Firsts… this was a year of firsts.
In September I sent my oldest daughter, Caroline, off to high school. Lots of firsts 
there… First time walking to school, first boyfriend, first team tryouts, first dance… lots of first. High school can be a scary place. There are about a million high school movies that can back me up on this. Although, in reality I know of no high school as cruel as the one in Mean Girls or as saccharine sweet as East High in High School Musical. That being stated I think we can all agree high school can be both wonderful and tumultuous. I am excited and nervous for her… it’s definitely a time of contradictions and mixed-up emotions. I often look at her and realize we have fewer years ahead of us with her at home than we have behind us. It’s only a short six years before she will be off to college. What a scary thought!
Meanwhile as my oldest is embarking on her high school journey, my youngest, Amelia my baby, is just beginning her school career. More firsts, first day of kindergarten, first report card, first friends, first homework, first playdates, first wiggly tooth… lots of firsts. I adore the innocence of kindergarten. Elementary school is such a fun & exciting place, and sadly the reality is it will be over in a blink of an eye. She too will be heading off to the high school before I know it. However, I feel slightly more prepared this time around. They say third times a charm.
And in the middle is my middle Grace. Not the baby and not the oldest but squarely in 
the middle. The middle in birth order and in the middle school which puts me with a child in each of the three schools in my district. About to turn ten she too is going to experience her own firsts as she begins her tween years. Tween years, those pre-teen years that are filled with many firsts as well as they try to make their first attempts at independence. Tween years where you want to be both big and little at the same time. You want to be cool but you still want to play with your dolls.
Each child is at such a different place in their young lives and my husband and I are stretched to our limits caring for each of them and their specific needs & wants. As I am pulled from school to school I realize how fortunate I am to have three fabulous girls to keep me on the run.
As if my growing family wasn’t enough to make me feel well-worn I also turned forty this year. Adding insult to injury forty definitely had an effect on me. I am older and my skin is starting to show signs of wrinkles but I much wiser and it’s official I now know everything, prior to forty I was just pretending to know it all.
Ha Ha I wish! Actually I still don’t know anything, if it is possible I think I might even know less. Every day is a different adventure filled with stories happy, sad, funny, endearing but all equally precious.
Forty and firsts that is why I began my blog. My life, my girls they are my muse for my posts. Last January when I began my blog I had no idea how much I would love it! I truly love sharing our stories and how we cope with the roller coaster of life. My blog is my way of cherishing every moment.
The family is extremely supportive of the blog and for the most part enjoys all the shares. Everyone now knows what you say to me today could be tomorrow’s post! However, my older two not always loving all the sharing. They have applied for veto rights on any stories that maybe sensitive. Stories like buying their first bra with their father or sex ed classes at school. Okay so you live and learn.
Forty and firsts I have enough inspiration to keep me blogging until… forever.
Mommy Day by Day 