Letting Others Love Our Babies | Back to School

I came across the post below in my time hop from last year, as you can imagine as Jonah starts preschool and Ezra's first birthday approaches, a mama might get a little emotional. So, here we'll start a little back to school series over the next week or so. Most of this you can file under the personal journal portion of this blog.

We met Jonah's new teachers for Mother's Morning Out today. He clung to my leg the whole time! I'm excited about him going back but he says he's "scared". This summer has been so unstable for us his anxiety is expected but I'm ready for our routine back... Then we'll throw a baby brother wrench in the middle of it! #youwinsome #jonahwilder #motherhood #backtoschool

A photo posted by Stephanie Clark (@stephaniesclark) on Aug 19, 2014 at 10:44am PDT

Last year we started Mother's Morning again after having a summer of instability. My grandfather passed away and our NaNa's time was needed elsewhere many days. We had MeMe and MaeMae there to step in and that was great. Then there was the actual dealing with his death, the processing of it all, and then there was a baby due just right around the corner, which meant a very pregnant mama.

I have to say though, our experience last year with Mother's Morning Out was a great one. I didn't get to take or pick up Jonah much, but I did get to hear about his friends, his teachers, and even his teachers from his first year there. I never really thought about how much these ladies would invest in our child they only saw two days a week, but they have. At the end of the year, I found myself writing thank you notes to them saying Thank You for loving him so well. I even shed a few tears thinking about him moving on and not having them to love on him anymore. Without a blink, they added to the support system of our family as we welcomed a new member. They were excited about Ezra's birth WITH Jonah. They couldn't wait to see pictures and meet him. They excitedly greeted Jonah after hearing the news of his birth. And Jonah. He loves those ladies. These special friends have paved the way for him to fall in love with school, learning and bonding with friends.

Yesterday, after we took him to meet his new teacher, who he has been asking about for weeks, we stopped by his room from last year and there his cute teachers stood at the door waving at Jonah together with huge smiles on their faces. They were meeting the new babies that they will love on this year, but I know mine will not be forgotten. He shies away when we see them at church or in the hallway, but clings to them when mama's not there and that's okay. They loved him SO well last year and I am so thankful. I love that we have a place that feels like home, that's founded on a love for God, and that I feel confident and even happy about leaving little brother too. I know they will love him well just as they did Jonah.

As I have written before I always have a hard time leaving them, even just to go to work. I have been blessed with in home daycare and am so thankful to add to our village this year with PreK-3 and Jonah's new teacher in our corner!

For all the teachers out there that take our kids in a love them Thank You. Thank You. Thank You.