~They Melt My Heart~

On Friday, July 2, we had the twins' first photo shoot! We arranged for them to be done really early in the morning in order to catch the morning light and to hopefully keep it from being too hot. The weather was great! It was slightly cloudy & humid, but no rain & the temperature wasn't too bad. Kooper was loving our photographer, Carrie....but Hadlee was a little camera shy. Carrie met us down by Reedy River Falls in downtown G-ville. It has such a beautiful, natural landscape, even though you don't see much of it in the shots.
Here is her link to the finalized shots, if you would like to view them. There are too many that I love to say which are my favs!

http://picasaweb.google.com/carriegarrett/OwenAndHadleeFinals#


Tera & the girls left Wednesday morning & Nick's family arrived on Friday morning and left July 5. Then my younger sis, Trista, and my Mom arrived July 9. It has been crazy at our house & I'm praying the twins can keep a schedule & not become too spoiled from everyone always wanting to cuddle with them. I'll have to post more pics of our other summer visitors when I get a chance.

Summer Visitors continued....

Each night for a few hours before we would head to bed, B & B enjoyed playing the WII. They really liked doing the training part at the beginning that tested them on how well they could stand on 1 leg. They were really good at balancing as long as they could put their hand on Tera's arm, but when Braylee tried it on her own, the WII said her "fit age" was 15, ha ha! Tera, Nick, & I joined in most of the time too. Tera was better at bowling while she was holding one of the twins?!? Poor little Brynna had a hard time because she is so short that she couldn't throw her arm up high enough to hit the sensor.
On Tuesday, we got up early & took a short hike to Twin Falls. This water fall is only about 30 minutes from our house & it is an easy hike. We love going to it of it's accessibility. There are several more that I would love for my family to see, but to be honest....Tera & Braylee are really clumsy. So I thought we should play it safe & just do Twin Falls. I think Braylee did a great job with this picture at the beginning of the trail.
Tera has her girls trained to pose for the camera!
Kooper enjoyed putting his piggies in the water! It was pretty cold, so I was surprised that he didn't care a little more.
Hadlee found her thumb even while being stuck in the Jeep carrier.
After our hike, we rested at my house and then made another trip into Greenville. We did a little shopping at Target and then stopped at one of my favorite summer spots: Rita's Italian Ice! The girls loved it too!

Our 1st Visitors of the Summer

On June 26, my older sister Tera and her 2 girls drove down from Indiana for a visit! They were our first visitors of the summer & I was so excited about hanging out with my two beautiful nieces. As you can see in the picture below, B & B were happy to hold the twins right after arriving at our house. We had plans to go into town & do a few things, but all we really did was eat my my favorite restaurant & one of Tera's favs too, Chili's! Braylee especially kept the twins entertained while Tera & I enjoyed talking.
First thing the next morning, Braylee was ready to help feed the twins & change any "soggy" diapers! She is such a "mommy" already that she will be a wonderful help when Tera & Alex have more kids.
Kooper & Hadlee showing how happy they're after getting their bellies full!
This is the pic that Braylee snapped several times & just kept saying, "Yup that was good." But really she didn't care & was just snapping the camera to get it over with. It was funny! My grandparents, Pa & Granny, were also able to stop in on Sunday afternoon. They were taking the long-way down to Florida so that is allowed them to visit the twins and a few of my cousins that also live on the east coast. It was a beautiful afternoon, so we filled up a small plastic pool for B & B, but it ended up thundering and scared them. Needless to say, they were only in the pool for about an hour.
Our Granny also had an identical twin sister. Tera did a short photo session with Hadlee while Kooper was taking a nap. She was adoring all of Aunt Tera's attention!
Brynna & I were sitting in the garage watching Nick work on the jeep. She is such a sweetheart; I just love her!
Nick was outside grilling for dinner & Brynna was keeping him company. All weekend long she called him "Nicky-Nick"....she is so silly!
Bath time! Braylee & Brynna did a great job. The twins didn't cry once.
On Monday, we headed to Gaffney to the outlet mall. We spent almost the entire day shopping for our kids. This was something that wasn't that much fun until I had my own kids to buy for. It is nice shopping with Tera because she is able to help me buy clothes for future use. She is so good about knowing approximately what size they will be during each season. I'm finding this very important since the twins are not following the normal sizes for their age.
Here is me & Brynna eating a Fatz after our long day of shopping.

Oxygen FREE & Enjoying Life

Finally, on June 16 Hadlee passed her multi-channel lung test. It was great to know that her lungs were finally developed well enough to support her without the oxygen tanks. It is amazing how much easier it is to move around the house and to load the kids up in the truck & go places. Although it still takes awhile to get everything together for 2 babies, it is much easier without the need of changing Hadlee's tubing from the concentrator to an 02 tank and making sure we have plenty of tanks with us, etc... We pray that she continues to grow & develop!
Hadlee sleeping during part of the 6 hour test


On Friday, June 18, I was at home getting everything ready for another camping trip. I had been going in & out of the house, when I heard Kooper quietly whinning. This is how I found him in the living room. Ha ha! Notice that he is still sucking his thumb even though he pulled the play-gym down.

Wrestling with the play gym

My siblings & I spent lots of nights & weekends camping with Grammy & Gramps as young kids. I have many, many, many fond memories from camping with my grandparetns, cousins, friends, etc... My Mom actually went into labor with me while she was camping at McCormick's Creek. Therefore, camping has always been a passion of mine. I hope that we are able to make great memories for the twins in our new camper!
Hadlee & I camping at Crooked Creek on Lake Keowee

Finally, Abbie & I got to meet up with our twins once again! As you may remember, Abbie and I delivered our sets of twins at the same hospital, on the same day, only about 11 hours apart. We both endured c-sections and life in the NICU! It was such a blessing to have Abbie & Dustin there to support us as we were then available to support them as well. We met up for lunch on the twins' 20th week birthday! It was a great time and we look forward to more play-dates to come.