A Day in the Life of Hadlee & Kooper

(Here is another post I started in December, but fell behind & didn't get it completed.)

On a normal day:
2:30-3:00am wake up to nurse
5:00-5:30am wake up to nurse before Mommy has to head-off to work
7:30-8:00am wake up & hang out with Daddy
8:00-8:30am Daddy gives us a bottle for breakfast
8:30-11:30am we play with Daddy, Hadlee goes to therapy once aweek, take a short morning nap (Kooper normally, Hadlee sometimes) & a few doc appointments (depending on the day)
11:30-12:00pm Daddy gives us another bottle for lunch
12:00-12:30pm our babysitter arrives so that Daddy can go to work
1:00-1:30pm babysitter feeds us some baby food
1:30-3:00pm we play with each other & our babysitter makes sure we don't get into too much trouble while Mommy & Daddy are working
3:00-3:30pm we drink another bottle & enjoy a few afternoon snacks (puffs, yogurt melts, or mum-mums)
3:30pm-??? we play until we take our afternoon nap
6:00-6:30pm Mommy arrives home from work & we get to nurse
6:30-7:00pm we help Mommy make dinner, play & whine a little b/c we want all of Mommy's attention
7:30-8:00pm Mommy feeds us some baby food for dinner
8:30pm we get to play in the bath tub and we love it!
9:00-9:30pm we nurse & start falling asleep for Mommy (on a good night)
9:30-11:30pm we're sleeping like a baby, ha ha
11:30-12:00am we nurse again so that Mommy can get some sleep too

Things we are up to these days:
We like to play with our singing grocery cart that Mamaw bought us as part of our early Christmas gifts. We can hold onto it & it helps us walk.
We love to bounce in our bouncer/vibrating seat.
We really find Marley & Gage fun to crawl around on.
We think electrical outlets and plugs are fascinating.
Mommy & Daddy have had to move all the breakable items out of our reach because we really like pulling everything off of the shelves and out of baskets.
I, Kooper, can say: Dah (dad), bah (ball), and doh doh (dog dog).
I, Hadlee, can say: woo woo (woof, woof), ey (hey), shake my head NO very well, and wave Hi & Bye.
I, Kooper, have fallen in love with my fuzzy, brown elephant blanket and love rubbing it with my fingers when I'm sleepy or sick.
I, Hadlee, love my Mommy's sunflower quilt & my silky, pink-n-brown flower quilt, but most of all I love my green paci.
We really like using the chairs, couch, hope-chest, and fish tank to help us pull-up & walk around.
We think Daddy & Mommy's cell phones are the greatest toys to slobber all over.
No matter the homemade baracade, we love the thrill of breaking through it, crawling over it, and making a dash for it.
We find it fun to un-roll the toilet paper rolls when no one is watching.
We like to throw our sippy cups "overboard" when we're in our high chairs.
I, Hadlee, am wearing size 2 diapers, mainly 0-3 months clothes and a few 3-6 months clothes (depending on the brand). Everyone says I look like my Mommy. I tend to be high maintainance and want to be held more often than my brother. I used to be the best at staring people down, but recently I've decided it is ok to show them my shy smile and tiny teeth. I like to scrunch up my nose & snort. I am a very messy eater and refuse to stay strapped in to the high chairs at restaurants. I love taking Gage's ball & playing tug-of-war with him. It makes me giggle so hard! I also think naps are over-rated, unless someone is holding me.
I, Kooper, am wearing size 2 diapers and 3-6 months clothes. Everyone says I look like my Daddy. I have a laid back personality and self-sooth myself often with my thumb & fuzzy blanket. I'm a big flirt and smile at all the girls. I love climbing on Marley & Gage, even when Gage doesn't want me to. I enjoy taking my naps and easily fall asleep anywhere as long as I can suck my thumb & roll onto my belly. I have tons of hair and long, dark eye lashes. I am a picky eater and gag often an anything with texture.
On Nov. 4 at our 9 month check-up, I (Hadlee) weighed 12 lbs. 14 oz. and I (Kooper) weighed 15 lbs. 6 oz.

And this is why we didn't mail Christmas cards this year:

Refusing to sit long enough to take a cute picture.

Hadlee crawled over to me & tried to sit in my lap.

Kooper wanted to play with Rudolph, Clarice, and the Christmas tree lights.

This pic tells it all......Just look at their enthusiasm! I think it was easier getting Marley & Gage to pose than it was for the twins. So sorry to all of those expecting a Christmas card. I hope to be more successful at it next year when I can hopefully bribe them to behave, ha ha!

During November & December

I think November & December are a little bit of a blur. So much was going on & now that it is several months later, I have forgotten what all was happening. Here is quick pic that I love because it shows just how much Kooper loves bath time! I also love Hadlee's cute, mini legs.

Just a few weeks after my Mom & sister came down for a short visit, my Mom & Dad came back down. My Dad hadn't seen the twins since the summer, so it was great to spend the weekend with them. Mom & I, of course, did some Christmas shopping, which included building the twins their first Build-A-Bear's: Rudolph & Clarice. Hadlee was more impressed than Kooper was, as you can see.

Then the following weekend (Nov. 20) my Granny & Pa drove down for a visit too. They were here when I got home from work on Friday & stayed until Saturday. Pa wasn't feeling well, so they left a day earlier than planned. Normally I would have insisted they stay, but Kooper was scheduled for surgery on Monday morning Nov. 22, and we definitely didn't want him to get sick too. The twins obviously enjoyed their company because they both were spoiled by being held the entire time they took their naps!
Here is Kooper with his Great-Pa

Here is Hadlee with her Great-Granny

Me, Granny with Hadlee, and Pa with Kooper

As I was saying, Kooper had his surgery to repair his hypo-spadea and chordae. We learned that he needed this surgery when he was around 4 weeks old, so it was something we were able to prepare for; however, it didn't take my fears away. I have never been one to handle anethesia or pain medicines well so I was really scared as to how Kooper would handle it all. He of course, didn't know what was going on, other than he wanted to nurse, but wasn't allowed to since midnight. Thankfully, his surgery was scheduled for early in the morning at the same hospital where they were delivered, so we knew all to well where to park, check-in at, etc... Here is a picture of Kooper prior to surgery hanging out on his Daddy's lap in his surgery scrubs. Cute, huh?

Even when we had to place Kooper in the crib to roll him down to the operating room, he didn't seem concerned. It was equiped with the same crib toy as his at home, so he showed us all how to turn it on and he showed off how he could pull up & stand along the edge.

His surgery took about 4 hours, and his urologist explained to us that it was more severe than they thought from the external view. So instead of just needing a catheter for 4-5 days, he required a lot more stitches so he ended up with the catherter for 8 days. His urologist does believe everything was fully repaired and shouldn't need anymore surgeries due to those complications.
Here is a picture of him once we got home from the hospital. Hadlee was very happy to see him, as she was still asleep when we left that morning. Thankfully, our babysit was willing to come to the house extra, extra early to spend the day with her so that she wasn't exposed to everyone at the hospital.

The next day, Kooper was still really miserable and pretty much slept the entire day. I love this picture because it truly shows how much Marley LOVES him...and her daddy :-)

I purposely scheduled Kooper's surgery the Monday before Thanksgiving because his doctor had told me that we would need to closely monitor him for 5-6 days, especially while he had the catheter in. Having it done then, allowed me to only miss 2 days of work instead of an entire week. The bad part was, we had to deal with it all while we were trying to enjoy our holiday. We spent Thanksgiving with Corby, Katie, Olivia, & Katie's family was visiting from Indiana. It was a nice, relaxing day. So relaxing that this is the only picture I have from it. My cousin, Bret, also came up from Aiken to spend the holiday weekend with us. Oh and due to Kooper's catheter, we were not able to fully submerge him in water for a bath. Did you see in the very first pic how happy he is when he realizes it is bath time? Needless to say, he had a complete melt-down when he saw that Hadlee was in the bath without him! It took me a good 15 minutes to calm him down...it was pathetic :-(

This is a picture that our babysitter sent me from her phone, so I apologize for the poor quality. I just had to share it though b/c this was the first time he was so tired that he fell asleep while he was supposed to be eating some lunch.

December 1 brought us our first airplane ride! Yes, we are the crazy parents of twins that decided to fly with 10 month olds. Hey, it sure beat the many hours in a vehicle, stuck in traffic, nursing on the side of the road, etc... We flew out of GSP really early in the morning; however, Hadlee was still happy to see everyone at the airport, as you can see in this picture.

Shortly, after take off they were both back to sleep. Our first family "self portrait" from in an airplane.

Then a bit later, Hadlee is wide awake enjoying the view out her window with Daddy

...and Kooper still asleep on Mommy

Our connecting flight ended up having hydraulic & computer problems, so we ended up spending several hours waiting on the plane. Thank the Lord, the twins handled it all way better than anyone on the plane thought they would...including Nick & I! We were so lucky! Here they are being amazed by the windows.

And when the windows became boring, we resorted to toys & snacks.

Some very BIG news, the day that we flew back to SC (Dec. 5), we were home trying to un-pack, recooperate from traveling, and let the twins burn-off some energy. It was getting kinda late for them, around 8pm I guess when I was getting ready to jump into the shower & Hadlee was playing in our bedroom with our long mirror. Nick was standing near her talking to me, when she decided to take her first 4 steps!!! Yup, she did it! She WALKED by herself before Kooper. It was so amazing that Nick & I both got to witness it! Since then, she has taken a few steps here & there, but nothing serious. They both get around really well in our living room, because they are able to walk from the couch to the chair to popazon chair and to my hope chest all with just a few steps on their own. Although Hadlee walked first, Kooper started taking a few steps just a few days later.
Here are a few pics from Miss Olivia's Dr. Seuss 1st Birthday party on Dec.11th


Miss Olivia (12 months), Kooper & Hadlee (10 months), and Miss Harper (16 months)