August 25, 2011: Ali's First Day of School...

Heaveno!

Wow.

A rite of passage.  (Two in one week!)



As we walked to our neighborhood school this morning, kids and parents were filling the sidewalks like a pilgrimage or entrance to a sporting event or rock concert.  I could here the national geographic narrator in the background...

"At the same time every year, the humans can be found migrating to one of these local "schools" as they are called."



I felt like part of that species today.  I really felt like we were a part of something much bigger than ourselves.  While we have lived in our neighborhood for 6 years now, there is a part of us that doesn't fell totally connected to it.  We bought the condo we live in without any honest plans of still being in it 6 years later, but we bought in the summer of 2005, and like so many others, our home value has dropped roughly THIRTY FIVE percent.  So, here we still are, and as a result, we get to enjoy this moment in this community in this neighborhood with this school.  We may live in cookie cutter condo and housing track central, but it's hilly with trees, parks, and schools in almost every direction.  Life could be a lot worse.  There are 4 kids in our condo complex starting kindergarten today, and they are all in the same classroom!  Ali is one of them, and what is so funny is that we've only ever seen one of the other three kids, and they've lived here their whole lives as well!  That's condo living for ya.



Ali had breakfast, got dressed, and kissed mommy and Julian before heading off to school.  Ali was happy; her mommy and Julian were there to see her off.  Mommy was happy to be there as well. While she was bummed she couldn't walk with her to school, she thought of what a drag it would have been if she was still stuck in the hospital this morning knowing Ali was getting ready to go off to school without even seeing her.



If Julian had come on time (noon c-section on Monday) that would have most likely been the case.  The fact that he (and Bella I am convinced) kick-started her labor at 1:30 on Monday morning, causing us to deliver J-Man 8 hours earlier than planned, is what gave us the 8 hours to get out of the hospital last night instead of today.



As we walked to school, the feelings of excitement overcame both Ali and me.  Ali has been looking forward to going to this school since we played on the adjacent playground 3 years ago when she first asked, "Is that my school?"  I never really knew if she would go there for the above mentioned reasons, so now that we are still here, I got my answer today!



Ali met another shining socialite like herself while waiting in line.  Little Janice was just as outgoing and expressive as Ali, maybe even more so if that is even possible.  The two of them took to chatting like bees to honey.  Interestingly, it was the boys by and large that were having the highest amount of visible separation anxiety.  Still, we met a couple of nice boys in her class and some nice parents as well.



When I picked Ali up, her first comment about her new school was, "My teacher talked ALL DAY, and we didn't even get to play!"  Apparently, I hadn't properly set the right expectations as to how the day was going to go!  I tried to work on that during the walk home, but it was a little late.  Oh well, she'll get used to it!



The rest of the day was spent running errands, catching up on the mountain called my inbox, sleeping, and watching Arsenal come from behind in their exciting match yesterday (I LOVE my DVR).  Oh, yeah, there was this really beautiful woman upstairs taking care of this really cute little peanut, too! LOL.



Tomorrow, my mom arrives for a week to help out.  We can't wait to have her.  Ang's mom is going to come hang out while I go pick up my mom at the airport, so they will both get to hang with Julian together.  I am excited about this because I have pictures of both moms with Ali and  Bella and I remember those moments fondly, and look forward to creating more of them with Julian tomorrow.



Life can be really sweet sometimes, ya know?

God night.

As close as Ali could get for the first 12 days of Bella's life, with the rare exception where mommy could hold Bella for a few minutes.