Juggling Act

Susanne was off to work early in the morning. She was pleased that she got a little more rest than she had over the last few nights. Scott watched Paxton until he had to go teach his class, then it was Poppy's turn to step in.

Poppy sure had his plate full for the day. He wasn't only in charge of taking care of Paxton, but also Parker. Susanne knew that this would be a challenge, but if anyone could do it...it was Poppy. The difficulty was that Parker was very active while Paxton was stationary. Parker liked to get involved in an activity and then within 15 minutes of starting it, he was ready to move on to the next thing. On the other hand, Paxton needed to be held or lying down. He couldn't sit on his own quite yet and he often needed prompting for play. Also, due to his rigorous feeding schedule, he often needed to be near his enteral pump. He was still being fed five times a day, every three hours, over an hour. He was then set up with a continuous feeding for eight hours overnight. There were only two hour windows throughout the day that he wasn't connected to a machine. Within those moments, one was lucky if he was awake at those times. Susanne was sure that one child or the other would have to self entertain for chunks of time. This would have to suffice especially since she knew neither would be neglected.

It ended up working out perfectly. Paxton loved to sit in his bouncer to watch Sesame Street a couple of mornings throughout the week. It had become somewhat of a routine for him. Scott used this to help provide stimulation while he would get ready for work. Poppy decided to continue with this schedule to free himself up for Parker. He alternated turns which worked out until Susanne came home for lunch. She was able to relieve him of his duties for at least a short bit until Scott got home for the rest of the afternoon.

When Susanne got home for lunch, Parker and Poppy were playing pretend. Parker was an employee at a fast food restaurant and he wanted to take everyone's orders. He was very good about getting the food out quickly and making sure you got the correct amount of change. He was so creative.

Susanne got back from work in time to relieve Poppy again so he could go to work. She was excited that she would get to spend the rest of the evening with her sweet baby boy.