Tooth be Gone

Ahhh yes, the dreaded suspense of a losing your first tooth. That's been a familiar scene for us for the last week or so. Add that to the list of firsts this week and I'm spent!! Finally after a few days of wiggling and wobbling with that tooth, that jigglely little pearly white finally found it's way out!! Another milestone for the books......

All the distress over losing a tooth, but worth it! 

Happy Thursday!
-EM

All Dressed Up and Everywhere to Go

Well, I made it...barely! Car ride there - tears. Dreaded drop off - tears. Leaving - more tears. Parking lot and finally to the car.....shambles. To say that I have been an emotional wreck this week is a complete understatement. But, together, WE all survived. Let's start with the photos.... 

All smiles, dressed and ready to go...

Obnoxious sign I made  that he had to hold up (like my  mom made me do when I was little lol)

So excited for big brother!!! 

And now for the business.....labeled to the 27th degree, it was time to go.

As I walked him into the school this morning I asked him, "Jackson can you tell me what you are most excited about to start school?" and his response, "there's the door!" Ha! Leave it to my child just to be so happy and content with just reaching that big "door".  The big boy school and place that he's been talking about for weeks. We have prepared, bought, ordered, are slightly broke (ha, cue more tears on that note??) and talked through all the things "Kindergarten" with him. He could have answered my question this morning by saying he was excited for a number of things, but I think the lesson I learned from him today (yes my kids teach me more than I will ever admit to, or did I just admit that?) is the fact that of all the things he could have said, he said the most simple answer.

The door. 

To me that was code for - Mommy I am just so happy to be here and get to open that door and to be a part of what's on the other side. I have never felt so happy for him. Ever. You would have thought he was like a robot programmed to do exactly what he was built to do.

We got inside and he went straight for the his locker, found the one that proudly read "Jackson" and began to put his stuff in it. He walked into the class, immediately gave both Ms. Beth his teacher and her assistant Ms. Wendy hugs, he's always been a hugger. :) He then sat down next to his new friends and started to take it all in. It was written all over his face. He had to be thinking what is this place, look at all this stuff and why is everyone else wearing the same thing as me? I could just see his wheels turning. As I took a look around and doing a bit of "inventory" of my own I noticed a number of things: smiling children, supplies galore and lots of emotionally drained Mommies. Phew I'm not alone! You could feel the love that all the parents had for their kids in that classroom like the sweet warm smell of cupcakes in the oven. At that point, I knew my little tiny blonde hair-blue eyed baby was going to be okay.

As I tried to give Jackson some space to get adjusted to his new seat, I talked to Amy, my new Mommy friend and veteran parent at the school who has been paired with us to keep us informed through our uhhh....rookie year at the school. That's so nice to be paired with another family to help you through the first year, this private school stuff is serious business! My kids have a busier schedule than I do! It just so happens that Amy has a younger son, John that is also in Jackson's class. Yay! I have a feeling she and I will become good friends, if I don't drive her crazy with questions first lol.

Time dwindled down and it was time for me to make my exit and I gave Jackson one last hug and kiss before I left. Happy and not a tear in site for him, he was officially in Kindergarten. As I was leaving and going to the car, my new Momma friend Amy didn't disappoint as she captured a picture of me hugging Jackson before I left.... begin the shambles stage I mentioned earlier. She's the best and super sweet for getting that picture for me!!! I'm sure my list of I.O.U.'s will be rather long for her by the end of the year! So we're off and more posts to come from our Kindergarten year! 

-EM

To Jackson - although you can't read this today... hopefully one of these days we can look back and read this post together, I'm sure it will make your Momma cry every time. I'm so proud of you monkey and can't wait to see what's beyond that big "door" for you! All my love bubba....Mommy.   

Lot's of First

Hello friends. I must say, this week is off to a hmmmm emotional start. Coming off a beautiful weekend with perfect weather, our only major hiccup is that my sweet baby girl had a "face plant" (in her exact words) on Friday in some play high heels at pre-school. Now, I'm not surprised that she fell in the high heels, I'm just surprised at how BAD she fell in the high heels. I mean she looks like she went to a battle and boy did she lose. As much as my heart ached for her (and her sweet face) of course she seems fine and has had no problem sporting hello kitty band-aids on all the "boo boo's".

So what's a Momma to do when your baby is hurt? Pamper Pamper Pamper! SO....Sunday we went to get her hair done at the salon, yes I realize I'm creating monster diva by taking my three year old to the salon for pampering, but hey a girl has to start somewhere right? (Remind me that I said those words ten years from now when she wants her hair and nails done every week and I'm broke) And like the little rock star that she is she was more than up for going to get her hair done and see Mr. Jimmy as she calls him. Would I expect anything else besides my child to be in sunglasses in a salon and smiling cheek to cheek? Of course not! Nevermind the multitude of scrapes and bumps on her face from the ummm high heel debacle. How am I ever suppose to say no to this cutie patooty face????

So then fast forward to Monday, and we are eating dinner. All of a sudden Jackson is in tears and it begins. We are getting ready to lose our first tooth. Completely distraught, he thinks he "broke" it and wants it fixed immediately. So I explained  tried to tell Jackson that this is normal and give him the whole tooth fairy will bring you money yada yada. Now normally he'd buy the whole tooth fairy deal, but not today! After what seemed like an 8 hour shift of torturous manual labor, I finally conceded and let the tooth stay for the night. Tooth-1, Mom-0, Jackson....waaaaay in the negative. Hallie certainly played her role in taking care of brother donating her favorite blankie to Jackson. Such a sweet sis.

(Jacks will definitely kill me for posting this one of these years)

Adding to the firsts.... my Jack Jack has his first day of kindergarten this Friday. I am so excited for him to start school and he has been too, but last night I crashed into a wall like one of those test dummies in a car. My baby isn't a baby anymore. As a matter of fact, neither of my babies are little babies anymore. Cue tears and ugly cry. While I am super happy we are fully potty trained and we don't have to travel with everything and the kitchen sink just to get groceries, I sat there holding a yellow-green faced little boy who was all but ready to pass out at the thought of losing a tooth and just couldn't help myself. By nature, I don't cry a lot, hardly ever actually (is that good or bad?) but I felt like time had just gotten by me last night. Where have the last 6+ YEARS gone? Does anyone else do this sort of thing or am I the only emotional wreck on the block??? I would not say that I am the type to have separation anxiety from my kids every time I leave them but I don't want to let Jackson go on this one. I feel like he will be is so grown up and I'm NOT ready for that. I need more time, I need more days of being home with him, I need more of my little snuggly blonde haired, blue eyed little BABY boy. I guess the face slap of reality is that either way I better buck up before Friday gets here or I'll be a rotten mess taking him to school. Aren't the kids suppose to be the ones to cry?? Stayed tuned for an update and we'll see if my emotions hold up on Friday, if you're the betting type, don't bet on me.

Until the rest of the week unfolds..... thought I would share a few sweet pictures of the kids from our recent family photos we had done with Kelly Ginn. She did an amazing job of capturing the kids and who they are. Their sweet spirits and hearts are ever so evident in these pictures.

My two sweet monkeys 

<3

-EM