First Day of School

Before the first day of school this year I had a terrible case of nerves.  I worried all day. I couldn't sleep that night.  Not because I was nervous about school (though I do remember that feeling all too well).  Not even because I was worried about how the girls would fare.  I was anxious about how I was going to pull off the morning routine on my own.  I do not usually do the morning carpool.  That is left to Shimmy, who drops the girls off on his way to work.  My job is to get everyone up, dressed, fed, bags packed, and waiting by the door for their ride (aka Daddy).  While this is harder than the task of driving them to school, I can do it all in my pajamas with a big mug of coffee in my hand.  After I see them off, I clean up from breakfast, tend to Jude, and get on with my day.  I like the way this works.  Unfortunately, it was brought to my attention on Tuesday afternoon that I would have to do all of my usual morning jobs, plus get Sophie to school at 8:00am and attend Lilah's orientation with her at 9:00am.  And bring Jude along and keep him happy.  That is when the nerves set in.

And, yet, it was fine!  Despite my lack of sleep, the morning played out like a well-orchestrated symphony.  We even had time for our traditional first day of school picture:

I made it to school, with all three kids in tow, on time.  We took Sophie to her classroom, hugged her goodbye, and walked down the hall to the lobby, where we camped out for the next 45 minutes or so.  I fed Jude his breakfast, and then we all read books.  Someone took a picture of us and we made it onto the school's website:

We had a great time at Lilah's orientation doing crafts, having a tea party, and making new friends.  Then it was time to leave!

When we got home, I set Lilah up with a snack, and I put Jude down for his nap.  After surviving the morning I had so fretted over, my initial instinct was to change back into my pajamas and get back into bed.  Which is exactly what I used to do after the first day of school (and any other hard day) right up through graduate school.  I guess coping mechanisms die hard.

A couple of hours later, I changed back into my clothes to greet our old babysitter who is back from her year abroad!  I headed out to run errands I had been unable to run during the past two and a half weeks (no camp, no school, therefore no extended trips to the grocery store).  Then I picked up Sophie, who had a great first day!  Thankfully, I had a great first day too.  Although, the second day, with both girls in school from 8:00am-3:45pm was even better :)