This past week started off like a dream!  For the first time since Irene entered kindergarten, I was able to volunteer in her class.  Irene has a wonderful teacher, Mr. Thompson, who really is able to engage, entertain and educate a room full of unruly kindergartners (with Irene as one of the ring leaders).  I helped the kids with a gardening project.  They had taken seeds, placed them in a bag with a wet paper towel and let them grow into pods.  When I was there, they were doing drawings of their pods and then potting the pods.  It was such a joy for me to see Irene in her element and to see how much she is learning.  I hope to make this a weekly event- assuming I can get coverage for Sam taken care of.

If that was not enough to make a Monday great, Sam and I had a visit from Bennett and his mommy.  After such a long spell in the hospital, it was good to see both of them out and about.  What was even better was the reappearance of Bennett's second chin and his love handles.  Such an amazing recovery!  It was the best way to start my week.

Not to be outdone... Tuesday was also an uplifting day of survival as Sam and I spent 4 hours at my friend Jennifer's house keeping her company.  As some of you know, Jennifer spent 10 days on a respirator after getting an infection of some sort in her blood.  She is an amazing woman who survived and is now starting the long process of rebuilding her strength.  It was so great for me to see her and introduce her to Sam.  I found myself marveling as I stared at the two miracle survivors.

From there... well, the rain came.  And came and came and came and came and came!  It was enough to drive a house bound mom with a preemie insane!  Luckily, Sam provided a bunch of amazing moments to help me make it through:

1. Sam rolled over from his tummy to his back.  Yes, it was a total accident and one he has yet to repeat... but still... he did it!
2. We had our last appointment with the retinologist.  Dr. Britton told me that Sam's eyes look "excellent" and he no longer needed to see him.  We will need to follow up with a regular eye doctor in a few years to see how near-sighted Sam is, but we are done with the ROP!
3. As you will see in one of the pictures below, Sam has discovered how to suck his thumb.  Irene never did this, so for me it is new and so cute!
4. Most amazing of all, we think Sam is starting to sign.  We have been using the sign for milk since he came home, and the other day he was really fussy and I asked him if he wanted milk and he got really calm and started making the sign.  He has been repeating this now for 3 days, so I am pretty sure this is not a fluke.  Such an amazing guy.

The pictures this week are especially good as we spent some time visiting friends- one of whom is an amazing professional photographer.  Enjoy!