Finally.

Today, April 29, was mommy's last day of work before starting maternity leave. Hallelujah! 

Now we wait... and prepare... for the coming of your little brother. You, dear Cole, will continue going to daycare as if nothing has changed.  It isn't that mommy doesn't want to spend every waking moment with you -- you are, after all, adorable, funny, smart and wonderful.  But there are three very good reasons for this decision:

1. Mommy is still getting a full paycheck and can afford to continue paying for full-time daycare. (For now, at least)

2. Mommy is large, slow, tired and doesn't sleep well.  These things make her not fun, irritable even.

3. Once a newborn is here, mommy will be a bit smaller, a bit faster, but still very tired and irritable.

Trust me, you will be happier in daycare playing with the kids and teachers.

We have discussed the impending arrival of a your little brother, a baby, with you many times. On some level, you get it.  You know that there is a "baby in the belly" and sometimes you kiss the belly or talk to the baby inside it.  You know that this baby is your baby brother.  But do you know what a "baby brother" is or how it ruins lives of big brothers?  I sort of doubt it. 

You know what babies are -- you see them at daycare.  But having mommy take care of one while neglecting your needs... well, that's a different story entirely.  This is a reality I don't think you fully understand or appreciate yet. But you will, oh you will.  And when you do -- in the immortal words of a drunk friend who threatened to 'come over there' -- "then none of us will be happy!"