Oh my goodness it is Friday! Where did this week go??? I was putting Savvy down for her naptime and I realized that I had completely forgotten that today was Friday! Well, I took a little break from the computer...just felt I was getting on way too much and needed to "cut the strings" for a bit on my computer "addiction!" so I have not updated...but things are going well!

Savvy had a runny nose and cough but nothing the humidifier could not solve...she is back to 100% again...wearing her oatmeal in her hair. Super Papi...not doing as well..he has been sick the past few days...or on his "DEATH BED" as one might think by listening to his moaning and groaning when his wife is in ear shot.

I had my heart skip a beat this week when I learned that our letter to our donor family had been approved and forwarded to them by Gift of Life. I was naive to think that they had already received it and had not wanted contact with us just yet but I have learned that they have not even had a chance to read it yet since the process seems to be pretty slow going...I pray that I wrote the right words in expressing our deep gratitude to them.

Next week we are off to the swim-a-thon in Maryland....we are heading to Capitol Hill on Friday thanks to Tom Savoie...meeting his Congressman....another wonderful scrapbook moment...but I confess that I am more excited to meet Tom and his family!!!! Any man who is willing to put floaties on is super cool in my book!

If you are in the area please stop by and visit us..."wov wov" to all!

Super Papi is at the vet with Lucky..poor thing has some pee pee problems...you know in our house we are all about the bodily functions! The Warrior Princess traumatized her father this morning with her bodily functions....I believe the quote was "after this one I don't think I should have to change another one for a year.."..(here is where you insert me mocking my husband...mocking...still mocking....)

My Warrior Princess is up full of energy playing with her toys....thank goodness I got my class of liquid gold (coffee) in my system already! I am typing and playing peek-a-boo on the laptop and she is giggling so loud as if this were the funniest game ever! She is so cute it is ridiculous!

I freaked out my sweet baby last night....I have to share this as to share Robert's great parental quote. I cut myself and put a paper towel on it....the towel had what appeared to be a lot of blood because it spread...Savvy saw me with the paper towel in my hand and the blood and to my surprise starting crying....I mean sobbing in a panic (my heart broke for I realized that she knew it was blood). I told her it was okay and showed her how Mami was fine and calmed her down...so when I told Robert about her reaction and how sad it is that at her age she knew that something was "wrong" cause of the blood on Mami...he tells me "well she showed empathy...that means she is not a sociopath and that is good!"....how could I not share this qoute?! So to console me, my husband points out that my child is not a sociopath....yup....guess we should get some kind of parental award for this!

Speaking of parental awards....one should go to my brother, Ozzie, and sister-in-law, Pattie, for baking one of the cutest little chunky monkeys ever! Savvy's primo, Presley, turned ONE yesterday!!! He is so darn cute!..but then so are his brother and sister!

*** Presley *** Feliz Cumpleaños Mi Amor!!

Estas son las mañanitas, que cantaba el Rey David. Hoy por ser día de tu santo, te las cantamos a ti.

Despierta mi bien despiertam mira que ya amaneció. Ya los pajaritos cantan. La luna ya se metió

Que linda está la mañana en que vengo a saludarte. Venimos todos con gusto y placer a felicitarte.

Ya viene amaneciendo. Ya la luz del día nos dio. Levántate de mañana. Mira que ya amaneció.

"EEEE EEEE"...."EEEEE EEEEE"...can you imagine the excitement on Savannah's face when she realized that "EEE EEEs" come alive?! After nap time we took our Warrior Princess to see the new Jungala exhibit at Busch Gardens (Yeah for season passes!).. she was FASCINATED with the orangutan exhibit! Monkeys just like her climbing around and then one actually went to a hammock underneath her feet (it is a glass enclosure)! If Savvy could have jumped into the exhibit with them she would have!!! She also loved the alligator tunnel....YUP...Super Papi took her in there...it was the height of Savvy so Super Papi had to crawl in (I have great pictures of his tush next to his princesa on his hands and knees with a gator above his head...oh what that man won't do for his girl!

I am glad she enjoyed the gator tunnel cause we all know she won't be visiting it with Mami! No Way!! On the way home...Savvy could barely keep her eyes open and we could hear in the car seat with "her EEE EEE" saying..."EEE EEE"..."EEE EEE"...it was precious!

As for her shots...we have seen no side effects at all!!!! Wooohoooo for the Warrior Princess!!

The Warrior Princess has had a great morning.  She went to visit her friends at the St. Pete times office...yup...her "personal "photographer (Skip) and reporter (Catherine) ...the life of a diva! and we got to meet their co-workers and the "Big Bossman"...whose office Savvy simply wanted to move into...yup...she is all about the corner office!

Savvy loved her first internship as a writer for the St. Pete times...she pounded away at the keyboard and visited graciously with her future co-workers....apparently she needs to learn how to spell before they will consider an "official" internship position...it was a super nice visit and Savvy could have not been happier then to walk away with new beads for her collection...yup...she got the fancy Times beads!

We had to leave and head over for a wellness appointment which meant .... SHOTS!  We had camera in hand ready to take pics with Dr. Wonderful but unfortunately we did not get to see her due to an emergency (I think she heard we were bringing a camera)...we had a nice visit with another doctor and Savvy is progressing very well...funny thing is that Savvy's head is large and I wandered why the large difference between the percentile of her weight, height and then head....his answer .. "usually this is seen due to familial patterns..."...I had to laugh and thanked him...told him that I appreciated him not saying ..." it is because her Mama has a large head...duh!"...I liked his answer so much better!

Well, we were all good until the shot time...and then like any other child Savvy lost it...the nurse was super fast.  She took 4 shots on her legs and Savvy was in my arms in seconds but I know that Savvy would probably argue and tell you it felt like hours.

So, things are looking good!  We continue to be blessed with a "healthy" child. We have plans to be in Maryland at the end of the month for the swim-a-thon and thanks to Tom (Hannah's dad) we may be heading to Capitol Hill....that is exciting and something we look forward to!

Well technically it is the early hours of July 9th but since I did not write earlier I thought this would count for the 8th....I was going to write and actually did but then deleted the post....it wasn't til Robert got home from work and asked why I was so angry that it hit me that I should write about it and get it off my chest. Here it is. Someone stole Antonio's frogs from his grave site. I am disgusted by this ...how any one can look at Angel Antonio's picture which is on his tombstone and steal his frogs. They are not just frogs .. they are an expression of love from his family for a child who simply LOVED frogs. It made me sick to learn this and then to learn that Sheri as heartbroken as she is .. is ready to forgive the perpetrators of this disgrace...that just leaves me in awe of the human spirit....to be heartbroken and yet turn around and forgive stranger who were so cruel...this is probably why Antonio's spirit is so beautiful and strong ... he is a child of pure love.

So I spent my day angry and had a hard time snapping out of it...probably because there was nothing I could do about it. I wish I could get the frogs back but I know that I can not. So, I send this little picture of an angel frog to the Perez family and to our sweet Antonio..I know it does not replace the frogs that were taken but I do send it with love!

THE SECOND ANNUAL "SWIM 4 SAVVY" 24 MARATHON IS BEING HELD:

Connecticut Belair Pool

Rockville, Maryland

July 26th-27th from noon to noon

Swimmers please click on the link to print a copy of the pledge sheet:

http://www.cotaforsavannaha.com/files/PledgeSheet.pdf

Swimmers please click on the link to print a copy of the registration and waiver form:

http://www.cotaforsavannaha.com/files/RegistrationandWaiverForm.pdf

THANK YOU so very much for participating....Savvy will be at the event cheering you on and giving lots of "Wov Wov"!

*****If you can volunteer at the event or help in gathering donations please contact Carolina at caper213@yahoo.com (Please place Savannah's name on the subject line) or call her at 240-793-0118....thank you~!*****

"Mas....Mas" is all I heard this morning...the W.P. "WOVS" her food! "Mas" means "more" in Spanish but Savvy uses it only when asking for food. Super Papi usually prepares her a waffle and oatmeal in the morning but this morning he headed to work early and I made the mistake of giving her a waffle and rice milk....thinking that it would be plenty for this tiny little princesa....and boy was I wrong! "Mas...Mas...Mas..."... she makes it VERY clear when she is not "all done". I am just writing about it so I can look back on my journals when she is older and smile at her cute little sayings.

Speaking of cute...I had mentioned that the day we went to the ER a few weeks ago from a GI bug Savvy had received a package from Simone (Angel Lisa's mom)...the timing was amazing because in the middle of the night when we got home she just sat up and played and played (she had 2 bags of IV in her and anti-nausea drugs making her feel better!) This toy is a large sand and water toy with an umbrella and boats...super cute. Savvy had been playing with it inside up until yesterday when Super Papi took it outside and filled it with water....so now all of her toys FLOAT! Oh this cutie patootie was so excited to splash the water and get herself all wet. When we tried to pull her away so we could go back inside she sat down and did everything in her power not to let herself be pulled from her toy. I had never seen anything like this before...Robert and I were like "oh oh...we are going to break her heart because we can't leave her in the yard until she goes off to college playing with her toy..." then we got smart...yup...I am patting us on the back for the genius parenting skills that all of a sudden were sent to us from the joo joo gods above! We had Savvy help us pour out the water and put her toys away and help Super Papi pack it up in the garage! Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh.............it was so cute to see her get so serious about making sure everything in her wonderful paradise was placed in the right section....so cute! Again, I share this for myself for I simply do not want to forget the look on her face.

Today, another memory that I want to write down is the little W.P. with her Mr. Potatoe Head...she has had him for awhile in her closet. It was a gift that she won at the Easter Egg hunt...an Easter Bunny Mr. Potatoe Head. I felt that it had to many smaller parts for her at the time so I placed him in the closet and periodically she goes into the closet and takes him out and looks at him...today, she took him out and I took him out of the box for her...she was sooooo excited and spent the rest of the morning walking around with this Mr. Potatoe Head with Easter Bunny ears as if it were her new best friend. She even wanted to cuddle with him while she drank her milk before naptime but I just had to switch him for her teddy...but she kept Mr. Potatoe Head within eye shot....just too cute.

Okay....I think my little girl is cute! Surprise?!

Oh....and I do have to share that I got an email from my friend, Allison, (Savvy's future Mommy-in-law) and I have to share a portion of it....for she did point out that my baby is 19 months and not 18 months....Robert and I laughed our tushes off when I got it! Yeah....I typed in 18 rather then 19 but I am tickled to see that you are reading up on your future princesa-in-law! Soooooo...........yeah....my little girl is 19 months old....on my 19th "first official date" anniversary!....it is "first official date" anniversary because I did sneak out to meet Robert on the 4th of July...but that is another story! (Moral of the story for the day....NEVER ban your daughter from seeing a boy....for they may simply turn around and marry him!)

You, My Sisters
By Maureen K. Higgins

Many of you I have never even met face to face, but I've searched you out every day. I've looked for you on the internet, on playgrounds and in grocery stores.

I've become an expert at identifying you. You are well worn. You are stronger than you ever wanted to be. Your words ring with experience, experience you culled with your very heart and soul. You are compassionate beyond the expectations of this world. You are my "sisters."

Yes, you and I, my friend, are sisters in a sorority. A very elite sorority. We are special. Just like any other sorority, we were chosen to be members. Some of us were invited to join immediately, some not for months or even years. Some of us even tried to refuse membership, but to no avail.

We were initiated in neurologist' s offices and NICU units, in obstetrician' s offices, in emergency rooms, and during ultrasounds. We were initiated with somber telephone calls, consultations, evaluations, blood tests, x-rays, MRI films, and heart surgeries.

All of us have one thing in common. One day things were fine. We were pregnant, or we had just given birth, or we were nursing our newborn, or we were playing with our toddler. Yes, one minute everything was fine. Then, whether it happened in an instant, as it often does, or over the course of a few weeks or months, our entire lives changed. Something wasn't quite right. Then we found ourselves mothers of children with special needs.

We are united, we sisters, regardless of the diversity of our children's special needs. Some of our children undergo chemotherapy. Some need respirators and ventilators. Some are unable to talk, some are unable to walk. Some eat through feeding tubes. Some live in a different world. We do not discriminate against those mothers whose children's needs are not as "special" as our child's. We have mutual respect and empathy for all the women who walk in our shoes.

We are knowledgeable. We have educated ourselves with whatever materials we could find. We know "the" specialists in the field. We know "the" neurologists, "the" hospitals, "the" wonder drugs, "the" treatments. We know "the" tests that need to be done, we know "the" degenerative and progressive diseases and we hold our breath while our children are tested for them. Without formal education, we could become board certified in neurology, endocrinology, and physiatry.

We have taken on our insurance companies and school boards to get what our children need to survive, and to flourish. We have prevailed upon the State to include augmentative communication devices in special education classes and mainstream schools for our children with cerebral palsy. We have labored to prove to insurance companies the medical necessity of gait trainers and other adaptive equipment for our children with spinal cord defects. We have sued municipalities to have our children properly classified so they could receive education and evaluation commensurate with their diagnosis.

We have learned to deal with the rest of the world, even if that means walking away from it. We have tolerated scorn in supermarkets during "tantrums" and gritted our teeth while discipline was advocated by the person behind us in line. We have tolerated inane suggestions and home remedies from well-meaning strangers. We have tolerated mothers of children without special needs complaining about chicken pox and ear infections. We have learned that many of our closest friends can't understand what it's like to be in our sorority, and don't even want to try.

We have our own personal copies of Emily Perl Kingsley's "A Trip To Holland" and Erma Bombeck's "The Special Mother." We keep them by our bedside and read and reread them during our toughest hours.

We have coped with holidays. We have found ways to get our physically handicapped children to the neighbors' front doors on Halloween, and we have found ways to help our deaf children form the words, "trick or treat." We have accepted that our children with sensory dysfunction will never wear velvet or lace on Christmas. We have painted a canvas of lights and a blazing yule log with our words for our blind children. We have pureed turkey on Thanksgiving. We have bought white chocolate bunnies for Easter. And all the while, we have tried to create a festive atmosphere for the rest of our family.

We've gotten up every morning since our journey began wondering how we'd make it through another day, and gone to bed every evening not sure how we did it.

We've mourned the fact that we never got to relax and sip red wine in Italy . We've mourned the fact that our trip to Holland has required much more baggage than we ever imagined when we first visited the travel agent. And we've mourned because we left for the airport without most of the things we needed for the trip.

But we, sisters, we keep the faith always. We never stop believing. Our love for our special children and our belief in all that they will achieve in life knows no bounds. We dream of them scoring touchdowns and extra points and home runs. We visualize them running sprints and marathons. We dream of them planting vegetable seeds, riding horses and chopping down trees. We hear their angelic voices singing Christmas carols. We see their palettes smeared with watercolors, and their fingers flying over ivory keys in a concert hall. We are amazed at the grace of their pirouettes. We never, never stop believing in all they will accomplish as they pass through this world.

But in the meantime, my sisters, the most important thing we do, is hold tight to their little hands as together, we special mothers and our special children, reach for the stars.