3 year old antics

• starts a lot of stories, "when i was a little girl..."
• riding in my dad's van taking the recycling to the bins a few miles away, the car is full of fruit flies.... (yes, disgusting.)  we were talking to lela about that and she says, "yeah, watch out for those vegetable flies... oh, and how about that broccoli fly!"
• tigers lose ALCS playoffs vs. the red sox and lela says with all seriousness, "well, why don't the lions just play the red sox?"
• talks about foxes being in her room often... and needing to shoo them out
• we've started the "nap fairy" that delivers a treat if lela goes to nap/bed without getting up or crying - working so far!
• at gymnastics, i was watching lela with her class from the bleachers and i see her start digging inside her nose with her finger...sitting far away, i can do/say nothing... she keeps digging and making it very, very obvious (did i mention she is sitting in a tight circle with her classmates and teacher?)... she pulls a huge booger out, stares at it admiringly, holds it up to the light, and then wipes it on the uneven bars post.  omg.  all while i could do nothing about it.... i wanted to crawl in a hole.

funny, funny kid

lela and i had a date at the pool today... on our way out the door we snagged a bag of m&ms to eat in the car.  as she was eating one she said, "i suck on them.  that makes them healthy."  :)

she got a new pair of goggles right before we got to the pool which prompted her to LOVE going underwater.  she comes up from under the water for the umpteenth time and says, "i need some nose goggles.... to keep the water out of my nose."

new lela happenings

lela: - smacks her lips when talking and loves hearing herself do that (definitely a teacher's kid/grandkid!) - when she is announcing something she thinks is exciting she uses her best oprah voice, such as "mama, guess what? we're going to the plAAAAAAAAAAAAygrouuuuuuuuund!" with look of shock and all - takes serious all her big sister duties - gets anything we need for estelle when we ask, pushes us out of the way if she thinks something should be done differently for estelle (i.e. we try to give estelle a pacifier, lela whips it out, and sings her a song instead or tucks a musical toy next to her... often with a "no mama") - has a new best bud at gracepointe preschool, her name is arielle, and they are attached at the hip

welcoming estelle mary reilly!

first, funny lela~isms from late...

• really, really pregnant and uncomfortable and i told lela i wasn't feeling too well, she says, "mama, you aren't feeling well?  can i get you some cold water?"
• still really pregnant and i must have looked like i needed some encouragement, lela says, out of nowhere, "mama, you are such a big girl.  i am so proud of you."
• imaginary friends started when she was just about two... mrs. elephant, mr. nobody, and lately, olivia and some other man, mr. ninnie???  we push them on the swings, they accompany us on car rides, they eat with us... not every day/night, but often.
• likes to care for her babies (bear, elephant, and gingerbread man)... prepping for being a big sis by changing their diapers, reading to them, feeding them, getting them ready for nap, etc.

and our newest addition!!!  estelle mary reilly!!!  two days after our due date, we welcomed our little girl.  she arrived in a hurry and a wild delivery it was.  

8 lbs. 3 oz.

21 inches long

12:31am CEST

june 29th, 2013

wittlich, germany

lela came up to visit for the first time and saw me breastfeeding... she says, "mama is she eating your body?"  i told her that she was getting milk from my breast.  she says, "is she chewing on your breast??"  :)

estelle could hold her head up for short bursts in the hospital and now at 2.5 weeks can hold it up pretty consistently.  she smiled for her newborn hospital pics.  she can roll from side to side in the crib and when lela goes to bed at night she has some awake time where she practices her little coos with us.  :)  she's a calm, easy to please baby at this point and we are only needing to get up once per night to feed her!  so unlike lela!!!  lela is an amazing big sister, always wanting to help with everything and loves on estelle constantly.  she is starting to pull some stunts while i am nursing estelle. the other day, she came up to me while i was feeding estelle, and said, "mama, look what i'm eating".  she was sucking on a battery!   she knows it isn't easy for me to get up, let alone move with a child attached, so she is using that to her advantage.... jumping on couches, getting snacks, sucking on batteries...

today she grabbed brant's nipples and said, "daddy, can you feed the baby with those?"  ahhh... parenthood joys.

going to the city

after laying all her dolls (babies) out on the playmat... "my babies are sleeping, i'm going to the city." she hops on her dinosaur rider and slings her black purse over her shoulder (inside the purse are some markers, 3d glasses, a toy car, some cutlery, and a hamburger) me: "what are you going to do there?" lela: "i'm going shopping and i'm going to give the man singing some money." :)

eastern euro road trip

we just got back from a six country eastern european road trip to include - nuremburg, prague, krakow (and auschwitz), budapest, bratislava, vienna, and munich. lots of funny things happened, of course... lela (ok, all of us) peeing in the field at a slovakian flea market, two out of three of us not even bringing our passports!, a hilarious video while border crossing where lela says something completely off the wall, and lela (the social worker/doctor/nurse) analyzing my sickness (i got a cold for 2 days of the trip) and asking me daily if i am better. i told her my nose has been running... she innocently asked me, "you can go catch it?" later in the day she told me hers was running (it wasn't) and, "it keeps going faster and faster."

she strikes again

she just cracks us up.... ALL the time.

today i was feeding the sock monkey with the lego baby bottle (yes, this is how i spend my days now) because he was sad... and lela was watching me.  she looked a little disgusted and shook her head, came over to me, and said, "uh, hold his tail in so he doesn't pee on the mat.  let me do it."

lela funnies

riding home in the car from preschool today...

me: "so, what did you have for snack today?"
lela:  "nothing."
me:  "i bet you ate SOMETHING on the blue plates, like you usually do."
lela: "no, no snack today.  i stuck my head out the window and ate grass."
me:  "OOOOOH, just like morris."
lela:  "yeah, for when i grow up to be a moose."

i guess the "morris goes to school" book has given her some pointers...

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from december:

took lela to see the base christmas tree lighting... 

me: "lela look at those gorgeous star lights" (on the poles lining the streets of base)
l: "YEAHHH! they are hot."
me: "yes, just like lightbulbs... they are hot"
l: "yeah, just like meatballs too."  :)

lela saw the band director with antlers on and a rudolph nose and asked... "mama, what's that?"  i said, "that's a woman wearing antlers like a reindeer".  she said, "yeah, just like imogene."  :)

when we left base she got sad and kept asking where santa went... i told her he was going home, back to the north pole to make toys.  she said, "yeah, he's going to the pool."  :)

again on the way home, she was nonstop about where santa went and i reiterated that he was flying home in his sleigh to the north pole, she said, "yeah, just like daddy."  :)

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other than that, 27 weeks pregnant with a boy or girl, docs still can't see!  the baby's legs are always tightly shut.  the last two times, they have guessed "girl" though.... so we're banking on that!  next appointment is april 8th, the day after our 10 day eastern euro road trip which starts this friday.  

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me:  "lela, put your ear on my belly and tell me what you hear."
lela:  "ok...... (long pause)....... i hear a duck.  a duck is quacking."
me:  "in my belly?"
lela:  "yup, it's a duck."