Choo Choo Wagon Seats 3

We have officially moved back into our house in Pittsburgh. It was a crazy experience and we are still unpacking but we are glad to be back. Grandma stayed with us for a week to help with the kids so that we could unpack, so this Monday marked the first day that Mom had all three kiddos all by herself.

Today was really warm so Mom decided to try to take all three kids out for a spin. Mom rigged the Choo Choo Wagon up so that she could attach an infant seat to it. That brain storm involves purchasing two extra straps from the company that makes the wagon, a cable lock tie and then buckling the infant seat in place as if it was on a Snap n Go stroller.

Well my invention worked REALLY WELL. Riley fell asleep almost immediately so we went around the neighborhood twice! It was great! The best part was I just took the infant seat out and popped it in the Graco Snugglider Swing and Riley just kept on sleeping.

*Gail, just FYI...you can click on the pictures to enlarge them and get a better view. Sorry I posted this note here, I'm just too lazy to send an email right now and I didn't know if you knew that.

Elf Dance

Some of my online Mom Friends did this, so I thought I'd give it a try too. Happy Holidays and enjoy....

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Getting out with 3 kids under 2 years old

We are all still a bit under the weather with the sniffles but we are just plain tired of being stuck in the house all day every day so Mom packed us all up and out we went. We decided to take the stroller rather than the shopping carts since we don't need anymore germs plus the double carts were all outside and they had snow all over them.

We went to Walmart and looked for some shoes for everyone so that all the kids will have shoes to match their Christmas outfits for pictures. We asked a very nice employee to snap a quick photo as proof that we made it out of the house. I'm not sure why Nathan was looking up at the ceiling in the photo but he seemed rather comfortable in my Beco carrier throughout the entire trip. I know that people were looking at our crew but I kept my eyes straight forward and nobody said a word until we got to the checkout. The checkout girl of course commented on how I had my hands full and she's right....I do!

After the shopping trip we stopped by the Wendy's drive-thru for some chicken nuggets and went home. It really wasn't that hard to do. The most difficult part was getting everyone all bundled up without having them get heat exhaustion while they waited for me to bundle-up and load the next one into the car. All and all I think I will try it again....Mommy loves to get out of the house!



Here are a few recent pics of Riley. I like the one of her and Reagan unfortunately Riley's bib is hiding her face. Reagan still loves to give her baby sister kisses, but Reagan thinks that "kisses" are getting really close and sniffing someone??? I have no idea where she got this idea, but when you tell Reagan to kiss anything she sniffs it.



Dad took this video the other day of the kids banging on the stove with some kitchen utensils, it got pretty loud.

Riley is One Month Old

Wow, time is just flying by, I can't believe that Riley is a month old already. She has grown so much and is officially out of her Newborn clothes and wearing 0-3 month clothes. He cheeks are chubby, her belly button cord fell off weeks ago and she eats 4 to 4.5 oz like a champ.

Picture of Daddy wearing Riley in our Becco Carrier (she's in there, believe it or not!)

As for the twins, a friend of Grandma's bought a cute little Disney Princess table and chairs that we will eventually use for the girls but for now Nathan and Reagan enjoyed acting like big kids and eating their food somewhere other than the highchairs.

THE WIGGLES!

We saw the Wiggles!

For those of you that don't know, the Wiggles are 4 guys from Australia that sing and dance. They have a show that is on every morning on the Disney Channel and Nathan and Reagan just love them and they know a lot of the dance moves to the songs.

We weren't going to get tickets because they are pretty spendy but at the last minute Mommy couldn't resist when she saw a broker advertising FRONT ROW tickets with almost no mark-up from the regular price on Ticketmaster.

View from our seats in the FRONT ROW!

We were very thankful that Grandma offered to watch baby Riley for us since it would have been too difficult to take her along with us.

We had AMAZING SEATS and we all had and absolute blast at the show! Mommy got to see the Wiggle that she has a crush on (Anthony the Blue Wiggle) and Daddy was excited to see his favorite Wiggle Dancer (Caterina) in her little leotard and tutu.

Anthony - Mom's favorite Wiggle

Caterina - Dad's favorite Dancer

We kept the backpack leashes on the kids and we were soooo glad that we brought them. Since we were in the very front row, all the kids congregated up next to the stage and there were a bunch of other Mommies and Daddies constantly running after there little ones when they took off running. We let Nathan go unleashed for a few minutes and he was okay at first but then he took off running and Daddy had to chase him down.




Nathan is more a fan of the Wiggles than Reagan is (she prefers Mickey Mouse...she even brought her Mickey to the Wiggles show). So it was no surprise that Reagan was a bit more reserved while Nathan was laughing and dancing up a storm.

Above Video is Nathan Dancing to the Wiggles

You can't take a picture of Two & definitley not of Three

Well Mom and Dad tried to take some more Halloween pictures but we didn't do very well. Riley only let Mom take one picture of her in her Butterfly costume before she started to cry and shortly after that she had a dirty diaper and her costume had to go in the wash.

Nate and Reagan won't stand still for a picture. They move really fast and it is impossible to get them to stand next to each other for more than a half a second. They also like to get very close to the person taking the picture and grab for the camera. If someone tries to hold them for a picture, it would be a miracle if they would both smile at the same time.

So anyway this is the best of what we got before throwing in the towel:

Happy Halloween

We still need to get some good pictures of the kids in their costumes so I will post more tomorrow. Nathan was a Bumble Bee, Reagan was a Lady Bug and Riley has a little Butterfly sleeper and also a Pumpkin sleeper.

Tonight we just went to Uncle Larry's and took a couple photos there. Poor Nathan was tired and sick. He fell asleep on Uncle Larry's Kitchen floor and then when we got home he got sick in our kitchen sink...poor little guy. But you do get to see his little stinger on his costume!

Riley is 2 Weeks Old

We had our first snowfall yesterday (Oct 28th), I think we got about 6 inches but a lot of it has already melted. A nearby town just a few miles away got 16 inches of snow! The weather is just crazy here because next week we are going to have record highs of 60 degrees for November!

Above are two pics of Riley that I took today. She is now just over 2 weeks old and i think she is starting to fatten up a little. Her legs were so skinny last week and now she has a little tiny bit of meat on her bones. We don't go to the doctor until the middle of November, but I can't wait to see how much weight she has gained by then.

I tried very hard to get a picture of all three kiddos but it was very difficult to get Nathan and Reagan to stay laying on the floor. I don't think that the twins are ready for a sitting picture with Riley just yet. We really have to constantly keep an eye on them when Riley is out because they don't understand that they need to be gentle just yet. Nathan has tried to feed Riley a cheerio and he almost threw a heavy ball on her today. Reagan likes to climb on top of everything including the dog and the cat so I wouldn't put it past her to sit on her baby sister.

And last but not least, here is a video clip of little Riley with the hiccups. I had just changed her and she was getting ready for her bottle. She is eating about 3-3.5 oz at a feeding but will sometimes take up to 4 oz already. It just amazes me because the twins only ate 1-2 oz up until they were 3 months old. I guess there is a big difference in feeding when you compare having twins early and having a singleton born past her due date.

Some More Cute Pics

Here are just a few pics from today. Gram got the kids these cute little Snoopy sweatshirts and we think the kids look hysterical with the little puppy dog ears on their hoods.

Here is quick video of the kids playing in the sand:

It's getting colder

Last weekend Mom took Nate and Reagan to a Halloween festival in the Poconos while dad stayed home with baby Riley. The festival had a giant sandbox filled with all kinds of fun climbing equipment and play houses. Nate had a blast playing in the sand, but it wasn't long until Reagan escaped the sandbox and took a mad dash for the exit. There were also all sorts of animals like sheep and llama and they had free rides for all kids under two so the twins took a quick spin in a little army tank.

Nate and Reagan had lots of fun but as usual it would have been a better situation if there was another adult there with Mom. At one point poor Mom was actually stuck because both Nate and Reagan were throwing tantrums and she couldn't get either one of them to hold her hand and walk. It took a few minutes until Nate settled down enough that Mom was able to pick him up while Reagan walked holding Mom's hand.

This week it got pretty cold out so Mom decided to fill up the old water table with sand and let the kids play outside. Reagan actually climbed on top of the water/sand table and sat on it. I wish that I would have gotten a picture of that.

This is the picture that the nurse took in the hospital right after Riley was born. This picture was used to identify Baby and Parents as an added security measure to the bracelets. I had to scan this picture in so the quality isn't that great, but it is one of my favorite pics that we have, even though we all look terribly exhausted.

Here are just a few pics from today. We had Riley in a cute little newborn pink outfit from Walmart. I just love this outfit, who would ever know it was Walmart?




We took Riley to the Pediatrician today for a weight check and she was 6 lbs and 15 oz so she is actually past her birth weight now. That just shows how well she has been eating since she left the hospital at 6 lbs 8 oz. We didn't get any shots today, those will wait until her 1 month appointment.

And here are just a few pics of Nate and Reagan from today. Reagan is so very interested in her baby sister. She has been using her doll baby and giving her doll baby a baby bottle while Mommy and Daddy feed Riley....it is just the cutest thing ever.

And just compare the pic below of Nathan to the ones at the top of Riley. I really think that they have similar noses and facial features.

We are home!

Well, yesterday Riley was released and came home with mommy and daddy. Mommy is still very sore and is having a hard time moving. Daddy seems to have caught what mommy, Nathan and Reagan had last week and is not feeling well so he needs to stay away from Riley according to the pediatrician.

Riley goes to her first doctor appointment tomorrow to get her physical so we are looking forward to that as we want to make sure she isn't catching anything from dad. Last year I got a "world's greatest dad" t-shirt from the twins and if I get her sick that could be in jeopardy this year.




Reagan is already turning into mommy's little helper and likes to give Riley plenty of love including kisses. Reagan also learned how to feed her doll with a bottle like mommy does for Rily. Nathan doesn't really seem to interested in the baby. Overall they have been pretty good except for wanting to climb on mom and dad when holding Riley.

Both Nathan and Reagan have recently discovered that they can climb on the kitchen chairs and like to sit on big people seats. Because we only have one in the kitchen they often fight and occasionally push the other off. Nathan also likes to push it over to the sink so he can reach the counter better. Apparently Nathan had a few things he wanted to get off his chest yesterday so he had a message for everyone.

Both Nathan and Reagan really like Mac N Cheese (at least for this week). We are trying to teach them to feed themselves without using their hands but it is a process. Reagan has picked it up much quicker as she is usually much better with fine motor skills. Nathan would likely be ahead if we could somehow arrange his food into a pile that he could jump into.

The family services people came and conducted an evaluation on both of them Wednesday. Because neither of them speak yet we are eligible for in home assistance with a therapist. They will be coming out once a week to help us teach them communication skills. They had no concerns about any type of disorder or other health concern but thought we would benefit from professional assistance with teaching techniques. Looks like Riley is going to be the biggest winner from this as we will now know how to raise her right!