We had a monumental day yesterday. And I didn't take one single picture. But you sorta can't blame me. It was also an emotional day. And I was trying my best to keep my composure and not succumb to the very real possibility that, at any moment, I might. just. lose. it. Taking pictures very well may have put me over the edge.

Yesterday my baby boy child moved from a crib--the crib we have had for 5 years, the crib both of our baby children have slumbered in and screamed in and eventually climbed out of...yes, that crib--into a big boy bed. A bed big enough for me to sleep in, a bed that above said boy-child can climb out of without risking the safety of his little noggin, a twin bed. And, as a grand finale, we sold the crib, and are closing the "baby chapter" of our lives. I'm not sad that my kids are growing, that their legs are so long they reach, and often spill over, the foot rest on the stroller. No, I am not sad about their perfect preschool bodies, and their ability to drink out of something other than me. I find joy in watching these two offspring of mine discover and revel in life. It's like watching a butterfly emerge. But...it's going way way way too fast. Way. too. fast. And that is why I was on the verge of tears most of the day yesterday. Life spins around me...my children outgrow shoes and clothes and cribs. And I remember what my momma told me when Grace was born..."The minute you bring them into your life, you begin to prepare them to leave you"...it is a sobering thought and so very true. And yesterday, as I set up Sam's new bed and smoothed out the sheets, I thought that someday...someday much too soon...he will be grown-up and big and hairy and sleeping in a dorm room or a house of his own.
Then...to ice the cake of "my kids are growing up too quickly"...at 6pm yesterday we walked over to the elementary school behind our house. We walked over there, not to play on the playground equipment, but to take Grace to Kindergarten Round-up. Because she's 5. And she will start kindergarten in the fall. Where has the time gone? As we walked I watched my sweet 5 year old diva-girl, and thought of the day she was born...thought of her first steps...her first words (which actually came before her first steps, I know this is not surprising to those of you who know her)...her first day at preschool. It is unimaginable to me that she will be in kindergarten. That she will be away from me for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. She has always been with me...next to me...talking my ear off. I told her, as we walked to the school, that if she got sad and missed me while she was at school all she had to do was look out the window or across the playground and she could see our house (we live really close to the school). She nodded...thought a bit...smiled...then said to me "Well, Momma...if you get sad, you can look out the window and see me." Yes baby girl...I can...and I will.
As far as pictures go, pictures documenting April 27th, 2010 in our household...well those were taken only in my heart. If I can stomach it later today (April 28th) I may snap a few actual pics of little brother man in his big boy bed. But don't hold your breath. I may just sit around and marvel in the moment. And hug my babies while they're still small enough to hug.