So here is what we have been up to. We had our annual March of Dimes, March for Babies event in April in memory of little Patrick (as well as to honor other little babies born pre-mature), our team name this year was "Lil' Patrick and Friends". It was a big success, we had a bigger team this year so we set a team goal of $10,000- we raised $9,323!! We came in 3rd place again in the Family Team division (we came in 3rd place last year). We were very happy with our efforts and look forward to doing it again next year. Thank you to all that supported us!! This year we were asked by the March of Dimes to be an ambassador family, which means we are asked to speak at MOD events and participate in some of their other events throughout the year. We shared our personal story at the annual "kick-off" luncheon to a crowd of 250 or so and although it was emotional we were honored to have the opportunity to share our story. We will also be participating in a few more March of Dimes events toward the end of this year.
We purchased annual passes to Busch Gardens so we could bring Savannah to the new Sesame Street area for little kids and she absolutely loves it. We have had the ability to go several times and each time Savannah leaves with a smile on her face. They have great rides for the little ones as well as a water park-which is very refreshing given our HOT summer. The last time we went Patrick's sister Rebecca and his mom went with us and we got to the park nice and early and Savannah got to meet Elmo and Big Bird- I thought she might be a little nervous about these big characters, but she loved them. For Memorial Day week-end we went to the beach to visit my Aunt and Uncle at their amazing condo, I wasn't sure how Savannah would do with the beach and the water...but she loved it-except she didn't like getting sand on her hands. At first I didn't put her jelly shoes on her but she let me know right away that she really wanted her shoes on....once her shoes were on she was very happy on the beach. She was not afraid of the water at all, in fact she would run towards the waves as they came crashing in. It was a great day.
As most of you know, we bought a house back in January of 2009. When we bought the house we didn't take much notice of the yard, well a year and a half later we noticed that 95% of the yard was WEEDS!! Our previous house had a beautiful yard (the sod was new when Patrick purchased the house) and together Patrick and I (along with my mom) updated the landscaping and it was beautiful and Patrick took such pride in maintaining it. Back to our current house, our yard was anything but beautiful (in fact, I thought it looked like a house that would be in the foreclosure process-YUCK). So, we took the plunge ($$) and had new sod put in as well as some new landscaping...Savannah now has a playarea in the backyard and Patrick is back to enjoying mowing and maintaining a nice yard....I think our neighbors are happy too. We also expanded on where we planted the Magnolia for little Patrick and that now includes about 10 Hibiscus as well as another type of flower that attracts butterflies. It is nice to walk outside and see anywhere from 3-5 butterflies flying around the Magnolia. Patrick likes to say that Savannah has her play area and that the garden around the magnolia is Little Patrick's play area and the butterflies always remind us of Little Patrick.
Savannah's 2nd birthday is quickly approaching and that is definitely hard to believe. The first two years have flown by and Savannah has made such amazing strides. She has a vocabulary of about 40 words and knows the majority of her major body parts. She continues to WOW us with how quickly she picks words and sounds up. She may even be saying some full sentences in the next week or two. We'll see.
Until next time.....Take Care and live life to the fullest....
Love,
April
8/7/10- The water incident.
Savannah's new play-area
May 30, 2010 @ the beach
