It was 3:53pm on October 10, 2012 and our first daughter, Brynley, was welcomed into our world!
Never in my wildest dreams did I expect to feel the depth of love and adoration that I did for such such a tiny human being. She was more than I ever dreamed up. She was my first child. She was my daughter- the one that would be become my best friend as I grew old. Everyone told me from that moment, that I should enjoy every second, bask in every milestone and sink myself into every snuggle because they grow so quickly, and boy were they right!
We brought Brynley home from the hospital and before I knew it, she was starting on cereal & solids. Then sitting up, crawling and eating table food. She started saying words like, Dada, Mama and ball. She began weaning from nursing and wanting to eat more salmon and meatballs instead! By now, it was a month before her first birthday and I was engulfed in planning a big bash! I remember staring at her at her 1st birthday party and wondering, how did my baby turn 1 already!? The 1st year flew by!
The following year flew by even faster, as we welcomed Livia into our world. Once Livia arrived, Brynley suddenly seemed SO much older and more mature than she did 6 hours before we left her to head to the hospital when I was in labor. Livia's whole first year was full of laughs and love from Bryn. Brynley rolled around on the floor with her, played peek-a-boo and helped me "read" stories to her.
After her second birthday, came time to start trying out the whole potty-training thing. Man, I didn't know what I was in for with that whole ordeal! I think potty-training may be the worst part of parenting to date for me...even worse than teething and sleepless nights...and my girls teethed something fierce and were equally as bad at sleeping through the night! #1 was easy but #2 was a struggle for months. But, eventually it clicked and she was potty trained.
Yet, just when I thought I was getting a grasp on motherhood and doing everything right and "on time", then IT happened.
Playground mom-talk of signing Brynley up for preschool and which preschools I should be looking at. I literally almost had a panic attack. It was March. Brynley wouldn't be turning 3 until October. But apparently, preschools were already open for enrollment for the following year and some already had wait lists...I didn't know that being a first time mom! I thought I didn't have to even think about that "milestone" until the summer and I could just add her name to the list and it was all good!
Now the anxiety was setting in. HOW IS MY BABY OLD ENOUGH TO GO TO PRESCHOOL?! Didn't I JUST give birth to her?! For the next two weeks, I called schools, inquired about tuition, received packets in the mail with every bit of info I could possibly need about the given school...now I (along with my husband of course) had to decide where she would attend?! I felt so much pressure for the first time as a mom! Inside, I simply couldn't believe my baby was growing up so quickly- but on the outside, I was happy and excited for her to meet new friends and experience school!
That Spring, we checked out 3 schools that we really liked and made our final decision based solely on how Brynley reacted at the school visits. After all, it was going to be HER school and she was the one that was going to be spending her days there. We chose the school that she seemed most comfortable at; she wasn't scared to leave us or crying when we told her we were going to take a tour down the hall. She trusted the teachers whose classroom she stayed in while Tom and I toured and she was excited to see what the classroom had to offer.
(To this day, we are so happy with our choice, and now Liv attends there as well!)
But it was still such a shock to me that in a few short months, I was going to drop my baby off at school for 2.5 hours, 2 days a week and she wasn't under my wing anymore. I knew at that moment, that this was just the beginning of learning to let go as a parent and just watching my child grow.
PRE-K 3
Just like the previous years, Pre-K 3 came and went. Brynley learned how to color in the lines, spell/write her name and how to wait her turn and share with others. But I couldn't help but think, at the end of the year, how she already completed her first year of school. We were 1 year closer to kindergarten, middle school and high school. The last 3 years of her life flashed before my eyes and here I was, signing forms for her next year of preschool- the 4 year old class. Once again, just like the year prior, I was reminded that this was just the beginning of learning to let go as a parent and watching my child grow <3
PRE-K 4
So here I sit, watching these videos from the last two years, as I prepare for her to walk down the halls confidently for her last year at her preschool. A 5-Day Growing Into Kindergarten class will be welcoming her in September and is just mere weeks away. Since she's an October baby, she misses the cutoff for Kindergarten in our school district, so she will attend a Kindergarten prep class at her preschool. I can't help but think about those sentiments I received when she was first placed in my arms...
{I should enjoy every second, bask in every milestone and sink myself into every snuggle because they grow so quickly}.