first and last

 it's the last day of 1st grade for isaiah.  when he comes home to me he'll officially be a 2nd grader. 

first day of school

today, on his last day

i'm so grateful for a fabulous year.  we had so much fun in 1st grade.  we were in a great groove and it was just plain fun!  when our school opens next year we'll have two official students...they are already talking about how to organize their desks. 

new camera

for my birthday my brother-in-law and sister-in-law gave me a nikon D40.  our nikon SLR broke last summer and we were told it would be more expensive to repair it than to just buy a new one.  well, that was not in the budget right now, so we have been making due with our iPhones. 

so you can imagine my utter shock when i opened this on my birthday.  we have been absolutely loving taking photos...real photos.  i thought i would share some of my favorites.

concentration in the backyard

swinging at the park

resurrection sunday

blowing bubbles

minutes after losing her first tooth

so handsome

practice swing for teeing off

(he's on the golf team at school again this year)

never again

there are few things in life that i hate.  but i'll readily, without hesitation, tell you that i absolutely HATE potty training.  in all of parenthood it is the thing i fear and dread more than anything else.  i'm not being dramatic.  i'm being serious.  that's how i feel about it!

i think when i was trying to potty train alaythia i commented on here that i didn't care if she walked down the aisle in diapers.  and i was serious then too.  so i have not pushed it with sophia.  grandma always makes comments to sophia on facetime about being a big girl and being ready to go on the potty.  and she probably was.  but it was mommy who wasn't ready.  i wanted sophia to wake up one day and tell me she was ready to not have diapers anymore.  when that day came, THEN and only then would i begin the process.

so why in the world did i decide on sunday afternoon that sophia was going to start potty training the next morning?

maybe it's because i felt i needed to do something really hard, since matt too was doing something really hard that day.  he had a chapter of his dissertation due that day, and i can do nothing to help him, i'm helpless.  he has a huge mountain to climb, something he often times feels he can't do.  so what in my life is like that?  potty training.  maybe deep down i felt the need to conquer a mountain too.

that said, i really can't take credit for it.  it's thursday morning, just the beginning of day 4 and i'm typing the words - sophia is potty trained.  that proves that indeed she was ready and we all know, there really is nothing we can do in the process.  they have to decide they're going to do it.  but with no accidents, and waking up with a dry diaper this morning, i'm feel confident to say it.

and as the reality continues to set in, i realize that i NEVER AGAIN will have to potty train a child.  the mountain is forever conquered.  and more astonishing yet, seven and half years straight of changing diapers is coming to an end.

measurable

in my line of work there are not many days that are measurable.  sure i make progress everyday...the dishes get done, the laundry is washed and folded.  (if it gets put away that's a fantastic day!)  but when i wake up the next day there are more dishes to be done and the laundry has multiplied once again.  i've said it here before, life is routine and cyclical.  when you're in the trenches, it's hard to see the progress that's being made.

but yesterday was a measurable day.  and i know they are few and far between.  so even though my back hurt, i was completely exhausted and it took an hour longer to put the kids to bed than normal, i was happy last night.  not a jump up and down kind of happy, but a deep inner joy.  a satisfaction and gratitude.  gratitude for the measure, for the marker, given by God to help me remember.  a boost to keep going.