Don't Blink

Since Mommy B had the first-half of the week off from work to hang out with her family that was in town for part of their Spring Break, that means she's had to work 3 days in a row to close out the week. I know, boo hoo for her. Well, keep in mind that she's working almost as many hours in 3 days that most of us work in 5. I used to give her grief over her nursing schedule because before we had a child, that meant she busted her tail for 3 days and got to sleep in/do nothing the other 4. I mean, I work pretty hard for 5 days straight and only get 2 to relax... how is that fair? Well, not so much any more thanks to Alli Ru. Sleeping in for us is now waking up after 7am on our days off - whenever they might be.

Anyway, Mommy B made a comment to me on Tuesday night before her work marathon began. She said, "Geez, I'm not going to see her awake from now until Saturday morning." Except for any unforeseen middle-of-the-night encounters, of course - which have become very infrequent. She continued, "I won't even recognize her by then..."

While this is a slight exaggeration, it is a very slight one. It made me think back to the first few weeks after Alli was born and I was back to work already. Heck, I was back to work 5 days after she was born... Anyway, I made similar comments back then, noting how much she would change in just a few hours. I typically wouldn't really see her from the time we put her to bed the night before until I got home from work the next day. Sure, I'd "see" her when I'd rock her back to sleep in the wee hours of the morning, but my eyes were barely open at the time.

I'd come home and say to Mommy B, "Geez, who's this little girl in my house? I don't even know who this little girl is anymore!" It was amazing to see her grow and change that much in less than 20 hours. Well, believe it or not, it's pretty much still that way now even as she's closing in on being 6 months old. Mommy B will go almost 84 hours basically without seeing her at all - which I'm sure will feel like a lifetime.

People who have grown children always say to me, "Don't blink. She'll be off to college next week." I didn't really believe them for the first couple months - it felt like Alli would never get out of the up-every-couple-hours phase. But I sure do believe them now. It's like we went from having a little blob that we could barely interact with to having a little person around the house - overnight. I'm sure I'll say that same thing again 6 months from now, and every 6 months after that. For the time being, I'm just trying not to blink - I might miss something...