"Finally Home" First Year Anniversary

Today is a big day for The Ishum Family!

One year ago today, we brought home our last baby from the hospital and finally put our family together!

Elijah came home May 15th

Abby and Ellie came on May 17th

Caleb came home on May 19th

What is extra neat is that the day our last baby came home was also my due date!

It was such a monumental day for us that I can still remember what we ate for dinner that night (Thanks again for the Chicken Enchiladas, Nancy!) Sean stayed with the other three babies, with his sister, Ruby, and her husband playing back-up, while I drove to the hospital to get Caleb. I went to get him with such a weird combination of nervousness, sadness about leaving our nurse friends, sleep deprivation, and adrenaline.

This was it! This was the moment that we were suddenly in charge of four little preemies with special needs. Scary, crazy, amazing, insane!

Today marks one year of living this incredible quad life 100% hands on (not that being pregnant and sitting in the NICU wasn't hands on, but you know what I mean.). 

I was looking through some old photos from the first few days that they were all home together. They have gotten so BIG!

All home together!

             Elijah, Caleb, and Daddy                                          Abby and Ellie

Caleb's first at home bath

Fun fact: This was taken right as he peed on me. That was followed about 20 seconds later by pooping in the water. My friend took the photo mid-squeal from me!

Daddy and Elijah hanging in the kitchen

Fun fact: Elijah is still on his monitor in this photo. Daddy unplugged the monitor from the wall and carried it around with them.

A very sleep-deprived Mommy, Ellie, and Abby

 Fun fact: Ellie's ear is taped flat because it kept folding over. The cartilage was extremely soft and we were worried she would end up looking like a puppy with a floppy ear. Both are on monitors and Abby is on an oxygen tank. Thank goodness we don't have to carry all of that medical equipment around with us anymore!

Thanks again for joining us on our journey! It's so exciting to see where we have come from!

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

We are only FOUR days from the end of the Top 25 Moms of Multiples Blog Contest! It ends this Wednesday, May 23rd at 3pm central. We are in 2nd place and currently 300 votes behind 1st place. But 3rd place is only 50 votes behind us! At this point, really anyone could win. Could you help us out by clicking the yellow "Thumbs Up" button next to our name once every 24 hours for the next four days? Even better if you could dig up a few extra votes for us by asking your friends to vote. :)

You all are the best! Thank you SO much for supporting us!

Today is a big day for The Ishum Family!

One year ago today, we brought home our last baby from the hospital and finally put our family together!

Elijah came home May 15th

Abby and Ellie came on May 17th

Caleb came home on May 19th

What is extra neat is that the day our last baby came home was also my due date!

It was such a monumental day for us that I can still remember what we ate for dinner that night (Thanks again for the Chicken Enchiladas, Nancy!) Sean stayed with the other three babies, with his sister, Ruby, and her husband playing back-up, while I drove to the hospital to get Caleb. I went to get him with such a weird combination of nervousness, sadness about leaving our nurse friends, sleep deprivation, and adrenaline.

This was it! This was the moment that we were suddenly in charge of four little preemies with special needs. Scary, crazy, amazing, insane!

Today marks one year of living this incredible quad life 100% hands on (not that being pregnant and sitting in the NICU wasn't hands on, but you know what I mean.). 

I was looking through some old photos from the first few days that they were all home together. They have gotten so BIG!

All home together!

             Elijah, Caleb, and Daddy                                          Abby and Ellie

Caleb's first at home bath

Fun fact: This was taken right as he peed on me. That was followed about 20 seconds later by pooping in the water. My friend took the photo mid-squeal from me!

Daddy and Elijah hanging in the kitchen

Fun fact: Elijah is still on his monitor in this photo. Daddy unplugged the monitor from the wall and carried it around with them.

A very sleep-deprived Mommy, Ellie, and Abby

 Fun fact: Ellie's ear is taped flat because it kept folding over. The cartilage was extremely soft and we were worried she would end up looking like a puppy with a floppy ear. Both are on monitors and Abby is on an oxygen tank. Thank goodness we don't have to carry all of that medical equipment around with us anymore!

Thanks again for joining us on our journey! It's so exciting to see where we have come from!

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

We are only FOUR days from the end of the Top 25 Moms of Multiples Blog Contest! It ends this Wednesday, May 23rd at 3pm central. We are in 2nd place and currently 300 votes behind 1st place. But 3rd place is only 50 votes behind us! At this point, really anyone could win. Could you help us out by clicking the yellow "Thumbs Up" button next to our name once every 24 hours for the next four days? Even better if you could dig up a few extra votes for us by asking your friends to vote. :)

You all are the best! Thank you SO much for supporting us!

Marriage and Multiples: The Little Moments

Marriage and Multiples. There’s a topic that isn’t often discussed at marriage conferences and in marriage books. Sean and I have been to 4 or 5 marriage conferences since we got married, and we’ve read several marriage books between the two of us. There really isn’t much in there that focuses specifically on couples with multiple kids the same age. Hmm…we must be a niche market. J

Today we’ve managed to reach as many years of marriage as we have kids. It’s our 4^th anniversary!

I remember what we did for our last anniversary. The kids were still in the NICU. We took the evening off from sitting in the hospital, used a Groupon that I bought prior to getting pregnant, and had some of the worst pizza ever. Then we hit the sale on Lean Cuisine meals at Price Chopper.

It was an interesting period of transition from being just a couple to having a big family. Even though we didn’t have our kids home yet, we still spent the majority of the evening talking about them. Back then, I didn’t think too much about the two of us going grocery shopping together, or jumping in the car on a whim to get milk shakes from Sonic at 11pm at night.

Now we have to be far more intentional about connecting with each other.

Divorce rates are high in our culture, and it is no surprise to hear about another celebrity couple breaking up or seeing a moving van outside of a neighbor's house. Sadly, divorce rates among Christian couples are high as well. I wish it was different, but the idea of giving up when life gets hard has permeated everywhere.

So this is the scenario: Boy meets Girl. Boy falls for Girl. Boy marries Girl….and then they pop out a set of multiples. Studies show that their chances of divorce are now 2-3 times higher than that of the average married couple.

Uh. Oh.

So where am I going with this cheery post on what is supposed to be a day of focusing on how happy we are to be married?

                          And no, we aren’t getting a divorce.

Sean and I have been through the wringer this year. It’s been tough. Really, really tough.  There have been times that one or both of us have wanted to walk out the front door and one time, one of us actually did. I’ve sat on the couch and wailed that I didn’t want to be a mom anymore. Sean has stood in the kitchen and felt utter failure.  The stress on our marriage has been incredible.

As I told a friend, having multiples has been the worst thing that has ever happened to our marriage and also the best thing that has ever happened to our marriage.

A marriage is a lot for two people to carry, and when you fill each person’s arms with a baby, well, there isn’t much left over for the marriage part.

That’s why we are fighting.  A lot.

And it’s not all bad. Yeah, we fight with each other, but we also fight for each other.  And we are blessed enough to have people in our lives who are helping us fight for our marriage as well.

We certainly don’t have it all figured out. But we have learned a few things over the last year.

One thing is that it’s the little moments that go a long way toward holding a marriage together.

The babies make a LOT of noise and requite a LOT of attention. There is no downtime with four infants in the house. The logistics and costs associated with hiring a babysitter and dinner out are cost prohibitive, and honestly we are just too tired most of the time to get all gussied up to leave the house.

So, we have taken to having little date moments at home. A couple of times, we’ve had cheesecake, wine, and a movie after they’ve gone to bed. Being curled up together on the couch reminds me of when we were dating and would watch Alias episode after Alias episode on DVD. (Btw, if I wasn’t married, I think I would be an awesome CIA agent! Yeah, it’s amazing what TV can convince us of, right?)

We’ve also had a mid-afternoon hot chocolate and popcorn break during the kids’ nap. The first time we did that, it was so weird! Sean looked at me and said, “Well, this is strange. The kids are asleep, and we aren’t!” It’s nice to have a little more energy than we did during the first three months they were home.

We are also big fans of free Redbox codes! A free Redbox code automatically means, “Date Night at Home!” If you sign up at Redbox.com, they will send you a free code once a month for a rental of your choice. Dish up a bowl of ice cream with that, and it’s a perfect evening together.

Yeah, we have to work a lot harder now that we have four roving kids who have definitely found their vocal cords. But our marriage is worth it. If we aren’t strong as a couple, then our family won’t be strong as a unit.

In many ways, we are a better, stronger couple because of our quadruplets.

We still screw up and hurt each other. We still get tired and cranky (mostly me. I get very cranky.) We still zonk out most nights when the kids go to sleep. But we do look for those moments that we can hang together and spend a few minutes on ourselves without having to leave home.

Marriage and Multiples. There’s a topic that isn’t often discussed at marriage conferences and in marriage books. Sean and I have been to 4 or 5 marriage conferences since we got married, and we’ve read several marriage books between the two of us. There really isn’t much in there that focuses specifically on couples with multiple kids the same age. Hmm…we must be a niche market. J

Today we’ve managed to reach as many years of marriage as we have kids. It’s our 4^th anniversary!

I remember what we did for our last anniversary. The kids were still in the NICU. We took the evening off from sitting in the hospital, used a Groupon that I bought prior to getting pregnant, and had some of the worst pizza ever. Then we hit the sale on Lean Cuisine meals at Price Chopper.

It was an interesting period of transition from being just a couple to having a big family. Even though we didn’t have our kids home yet, we still spent the majority of the evening talking about them. Back then, I didn’t think too much about the two of us going grocery shopping together, or jumping in the car on a whim to get milk shakes from Sonic at 11pm at night.

Now we have to be far more intentional about connecting with each other.

Divorce rates are high in our culture, and it is no surprise to hear about another celebrity couple breaking up or seeing a moving van outside of a neighbor's house. Sadly, divorce rates among Christian couples are high as well. I wish it was different, but the idea of giving up when life gets hard has permeated everywhere.

So this is the scenario: Boy meets Girl. Boy falls for Girl. Boy marries Girl….and then they pop out a set of multiples. Studies show that their chances of divorce are now 2-3 times higher than that of the average married couple.

Uh. Oh.

So where am I going with this cheery post on what is supposed to be a day of focusing on how happy we are to be married?

                          And no, we aren’t getting a divorce.

Sean and I have been through the wringer this year. It’s been tough. Really, really tough.  There have been times that one or both of us have wanted to walk out the front door and one time, one of us actually did. I’ve sat on the couch and wailed that I didn’t want to be a mom anymore. Sean has stood in the kitchen and felt utter failure.  The stress on our marriage has been incredible.

As I told a friend, having multiples has been the worst thing that has ever happened to our marriage and also the best thing that has ever happened to our marriage.

A marriage is a lot for two people to carry, and when you fill each person’s arms with a baby, well, there isn’t much left over for the marriage part.

That’s why we are fighting.  A lot.

And it’s not all bad. Yeah, we fight with each other, but we also fight for each other.  And we are blessed enough to have people in our lives who are helping us fight for our marriage as well.

We certainly don’t have it all figured out. But we have learned a few things over the last year.

One thing is that it’s the little moments that go a long way toward holding a marriage together.

The babies make a LOT of noise and requite a LOT of attention. There is no downtime with four infants in the house. The logistics and costs associated with hiring a babysitter and dinner out are cost prohibitive, and honestly we are just too tired most of the time to get all gussied up to leave the house.

So, we have taken to having little date moments at home. A couple of times, we’ve had cheesecake, wine, and a movie after they’ve gone to bed. Being curled up together on the couch reminds me of when we were dating and would watch Alias episode after Alias episode on DVD. (Btw, if I wasn’t married, I think I would be an awesome CIA agent! Yeah, it’s amazing what TV can convince us of, right?)

We’ve also had a mid-afternoon hot chocolate and popcorn break during the kids’ nap. The first time we did that, it was so weird! Sean looked at me and said, “Well, this is strange. The kids are asleep, and we aren’t!” It’s nice to have a little more energy than we did during the first three months they were home.

We are also big fans of free Redbox codes! A free Redbox code automatically means, “Date Night at Home!” If you sign up at Redbox.com, they will send you a free code once a month for a rental of your choice. Dish up a bowl of ice cream with that, and it’s a perfect evening together.

Yeah, we have to work a lot harder now that we have four roving kids who have definitely found their vocal cords. But our marriage is worth it. If we aren’t strong as a couple, then our family won’t be strong as a unit.

In many ways, we are a better, stronger couple because of our quadruplets.

We still screw up and hurt each other. We still get tired and cranky (mostly me. I get very cranky.) We still zonk out most nights when the kids go to sleep. But we do look for those moments that we can hang together and spend a few minutes on ourselves without having to leave home.