4 3/4 Months

Hi everybody!

This week has gone by in a flash! I'm still dazed (or is that more a by-product of being immersed in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows?) It was very eventful, and Mom and Dad had quite the workout as babysitters. Last Wednesday and Thursday, thanks to Mom and Dad, I went to work as a part-timer. The first day was spent catching up on some recurrent training and hugging everybody, and the second day was divided between the ticket counter and the gate. It was scary how quickly everything came back, and I hardly felt as if I had been gone, let alone gone four and a half months! A big change from before was how exciting it was to come back home after work -- now I look forward to seeing Thomas and the family instead of coming home to only Chloe (sorry, Chloe, but you're only a cat). I hurried to the bus as fast as my aching feet would take me! It was half excitement to see the family and half worry that Thomas was dying of hunger. No need to worry, though, because Mom and Dad had done a stellar job taking care of the baby . . . . even successfully feeding him from the bottle! After two days, a bottle-feeding pattern emerged: Thomas would drink about an ounce and a half for the first feed of the day, then when he was presented the bottle for the second feed, he would gulp it down as if too hungry to hold out for Mommy. What a relief! And it was also such a relief to have only a two day workweek, too!

Then Friday my friend Kayo and I went to see Turandot, the opera (I had a buy one, get one free ticket). It was very impressive in terms of the voices, music, costumes, the set, and the sheer number of people on stage. I spent most of the opera unmoved, thinking, "Well this is nice. Too bad I don't recognize any of the music" until the last two songs. Suddenly I recognized the piece they were singing and was carried away by the romance of the story, swept away by the sheer beauty of the music and tears came to my eyes! I had been to a few operas before, but it was the first time for me to be really swept away like that. I was so happy I was there!

Saturday was a test-excursion with Dad and Thomas to visit Utaka and Shauna. How would Thomas do travelling? We drove up, they did a bunch of yard-work, then we went to a "mini" Art Festival and went to dinner, then drove back. The lesson learned was, make sure Thomas gets enough naps or he will be one cranky baby in the car ride home. And for goodness sake, try not to overstimulate him! Still working on that last one.

As for Thomas, he has well and truly found his feet. Every time I lay him down to change his diaper, his feet swing up and he holds them there and plays with them throughout the entire process. How helpful he is to keep them out of the way! In fact, I have to pry his feet out of his hands in order to do up his diaper or put his pants back on! He's also rolled over from his back to his front on the playmat in front of Mom, who was very excited. His various excemas come and go. He's staying awake longer and taking longer naps, which is very nice for me. Today is his second day of two-hour naps, and I use it for eating, cleaning and reading Harry Potter. I hardly know what to do with all that time! Long may it last!

Love, Marsha