First Comes Love...: Making The Most of It

I know that my days at home with Grant are numbered, so I've been making the most of it. We've been celebrating each of our "lasts" by stopping and taking an extra second to truly enjoy that moment and all of the similar moments that we've had over the past year that we may have taken for granted, just a little.

We're celebrating our last days to sleep in together. And how I relish going in to his room first thing in the morning (well, at 8 am - not 'quite' first thing because we are enjoying that sleeping in part!) and seeing that smiling face with the crazy bed hair peeking at me over the crib rails. And we're taking the time to sing songs and talk to each other at the changing table knowing that we don't have to hurry up, rush, get ready, get breakfast, find shoes, and get out of the house. We've snuggled a little longer on the couch watching The Wiggles & Chica before enjoying our breakfast of homemade pancakes. There will be many of days coming when a frozen waffle or cold cereal will have do the trick, but not this week. This week we're taking the time to make it extra special because we can and because I so want you to remember these moments as being special - I know I will.

Today we went to Grant's last Wednesday morning library Born To Read program. Grant sat shyly in my lap for the first 20 minutes before warming up and playing with the other kiddos and shaking his shakey eggs to the music. I teared up a little at the end during the "Good-bye Friends" song because like so many things we're doing this week it is a reminder that it's a good-bye to a part of being home with Grant that I've enjoyed. No, that we've both enjoyed. So after "class" we celebrated by playing with the toy trains in the library... Because we could. I let Grant crawl all over the floor, into the train, up the steps. And he loved it. And I'll miss watching him play like this on Wednesday mornings. And when I started to get sad, I decided we should meet Daddy for lunch. Just the 3 of us... Because we could.

And although most of this week is reserved for making special memories with Grant, I'm also trying to sneak in some necessary housekeeping items before I go back to work. I've been interviewing a few house keepers so that I will have one less thing to worry about when I go back and I have appointments tomorrow to have my vision checked and also to have Grant's big boy car seat inspected to make sure that it was installed correctly. Crosby was supposed to have his haircut & Maddy her nails trimmed today, but unfortunately plans changed quickly when we got to the groomers and a German Shepherd attacked Crosby and we ended up an emergency visit at the vet. Crosby is resting at home and is expected to make a full recovery. He's a VERY lucky dog. And although I wish it hadn't happened to Crosby, I'm glad that it wasn't Grant (who I was holding 2-3 feet away from Crosby). Certainly a scary moment!

I'm also trying to tie up a few loose ends for Grant's birthday party - which I am super excited about. I have come to realize that 1st Birthdays aren't for the baby at all. They're for the mama. Because baby turning one is bittersweet for the mama. Excited because baby is reaching this milestone and doing all of the things baby should be doing, but a little sad because it's a page turned to the next chapter and there's no flipping back. ... unless to revisit those ol' memories.

So I've been saving the chores & birthday party planning to Grant's nap time and after he sleeps so that I can work on making as many more happy memories I can this week. And to Grant's disgust, I'm also taking 1 million photos of him.

Really, Mom?! Really?!

He'll appreciate them later. He will. I know it. 'Cause Mama's know best. (At least that's what my mama always said. ... or was that "there'd be days like this" ? Whatever.)

Here are more photos from our 51 week photo shoot yesterday: