Christmas Cards

When you are making out your Christmas card list this year, please consider
including the following:

A Recovering American Soldier
c/o Walter Reed Army Medical Center
6900 Georgia Avenue,NW
Washington,D.C. 20307-5001.
If you approve of the idea, please pass it on to your e-mail list.

Random Ramblings about Me

I know, this blog is supposed to be about Penny. But hey, I am just as interesting and you know Penny is just doing so well that I don't have that much to talk about when it comes to her.

Actually, I do have one update about her that I can share. Scott is finally taking her to get her first blood draw for thyroid testing. I know, we should be on test #3 by now. Apparently we are really bad parents. (shame) If you notice on my link list, there is a comprehensive listing of things to have routinely checked for on your child with Down syndrome and I have ignored this.

Anyway, back to me. Last night I stopped by the Boy Scouts of America store to finally purchase my uniform shirt and all the related accessories. Nathaniel is just so excited about this and he cannot tell me enough how much he loves me when we are doing scouting things together so I know this is a great thing to do with him. I might even go all the way with him in cub scouting. I mean, what kind of message would that send if I quit? And it is only one hour a week, right? lol. When I showed him all the patches I had to sew to my shirt, Nathaniel said to me, "Mommy, it is almost Friday. You better hurry up and sew these on!" And wouldn't you know that when I called to check on him before he went to school, he asked me if I started sewing yet. I admit I was up pretty late working on this, and he was already asleep, so his concern was really sweet.

I am really having a good time with this Cub Scout stuff and by the time Nathaniel crosses over to Boy Scouts if he chooses, it will be right in time for Penny to be in 1st grade (hopefully) and she will be ready for Girl Scouts. I have already planned my out!

But for now, peace out Cub Scouts!

My Firsts

Well, I considered myself tagged by Rene at Kennedy's Place, so here goes:

1. Who was your FIRST prom date?Tato. He was the premier skate boarder in Manchester and I didn't have a date to my Junior Prom so I asked him to go with me even though he was 21 years old!

2. Do you still talk to your FIRST love? Through myspace occasionally.

3. What was your FIRST alcoholic drink?probably beer

4. What was your FIRST job?Babysitting, same as Rene, I even took a Red Cross class through the Girl Scouts to certify me.

5. What was your FIRST car?If you don't count the 1984 Plymouth minivan that was a 5-speed that my parents let me drive when I got my license. . the 1st car I purchased, and that was in my name was my 1992 Dodge Shadow (also a 5-speed).

6. Who was the FIRST person to text you today? I rarely get texted. It I didn't get any today.

7. Who is the FIRST person you thought of this morning? Scott, I couldn't tell if he was still in the bed with me. Ever since we got this king size bed I feel lost!!! :)

8. Who was your FIRST grade teacher? Mrs. Bono.

9. Where did you go on your FIRST ride on an airplane? I was a few months old and I took a trip to San Francisco to visit my father's parents with my father and my mother. I don't remember it.

10. Who was your FIRST best friend and are you still friends with them? Stephanie, but we don't connect anymore. There wasn't a fallout or anything, we just don't have a lot of common interests anymore.

11. What was your FIRST sport played? Me?? Sports? Surely you jest. I did join the Club Team Women's Ice Hockey Team at UConn. I didn't get to play one game because I hurt myself right at the start of the winter semester.

12. Where was your FIRST sleep over? Stephanie's house

13. Who was the FIRST person you talked to today? Penelope of course. I went to check on her and change her diaper before Nathaniel and Scott woke up and before I left for work.

14. Whose wedding were you in the FIRST time? My Aunt Bonnie? I was a flower girl.

15. What was the FIRST thing you did this morning? Jumped in the shower.

16. What was the FIRST concert you ever went to?Ozzie Osborne when I was a Junior in high school. The best part was, when I got there, I found out that Korn was opening! I was way into Korn, but didn't care too much about Ozzie.

17. FIRST tattoo or piercing?My ears when I was 7 and then I got the one tattoo when I was 18 and a half.

18. FIRST foreign country you went to? Portugal with my Catholic Youth Group when I was 15. It was a really great time.

19. What was your FIRST run in with the law? Seriously, it must have been was I was 2 or 3 and I decided I would go out and ride my tricycle around the block in my birthday suite while my mom was taking a nap with my infant brother. Two officers saw me and escorted me back to my home. Good thing I knew where I lived!

20. When was your FIRST detention? I honestly don't think I ever had a detention. Maybe one in Catholic school when I was 10 or 11 when I forgot my homework once. I never forgot to do my homework again!

21. What was the FIRST state you lived in? Connecticut, I have only ever lived here.

22. Who was the FIRST person to break your heart? Scott

23. Who was your FIRST roommate? What's her name from the Ukraine at UConn. Vicki?

24. Where did you go on your FIRST limo ride? Out for some games of pool.

I personally tag Melissa, Jessica (you can take your time), Erin, Gina, and Sarah.

Wordless Wednesday

Vote for Kayla

I know I haven't put her on my blogroll yet, but the fact is, I have been following Michelle and Kayla since about the time she announced she was pregnant with Lucas. I am so happy that Kayla made it to the finalists because I really think she is so gorgeous. Please go and vote for her on this Prego contest so that Michelle will have some spending money while her husband goes back on duty.

What are you waiting for, go and vote already!! Kayla is #4 and you can also visit her at Michelle's blog, Big Blueberry Eyes.

Good luck Kayla and Michelle, you already have my vote (and Penelope's vote)!!

I am so Excited

For Penny! She is just so close to walking. She is so happy with herself. I try to set the dining chairs all over the living room in different compositions so she can cruise herself to where ever she wants to go. :)

Tomorrow morning I get to help chaperon for Nathaniel's 1st grade field trip, wish me luck. I love hanging out with a bunch of crazy 6 year olds. Hey, that must be why I am into Scouting!
Speaking of scouting, I spent 8 house at a Cub Scout Pow-Wow on Saturday. I learned so much and I am so excited now to be a Tiger Cub Scout leader for those boys. I can't wait to apply what I learned!

GO JOEY!!!

Joey is going in for surgery today for his malrotated bowels. Please, everyone, pray for an uneventful and quick surgery and that he has an easy recovery. He is such a cute little man and we want him to get to his good old self as soon as he can!


GET WELL SOON JOEY!!!

Prego Photo Contest

Penny is being submitted into the contest hosted on 5 Minutes for Special Needs. Please check out the contest yourself and you may even win a $500 gift card for grocery shopping.

How Wonderful

Please, please, check out Dave's post today, as it brought tears to my eyes.

I want to EAT HER UP!!!

Question of the Day

What do you do when your 18 month old is up 3 hours past her bed time and she is not hungry, or feverish but she (or he, this is hypothetical right?) just whines and cries with no end in the crib and will not settle in if you try to lay down in the big bed? This same 18 month old is happy to play though if you take her (or him) out of the crib!

Today is the first day of the rest of my life

www.my-calorie-counter.com     The webs free Calorie Counter

I am going to do it. I need to lose some weight, and by some, I don't mean a litte. I mean A LOT!! Scott bought us both gym memberships and I plan on using mine. Go me!!

I will be keeping the ticker at the way bottom of the page in case anyone is interested in checking my progress.

Mike and Nathaniel at the Cape

Christmas Pictures Nightmare

We went to Target today to get our Christmas pictures done. I think I am really happy about how they turned out, it is just that there was so much craziness going on and it all happened so fast. I might have to go back to get more of Penny. She was not in a good mode. Here is the dress she was wearing. Nathaniel was so well behaved that he won his prize at the end. An Indiana Jones Legos set (the cheapest one they have there).

Oh, and if you are surfing and have nothing better to do, please go see some pictures on Flickr of me having a great time partying with some friends. I got to go the Burlington, VT sans children and husband a couple of weekends ago and I can't remember when I had such a good time. Here is a picture I grabbed of my good friend Irene before I had to bring her back to the airport.

My Comment to Adelynn's Journy

I was inspired to write about the first time I had to turn into a bitch for Penny's sake, by Adelynn's mommy's post. When Penelope was a month old to the day, her wound incision appeared to be infected, so we went to the cardiologist office (it happens to be in the children's hospital here) and she was put on PO antibiotics. At 3 am the next day, I could tell the infection was getting worse so we brought he to the ER at the children's hospital for a course of IV meds. She hadn't gotten a fever at this point so we knew that everything was going to be alright.

Penny's first IV was put in at the ER and to my knowledge, that 1st dose at about 6 am went in fine. With her noon dose, it was clear that the IV had infiltrated so the IV had to be removed. The doctors didn't feel they needed to do anything until her next dose was due so around 4:30 this TOTALLY HOT SWEDISH resident, Dr. Thor Thorenson (I am not making that name up, I swear to God), came in to tell me that he is really good with babies. I told him that she is a hard stick and could we just call the NICU nurses? He replied that they were too busy. So, 35 minutes later I could still hear her screams down the hall since I had to leave to room at some point. I came running back in to stop the evil torture, but learned that Dr. Thor had ceased as well. I asked him what the plan was. Even though I had been up for 14 hours at this point and it was only 5pm, I knew that this was necessary so my concerns were more that I wanted her to have her medicine and not so much her comfort. He told me that he wanted me to try to feed her to allow the veins to plump up more and then he would try again. I asked him what other options we had in case he couldn't get the IV in again. He suggested a vein in her scalp, but that usually doesn't work for babies because they shake their head a lot and it could push out the IV. I looked at him and told him that doesn't sound like much of an option then. So he left to give Penny time to calm down for round 2.

As soon as he left the room I tried to think of how I could take matters into my own hands. So I picked up the room phone and I CALLED THE CARDIOLOGISTS OFFICE'S NUMBER. Never mind that it was 3 floors below me. I spoke with Dr. Iyer, and I told him that I wasn't happy with the level of care I was getting. I told him that my daughter was 4 weeks old and that what I wanted was a NICU nurse to come over to do this. He then said the words any mother would have been happy to hear: "I will absolutely do that for you." He also asked why this wasn't already done and I told him that Dr. Thor advised they were too busy over there. I don't think he liked that answer.

About ten minutes later, Dr. Thor then walked in to discuss "The plan" again. I finally interrupted him to tell him that I used the phone to call Dr. Iyer and a NICU nurse was on the way over to do {what he couldn't do.} This was the best reaction in the history of reactions that I have seen in real life: his jaw dropped open and he stared at me for a moment to think about what he was going to say next. I mean, how dare someone call a doctor on a phone while you are in a hospital, it sounds crazy right? One minute later, my favorite NICU nurse Rhonda, showed up with an APRN and they got to work. Within 5 minutes and with no tears the IV was in!!! God those nurses are good!!! I am sure Penny appreciated the change in venue too.

Been Thinking a lot of this song

I guess there is a cover out there of John Lennon's "Working Class Hero" by Green Day. You may have heard it. The beginning of the song really sticks with me on this version. I am not sure if the lyrics are the same or not.

AS SOON AS YOU'RE BORN THEY MAKE YOU FEEL SMALL
BY GIVING YOU NO TIME INSTEAD OF IT ALL
'TIL THE PAIN IS SO BIG YOU FEEL NOTHING AT ALL

I wish we all had more time to stay home with our babies!!!!!

Tall things at home

Penny sure is getting ready to walk. I know I could be saying this for the next 6 months, but what can I say - I am proud of her! She lets go of the coffee table and stands for almost a minute before she plops on her butt. I can't wait until I can stop carrying her heavy body everywhere.

The Penny Montage

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Pushing 25 lbs!

WoWsers!! Penelope tipped the scales at 25 lbs and .4 oz. That is of course with all her clothes and her leather shoes, not to mention the full diaper. The visit went well enough. I confirmed something I found online that Dr. Mello moved to New Orleans. Katie, his PA, now works solely in the P.I.C.U. I asked Penny's cardiologist who will do surgeries now and the answer is that they no longer do pediatric cardiac surgeries at CCMC. If a family needs heart surgery on their child, they either go to Yale or to Boston Children's Hospital. How sad, how very, very sad. It was such a relief knowing that my child was having surgery so close to home. But I guess you can't have it all. Some states don't have facilities like this such as VT, and they are hoping this is temporary, until they find someone else. . . .

But, now on to Penny's visit: Her VSD patch looks great, and the homograph conduit looks good with only trivial leakage. I was informed that you are never going to get a conduit that doesn't have some leakage. I asked about the muscle tissue growing on the right ventricle (Right ventricular hypertrophy), I was told that for now the size of her right ventricle looks good. As the conduit begins to fail, the heart will try to compensate and that side of the heart will enlarge some more, but we should be a long way off for that. Her EKG was normal. The only cause for concern was the size of her right pulmonary artery. You may recall in a post from last May at her last visit, my concerns laid with her left p.a. and how very happy we were that it was not as stenotic as it may have appeared during a cardiac catheter procedure in Nov 2007. Well, this time, it is the rpa that seems to have us guessing. It isn't a matter of it looking bad, it is more of a matter of her not being able to get a great look at the rpa. There may be scar tissue blocking the entrance, or it may be a shadow. Hard to tell in the echo cardiogram. So, Dr. Salazar recommends an MRI just to be safe. I am sure I was worried over nothing in the days leading to her appointment today, but now I have to worry some more until we get a better picture on the MRI. Worst case, they do another catheter to balloon up the stenotic rpa, WHICH IS NOT THAT BAD but still, I have to wonder. . . and wait!

Forgot to mention

The orginal purpose for me to post was to announce that Penelope is having her cardiologist check up today at 1pm at CCMC. I know she is doing well. She is a healthy 23 lbs, she is very active and she looks pink! But of course I am going to worry. I will post more and advise on how the visit went. We are hoping to be surgery free for the next 5 years at least!!!!!