Today’s post isn’t going to be very long, and there isn’t going to be a major ‘aha’ moment in this post, but just wanted to share with you some of the emotions I was feeling today. Today’s post is Day 7 in my 30 Days of Blogging Challenge (you can click here to read more about that challenge).
Today I dropped my three-year old little guy off for his very first day of preschool. He was so excited for school! Each day last week he would ask me to practice with him what he would say when he first met his teacher, and each day he would proudly tell me, “Mom, don’t worry, I won’t throw ANY fits when I’m at school!” (which really sound more like, “mom don’t wooowy. I won’t fwow any fits when I’m at skoow”). I got up this morning at 4:50 like I do each morning to workout, and before I left to head to the gym I peeked into his room and he was sound asleep curled up with his Lightning McQueen blanket. I couldn’t help but get a smile on my face as I thought about how excited he was going to be when I woke him up later and let him know that TODAY was the big day he would get to go to school. Last month we moved to Texas due to a relocation with my husband’s job and so my little guy hasn’t really met any friends yet, and as much as he likes hanging out at our new house, he is dying to meet some friends.
My workout was a killing chest/shoulders workout and I actually had to cut the workout two exercises short because my husband called me around 6:30 and said the baby was awake and was hungry and upset. Because I’m nursing, and my husband is on crutches still from his accident (I’ll do a blog post about this later) he can’t do much when she gets upset since he can’t walk and hold her while on crutches. It wasn’t a huge deal, I just headed home so I could nurse her and get going for the day.
After the baby was taken care of I went into my little guy’s room and woke him up and told him that he gets to go to school today! He jumped out of bed so fast he hit his head on the top bunk of his bed! He was so excited and wanted to get dressed as quickly as possible (insisted on picking the outfit himself) so he could get everything ready for school. We got breakfast, packed his lunch (btw…I am going to have Valerie from LiveFit Journey do a guest blog post later this month about healthy school lunch ideas for kiddos. I am so excited about it!), and headed out the door. He let me snap one picture real quick before saying, “Mooommmm….we are (aww) going to be late (wate)!!”
We parked at his school and he raced out of the truck as quickly as possible. When we got to his classroom he sat right in his seat and started painting with the watercolors his teacher had set out for him. He was hardly even phased that I was leaving! He just looked right at me and said, “See ya later Mom!”
I left his classroom holding the baby on my arm, and started getting so teary-eyed! I was kind of surprised because I never used the be the type of person that would cry over things like this. I used to see posts about kids starting their first day of school and think it wasn’t that big of a deal. Boy was I WRONG! It was tough for me! It wasn’t because I was sad to be without him, but more because I was just so proud of him for becoming so grown up, and then just reflecting on how quickly the time passes! It feels like just yesterday my little guy was the same age as my baby girl. Here is a picture showing when both of them were five months (Phoenix on left, Lincoln on right):
Isn’t it crazy how much they look alike?! This is when I really started getting teary eyed! I started thinking about how hard things have been lately with the baby waking up all night long because she is teething, and how I’ve been frustrated because my husband can’t really do anything to help because of his foot right now, and how I feel like I am never doing a good enough job of balancing everything, and how my house is never clean enough, and how I start to feel guilty and wonder if I am spending enough quality time with the kids, and if I am making the right choices for them. I started to realize that the time just flies by so quickly and I want my baby girl to stay little forever (although I wouldn’t complain if I started getting a little more sleep). And, then almost as if the radio could read my mind, this song came on!
And of course it made me cry even harder. Hopefully no one saw me parked in the Walmart parking lot crying like a big boob! 🙂
Anyways….I just wanted to share with someone some of the thoughts that were floating through my head today. I can now completely understand the feelings other moms go through when they drop their littles off at school. I know that my little guy is going to love it at school this year, and it is going to help him prepare for kindergarten and make new friends. I know that in a few years my little girl will be in the same spot, and I am sure I will cry even harder because sometimes I feel like she is my best little buddy. He goes to school two days a week, so cross your fingers for me that Thursday goes a little smoother and I’m not so emotional when I drop him off later this week.
I know this wasn’t a fitness or healthy living post, but part of my reason for wanting to do this 30 Days of Blogging challenge was to try to share with you pieces of who I am and my life, and I wanted to do a few posts like this to share with you some of the thoughts that go through my head during the day.
I will ‘see’ you guys tomorrow!
Your Friend,
Natalie
3 Comments
Oh Natalie I felt the same way when my Sophia had her first day of school. She loved it and I was teary eyed, but so excited for her. Time goes by do fast. I love that song I am always reciting those words in my head. It helps me get through many mom moments. Thanks for sharing!!
Awww 🙂 Very sweet post, Natalie! I was crying reading it but not only because my preggo hormones have me that way, no, because my 3yr old daughter just started pre-k as well and reading your post was almost as though you were sitting in my head and heart and writing about it.
Please don’t question yourself too much about your “duties” because I am sure you are doing the best you can and the kids don’t care if the house is clean to the point were they could eat off the floor…. they will do that anyways 😉 And every person with common sense will understand that at some days not everything can be done that needs to be done. So don’t beat yourself up :))
Hi Natalie my oldest just started preschool this year and my youngest just turned one. I’m in the same boat. Emotional, tired, grateful, a very tender time in life. I have yet to get the health/exercise component on board to a significant degree. I’d love a post on how you treat yourself without food! 😉 Thanks for the inspiration!