“Wizzlers, Jejush, Cocadots and Pupcakes”

Just a few very cute and funny 4 year old mispronunciations (for Twizzlers, Jesus, Polkadots and Cupcakes) that we won’t be hearing around here on a daily basis anymore.  We went to St. Louis last week to give Hailey, our niece who has been living with us since January, her 4th birthday party and to return her to her mom. It was a drama filled week for sure, and without going into too much detail I will just say that we are hopeful and fairly confident that she is where she needs to be now.  She will be living with her mom and grandparents and be close to her cousins and other aunts and uncles.  She was greatly missed by them all, and she herself was elated to return.  She was especially overjoyed to be reunited with her mother.  It was a bittersweet farewell on our part.  We love her so much and will definitely miss her, but at the same time, it’s nice to be able to just be “new parents” to Kendall without having to figure out how to raise a preschooler at the same time.    I feel like we can finally focus on each other again and enjoy this time together without all the stress.  We’re glad we could help for the 7 months that we did, and we will always be there for Hailey in the future.  We’re also happy to see her happy and back where she wants to be.

So with that, I will just share a few funny moments that have come from taking on a preschooler while pregnant/ a new mom.

Hailey: “Aunt Jill….how are you going to GET that baby out of your stomach?”
Me: “Well….I’m going to push him out.”
Five minutes later I feel two small hands pressing on my lower back.
Me: “What are you doing?”
Hailey: “I’m helping you push him out!”

At around 8 months pregnant Hailey finds my Bradley Method book.  She is fascinated by the baby book.  I don’t think much of it because it is keeping her quiet and I am able to do the dishes in peace.  I see she has found the pages that have actual pictures of birth… like with heads crowning and all.  Oops!  I don’t want to rip the book out of her hands and make her feel bad.  It’s totally natural afterall, right?  I go sit next to her and she looks up with the most confused face.  “What are they DOING?”  “They are having a baby.”  “But that baby is coming out of her…her….her butt!  Is your baby going to come out of your butt?”  “Uhhmmm… yeah… kind of.”  Pause….pause…pause…. “Eww!  Gross.”  She closes the book and begins playing with her Barbie.

The first time she helped change his diaper Kendall gave her a water show and peed all over the place.  She ran around the apartment shrieking, “He’s PEEING!!!  He’s PEEING!!  Aunt Jill, that baby just peed all over the place!”  She then reassured me, “Aunt Jill, I’m a big girl.  That’s why I don’t pee on the walls like Kendall”.

And Hailey was always my little helper.  God knows she shook his carseat plenty of times when he would start screaming.  She even knew which pacifier he liked best and informed me of this.  She told me he like the Nuk when he was just a little upset and the Soothie when he was really upset.  She was absolutely right.  She fetched me wipes and diapers and diaper cream.  She kept a watchful eye on Kendall if I had to step away for a minute (not that I would leave him in a dangerous situation.  I was never counting on her to catch him from falling off a counter top, for example).  And she loved to feed her babies alongside me.   Every time she saw me sit down to feed Kendall she would grab whatever breastfeeding pillow I wasn’t using, pull up her shirt and “feed” her doll.  This absolutely appalled her uncle when he came for a visit and we had to talk about being “discreet”. She was a riot a lot of the time and we will surely miss her comic relief around here.  I think Scott is going to miss “going to the ball” with her too.

12 weeks 6 days

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50 Things to Do Before You Deliver: The First Time Moms Pregnancy Guide
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