August 16 was the first day of school for all 4 of my kiddos. First day of 5th grade, first day of 2nd grade, first day of Kindergarten, and all in a brand new school to boot! (Ridiculously lengthy post to come about that.) And let's not forget Judah's very first day of preschool!
These are my 3 amazing, beautiful, growing-up-WAY-too-fast older children:
I was a proud mama as I walked these 3 cuties into their new school and classrooms. I was also nervous, apprehensive, and sad to lose Lydia. I'm just choosing to focus on the pride part, because that's a much better caption for this picture. So, I said farewell to these little monkeys, and went on my pretending-to-be-merry way to see about Judah's first day of school. And here he is, my darling little pre-schooler on the first day of school...that wasn't.
On the 14th, I took Judah to the ER in respiratory distress. He was already on meds for a sinus infection, but then got hit with a virus that I'm pretty sure he got from his generous-to-a-fault sister;) The combination of the 2 was enough of a trigger for his lungs to tighten up, and we couldn't get it under control at home. He was in the ER for several hours before being admitted to the PICU, due to the fact that the ER doc. couldn't get it under control either. He ended up being on continuous albuterol for about 24 hrs. before finally being slooowly weaned from that to a lower dose and then moved upstairs to 6 on Thursday. It was a scary 24 hrs. for us. And it was horrible to watch the effects of the albuterol on my darling, sweet, laid back boy. The medicine that could open up his lungs and allow him to breathe is also the medicine that made him uncontrollably jittery and combative. A very hard thing for this mama to watch. During this stay we also hit the 2 floors that had previously eluded us: the PICU & 6. While I'm not exactly thrilled about meeting such a "goal", it did give me the opportunity to spread my sphere of influence and make connections with new docs and nurses. And even though we were in uncharted territory, God still had people we know on those floors, whether it was a passing Care Partner or a nurse we know from 5th. We even had the Attending we had on 4th all last summer! God really takes care of me when I'm nervous about being in "the new". Friday we came home, and then spent the weekend not doing much of anything. We finally had some good quality family time on Sunday. Monday I took Judah back to the pulmonolgist for follow-up and a new pro-active/profilactic plan of action. FINALLY yesterday, my BIG BOY got to go to his FIRST DAY OF PRE-SCHOOL!
We waited for the van outside, and his face lit up when he saw it. He walked (with his walker) himself right up to the van door and waited for his driver to open it up for him. He was so happy to see her. And he was off!
It was strange for me to be home alone. To pass the time I swept, mopped, walked the dog (another post to come), wiped down all our dining room chairs, pottied the dog, dusted, washed the sliding glass and front door, and then checked my watch to see how close I was to having Judah home. I wasn't. It was 9:50. I still had 2 hours! So...I thawed chicken for supper, put laundry away, and plopped down in front of the T.V. to watch "Say Yes to the Dress" on Netflix. (For the first time that I can remember, I was actually instructed by my husband AND my mom to "waste some time". Weird.) At 11:40 I went outside to wait for my boy.
I could see him pointing and smiling at me through the van window:) He was in the BEST mood! I also got a note from his teacher (a gift and a treasure to me) about all the things he did at school. Something I asked her to do for me, if she had time, since Judah can't tell me. He was so expressive and animated as I asked him specific things about his day; and when I started singing "Twinkle, Twinkle", a song they sang this morning, he started dancing and doing the hand motions with me! I didn't even know he knew them! At the end he bounced up and down and clapped! It was such an amazing moment for me, and I'm so thankful I had that with him.
School is going to be so good for him. I can't believe how far God has brought me in this; how He has gently addressed and dealt with each one of my fears and anxieties. I am now so happy for Judah and so excited to see how he is going to grow and be challenged this year. If we can keep him healthy, then we'll probably move to 3 mornings a week rather than 2 before the semester is over. He loves it too much, and I really can't find any good reason to keep him home with me. I certainly can't provide everything he gets at school. It's hard to let go, but the smiles on his face and the MANY conversations I've had with school staff and nurses make it easier. They really do take good care of him.
*sigh* My little lion is growing up.
