3.31.2013

Our Big Move!

So. This weekend has been hell on wheels. I'm totally exhausted. To the point of sickness. The husband woke up with a 102.1 temp this morning and I felt like death. But let me back up and tell you the (abbreviated) tale of our big move.

All day Good Friday was spent packing, clearing out drawers and other necessities we'd need for the babies over our long weekend and preparing to leave the house for my very last time. I'll admit to being nostalgic about never going back there—it's been a great house for us and one where we made many incredible memories, the highlight being our quadruplets! But I knew we were ready to make the transition to Dallas and we are also in dire need of a bigger house, so we chugged along with the preparations.

Several close friends stopped by to hold babies or help with packing and we said some tearful farewells when the left. Leaving friends behind is hard!


The husband had to do all the heavy lifting since I'm barely two weeks out from surgery, which sucked because I know he was sooooo tired by the end of the day. He's like a machine when it comes to packing and moving—he can make anything fit in a box and he's got a system all worked out before you even know what happened. I literally don't pack anything without his approval or instruction. Mostly because he just becomes behind me and redoes it all. So really it's more of a time saver.


In the morning, it was time to feed the babies, put them in their car seats, load the last few items and hit the road. Our goal was to leave by 10am and we headed out at 10:45, so not bad in my opinion. However, I was starving so our caravan had to stop at Sonic before we even reached the highway and one hour later it was time for the next feeding for the babies. We were on the outskirts of Houston and my BFF, Lisa, happens to live in the area so we called her up and told her we'd be there in like five minutes! She and her husband, Adam, graciously helped us unload the babies and their gear and even our two cat cats in their carriers, which we stashed just inside the front door while we were inside! We spoon fed everybody in their bumbos then did bottles in their car seats, let them all roll and play around the floor for a few minutes then loaded up and headed off again.


This time we got just over two hours of drive time in, the quads were great and slept on and off, listened to their CDs I had brought or laughed at mommy being funny in the back seat.




We even passed up my mom and step-dad on the highway, hauling their RV back home! My mom took the photo below (she's quick as a whip with that camera we gave her!). You can see our suburban and U-Haul on the left and their RV on the right.


The next feeding took place at 3:30pm and we'd made it to Ennis and found a picnic table in a grassy area in between a McDonald's and a hotel. We parked the suburban and the U-Haul and the husband's mom pulled up in our Avalanche horizontally to the table, so it sort of blocked the view from all the curious onlookers rolling through Mickey D's drive-thru. It was perfect and, despite the wind, the babies downed their bottles like champs, I did speedy diaper changes on the table, then we loaded them up, took turns running inside for a bathroom break, drinks and ice cream then pulled onto the highway once more.


This time we made it all the way to our final destination, our apartment in a Dallas suburb. It felt weird to be "home." The husband and I had not been here in over a year due to my pregnancy, the quad's being born and our caring for preemies and enduring quarantine for several months. Nothing much had really sunk in about all the changes we were going through until I saw the Dallas skyline and I realized we had actually made it. For just a minute I'd thought there'd be a chorus of angels singing Hallelujah.

At this point, we were dead on our feet. My father-in-law met us with our key to the apartment and helped the husband unload everything. I ran in and sprayed the place down with Lysol and was disappointed to find it still faintly smelled of smoke. (I've got plug-ins going and Lysol sprayed every day and we'll be getting an air purifier to help.) I also hurriedly gave one of my cats a bath because she had peed all over herself during the trip home. They do not travel well.

Meanwhile, my mother-in-law helped me change the babies into nighttime diapers and pajamas and get their bottles ready. We had four pack-and-plays all set up in their room and fed them and put them to bed. After a few minutes of protests, they all went to sleep. During the course of feeding, my dad and his wife and my good friend and her boyfriend showed up to help us unpack some things and put stuff away. It was so awesome to have all that help. We could barely even lift a finger we were so tired. And starting to feel sick. Then my dad and his wife went to the grocery store to get a list of food and basic items I'd need for the next several days, since the husband has to go back to Houston tomorrow morning to finish closing on the house and also oversee the movers who are coming to pack up the rest of our stuff (most of it will be going into storage).

This morning, we had to grudgingly drag ourselves out of bed. It was awful. We realized just how hard all this had been on us and it was like we were finally feeling the full weight of everything. But four adorable little people depend on us for their livelihood and they put smiles on our faces before we even knew what was happening.

As the day went on, we slowly started feeling a little better and are both taking meds and antibiotics to help with fever and prevent any illness. My mom came over to see the babies and my step-dad brought us their full-size mattress from their guest room since our air mattress was a total failure last night. We'll borrow theirs until our mattress shows up with the movers on Wednesday (along with the quad table, baby cribs and a few other items). We laid on it a few minutes this afternoon and, compared to the air mattress, it felt like a luxurious Sleep Number bed.

Both parents sent over freshly made food and the husband's brother even stayed long enough to help make bottles for tomorrow. It's so nice to have the continued support of our family and friends—now even closer to home!

me and the big man

I did take a few minutes to snap photos of the babies in their Easter onesies and all in my suitcase, since I thought it was appropriate for surviving their first road trip. Trystan loooooved the suitcase and sat in it for over 30 minutes, happy as a lark!



lolo's sweet baby feet
How I have had time to write this blog post, the ability to recall all the craziness from the past 48 hours or the energy to type and include all these photos on poached Internet, I've no idea. Call it being a quad mom. Call it dedicated. Call it what you will. I call it bidding you good night! Zzzzzz.....

3.27.2013

{Quad Squad} Breakfast for Four

Last weekend, the husband made scrambled eggs and biscuits for breakfast. I'm not a big egg fan and can only eat egg whites (the yolks make me sick, weird...), but the babies braved a few bites. The texture was new and made for lots of funny faces. They loved the biscuits, though. We're enjoying introducing them to new "real" foods, like some veggie pasta at dinner tonight. Their hand/finger coordination is really improving! Logan and Kailey have also mastered drinking out of a regular straw (they love tea and water) and we're still working with Harrison and Trystan.


Of course, every time we feed them loose foods at their quad table there is a lot of loose food that ends up on the floor. Or on their pants. Or stuck to their butts. Trystan is frequently adoringly referred to as "sticky fingers" and likes to stash goodies for later up her sleeve.


I'm not a big fan of sweeping four million times a day, so I called in reinforcements. Jersey Girl had no problem cleaning up!


Yesterday, my mother-in-law and I took Trystan to an ENT doc to get her checked out due to some wheezing we've been hearing more prominently lately. We noticed it off and on over the past few months but it never seemed to be an issue, she hadn't been sick at all and she'd been checked out head to toe, even since leaving the NICU. But during the cold she'd had, a small squeak had developed so we took her in to our pediatrician. They were stumped as there was no congestion in her lungs (ruling out asthma as well) and no rattling. So at the ENT doc, they gave her some lidocaine drops in her noise then poked a small camera into her nasal passage and into the very top of her throat to check everything. Her adenoids were totally normal, nearly flat against the surface of the back of the throat. Often these can become enlarged and cause all sorts of infections and complications and, much like tonsils, can be removed in children. Her vocal chords also looked great. It was crazy to see all that on a TV screen straight from the tiny camera on the scope and Trystan handled it like a champ, only letting out one protest at the beginning!

Currently, we give her a breathing treatment at least every other day (a nebulizer treatment, similar to an inhaler) which seems to be helping. If we continue to notice the wheezing over the coming weeks, then we'll consider a pediatric pulmonologist to check out her heart and chest further, ruling out any other possible causes. In the end, it could just be the way she chooses to breathe sometimes. But y'all know me, I gotta be sure! After the ENT appointment, the three of us dropped in for lunch at Cheesecake Factory. She loved looking around and watching all the action during the busy lunch hour but then eventually fell asleep for a nap in her carrier. Sweet girl. 


Afterward I had a doctor appointment of my own with my surgeon to check on my progress from my second surgery last Monday. It's been frustrating going through much of the same recovery again, but it's getting better and I'm slowly doing more. Still can't lift babies or heavy objects yet and I'm a tad worried about overdoing it with the move coming up, but my mom, mom-in-law and husband have gone above and beyond to be sure I don't. Couldn't survive without them and all our gracious friends who have helped us out lately!

Today, the grandmas kept the quad squad so I could join the husband for a "last lunch" with his work crew. Everyone showed up to wish us their best and during all the conversation, I was looking around at the group and remembering fun nights out, parties, events and more that we've shared with all those guys. Many of them helped us move into our first house, more of them helped us move things into storage when we took off for Scotland for a year (one couple threw us an amazing going-away party!), and pretty much everyone supported us in various ways as we prepared to welcome quadruplets. It's definitely hard to say goodbye to such great people and we plan to keep in touch with many of them. Yet we're also excited to be back home again and rekindle friendships with those we had initially left behind. Change, in my book, is always a good thing!

Now I'm busy canceling cable, setting up new cable, finding new doctors for the babies (pediatrician, eye doc, urologist, etc.) and a surgeon for myself to continue with follow-up as well as a physical therapist. The list never ends. Literally. I've got three separate lists going of 1) things to take with us for our first weekend in the apartment, 2) things for the movers to deliver to the apartment and 3) things they need to put in storage. 

Yet for just a little while, the house is quiet. After the babies were asleep and we'd done enough for one night, the husband and I retreated to our room and have been scouring our realtor's website looking at potential homes in DFW and watching some of our DVR'd shows. We know we only have a few more moments like this before chaos ensues. We love having time for each other and getting to relax together, even if it's not very often. It's our way of staying connected and recharging for the next big thing. Which commences Friday with packing and Saturday with our fully-loaded road trip to Dallas. Keep us in your prayers! The adventure continues!

3.24.2013

{Quad Squad} 2 Moms & 9 Kids!

It's not often that you get to go on a play date with another set of quadruplets. It's even less often that they're nearly the same age as your own quadruplets (one and a half months older, in our case). But that's exactly what the scene was on Saturday at our long awaited play date with the Martin Quads!

My four babies dove right on in there and went to town playing with all the Martin babies' toys and the Martin babies themselves. It was like baby soup. :)


ashley and i with all our kids!
all the quad babies (logan got squished in the back, you can see her legs poking out!)
quad mommas, quad daddies and quadlings
car seats are a portable solution for feeding our crew
we borrowed their quad table for the spoon feeding...perfect!
Ashley and her husband have a three-year-old adorable little girl, Ella, as well as their nearly one-year-old quads. It was so cool to watch our babies interact with Ella, since we hadn't seem them with very many other babies much less toddlers. They loved her. Especially Harrison. And I noticed that throughout the afternoon, Ella went around and played with each of the eight babies several times. She never left anyone out or ignored a single one. They all responded to her, crawling after her and laughing at her dancing and jumping around.

all the baby girls: abbie, allie, kailey, logan and trystan

baby girls + ella

the boys! carson, corbin and my harrison
Ashley and I had been looking forward to this for months. We first met for lunch together very early in our pregnancies. She'd come across my blog after we'd announced we were expecting quadruplets, and sent me a message. At lunch that day, we talked about our hardships with the pregnancies so far, our fears for both ourselves and the babies and how it'd be amazing one day to get a picture of us with all our kiddos and know that we'd survived. And we got that very moment on camera. One laughing, crazy, baby-filled glance from one quad mom to another.


We did it.

3.21.2013

An Update On Our "Crazy!"

I've never had so many things going on at once. I can't keep track of what I was thinking about five minutes ago. And still being on pain meds from my surgery Monday makes it even harder. My recovery is in progress. It hasn't been easy. I can't stand up completely straight but I am mobile, and the pain has been persistent but I've kept it fairly under control. I can barely lift up my laptop right now so I haven't been moving or lifting much else. I really just can't believe I had to have surgery again. It was everything I could do to survive that last recovery. Bah humbug. I have a drainage tube coming out of the bottom of my stomach again, I have a newly-closed incision running across my stomach again, I have to gingerly move around for fear of popping stitches in my ab muscles again, I have to walk around with my shoulders hunched over again, and I have to pace myself for several weeks before I can start to operate without caution...again.

In the long run, I know that this surgery will pay off and I'll be glad to have my core intact and be able to function and run after four kids. It's just hard to be patient, especially when I'm having to do part of this for a second time. My surgeon said my ab muscles were so distended and stretched that gravity was pulling against the set of stitches he'd put in the first time and that's what was causing my stomach to stick out again. He reinforced everything and expects no issues this time. I'm keeping my fingers crossed and saying my prayers that all heals well. At least tomorrow I get to have the drainage tube taken out—that'll be a huge relief and make it easier to be comfortable.

Thank goodness my mom and my step-dad have been here to help this week, the husband has been pulling so much extra weight and we have a friend coming to help tomorrow and my in-laws coming to help this weekend. Our home listed on the market on Tuesday and since then we've shown it seven times and have received two offers, with a potential third offer and another buyer coming this evening. The house isn't prepped or show-worthy at all. There's baby stuff everywhere, the beds are unmade, kitchen in use. The house itself isn't trashed or dirty and we've been sure to have good smelling candles burning and all the lights on and blinds open. I'd be thrilled to get it sold without delay, it's a great home with a nice layout and clean backdrop.

I've prayed everyday for the last two weeks for God's guidance and influence in our lives, now more than ever. With the surgery that it would go well and finally be the recovery I needed; with selling our house, that the right person would come along that could see past all the baby swings and toys and appreciate the house for what it is; for our move, that we'd find the right company to pack up our house and the right apartment to set up camp in for awhile; for the husband's new company and colleagues, and that he's able to smoothly transition and take up a new challenge; and for both of us in general, that we don't lose sight of what's important, that we take things in stride and that we survive the next several weeks and don't forget to sleep! And once some of this dies down, it'll be time to plan the babies first birthday (May 31)!!!

So for now we're beginning to focus on our own moving process, hiring movers, packing up little odds and ends so as not to lose them, deciding what baby stuff needs to come with us and what needs to go into storage. We've nearly got an apartment lined up, which will give us a chance to crash and burn for a little while once we get to Dallas. It'll give us some time to look for a home we really want without having to move at breakneck speeds for once! Granted it won't be the most convenient place to live with four babies in tow, but if we can do all this, we can do that. We had to find something that was on the first floor, too, since I can't be hauling babies up and down any stairs. So many little details to consider!

And among all this craziness, me not feeling well, working out schedules with family and volunteers and planning a big move, we still try to soak up the little moments that continue to happen every day. Like Harrison pulling himself up to a standing position for the first time on the little play table, then Trystan trying to copy him and pulling to her knees for the first time as well. (They are the only two that haven't been standing yet.) And I love how Harrison has been obsessed with doing head stands lately, as you can see in the photo below.

trystan working on pulling herself up and harrison doing a head stand (his new thang)
work that tongue, girl!
kailey lee
my little logan bear
All four are still teething, which worsens and improves each week, and they are all crawling with intense purpose these days as well. I look forward to turning them loose in the apartment living room and letting them have the run of the place! We won't have much in the apartment, so it'll be more space for them to play and less things to baby-proof.

The babies have continued to operate on their usual daily schedule, even with showing the house. We've listed limited viewing times so as not to interrupt feedings. If someone's coming to view the house, we take all the babies into the nursery and they come take a peek in that room last before leaving. No one seems to be bothered at all that we've been at the house while they've viewed it and so far, despite their obvious curiosity, no one's asked too much about the quadruplets and have kept their visits brief. We have gotten quite a few compliments on the quad table though! It's the centerpiece of the house kitchen. And no matter what the previous day was like, every morning starts fresh with four happy smiling faces that absolutely love their table that daddy built them. :)

good morning from the quad squad!

One day at a time...

3.20.2013

{Daily Pics}

trying out some real finger foods (cheese & strawberries) for the first time. harrison is not pictured because he gagged and threw up!

mischievous much?

logan asleep in her daddy's arms

trystan fighting a cold but still sporting a grin

kailey is nearly ready to start walking!

running errands with logan. taking one baby is a break for me and for the husband, who only had three to keep up with!

3.18.2013

Recovering Yet Again...

As many of you may have read in my post yesterday, I had to have surgery again. I'd been seeing great results from my abdominoplasty I had done just over two months ago, but then my stomach looked like it was swelling up. At first we thought it was because my hips are still very swollen from the contour lipo I had done. Then my doc thought it was fluid rentention. I started doing physical therapy and then found out Friday, after the doctor examined my stomach, that either the stitches on my muscles or the muscles themselves were giving out. And that meant more surgery.

Today he went back into my hip-to-hip incision and reinforced my abdominal muscles with around 40 new stitches. He was also able to see that the original long running stitch down the middle of my abs was still there but that my muscles had stretched and relaxed, thus causing the bulge.

My recovery will be about two weeks, just in time to move! Thank God the husband's new company provides packers/movers so hopefully my biggest load to contend with will be the babies. We are about to secure an apartment for now, one that's big enough to hold the babies' play pen, toys and cribs, our TV, couch and some clothes. It'll be nice to have no extra upkeep, like a yard to mow or dogs, as my in-laws are petsittig them for us. This enables us to focus on finding a house while the husband adjusts to his new gig.

In the meantime, I'm going to rest. I am having to stay the night, instead of getting to go home today. I can't empty my bladder on my own, a result from anesthesia every time, damn it. So I had to get a catheter, IV meds and a room. I'm in a pretty good deal of pain, even with the morphine they gave me. Now I'm even more sore from vomiting and flexing my just-sewed stomach muscles. Can't believe I'm having to do this all over again, granted not as in depth as the last time, but still extremely uncomfortable and frustrating. The husband was here at the hospital with me all day and now he's driving home late night only to be back tomorrow to get me. (We are both sooo thankful for some extra vacation hours someone donated to him at work, just incredible.) I'm praying for peace, strength and wisdom for both my husband and I every day as we navigate our rapidly laid plans. And I thank YOU for your prayers, as well. 



3.17.2013

Some Really BIG Announcements!

So this past week has been absolutely mental. I can honestly say at no point in my life have I had this much on my plate at one time. Like, not even when I had four babies. Because now we are contending with four babies (who are still a bit under the weather, to boot) plus a surgery plus a long-anticipated move to an entirely different city. Say whaaaaat? Yes, it's true. Allow me to share details on three of the most important happenings in our life right now...

1. Tomorrow morning I'll be going into the OR for yet another surgery. One that I didn't plan on having at all. When I had my abdominoplasty just over two months ago, my surgeon did several things. He removed excess skin, fixed my umbilical hernia and stitched together the muscles in my abdomen that had been torn apart from growing huge with quadruplets. As my very difficult recovery progressed and eventually started to improve, my stomach began looking really great. Then about two or three weeks ago, it started puffing back out. It looked swollen and distended, like I was four or five months pregnant. Not the result you want after a tummy tuck and muscular repairs. When I went to see him last Friday, he deduced that it wasn't all fluid causing my stomach to appear that way. The sutures in my abdomen had likely popped or given out and my organs and pressure from gravity were forcing my stomach back out again. It would also explain some pain that's popped up that I didn't have until a few days ago. So tomorrow he'll be repairing the repairs, so to speak, and putting in enough sutures that if any of them should give out, there's plenty more to hold in place.

from start to finish of the quad pregnancy, the babies were born at 29 weeks 5 days

recovering after my first surgery in january
While I'm not thrilled this has been my journey with this surgery, I'm more than willing to get this fixed for good. The pain, pressure and general overall effect of looking and feeling this way is not something I want to spend the rest of my life with. I want to be active again, I want to look fit and I want to feel "whole." I'm very nervous about going under anesthesia again and it always makes me worry about the "what if's" especially when I have four babies and a wonderful husband at home. It's also the third time in less than a year that I'm having a rather larger incision at the bottom of my stomach (delivery, abdominoplasty and, now, repairs). To survive my last recovery from surgery, I told myself over and over again that I'd NEVER have to endure anything remotely like that again. Apparently, I spoke too soon. While my recovery should be nowhere near as severe as the last one, it will set me back a little bit and I'll have to once again be patient and rely on the help of others to get me through.


2. We have a quad table!!!! This is a major milestone in our household as it drastically improves our feeding abilities with the babies and also helps as we prepare to teach the babies how to eat finger foods and, eventually, more solids on their own. My husband drafted, cut, sawed, trimmed, sanded, built and stained the table from start to finish—with the help of some great friends as well as his brother. It turned out perfect! We ordered the seats here and roughly followed table plans shared by fellow quad mom, Traci


the husband with the table after staining it
The babies love the table, we sat them all in it for breakfast yesterday morning and they were bouncing in their seats and smacking their little hands on the table top, all smiles. At lunch today, the husband got them all seated after diaper changes and I was finishing mixing up the food for their spoon feeding (we now do that first, followed by bottles). I glanced up from the kitchen counter and all eight eyes were watching me intently, followed by four silly little grins. It made me laugh because I'm so used to having them wait in their bumbo chairs or pack and plays in the living room. I'm not used to having an audience!




3. In the meantime, there's even more news!!! WE'RE MOVING TO DALLAS!!!! The husband and I have longed to get back to Big D for years, both our families live in the area and its where we grew up. It's been more than eight years since we left and we thought we were going to move back about three years ago. But then we took the opportunity to travel abroad and live in Scotland for a year. When we returned to Texas, we thought we'd move. But then some more favorable opportunities popped up and kept us in Houston. And then we had quadruplets. So now with yet another surgery to take place, four babies at home and a house in total transition, we'll be packing up and heading north in less than two weeks!!! Our current plan is to move over Easter weekend. It's fast, y'all. We'll hole up in an apartment until we both sell our house in Houston and find one we want to buy in the Dallas area. We decided that moving with four nine-month-olds and switching jobs and finding a new house and putting some stuff in storage and taking our first real road trip with quadruplets and throwing in a surgery on top of everything sounded like a great plan.


So that's what's going on! I've got some fun Daily Pics posts scheduled for this week as well as my recipe for baked ziti, and I'll also share an update on post-surgery recovery and our moving plans as I'm able. Thanks to all for following along our Lone Star journey and for all the prayers as we progress. It's a crazy life and we love it!

3.12.2013

{Quad Squad} The Babies Are Sick! :(

It's happened. After two months of growing in the NICU and seven healthy months gaining weight and maturing at home, the quad squad has become ill. It's like one of those things you see coming from far off and you wince at just the thought of it, but you hope it'll stay in the distance for a little while longer.

I knew eventually they'd all get sick, one way or another. And it's very likely that it's happened because of teething. They are chewing on their fingers like they're made of chocolate and drool doth abound.

It all started Saturday when we spotted two runny noses. Two days later, everyone had the sniffles (faucet faces), irritability (the crabby crew), incessant drool (mobile waterworks) and watery, red-lined eyes (radar peepers for when mommy leaves the room). And I can't even begin to explain to you how exhausting it is to make a pass by everyone's nose every 2-3 minutes with kleenex. It's been a real treat, to say the least. Last night, the husband and I slept for around 4 hours between getting up to suction noses, pat their backs when they had coughing attacks and soothe them back to sleep because they were frustrated from breathing through their mouths. This morning, the clock hadn't even struck 10am and I'd already tried to put laundry in the pantry and I never did pause for breakfast because I thought I had already eaten. Seriously?

four sick babies at the pediatrician
The silver lining is that we went to the pediatrician today to rule out anything worse, and everyone's lungs and ears were good and clear and throats healthy, so it's a simple cold we're dealing with right now. We're on rounds of Infant Advil to help with teething pain and irritability and everyone gets the lovely experience of having saline solution squirted up their nostrils then sucked back out with a nasal syringe. If you even have to wonder who gets to do that fantastic job, then please don't and immediately feel sorry for me four times over. Not only does mommy have to take care of sick babies all alone, I get to be the bad guy, too!

our saving grace for illness and teething. just stocked up on 6 boxes—we buy nearly everything in bulk these days.
Thankfully the husband ran home from work to help me haul everyone to the doctor's office then stuck around to help me give them baths when we got back and also spray down car seats with Lysol. We may be out of lockdown, but old habits die hard. I have every intention of keeping germs somewhat contained with baths, load after load of laundry, Baby Lysol and hand sanitizer.

"my mouth hurts...my nose is running...my sock is off....i'm hungry..."
They all enjoyed their warm baths and the quad squad is now somewhat happily playing in the Quattro Corral, as we call it. Even when sick, they still smile at me and I got a couple laughs out of Harrison earlier. In between coddling the quadlings, life goes on and so must I. Please keep us in your prayers for quick recoveries!

3.08.2013

{Quad Squad} First Family Outing + Harrison's First Playdate!

It's been a long time coming.

Ever since the babies came home from the NICU at two months old, we required everyone that came to the house, especially caregivers, to have current Dtap and flu vaccines, have been healthy for at least seven days prior to arriving, remove their shoes at the door, wear clean clothes and use hand sanitizer by the gallon. Our babies were so teeny tiny and their immune systems were so far from developed, we had to take every precaution to keep them well as long as possible. They'd do enough hard work fighting to learn how to breathe and eat after birth, a simple cold could have landed them back in the NICU.

Fast forward seven months later and our beautiful quad squad is now nine months old and healthier than ever! The husband and I are so proud of ourselves for a job well done and beyond appreciative of everyone, especially our families, who made sure to take care of themselves to help us take care of the babies.

With the arrival of March 1 came the celebrated, much-anticipated end of lockdown! So out to dinner we went! Mom, dad, four babies and the helping hands of Grandma and Grandpa C. First we had to take pictures before we even left the house since the kiddos looked so darn cute, excited even like they knew what was coming!



hey, where did everybody go?

Everyone had their own baby to be in charge of, we went right after a bottle feeding so the quads were full, chose a restaurant just down the street and timed it so we beat the dinner crowd to avoid curious onlookers and too many questions. Fortunately, it went very smoothly and we had pleasant remarks from the wait staff and manager, who know my mom and step-dad from their frequent visits. Two babies (Logan and Harrison) fell asleep halfway through, Trystan sat happily in daddy's lap and Kailey, who was Grandma's charge, got some attention at the end. It scared me a little, because I know not all dinner outings will go this well!










* * * * 

The next day, I felt a bit more courageous so I packed up Harrison and we made the 45-minute drive to visit my BFF, Lisa, and her boy. He's only 16 days older than the quads! (If you wanna know more about Lisa, check out her hilarious guest post on 10 things you need to know about pregnancy here.)


Harrison was a gem and behaved so well. He played nicely with Warren and his toys and they exchanged a few odd glances. I fed him his bottle and spoon feeding then Lisa and I headed off to lunch, babies in tow. And that went well, too! It was a huge vote of confidence for me because, even though I may have four babies, getting out for "regular" activities with them is a new experience for me. Especially with all of them at once. So it was really nice to enjoy that one-on-one time with my little boy. To top it all off, he napped the entire way home. :)




And real quick...to all those sweethearts out there that tell me what a wonderful mom I am and marvel as to how I "do it all"... well, it doesn't always get done. And sometimes it gets done on the recluse of the couch, while four little faces take turn poking their heads in your laptop, grabbing at your toes and screaming in your face while you scramble to meet an editorial deadline for a luxury magazine that could not be further from your current lifestyle. Just wanted to keep it real. ;)


There's nothing wrong with laughing at yourself when you're (sort of) alone.
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