The First Day

I will start by saying that Emma Catherine went straight to her classroom today with no problems, and she was very excited about preschool. I wanted to get that out of the way, so that after you hear about my morning you will already know that things turned out well for Emma Catherine (and me).

We had a little bit of a rough morning. I tried to be completely prepared and have everything ready last night, but as I have learned you can't plan for everything. The first thing that happened was that Bailey woke up at 5:15. I waited for a little while hoping that she would go back to sleep on her own, but she had the hiccups and then she got mad and pushed out of her swaddle. I went up there and re-swaddled her and luckily she went back to sleep but I did not. My alarm went off at 6:15 and I got up and got ready and then made Emma Catherine's lunch. I thought I was doing well at this point. Emma Catherine woke up at 7:30 which was perfect because I was going to wake her up around then anyway. She was in a great mood and excited that she was going to preschool. She got dressed and we went downstairs. I forgot to mention that it was pouring rain outside. While Emma Catherine was eating breakfast, I put her new white keds on. I thought to myself that they seemed a little big, but I didn't worry too much about it. When she got down, she started walking in them and her feet were sliding out of them. I know this is not important in life but I really wanted her to have new white shoes for the first day of school. I found her old, dirty, too small keds and tried my best to clean them up a little. (I know this is completely vain.) Then it was time for me to try to tackle taking some pictures of her. She isn't into pictures these days so I ended up having to bribe her (i know, another bribe) with a peppermint candy to stand with her backpack and lunchbox to take some pictures. At this point it is 8:45 which is the time I wanted to leave. Bailey is laying on the floor with no clothes on. I quickly dressed Bailey threw everything and the girls in the car and we were off. It was still pouring rain..ugh. As I was traveling down the road feeling bad that my child was going to be a little late for her first day of school, I came to a stop because they are doing construction in the middle of the road. There were at least 30 cars backed up on each side of the road. When we finally get to school, the front parking spaces were full, of course. I had to park across the street and get both girls across the street and into the school. Luckily Emma Catherine has her own princess umbrella and she carried her own backpack. I had to carry an umbrella, Bailey's carrier, her nap map, lunchbox, and my camera/case. We made it into the preschool and none of us were too wet.

While I stopped to set our umbrellas down, Emma Catherine just kept walking down the hall and right into her class. She gave Mrs. Janice (her teacher) her backpack and started playing. What a relief that she was so calm and happy. I tried to get some pictures of her with Mrs. Janice but she was already busy playing. When I was leaving, they were about to have snack, so I knew she would do great. After I got back and in the car, I let out a huge sigh of relief. I can't believe Emma Catherine is at school. I'm getting a little teary right now.

Right now the house is so quiet with Emma Catherine at school and Bailey sleeping. I almost don't know what to do. Oh wait, there's always plenty to do. I've returned phone calls, unloaded the dishwasher, worked on the paperwork for renewing my teaching certificate, and blogged. Now it's time to go nurse Bailey. I think 2:00 (pick up time) will be here before I know it.

she immediately started playing

Emma Catherine and Mrs. Janice (too busy to pose for the picture)