Tuesday, September 21, 2010

I'm back, and I'm staying.


I'm not sure where the last 5 weeks have disappeared to, but suddenly, Summer has turned to Fall... Luke is back in school, we cleaned out our basement, had a tag sale, I turned [gulp] 40, and I have a firm 'return-to-work' date (October 12).

I didn't mean to be away for so long but I guess the end of summer kept us busy.

Here are a few updates:

Patrick continues his weekly therapy and is continuing to make small steps forward. He is eating about 3 -5 teaspoons/day of baby food. He's a BIG fan of the apricot/sweet potato combo by HappyBaby. The progress is still so slow, and I continue to feel frustrated by this so much of the time.

Thanks to the ng tube, Patrick's weight gain has picked up again and as of yesterday he weighs 16 lbs, 14.5 ounces. He's gained almost 6 pounds since coming home on May 5. He is outgrowing clothes almost as fast as I can stock the drawers and I love it! He is wearing everything Luke once wore and I so enjoy digging out the next bin of hand-me-downs and remembering Luke in many of those pjs and sleep sacks and whatever else turns up.

As for his physical progress, Patrick is rolling nicely from back to tummy, he's got great head control, and he's just learning to sit up, propped on his own arms but, honestly, he's really not good at it. The smallest distraction and he topples right over! He's grasping and raking objects with his hands.

Luke, Luke, Luke! Luke started school last week - his last year of Nursery School. This year he is going 5 days a week and he loves it! He was so disappointed last Saturday morning when we told him there was no school for two days. TWO DAYS?!?

Monday couldn't come fast enough for him. He left the house yesterday morning with bells on. His teachers are amazing this year; currently they are doing a unit on butterflies. They have caterpillars, and milkweed and chrysalis in their classroom and when he came home yesterday he told me that two of them had become butterflies, and this morning they set those 2 free. I am amazed at the detailed reports Luke gives us. He is a sponge!

OK. The Birthday. 40. Forty. There's no nice way to write it, or say it. But, my celebrations have been wonderful and having digested this number for about 5 days, I finally feel ready to embrace it! Friends are telling that this will be the best decade. I welcome your feedback on this...

Most significant this month, though, is that we have finally crossed an important "line".

Patrick has finally been home longer than the amount of time he was in the hospital.

This makes me smile, inside and out.

(Pictures to follow by week's end!)