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!

6 Months & Counting!

Hadlee & Kooper~
Just 6 short months ago today, you were brought into our lives. It has not been an easy 6 months by no means, but it has all been well worth it. We are amazed daily with how our lives have changed for the better. The long, scary days spent at the hospital and in the NICU are just a blur now. We both love you very much and cannot imagine what our lives would be like without you two.
At this point, you both are very curious and a little bit nosey. You have a hard time nursing unless I place you under the cover because you become easily distracted by the sounds and movements around you. Although there are still a few developmental delays that your physical therapist is concerned about, over the past 4-5 weeks you both have made great progress! Both of you are putting full weight in your little legs, reaching out to grab toys, smiling at everyone that talks to you, rolling over more and more or at least attempting to roll, and you have even started babbling to us. It is so much fun to watch you explore your surroundings (including reaching out for Marley & Gage)!

Little Miss Hadlee, You have the sweetest little smile & bright eyes. You are definitely more shy at this point than your brother. It is so cute when someone talks to you & you turn your tiny head to the side & look out at them through the corner of your eyes. It is so sweet! Your hair is finally starting to grow in everywhere except your lovely bald spot on the back of your head. Everytime you get upset, you toss your head back & forth; therefore, you have a bald spot. :-) You weigh 9 lbs. 6 oz. and you are a great eater, so I know you will continue to grow & catch up to Kooper. Hadlee, you have the sweetest little giggle! Your dad & I love to tickle your little tummy & hear your sweet laugh.

Big Little Brother Kooper, You're a big flirt! You have been smiling at people for a long time now. You really enjoy watching the fish in our salt-water tank, you love to play & be entertained, and you especially love sucking on your thumb! You are a champ at rolling around in circles and flipping over to your belly. My oh my how your hair has grown! You have a full head of brown hair and the brightest blue eyes! You tend to fight falling asleep heaven forebid you would miss something. You have the funniest belly laugh and you enjoy kicking and splashing in the bath tub. You are weighing a whole three pounds more than Hadlee at 12 lbs. 6 oz!

You two are amazing and we LOVE you to pieces! xoxo, Mom & Dad

More Summer Visitors

Friends of ours opened an Italian Ice & Custard shop called Rita's. I love it! These 2 pics were taken by one of their daughters during one of our visits. I thought they were cute so I wanted to share them.


After Nick's family visited the weekend of 4th of July, my Mom, Trista, and Trista's boyfriend came down for a visit. While Trista & Josh tried to catch-up on sleep after driving down throughout the night, my Mom & I headed to the Greenville Mall.

Our main mission at the mall- to get Hadlee's ears pierced! As you can see in the picture, she wasn't real happy about it, but she was quickly over the scare and pain. She only fussed a minute or two afterwards & has never seemed bothered by them since, thankfully!

I love Hadlee's first set of ear rings. They are gold hearts with a tiny pink crystal in the center. Plus, Mamaw purchased her a second set that are small crystal butterflies- my favorite!!!

Aunt Boo Boo has them spoiled already :-)

Most of the weekend, we shopped, ate out, road the 4 wheelers, stayed up way too late, & even got to hike to Twin Falls again. Our cousin, Bret currently lives abour 3 hours south of us in SC. He finally made it up for a visit as well & was able to hang-out, meet the twins, & sleep in our new camper.



Here we all are towards the end of our hike at Twin Falls. From left to right- Josh, Boo, Bret with Hadlee, Me, and Nick with Kooper. (My mom was our photographer)


While they were all visiting, we also went to see Despicable Me at the movie theater. It was super cute & the twins did really good. As you can see in this pic, Kooper LOVED the movie! He stayed awake & watched the entire movie from my lap or Mamaw's lap.

A few people have asked if Nick is helpful since we have 2 to feed, change diapers, get dressed, entertain, etc.... Here is Nick's way of double-fisting ;-)

This is a great help early in the morning when I'm trying to get ready for work; however, over the past few weeks the twins have started nursing faster, thank goodness!

~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.