FOUR little FULTONS: sippy cups

Saturday, November 15, 2008

the search for the PERFECT sippy cup...

Ever since these children of ours have been off their bottles I have been on "the search". I dislike leaky sippy cups just as much as I disliked leaky bottles! It is an even BIGGER mess when you have four babies to tend to. SO I was on a "mission" to solve this problem. My mother thinks I am crazy over how many sippy cups we have gone through! It has been an expensive task but one that I intend to tackle! We have gone through the Playtex one's that have a handle on each side. Those lasted the longest but then they literally ate through the spouts! It looked like I was raising animals! So I switched to the ones that were taller with no handles. Those did not go over so well. They liked the handles. Then I decided to try the ones that have straws since they LOVE straws. We had two different sets, one set for milk & one set for their water/juice. Well the 2nd set had these little covers that broke when they'd throw them on the floor. It was TERRIBLE! We had broken off plastic pieces EVERYWHERE! Forget about the thought of the straws being good & that it would prepare them for regular drinks when we went out. Those leaked even more than the ones that they ate through. I seemed to be cleaning up spills ALL DAY LONG! I just could not take it! So I continued my search. The latest sippy we have tried is the Playtex Coolster. I must say so far that this is "thee" cup. I may have to fix the valve from time to time but so far NO leaks! This coming from a mom of quadruplets is a true testiment of the quality of the product! They have a vast array of colors so each child can get "their" color. Well sort of. Camryn's is now orange instead of yellow & everyone seems to want that color too! Who would have thought orange would be the new pink! LOL! I am just happy to have ended...

the search for the PERFECT sippy cup...

Friday, May 30, 2008

my little sprinkler....

Well, we have gone from smacking to spitting! Miss Avery seems to think she is ALLOWED to do this. Boy is she in for a rude awakening! She just started this today. She takes a swig of milk from her sippy cup then proceeds to spit it out! This is going to be a LONG day! I swear the next time their darling daddy teaches them any new tricks I am gonna scream! He thinks it is funny but I am here ALL day long dealing with it! At least it is the same child that is making all of the ruckus! (= I have said this before & I will continue to say it "We are going to fight! ". She has gone from being my patient one, to the heathen, to now just one little "spitfire"!

In times when we need some rain I have... my little sprinkler!

Our Story...

Ok I am now over 8 years into this "job" of mine, being a mommy to multiples, high order multiples to boot! They say that if you try to conceive without protection for one year with no success then you are infertile. Those words were a lot to take in. I sought answers from everyone. We started out with our 1st OB/GYN Dr William Casale doing the normal testing that they were equipped to do. We did it all, IUI's, spermwashing, etc. I then contacted RESOLVE, a wonderful organization for people like me (could not get pregnant). I started making mental notes of what I needed to achieve my dream, to be a mom! The next step was to go see a Fertility Doctor. We chose to see Dr Mark Denker. After checking me out he then referred Michael to see a Urologist who ended up putting him on clomid. Yes, men can take this RX too! It helps make more sperm just like it helps a woman create more follicles. It is AMAZING the things you learn when you are trying to conceive! After further testing we were both told we had fertility issues, I had fewer eggs than a woman my age & they were "tough", Michael had double vericasils so that in order for us to have the "best odds" we needed to go the IVF route. I had this feeling that it was not going to work right away, call it my intuition. So we bought a package, can you even believe that they sell "packages" like a travel agency? Our "package" included 3 rounds of IVF with ICSI, minus all the meds I would need. The drugs are an expense we did not even think of but had to purchase for this entire thing to work. Well, it ended up taking all 3 rounds of IVF & accupuncture courtesy of Dr Susan Schiff for me to get pregnant & boy did I get pregnant! (Trust your intuition!) We started out with very few follicles, only 3 fertilized into embryo's and all three took. I was finally pregnant! 8 weeks into my pregnancy one of the embryo's split & became identical. Can you believe that!? What are the odds? No one told me that could happen! AMAZING! We had a lot of decisions to make. No one thought that we should keep all four. In the medical world it is called a "selective reduction". Only a few doctors even do this procedure. We did not know what our future would hold just that we could not reduce anything! In the beginning we had a hard time finding a doctor that felt like we did & wanted our four babies to thrive! We finally found Dr Moises Virelles, a fellow Christian & my now OB/GYN. He then referred us to an AWESOME Perinatologist, Dr Gary Cohen. Having the two of them on our side we knew ANYTHING was possible! My pregnancy was really uneventful. I was put on "bed rest" at 22 weeks. I later found out my "bed rest" was unlike other women's bed rest. I was just not allowed to work. I continued to do things, just stayed off my feet as much as possible. If I went shopping I would ride a motorized scooter. If I went to a party I sat pretty much the entire time. I had no issues, my cervix was long & rock solid. I really feel that God wanted me to be a mommy! The babies were great! They kicked each other more than they kicked me! People would look at me & could not believe that I had four babies inside me, I tell you I was meant to carry quads! Now don't get me wrong, it was not a joy ride, I was miserable towards the end & felt it very difficult to breathe. I never even went into the hospital prior to January 15th. Even though I asked them to admit me MANY times!! On January 17, 2007 we welcomed our GBGG quads; Camryn, Brendan, Avery & Lindsey into this world. 1 set is fraternal & 1 set is identical. They weighed 4 lb 7 oz, 4 lb 4 oz, 3 lb 6 oz & 3 lb 3 oz. I made it 32 weeks 5 days when I delivered them at St Mary's Medical Center. They were all HEALTHY and they did not need to be intubated! WOO HOO! They were little miracles destined to be here! I had nurses come up to me & tell me how wonderful it was that I carried them so long, that it was a better gift holding onto them as long as I did than a Harvard education! WOW! We were SO happy, excited & most of all unprepared for how much our life was about to change. I will say it was a GOOD change! I cannot imagine my life without them! Everyone watches our little ones in amazement & they still do. This is their story....

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