56 days left.

56 days!

Chloe and I went to lunch with her dada today.
We don't go very often because it's more hassle than it's worth; we spend the entire time trying to keep her happy and quiet because we don't think that the other diners should have their meals ruined by our child...
Anyway, as we were sitting there, I kind of had a little epiphany. This rare occasion in which we dine out with her is likely one of the last we will have once Lauren arrives. I doubt we'll do it when we have two little ones. Actually, I know I wont do it when we have two little ones. I haven't even figured how I'm going to get out of the house with 2 little ones!!

It was nice to sit down with our little family and just enjoy the stage Chloe is at in life.
It's these little moments I'm appreciating more and more as the days go on.

We watched her stuff her little cheeks full of cherry tomatoes. She had our undivided attention and was being silly, giggling and pointing and you could see she had like 4 or 5 tomatoes socked away in there. And no, I don't need a lecture on choking hazards.

As nice as it was, today was a reminder that as much as I love our family now, it is about to grow and it likely won't be Chloe, mommy and daddy alone very often.

And as uncomfortable as I am (and BOY am I uncomfortable!), I am cherishing every painful night of sleep with my only interruptions being bathroom trips. Soon that will be replaced with bottles and burps and poops and pees. Dont' get me wrong, I am looking forward to all that, but now that I've been blessed with sleep... dont' think I am not appreciating it while it lasts!

Once Lauren comes, I know we'll just go into survival mode.
I want her arrival to affect Chloe as little as possible. I always want her to know she has our attention and love, just like she did today.
I also want her to continue sleeping through the night.
Honestly, if Chloe would sleep through Lauren waking in the middle of the night, we'd be riding the easy train. I can deal with the exhaustion of dealing with a newborn, but I don't think I can be 100% during the following day if I'm up with both of them at night. My biggest fear is that Chloe will wake up when Lauren cries at night time and I'll have TWO awake kids to take care of. To top it off, Chris starts his masters in a couple weeks. I'm so proud of him, but I feel like we need to make some kind of agreement... no matter how crazy things get around here, we'll survive and meet on the other side in a few years! :)

I can tell I'm still dealing with issues of taking away Chloe's "baby" status as well as only child status. Nothing major, just how do you explain to a 1 year old what is going on. She doesn't get that Lauren is coming. She does, however, stare at my stomach the size of a watermelon as if she'd like to take a bite of it.

Oh, and today at lunch we realized she's quickly figuring out the fork thing. This last weekend, her papa introduced her to the fork but she hasn't had a clue how to use it unless you give it to her already loaded up with food. Well, her dexterity is getting better, she ALMOST speared her tomatoes with the fork today at lunch. Chris and I were both totally amazed. Then she almost speared her eye so we took it away :) Okay, so it wasn't like that, but she started flailing it around and it was only a matter of time before it was to become a flying projectile... It's so fun to watch her little brain work things out.

Have I mentioned she only eats tomatoes and green beans these days?
She's a little high maintenance. Hilarious nonetheless.