This month, I took both kids for their first visit to the pediatrician since the before-times. Both are doing well, almost as though being home all the time and constantly grazing on tempting snacks has had some salutary effects. I am pleased to say that after scraping by at around the 10th percentile for most of his life, Lime has shot up to the 50th percentile. Lemon is still in around the 70th percentile for height and weight, which is great and will hopefully put him in a good position for (fingers crossed!) returning to school in the fall.
The major development for April is that I have made a big career move. After almost 6 years as a medical writer on a clinical research team, I have moved back to my roots as a biologist, taking on a big new role at a local biotech company. It was a tough decision but I was ready for a new challenge, and I feel like (fingers crossed!) the kids are now old enough and stable enough that I will be able to manage a more demanding schedule. The job change meant that I was able to take a couple of weeks off this month, my longest work-free break since being on maternity leave after Lime was born. It was a treat to be able to focus just on hiking, yard work, and house projects, and the time flew by much too quickly. My first day at the new job was today, so I can't really say much about it so far other than that my new email seems to be working and I filled out a W-4 form without too much difficulty. Hopefully I'll be able to provide a fuller picture next month.
In kid news, Zoom school continues to crank along. The kids are both tired of learning in our basement, but they are also learning so much. Every day now they come out with some new skill or fact that is a surprise to us--naming different types of clouds, going over the life cycle of a butterfly, adding 3-digit numbers in their heads to figure out how many points they need to buy things in their various computer games. And doing everything on Zoom did prepare them well for a new life experience that they both enjoyed tremendously, playing MineCraft online with their cousin who is from Brazil. So, they are certainly growing up prepared to be part of a global, online community. We also have them signed up for various local summer programs on the theory that they should probably relearn how to interact with their in-person peers before the next school year begins.
Last but not least, May is CF awareness month. As you know, we are hopefully (HOPEFULLY) just a month or so away from the FDA approving Trikafta for kids Lemon's age. The groundbreaking research that has led to the development of Trikafta would not have been possible without the CF Foundation, which has also advocated tirelessly for people with CF during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the pandemic is still ongoing, the annual Great Strides walk will be virtual this year, and I hope you will consider making a donation to support our team. I must confess that with all the excitement of the new job I have not quite figured out how to get the Great Strides app to synch with Strava, so you’ll just have to take my word for it that I’ve walked (or run!) the requisite number of miles.
Just click right here to make your way over to our team's fundraising page.
Thank you so much as always for your generous support!
