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)