More of September & October up-dates

I have been meaning to sit down & get our blog caught up on everything that has been going on & changing for the twins, but I am such a procrastinator! Everytime that I do have a minute & I think I'll do it, I get side-tracked or it is so late I just want to go to bed. Either way, I've been a terrible Mom. I haven't up-dated their baby books in several months either. I know this is something I will regret in a few years, but I'm just so busy. Here is a little more from our fall time:


This pic is actually from our last camping trip. We camped in NC & we were on our hike up to High Falls. I think I talked about this camping trip in my last blog post. We love our new camper & can't wait to use it more & more & build great memories with the twins. I have very fond memories of camping with my family, especially my Gramps & Grammy! Still to this day, one of my favorite sweets are Smores. Mmmm...mmmm!

This is a picture of Gage & Marley while Nick & I were giving the twins their first bath in the big bath tub. They both stayed in the bathroom the entire time the twins played in the water. Although there are times that Gage seems to not like them, most of the time he is so sweet to them. And Marley, she is in love with them!!!

I'm not positive when this picture was taken, but this is something Kooper started doing several months ago. Hadlee sucked her thumb for just a short while, but has since determined she prefers her paci. Kooper is a big thumb sucker, but once his teeth started cutting in, we would periodically spot him stealing Hadlee's paci to chew on. The best part is when Hadlee pulls it back from him & they both fall backwards!
In October, we started feeding the twins some fruits as well. Their first taste of fruit was technically given to them by one of the neighbor ladies that was babysitting for us one day when our regular babysitter wasn't available (Oct.20). I got home from work & she told me how they had ate all of their vegetables that Nick had layed out, but that they were still hungry so she went ahead & fed them a jar of bananas too. I was so sad that I missed their first experience :-( I think she understood I didn't like that she did it, especially when she tried to tell me, "well it was just bananas, it isn't like they could be allergic to them or anything." Uh...well, what if they had been???? Anyways, a week or two later, we did introduce fruits to them officially and they had mangos & loved them!

Hadlee with her Great-Grammy in October
Also in October, my Mom & baby sister, Boo came down for a long weekend visit. It just so happened that my Grammy was also flying in to visit her brother that lives less than 2 hours from Nick & I. So it was a great weekend for us all to meet up & spend some time together. We went over to my Mom's Uncle Bill's & enjoyed some great food & company! Now the twins are both sitting up, crawling all over the place. Kooper started pulling up onto stuff just a few days after figuring out how to crawl. Hadlee doesn't pull up much & when she does her tiny, tooth-pick legs shake like crazy! My Mom & Boo got to witness the speed at which the twins can crawl through our house. While they were visiting, Kooper & Hadlee became "speed crawlers." It is definitely time to invest in some gates!

Here is a pic of the twins with their favorite Aunt BooBoo!

And of course, it wouldn't be a trip with my Mom if we didn't go shopping. We spent a few hours at the Gaffney Outlets and my Mom found this adorable winter cap for Kooper at GapKids. He loves it...and his thumb! While my Mom & Boo were visiting, we also determined that Kooper does not like textured food! One night we were enjoying dinner at my favorite place, Chili's, and I gave Hadlee & Kooper part of a Baby Mum-Mum. Hadlee slobbered hers down and Kooper wanted to, but he just couldn't get pass the texture of it. We all laughed so hard watching him stick it in his mouth & then gag until he could spit it back up! It was priceless! Since then, I've tried the puffs in a variety of flavors, but Koop just spits them out. Hadlee on the other hand seems to enjoy all types & flavors!

This is another picture I'm not sure when it was taken, but now that the twins are crawling more & more, they seem to find me no matter what I'm doing. This is a picture of Kooper helping me with the laundry; however, Hadlee's the one that normally comes to help.

One Saturday morning, the twins decided the chairs & bar stools in our dining room were going to be their play gym. They had a ball crawling through, over, under, around all the legs & then standing up under the table. It was so fun to watch them explore new territories!
Halloween Time:

Corby with all the babies. Kooper was a Colts football player, Hadlee was a Colts cheerleader, & Olivia was the cutest cow ever!!!

We spent the day out & about with Corby, Katie, & Miss Olivia! After some yummy Monterrey's for lunch and a trip to Babies-R-Us, we headed out to Corby & Katie's for a relaxing evening of watching the 3 babies play in their costumes. We had planned on driving to a few houses, but it was easier to just stay at their house & relax. The twins didn't seem to mind!

Over the past few months

Wow, time goes by so fast when you are busy! I'm sorry I haven't been great at keeping my blog up-dated. Life is just more & more crazy while working Mon-Fri. I do my best to rest up as much as possible on Saturdays & enjoy my time with the twins. I feel that I never see them during the week. I normally get home around 6pm, nurse the twins, feed the twins some baby food, make something fast for dinner, bathe the twins, have a short play session with them before nursing them before bed. I have talked to many other new moms who say their baby's in bed by 7 or 8 in order for them to have time with their husband. Unfortunately, I would never see the babies if they went to bed that early. I do try to get them to bed by 10 and Nick normally makes it home between 9:30 & 10 so that works out well for us. At this point, they are still getting up 2 times a night to nurse and although it is really hard on me while working, I take pleasure in that one-on-one time with them since I don't see them much during the week.

At their 7 month check-up on Sept. 9, Hadlee weighed in at only 11 lbs even, so their Pediatrician placed her on a 24 calorie diet once again. They were both on this while they were in the NICU, but had been just on breastmilk since then. Her ear infections were better, but the special formula to be added to the breastmilk was extremly expensive.....and rare (only certain pharmacies will order it). Luckily, her doctor thinks only 1-2 months of it will be required.
On September 11- Kooper's first tooth broke through!!! He was a trooper & we didn't really even notice it until it was up & he was biting me with it.

Also during the week of September 13, Kooper began officially crawling. Not fast yet, thankfully, but good enough to get from spot A to spot B with a few belly rests in between. Hadlee watches very closely as he moves around her. I doubt it will be much longer before she joins in on the crawling too!

Before it gets too cold for the twins to be camping, we decided to head back up to a nearby camp ground in North Carolina. We've hiked to a few of the waterfalls in this area before, but never stayed at the campgrounds. So for the Sept. 18-19 weekend, we camped & hiked to High Falls and the waterfalls were beautiful! As we sat on a few enormous rocks & peopled watched, the twins enjoyed looking at the dogs playing in the water as well. Of course our camper sleeps plenty & the twins could have their own bed each, but with it being cold out, we enjoyed sleeping all together! We also took with us a bunch of extra blankets so that they could lay outside & play while we were relaxing, grilling, etc... Kooper's favorite thing was to crawl to the edge of the blankets & grab a handful of leaves, smash them in between his tiny fingers & then try to shove them into his mouth. The pictures from that camping trip are not great, but it was still lots of fun!
Sunday evening after getting home from camping, Kooper sat up all by himself! Of course once he figured this trick out, he was crawling all over the living room & then sitting up....he's a little bit of a show-off! His 2nd tooth also broke through and the twins enjoyed their first taste of baby food! They have been eating oatmeal & rice cereal a few times a day, but Sunday night they also enjoyed a small amount of Sweet Potatoes. They both seemed to really like them, and no signs of any allergies! (On a side note.....Although they are technically 7 months old, when we went to their Nutricianist in October at 8 months old, she quickly reminded me that their adjusted age is just then 6 months & to not over due it with the baby food. I'm kinda glad she mentioned this because so many people are shocked that they are just now starting with food. Thanks to my sister, Tera, she also reminds me what the AAP recommends, and the most important nutrients that they need is my breastmilk....enough said.)

Playing on bed in camper

Hadlee & Mommy taking a nap

Kooper playing ball with Daddy

This picture is dark, but it is of Hadlee babbling to us through the screen window in the pop-out section.

Daddy's making breakfast & the rest of us were staying warm together in bed.

As it seems every Monday, I was sad to leave the twins & return to the work week. I was especially depressed because Nick sent me a picture of Kooper pulling-up all by himself using his carseat! Wow! Wait just a minute....this is all happening way too fast! It was a just a few months ago the twins were fighting for their lives in the NICU & now they are growing & developing so quickly. I don't think I'm ready for it all.

As I predicted, it wasn't no time & Hadlee was following in her brother's footsteps. On Sept 24, Hadlee started sitting up all by herself. This again was one of those things that I learned by text message pictures from Nick. I was at work when she decided to show-off her skills. She isn't fully crawling yet, but she is doing the Kooper-style push-ups trying to. It won't be long & they both will be all over our house!

Hadlee has been going to physical therapy once a week now for several months. Her PT, Diana, is becoming more & more impressed with her development & believes we will be able to cut back the sessions by the beginning of the year. Unfortunately, her physical therapy is not fixing they fluid in her right shoulder & neck area, so in October Hadlee will also begin seeing a Kinetics Therapist (similar to massage therapy). This is to hopefully release the fluid so that Hadlee will tilt her head left & right more easily & also hold her head up straight. Although it is just a slight tilt, you can especially notice it if you see her shoulders from behind. Also, due to Hadlee's lung disease she is at a high risk of catching RSV & they explained to us that if she does catch it this winter, that due to her lung tissue condition, she could end up back in the NICU. October begins the winter months in SC, so she also begins her months shot of Synagis. This is an outrageously expensive shot, but thankfully our insurance covers 80% of it. She will receive 1 shot per month until April. We pray this vaccination does a good job & keeps her healthy through the winter!

Here are a few random pics of Hadlee enjoying the beautiful fall weather at the beginning of October. Kooper was inside taking a nap, as he is so good at doing....and she is so terrible at doing. They both enjoy running their fingers & tongues up & down the netting on the side of their pack-n-play. Crazy babies!
Who needs sleep? Not me, she says!

This is what Nick calls "the migration." By the beginning of October both of them are crawling all over the house & trying to get into everything! Especially the dog food & water bowl--gross!!!

As most of you know, it takes forever to bathe a baby, especially when they want to spend a good 15-20 mintues playing. Up until late October, I've been giving the twins baths separately since I'm usually home alone. However, they both really LOVE bath time & the one that is sitting on the floor outside of the tub waiting his/her turn is usually becomes unhappy. They play very well with each other, one inside the tub & one outside the tub; however, this also adds to them trying to stand-up in the "whale tub" in order to play on the edge with the one outside of the tub. So on an evening that Nick was home to help (October 23) we placed them into the big bath tub together! At first they struggled, sliding their little butts all over the place, but then they figured it out & were in heaven! Now we cannot give them baths any other way! Here are a few snapshots of their 1st bath together. Too cute!

They are not "Irish twins," I promise. Miss Hadlee is just going to be smaller than Koop.

*Note to self: take more pictures! Nick takes lots of pictures on his cell phone, but then we forget to post them. Sorry!

Harper's birthday, eating cereal, Lake Keowee with Olivia, & more Hiking

On August 21, we spent the afternoon/evening at Harper's 1st birthday party. Harper is the daughter of friend's of ours, James & Diana, that we met through Corby & Katie (Corby & Nick were college roommates at USI). Harper's party decorations were amazing!!! I think we were all alittle over stimulated by all the pink stuff, but it sure was super cute! The picture below is the only one I got at the party, but if you want to check out more pics, Diana has lots posted on her webpage: www.thedaysofdiana.com
Hadlee, Kooper, Olivia (Corby & Katie's baby), and birthday girl, Harper!
That same weekend, as I was giving the twins their baths, I just had to take their pictures. I am simply AMAZED at how much they have grown! Yes, I know they are still really small in comparison to their age, but when they first came home from the NICU, their bath tub was huge and now they are filling it up. Before long, they will be sitting up on their own in it. They already really enjoy playing in the water & splashing mommy! Although it is a lot of work, I love giving them baths!

On August 23, the twins had their first experience sitting in their high-chairs. They started eating oatmeal cereal first, but they only did for about 4 days and we had to switch to rice cereal. The oatmeal cereal did not settle well on Hadlee's stomach. Since then, the rice cereal seems to do just fine. One of my high school BFF's (Autumn) bought us the high-chairs and I am so thankful to have 2, plus they are portable so it makes it easy to take camping & to restaurants!

Over Labor Day weekend, we spent Sunday out on the boat at Lake Keowee with Corby, Katie, and sweet Olivia! Olivia was born just 2 months prior to the twins' arrival, so Hadlee already has a best-friend and Kooper already has a girlfriend, ha ha! While we were beached to enjoy some lunch, the babies played. It was funny to watch how different they all responded to the sand. Kooper LOVED running it through his fingers, Hadlee wanted to pick it up & lick it, and Olivia didn't want to touch it at all!

Beautiful Miss Hadlee ;-)

Kooper doing what he enjoyed....running his fingers through the cool sand.
Nick and Kooper enjoying some sun shine.
Hadlee & I loving our boat ride....check out the pretty mountains surrounding the lake!

Corby teaching Olivia how to drive.

Over the past few weeks, Kooper has been showing off his "push-ups!" It is absolutely hilarious to watch him! He gets up, rocks back & forth, and then collapses back to his belly. He also gets up on his knees and army crawls some, but it isn't as cute as his "push-up."
On Monday morning, Hadlee was up first, as usual. So I was in the living room nursing her when I heard Kooper's jungle mobile playing from his crib. When I went to check on him, I found him awake, sucking his thumb, and obviously he had turned it on all by himself! I was shocked, so I had to snap a pic of him.
Although I didn't take a picture of Hadlee throwing her usual evening tantrum, here is Kooper on Tuesday (Sept. 7) after getting their baths, and Hadlee screaming in my arms fighting sleep. I thought he looked like what I wanted to do "just throw my arms out & give up."
On Monday, of Labor Day weekend, we had went for a short drive up to Hendersonville, NC to the Apple Festival. It was extremely busy, so I didn't get any pics on our camera, but on our way home we took a more scenic route and we found a few new spots we couldn't wait to hike to. The next Sunday was beautiful as usual, so we headed back up. We were shocked to realize that these waterfalls were only 20-25 minutes north of our house. They were so pretty, I wished other people were with us to see them too! Here is the first one we hiked to: Hooker Falls. We also hiked up to Triple Falls, which was 3 staggered waterfalls, much larger than Hooker Falls, and oh so very pretty! Unfortunately, our camera's memory was full, so I didn't get any pictures of them. I think Nick took several pictures on his phone, so hopefully I can add those soon. This was a more serious hike & I was of course sore the next day....but so was Nick, so that made me feel better!

Indiana Family & Friends

While I was in IN, I also celebrated my 30th birthday. We didn't do anything special b/c it was one of the only days that we stayed at my mom & dad's & enjoyed some relaxation. Tera, B & B, our cousin Taryn, and my cousin's son, Luke came over to swim & play with the twins. My mom was sweet enough to have cake & icecream pool-side for us! I wasn't real happy about turning 30, so I was ok with not doing much. Here is a picture of Braylee & Brynna with my cousin, Taryn.
Here is a picture of me enjoying my cake & icecream....the twins were inside taking a short nap.

A few evenings while we were in Indiana, we had dinner with my brother & his family. Although him & Heather only have 2 kids, I think Travis loves babies enough that he would have more! Ely liked holding them too, as long as they weren't fussing ;-) Saturday evening, a several more of my high school buddies got together for dinner at Lenny's in Bloomington. My cousin, Broc & his wife Sara were the ones that got all the plans pulled together for all of us to meet up. I was so happy to get to see them & baby Coen once again. Thankfully, several others made time to hang out as well. BJ & his wife had their daughter, Eliza the day after the twins were born. Heather & I actually had the same due date and due to both of us having preeclampsia, we both delivered 8 weeks early. Crazy!!! Josh & his wife, Laura Beth recently moved back to Bloomington so it was great seeing them, plus Jeremiah, his wife, Jamie & daughter Brylee were able to come too. I'm not sure that I have seen them in 2-3 years or more so I thought it was wonderful that we all got to visit a short bit. Although, we did get numerous odd stares in the restaurant as we tried to juggle fussy babies, feed babies, change diapers, & eat dinner ourselves. It was all worth it though...it was a great time! A few people even questioned if they were quads!
Here is a pic of everybody And here are those of us that went to WRV together. From left to right: Jeremiah w/Brylee, BJ w/Eliza, Broc w/Coen, Me w/Hadlee, and Josh w/Kooper (he rented OK for the night b/c Nick was still in SC due to work) Nick was able to fly into IN the following Wednesday. He was definitely excited to see his babies once again! We went straight from the airport to Los Bravos to enjoy dinner with our favorite E-ville buddies, Barb, Tommy, & Emilee. I'm not sure why I didn't get a picture, but I really wish we had. We could spend every night out to dinner with them, we always have so much fun! Then on Thursday afternoon, we headed down to Henderson, KY to spend some time with the Dixon family. Here is a picture of the twins with Hunter, Gunner, Bailey, & Travis. On Friday, we met up with Nick's high school friends. Once again, I don't have any pics, unfortunately, but I think I saw Jason taking pictures so I need to get them from him to post. We all met at Andy & Audrey's, which worked out great b/c they have a wonderful patio for entertaining, plus Audrey is a fabulous cook! I cannot wait to meet their newest addition to their family....she should arrive this fall/winter! We ended up having a really rough night because poor Hadlee was up sick. She was running a fever, had a runny nose, & had some caughing. Thankfully we were still able to make it to my Clifford family reunion for the first time in over 10 years! I loved getting to see pics of my Gramps as a young boy! Also, my Uncle Tom, Aunt Jeanine, & their 3 girls got the chance to meet/spend some time with the twins. They just recently moved from Maryland to Virginia so we don't get the opportunity very often to see them. Once we returned to SC, we took Hadlee to her pediatrician & found out that she had a double ear-infection. Thankfully, after 2 weeks of anitbiotics, she started feeling better and started sleeping better once again!
Spending 2 full weeks in Indiana was absolutely great! I know that Nick & I would dearly miss our wonderful friends here in SC, but eventually, I think we will make the move back. I definitely want the twins to know their cousins, grandparents, aunts & uncles just like I did. I cannot imagine what my life would be like if I hadn't been raised around my family.

1st Trip to Indiana

I know this post is out of order b/c we visited Indiana prior to the twins turning 6 months, but I've had a hard time getting all the pictures to upload properly. So I'm just now publishing it. For the last 2 weeks of July, me & the twins drove up to Indiana to spend some time with family & friends. So much of my family still had not had the chance to meet the twins & of course I always love the chance to spend time with great friends! Nick & I had planned for a quick visit to IN the last weekend of July, but the night before my Mom, Boo, & Josh were going to head back from their visit at our house, I decided to beg my Mom to stay a little longer so that she could ride to IN with me. I have drove back & forth from SC to IN numerous times without Nick, but never without Nick with the twins. Having them go along would turn a 5 minute gas stop into an hour ordeal. Thankfully, my Mom had already taken time off from work, so she had extra time to stay. It normally takes us 9 1/2 to 10 hours to drive to my parent's house, but with the twins & stopping in TN to pick up Trista's boyfriend, our drive ended up taking 12 1/2 hours! I drove it all & the twins did excellent with the exception of about 30 minutes while we were driving through the mountains with road construction. Needless to say, when we arrived early Saturday morning, all I could think of doing was nursing the twins & heading to bed. I managed to get 3 hours of sleep & we rested most of the day at my mom & dad's.
Sunday was my Granny's birthday, so we decided to visit her before heading to Grammy's for Sunday dinner. Tera, Alex, & their girls were also visiting Granny so it was great to get a picture with them....too bad Emi & Ely weren't there.
Grammy was having dinner for everyone at her house b/c my cousin, Tomi and her husband Brad & son Noah were home from Texas. It was the first time that most of them got to meet the twins. It was emotional for me, as I couldn't help but regret that Gramps never had the chance to meet the twins! Here is a super cute picture of Grammy getting to hold Hadlee for the first time!
My brother, Travis and his wife, Heather & my niece & nephew (Emi & Ely) had also never met the twins. Nick & I both love spending time with them b/c they are so much fun & have lots in common with us. Heather was taking advantage of loving on Hadlee while Kooper was passed out in my cousin Tomi's lap.
This was the first time that all of Grammy's great-grandkids were together, so we had to try our best to get a picture of her with them. It wasn't easy, but here are a 2 of the hundreds we took in attempt to get a good one of everyone.
From left to right: Ely, Emilee with Kooper, Grammy with Hadlee, Luke, Lane, Noah, and Brynna & Braylee sitting in the front.
Tera's girls go to the same gymnastics gym that I trained at, so we met up there to watch them Tuesday morning. The gym looks the same & my coaches are still coaching! Afterwards, I went with Tera & her girls to meet Abbie & Max for lunch. Abbie was one of our college roommates & Tera & I both love spending time with her. Of course Tera does this a lot more often than I get to. Here is a picture of all our kiddos together at Abbie's mom & dad's house.
On Wednesday, we all headed down to Evansville to run a few errands...mainly shopping stuff. We went to Busy Beads to make Hadlee a few adorable bracelets and of course we had to eat at Hacienda. Yummy!! Hadlee was nursing, so she missed out on this photo.
Then on Thursday, a few of my BFF's from college met up at my parent's place for lunch, conversation, & a short dip in the pool. Kastonia's little girl, Addison was born in January, so she is only a few weeks older than the twins. Erin brought Whitney with her, but her son Reece stayed at his Papaw's for the day. They were so sweet & brought me balloons, cupcakes, & a birthday gift! They are all always quick to remind me that I'm the oldest....but it was still such a sweet thing!
Hadlee with Erin's daughter, Whitney
Erin loving on the twins before we headed out to the pool! By the way, Erin is expecting her 3rd baby in December!
A few of the days that I was home, Emilee & Ely stayed at my mom & dad's too. Emi was a great help with the twins. Ely watched them while I took a quick shower once and he let me know that it was a lot of hard work, ha ha! Funny since this is coming from a 10 year old boy who knows how to run my Grandpa's farm.
I also got the chance to have dinner a few times with several high school friends, but some how we did not get any pictures!?! One evening, the twins & I met my friends Sarah & Patricia along with their husband's & kiddos for Mexican in Linton. We had a great time catching up & Jake did a wonderful job putting Kooper to sleep. Then another evening, we all met up at the Lyon's Mexican restaurant. My friend, Autumn wasn't able to meet the first night we had dinner, so she was glad we were able to get another nigh planned. She was so happy to meet the twins! Autumn, Anthony, Sarah & Nathan and their daughter, Audrey, Nathan & Angie and their boys Hayden & Jackson, along with Patricia & Jake all had a wondeful dinner together. It is just too bad that we don't get to meet up more often!