the Church Nursery

Today was Kendall's first time to go to the Nursery class at our church! This is a historic event for us (and I'm sure it will be no big deal after a few times of leaving her, but it was big for me, today). With Kendall being so premature, it had been strongly advised by her doctor & therapists to keep her with us & away from the Nursery ... until now ... truly, this was a bitter-sweet event.

Tuesday mornings we go to Ladies Bible Class at our church and up until now, I've kept her in the class with me. It's been quite difficult to do, as she LOVES to talk all the time (and loudly, I might add) & play ... and as precious as she (& her little voice are), it can be quite distracting to the other ladies, even though everyone has been sooo sweet & understanding about her being in there with us (she is not the only baby in there with us, but she is definitely the oldest and loudest one ... ha!)

So, today we arrived at the Nursery and were greeted by 3 sweet ladies ... I gave Kendall a kiss & said bye-bye ... she went right to one of them and just looked back at me (a little confused) from across the gated-doorway. I filled out the registration paperwork on her ... gave them her diaper bag ... answered all of their questions about eating, sleeping, playing & diapering ... took the pager they gave me (if your baby is crying inconsolably or something happens, they page you on their pager) ... and took a deep breath, said a prayer for the both of us as I walked out of the Nursery area and into our classroom. I didn't cry (I thought I shouldn't, since Kendall didn't ... ha!), although, I did get teary-eyed several times while in class, just thinking about her and what she was doing and if she was doing okay. (To my defense, this is only the 3rd time in her life that I've ever left her with someone (not counting Daddy-time) ... she's been babysat once by my parents (in October), once by Ashley's parents (in January), and then today ... at 11 months old.) After class, several of my friends coaxed me into eating a quick lunch (seriously, it was less than 20 minutes) with them downstairs ... on the way down to lunch, one of them went into the Nursery area to check on Kendall for me ... and of course, Kendall was doing just fine ... sitting on floor playing with a toy. After lunch, I was so happy to pick her up ... she was being held by one of the ladies, when I arrived ... I saw & heard her starting to cry a bit (she couldn't see me) ... the lady walked her to the front (still fussing), but as soon as Kendall saw me, she stopped and flashed me a huge smile (with her 2 cute bottom teeth!) and leaned out for me to take her ... ohhh, that girl just melts this mommy's heart over and over again! (Several ladies came to see us at the door, saying that she was such a sweet girl ... such a good baby ... was so content (until the very end there) ... couldn't believe this was her first time in the nursery. It was nice to hear positive comments back on her and that she did have a good time.)

So, we both had a good 1st Church Nursery class experience ... let's hope for a good 2nd one on Sunday ... Daddy will be with us to drop her off ... I only hope I can pry her out of his arms ... ha!