1st Day of School!

I stumbled into the bathroom to start my morning extra early today. I'm not actually sure that the day before ever really ended since I was up ever 2 hours feeding Layla during the night. Exhausted and wanting to sleep in would have to wait until another day, because today was a very special day and I needed to get going.
I packed Alyssa's new big girl backpack, showered and dressed, and fed the baby AGAIN. Alyssa comes into my bathroom with her clothes that we laid out the night before for her to wear. She tells me she is ready to get dressed. I can tell she is excited about going to school because she normally doesn't get up and get dressed this easily. After Alyssa is dressed and cleaned up for her big day, we go to the kitchen to get a quick breakfast. This is a big problem, because Alyssa is not a fan of eating first thing early in the morning. So all I could get her to eat was a granola bar and a glass of milk.
I drove Alyssa to school and walked her in today. She is insisting that she can ride the school bus to and from school, but for her first couple of days, I feel better if I walk her into her class myself.
When it was time to leave the house, we said goodbye to grandma and Bella for the day, and Bella runs into her room and gets her teddy bear backpack and sandals on. She cried to come with me to drop Alyssa off. She was just so sad about her leaving, I had to take her with us.
It turned out to be a really good thing that she went with us. I think it was good for Bella to see where her sister was going to everyday. She was excited to take her to class and she waved goodbye and blew her kisses as we left her. Once Alyssa was all settled into her classroom, she walked right up to a table and sat down and started playing and visiting with other classmates. She was happy, content, and confidant in herself as she sat there. I gave her a kiss and hug and told her to be good and have a fun day. She was like, "Okay mom. Love you." and went on with her business like it was no big deal I was leaving her with complete strangers to her. I picked up Bella and we walked out the door. I turned and watched Alyssa play for a minute and a million memories and feelings flooded over me. In Alyssa's first 10 months of her life, she was very difficult and unhappy because she was so sick all the time. I was so exhausted then, and people always told me how that time wouldn't last very long, and how I should cherish them even though it was hard because before I knew it she would be all grown up. As I looked at her in her classroom this morning, I knew exactly what all those people were talking about. I can't believe that my first born daughter is going to school all day already. I worry that Bella will miss her playmate during the day now that Alyssa is gone to school, but once mommy is up and running a full tank of gas again, we will just do more play dates with her friends to get her social time in.


Alyssa, Isabella, and her wonderful teacher Mrs Goodroe. I was praying SO hard that Alyssa would get the perfect teacher for her. Someone who was younger, had a lot of energy, patience and love to give her children in class. When we attended meet the teacher the other day, I was so relieved and grateful to see that Mrs Goodroe is Alyssa's teacher. She seems to be everything Alyssa needs! Alyssa ran up to Mrs Goodroe this morning and gave her a big hug and said hello to her. Mrs Goodroe hugged her right back and said how excited she was to see her. And you know what- I believed her! It did my heart good to see that she loves her kids. Just by looking at how much work and creativity she puts into her room set up shows that she loves being a teacher.

Alyssa in front of her school on her first day of Kindergarten.

Alyssa and Isabella before first day of school. Notice Bella wearing her backpack to be like her big sister. I thought that was so cute!

What you do with a newborn...

A lot of my friends have called or texted me asking me how things have been going and what we've been up to since Layla has been born and my family has been here. I haven't really left the house much in almost 2 weeks, and this is kind of a hard thing for me since I enjoy being on the go, go, go! But I really think it is best for a newborn to be at home for the first few weeks and not exposed to all the germs and people out there that must touch your new baby without washing their hands. Yuck!
So here are some random pictures that we have taken while I've been recovering, tending to a newborn baby, and hanging out with my amazing family! I've noticed that I don't really have any of my husband, because he had to go back to work the day after I got home from the hospital. I will have to work a little harder at documenting him in these first days with Layla.

Me and Layla having our all night/no sleeping slumber party! Note the dark circles under the eyes! The badge of a new mommy!

My wonderful mommy reading with Layla. She has washed clothes, cleaned house, played with my kids, cooked us meals, watched movies with me, gave Layla her first bath when she was screaming and crying so loud it freaked me out, and has been my all around support for the past 2 weeks! What I will do without her I have NO idea yet!

Layla does sleep....just during the day time.

My older sister, Tamara, loving on Layla before she had to leave. She has 4 growing boys and she always spoils my girls rotten with girly stuff when she comes to visit because she never got to do that with her boys. We all loved having her here for a week. I missed her the first day she was gone.

Alyssa has been such a little helper with Layla. This is her own baby Layla that she feeds when I am feeding Layla. It is pretty funny.

A good friend, Krinny, brought me sparkling cranberry/apple juice and flowers to the hospital. After all the hard work I've been doing, I decided I deserved to celebrate a little! Check out Bella's face in this picture. It cracks me up!

My family had cute decorations, flowers, and birthday cake for the day we brought Layla home. It was really cute and fun.

I'm in the thick of things...

It has been 1 week since Layla was born. I am sleep deprived, I have dark circles under my eyes from being up all hours of the night, my body look and feels like a train wreck, my breasts feel like knives are stabbing me a thousand times every time I feed her, my older girls are hungry for attention from their once fun and energetic mommy, my husband is tired of his wife being worn out and grouchy by the time he get home, and my mom is leaving us this Saturday and I will be left on my own to handle the 24-7 grind with my 3 children. Oh, and did I mention that somewhere in all this, I need to get back to working my normal hours from home so that I don't fall too far behind on my work.

As other mothers of newborns know, the first few months are the hardest. Trying to figure out this tiny little child, what they want and need, and what each of their cries mean. Trying to keep up with all the normal day to day needs of life, while adding a needy newborn into the mix. Feeling not at your 100% physically or emotionally. This can be very overwhelming and draining on a woman.

It is still amazing to me that even in the thick of all these things, there is still nothing better than holding my newborn daughter in my arms. When it is just her and I rocking at 3am alone in our quiet house while everyone else is sleeping, and I wish so badly I was sleeping too, I still can't help but feel an overwhelming amount of love and gratitude. The love between a mother and her child is an amazing thing isn't it.