June 2011 catchup!

I’m promising to update more frequently. We have a LOT going on and I want to document it all for when I ever get a chance to scrapbook ;)

June was a busy month.

Maddie graduated from St. Dominic School on June 15th. It was a beautiful day and I’ll admit to having shed a few (thousand) tears.

June 17 was a VERY big evening for Olivia. We were invited to the Aqua Turf to share Olivia’s story at the Miss CT Gala. This is the kickoff to the Miss CT pageant. Maddie had her annual end of school party at Mountain Grove which she chose to attend instead. Olivia was in her GLORY with all the pretty ladies, their gorgeous dresses and of course, all those CROWNS! Olivia made us incredibly proud when she chose to give a speech herself. There was not a dry eye in the room when she was finished and she received a standing ovation. The directors of the pageant were so impressed they actually made Olivia an honorary “diamond” and gave her a crown. It was truly a shining moment for Olivia and “the hands” were going a mile a minute. She asked me after getting her crown if she would get a sash too? LOL. She then spent the rest of the evening dancing with the other girls. She made fast friends with a little girl who had the same dress on as her.

This was such good timing, as the next morning I woke up Maddie and took her to Disney as her graduation present! It was just the two of us. We went from June 18 – June 22 and stayed at the Port Orleans – French Quarter. How I told her: I had been telling her we were going to start getting up early in the morning and running. We had also been telling her that her graduation gift wouldn’t be arriving until Saturday. On that morning I woke her up at 5AM and asked her to come downstairs. We handed her a graduation card that told her to look in the trunk of my car for her gift. She opened the trunk where two suitcases were in there (with the bright yellow Magical Express luggage tags on them), along with her Mickey ears and a small Mickey Mouse. She couldn’t believe it and kept saying “Really? Now?”

Maddie actually planned the entire trip – from dining to park days for my “client”. We did a lot of “new to us” things – such as water parks (which she had last been to at the age of 3), Disney Quest and closing the Magic Kingdom at 2AM. It was a great time for just the two of us to spend time together and bond.

June 25 I took the girls and Maddie’s best friend to the Miss CT pageant in New London. The Miss CT organization had invited us to attend after Olivia’s speech. Olivia got to see some of the new friends again and we got to see Miss Southington, Morgan Amarone, become Miss CT. Olivia went on stage with our friend, Scott, from the CT Children’s Medical Center Foundation to help him present the outgoing Miss CT, Brittany Decker, with a thank you for all that she did for the Hospital in the past year.

Long overdue update

So it’s been a while, a VERY LONG while. Life gets in the way and I can promise you when you don’t hear from us, it’s because there’s nothing but NORMALCY to report.

I’m not sure what happened to most of the links on this site, I will take a look when I have time (ha) to figure it out.

I’ve been reminded by my husband, my family, my CHILDREN (who are now old enough to read this blog and POST comments on it!). So here’s the very long, very overdue update.

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Maddie's Cardiologist appointment

We took Maddie to see Dr. Heller on September 7. Maddie was VERY nervous about going. I can’t say I blame her – knowing what her sister’s been through.

This appointment was a way for us to confirm there’s nothing wrong with Maddie’s heart. I was a bit concerned after hearing about  all these children who were dropping dead of undetected heart defects.

Maddie has a PERFECT heart! (Thank you GOD!).  She weighs 41 lbs and is 43″ tall.  Her oxygen sat was 99% and her blood pressure was 94/60.

Dr. Heller did an EKG and an echocardiogram on Maddie. We had to convince her the EKG wouldn’t hurt and once she had a sticker on her that didn’t hurt, she was good to go.  Her “favorite” part was the “jelly on the belly” as we called the echo.  I actually had a hard time understanding Maddie’s heart since I’m so used to Olivia’s.

Happy Birthday Maddie Rose!

Maddie turned 6 on July 29. She had a great day – she got to swim during Olivia’s swim class. We went to a local Italian festival and she got to ride some rides and eat some fried dough.

And her favorite birthday gift was her tooth coming out! She was THRILLED to say the least.

Maddie's “Flag Day” presentation

Today Maddie’s class did a presentation at school about “Flag Day”.  Each kindergartener had to talk about one word in the Pledge of Allegiance. Maddie’s word was “United”. She said “United: that means that we have all come together”.
She did a GREAT job and spoke so clearly into the microphone!  I was so proud of her.  After the presentation they had their monthly assembly where they hand out awards.  Maddie received an award for Excellence in Art. And Christopher received an award for being a Good Christian.

I was thrilled to be there and see it all! :)

Lion King Show

On Sunday we took Maddie to see the Lion King at the Bushnell. This was the broadway production. It was an AMAZING show and at 2 hours and 45 minutes a bit long. But Maddie thoroughly enjoyed it !

The show did make her ask a lot of questions. We had to explain what happened to young Simba and young Nala when they “grew up” (older actors took over the roles). And she wanted to know if Simba’s daddy had *really* died. She felt better knowing it was all pretend. She watches mostly cartoons and very little live action shows.

She felt better at the end of the play to see that everyone was still there. It was a great time for Arnie and I to spend some one-on-one time with her.

Special Person's Day

Maddie, Katie & Mrs. Markowski (their teacher) Maddie, Mrs L (teacher’s aide) and Katie.

Today was Special Person’s Day at Maddie’s school. The kids can invite the special people in their lives (both sets of grandparents, and our Aunt Adrienne attended). They have their spring concert.

Maddie was SO excited and sang so loud and proud! She was in the front row and did such a great job! :)

Maddie & Mommy vacation

My mom, Maddie and I are going to DISNEY for a long weekend!  We leave on Wednesday evening, November 30 and return Sunday afternoon, December 4.   is having a “meet” and a few ladies from my online mother’s group are going including a woman who is flying in with her family from Australia!  We are looking forward to a nice weekend away and seeing the parks decorated for the holidays.