OK, so I'm sure everyone has given up on my blog by now! This is by far the longest I've been out of commission....6 months!!! Sadly to say, Facebook has become my new "blog". I do miss blogging and checking on all my friends' blogs, so I'm ready to come back to the REAL blogging world! The longer it's been since the last time I blogged, the more overwhelming it feels to catch up. Well, here goes...
Our precious twins, Cooper and Conley, are now 7 months old!!! They are doing GREAT!! They have just recently started sitting up on their own and they have been rolling all over the place for months now. They are not crawling just yet, but we are in NO hurry for them to be mobile!! Here is a recap of their first 7 months...
Cooper has been given the cute nickname (by Mommy) Cooper-loops. I have no idea where it comes from, but I just started saying it one day and now I call her that all the time. I think it's really cute, and I think she likes it just fine :-) ! She has earned the reputation of being the "high maintenance" one. Cooper-loops just needs a little bit of extra attention than Conley Kate. Cooper is definitely the louder of the two. She squeals and screams even when she is not upset. She definitely wants to be held more often and does NOT like to go to sleep in her crib at night. We joke that she is going to make sister fat, because she seems to be the one that jumps the gun wanting to eat a little bit early, so we'll make their food or bottles, but then Conley eats all of hers while Cooper doesn't always finish. You see, the rule with twins at our house is that they both eat at the same time...ALWAYS! It makes our lives easier that way! Although we joke that she is high-maintenance, she is a very happy baby! She lights up when you look at her and talk to her, and she coos right back at you. She is very smiley. She loves to be held and has a precious giggle when you tickle her. She seemed to be the "first" to do things starting off...she rolled over first and she started her baby coos first, both between 3 and 4 months old. However, as soon as Cooper would do something, Conley would be doing it just days later. They really have stayed about the same developmentally.
Conley doesn't have as creative of a nickname, but I seem to always call her Conley Kate. It just flows well. Conley is the laid back one. She is just such a sweet, content (most of the time), happy girl. Now, don't get me wrong, Conley has her moments where she needs attention as well, but between her and Cooper, she usually is more laid back. Conley doesn't squeal and scream nearly as much, she has more of a growl sound that she makes when she "talks". Usually we can tell from their sounds which one is which on the baby monitor. Her most recent new "trick" is to stick out her tongue and blow a spitting sound. She does it when she is very happy and excited. It's pretty cute....except when it's time to eat! Conley goes to bed so easily. She may cry when you first put her in her crib, but usually she can just play until she is tired and then falls asleep just fine on her own. Cooper fights it quite a bit more. Conley has recently started sleeping flat on her face. It scared us at first, but she positions her face so she can still breathe and that just seems to be how she likes to sleep. She is on her tummy, face-down most mornings. Conley has the cutest dimples. Her eyes sparkle when she smiles. Such a pretty girl!
Conley's eye looks amazingly better! We have been so happy to see her response with the medicine that she is on. Her hemangiomas have lightened and cleared up so much! The one on her head is about the same area still, but it's much flatter and softer, MUCH lighter in color and it's cleared up a LOT in the middle of it. It seems to be clearing up from the inside out. The hemangioma on her eye has shrunk quite a bit. It's very soft now and almost completely flat and MUCH lighter in color. She has been able to open her eye completely since starting on her medicine. She has never needed a patch or any assistance with her vision. I guess hemangiomas grow up to a baby's first 12 months, so I can't imagine what it would have looked like on her eye had she not been on the medicine. It was so aggressive with the growth that it made just in her first 3 weeks of life. We are so thankful for Dr. Hunt and his successful experiment of this treatment for hemangiomas in infants! We are keeping her on it until she is 12 months, but we will no longer increase the dosage with her weight. It will be a natural way to wean her off of it.
They both lost most of their hair in the first few months. They started off with quite a bit more than they have now. It's growing back on top already, but the back of their heads are very bald. Their hair looks much darker than Campbell's so I'm guessing they'll be brunettes. Their eyes are still VERY blue just like Campbell's! We can't believe that we have 3 blue-eyed girls! Matt and I both have brown eyes. Conley is about half a pound heavier than Cooper. At 6 months Conley was about 13 lbs 6 oz and Cooper was around 12 lbs 14 oz. I'm guessing they are around 14+ lbs by now. They are barely in the 5th percentile for their age, so they are still on the small side...although their chubby cheeks and thighs can be misleading! They both ended up with RSV around 3 months old, so we made a trip to the ER at Cook Children's in Fort Worth, but we were just sent home with breathing treatments to do. They were over it in about a week. Besides that, they have been very healthy. They are so fun to watch when we put them on the floor to play. They grab toys from each other or grab the other one's bow or headband. They roll around and end up kicking each other in the head. When we put one in her high chair, she'll lean forward and look over at the other high chair to see if sister is there and see what she is doing. It's so cute! I can tell that twins are going to be a lot of fun to watch them grow up together!
Campbell Kay has been a wonderful big sister!! She has always been SO sweet to Cooper and Conley! Although she has her jealous moments, she has never acted out towards them really. She is always proud to show them off to her friends and often calls them "my babies". If we ask Cooper or Conley a question like, "Well, are you already hungry?" Campbell will remind me, "Momma, my babies can't talk!" She is very helpful most of the time, but occasionally when I ask her to do something, she'll reply, "no, you can do it." I guess she doesn't always feel like helping! I can totally relate...LOL! She has been going to school on Tuesdays and Thursdays and has done great! Next year we are thinking about enrolling her at a different school that offers 3 days a week. This spring she also tried soccer for the first time. Although she was not exactly MVP, she had a lot of fun and really enjoyed it! She was definitely one of the youngest players and probably one of the least aggressive. She would always run up to the coach as soon as we'd get to practice or the game and make sure he knew she was there. "Coach Matt, Coach Matt, I'm here!!!" It was as if she thought he was waiting to start practice until she got there - too funny! He always got a kick out of her. I think we'll try again in the fall if she wants to. We're hoping to do swim lessons soon and then maybe try gymnastics this summer. She's finally taking after her Momma ... the girl is getting quite a few freckles on her face this year already! Well, as Campbell calls them, "frinkles". She is too cute with her "wild-woman" curly hair! It is crazy how curly her hair is. Everyone comments on it when they see her. It's precious right now, but I'm sure she'll hate it one day. We're hoping that it will get some weight on it soon, because we are NOT trying to set the record for the biggest fro on a 3-year-old. Oh my! Campbell surely keeps us laughing all the time with the funny things she says. She has quite the personality. We just love how fun she is!! I still call her "baby girl". I can't believe she will be 4 this year!!!
Let's see, what else is new??? We moved!! I tend to want to make our lives as crazy as possible, so we decided to move with 4 month old twins! We moved in with my parents for a few weeks while doing some remodel work at our new house. It was nuts and such a mess!! We are glad to be past most of the mess, but we still have a never-ending project list!
I came back to work at the beginning of January. I'm working a modified schedule that allows me to take Campbell to and from school with shorter work days twice a week, and a day to work from home every Friday. It's been nice, but I still end up to be very busy and often work from home at night to maintain my workload. I'm still learning to balance everything. My mom has been a lifesaver to us keeping the girls during the week. She has all three girls Mon and Wed and then just the twins on Tues and Thurs when Campbell is at school. Those are shorter days for her too since I get off early those days. Then Fridays she keeps just Campbell while my grandparents keep the twins. It gives my mom a day to do one-on-one stuff with Campbell and my grandparents really enjoy getting to know the twins better this way. We don't know what we would do without the help of our family!! We are so very blessed with supportive family!!!
Matt recently took on more responsibilities at his job with a promotion to Director in his IT department. He's doing really well at APH and seems to enjoy it a lot. He was able to hire a friend of his to work with him, who actually just started his first day today! I think they will really enjoy working together.
Matt and I have to laugh quite often about our crazy new lives with 3 kiddos. There are so many times that they are all screaming at once and it gets pretty overwhelming. We just handle it as best we can, and then we look back and laugh about it. What else can we do??? LOL! We both have had to step it up with responsibilities at home, so we don't keep up with many shows on DVR anymore. Our evenings are pretty full with dinner, baths, bottles and bedtime. We do love our girls and spending time with them in the evenings, but house projects have kept us very preoccupied. Now that our projects are slowing down, we hope to find a better balance of quality time during the week as a family.
All-in-all, we are doing great! Matt and I are trying to find an area to start volunteering at church again as we are adjusting to our new routine. We're ready to get back to our "pre-twin" activities again ... LOL! Honestly, we really have stayed very busy with our litter-in-tow just fine over 7 months. We pretty much have done all the same things we did before, now we just need a table for 5! I was eager to get back in shape after being on bed rest for so long, so I've run 2 half marathons (March and April) and a couple shorter races. It's been great stress relief, but the training takes a lot of time...time that I don't have! I'm going to take a break from the longer races, but I still hope to do a few every year. Matt and I are registered for a 6.4 mile Mud Run in November. That should be interesting!
OK, I think that gets us pretty much caught up! I guess I'm back on track now! Hopefully I'll keep up with at least weekly updates! Thanks for not giving up on me!!!
