And she's off...

 Today was the big day! Josie's first day of school!  Since she's going to montessori school, she starts at age 3 and will go to this school until she's 9.  So, this is the proverbial "first day of kindergarten."  And here are the pictures to prove just how ready this little girl was to start her big journey.

Always one to accessorize, she picked out her whole outfit - right down to the necklace and (new favorite) hair clip (thanks Austins!).

She had so much extra time, that I had to take her out in the yard to play while Lou got ready for work. She insisted on keeping her backpack on & carrying around her lunchbox.

 Josie posing by what she named "The Peace Tree" (because it looks like two fingers making a peace sign).  I got a little choked up thinking about all the "milestone photos" that will inevitably be taken under this tree over the years to come...

 The backpack she chose (FYI Parents: these SkipHop Zoo Packs are perfect toddler size - big enough to haul some stuff but not back-busters. And they're less than $20! She's had a monkey one for awhile but they just came out with a ton of cute new ones last week. Check them out on Amazon. For reals.)

And these are some of my "accidental favorites." I was taking some pictures of the house (I know, I know I've been horrible about not doing that sooner) and noticed the big long shadows. I brought Josie over to show her and we stood there and danced & played with our shadows for quite awhile! (Mental note: the 7-8am sunlight in the front yard in amazing. Take more early morning pics asap!)

Overall, we had an awesome morning. She was dressed a good hour and a half before it was time to leave because she insisted on it, even ate breakfast in her backpack, barely even slowed down enough to kiss me before getting in the car with Lou to go to school, barely stopped to kiss him after he told her he was leaving and was all smiles as he left.  She was so happy this morning that I couldn't even be sad about the weight of the moment.

Later, about 10 something - it hit me. My baby - Sweet Baby Josie - was at school. And that's when a million worries started flooding in (Uh oh - I didn't tell her what to do if she has to pee?  Oh no, what if she has to poo - do they expect a freshly-three year old to be able to wipe herself? Will they make sure she washes her hands before lunch?  What if she feels scared/lonely/worried herself?) And that's when I realized just how lonely this big house is all by myself. And that my friends is when "it" hit me...

The highs and lows of the last three years. The true gift of being pregnant right now and knowing I get to do all of this again. The perfect feeling of peace over our whole journey of getting pregnant again because now I know it all did happen for a reason - I got three full years with Josie.  It's like today she took that first little leap from the nest to make some room for the new egg.  And three years goes by too fast. And we all just need to s-l-o-w-d-o-w-n...  And I'm just so grateful for our wonderful life!

I truly couldn't be happier.

And, according to the teacher at Josie's school who just sent us three photos of Josie absolutely beaming while playing Veterinarian and then eating her ham sandwich, she couldn't be happier either.