The Laundry Fairy

For years, my father-in-law has been telling me about the laundry fairy who comes to his house and uses her wand to make the laundry magically clean and folded. Yesterday the laundry fairy visited my house for the first time. She must have come with my mother-in-law, Jane. 

Seriously, Jane took Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday off work this week. She has been an amazing amount of help. I'll disappear for a little while into Jack's room to feed him or change his diaper. When I come out, the refrigerator has been cleaned or the laundry folded or something else has been done that makes my life as a new mother much easier. 

Jane and I took Jack to the pediatrician this morning for his 1 week check-up. He has started to gain weight again, and on Friday I get to stop setting my alarm for feedings every 3 hours. I was a little worried that he had late onset jaundice, but the pediatrician said his color is excellent for a newborn. He didn't see the need to subject Jack to a blood draw. So, Jack made it through his first visit to the doctor without any tears. 

The kids at school were on my mind today. They took the state writing test. Since I am the fifth grade writing teacher, their performance is my responsibility. Over the past few years, I've been working really hard to come up with a system for teaching the kids how to write to a prompt without us having to spend the entire year writing only in that style. So, the first week in January we begin our preparations. Well this year I was put on bedrest and couldn't see through to the conclusion of that unit. Fortunately, one of my good friends at school who shares many of my philosophies on teaching was able to move into my classroom and take over. She called this morning to say that the kids really stepped up and wrote excellent responses to the prompt. What a relief! 

So here's to the laundry fairy and the completion of the state writing test. And here's to my sweet baby boy who has definitely stolen my heart.