Making it Through the First Day (Whatever Wednesdays)

We made it through the first day of kindergarten (yesterday)! YAY!

I know some of you reading this are going through your first day today. I figured in some small way it would help you know that you are not alone and that it's ok to feel a little emotional and teary-eyed and lost with your little one in school for the first time...especially if it is your first (oldest) child!

(I have a feeling Ella's first day of kindergarten is going to be an entirely different ballgame for many reasons...some of which would be obvious if you've ever met Ella!).

Speaking of Ella, I really think she is part of the reason I made it through the day without shedding more than a minutes worth of tears all day long! She was cracking us all up at the bus stop this morning as she did circles around her sister and the two girls from down the street...literally. The little girl from down the street was calling her the 'run away train' and Scott was joking that we had given her Red Bull that morning (you would have believed him if you saw her!).

Ava woke up early this morning...she was in our room at 6:30 a.m. (she didn't need to be up until 7). I let her crawl in with me for 20 minutes before we made our way downstairs and she wanted to start packing her lunch immediately (it was those brownies I told you about!). I enjoyed the help packing her lunch box (realizing there will come days when she will NOT be excited about it and likely leave it all to me!) and then Scott made her homemade waffles for breakfast. She also told me she wanted a cup of tea to "help her wake up just like mommy and daddy drink coffee to help them wake up" (it doesn't matter that it's herbal!). So she made tea with a LOT of honey to drink with her breakfast.

After Ava left we kept busy finishing breakfast, cleaning up the kitchen and downloading photos from the morning. Then we went out to Panera for lunch together, which was actually quite delightful...it's nice to interact with your children when they're not competing with each other to interact with you! After lunch we picked up a few groceries and then the pictures from the morning (so Ava could see them when she got home) before heading home for a short nap and dinner preparation.

Before I knew it Ava was getting off the bus (although, much to moms dismay the bus was running 35 minutes late...we'll give them one more chance today!)!

Ava was all smiles from the time she left the house until after she came home this afternoon. She was giggly and silly and seemed to have been un-phased by having been at school all day.

I had all the morning pictures set up on the kitchen table and had wrapped up a really cute memory book that I found on Amazon. It was sitting on the table with the pictures..Ava LOVES gifts, so her eyes were huge and wide and excited as she waltzed in through the door, saw the gift, said "Is this for me?" and was running to the couch with it before I could say yes!

(that's the gift in the only wrapping paper I had in the house...Dollar Tree baby shower wrapping paper!)

Ella and I had picked up a cake from Wal-Mart and had "Happy 1st Day Of School" written on it...If there is anything Ava loves more than gifts, it's sweets (she has her dad's sweet tooth!)...I got a big "Awww, Mom. Thanks!" which made my day (and the extra post dinner calories) worth it all!

As we settled into bed tonight she told me, with a smile, that she didn't really want to go back tomorrow, but seemed to understand that she's a big girl now and must go every day (it's a good thing there are rules about these things because I'd just be tempted to keep her home in her jammies to play board games and watch cartoons a couple of days a week!).

I'm going to leave you all with a poem my sister wrote down for me this morning. In all honesty, reading THIS made for the most teary, sappy-eyed moments of the day...That said, it put into words perfectly how I was feeling so I'll leave it with you all...

First Day of School

(Wendy Silva)

I wonder what you're doing right now
and if everyone is treating you kind.
I hope there is a special person,
a nice friend that you can find.

I wonder if the teacher know just
how special you are to me.
And if the brightness of your heart
is something she can see.

I wonder if you are thinking about
me and if you need a hug.
I already miss the sound of your voice
and how you give my leg a tug.

I wonder if you could possibly understand

how hard it is for me to let you grow.

On this day know that my heart breaks,

for this is the first step in letting my baby go.

(If you are a fellow blogger please link up below with any post you'd like from the last week for Whatever Wednesdays, where I post whatever is on my mind and you do the same!)