The First Day of Her Last Year

It was almost four years ago that I welcomed my sweet Giulietta into this beautiful place we call home. At the time, I never knew how much one little person could change my world, my being, my everything. With each passing month, milestone, and year my girls growth has been a breathtaking experience to witness. There has been many moments when I felt my heartstrings pull a little extra tighter because the growing, the changing, and the new were so captivating. Some of these moments have been big milestones, where every Momma sheds a tear, while others have been what one might consider insignificant, but I on the other hand deem HUGE.

No matter the type of moment, I always get that tightening in the back of my throat as my tear ducts begin to swell and propel my emotions forward. Sometimes I try to hold them back in order to keep composure, to appear that I am that Momma who has it together when in fact we all know that I don't. I'm not sure why I do this; I have no shame! I am proud to be deemed the emotional roller-coaster type who is comfortable letting people know how I feel. And, I find it important that my girls see how much their achievements make not only my lips smile & my eyes puddle with tears, but my heart too.

Tuesday was a big day for me, for Giulietta, for all of us. Tuesday was not only a move up to a different classroom and different teacher, but it was also the First Day of her Last Year of Preschool. (Many of you may wonder what the heck I'm talking about since she is only three, but that is a story for a much later date.) I had been thinking about this day, this HUGE milestone for weeks ,and mentally preparing to make it special and perfect.

My girl needed a new outfit, a special breakfast, a new lunch tote, her hair all done up, and of course a mini photo shoot on our porch.




















The night before Giulietta's BIG debut in Room 4, I laid her outfit out, sewed her up a new Hello Kitty lunch tote, painstakingly rolled up some homemade mini cinnamon rolls for her to enjoy for breakfast the following morning, and thoughtfully put together a well balanced lunch for her first day. Then, I tried to sleep through the first day of school jitters I felt for my baby. The morning was perfect! Giulietta enjoyed breakfast, dressed excitedly in her new clothes, jumped for joy when I showed her the new lunch tote I had made the day before, sat patiently while I tried to make her hair look perfect, and practically ran out of the door when I gave the go ahead.

We took a few minutes to get those iconic shots of her on our porch, which now that I look at, our spacious porch somehow looks so small with my Big girl standing on it this year. I loaded everyone in the car, and we were off to Room 4, to the heartstring tug-a-war, to the growing and learning! And, all the while I kept thinking about how quickly all this had come...the first, the first of the last, and then later this year-the last!

With tears brimming my eyes and blurring my vision I watched my baby turned little girl skip up to the front gate of her school, excitedly find her name tag, pull the handle of her new classroom door and walk off to enjoy The First Day of Her Last Year of Preschool without ever looking back

Well...maybe only once when I called her name!