Singing in the Rain and Snuggling with DeeDee

On a rainy day in July, Emily and Addison got to have some umbrella play in the sprinkles. Then that night before bed, DeeDee attempted snuggling all three girls at once!

Addie n Eh

Addie is so attached to Elizabeth. If I put Elizabeth down, Addie will usually come running over to sit next to/lay next to/play with/try to hold her baby sister. While Emily's nickname for Elizabeth is "Lizzybiz", Addie calls her "Eh", which you'll hear her say in the video if you listen closely. :)

 

Beginning to Pick Our Own Clothes!

The girls started showing a lot of interest in picking out their own clothes this summer. On this particular day, they were especially proud of choosing some leg warmers to go under their shorts.

 

Addie's in Undies!!

At the end of July (the 24th to be exact), Addie decided once and for all that she was done with diapers. She had been showing interest in potty training for quite awhile, but I wanted to wait until after Elizabeth was born after hearing baby sibling regression stories. Then after Elizabeth was born, I wanted to wait until our lives began returning to some semblance of routine. Even after more normalcy fell into place in our household, I resisted pulling the potty training trigger, having horrible visions of twins running around in soiled undies while I was stuck on the couch breastfeeding. (Or worse, twins running around soiling corners of rooms while I was stuck on the couch breastfeeding). But after receiving lots of potty encouragement from DeeDee, Addie began removing her diaper on her own to go on her little potty, and I started feeling guilty putting diapers back on her when it would clearly be much easier to just give her a pair of underwear she could take off and put on all on her own.

So on the 24th, I woke up with visions of taking Addie to Target to pick out her first undies. The morning, however, didn't quite go according to my daydreams, and it looked like Addie and I were going to be staying home with her two sleeping sisters. I called my neighbor, Courtenay, who has a four-year-old little girl, to see if maybe she could come stay with the sleepers so I could still take Addie out. She was on her way out the door, but offered to drop off a few of Berlin's old "roos" for Addie to start out in. Courtenay and Berlin were so sweet to wrap the undies up in a special red bag, which Addie proudly carried her new undies around in all day long.

It's a big moment!

Lining them all out....so proud!

Oh yeah!

The sisters get involved!

Emily's up and wants to check out the character on Addie's new undies

Elizabeth gets to provide a little potty-sitting entertainment while Addie sucks down some juice to encourage a tinkle.

Happy Six Month Birthday Elizabeth!

Goodness Gracious! How has half a year flown by in the blink of an eye? It feels like only yesterday that we brought you home from the hospital, Elizabeth. You are our little darling, and we love you so very very much. Your personality is beginning to come through to us, and oh boy are you ever a sweet little soul. You make my heart smile every day. I love my one-on-one time with you, when I get to stare into your eyes and soak up your smiles. I also love watching you watch your sisters play, and I love watching them learn to play with you. You have completed our family, and we thank God every day that you came to us.

Mom, Dad, and Three Babies Take a Hike (Glenwood Day 3)

Day three with the fam consisted of packing up the cabins and getting ready to head out.

The Hicks family had four cabins and an RV site all in a row, and throughout the trip, we congregated on Aunt Dale and Uncle Jack's deck for dinners and socializing.

As Chris and I packed up our stuff on Monday morning, Emily and Addison were eating breakfast out on our deck, but as soon as they saw other Hicks family members congregating outside one of the other cabins, they just had to go investigate and say hello.

Addie is especially social, and likes to join groups. If she sees a group of kids congregating in the neighborhood, no matter the age of the kids, she'll walk right up, many times standing right in the middle of the group. She'll fold her arms across her chest and she just gets this look on her face that says, "Yep, I belong here, these are my peeps."

So on Monday morning while she was eating her cereal on the front deck, she saw a group of family members congregating nearby and she picked up her bowl and spoon, negotiated her way down the steps, and walked right over to the group. After standing there with her cereal for a few minutes, she realized it was going to be hard to stand, eat, and socialize all at the same time, so she set her cereal down on a rock, walked back up to our deck, grabbed that purple camping chair, wrestled it back down the stairs and across the driveway to the gathering, set it up right in the center of the circle of people, went over to the rock to pick up her cereal, and plopped herself down to finish her breakfast. We all thought it was just so cute and funny that I ran to get my camera so I could take a picture...

 

She may be a girl of few words, but she's a girl with a plan

 Emily was feeling a little more shy, and chose to eat her breakfast by the rocks, close to the group but not right in the center of it!

After getting ourselves all packed up and saying farewell to family, we decided to give Hanging Lake a second shot. It was a Monday morning, so we did end up getting a spot in the parking lot, but it was one of the last spots left (that is one popular destination!) It took us about a half an hour to get everyone unloaded from the car and loaded into backpacks and carriers, and we started out on the paved path up to the trailhead.

Addie and I are ready to go!

Chris had a super full load - Emily on back and Elizabeth on front

Heading to the trailhead

 We walked for about 15 minutes to get to the trailhead, at which point Elizabeth needed to eat and as soon as I started to feed her, Emily and Addison decided they were ready for a snack, so we settled down for a bit. I've hiked to hanging lake before, and seeing the beginning of the trail reminded me of how steep, rocky, and twisty the trail is. While the girls were eating, I described the trail to Chris, and we both decided it would be pretty tricky to try to carry a baby on your front and a two year old on your back on a steep trail with tricky footing. After a long weekend of funny sleep schedules, everyone was a bit tired, too, and I was a little nervous that we'd get part way there and have to turn around and head back, anyway. So we just decided to hang out at the trailhead for awhile, enjoying being in the shade on another hot day.

After snacking a bit, Emily and Addie were ready to explore.

 

 

The girls discovered a little stream with a teeny tiny waterfall. It was so wonderful to watch them explore this magical little pocket of nature.

 

 

Heading back to the car, we got another family photo...I think Chris was a little disappointed that we didn't make it to the final destination, but boy was it a fun experience for the girls!

 

Colorado Water (Glenwood Day 2)

Day two in Glenwood started with fresh mountain air, breakfast on the deck, and smiling cousins!

Chris and I and the girls took a little hike with Grandpa John after breakfast. We were hoping to hike to Hanging Lake, but the parking lot was full by the time we got everyone there, so we decided to try out the Grizzly Creek hike nearby. We didn't make it very far as Elizabeth ended up needing to eat and the big girls needed breaks from the backpacks. But the place we stopped ended up being a perfect toddler spot, great for skipping stones and floating leaf boats down the stream.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After our hike and lunch, all the girls needed a nap, but the AC unit in our Deluxe Cabin wasn't working, and it was 100 degrees outside so even though everyone was very worn out, there wasn't any sleeping happening. Chris and I ended up driving the girls up and down a 20 mile stretch of I-70, AC blasting and Spa music lulling the kids to sleep. We stopped at 7-11 for Slurpees and then at Target to get Popcicles and Fudgecicles to bring back to the group. 

After dinner, our family took a little Fudgecicle fueled walk down to the Colorado river, which flowed right by the cabins.

 

 

We made a pit stop to wash off some of the chocolate!

There was a long stairway we had to walk down to get to the campsites and river. The stairway was steep and long to me, and I'm sure in the eyes of a two and a half year old, it was quite intimidating, but both girls made it down all on their own!

 

 

Hello Colorado River! The water was cool and refreshing, and dipping our toes in was a good start, but the girls just weren't satisfied until they'd really gotten all the way in. Emily ended up laying down in the water all on her own, and I swung Addie through the water several times. Oh what fun!

 

Oh my water-loving husband. He has to "baptize" our babies in every body of water we come to. :)

 

 

Can you tell she loves the water?