By the Numbers

• 6: number of work days I have left in my maternity leave.
• 1, 000,000: number of things I still want to do with the girls.
• 2,3: how many months, how many weeks old E is today.
• 3: M is this many years old.
• 29: the age I never imagined reaching; the age you are when you can't claim to be in your "mid-twenties" anymore.
• 472: the number of times M has asked me to "play letters" (computer) this week, estimated.
• 7: number of year's I've worked at my school, the only place I've worked in my teaching career, because I'm lucky.
• 3: number of schools Bob has worked for, hoping (against odds) that he can make it 4 in September. Stupid layoffs. Stupid budget cuts. Stupid, stupid governor.
• 20: the number of times a day I worry about something in the "Bob's Job" category: Will he find a new one? Will he be happy? Will he make enough money? Will he find a new one that's not in education and end up working horrible hours and we'll never be together as a family and both end up living like overworked, stressed single parents and...yeah, I go on like that.
• 21: approximately how many more votes our town's school budget would have needed to pass. Boo, Hillers!
• 15: Between healthcare reform debate and school budget woes in New Jersey, the number of times Bob and I have wistfully joked about moving to Massachusetts or Canada for one reason or another in the last 6 months.
• 1/16: the fraction of an inch in length that I can get my fingernails to grow before I snag them or gnaw them off. Usually while driving, I've found.
• 3: the number of weeks E was when she was officially diagnosed with reflux.
• 5: the number of months M was when she was diagnosed with the same.
• 3: the number of doctor appointments in a row that M didn't gain an ounce, finally convincing her old-school pediatrician to prescribe a little Zantac for the poor kid.
• 5: the number of doses of reflux medicines, Zantac or Prevacid, alternating, I give E daily.
• 5: the number of times a day that I get slightly freaked out that my little baby is on this much medicine.
• 2: The number of weeks we're going to try messing with the thickness of her formula before we're supposed to up the dose of her Prevacid.
• 2.5: the number of ounces we consider to be a "good" feeding for E.
• 19: the number of ounces she needs to eat in a day for "maintenance" (enough for her body to function as it should, though not enough that she'll gain weight).
• 8 - 16: the number of ounces (weight) E "should" have gained since her last appointment.
• 2: the number of ounces she gained. :-(
• 6: approximately the number of times I think, "I can't wait until E is like 9 months old and on mostly solids so we can be done this reflux crap!"
• 6: the number of times I feel bad for wishing away the early months of my younger child's life.
• 39: by my count, the number of school days from when I go back to work until SUMMER. The tear-off count-down calendar will go up next to my desk May 3rd.