May Update: Reality on the Rocks

May has been a busy month and it has also been one big, emotional roller coaster ride.  Travis was gone on business travel, we had visits from both sets of grandparents, we lost our dog, our baby turned 2, and Josie graduated preschool.  Combined it was a blur of happy, sad, stressful, proud, grateful, overwhelmed, and exhausted.  It's a confusing mix of "ready to move forward with the leisurely days of summer" and "wishing time would stand still so you could bask in every precious minute of the present."  Alas, time marches on and we do our best to enjoy each moment and preserve them with fun photos like this one of YaYa and Papa's recent visit...

 As always, we had a wonderful time with YaYa and Papa.  We enjoyed the beautiful weather that Spring has finally bestowed upon us.  And we celebrated the birthday of this little sweetheart...

 Is it me or was it just yesterday that Lydia arrived?!  From day one, she has had the most delightful disposition.  She's so pleasant and agreeable.  Her favorite response to questions is an enthusiastic, "Sure!"  She fits right into our family beautifully.  She serves as a trusty sidekick, eager to do everything that her big sisters do.  Josie and Merryn love to read, and Lydia (aka "Biddy") loves to be read to.  Josie and Merryn use the potty, and Biddy is eagerly potty training herself so she can keep up.

I'm not going to call out the particular family member whose emotions rolled down her cheeks as she kissed her baby goodnight on her last evening as a one year-old, but her name is spelled the same forwards and backwards and it's not Dad.  *Ahem*

She's my baby and I'll cry if I want to!

 Speaking of babies and emotions, does anyone remember THIS POST about Josie's first day of preschool?  Time is really playing tricks on me because that post is dated 2014 in the archives and I know it's 2016 now, but holy mother of all that is holy there is just no way that 2 school years have passed and we're here at preschool graduation already!

Look, Mom - Josie is channeling Rodan!  See?!  I did pay attention in art history class in college!

This afternoon, with the soundtrack of two wailing children in the room with me, I attempted to write out a card to the staff of Josie's preschool letting them know just what this experience has meant to us.  Between the gravity of the emotion I felt, and the frayed nerves that my children were causing, and the pressure of the clock ticking as the-last-day-of-preschool drop off time approached, I'm sure it was an unedited, incoherent mess.  I parked the kids in front of the iPad and I attempted to recount Josie's preschool journey...

When I dropped Josie off on her first day, I sat in the car, parked in the school parking lot, and I wept.  I texted my friend and told her that I planned to wait there for the next 2.5 hours because if I didn't drive away, it would be like I didn't actually leave Josie.  She convinced me to drive away.  

And here we are, two years later, and I had to request her teacher draft a social story for Josie, explaining that preschool was ending, because she is going to need all of the help she can get to accept this blow.  She literally has a meltdown in the car if I drive by her school and don't pull over and drop her off.  She loves preschool that much!  She loves every single staff member from her teacher, to her aide, "Sweets," to Mr. Don, the school custodian.  She loves her friends and they love her.  She loves the curriculum and she is thriving academically.  It's absolutely incredible.

Beyond that, I explained that as a parent of a child with special needs, the IEP process is riddled with anxiety.  But the wonderful team of educators at Josie's school have eased my fears about Josie's future.  I confidently place my trust in them because they have demonstrated that they will work tirelessly to provide Josie with a customized educational experience that is designed to help her achieve her maximum potential on every level.  What a gift!

With that, I sealed the card and I tucked it into the little pink folder in Josie's backpack, and I loaded the girls in the car and drove Josie to preschool for the last time.  Here we go again with the waterworks...

And, in what seems like a miraculous feat of motherhood, given the fact that this month has left my brain an exhausted and emotional glop of goo, I actually remembered to take a "Last Day of Preschool" photo.  Check it out!

I mean, it's a miracle that I even know where my camera is anymore these days!  And in a rare moment of perfect cooperation, my happy preschoolers were posed and smiling and all was right with the world...until I heard Mother Hen yell "Biddy - NO!!!!" 

The toddler tornado's plans to scale the exterior of the staircase were thwarted by a vigilant big sister who will tolerate none of those unsafe antics.  And once again, my ambitions of photo shoot perfection are replaced by a high ball glass full of reality on the rocks, tossed right in my face.

#WelcomeToMyWorld

#IShouldReallyPutThemInPageants

#PrayForMe

#SendWine

Cheers to summer vacation!