Sitting on Great-Grandpa's Knee

Last winter, Sean gave me the most amazing gift, when he suggested that we make the very long drive back to my hometown for Christmas. It had been 1.5 years since we had been down to visit my extended family, and I had been wishing that I could get the kids down to see their great-grandpa again. Except how do you say, "Hey, Babe...let's pack up 4 kids and take a really long drive so that you can spend Christmas in a hotel room?" Not exactly what most spouses want to hear. But I married the best guy who volunteered for it himself, even though he knew it would take him far away from his own family on Christmas.

I love him! *sigh*

The drive back to where I grew up in New Mexico takes 16 hours each way. It's a long road trip through some pretty empty states with literally no cell signal for hours at a time. (As a total side note, can I just add how weird it is to be unable to even make a call in this day and age?) When we go back, we have to take two days to drive each direction because the kids just can't do the full 16 hours in one stretch. So it ended up being a two day drive down, two days in New Mexico, and a 2 day drive back. Not going to lie. It was a bit grueling to spend four days driving for just 48 hours in town, but the kids were champs, and it was so amazing to get to spend Christmas there!

I bet you are wondering what the kids thought of all of that....well...they were totally confused and so over tacos by the time we left, it was almost comical. It was just too different from Christmas as they know it. haha!!

My kids know all of the traditional Midwestern Christmas stuff, you know, the stuff in Christmas movies. But in New Mexico, a traditional Christmas looks very different. It involves luminarias, Mexican food, and no snow. haha! I think my little family was in a bit of a culture shock, but to me, it was so perfect. It was just like going back in time 20 years and getting to do Christmas the way I remembered as a kid. Our extended family always celebrates on Christmas Eve with a giant get-together, and my grandpa always displays his collection of several hundred Nacimientos (nativity sets) for the public to enjoy as well. It was all exactly as I remembered, even down to the exact same Christmas Eve punch recipe that my aunt has been making every year for as long as I can remember and sitting on the floor eating dinner with my cousins because there aren't enough seats for all of us. 

And I got to share ALL of that with my kids and show them what Christmas was like for me while growing up. They may not have appreciated the over-abundance of tacos in the moment, but I think they had fun anyway!

One of my big goals going back was to get some photos of my kids with their great-grandpa. It was so important to me to get those photos...but, unfortunately, I waited until we were saying good-bye to try to get them. It was already dark outside, we were in a dimly lit living room, and that combined with my not-so-stellar photography skills just wasn't working out the way I had hoped. All of my photos were blurry and my tired kids weren't fully on board with the idea of watching mom try to take the same photo over and over. Thankfully, one of my cousins took over with his own camera and captured the photos below. I have to give him a quick shout-out because Paul is an international award winning photojournalist, and I kind of scored big time by having him rescue me from my lack of skills.

I wasn't sure what he had been able to catch. I gave him the worst lighting ever, 4 very tired kids, and only about 10 minutes to work with. But oh my word! I just cried when I opened the link he emailed to me to download the pictures. My kids sitting on their Great-Grandpa's knee....so precious! They are exactly what I had dragged my camera all the way to New Mexico to try to get. Photos that I will cherish forever!

(Warning: I'm posting all of them below because I don't want to lose them! It's not really a warning though because I have cute kids and a cute grandpa. hehe!)

Great-Grandpa Taylor and Ellie

Elijah and Great-Grandpa Taylor

Abby and Great-Grandpa Taylor

Caleb and Great-Grandpa Taylor

Me and My Grandpa

The Crew: Elijah, Ellie, Great-Grandpa, Abby, and Caleb

Our Family....so worth the drive!

The Playroom at my Grandpa's house. I spent a lot of hours in here as a kid.

Brothers: I love this photo! It pretty much perfectly sums up their relationship. lol!

We have a ton of family in New Mexico who I think might enjoy these. Somebody show Grandpa for me! :)

Anyhow, thanks for enjoying these photos with me even though grandparent photos are maybe not that interesting to the general masses. Our trip to New Mexico was one of the sweetest gifts that Sean has given to me, and then the photos from Paul on top of it...well, I think I can safely say that time with family and the memories that go with them are everything. <3

This post may contain affiliate links. For more info, please see my disclaimer page.

Last winter, Sean gave me the most amazing gift, when he suggested that we make the very long drive back to my hometown for Christmas. It had been 1.5 years since we had been down to visit my extended family, and I had been wishing that I could get the kids down to see their great-grandpa again. Except how do you say, "Hey, Babe...let's pack up 4 kids and take a really long drive so that you can spend Christmas in a hotel room?" Not exactly what most spouses want to hear. But I married the best guy who volunteered for it himself, even though he knew it would take him far away from his own family on Christmas.

I love him! *sigh*

The drive back to where I grew up in New Mexico takes 16 hours each way. It's a long road trip through some pretty empty states with literally no cell signal for hours at a time. (As a total side note, can I just add how weird it is to be unable to even make a call in this day and age?) When we go back, we have to take two days to drive each direction because the kids just can't do the full 16 hours in one stretch. So it ended up being a two day drive down, two days in New Mexico, and a 2 day drive back. Not going to lie. It was a bit grueling to spend four days driving for just 48 hours in town, but the kids were champs, and it was so amazing to get to spend Christmas there!

I bet you are wondering what the kids thought of all of that....well...they were totally confused and so over tacos by the time we left, it was almost comical. It was just too different from Christmas as they know it. haha!!

My kids know all of the traditional Midwestern Christmas stuff, you know, the stuff in Christmas movies. But in New Mexico, a traditional Christmas looks very different. It involves luminarias, Mexican food, and no snow. haha! I think my little family was in a bit of a culture shock, but to me, it was so perfect. It was just like going back in time 20 years and getting to do Christmas the way I remembered as a kid. Our extended family always celebrates on Christmas Eve with a giant get-together, and my grandpa always displays his collection of several hundred Nacimientos (nativity sets) for the public to enjoy as well. It was all exactly as I remembered, even down to the exact same Christmas Eve punch recipe that my aunt has been making every year for as long as I can remember and sitting on the floor eating dinner with my cousins because there aren't enough seats for all of us. 

And I got to share ALL of that with my kids and show them what Christmas was like for me while growing up. They may not have appreciated the over-abundance of tacos in the moment, but I think they had fun anyway!

One of my big goals going back was to get some photos of my kids with their great-grandpa. It was so important to me to get those photos...but, unfortunately, I waited until we were saying good-bye to try to get them. It was already dark outside, we were in a dimly lit living room, and that combined with my not-so-stellar photography skills just wasn't working out the way I had hoped. All of my photos were blurry and my tired kids weren't fully on board with the idea of watching mom try to take the same photo over and over. Thankfully, one of my cousins took over with his own camera and captured the photos below. I have to give him a quick shout-out because Paul is an international award winning photojournalist, and I kind of scored big time by having him rescue me from my lack of skills.

I wasn't sure what he had been able to catch. I gave him the worst lighting ever, 4 very tired kids, and only about 10 minutes to work with. But oh my word! I just cried when I opened the link he emailed to me to download the pictures. My kids sitting on their Great-Grandpa's knee....so precious! They are exactly what I had dragged my camera all the way to New Mexico to try to get. Photos that I will cherish forever!

(Warning: I'm posting all of them below because I don't want to lose them! It's not really a warning though because I have cute kids and a cute grandpa. hehe!)

Great-Grandpa Taylor and Ellie

Elijah and Great-Grandpa Taylor

Abby and Great-Grandpa Taylor

Caleb and Great-Grandpa Taylor

Me and My Grandpa

The Crew: Elijah, Ellie, Great-Grandpa, Abby, and Caleb

Our Family....so worth the drive!

The Playroom at my Grandpa's house. I spent a lot of hours in here as a kid.

Brothers: I love this photo! It pretty much perfectly sums up their relationship. lol!

We have a ton of family in New Mexico who I think might enjoy these. Somebody show Grandpa for me! :)

Anyhow, thanks for enjoying these photos with me even though grandparent photos are maybe not that interesting to the general masses. Our trip to New Mexico was one of the sweetest gifts that Sean has given to me, and then the photos from Paul on top of it...well, I think I can safely say that time with family and the memories that go with them are everything. <3

This post may contain affiliate links. For more info, please see my disclaimer page.

Rolling, Wiggling, and Giggling!

Hello blog world!

Apparently life only gets busier! I've been meaning to post for...oh....three weeks now. So updates and SO many pictures!

Caleb is rolling around on the floor these days, picking up toys, and traveling around on the floor to visit with all of his siblings. He gets a little bummed out sometimes if he doesn’t get a response from them. Such a precious little boy! When the others cry, he immediately tries to find out which of his sisters or brother is in trouble to see what’s going on. He gets the most concerned expression on his face and will stop playing or eating until everything is okay again. He is doing very well developmentally! He isn’t quite sitting up by himself yet, but with a little assistance, he does manage to balance himself using his arms and stay upright for a few seconds. He eats like a champ, and doesn’t spit up nearly as much as he used to. Thank goodness! He used to go by the nickname, Caleb the Erupter! Of course, now that he likes to take his pants off (see photo), he needs to be careful or he will end up with a new nickname!



Abby is our special baby right now (They are all special, but Abby is our ‘specially challenging one). We have really been struggling with her over the last few weeks with her eating. She has never been a very good eater, but recently she has been regressing. We literally force feed her these days while she tries to hit, kick, and knock the bottle out of our hands. We have begun using the “Abby Straight Jacket” (swaddle her from the neck down) in order to limit her movement. This is especially frustrating to us since we need her to grow so that she can get off of oxygen. That’s right. Our 7 ½ month old baby is STILL on oxygen support overnight and during naps. Now that her eating is getting worse, we are desperate to keep her weight moving in the right direction. We did admit her to Children’s Mercy for tests this week including an Upper GI and an Endoscopy. Neither showed anything wrong with her anatomy or tissue. Now we are waiting for biopsy results to come back in case there was something that couldn’t be seen with the x-ray or scope. It’s possible we just have a finicky eater, but we felt it prudent to be proactive. Other than her eating and breathing issues, Abby is an absolute star when it comes to development. Not only has she been rolling front to back the longest, she is also our happiest baby! She has no problem laying on the floor and chewing on her toys by herself, but if you catch her eye, she has the BIGGEST smile ready for you! She isn’t afraid of strangers at all and loves to share her sun-shiny personality with them. She is an obvious favorite with nurses!



Eli is such a cuddle bug! He is teething right now and quite a bit fussier than he usually is, but calms right down if he can just have a few minutes to cuddle. He has the most outrageous laugh out of the group! He easily smiles, but laughs are a little harder to come by. If we manage to get one of his scream/laughs out of him, Sean and I practically die! It’s hilarious! Video of Elijah laughing. He just started rolling back to tummy this week and we seriously can’t pin this boy down. Yesterday when I went to pick up Abby and Sean from the hospital, our helper, Cheryl, built a barricade with couch pillows because he kept rolling away. Today while we were feeding the girls, Elijah started rolling and by the time we got to him, he was in our dining room.  It’s amazing how fast these kids go from not doing something developmentally to us not being able to catch them!



Ellie has made vast improvements over the last 3 or 4 weeks. She developed an open wound and staph infection in her hemangioma about 5 or 6 weeks ago. The NICU follow-up doctor told us that she had never seen that happen before. Apparently, it just grew far too fast and became infected. We took her to the dermatologist and started doing wound dressings every night along with another oral medication to help control the growth. After about four days of treating it, Ellie was an entirely different baby! When we first brought her home, she cried so much, I thought I was going to go crazy. We thought it might be sensory related, but now we are thinking that her hemangioma may have played a part in it. Thankfully, the staph infection is gone and the hemangioma itself has shrunk considerably in size. Now she happily plays on the floor next to her siblings and is in a good mood most of the time! Her favorite place to be is in the corner of the mat on her tummy so that she can watch everything that is happening in the room. The tone in her legs has definitely improved, and she has serious abs of steel. She can easily hold herself up on her arms for 45 minutes at a time (see photo below of her and Grandmacita). Her smiles are precious because we have had so few of them up until now. It’s so nice to have a daughter who actually seems to enjoy life!



So there you have it! 7 ½ months old and they are all rolling around and playing. (I uploaded a video of the babies following a rattle if you care to see it.) This week, Sean and I plan on getting gates up to block off our living room and lower their cribs so that they don’t launch themselves out. Yikes! I thought my life was crazy up to now. I’m really dreading when they start crawling! Who needs a workout when you are chasing FOUR crawling babies?!

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

We are officially under lockdown for this year’s RSV and flu season.  We had fun taking the kids to grandparents’ houses a few times this summer, but from now until May, our kids won’t leave the house unless we have a doctor’s appointment (or we lose power again, but let’s all pray that doesn’t happen!) We are very serious about our lockdown because it could very well mean the difference between a hospital stay for everybody or getting to spend the cold weather safely at home. Most everyone knows that we have tried to keep our babies away from extra people since they came home, but now that’s crucial. Other than a few select people who come to help me during the day and our families, we can’t let anyone in the house. We have had a few people stop by without making prior arrangements with us. Although we know friends always have good intentions, we ask that you please respect what we are trying to do to stay on schedule, make it to our appointments, and protect our kids by not coming by the house unannounced. Come May, things will get easier for us, but for now, we are going to be doing our best impersonations of hermits. :-) Thanks for understanding!!

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

And for your enjoyment, a slew of photos in no particular order!

 

7 Month Photo! (clockwise from bottom left corner) Caleb, Abby, Ellie, and Eli

First Picnic: We completely rearranged our house over Labor Day Weekend. Our living room no longer looks like a nursery! All of the kids are now sleeping in their own cribs upstairs. On Labor Day, we had our two families over for a backyard picnic. We threw a big blanket our on the grass and put all of the attending babies out there to enjoy the sun. This photo is of our four kids plus their cousin Aly. Our girls weren’t too thrilled with the great outdoors. Their other cousin, Marissa, was running around playing and unfortunately we didn’t catch her in the photo.  (clockwise from lower left corner): Elijah, Abby, Caleb, Ellie, and Aly

At the end of September, my grandpa, Paul Taylor from New Mexico (I grew up down there for those of you who didn’t know that) and my Aunt Mary Helen flew up to meet their new relatives. I was SO excited when I heard that my 91-year-old grandpa was willing to get on a plane to come visit us! Caleb, Ellie, Abby, and Eli 

Four Generations! Ellie, Mommy, Caleb, Great-Grandpa, Elijah, Grandmacita, and Abby

We took a bunch of great photos, but I LOVE this photo of Abby smiling at her Great-Grandpa. 

This was just hilarious! Aunt Mary Helen sat on the floor, and I started piling babies up for a photo. Somehow, Abby ended up on the bottom of the pile. Haha! She took it so well but eventually didn’t think that having her brothers sit on her was the best idea. We were all laughing so hard! Caleb (in yellow), Abby, Eli, and Ellie with Aunt Mary Helen

This is a precious photo also! Great-Grandpa suddenly decided that he wanted to play on the floor with Ellie. 91 years old and he got on the floor! He’s obviously still full of energy and fun!

How cute is this photo? I caught all three of them smiling! :-)  Elijah, Daddy, and Caleb

Ever wondered how much formula a quad family goes through in a month? Yes, I do attract attention when I go to Walmart.

Don’t you just love jeans on babies? I do!  Ellie, Elijah, Abby, and Caleb 

Brothers!!  Caleb and Elijah 

Getting So Big!  Caleb, Abby, Elijah, and Ellie 

--Posted by Becca

Hello blog world!

Apparently life only gets busier! I've been meaning to post for...oh....three weeks now. So updates and SO many pictures!

Caleb is rolling around on the floor these days, picking up toys, and traveling around on the floor to visit with all of his siblings. He gets a little bummed out sometimes if he doesn’t get a response from them. Such a precious little boy! When the others cry, he immediately tries to find out which of his sisters or brother is in trouble to see what’s going on. He gets the most concerned expression on his face and will stop playing or eating until everything is okay again. He is doing very well developmentally! He isn’t quite sitting up by himself yet, but with a little assistance, he does manage to balance himself using his arms and stay upright for a few seconds. He eats like a champ, and doesn’t spit up nearly as much as he used to. Thank goodness! He used to go by the nickname, Caleb the Erupter! Of course, now that he likes to take his pants off (see photo), he needs to be careful or he will end up with a new nickname!



Abby is our special baby right now (They are all special, but Abby is our ‘specially challenging one). We have really been struggling with her over the last few weeks with her eating. She has never been a very good eater, but recently she has been regressing. We literally force feed her these days while she tries to hit, kick, and knock the bottle out of our hands. We have begun using the “Abby Straight Jacket” (swaddle her from the neck down) in order to limit her movement. This is especially frustrating to us since we need her to grow so that she can get off of oxygen. That’s right. Our 7 ½ month old baby is STILL on oxygen support overnight and during naps. Now that her eating is getting worse, we are desperate to keep her weight moving in the right direction. We did admit her to Children’s Mercy for tests this week including an Upper GI and an Endoscopy. Neither showed anything wrong with her anatomy or tissue. Now we are waiting for biopsy results to come back in case there was something that couldn’t be seen with the x-ray or scope. It’s possible we just have a finicky eater, but we felt it prudent to be proactive. Other than her eating and breathing issues, Abby is an absolute star when it comes to development. Not only has she been rolling front to back the longest, she is also our happiest baby! She has no problem laying on the floor and chewing on her toys by herself, but if you catch her eye, she has the BIGGEST smile ready for you! She isn’t afraid of strangers at all and loves to share her sun-shiny personality with them. She is an obvious favorite with nurses!



Eli is such a cuddle bug! He is teething right now and quite a bit fussier than he usually is, but calms right down if he can just have a few minutes to cuddle. He has the most outrageous laugh out of the group! He easily smiles, but laughs are a little harder to come by. If we manage to get one of his scream/laughs out of him, Sean and I practically die! It’s hilarious! Video of Elijah laughing. He just started rolling back to tummy this week and we seriously can’t pin this boy down. Yesterday when I went to pick up Abby and Sean from the hospital, our helper, Cheryl, built a barricade with couch pillows because he kept rolling away. Today while we were feeding the girls, Elijah started rolling and by the time we got to him, he was in our dining room.  It’s amazing how fast these kids go from not doing something developmentally to us not being able to catch them!



Ellie has made vast improvements over the last 3 or 4 weeks. She developed an open wound and staph infection in her hemangioma about 5 or 6 weeks ago. The NICU follow-up doctor told us that she had never seen that happen before. Apparently, it just grew far too fast and became infected. We took her to the dermatologist and started doing wound dressings every night along with another oral medication to help control the growth. After about four days of treating it, Ellie was an entirely different baby! When we first brought her home, she cried so much, I thought I was going to go crazy. We thought it might be sensory related, but now we are thinking that her hemangioma may have played a part in it. Thankfully, the staph infection is gone and the hemangioma itself has shrunk considerably in size. Now she happily plays on the floor next to her siblings and is in a good mood most of the time! Her favorite place to be is in the corner of the mat on her tummy so that she can watch everything that is happening in the room. The tone in her legs has definitely improved, and she has serious abs of steel. She can easily hold herself up on her arms for 45 minutes at a time (see photo below of her and Grandmacita). Her smiles are precious because we have had so few of them up until now. It’s so nice to have a daughter who actually seems to enjoy life!



So there you have it! 7 ½ months old and they are all rolling around and playing. (I uploaded a video of the babies following a rattle if you care to see it.) This week, Sean and I plan on getting gates up to block off our living room and lower their cribs so that they don’t launch themselves out. Yikes! I thought my life was crazy up to now. I’m really dreading when they start crawling! Who needs a workout when you are chasing FOUR crawling babies?!

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

We are officially under lockdown for this year’s RSV and flu season.  We had fun taking the kids to grandparents’ houses a few times this summer, but from now until May, our kids won’t leave the house unless we have a doctor’s appointment (or we lose power again, but let’s all pray that doesn’t happen!) We are very serious about our lockdown because it could very well mean the difference between a hospital stay for everybody or getting to spend the cold weather safely at home. Most everyone knows that we have tried to keep our babies away from extra people since they came home, but now that’s crucial. Other than a few select people who come to help me during the day and our families, we can’t let anyone in the house. We have had a few people stop by without making prior arrangements with us. Although we know friends always have good intentions, we ask that you please respect what we are trying to do to stay on schedule, make it to our appointments, and protect our kids by not coming by the house unannounced. Come May, things will get easier for us, but for now, we are going to be doing our best impersonations of hermits. :-) Thanks for understanding!!

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

And for your enjoyment, a slew of photos in no particular order!

 

7 Month Photo! (clockwise from bottom left corner) Caleb, Abby, Ellie, and Eli

First Picnic: We completely rearranged our house over Labor Day Weekend. Our living room no longer looks like a nursery! All of the kids are now sleeping in their own cribs upstairs. On Labor Day, we had our two families over for a backyard picnic. We threw a big blanket our on the grass and put all of the attending babies out there to enjoy the sun. This photo is of our four kids plus their cousin Aly. Our girls weren’t too thrilled with the great outdoors. Their other cousin, Marissa, was running around playing and unfortunately we didn’t catch her in the photo.  (clockwise from lower left corner): Elijah, Abby, Caleb, Ellie, and Aly

At the end of September, my grandpa, Paul Taylor from New Mexico (I grew up down there for those of you who didn’t know that) and my Aunt Mary Helen flew up to meet their new relatives. I was SO excited when I heard that my 91-year-old grandpa was willing to get on a plane to come visit us! Caleb, Ellie, Abby, and Eli 

Four Generations! Ellie, Mommy, Caleb, Great-Grandpa, Elijah, Grandmacita, and Abby

We took a bunch of great photos, but I LOVE this photo of Abby smiling at her Great-Grandpa. 

This was just hilarious! Aunt Mary Helen sat on the floor, and I started piling babies up for a photo. Somehow, Abby ended up on the bottom of the pile. Haha! She took it so well but eventually didn’t think that having her brothers sit on her was the best idea. We were all laughing so hard! Caleb (in yellow), Abby, Eli, and Ellie with Aunt Mary Helen

This is a precious photo also! Great-Grandpa suddenly decided that he wanted to play on the floor with Ellie. 91 years old and he got on the floor! He’s obviously still full of energy and fun!

How cute is this photo? I caught all three of them smiling! :-)  Elijah, Daddy, and Caleb

Ever wondered how much formula a quad family goes through in a month? Yes, I do attract attention when I go to Walmart.

Don’t you just love jeans on babies? I do!  Ellie, Elijah, Abby, and Caleb 

Brothers!!  Caleb and Elijah 

Getting So Big!  Caleb, Abby, Elijah, and Ellie 

--Posted by Becca