Santa Train at the Strasburg Railroad

I had the pleasure of of Riding the Santa Train on the Strasburg Railroad.  I was a really fun experience for the kids, and just the look on their faces makes going in the rain totally worth it lol.

You can read my full review over on Momma Lews Blog - Strasburg Santa Train

We might even make this trip an annual tradition, especially since there are several train themes available.

Maybe we will see you there.

Reversible Dress Up Aprons

I created some reversible dress-up aprons for my nieces as Christmas presents.  They just LOVE to dress up and wanted to give them something more personal to them - or at least something that was not found in the stores.

I wanted to dress up clothes as aprons so they are easy on/off, and can be slipped right over clothes. Since it is easy hide seams if you do it reversible, I knew that was the way I wanted to go.

I made up the pattern, which at first was trial and error.  My daughter (shown above) is 4 years old and wears a 4t/5t.  The aprons also fit well on my 3 year old, and the recepient, who is 5 years old.  I put them on my son who is almost 8 - and it was too short, but these can easily be made longer/shorter/wider.  

Here are the measurements that I used.

Since this is imagination play items, I also included a little accessory for each side.

Mail Man Dress Up Apron

Includes a real pocket in the faux messenger bag, and a felt envelope

Nurse Dress Up Apron

Includes Felt Nurse Hat

Construction - Contractor Dress Up Apron

Includes Felt Tools

This dress up was created my dad's company.  He was a general contractor and thought this would be fun - and no one else would have it.  The faux tool belt has pockets for the felt tools.

Chef Dress Up Apron

Includes Chef Hat

I didn't really love this side - but whatever lol

Using the measurements above I was able to create these aprons.  It did take some thought on how to create each side.  The possibilities are endless.  I did love the idea of creating faux items (the bag, tool belt, etc)  Some other ideas of dress up stuff are road worker, police officer, fireman, doctor, waitress, sports player, telephone repair man, train conductor, cowboy/girl, pizza delivery person, soldier, scientist, etc.

These dress up aprons could go together pretty quickly once you figure out the design you want.

If I create another apron set, I will do a photo tutorial for them.

Hope this gets your creative juices flowing

Some new pictures

I even threw one of Colin in there lol

Sisters

One day, I might get them both to look at the camera LOL

My kids, the clones

OK, I think they look TOTALLY different in these pics, but when I asked my husband - he could not tell at all. I even showed him several pics and he could figure it out.

I think it is prett cool that I have all of Cora's clothes, and that I can *try* to take similar pics. This one however, was totally on accident. I was taking pics of Elsie and when I saw them I realized that I had pics of Cora in the same outfit. When I looked up the pics of Cora, most were in the same exact position. But, at this age, almost EVERY pic in in the same pose. She is just wedged in a corner lol.

A Trip to see Santa

We had a photoshoot this morning, which I will blog about under it's own post. But, I figured we would try to go see the Jolly Man after. We got a great pic with NO crying from anyone.

Cora would not smile, I guess after a morning of smiling and being cute, she was slightly grumpy LOL. Lil J is cropped out, but he LOVED Santa. There was no line, so he just chatted with Santa for a while. So cute!

And, my goodness - I apparently have Ghost Children lol

Elsie's Baptism

We baptised Elsie yesterday. She hardly cried at all! The dress is an heirloom, first worn 37 years ago. I think it is really cool that all of my kids have worn the same dress that I (and all of my sister) wore on our Baptism day.

We took some shots in her dress when we got our holiday pics taken. But, it was at the end and she was DONE. So, pacifer in the mouth - whatever works, right?

Holiday Pics of the kids

We went yesterday to TRY to get Christmas Pics of all 4 kids. We did get some good ones. But, boy - it was NOT fun.

Colin is so handsome, if I do say so myself :) He actually asked to have a few of just him.

I hate that Lil J is cropped out of these. But, I did blur his face in the first one. It is just too sweet not to share. Too bad Elsie looks like the forgotten child in the back there LOL

Cora is getting so big

I have done this before, but figured since I am boring, and have no topics to write about - I would add pics of Cora.

She will be 14 months tomorrow, it is amazing to see these pics; and to see how much she has grown. I have done the same for Elsie - but since she is only one month old, there is only one pic. In a couple of weeks, I will add her pics.

We had our flu shots the other day and I asked if I could throw her on the scale. She is a BIG 27.5 pounds. More than 20 pounds than she was at birth! Wowza! And, she is heavy. I have to carry both girls most times to the car. Cora is a walker now. But, not a directed walker. So - it is not like I can just put her down and say "let's go to the car"

She is still not talking - unless you count "ugh" as a word.

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween from Cora, Elsie, and Lil J :)

They even have the same feet

Look at the girls' feet in the first picture - they girls even have the same feet. I think they look very different, but of course in pics they look very similar.

The order is not the same in all the pics lol

Elsie passed her carseat test :)

We had Elsie's follow-up carseat test today. And, she PASSED. After failing the initial test two times, we were concerned that she would fail again. especially since her hands were turning purple when sitting up (which only stopped about a week ago)

We were able to go back to our local hospital, where she was tested in an extra room - think is was the lactation room. She could not go back in the newborn nursery..too germy lol.

I am just thrilled to get rid of the carbed. It is so much easier to get out of the house without having to physically carry both girls. I celebrated by going out alone with all 3 little ones.

We took a pic of the carbed when we went to her first ped appointment, so is SO much bigger now, 4 weeks later.

Cousins meet :)

The newest cousins met for the first time today. My mom was thrilled to have all her babies in one place.

You can see the joy in her face.

Not sure what is so funny in the first pic, guess I missed the memo lol

Pumpkin Patch :)

We went to a Fall Festival at a local farm. It was fun, lots of kid's stuff to do. We attempted to take a family shot (taken by someone else) and that was a huge fail.

So, we then tried to take a pic of just the kids. This is the first time we tried this outside of the ones at the hospital.

Yeah, not such a good idea. Colin looks great. But, look closer - Lil J is choking Cora, and Cora has her fingers in Elsie's eye. LOL

But - it is also one of the BEST pics - I have my kids, all FOUR of them! Four years ago, I would never have thought that this would be my family pic. :)

3 babies, 24 days

Two of my sisters were pregnant with me. And, we all had due dates very close to one another. Well, all have had their babies - my sister had her baby today

So, now my mom has 7 grandchildren. And what is funny about that is that she went from one grandchild (Colin) to 7 in less than 2 years! She now has 4 grandaughters, and 3 grandsons.

3 babies born in 24 days!

Anna was born on 9/9/10
Elsie was born on 9/23/10
Miles was born today on 10/3/10

Colin even pointed out that he went from being an only child, to having 2 siblings in 18 months. How is that for some interesting family math lol.

I think it will be so awesome to have the kids grow up so close in age.

The girls look so much alike

I know it is lame, but since I took lots of pics of Cora, and plan to do the same with Elsie, I want to see if I can take pics wearing the same outfits.

Since they are only 10 days apart birthday wise, they should be the same season wise for clothes. And, we are using all of Cora's clothes for Elsie. So, unless Elsie is a tiny peanut - my plan should work.

But, for now, here are a few where the two girls look very similar. And, they are not all in the same order - just to try to trip you up. :) If we keep up this trend, I guess I will have another cutie on our hands.

Came home today, but in a "Car Bed"

Elsie had to have a carseat test since technically she was a preemie. The carseat test consists of hooking them up in the seat and then hooking them up to different monitors. They stay this way for 60-90 minutes. This test is usually ONLY done for "preemies"

Well, she failed the first test - her heartrate went up and her O2 staturation went down, much lower than what is considered normal.

She had to take the test a second test - she failed the second test. Same type of results - high heartrate, low O2, increased rate of breathing.

Since she could not do well in the carseat, she had to come home in a "car bed" - it is basically a flat carseat. She will have to use this instead of the carseat for 3-7 weeks (40-44 weeks gestation).

I can go into the many many reasons why I hate the car bed, but I wont - because in the end, it is the safest way for her to travel in the car.

She also can't be in the swing, any type of sorta sitting bouncer, etc. So, where is she now? In a laundry basket.

I guess it is true what they say - it really is NOT the size that matters, it really is the age. Elsie was 4 weeks early, but weighed 7 lbs 6 oz.

At 40 weeks, she will be retested to see if she can be in a regular seat. At it is just this position, she is fine laying down, so no monitors or anything.

Some new pics of Elsie

The hospital photographer came in yesterday asking if I wanted to have Elsie's pictures taken. Now, I remember when Colin was born, these pics were horrible. Basically you kid is on a rainbow piece of paper and they take one pic. No thanks.

Was never even asked about it with Cora, so I never thought about it. Figured I could take my own pics and save myself some money.

But, when the photographer came it, she said it was free to take the pics, and then she would upload then to the site and we can order right from there if we wanted to. Figured, what do I have to lose.

Well, I knew that the second she started taking the pics that they would be not that impressive. Yup, I was right. She used the gross hospital blankets and sheets that were just on the bed. Really did not take any shots that any other person could not take, etc.

Well, when she printed the proof sheet, I was thrilled that I did not have to pre-pay for the pictures. Almost every shot has most of her head cut off, not centered, just plain horrible.

There are these two shots that would be decent, IF you could see her whole face, or was not a bad crop job. She really does look like Cora. But, I think Elsie is going to favor me more than my husband. She totally has my chin.

But, this picture is a better representation of the majority of the pictures. I know everyone has their own style - but when is head chopping like this ever OK?

I plan on doing what I did last year with Cora. Take pics in cute hats and take 100's of pics knowing that I might get one or two good ones. It's digital, so no big deal. I got so many compliments on Cora's pic from last year, so I think it is the way to go. we can't afford to have a pro photographer take pics. Might go to a the studio where I got Cora's b-day pics. I have a coupon - who knows.

Had My Baby. It's a ............

GIRL!!!!!

Quick update, will post a full birth story at a better hour LOL

Elsie June was born 4 weeks early on Sept 23 at 3:15 AM, by emergency C-Section. Baby was breech throughout my pregnancy, flipped head down, flipped to tranverse and then head down on the day I delivered. HOWEVER - baby flipped back to transverse in the middle of labor. This caused me to be sent to the OR ASAP!

The doctor said that in the thousands of deliveries that he has done, I am only the 3rd or 4th person where the baby flipped transverse during labor.

Elsie was really big for 36 Weeks - weighed 7 lbs 6 oz and was 20 inches long. We know our dates are 100% correct since we had early scans.

I will write more about everything that happened sometime later today :)

For now, here is a quick pic:

Happy Birthday Cora

Today is Cora's 1st Birthday! Wow, what a year. We have her 1 yr doc appointment next week so I don't know exactly how much she weighs, or how tall she is. But, last week she was at the docs for a follow-up and she weighed 25 lbs 6 (?) oz. I was not there due to my bedrest, so I am not positive about the oz.

She is such a big girl, doing big girl things. She is 100% formula free and doing great on milk....so issues at all. We also got rid of the bottle, except for the one right before bedtime. But, this one is more of a comfort thing, so not really a big deal (to me) that she still has it.

Also taking a few steps..nothing to call walking, but I am sure she will be ther soon.

We have been teaching her tricks too, yup like a trained dog lol. She know so many, too many to list.

The past year has gone so fast.