I realize our days of big girl time is very limited, with our newest addition on the way. I try to spend one on one time with my girls (and two on one time, obviously) pretty regularly, but dance season is when Ella and I get the most uninterrupted face time. She had her first competition of the season a few weeks ago and it my first foray into dance competition + pregnancy + ten hour day and it was hard. Luckily we had a week off in between, because we were back at it this past weekend.
The second competition was in Montgomery, which is right at 90 minutes from our home. Sophie had a birthday party and, although Josh came down to watch her dance, he had no intentions of riding with us and spending the day. Ella didn’t have to be dressed and ready until noon, but one of her friends was dancing at 8 a.m., so we got up before the sun did and headed down early. We ate Panera Bread for breakfast in the car (hip hip hooray for Panera’s with drive-thru window!) and did her hair and makeup in the floor of the hotel lobby. We walked to lunch and talked about dance and took a million photos.
I was positively exhausted when we got home at almost 8 p.m., but it was the perfect day to spend with my girl. She’s wrapping up her ninth season of dance (that’s crazy town?!) and it’s hard to believe that we’ve been watching her for so long. Next season will be an anniversary year and so many things will be different — a new addition to our family, a (hopefully) in progress renovation, a new work schedule for me and a potentially new dance schedule for her. I’m trying hard to enjoy all of these lasts before we embark on a whole new set of firsts.