona just to witness the birth of my son and she wanted to get in early so that she wouldn't miss it. On July 4, I am sure Scott was working at the Outback that night and I was at my parents' house enjoying some cookout food. It wasn't until Saturday morning that I went into labor with him. I feel as though it was yesterday. I can't get over the fact that my little boy is soon to be 6 years old. Where does the time go. And on that note, I have a birthday this month too. I am turning 29. . . for the first time! yeesh!

Today we are going to see Matt, this is Scott's step-father. He moved into his new place on May 31 and I am ashamed to say we have not seen it and I still don' t know where he lives. We have been very busy watching my friend's child and best friend of Nathaniel, Tanner. Penny and Nathaniel are being watched by Tanner's mother Angela during the day, and we are watching Tanner in the evenings. Anyway, I am very excited to se his new place today and have a 4th of July cookout!

Penny is doing well as always. I swear she gained another 12lbs this week. She is scooting all over the place. Sometimes her belly is off the ground for a few seconds. I hope she is learning that the crawling works a little better with the belly off the ground. She still refuses to say "mama." I am trying not to get too frustrated. Maybe she thinks that we are both a "Dada, " I don't know. The speech therapist is impressed with her vocal talents, however.

Her friend Dillon is coming over tomorrow night to have a party while Nathaniel and Tanner go to the fireworks with Scott. Girls like to party!!!

Heart Link I discovered

I never realized that the Little Hearts Website linked you to a John Hopkins tutorial website that gives really great visual information on all the different kinds of heart defects. I finally understand what an overiding aorta means when reading the information on Tetrolgy of Fallot.

All in a day's hard work

Penny is executing her military crawl with such perfection; I am afraid she will be recruited anyday. She is so funny, she will get on her elbows, belly, and legs and with one arm in front of the other, and some help from her hind quarters she inches along the floor. I don't believe her belly gets a millimeter off the floor, but it certainly gets her around very effeciently. She can transverse our living area in a matter of moments. :) I just love her so much. Her PT is very proud of the progress she is making. She has been pulling her self to a standing position for awhile now (maybe a month) but she needs to be in a sitting position first and to my knowledge she has not figured out how to get into a sitting position.

She is doing very well with mealtimes too. I like to give her an opportunity to feed herself with a spoon often. Scott doesn't approve because of the mess, but how else is she supposed to learn? She likes sandwiches, peanut butter and jelly and grilled cheese being the only two she has tried. She also likes Gerber graduates ravioli. She will scarf that stuff man! She likes ice cream and yogurt. A whole world of possibilities opened up just a few weeks ago when she turned 1.

I am still working with her to say "mama" she just doesn't want to. After I say it a few times, she starts to respond with "blah!" Oh well, she will get there when she is ready. . .

Wow!

Looking back through some pictures that are now almost a year old. How different things are. This photo was taken while Penny had the BT shunt. Maybe the photo shoot was stressing her out.

I totally forgot cake pictures

And considering how much work I did on these I most certainly want to share. . .

Birthday Pictures

The weather held up. I was afraid that there would be more rain, but it all worked out. It only rained for about 90 seconds or so. :) And, even though her teeth were bothering her. Penny made it through the day. I hope she had a good time because I sure did.


Here she is eating peanut butter and jelly for the first time. I gave her a 1/4 piece and she scarfed it. I had to give her another piece. I am so proud of my little 1 year old.
I finally got a quasi smile out of this kid. She really makes me work for it.
PLEASE DON'T TAKE THIS TOY AWAY FROM ME. I WANT TO PLAY MOMMY!
Here is Penny with Nathaniel of course, and her friend Dillon that came to play! She was so happy to meet him finally. Can you see that this girl is giving me attitude already because she does not want her picture taken again.
Typical!! She is trying to have a meaningful conversation with her companion and I bet he isn't even listening. MEN!

What a busy Weekend

Pictures from the Little Hearts picnic!
My little girl was quite happy to be held by her mommy. Even though she was teething something terrible!

Yesterday we went to the Little Hearts picnic and we had a fabulous time. We ran into some familiar faces from the Pediatric Cardiology Group right here in Hartford. The boys played. Penny just enjoyed the sun and the wind and the walks. We had such a good time, we cannot wait to go next year.

This was a great opportunity to meet other parents and children with congenital heart defects. There is just so much support out there you know! I saw many many children with HLHS, which still blows my mind considering what a tough road that journey must be. We ran into quite a few children with TOF as well and I got to speak with a few mothers.

Have a Good Night's sleep

Penelope had her Birthday on Thursday. She finally made it to 1 year! Unfortunately though, her teeth are making her miserable. I swear she is cutting six at once. Poor baby. So it seems that she has had a fever since Thursday afternoon that we have been treating with Tylenol. She has no other symptons and her 12 month check up is this Tuesday so I am not that worried. Her last dose today was at 11:30 and she still seems fine.

She had her first Birthday party today and we worked hard to over stimulate her. :) She also had her first taste of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. She is so good at chewing that I thought I would see what she would make of it and she did wonderful! She liked it so much I gave her 2 pieces. The rest of the meal was a juice box and strawberries, followed by a pint sized birthday cake for the birthday princess. She went to town on the frosting. Her lips were stained blue for quite a while. She also did very well unwrapping her gifts. Thank you to all that came and shared our good time. Thank you all too for the gifts. She has a lot of new stuff to explore and clothes to keep her looking on the edge of high fashion.

I'll be posting pictures soon.

Tomorrow, we are off to the Little Hearts Picnic!

Penny Photo Shoot

I Consider Myself Very Blessed

So I traveled to Walmart on Saturday, with both the children, to pick up some things for her party next week and I had an interesting experience. I am quite used to receiving compliments on how cute Penny is and Saturday was no different. By the time I got to the check out line, we had received our fourth compliment by the cashier. She first asked how old Penny is and I replied that she was turning 1 next week. Then of course she told me how beautiful she is. In the year that I have had Penny I have NEVER returned a compliment with "You know, she has Down syndrome." I always smile and thank the person and move on. I mean, what's the point and who cares, right? For some reason, though, this exact statement came out of my mouth this time. I didn't even know where it came from. The cashier looked at me with sad eyes and said, "I know, I had a daughter with Down syndrome." Then, this woman that was not even older than myself told me that she had a daughter with Down syndrome who had stenosis of (not the trachea) some component of the airway and it was not repairable. When she was only 11 months she passed away because she could not get air into her lungs. We agreed our children had strong but sweet personalities, then the woman stated that God has blessed her. We then commanded each other to have a great holiday weekend and I left feeling a little melancholy.

Truly, Penny, CONGRATULATIONS on turning 1 year!

Penny is almost 1 year!!

I apologize for not posting in a while. I really wanted to get on there on Mother's day to wish all the wonderful mothers out there a spectacular day, but that didn't happen. There is a lot to tell. On May 9, Penny had a check up with the cardiologist. She was 20 and 1/2 lbs! Unbelievable right? The best news we got was during the ultrasound. You may recall that her last echo cardiogram revealed that her left branch pulmonary artery was very narrow. If it did not get better then some sort of surgical intervention would have been necessary. However, on her check up it was discovered that her left grew to be almost the same size as her right artery. Yay!!!! I was so elated to get such good news as was my mother who went with us and my husband. He was so worried that the doctor was going to find something wrong with her and have her whisked back to the hospital! I am so happy. We don't have to go back to see her until November. Another concern I had was that if Penny would need to be scheduled sooner than 5 years old for her next surgery since clearly, she has been growing so quickly. Well, that does not seem to be a concern for Penelope's cardiologist. She said that if Penny is growing well we should take that as a good sign. Also, the conduit (donor artery) that was placed in Penny's chest is so big that the cardiologist suspects it will last her until she is 6 maybe even 8. This is of course as long as she does not lay down a lot of calcium as the years go on.

Another thing that has been going on is our transition to different foods. I really wanted to keep her off wheat until she was a year, but I figured we are close enough. I gave her buckwheat pancakes this weekend and a graham cracker. She loved it. She also tried strawberries. Yum-O!

Lastly, the thing that has kept us most busy, is that I went up to visit my good friend on May 10 who just had a baby on April 27, and my car broke down in MA en route. Luckily, I was able to get a rental car fairly quickly and I resumed my trip. But my car is still in Tewksbury. I need to really make a decision on what I will do with it was recommended that we didn't fix it. I loved that car. It was an AWD 98 Subaru. I see other cars just like it all around and it makes me a tiny bit sad. Scott and I purchased another vehicle this weekend so it is all working out, but it just was unexpected, you know?

Well, I wish I could say that I plan to post again before Penny's big day, but I don't know that I will realistically be able to. Oh, in case I haven't mentioned it before, Penny is getting her 2 top center teeth right now, they are pretty established, but then tonight I found that she is getting 2 top bicuspid (maybe?) teeth as well. She is a teething monster! Good night!