What the girls are saying these days... C15L3 (I'm switching Lorelei's age from months to years now because it is too hard to keep track)

"I'm making a trap!" exclaims Lorelei when I ask her what she is building. "Who are you going to trap?" I ask her, hoping for an answer that is not going to get me called into the Director's office at preschool when she tells them what she did at home yesterday.  "I'm trapping the horses so the wolves and tigers won't eat them." Well, as longs as she is trying to keep the horses alive, I'm in the clear!  I know from my teacher days that when kids are in kindergarten, they tell the best stories and play with such imagination.  What they didn't tell me was kids start this at three years old- well at least my daughter does.  I'm going to try and record all these little sayings because they are so unique to this stage of her life and I can never recall them later. It must be "mom brain"- I wonder how long I can use that excuse?  And of course, I will add Camilla sayings as well as they occur.  Her most recent rambling today was, "Eeeebbbbbeee baby".  Then as we were getting ready to leave, I asked Camilla if she was ready to go the park and she vigorously shook her head yes and said, "Go park", quite clearly. She is growing up so fast!

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Looking at my last post I saw I never published it (that seems to happen... so I apologize for the delay.  So now, flash forward 3 months and Camilla is crawling, standing up using the furniture, and a tooth finally pushed through her bottom gums.  She also is loving to eat yogurt puffs and Lorelei meanwhile has become quite the musical girl (even at the moment she is dancing in the living room) due to her Tiny Tunes Music Together class. We always knew she had a love of music since John would dance her around to ABBA and Madonna as a young baby. Now she has the personality and sass to jump in the middle of the circle filled with ten adults and kids at music class and dance her little heart out!  She has quite good rhythm and can clap and stomp to the beat. Even when I watch Dancing with the Stars she is tuned into what the dancers are doing and tries to copy them.  We are also all finally healthy. It was a long time where the girls would be sick then John and I would get sick. It went through that cycle two times! So I am looking forward to spring and summer and hopefully the viruses will go into hibernation.

Lorelei 3 Camilla 1

I've normally kept track of the girls ages by months, but lately with Lorelei being 3 years old counting past 36 months seems kind of crazy. But for those of you who like to keep track, Lorelei is 39 months old and Camilla is 13 months old. It was a special day today because Lorelei had a playdate at her preschool and she officially starts in a week! We are all excited, but I'm also a little nostalgic because it's like where did these last three years go?! Of course looking back through pictures and videos I remember it all so clearly, all of her firsts (steps, words, phrases, and now she even has full conversations with jokes and intelligent comparisons and connections, it truly seems like she has made leaps and bounds). Of course this happens with all kids, but seeing your first child go off to school is pretty amazing! She told me she is going to miss me and even sang me the "Who says they're coming back" song from music class, but I know she will adapt, learn a lot, and become even more independent (even though she already gets dressed, brushes her teeth, sleeps in her own bed, and goes potty all by herself, with privacy of course!). I'm thrilled (and a little sad that she doesn't need me as much) for her to grow as a person without me always by her side.  Although she will be in school a few days a week for a couple of hours, I still have my sweet baby, Camilla, to keep me company. However, besides her bald head, she is hardly a little baby anymore! She walks, climbs, dances, claps, says "baby", tries to pick up other babies (yes, real ones!), bites and pinches Lorelei when she takes her toys, hugs and kisses us, and was playing outside with Lorelei and her other preschool friends like she was one of them! I have two sweet, sassy, opinionated, smart, and kind girls and I'm greatful everyday that I get to be there for them and with them to watch them grow.

As some of you know, I'm turning 30 in a few weeks, and as I reflect on everything that my life has become, I know I've done something special... I grew two babies (with the help of John, of course), gave birth to them (which will forever be my most powerful moments in life), and raised independent, smart, funny, and joyful girls (with many more amazing years to come). With all this, I still have time for date nights with John to strengthen our marriage, so we are not just "Mommy and Daddy" (thank you to all the grandparents for babysitting!),  activities with family and friends (i.e. Girls Night Out, Fantasy Football, Zumba, and traveling), and alone time to decompress, exercise, read, or go shopping (again, thank you grandparents and John:). So if I ever feel distraught over not having a career (which I do realize is incorrect because really, what harder job is there than stay home mom) and not having enough time to develop my own interests or feeling that my identity is wrapped up in being a wife and mom, I'm going to slap myself and reread this post! I wouldn't be who I am without my family: Noel=John=Lorelei=Camilla=Family=Friends=Life

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I just asked Lorelei if she liked an orange I gave her and she said, "Sure did".  It cracked me up and prompted me to write some more about our lives these days.  For one, Lorelei hit a major milestone by consistently using the potty when we are at home! For awhile I thought she was never going to give in and use the potty and I would be changing her diaper well into preschool, but everyone said eventually kids just decide to do it and it happened. Woohoo!! I'm still not brave enough to go out in public with no diaper, but I know we will both be brave one of these days and just take our chances that there will be a toilet really near by when the urge hits!  Lorelei amazed me once again last week when she was counting some coins. All of a sudden she busted out a new skill and counted from one to ten.... in Spanish. I guess Dora the Explorer does come in handy. One final adorable thing Lorelei does (of course there are many more, but I will only highlight a few:) is she likes to make up her own stories now. Her most recent story was about a princess in a castle and wolves try to blow her house down! She still surprises me every day with what she can do. This is what I love about being a stay home mom.  I'm always there to experience my girls' growth.  Now on to Camilla.  She has always been such a smiley, happy baby, but now she is getting a little demanding, in an adorable way of course.  She will shriek, cry, babble, and grab anything to get your attention.  She will also laugh hysterically.  Lorelei especially has a way of making her laugh.  Last night, John was holding Camilla and chasing Lorelei around the house. They were all having so much fun and it made me think about the near future when the girls will really play together. Camilla is also attempting to crawl often these days. She can push up her top half and then stick her rear up and scoot forward. I can even hold up her hips and she will hold her position on all fours for a few seconds.  She may be on the move sooner than later.