The Passage of Time

Time is a funny thing. On a Monday morning, the week seems eternally long but then by Friday, I always wonder where the week went. Similarly, in September, I look at the calendar for the school year, plotting a meeting in January, a field trip in May, thinking that it will never actually come. All of a sudden, it's the middle of May and we're left with only 23 days of school (not that anyone's counting). Yesterday was Grace and Hope's one month birthday. Where did that come from? As we chatted tonight with the NICU nurses, I couldn't help but think about this last month. Looking back, it appears to have gone fast. At the same time, I considered Grace's surgery, which is just shy of two weeks ago. It might as well have been two months. Days seem like years in NICU time.

Small picture wise, we're still struggling to cope with how long everything seems to be taking. I know that the girls have to take baby steps (or should I say preemie baby steps), but it's a challenge for Mom and Dad to see the progress in day-by-day mode. It is for any parent though, isn't it? All of a sudden, you realize your child has grown several inches over the school year and you didn't even really notice it. It's hard to watch, too, as countless babies have come and gone in the time that we've been there. In the past week alone, we've seen at least five new arrivals, and four departures.

In the big picture, the girls have made quite a bit of progress. Our Gracie is approaching the three pound mark, catching up with her sister who has apparently decided to go on a diet and lose a few ounces. Grace is up to 15 milliliters of milk per feeding. Three mL is approximately .5 ounces, three teaspoons, or one tablespoon. That means, for eight feedings per day, she is eating nearly 1/2 cup, equivalent to a serving of ice cream (as if anyone actually eats only one serving of ice cream...). Hope is at about half of that amount, or 1/4 cup per day, which is four whopping tablespoons, which is about how much milk I put in my morning coffee. It's pretty incredible to think about the amount of time it has taken them to reach this point!

As I work on the nursery that Will keeps reminding me I have a long time to get together, I feel the urge to try to get it finished (no small task for an expert procrastinator, mind you). I just know that the girls will be home before we can blink, but why then is it taking so long to get here?