Finally, teeth!

T-minus 2 weeks till the big birthday and two girls finally have teeth.  Nora loves food so much she decided to go ahead and sprout two!  Poor Emmie still is toothless, and hairless for that matter, but we have two weeks for her to make the deadline!

Babylegs!

So here is my new obsession of the day, baby leg warmers.  Brilliant!  Many days we don't bother getting dressed, but now I don't have to worry about their little knees with all the crawling.  Chris isn't impressed, he thinks they look like chaps.  I think they are adorable even if they are a bit big on them right now.  I'm off to search for more cheap finds, but the find of the day for now, Babylegs!

Estes Park Adventures, a really dirty trip

In front of Bob and Tonys, pizza place where Chris and I had our first date

So we survived our first family trip, a weekend in Estes Park, CO.  Our first attempt was thwarted when Emma got the flu, but we were able to reschedule for this past weekend.  We almost had to cancel again due to an April blizzard, but the weather in Estes eased up long enough for us to make the journey.  We rented a house I found online that we thought would be perfect, but of course it was less than.  Let's start with the pros:  we could bring the dogs at no extra charge, it had a hot tub, the outside patios would have been great if it were warmer, and the view from the living rooms floor to ceiling window was magnificent.  Now the cons: it was dirty.  Like skeeve (the word of the weekend) you out dirty, so I won't go into the details.  Other cons of this house which touted to be "kid friendly": pointy antler decorating the floor, tasty looking houseplants all over the floor, exposed HOT pipes that heat the room all along the floor, dirt and other unidentifiable tasty looking items all over the floor.  So we tried to get out as much as we could into the more hygienic general public. 

Our first night was a nightmare for the most part.  The girls each have Peapod tents to sleep in which we put in our room with us.  After two hour naps on the way up they had no interest in going to bed at their normal 7:00 PM time.  Addie decided to stay up till 10:30, the others till around 9:00.  After we finally were able to get them all down we got a chance to use the hot tub, which was nice until it started to skeeve us out too when we started talking about the dirty house.  We headed to bed and were awakened by a shrieking Emma at 1:00 AM who did not like waking up in her tent.  We were unable to calm her down for about an hour which of course resulted in the others waking up to join the party.  And this did not result in sleeping in, they were all still up and ready to go at 6:30 am.  So we lounged around our lovely place for a few hours trying to work up the energy to go out, and finally when Andrew arrived to join us for lunch at 1:00 we made our way into town.  We had lunch, walked around downtown causing a scene, and ended our day at the brewery with some tasty treats. 

Thankfully that night went much better than the first and we were a bit more refreshed the next day.  We packed up and headed out for breakfast before the drive home.  The girls were great as always and enjoying their pancakes when disaster struck.  Turned out feeding them refried beans for lunch the day before was not a great idea, as Nora disposed of them all over her outfit and the highchair.  And of course this restaurant did not have a changing table (always a great surprise).  So Chris took her to the car to do some damage control and was highly traumatized when he returned.  That kind of summed up the weekend:  hilarious and disgusting.

Here is a compilation of the video we took during the trip, sorry I haven't figured out how to edit out the un-needed/boring stuff yet.  Hopefully I'll figure it out soon!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqAkcMqOPr8

Videos

Just trying to figure out how to link videos now that my new FLip recorder has arrived.  Haven't figured out the best way yet so for now they will be posted on my youtube page:

Snack Time:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cg-XxWG1yzY

Dinner time!:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGIrBqO40ho

Introducing the GIRLS

NORA

Nora (Nori) is our oldest.  She is our bully, our dare-devil, and our independent mischievous girl.  She is the most laid back/even-tempered of the girls, but when she wants something she will let you know it!  Nori loves to eat, both "milky" and solids.  She can play all day and doesn't care if it's alone, with her sisters, or the whole family; she's going to find a way to have fun!  She loves nothing better than a good Beetle/Ladybug dog fight or waking her sisters when sleeping in the swing by pulling up on it and shaking them.  Nora was our first to hold her own bottle, is currently learning to feed herself with a spoon, was second to crawl and is about to be the second to get her first tooth.  Her hobbies include steam-rolling her sisters, banging them on the head, and pulling the dogs' ears.  You know there will be trouble when Nori is around, and every minute of it will be a good time!

Adelyn 

Adelyn (Addie) is our sweet, temperamental jokester.  She is extremely passionate whether happy or mad, and is a cheerleader for her sisters, the dogs, the TV, her toys, etc... She loves with all that she has, but her temper is hot as fire!  Addie loves to laugh and will giggle at her own private joke when there is nothing going on.  Her chuckles are infectious and her chubby cheeks make you want to cuddle and kiss her all day.  Luckily this little love bug will let you; she enjoys nothing better than a snuggle, a big squeeze and a tickle!  But don't let this giggling ball of sweetness fool you, when she's mad she will make sure you and everyone within ten miles knows it.  You would swear she could take you out with a single punch when you hear her furious scream (I don't think she really even cries, just screams).  Her favorite activities include clapping, watching Frank Azar (The Strong Arm) commercials, looking out the window, and chasing the dogs.  She is the first to get a tooth, was the first to roll, and for a while her preferred method of transportation was the army crawl.  Keep Addie happy and you will be rewarded with tons of smiles, giggles, and applause; but cross her and prepare to experience her wrath!

Emma

Emma (Emmie, Kissy Bear) is our youngest; our big-eyed diva, our "bitty baby", the quintessential youngest of the family.  Emmie LOVES to be held, all the time.  She is our tiniest, only 2 1/2 lbs when born and still 2-3 lbs smaller than her sisters.  But she does not let her size hold her back, not the Kissy Bear!  She is small and mighty, our first to sit up, crawl, and about to walk.  Still no teeth or hair to speak of, but this little diva doesn't need it to get attention from everyone she meets.  She is very vocal and if people aren't noticing her she will give a few shrieks and laughs to make sure they do!  She loves to dance, laugh, snort, sing, and did I mention be held?  She HATES for her sisters to touch her or make movement toward her like they might touch her.  In true baby form she will cry at the drop of a hat, but generally has a huge smile on her pretty baby face!

Giving in and starting a blog..

So that I no longer have to send out group emails or bore friends on facebook with all my updates, pics and videos; I have decided to start the Ham Girls Update Blog.  We shall see how long it lasts...  I am eagerly anticipating the arrival of the FLIP video recorder I won on eBay which should make videoing much easier to do and post, so look for lots of those to come!  The first teeth are starting to make their way through for Nora and Addie, and Emma is soooo close to walking.  It should make for an interesting summer!  As the first birthday QUICKLY approaches (which I still have not decided how to celebrate), I can't believe how quickly the year has gone and how immensely our lives have changed!  Nights out of trendy food and wine, trying every new restaurant in town and staying up till two have been replaced with making homemade organic baby food, changing diapers, doing 3 loads of dishes and at least that many loads of laundry, and being in bed by 10 (when we make it that long).  Instead of shopping for cute outfits and techie gadgets for ourselves I spend my day looking for bargains on adorable baby clothes, fun interactive learning toys, and the newest way to document every minute of what they do for everyone to watch; as I know everyone else MUST be as interested and intrigued as we are by every move and noise that they make.  And despite how different our lives now are I am so in love with every (well okay almost) minute of it!