Busy Summer!

Hello everyone!

It has been so long since I have blogged, I don't even know where to begin! The month of June came and went in the blink of an eye! We've had a fun-filled summer so far with visits from friends and family and a couple weekend road trips.

At the end of May, my dear friend Jen came to visit us from Mississippi with her little boy, Everett. Cole and Everett were due on the same day, and they were born only 6 days apart. Now Jen is expecting another little boy and she is due just 2 weeks before me! It has been so fun sharing our pregnancies and motherhood experiences together. While she was here, we went to a Memorial Day picnic and took this photo of us with our friends Staci and Susan. Soon there will be 10 kids between the 4 of us! From left to right: Staci, Jen, Susan, and me.

Cole feasted on watermelon and sugar cookies, and shared some with his buddies, Everett and Andrew after a long afternoon in the pool.

The following weekend I travelled up to Dallas for a baby shower honoring my friend Christine Ward. She is also due 2 weeks before me, but as you can see, I am already quite larger than her! It was a great girls' weekend, and Cole had a great time at home with Daddy.

The next weekend we took a short drive up to Victoria, TX to visit my friend Sheri, who recently moved to San Diego but was back in Texas to visit her family. We had a great time at her sister's beautiful home in the country, and Cole felt right at home riding around on the John Deere!

Now that I am 27 weeks pregnant, I can no longer travel--not that I even want to anymore! I spend most of my days indoors, avoiding the heat as much as possible, and stealing naps every chance I get. It constantly amazes me how different it is to be pregnant with twins than it was with Cole. At this point in my first pregnancy, I was working full-time, taking care of the house all by myself since Jeff was deployed, working out, walking the dogs, and trying to stay busy with my friends to keep from being lonely. This time around, taking care of Cole uses up all of the energy I have! I've had a lot of pelvic and back pain with this pregnancy, and I really can't stand to be on my feet for more than 20 minutes at a time. I'm trying to stay positive, though, and not complain, because I know I am lucky that I have not been put on bed rest yet, and hopefully won't be. Jeff has been extremely helpful in keeping up with Cole and the housework-- I don't know what I'd do without him! In fact, later this month Jeff will be taking Cole all by himself to Georgia for almost a week! I am already getting sad about being away from my baby that long, but I am also looking forward to the opportunity to rest and relax by myself. It will probably be the last time for a very, very long time!

Just last week my Mom, "Mimi," came to visit. Cole and I both enjoyed and appreciated her help so much! He learned to say her name within the first couple of days that she was here! We mostly stayed at home, but we did visit the new "Five Guys" restaurant in Corpus, which was a big hit with Cole, and we played a little in the baby pool out back.

Cole has been growing up before our very eyes, and he keeps us constantly entertained! I know I've said this at every stage, but this is definitely the MOST fun age so far! Every day he surprises us by saying a new word or learning a new skill. He chatters constantly, although we usually have no idea what he is saying. The words that we DO understand that he has learned are:

cheese, teeth, juice, shoes, dog, baby, bubbles, bird, read, book, ball, bye-bye, Cole, Duke, Mama, Da-da/Daddy, Mimi and even a few phrases: "Hi Da-da" "What's that?" and "Good Boy"(talking to Duke).

This morning I was stunned when he handed me a book and demanded "Read!" He then turned around backward and backed his booty up until he landed in my lap! So cute!

He also LOVES to brush his teeth! When we say, "Let's brush your teeth!" he runs to the bathroom, opens up the drawer, hands us the toothbrush and opens his mouth wide! Now that he has 12 teeth, including 4 molars, he is going to the dentist for the first time very soon. I hope it goes well!

He is such an affectionate little guy, it melts my heart! He holds his cheek out for me to kiss it and occasionally gives me a kiss back right on the lips. He loves to hug Duke (Duke merely tolerates it) and he hugs and kisses all of his stuffed animals. One day I peeked in on him during his nap and found that he had surrounded himself with all of his "babies"--how sweet!

We usually know he's had a good sleep when he wakes up with hair like this:

He is still going to Mother's Day Out every Tuesday and Thursday from 9-2. Not only is this a great break for me, but Cole absolutely loves it! They have "water day" every Thursday, where he gets to play in the sprinklers and baby pool, so I don't feel so guilty that I am not able to take him outside very much. Going outside is his very favorite thing to do, and it is becoming a bit of a problem for us! He throws an all-out temper tantrum every time he wants to go outdoors, and he doesn't understand that when the heat index is 110 and we have NO shade in the backyard, we just can't go out and play! We are SO looking forward to moving away from Corpus, to anywhere that has a more pleasant climate so we can enjoy being outdoors again.

"The girls" still remain nameless, much to my dismay! We have several names picked out, but we just can't seem to narrow it down to a combination of the 2 we like best. I hope to make a decision soon, because there is a chance that they could arrive much earlier than we had hoped. At my last checkup, the ultrasound showed that they had hit a plateau in their growth. My doctor is concerned that at each appointment, they are dropping into a lower percentile on the growth chart. Baby A is now in the 36th percentile and Baby B is now in the 26th percentile. If they continue to show this downward trend, and eventually one or both of them drop below the 10th percentile, she wants to go ahead and induce them so that they will have a better chance to thrive on "the outside." My next appointment is July 13th, so we are praying that they have a growth spurt before then so that we can keep them in a little longer and reduce the amount of time they will have to spend in the NICU.

I will try to keep this blog updated more often so I will not have to post such a long entry next time!

Love to you all!