Another milestone. The baby has gone to kindergarten. She is now a woman and will soon be splitting the grocery bill. She is also going to start cutting the grass. Good for you Jay!

Today was the day that I dreaded for the last five years. I knew it was coming....I know it would soon be here. But this morning when I woke up, I silently said to myself, "okay Mom, are you ready for this?" And just as I said that I answered myself with an emphatic NO! I wanted to roll back over and cover my head with a pillow and never, ever come out. It's a good thing I had to pee so bad or our day might not have gotten underway.

Like always, Liv was up at the crack of dawn. I mean at around 6am. She should get a job delivering milk. Wait, they don't do that anymore, do they? Okay, she should get a job herding cattle or better yet...she should get a job learning to make the doughnuts. Yeah, that would be great! Okay, so she's already up when I get up to go to the bathroom. And as usual, she chooses that moment to come in and start talking to me. Me, sitting on the toilet - how am I supposed to be cheery at that moment? I'm hoping she'll soon figure out that early visits to Mommy's bathroom = grumpy mommy for the rest of the morning.

Back to the story. Liv is up, dressed, and eating breakfast when I go to wake up the twins. (You know they aren't really twins, right?). Alex is complaining that he didn't get enough sleep so I immediately distract him by talking about his breakfast bagel. It worked. He remembered there was pizza so he jumped right out of bed and started getting dressed. Mary is usually easy to wake up, especially when she has somehow sneaked into my bed in the middle of the night. I love her awake and she rushes to get dressed - it is, after all, a most special day!

The twins start eating, though Mary is really flighty - playing w/ Otis a lot. But that is really par for the course. I pack their backpacks, fix hair, wash faces, make sure teeth get brushed - all those wonderful domestic super mommy duties I have grown to love. All of a sudden it is time to GO (especially after Jay fixes the kitchen clocks to reflect the correct time). Off we go! Mary is having no problem at all. Neither is Alex. Me? Not so much. I was actually doing fine until the bus driver, Mrs. Allen, tells me that she can't believe that my baby is going to school. Thanks lady. Okay, I'll admit it. There were tears. What are you made of stone? Of course I cried! My baby was gone. She was finally on that yellow bus! There is no going back now! No more preschool, days off, or even half days. Ahhhhhhh! Here come the tears. Again.

Okay. Round 1 done.

Liv's bus came about 45 minutes later. We sat outside with the cat waiting patiently. She was so excited. So the bus came, I waved to the bus driver, then I waved to my first baby sitting on that big, scary bus. And then it hit me. Forget about my little baby going to kindergarten - holy crap my oldest has just gone to middle school! There are bad people there. There are mean kids, there are ugly trailers, there is a whole world there that she will have to learn to live in and I won't be there! So I had myself a good cry. And then I forced myself to remember that we have raised her as well as we can. She is a godly child, she knows right from wrong, she has a good foundation - better than most. She will be fine. Won't she?

Okay. Round 2 done.

Round 3? That's a different story. Tomorrow is my first day of work. I think I'm going to start crying again.