Maggie Mae starts school on Monday and if I let myself think about it too much, I get a huge, gigantic lump in the back of my throat and butterflies in my tummy. She talks more about her ‘five year old skull’ than her ‘three year old skull’ because we drive past the local elementary school frequently and we’ve told her it’ll be her school when she’s five. I can hardly fathom the fact that we’ve arrived on the weekend before she becomes a true preschooler, let alone what she’ll be like when she’s five. My heart hurts to think about it, about the changes.
As a teacher, I feel like I loved and appreciated all my students, especially the quirky ones. It was once described to me that teaching is like getting 20+ new best friends in September and saying goodbye to them in June, and I really felt that way. Some years were a bit more wonky than others, but I loved learning with my students. Being home with my kids, and putting teaching on the back burner for now, has been one of the best decisions that I’ve ever made. Of course, I’ve mothered Maggie and loved her, but within that I’ve taught her, read to her, listened to her.
And then suddenly we’re here.
One more day stands between our family and Maggie’s first day of school. She’s ready and I know that I am, too. I now realize that I’ve had it backwards all those years that I was teaching. I was always a bit of a mama bird to my students on the first days of school, swooping them into my classroom with the hopes of getting a routine underway, feeling protective and compassionate towards them and their learning, not fully understanding the tearful parents overstaying their welcome or peeking into the windows. Perhaps I should have been more compassionate towards those parents on those first days, assuring them that I’d take care of their child. I’d listen. I’d notice the quirks. And most of all, I’d care.
These milestones arrive with such a perfect blend of excitement and apprehension. I’m going to hide a tissue in my back pocket and only let myself feel sad after I’ve said good-bye to my brave little chicken on Monday. It is my hope that this is the start of a really great thing. . .
I write often about how blessed and lucky I feel to be a mother, motherhood changed my life in so many ways for the better. Barry and I had a fantastic life that immediately got more wonderful once we became parents. That said, I would be a liar if I said that there were a few things I didn’t miss from my former life. Since sleep is the obvious thing that EVERY parent misses, I’ll go out on a limb and assume y’all either feel the same way or know what I’m talkin’ about. So, sleep aside, I think that I really miss camping and the ability to throw just a few things in the car and be set. The past FEW summers we’ve really abandoned that part of our lives and I miss it dearly. Without a shadow of a doubt, I know that we’ll get back into heading out with regularity, but we’ll probably have a lot more gear than when we were free wheelin’ singletons.
pre-kid camping trip gear
We took Maggie camping when she was just a fewmonths old and we just weren’t feeling that ambitious this time around. My brothers, Geneviève, and parents were willing to come ‘fake camping’ with us at Camp Janet for a weekend in early August. It happened to fall on my mom’s birthday, as well as a weekend that my grandparents, Sue and Chach were able to come up to A-Town for a visit/concert. As far as Maggie could tell, it was one more time that a group of her favorite people got together, with the bonus of a tent set up in the yard at Grandma and Grandpa’s house. These pictures are from the afternoon of our arrival. . .
With Sophie by her side, Audrey is a pretty good car rider. This was taken on the night that we ended up on top of the Space Needle in our jammies without a diaper.
We just got a letter in the mail for Maggie’s preschool giving us the ins and outs of what to expect for the coming school year. It feels strange to be on the other side of things, ususally the parents of my students are reading a letter written by ME and getting ready to send their babies off to school, with me their teacher. Summertime is sizzling down and we’re gearing up for Maggie to head to school 3 days a week. I’m not yet going back to the classroom, next year probably, and I am feeling extra lucky to be able to wear the hat of ‘mom’ this year of Maggie starting school. Since I’ve taken aproximently a month of of updating the blog with anything other than Audrey portraits, I’m going to go with a Summer Snaps post, just like my friend over at Clove’s Corner has done.Here we go….
**Trips**
The image above and the two below are from one of my favorite nights from this Summer. We unintentionally went to The Seattle Center one night after dinner and decided to go to the top of the Space Needle. The girls were in their PJs and we’d left the diapers/wipes in the truck, parked blocks and blocks away. The moon was extraordinary, we were a bit chilled by the end, but it was really fun. It was a reminder to both Barry and I, both of us loving a plan, that sometimes not having a plan equates to MORE fun.
**Pug Life**
A few months ago, I was worried that Sydney wasn’t going to make it to the end of the Summer. She’d been acting weird for a couple days and then one day we couldn’t find her. After searching and searching, we found her huddled behind the wood pile shaking. Barry had to wedge himself through some tiny cracks to get to her and she wasn’t really responsive….wouldn’t look at us, even ignored chunks of cheese. We took her to the vet and $400 later were told that she had thrown her back out. Her treatment plan included lots of drugs and rest. I’m happy, happy, happy to report that our Chubby Pug, The Tubby Torpedo, Syd-a-Roo is back in the saddle. She’s a jumping, bone-chewing, hard-charging dog again. We couldn’t be happier. I was not ready to lose her.
photo bomb by a pug
**Family**
Cora and Chaya came over a few weeks ago and brought sushi and old home videos. After we pounded the sushi, we snuggled up on the couch and proceeded to watch some of the videos and make fun of ourselves. In the middle of making fun of myself, there were moments that floored me. On in particular was of a Mother’s Day – probably 1986, the year my brother was born – and my Grandma Lowman. It was the start of the video and it just panned around to see what everybody was doing: kids playing, grown ups talking, and then it panned to my grandma. And let me be clear, she was in the 1980s glory with huge glasses and equally huge hair, and maybe even stone washed jeans, but what made me get a tickle in the back of my throat was that she was wearing Izak in a Snugglie and carrying on like it was no big deal. I’ve always known my grandma to be remarkable and loving, but she seeing that snippet just got me. It’s been fun to have a few playdates with Mike and Nancy’s crew to see them be doting grandparents/great aunt/uncle.
**Friends**
My friend Erin came to visit and ended up sleeping over with her two kids. Aside from the fact that it was a bit of Musical Beds, Erin and I actually got to catch up on our lives because we stayed up talking well into the night. We covered the most important topics as well as the ones that nobody else cares about. I love that I’ve got a batch of friends that I’ve known for a long time (I met Erin when I was 6) and our kids know each other as well. And for the record, I think cell phones have made me a worse friend. Erin and I were great pen pals when she lived in Colorado and I think having a cell phone tricked me into thinking that I’d be better about being in touch. I can honestly say having a cell phone (or the internet?) has probably made me a worse friend in some cases, specifically with handwritten cards and letters. Boo.
**BAM**
Barry. I don’t write about him as much as I should. Here is Barry in a nutshell: A few years ago he did a half Ironman and did great. He was disappointed that his run wasn’t better. Most people would be brag-talking the fact that they even finished a half Ironman. Nope, not Barry. (I brag-talk for him sometimes….like right now). Anyhow, he was upset about his run and decided the natural thing to do is to practice running….all summer long. It should be noted that Barry really doesn’t enjoy running and so to be in the middle of marathon training and not complain about it, I find it pretty incredible. But that’s Barry. He’ll quietly practice and perfect anything that he thinks he is sub-standard at, mostly competitive with himself. I’m loving life with him….
What we really look like around here….
*Lion Girl, Princess Gemma, Fancy Nancy, etc*
Maggie’s favorite thing these days is to act like a different character. Most of the time I love it and go along with it, but sometimes it can be draining. The other afternoon we were driving in the car and she asked me if I wanted to play Fancy Nancy with her. (I never get to be Fancy Nancy, I always have to be Bree, Nancy’s best friend.).
Me: No, Mags. I don’t want play Fancy Nancy right now. I need to concentrate on driving. We can play when we get home or later.
Her: Okay.
{Silence}
30 seconds pass.
Her: {holding up her fake plastic cell phone} “Hi, Bree! Are you there? It’s Fancy Nancy! Just calling to say hello….”
