Is This Real Life??

Walmart is already an adventure even though I haven't actually taken the kids shopping with me yet.

Every month I pick up 32 cans of formula to feed our little people.

Yeah, that's over $1000 worth of formula if you are curious. We are blessed to qualify for a little assistance with that. Otherwise...holy cow!

Anyway, I can't go to pick up that much formula without creating a bit of a scene. I try to do it all at one time so I don't have to think about it every week, but it always ends up drawing attention. Last week was no different.



I unloaded 19 cans of formula (that's all they had, I'll get more this week) onto the checkout belt and proceeded to start unloading the rest of our regular groceries.

 Cashier: Those aren't all for one baby, are they?!
Me: Oh no. I have quadruplets.
Lady in front of me: *stops mid-credit card swipe and her jaw drops* You have what?!
Me: I have quadruplets. *still unloading groceries*
Lady: How many IS that?
Me: That's four.
Lady: You have four babies? I've seen stuff about people like you on TV but I've never actually met someone in real life!
Me: Oh...yep. We're real!



Too funny! Based on the response to just buying formula, I'm guessing that the stories will get even better once we are finished with lock down and we actually start taking the kids out with us!

Walmart is already an adventure even though I haven't actually taken the kids shopping with me yet.

Every month I pick up 32 cans of formula to feed our little people.

Yeah, that's over $1000 worth of formula if you are curious. We are blessed to qualify for a little assistance with that. Otherwise...holy cow!

Anyway, I can't go to pick up that much formula without creating a bit of a scene. I try to do it all at one time so I don't have to think about it every week, but it always ends up drawing attention. Last week was no different.



I unloaded 19 cans of formula (that's all they had, I'll get more this week) onto the checkout belt and proceeded to start unloading the rest of our regular groceries.

 Cashier: Those aren't all for one baby, are they?!
Me: Oh no. I have quadruplets.
Lady in front of me: *stops mid-credit card swipe and her jaw drops* You have what?!
Me: I have quadruplets. *still unloading groceries*
Lady: How many IS that?
Me: That's four.
Lady: You have four babies? I've seen stuff about people like you on TV but I've never actually met someone in real life!
Me: Oh...yep. We're real!



Too funny! Based on the response to just buying formula, I'm guessing that the stories will get even better once we are finished with lock down and we actually start taking the kids out with us!

Happy 1st Birthday, Babies!!!!

Happy 1st Birthday!!

Abby, Elijah, Caleb, and Ellie

I’ve been thinking a lot over the past few weeks about today’s post.  My heart is so full of gratefulness and wonder at what we have experienced over the past year. Pregnancy and birth statistics along with the emotional, financial, and physical requirements have been absolutely daunting, but our God has proved over and over again that He is bigger than anything that we have faced or will face. 

Today is the babies’ first birthday.

We made it.

And God has been so kind to our family.

First Birthday?!?! Where did the time go? The days seemed ridiculously long and tedious, but the year flew by so quickly. In the past 365 days, the babies survived more than most parents ever even have to think about.

                -A high-risk, higher order multiple pregnancy

                -A sack leaking amniotic fluid at a time when birth would mean only a 50% chance of survival for each baby

                -A premature birth at 27 weeks, 6 days. They didn’t even make it to the 3rd trimester.

                -Ventilators down their throats, followed by CPAPs, and nasal cannulas

                -Watching the boys quit breathing and turn blue over and over again

                -Eating Issues for all of them, but more specifically Abby

                -HIV scare

                -Being hooked up to monitors for months on end. Abby finally lost the last monitor and tank of oxygen when they were 9 months old

                -Not to mention coming home with two clueless parents

                -And for kicks, let’s just throw in the tornado drill two weeks after they came home!

The kids SURVIVED all of that.

Heck, Sean and I survived all of that. And we are still smiling…most of the time! We are so blessed to get to be their parents and watch them grow up.

I’m going to say it again. God has been so abundantly kind to our family.

The babies have not only survived, they have flourished! We have four:

                 -happy (except for after 6:30pm at night)

                 -healthy (yay!)

                 -crawling and pulling up (heaven help me)

                 -baby food eating (yes, even Abby!)

                 -smiling, giggling, wiggling (by far the best part!)

                 -PRECIOUS

                                                 Little one year olds.

To God be the Glory, Great Things He has done.

I'm reminded of a Bible passage that I relied a lot on while I was hospitalized on bed rest. A dear friend called me one morning between doctors and monitoring and told me to read this passage as she felt it applied to my situation:

"Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help given by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance. I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death." - Philippians 1: 18b-20

At the time, we were fighting for every day that the kids had in the womb. I still remember the doctors telling us the morning after I was hospitalized for premature labor that if I delivered that day, our babies would only have a 50% chance of survival. It was so scary. I loved (and still do!) the phrase "sufficient courage." Just enough for that day of being pregnant, just enough for the day they were born, just enough when it came time to bring them all home from the hospital, just enough to get up through the night again and again to feed them, just enough to trust that God would allow them to see their first birthday.

Just enough. That's what I'm taking with me into this next year. I don't need enough to get me to their high school graduation. I only need sufficient courage to get me through today, trusting that our God will continue to keep His hand on our family as He has been so faithful to do from the beginning...even when I thought surely He had been distracted by something else when we got pregnant with four!

Thank you to all who have supported us, prayed for us, helped us financially, sent encouraging messages and understood when I took forever to respond, prepared meals for us, and loved us over the course of our pregnancy and first year with the babies. I remember at one point putting in a post that believers from around the world were praying for us. I think they still are. We are still getting hits on our blog from countries all over the world.

You have blessed us and we have been honored to get to share our journey so far with you.

Caleb

Born at 4:11pm

Birth weight: 2 lbs. 5 oz.                   Now weighs: 18 lbs. 2oz.

Abigail

Born at 4:12pm

Birth weight: 2 lbs. 5 oz.                        Now weighs: 16 lbs. 6 oz.

Elijah

Born at 4:13pm

Birth weight: 2 lbs. 3 oz.                   Now weighs: 18 lbs.

Elizabeth

Born at 4:15pm

Birth weight: 1 lb. 14 oz.                   Now weighs: 16 lbs. 8 oz.

Happy 1st Birthday!!

Abby, Elijah, Caleb, and Ellie

I’ve been thinking a lot over the past few weeks about today’s post.  My heart is so full of gratefulness and wonder at what we have experienced over the past year. Pregnancy and birth statistics along with the emotional, financial, and physical requirements have been absolutely daunting, but our God has proved over and over again that He is bigger than anything that we have faced or will face. 

Today is the babies’ first birthday.

We made it.

And God has been so kind to our family.

First Birthday?!?! Where did the time go? The days seemed ridiculously long and tedious, but the year flew by so quickly. In the past 365 days, the babies survived more than most parents ever even have to think about.

                -A high-risk, higher order multiple pregnancy

                -A sack leaking amniotic fluid at a time when birth would mean only a 50% chance of survival for each baby

                -A premature birth at 27 weeks, 6 days. They didn’t even make it to the 3rd trimester.

                -Ventilators down their throats, followed by CPAPs, and nasal cannulas

                -Watching the boys quit breathing and turn blue over and over again

                -Eating Issues for all of them, but more specifically Abby

                -HIV scare

                -Being hooked up to monitors for months on end. Abby finally lost the last monitor and tank of oxygen when they were 9 months old

                -Not to mention coming home with two clueless parents

                -And for kicks, let’s just throw in the tornado drill two weeks after they came home!

The kids SURVIVED all of that.

Heck, Sean and I survived all of that. And we are still smiling…most of the time! We are so blessed to get to be their parents and watch them grow up.

I’m going to say it again. God has been so abundantly kind to our family.

The babies have not only survived, they have flourished! We have four:

                 -happy (except for after 6:30pm at night)

                 -healthy (yay!)

                 -crawling and pulling up (heaven help me)

                 -baby food eating (yes, even Abby!)

                 -smiling, giggling, wiggling (by far the best part!)

                 -PRECIOUS

                                                 Little one year olds.

To God be the Glory, Great Things He has done.

I'm reminded of a Bible passage that I relied a lot on while I was hospitalized on bed rest. A dear friend called me one morning between doctors and monitoring and told me to read this passage as she felt it applied to my situation:

"Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help given by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance. I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death." - Philippians 1: 18b-20

At the time, we were fighting for every day that the kids had in the womb. I still remember the doctors telling us the morning after I was hospitalized for premature labor that if I delivered that day, our babies would only have a 50% chance of survival. It was so scary. I loved (and still do!) the phrase "sufficient courage." Just enough for that day of being pregnant, just enough for the day they were born, just enough when it came time to bring them all home from the hospital, just enough to get up through the night again and again to feed them, just enough to trust that God would allow them to see their first birthday.

Just enough. That's what I'm taking with me into this next year. I don't need enough to get me to their high school graduation. I only need sufficient courage to get me through today, trusting that our God will continue to keep His hand on our family as He has been so faithful to do from the beginning...even when I thought surely He had been distracted by something else when we got pregnant with four!

Thank you to all who have supported us, prayed for us, helped us financially, sent encouraging messages and understood when I took forever to respond, prepared meals for us, and loved us over the course of our pregnancy and first year with the babies. I remember at one point putting in a post that believers from around the world were praying for us. I think they still are. We are still getting hits on our blog from countries all over the world.

You have blessed us and we have been honored to get to share our journey so far with you.

Caleb

Born at 4:11pm

Birth weight: 2 lbs. 5 oz.                   Now weighs: 18 lbs. 2oz.

Abigail

Born at 4:12pm

Birth weight: 2 lbs. 5 oz.                        Now weighs: 16 lbs. 6 oz.

Elijah

Born at 4:13pm

Birth weight: 2 lbs. 3 oz.                   Now weighs: 18 lbs.

Elizabeth

Born at 4:15pm

Birth weight: 1 lb. 14 oz.                   Now weighs: 16 lbs. 8 oz.

Consignment Sale Season is Starting!!

I'm a big fan of consignment sales!

I've found that not only are the clothes in better condition than what can typically be found at garage sales, but they are so much cheaper than buying retail. There are awesome deals on toys and just about any other baby accessory imaginable at these things! I did all of the babies' Christmas shopping at a consignment sale in August last year.


I'm also a big fan of hitting pre-sales at consignment sales. Best selection and less of a crowd. I have a consignment sale coming up through my multiples group in March, but there is also another one coming up on Friday that I'm super excited about. They have just opened up a new pre-sale time for Mothers of Multiples at this consignment sale. Whoohoo!!

I wanted to make sure that y'all knew about it in case you know a multiples mom who could use the info:

Just Between Friends Consignment Sale

The Pavilion at John Knox Village

Lee's Summit, Missouri

Pre-Sale for Mothers of Multiples

Friday, February 17th.     5pm-7pm

For additional info and to register (which you must do to get into the pre-sale), click here:

http://leessummit.jbfsale.com/pages/military_and_moms_of_multiples/?n=2104

And if you don't have a set of multiples, go check out the website anyway. They also have pre-sale times for First Time Moms, First Time Grandparents, Military, Teachers, and Foster Parents. The sale is open all weekend to the public. Well worth checking out!

I'm a big fan of consignment sales!

I've found that not only are the clothes in better condition than what can typically be found at garage sales, but they are so much cheaper than buying retail. There are awesome deals on toys and just about any other baby accessory imaginable at these things! I did all of the babies' Christmas shopping at a consignment sale in August last year.


I'm also a big fan of hitting pre-sales at consignment sales. Best selection and less of a crowd. I have a consignment sale coming up through my multiples group in March, but there is also another one coming up on Friday that I'm super excited about. They have just opened up a new pre-sale time for Mothers of Multiples at this consignment sale. Whoohoo!!

I wanted to make sure that y'all knew about it in case you know a multiples mom who could use the info:

Just Between Friends Consignment Sale

The Pavilion at John Knox Village

Lee's Summit, Missouri

Pre-Sale for Mothers of Multiples

Friday, February 17th.     5pm-7pm

For additional info and to register (which you must do to get into the pre-sale), click here:

http://leessummit.jbfsale.com/pages/military_and_moms_of_multiples/?n=2104

And if you don't have a set of multiples, go check out the website anyway. They also have pre-sale times for First Time Moms, First Time Grandparents, Military, Teachers, and Foster Parents. The sale is open all weekend to the public. Well worth checking out!

A Few Changes and Upgrades

We've upgraded our seating arrangements! The babies were getting a little on the big side for the bumbos. Elijah and Ellie kept leaning as far back as possible to try to pop themselves out, and Caleb had figured out how to take himself out of the seat if I didn't put the tray on it. Time to bump them up a step!

So I emailed my friend, Laurel, who had kindly been storing our highchairs at her house (we don't have much storage space) and she brought them right over.

Fun story about the highchairs: two were given to us by a set of twins that outgrew them, one was given to us by someone else whose baby had grown up, and one was brand new from my parents. And they all MATCH!  That's not really important beyond the fact that it meets a need that I have as a type A personality for everything to be symmetrical, even, and match....I guess it's good that I have four babies then. Three would drive me nuts since that would be an odd number!

And now you have more insight into my personality. Yikes.

We don't know about this, Mom...

Abby, Ellie, Elijah, and Caleb

Okay, maybe this isn't so bad if we can have some food.

Abby and Ellie

FOOD!!! YES!!!

Elijah and Caleb

We are still trying to figure out how to make four highchairs fit in our dining room along with the table, china cabinet, and two racks of baby items. It's a bit tight at the moment.

At the same time that we made the big move to highchairs, we also adjusted their schedule. We were doing 5 bottle feedings with one of those including a spooned cereal feeding. As of Monday, we dropped one bottle feeding and added another cereal feeding.

We also changed what times we feed them. Before our feeding times were 6am, 10am, 1pm, 5pm, and 8pm. Now we feed at 8am, 12pm, 4pm, and 8pm. Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, and a Bedtime Bottle! I like to say that now they are on a regular human schedule. :)

Also, I slept until 7:45am this morning. It's been almost a year and a half since I've slept that long between the pregnancy, hospitalization, and homecoming of the kids. It was incredible. Now I'm just wondering how long it will take to catch up on 18 months worth of sleep deprivation...

***************************************

We had to clean off the bottom of the bookshelf since the kids have started to pull the books out and chew on the front covers of all of the paperbacks. It makes for a high fiber diet for the babies, but the books don't appreciate it. Or the parents.

Now it has become Abby's new hang-out spot. Combine that with her love for the laundry basket that we keep in the corner of our living room for dirty baby laundry, and we made her day!

And then it just got that much better because she figured out how to climb into the basket of dirty laundry. Awesome. Note how proud she is that she figured out how to do that all by herself!

And, of course, that was followed by her getting stuck because she couldn't get back out. I didn't take a picture of that. 


Caleb figured out that he can make funny faces at himself in the mirror. I caught him the other day telling himself jokes and giggling. Then he popped his tongue out, and I caught it on camera. :)

At first glance, this is a picture of the girls. Actually this is a picture of Elijah. Check under the exersaucer. Haha! He climbed under there and decided to treat it as a hammock for a good 20 minutes or so. Best place to watch his Baby Einstein-World Animals video. Totally cracked me up!

 Elijah has this foot thing going on. He loves feet more than all of the other babies. Bare feet, feet in socks, feet in slippers, family's feet, helpers' feet..he doesn't discriminated against any feet. He was able to get Caleb to let him suck on his feet for at least five minutes. Caleb just laid there and chewed on his book the whole time. Oh my word, having multiples is HILARIOUS!

 Noodle and Doodle. Yep, those are their nicknames. Caleb is our Wet Noodle, not really wanting to try too hard to reach the next developmental stage, and Elijah's crazy puffy hair gave him the nickname, Doodle.


I posted this one on Facebook, but I love it so much that I had to post it here as well. :) Every night, Daddy comes home from work and goes into the living room to play with the babies while I cook dinner. Without fail, they all mob him at the same time! There isn't a thing about this photo that is posed. Glad I had my camera handy! The kids love their Daddy so much!

Have an awesome week everyone! :)

We've upgraded our seating arrangements! The babies were getting a little on the big side for the bumbos. Elijah and Ellie kept leaning as far back as possible to try to pop themselves out, and Caleb had figured out how to take himself out of the seat if I didn't put the tray on it. Time to bump them up a step!

So I emailed my friend, Laurel, who had kindly been storing our highchairs at her house (we don't have much storage space) and she brought them right over.

Fun story about the highchairs: two were given to us by a set of twins that outgrew them, one was given to us by someone else whose baby had grown up, and one was brand new from my parents. And they all MATCH!  That's not really important beyond the fact that it meets a need that I have as a type A personality for everything to be symmetrical, even, and match....I guess it's good that I have four babies then. Three would drive me nuts since that would be an odd number!

And now you have more insight into my personality. Yikes.

We don't know about this, Mom...

Abby, Ellie, Elijah, and Caleb

Okay, maybe this isn't so bad if we can have some food.

Abby and Ellie

FOOD!!! YES!!!

Elijah and Caleb

We are still trying to figure out how to make four highchairs fit in our dining room along with the table, china cabinet, and two racks of baby items. It's a bit tight at the moment.

At the same time that we made the big move to highchairs, we also adjusted their schedule. We were doing 5 bottle feedings with one of those including a spooned cereal feeding. As of Monday, we dropped one bottle feeding and added another cereal feeding.

We also changed what times we feed them. Before our feeding times were 6am, 10am, 1pm, 5pm, and 8pm. Now we feed at 8am, 12pm, 4pm, and 8pm. Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, and a Bedtime Bottle! I like to say that now they are on a regular human schedule. :)

Also, I slept until 7:45am this morning. It's been almost a year and a half since I've slept that long between the pregnancy, hospitalization, and homecoming of the kids. It was incredible. Now I'm just wondering how long it will take to catch up on 18 months worth of sleep deprivation...

***************************************

We had to clean off the bottom of the bookshelf since the kids have started to pull the books out and chew on the front covers of all of the paperbacks. It makes for a high fiber diet for the babies, but the books don't appreciate it. Or the parents.

Now it has become Abby's new hang-out spot. Combine that with her love for the laundry basket that we keep in the corner of our living room for dirty baby laundry, and we made her day!

And then it just got that much better because she figured out how to climb into the basket of dirty laundry. Awesome. Note how proud she is that she figured out how to do that all by herself!

And, of course, that was followed by her getting stuck because she couldn't get back out. I didn't take a picture of that. 


Caleb figured out that he can make funny faces at himself in the mirror. I caught him the other day telling himself jokes and giggling. Then he popped his tongue out, and I caught it on camera. :)

At first glance, this is a picture of the girls. Actually this is a picture of Elijah. Check under the exersaucer. Haha! He climbed under there and decided to treat it as a hammock for a good 20 minutes or so. Best place to watch his Baby Einstein-World Animals video. Totally cracked me up!

 Elijah has this foot thing going on. He loves feet more than all of the other babies. Bare feet, feet in socks, feet in slippers, family's feet, helpers' feet..he doesn't discriminated against any feet. He was able to get Caleb to let him suck on his feet for at least five minutes. Caleb just laid there and chewed on his book the whole time. Oh my word, having multiples is HILARIOUS!

 Noodle and Doodle. Yep, those are their nicknames. Caleb is our Wet Noodle, not really wanting to try too hard to reach the next developmental stage, and Elijah's crazy puffy hair gave him the nickname, Doodle.


I posted this one on Facebook, but I love it so much that I had to post it here as well. :) Every night, Daddy comes home from work and goes into the living room to play with the babies while I cook dinner. Without fail, they all mob him at the same time! There isn't a thing about this photo that is posed. Glad I had my camera handy! The kids love their Daddy so much!

Have an awesome week everyone! :)