A fun-filled July so far!

Well, I can say one thing...last year was a much cooler summer for me! I was in a freezing cold hospital room for all of my July last year, and I totally took that for granted! Man, it sure is a hot summer! I think I say that every year, but every year I still am so surprised at how hot it gets!!! Anyways, we've had a fun summer so far! We're still learning how to manage our time and schedules, but we're still managing to have a great time! We have a pretty crazy week with both Matt and I working full-time and still trying to plan meals, quality time with the family and time for Matt and I to exercise in the evenings. Ideally, we would get up early in the morning to workout, but let's be honest people...that ain't happenin'!!! We still haven't perfected our routine yet, but we've really been working on it in July!

Cooper and Conley are more entertained during dinner now that they can feed themselves Puffs and Baby Mum Mums - their favorite snacks! We're able to all "eat" at the same time more often. We've also recently found that we enjoy walking to a nearby high school track to run. It's easier to run on the flat track with jogging strollers than in the neighborhood where sometimes we have to go uphill. We get quality time with the kiddos outside and we're getting some exercising in. It's so hot, we don't last long, but it's better than nothing! Campbell enjoys to stretch with Matt and then run a little bit on her own, but she quickly decides that the stroller is much easier for her in the heat! Plus, she brings her "computer" along and enjoys to play while we run. Cooper and Conley love to be outside in the stroller, so they love coming along for the ride as well. They find that water bottles are so fascinating and great chew toys! When we get home from our run, we like to do some other exercises from our P90X videos...back and arms or the Ab Ripper usually. Campbell likes to try to do the exercises with us. She says, "I have to exercise to have energies!"

Campbell and Daddy stretching before their run

...more stretches...

...gotta stretch lots so we can run fast...

...on your mark, get set, go!

Miss Priss running in her blue shades

Cooper and Conley chillin' with their water bottles

Momma and her girls after a good run

We've also registered Campbell for gymnastics this summer at a local gym (the same place she had her 2nd birthday party), Empire Gymnastics. She's no "gymnast" yet, but she really looks forward to her class and her teacher is very sweet. She's usually only one of 2-4 kids in her age group. It's especially fun, because her class time is at the same time as her cousin Channing. Although they are not in the same classes, they look forward to seeing each other there!

Campbell and Channing at Campbell's first gymnastics class

Campbell very excited about her new pink leotard for gymnastics

Campbell is still swimming SO well! We could not be more impressed at how well she has picked it up since her lessons! It's so nice for us to feel reassured that she could swim to a wall or steps in a pool by herself. We do have our hands full with 3 kiddos, so it's so important that she know how to swim on her own.

We recently had 3 other couples over with their kiddos. They are all friends from college. It was so much fun to get together with all the little ones! We really get a kick out of it, because there are a lot of "mini-me's" of the daddies it seems!!

The daddies and their "mini-me's":

Bill and Sydney, Cliff and Chloe, Brian and Grant, Matt and Campbell

Conley, Chloe and Cooper

C&C are about to be 10 months old and Chloe is about to be 9 months old

Here are some pictures of our July so far!

Our happy girls ready for church

We can't get enough of their smiles!

C&C are so much fun right now! It is a blast to see how they interact together!

They are both still "army crawling" on their bellies, but they can sit up on their own and climb up on things just fine! Here they are soaked after climbing up the step into the shower with Mommy!

I should have lots more to post in the next couple months!!! This weekend we have a big family party at Grandma and Papa D's for FOUR cousins that just graduated, 2 from high school and 2 from college. We don't always get to celebrate in person with the graduates since the cousins live in Austin, Dallas and Colorado, but since there are 4 at once it seemed like a great idea to try to get everyone together! It's going to be so fun, because EVERYONE will be there!!! All aunts and uncles and cousins....and with this crowd, that's a LOT of people! Then, in August Campbell and I are making a girls weekend trip to Houston to visit Aunt Kiki! And in September, I'm going to a girls weekend in Atlanta with some college girlfriends that I haven't seen in forever followed by a weekend in Las Vegas to see Garth Brooks for me, Matt Christy and Kyle. We have a lot going on in the next few months!! Stay tuned!

Where I was One Year Ago...

One year ago today, I went in for my normal appointment with the perinatologist for my pregnancy with Cooper and Conley. I was 23 weeks and 5 days along in my pregnancy. To my surprise, I was admitted the hospital with absolutely no notice. The doctor sent the nurse to get me a wheelchair, and I was wheeled down the hall to be admitted into Labor and Delivery where I would stay as long as I could avoid delivery. That turned out to be a 72-day stay, which resulted in wonderful friendships that I still have with many of my nurses, and most importantly resulted in two healthy babies that made it until 35 weeks and 5 days not spending even one minute in the NICU. Every day in the hospital was absolutely worth it. When I look at Cooper and Conley today (Conley is trying to crawl in my lap as I type this), I don't even remember the unique journey we took to get them here safely. When anyone asks me about staying in the hospital, I have to remind myself that I was really there for 10 weeks. Wow! It never seemed like 72 days. That was mostly because of my FABULOUS nurses (who really just became my friends that had to wait on me hand and foot...that's not so bad!) and the great program that HEB has for mommies on hospital bed rest. I mean, I had craft time, movie night, free massages and educational classes. HEB Women's Center is definitely the place to be if you have to be on bed rest long-term! It was a very surreal experience to learn....you can't go home for a very long time....you have to sleep away from your husband and daughter for a very long time....you can't even go home to pack a bag or straighten things up...you have to leave work unexpectedly for some unknown time....BUT in hindsight, it was all worth it and I had a lot of fun too!

Here are just a few of my favorite memories...

Time with Campbell EVERY day

Everyone helping me count down the days

Time with Daddy and Campbell who helped me take off a link of my countdown chain every day

Visits from friends

Craft time....Nannie came up to visit with Campbell EVERY weekday while Matt was at work. She even joined in crafts sometimes! I know these fabrics are NOT very girly, I let Campbell pick them out, which of course, she picked the prints with animals on them.

I even got a pedicure from Gigi!

Campbell often fell asleep in my bed during her visits....which I LOVED!

My FABULOUS patio!

The absolute SWEETEST, most GENEROUS nail lady ever....My Hoang! She was so sweet to come to the hospital to do my nails, heaven forbid I had to go without having them done for 10 weeks! That's not even funny to think about!! I had never met My before being in the hospital. I still go to her to this day, and I will forever go to her!!!

BINGO with Julie! I would joke that I was in a nursing home....playing BINGO and learning how to crochet...LOL! I loved it though!

Every Monday, Katie would come watch The Bachelor with me! She would always claim the pink Snuggie!

Daddy and Campbell stayed for a slumber party!

Movie time with Campbell, the girl LOVES her movies! We even had popcorn!!

Wheelchair rides with Campbell Kay

Dr. Peppers for our anniversary! What a treat!

Tracking our growing bellies

Being on TV, not once....

....but twice!

My FABULOUS nurses

HEADING HOME!!!

So, it wasn't so bad!!!

The best part of all....two healthy baby girls born at 35 weeks and 5 days breathing and eating perfectly on their own! Thank you God for keeping Cooper and Conley safe in Mommy's tummy to grow strong for those 10 weeks!

THREE Firecrackers on the 4th of July

We had many outfits to show-off for the 4th of July. I took pictures over the weekend of the many red, white and blue ensembles, but there were others in addition to these....lets just say that our girls are not lacking clothes, thank you Nannie and Gigi mainly! Grandma Barb also bought Campbell an adorable 4th of July dress this year. We had a great weekend with family and friends...Saturday we went to a pool party with friends in the afternoon followed by church and Kinkaid's Hamburgers for dinner. Sunday we went to church AGAIN, lunch at Red Brick Pizza and then poolside at Matt's Aunt Jody's house with lots of family. We then walked to the Bedford Boys Ranch for the awesome show that Bedford puts on year after year.

Ready for church on Sunday

Excited to see Toy Story 3....of course Woody gets to go along with us!

Ready to go swim at Aunt Jody's house before the fireworks!

Hanging out at Aunt Jody's house with the family

Ready to hit the pool!

Ready to go see some fireworks!

Cooper and Conley very excited and anxious to see the fireworks!!

Sweet Campbell watching the fireworks as we walk back to the car. She was such a good sport even though we had to leave early since sisters were sick.

We had a great day, and Cooper and Conley slept perfectly in their strollers while we waited for the 10:00 firework show to start. Right at 10:00, both girls wake up coughing. Conley throws up all over, so we decide to head back. Campbell was such a trooper. She didn't throw a fit when we had to leave, but she did enjoy still watching the show with Daddy while we walked away. Luckily we could see most of it all the way back to our car. On our way back to the car, Cooper threw up and Conley threw up a second time. Once in the car, Cooper threw up again. It was a messy end to our weekend. Poor babies! They slept in their swings in our room that night, because we were so afraid of them throwing up and choking. They both just had an awful cough that they kept getting choked up on. They slept great all night, no coughs. Then they woke up Monday coughing again. I took them to their pediatrician first thing Monday morning. Cooper threw up as I pulled into the parking lot. It turns out they both have bronchitis - ugh! Poor things! The craziest part is that it turned into bronchitis so fast, because they didn't really have any cold symptoms before Sunday. Oh well! Now they are just snotty messes as this is hopefully clearing up.

Really, we had a great weekend, and even though C&C are sick, they still stay their smiley selves. Monday we went with friends to see Toy Story 3 with Campbell. She loved it! She even took her Woody doll to see the movie with us. Nama and Papa were sweet to keep 2 sick babies while we snuck away to the movie. Then Tuesday it was back to work! We enjoyed our 3-day 4th of July weekend with our girls!