Pride and Preschool, but most of all PRIDE...

You know what is funny? I have started to type five times now and keep erasing. How do I put into words what Today was? Pride, Joy, Fear, Sadness, Happiness, Excitement, Achievement, and all around great! BUT most of all PRIDE! That is how I would describe today.

Proud - I am proud of my son! I am proud of my family! I am proud of myself! I am proud of my daughter!

Today was Blake's first day of Preschool at Happy Valley in the Popcorn class. We were all ready (papers filled out, backpack ready, fun crayon pretzel snack, daddy took the day off work, clothes layed out). Taking pictures in front of the house of my lil' man with his backpack on, so big eventhough it was a small size, was priceless; A moment I will never forget. Pulling up to school with butterflies in Brian and my stomach feeling like it was OUR first day, I will never forget. Blake marched into that Popcorn class like he did it every day. He hung up his backpack, found his name and headed straight for the blocks. I asked for a hug and kept it short in fear that I might start crying. My baby boy was on his own. My wonderful husband had made it very special and made arrangements to be there, which meant to much to me - PRIDE.

Watching Blake be excited for school, enjoying the open house, talking about his plans once he got there, watching him enter the room and find his own name, hang up his backpack, and start playing without so much as a look back in my direction because he was so excited about his new environment, one that I know is safe, positive, and fun - JOY.

Driving away from the school it hit me "shoot! I forgot to remind Blake to go Potty when he needs to go!" I asked Brian "should I call the director and ask her to go tell him". We both laughed and decided we didn't want to be "those" parents! So, he was on his own! What if someone is mean to him, what if he does start to cry, what if he breaks his glasses? My mind went wild! - FEAR

Driving Blake to school, my mind was busy. I was listening as we passed two school buses and blake said "school bus!" "mommy, I want to ride a school bus when I am 5", then we passed the high school and Brian explained to him that when he was old enough to drive he could go there. Please people I am dealing with day 1 of Preschool here! I am having a hard enough time as it is :) And then it started, a slideshow of my life the past 3 years. All of the pictures in my head centered around one adorable, funny, handsome, smart and loving little boy - my Blake. And, now - he is off to school. Yes, I understand it is just Preschool...but it is the start. That is what gets me - the start of the end. SADNESS

Brian and I went to get Piper's 4 month pictures taken while Blake was in school today. Let's face it, it is MUCH easier to get something accomplished without my little 3 year old helper, let alone something that already centers around a 4 month old baby and trying to get her to smile at the right time, while keeping her legs crossed (which still NEVER happened). But, who am I kidding?!?! This is Piper we are talking about. Of course she smiled! and smiled, and smiled and smiled. She was SO happy even though she pooped through her outfit and her shirt was still wet, it was the middle of her nap and it was taking a while...only Piper June! - Happiness

Once we were done with pictures, we headed back to get Blake. The drive home seemed like it was taking forever. I am like a kid on Christmas morning. We could not wait to peek in the room and see what he was doing before he saw us and then to hear all about it! We picked him up and he was coloring on the chalkboard with his friends making a picture for the teacher. He saw us and got his backpack and came right over. The car ride to Heritage Square was SO fun. He had stuff to say! It was fun listening to the bits and pieces he was telling us and trying to put the puzzle together to understand everything he wanted to share about his day. - EXCITEMENT

Blake told us all about his day. It was fun listening to what he said then trying to figure out what his day looked like. Bullet points (from what we could gather) the story was If you take a Mouse to School, snack was (and read carefully; juice, crackers, an apple and a napkin, and he played outside and was holding a door open to let the girls in but another boy told him no, and he glued his popcorn on his popcorn bag paper with the glue that has the orange lid. Sounds like a success to me! - ACHIEVEMENT

To see such amazing things happen today and feel all of these feelings and emotions at once was great. I feel blessed today. Although today was mostly about the kids, it also is a reminder to me how proud I am of my wonderful husband! He made today so special for Blake, he helped get Piper to smile because he talked to her, he was as interested, nervous, excited, scared, happy and proud as I was about our kids and that is the true meaning of a wonderful husband and father! I am SO lucky!

So - to sum it up, I am proud. Proud of my son. Proud of my daughter. Proud of my husband. Proud of us as parents.