Babies Holding Babies

This week the girls got a new playmate! Their cousin Mason was born on Sunday. They are absolutely in love with him and fight over who gets to hold him. Audrey keeps calling him "Little Baby Mason."

Jayson was excited to be the first in our family to hold him. He was only 6 lb. 14 oz., a whole pound smaller than any of our girls ever were! 

So tiny and so perfect!

Lydia and Audrey both loved holding him.

 ...and poking him.

Charlie was by far the funniest. We thought that with how much she loves her dolls, she would be all over Mason, but she really wasn't that interested. In fact, she found a shelf that was just her size and hung out in there and got really angry if we tried to get her out, so we just let her hang out in her shelf. It was kind of weird.

But, once Lydia and Audrey were done holding Mason, Charlie climbed right into the chair, grabbed the Boppy, grunted, and pointed at Mason. She wanted to hold him! So, we let her. But, she was very suspicious of him. At first she refused eye contact. I LOVE this first picture. Look her just eyeing him up out of the corner of her eye.

She was so weirded out by him.

Finally, she looked at him, and then she started crying.

Pretty Girls All in a Row

When I was younger, my mom dressed my sisters and I in matching dresses and outfits. I'm not sure what their feeling were on it, but I actually loved it. I loved how special it was to wear coordinating dresses. So, of course, I do the same with my girls, and they love it too. It's not every day, because I don't have that kind of money, and sometimes it's just outfits that are similar but might be different in color. However, I do love putting them all in identical dresses. I quickly realized that 1) It can be hard to find matching dresses in the sizes I need. Sometimes I could just find two in the smaller sizes or two in the larger sizes, but not all three. 2) Dresses can be expensive.

So, this summer, I set out to make dresses. It was surprisingly easy, and I definitely got better with practice. I also made matching diaper/underwear covers because my girls tend to sit like...well, not girls.

Here was my first attempt, a pillowcase dress. I had to mess around with the pattern a bit to increase/decrease the measurements as needed, but the dresses were pretty forgiving.

Here is the pattern:

http://www.nancysnotions.com/text/pdf/LittleDressesforAfrica_pattern.pdf

And a youtube video with instructions that I found easier to follow than the pattern:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQJwdEEsLog

And the diaper cover:

http://www.prudentbaby.com/2010/06/diy-diaper-cover-tutorial-with-free.html

My next attempt was a little more difficult. I found that the smocking was easier than I expected, but it was hard to figure out how big to make the dresses before the smocking, and then what I wanted to cut off would have made the skirt too narrow, but it worked out OK.

Here's the directions I followed for these:

http://www.marthastewart.com/266202/smocked-sundress?lnc=38f9cf380e1dd010VgnVCM1000005b09a00aRCRD&rsc=search_tv

Finally, my wonderful friend Jenni made the girls dresses as well. First of all, they're black. GENIUS! I really don't care if they spill on their dresses because I know that happens and they won't last forever anyway, but it's nice to know that they can last just a little bit longer. Second of all, who the hell makes three handmade dresses for kids that aren't even theirs? I very good friend, that's who. Thanks, Jenni! The girls love these.

I'm done making new dresses this year, but I'll be back at it next summer. I'll be back at it until they're 18, actually.

The Fabulous Biking Werras

Jayson and I took up biking when I was pregnant with Lydia. Or, I should say, he took up biking and I watched because let's just say that no part of me that makes contact with the actual bike and is not my hands or feet was ready to get on a bike. Once I had Lydia, I joined him. We had biked before, but not seriously, and we now do some pretty major road biking, including the Leukemia Lymphoma Society Scenic Shore 150 bike ride that is a 150-mile bike ride that occurs over the course of two days. Leading up to that ride, we go on some nice training rides.

We have always been eager to get our girls interested in biking too, so we started with a Burley when Lydia was one. A Burley is basically a cage that you attach to your bike so you can pull around your screaming, crying toddler as she Houdinis her way out of her helmet. The first summer did not go so well, but the next summer she was two and handled the helmet much better. Unfortunately, I was also recovering from the birth of Audrey, and not touching the bike. The next summer Lydia was ready to go, but Audrey was only a year old and going through the screaming-crying-ripping-of-the-helmet stage. The next summer (are you sensing a pattern here?), I was recovering from Charlie's birth, and also, we had three kids, which do not fit into a Burley without some strategic stacking.

Which brings us to this summer. We got a Trail-a-Bike for Lydia. It is a contraption that attaches to my bike and has one wheel and some pedals. Don't be fooled - her little legs may be moving, but it's all cosmetic - I could strap a bowling ball to the seat and get the same results. This of course, doesn't stop me from telling her she needs to pedal super hard for the next hill or we're not going to make it up! The inaugural Trail-a-Bike ride in our driveway involved a lot of tears and clutching the handlebars with white knuckles asking one of us to hold her on the bike while the other one rode in front of her. After running up and down the driveway next to her, I had enough. Bribery goes a long way though, and we told her that as soon as she could ride the bike, we could go anywhere she wanted and she picked the ice cream store. That prompted her to quickly pick up the necessary skills to keep her butt on the seat while I did all the work.

However, Charlie is one. Which means she's in the screaming-crying-pulling-of-the-helmet stage. We went on our first big ride today and Charlie was pretty miserable. Finally, on the way home, we let her sit up a bit. The Burley is designed in such a way that the harness kind of pulls the girls back into more of a reclining position, and having their head back kind of pushes the helmet forward. We let Charlie sit with the straps under her arms instead of over them, and she loved it. I guess if we had to choose between the harness or the helmet, the helmet wins.

So, the trip was fairly successful. We still need to work on a more stable ride with the Trail-a-Bike. It kind of feels like Lydia is doing the Y-M-C-A back there while I try to balance. I'm scared that she'll make a sudden movement and we'll hit the pavement. I refuse to clip my bike shoes into the pedals so I can act quickly in the case of an emergency. But, we're getting there.