I can hardly believe that July is coming to a close. \u00a0We have had such a busy and fun summer, and we still have so much to pack in! \u00a0After an early morning painting session today with Mary Clare, I packed her bags and sent her off with Nonnie. \u00a0They are driving to Hilton Head this morning to meet McCanless and Mimi down there for the weekend. \u00a0Mimi took McCanless down there on Wednesday. \u00a0Two girls with two grandmothers all weekend long. \u00a0I’m nervous about how long it will take me to sort them all out when they return. \u00a0 \u00a0McCanless called me last night on the way to Harbor Town to see Greg Russell play, only after a day long shopping excursion, lunch with friends and ice cream for dinner with Mimi. \u00a0She is in heaven! \u00a0(They did eat real dinner after ice cream, of course.) \u00a0They have beach and pool trips planned and a visit to the Children’s Theater to see Peter Pan. \u00a0I know they will have a ball. \u00a0 I’m so proud that my girls are independent and can handle being away from Mommy and Daddy sometimes. \u00a0They both loved to travel and go with family and friends! \u00a0(Lucky us!)<\/p>\n
The girls are so ready for school. \u00a0They both will be at Thomas Hart Academy this year. \u00a0It amazes me. \u00a0I have been teaching at Thomas Hart since Mel and I were married and always knew I wanted my children to be there with me. \u00a0It is hard for me to believe we are at that point in life. \u00a0Wow. \u00a0Time truly flies. \u00a0I was offered to teach again this year, but I think I’ll stick to the office until Mary Clare’s surgery is complete. \u00a0Last year, I opted to work in the office a few hours in the morning because I thought her surgery would happen during the school year. \u00a0I feel that it will be so much easier to leave the office rather than three classes of students. \u00a0We’ll see. \u00a0 I just know that I love being with the girls at school. \u00a0First grade and 3K. \u00a0Wow. \u00a0It still amazes me.<\/p>\n
I have yet to hear from MUSC regarding Mary Clare’s surgery. \u00a0Emerson, her best heart friend will have her Fontan in September. \u00a0Please keep her in your prayers. \u00a0Our families have certainly been on this journey together almost from Day 1. \u00a0I specifically remember the very first time I spoke to Erica, Emerson’s mom. \u00a0 I was sitting in my car in a Target parking lot. \u00a0A mutual friend connected us and gave her my cell phone number. \u00a0We were both pregnant with our heart babies and we talked and talked and cried for over an hour. \u00a0We have been keeping up and keeping in touch for over 3 years now! \u00a0Emerson is a couple of months younger than Mary Clare and they have both done amazingly well! \u00a0We were both hoping that their surgeries would be around the same time so we could be at MUSC together. \u00a0We wanted not only play partners for the girls, but emotional support for each other. \u00a0It looks like Mary Clare’s surgery will be postponed a bit, however. \u00a0They just want her to be closer to 30 lbs. \u00a0Do you know how hard it is to gain three pounds when you are only 27 lbs? \u00a0If only it were that difficult for me.<\/p>\n
Mel is keeping very busy, as usual. \u00a0He has completed his firefighter training and is now an official Darlington County Volunteer Firefighter. \u00a0He is working on his letterpress business, still has his hand in Pennington & Bailes and being Mayor is always interesting. \u00a0He’s also doing a bit of design work here and there. \u00a0He’s a pretty great dad and husband, too. \u00a0McCanless is growing up before my eyes and continues to love to draw and paint. \u00a0(Little sister is following suit.) \u00a0McCanless, however, has to have her down time\/alone time. \u00a0 She is so passionate about everything she does. \u00a0She reminds me so much of Mel, and yet so much of myself. \u00a0A friend once told Mel he was like a human light switch. \u00a0One moment he was wide open, literally with words, movement,etc. \u00a0Then the next moment, he was completely OFF, zoned out, quiet, contemplating, still. \u00a0This is so McCanless. \u00a0Other parents, teachers, adults comment on how mature and well-behaved she is. \u00a0She wouldn’t dare disappoint and seems almost shy around others. \u00a0(Almost.<\/em>) \u00a0She is so interesting.<\/p>\n Mary Clare is my little girly-girl firecracker. \u00a0Like McCanless at age three, she knows exactly what she wants and does things her way. \u00a0She is so independent and thinks she is McCanless’ age. \u00a0She loves to sing and dance and dress-up still. \u00a0She reminds me so much of McCanless, but with a bit more gusto. \u00a0(If that is even possible.) \u00a0My sister said she reminds her of a recent Sour Patch Kids commercial. \u00a0(Sour Patch Kids is a type of sweet and sour candy.) \u00a0The commercial shows a Sour Patch Kid trip a little boy on a bike, making the boy crash badly, then turns around a helps him up and hugs him. \u00a0Sour then sweet. \u00a0That is certainly Miss Clare. \u00a0She will play for hours with her Barbies and her dolls. \u00a0Unlike McCanless, she loves alone play and never takes the time to watch television. \u00a0She has such a vivid imagination and I often hear her twirling and talking and singing aloud in her playroom alone. \u00a0She loves all things pink and sparkly and princess and right now her plan is to be a pink, sparkly cheerleader for Halloween. \u00a0It’s never too early to start planning, you know.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I can hardly believe that July is coming to a close. \u00a0We have had such a busy and fun summer, and we still have so much to pack in! \u00a0After an early morning painting session today with Mary Clare, I packed her bags and sent her off with Nonnie. \u00a0They are driving to Hilton Head […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.babypennington.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.babypennington.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.babypennington.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.babypennington.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.babypennington.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4332"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.babypennington.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4332\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4335,"href":"https:\/\/www.babypennington.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4332\/revisions\/4335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.babypennington.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.babypennington.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.babypennington.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}