Burl's First Day Of Kindergarten

I've never had the desire to write the birth story of any of my children, but I definitely dedicated some journal pages to the morning I dropped off my firstborn to kindergarten. Here's the loose rundown and how the first few weeks are going: 



I've never really experience anxiety until this summer, and it peaked the 12 hours before that first drop off. Truly. It was rough. I had always envisioned what it would feel like to put my firstborn to bed the night before kindergarten. How would I ever walk out of his room? Well, he fell asleep quickly, and I stayed in there for an hour. I just stared, prayed, and cried. I finally left his room and snot-bubble sobbed in the kitchen with John. It was the first time that I told John that being a mom was hard. It felt like my heart was being ripped out of my chest, to put it lightly. 

The next morning I held it together. He's always been excited about kindergarten until he heard that it was five days a week. He was both excited and nervous.

My brother kept Fern and Ridge while I took Burl, which was nice. We prayed and chit-chatted about non-school things on the way there. That morning, I was thankful for chocolate milk, phase-in days, whoever invented the gingerbread man scavenger hunt, and Jesus for getting us through THE BIG GOODBYE. It's a miracle they didn't have to rip him off of me in tears. When it came time to leave, he held the teacher's hand and walked out of the gym. 

The day was long and short. Luckily, I met with my Mom group that I've dubbed "Cheers, tears, and prayers" group. We are a hot mess, but we're together and that helps. 

John picked him up and I waited eagerly outside. When he hopped out of the truck, the tears and pride struck me hard and we ran to each other for a hug. The first thing I heard was that he loved it and he wanted to live at kindergarten. That was beyond my wildest dreams! 

Since school has started, I've seen Burl already change. He is a better version of himself. I knew he would flourish, but I had no idea it would hit this early. He's happy, he's excited, he's talkative, he's confident, he's friendly, he's descriptive, and I'm over the moon about how well this is going for Burl!

Grabbing For That Toy

My mom said that I took way more pictures of Burl than of Ridge. Not true. She should see my iPhone. Loads of pictures. Even more videos. Truth be told, I'm not able to publish the pictures as much as I did with Burl. However, even though my time and attention are more divided this third time around, my excitement and wonder are not.

I'm all about the changes. Eye contact. Smiles. Sitting Up. And a new favorite: playing. I put this little toy in his hands and he worked so hard trying to play with it. 

Everything about it was captivating, so naturally I shoved the camera in his face. 

This baby thing is so fun.

Pre-Kindergarten Play Date

This summer as we came down the pipeline towards kindergarten, we were squeezing in as much as we could. Burl asked "for one last play date with James," and I was happy to make it happen. 

It was almost too much for my little heart. Bless it, I was so dramatic about the whole thing. I remember exactly where we were when I met Amanda, James' mom. We were in women's Bible study. We each had boys who were a year and a half old, we were stay at home moms, and we lived in the same zip code. Our boys became good buddies, and our friendship blossomed too. 

Here they are now, each with a little sister (and a napping Ridge) tagging along. I pulled up the first time I blogged about their friendship and showed them the pictures. That was back in the day of tools and Bob-the-builder love. Now they're fighting ninjas and kindergarteners. {Pause for a moment of silence}.

Amanda brought over The Kissing Hand and I read it and cried. We're a couple weeks into our new lives and I'm still adjusting to the change. It makes me happy to think about all the memories that these two have shared. Even though their opportunities to be together have changed, I know that they will stay friends. 

Bug Park Picnic

I need zero encouragement for outside adventures and picnics, so I was all too eager when John suggested we take our dinner somewhere fun. Earlier this month, before school nights were actual school nights, we traded in our nighttime routine for a super-sweaty picnic at a new-to-us park, the bug park.  

We enjoyed bottled cokes, wide open spaces, taking pictures of our kids, and using our pre-kindergarten flexibility to stay out late.