She Works Hard for The Money

Mom went back to work today. It was an emotional day yesterday as Danielle realized that it would be her last day of her FMLA absence and she’d have to start spending 9 hours a day away from Jeffrey every weekday. On the other hand, Grandma has been here since last weekend and is really enjoying spending time with her new grandson. She’s also been a great help around the house – heck, she already made new curtains for the dining room and she’s been talking about re-painting the porch and building a garden. She may not be a spring chicken anymore, but that girl sure has a lot of energy! Ah, we’ll just see how much energy she has after her first week alone with the boy! By the way, we’re also very proud of her… after smoking for many years, she’s cut down her cigarettes to just 2 in the morning and 2 at night in the interest of quitting, and she takes a shower after the morning ones – all for our little boy. It really means a lot to us.
Last night was a little nostalgic for Danielle and me for another reason. While we were folding laundry and putting away the baby clothes, we came to the first big wave of clothing that won’t fit anymore. Sure, he’s grown out of a few things here and there, but this time we took almost a whole laundry basket full of preemie clothes and put them away in a Rubbermaid tote labeled “Outgrown clothing”. Even some of his newborn 5-8 lbs clothing made it into the tote. I held his “I love my mommy” outfit in my hand, remembering it as the first outfit I was allowed to dress him in at the NICU, and how enormous it was on him. Even his purple pacifiers are too small and fall out of his mouth.
But this is reason to be excited, isn’t it? Sure! The last two visits to Dr. Smith-Burke have him at ¾ lbs per week. We’re expecting him to be closing in on 8 lbs at his next visit on Wednesday. And as he grows, he’s really starting to observe the world around him. Toys are starting to catch his interest. He’s doing well at lifting his head and shoulder – his head/neck control is awesome. The most noticeable difference is that he’s beginning to stay awake longer. He was up for almost 5 hours yesterday, because he never went to sleep after lunch.
It’s been really busy for me this past week, so updates have been scarce. It’s week 5 of the 10 week quarter here at RIT, and midterms are this week. Last week was the due date for some of our major assignments. This gives the professors an opportunity to grade a substantial assignment before the drop/add deadline expires, in case a student decides that a class is not in their best interest. So I apologize to all the avid readers that check here on a regular basis for updates. Maybe we can get Grandma to post a blog entry while she’s visiting!