getting down to business...

I got creative for Christmas this year & gave each of the babies a potty as part of their Christmas presents. I am trying my hardest to have these four babies potty trained in 2009! I know I am out of my mind for attempting this BUT I am alway's up for a challenge. We started out with one pink potty at Grandma's house. I wanted to peak their interest so once Christmas came they would understand the concept. I purchased 4 of the same, basic, plain white, Baby Bjorn little potty's. I was not going to put out a ton of money for them so these fit the bill. They LOVE the idea of it but Camryn is the only one to have actually peed in hers. It is rather funny to watch them line the potty's up and sit down on them. Sometimes they sit the correct way sometimes not. They even stack them up like they need them in order. I think they learned this from me. I am VERY anal about having things lined up straight, labels facing front, etc. I realize now how this can be a very bad habit for them to inherit from me. The sad thing is that I have ALWAY'S been this way. Old habit's die hard! LOL! Now if I could just get them concerned about...



getting down to business...

Nursemaid's elbow

Ok, I have to admit that before children I NEVER heard about or knew what Nursemaid's elbow meant. I can now say that I am sort of an expert on it! My Camryn has now been to the ER twice due to this ailment. This time it was my 5 year old niece trying to help her back up on Grandma's bed that possibly caused it. Camryn can be VERY dramatic & of course she ONLY wants her mommy. So, once I got home from work my niece Katie, Camryn & I were off to the ER. I was not looking forward to the wait but I needed to make sure we made the right diagnosis. This time she would not move her right arm at all. In the waiting room she was pretty good but still cradled her arm. I think she was more afraid of feeling the pain she had earlier so she kept it still. We tried EVERYTHING to get her mind off it. She would stare at all the other patients waiting to be seen, even give a smile now & then but once we touched her arm she would cry. I decided we needed to stay & get a doctors opinion. After waiting about 2 hours her name was FINALLY called. They took us back into the "minor" care section. Dr. Finegold took very good care of her. He ordered some X-Rays & gave her some ibuprofen. She continued to be one WHINY girl. It was now 9pm & Cam Cam was getting VERY tired too! We changed her into her PJ's & waited for the results. FINALLY, no breaks, nothing! She just had...


Nursemaid's elbow...

blessed...

I need to send a HUGE thank you to EVERYONE that has helped out this herd of ours. We have been blessed beyond belief by so many people that I feel I need to send a HUGE thank you out there. I am going to try to be better in the "thank you" dept. in 2009! Theres just WAY too many to mention but you guys know who you are. There is one person in particular that I do need to name. She did something recently that blew me away. Her name is Michele Green and she happens to be our State Farm agent. This woman has known my family & me for a VERY long time. One of my good friends, Janet, works for her & they both have been our insurance connections since I cannot remember when. During my pregnancy she even "lent" me her HEATED swimming pool so I could feel less like a beached whale & actually feel weightless. It was WONDERFUL! Once our little one's were born & we had some EXTRA $ we went directly to them to set up 529 plans for their future. We even started Life Insurance policies on each of them. As you can just about imagine this is quite an expense. But VERY worthwhile in the future of their lives. Lets fast forward to about a month ago when the 1st annual bill arrived on their policies. Michael about freaked! We could not afford anything extra & did not know what to do. Food, clothes, utilities, car payments, etc. are EXPENSIVE enough & to now add another bill on top of all that. YIKES! We held on to that envelope for quite a few days when my good friend Janet called us to say that the bill was paid. I asked who would have done such a wonderful thing? Michele Green that's who. We owe her a BIG thank you! One less thing to worry about! Michele, from all of us, "Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!" We are so...

blessed...

WHO is this SCARY guy?!

Ok, we did the annual trip to see Santa with our little ones & this is the reaction that we captured. I think what they are trying to tell us is...















WHO is this SCARY guy?!

the BEST gift ever!

We here in the Fulton home want to wish everyone a beautiful Christmas. Ours was a rainy one. It drizzled all night & during the day today. The sun is trying to break through the clouds to give us a bright & shiny day. This year Christmas was EXTRA fun! We started out having a house FULL of Fulton's for Christmas Eve dinner. Our 6 year old nephew Aidan, who came dressed as Santa, stopped playing for a moment to tell us this was his BEST holiday EVER! I wanted to make sure it was this Christmas or just Christmas in general. He said being here. What a WONDERFUL child! I was SO happy that we made his day! The only thing missing was Dustyn. He spent Christmas Eve with his mom so we missed out on having him with us. Everyone missed him. Maybe one day soon we can all be together. He joined us this morning & we all got to be together on Christmas. The babies eyes lit up when he walked in their room this morning. They all grinned from ear to ear & yelled out "Dustyn!". They just love him so! Oh what fun will we have as the years go on. They all filed out of their room & walked directly to the den where the Christmas tree is without any coaxing. I was AMAZED! I guess they really do notice "new" things. There in front of the tree was their presents & they each gravitated to the toys they liked. Santa did good & they loved it all! Dustyn made out too! CLOTHES! You all know how much kids LOVE getting that! hahah! No, he also got his router & wireless connection for his XBox 360. I know nothing about these sort of things but he LOVES it. I think the best gift God gave Michael & I would have to be these 5 happy healthy children. That is...

the BEST gift ever!

baking cookies...

My hubby bought me the "coolest" stand mixer about 3 years ago & I have never used it! Michaels Aunt used it once while she stayed with us but I have yet to use it. I know I feel bad but my life has been BUSY!! (= SO.. Today is the day. My mom & I are going to make cookies while the babies watch. Maybe soon they will "help" me but not yet. I am SO excited to finally get to use this contraption! My 13 year old cousin gave me a quick demo on the one they have at their house. I could not believe that he knew how to use it & even makes cookies with it ALL the time. I need to get Dustyn in on this so he can start baking too! Now what kind of cookie will it be??


baking cookies...

7 Fulton's...

I FINALLY have a picture of ALL 7 of us...

one PERFECT day...

Today used to be ALL about me but times have changed. I do not care as much about my birthday as I used to. I guess that is what happens when you have children, they become your life & you take a back seat to everything. What I do care about is having some time to myself & having some PEACE & QUIET. These are a few hard commodities that I find hard to achieve. We have WONDERFUL children but lately all they seem to do is whine & I cannot take it. Heck, Michael cannot take it either. He says that he wants to give them away. I am sure that he is only kidding! I think that is something you say when times get tough and you are at your wits end! ha! It's just that there are very few days that I can take for myself, to just "be". I was hoping today could be that day. It did not start out good and continued to get worse. I worked till 3am, yes I have a part-time job with some late night hours. I should never have scheduled myself so late but I did & I had to deal with it. Now if I could just get 7 hours of rest, not even REM sleep, just rest. This did not happen, I was awoken by four SCREAMING babies before 8am. I never was able to get back to sleep so now I was one cranky woman. Being a mommy to four 23 month olds is tough work & I need all the rest I can get! My hubby even made me breakfast, I love him for that but it was not what I would have wanted for breakfast. Note to self: Share what you'd like to eat a few days before your day so hubby knows & does not have to read my mind! He made the babies Banana Nut French Toast & also made some for me. I wanted steak & eggs. So with my first bite it tasted weird & it did not get any better. I knew if I shared this with him he would be upset & if I did not say anything he would make it for me again saying you loved it on your birthday. What was I to do? I have always been one that holds the truth very dear so I decided to just spill it. That continued the downward spiral of my day. Couldn't he see that I just wanted a day to myself!? That I did not want anything. I do not need any gifts. I think the best "gift" would have been a babysitter for the weekend. To be able to do anything without having to worry about four little people. I will have to remember this for next year. I hope one year soon to FINALLY get...


one PERFECT day...

presents....

People have been asking me what Dustyn & the babies need or want for Christmas. I have put a lot of thought into this question. They do not lack for much. Even with our meager funds we seem to make do. They pretty much do not "need" for anything. We have been VERY fortunate to have some WONDERFUL people in our life that pass along their hand me downs for our children. So from time to time they get "newer" toys & clothes. Life is good. What they "need" is people, not "things". They need our time. Since there is only 2 of us and 5 of them things can get rough in the attention dept. I feel bad that Dustyn sort of gets the shaft at times. We have SO much going on that we can never accomplish every task. He puts up with a lot & hopefully things will get better. So that is why I now answer that question with the following response... That the BEST present they could ever receive is to have our presence in their lives. To be there in each moment & really pay attention. They crave it! Some days are better than others but mostly I just try my best. To be the best mommy I can be. Some days I feel they need more than I can give & that is when I need the help I rarely ask for. SO, to any person out there that knows us personally, PLEASE, stop by & visit our little munchkins & Dustyn. If you have any "free time" we'd love for you to come over to spread your love & attention. Remember that's one of the best...

presents...

cranky...

Lately I have had ONE cranky little girl on my hands. It is funny how this "title" has been shared by each one of my girls. The 1st to achieve this was Camryn, then Lindsey, now Miss Avery currently holds it. It seems like she whines ALL the time! My mom thinks she does not feel well. I just think she is just taking her turn at being "spoiled". She has already figured out being a bit of a snot will get her some attention. I am not used to this coming from her. She ALWAY'S seems to want her Daddy so it is a somewhat unwanted treat for me. When I walk out of her sight she crys for me & wants to be held ALL the time. My mom & I went out the other night & Michael said she cried for about an hour. Oh, my sweet little girl, what happened to her? I want my confident & stubborn Avery back!! I just cannot handle...

cranky...

the Elf on a Shelf...

I heard about this NEAT book recently while we were attending MOPS at our church.Apparently I do not get out much because it is all over the book stores! A mom, just like most of us, Carol Aeborsold, created this idea years ago for her own family & once her daughter, Chanda Bell, grew up they had it published. This is THEE best gift to give small children for Christmas. Basically it is a book about an elf that is "magical" & reports back daily to Santa on how good your kids are being. It comes in this box that includes a book and the elf. It explains everything in the book. There is even a certificate where you list when you received him & his or her name. Then each year when you start getting all your Christmas decorations out he returns too! Our children as young as they are already named our elf "Ollie". Cute huh!? Hopefully as they get older they will love it as much as I already do! I have been told by MANY of my other mommy friends that it really gets them to behave!All they have to do is remind their child that the elf is watching & they will behave. Since the elf comes back each day, with a little help of course, hint, hint, the kids wake up searching for him. Most of all they CANNOT touch him or he will lose his magic. Isn't this a neat idea!? And if they do misbehave just remind them "Mr Elf" is watching! Too bad they do not have this for us year round! This mom that created "Elf on a Shelf" gets BIG kudo's from me! So get out there & buy your...

the Elf on a Shelf...

blow out...

And I'm not referring to diapers or a hair do! On our way to Tampa we had a tire BLOW out on the BURB! We are all safe & sound now but here is what happened... We left for Tampa on Saturday morning at approximately 915 am. Of course the babies did not eat all their breakfast so we brought along their leftovers for them to eat on the way. Other than that things were pretty good. Brendan was loving having his Grandma sitting next to HIM. He just loves being able to look at her & touch her. It is very funny to watch. He really does love her most! It was kind of chilly out when we left. I decided to take a different course then the one my mom's TOM TOM, a navigational device, told me. Little did I know that this was a BIG mistake! It kept telling me to turn around then it started giving me some CRAZY directions. Like heading WAY N of the lake to get to another road up North to cross the State. AND then I noticed the trip time, 5 1/2 HOURS! Whoa! This was only suppose to be a 3 1/2 hour trip!! I started to get concerned so I called Michael to make sure I was not completely lost. He is like an Atlas of Florida. He knows all the back roads of Florida. Literally! He basically told me that I screwed up & should have just followed the directions the TOM TOM gave me from the beginning. I would now be traveling on some 2 lane roads through sugar cane fields, cow pastures, small towns, etc. He told me that it will be a LONG ride. YIKES! I should have realized then that our trip was DOOMED! We were making pretty good time even with the change of scenery. The babies behaved, YAY! We finally made it to I-75 and were almost home free when we heard this LOUD pop sound. Next thing I know the warning device in the BURB goes off saying "check tire pressure". This has happened quite frequently & we take it in to be checked & they say they could not find anything wrong. After hearing the loud pop I figured it's better to be safe than sorry & I pulled over to the side of the road. We were in the middle of NOWHERE and there I was checking the tires. Yep, we had a blow out. My left rear tire was completely flat & missing half of it's tread. After looking at that tire I thanked the Lord that he kept us safe when it blew. ANYTHING could have happened & we were all in one peace safe on the side of the road. Now to find out exactly where we were. I had NO idea where on I-75 we were. Note to self: Alway's pay attention to the mile markers as you are driving. I searched on the GPS for my coordinates. I know these digits mean a lot from working for the police dept. If you know your coordinates they can give the police a location to come to. Well, that is how it is suppose to work. I called 911, gave her my coordinates & she had no idea what I was talking about. Boy, I must have been in the middle of no where for them not to know that! I looked in my rear view mirror & saw a call box about 50 yards behind me. YAY! Now I had to walk there to find out what mile marker it was. Why did I not pay attention to that sign when we passed it!? On my way there a nice gentlemen stopped to help. He reminded me of my Great Uncle. I was SO happy to see that good samaritan. He told me what city I was in, Punta Gorda, and offered to help change my tire. I just could not have him get out in traffic & change my tire. I know how dangerous it is to change a tire on an interstate & would feel terrible if something happened to him. Especially while changing my tire! So I called 911 again, AAA, as well as FHP, Florida Highway Patrol, to get anyone to come help us! They all told me that someone would be on their way soon. 1 hour later we were still on the side of the road waiting. During this time we had one other good samaritan stop. A nice YOUNGER guy offered to change the tire. I figured it would be safer for him to change it than the older guy so now to get the spare down from under the trunk & to find the jack. Well, let me tell you we removed EVERYTHING from the BURB looking for the jack & tools to remove the spare only to find that we did not have the tools! They sold us a vehicle with no tools! Oh, it gets even better! In order to get the spare down you need a "special" key crank. We did not have that either. Remember this was SUPPOSE to just be a 3 1/2 hour trip & I was not anticipating any of this! Well, the babies ate through almost all of our food! Now we were in the middle of no where with 4 hungry babies! A trucker who did not have a load stopped to help us. He was a Godsend! Not only did he have many tools he even had a box of crackers that he shared with us. FOOD! YAY! Now if we could just get that darn spare tire down! He tried EVERY tool he had & none of them worked! We were doomed! The trooper never showed up, the AAA guy came but he did not have the correct tool either. I figured if I could get a driver of a Suburban to help us we could just use their "tool" & we would be set. That sounds easy, right? I would stand by the road & try to flag down a Suburban. DOo you know how many Suburban's drove by us, MANY! Not one driver stopped! I said to myself right then the next time I see a person in the same type of vehicle I'm driving, STRANDED, with children, in need, on the side of the road, I am going to stop. You never know, they could be in a situation just like I was! All the while my 2 good samaritans worked away at the guide below to try & get that spare tire down. God love em'! Our last hope was another AAA Tow truck that they dispatched to come help us. Hopefully he could solve our dilemma. It ended up taking a tool from the AAA Tow truck driver & one from the Trucker to FINALLY get the spare tire down & changed. 2 1/2 hours later... We were as good as new, well, sort of, just tired & a little worried that we may not ever make it to Tampa. I drove EXTRA cautious & we made it to the shower just a few minutes late. Everyone was wonderful, the food was yummy & the mommy to be looked FABULOUS! I never want to experience a road trip like this again, better yet I hope I never have to endure another...


blow out...

road trip...

I decided to take my cousin up on her offer to attend a family baby shower in Tampa. You see Michael would be working ALL weekend for his step brothers Limo busn. so I would be home with them ALONE anyway. SO why not travel 4 hours to Tampa to attend my other cousins baby shower. AM I out of my mind!? It was sort of last minute but I decided to go. My mom, the babies & I would make the trek to Tamps. Michael took the BURB in for service, oil change, checking the tires, etc. Now all I had to do was pack! What exactly do you pack for a day & a 1/2 trip? I already knew that I would have to borrow 2 pack n' plays so they all had a "bed" to sleep in. Then there was what clothes to pack. The weather has been so weird lately & Tampa is further North so they get COLDER weather there. Luckily I keep a BIG overnight bag for them in the BURB just in case. I just had to alter what was already in there & then I was good. I ended up packing for all types of weather! We would leave after breakfast so they would be in their PJ's for the road trip. It alway's seems that when I need for them to eat they don't. So we packed some EXTRA food for the ride. It is suppose to take us 4 hours so they should be good till lunch. I just hope I made the right decision when I agreed to go on this...


road trip...

Our future news anchor...

Last night we had the good fortune to help out an AMAZING place, The Quantum House. This was our home away from home when the babies were born. They provided a warm, clean bedroom for Michael, Dustyn & I as well as my mom & niece Lauren to stay in the 10 days after I left the hospital. The Quantum House is located on the campus of St Mary's Medical Center, where the babies stayed in their NICU for 14 days. Last night they held their 3rd Annual Holiday Hope Drive telethon on local WPBF-TV 25. They interviewed us for a LIVE segment that aired during the 6 O'Clock news. Scary I know but we did it. I would pretty much do anything for them & everyone else that have helped us in this journey. I must say that the babies were actually very good. First we went into the "green" room, yes there really is a room named that. We sat there & fed the babies some food so they had something in their belly since it was dinner time. After a short while they brought us in to the telethon room. We saw SO many familiar faces once we entered the room. They had several NICU nurses manning the phones! It was great seeing everyone again! The room was bright & they made it very cheery & festive with snowflakes hanging from the ceiling. Our children thought the snowflakes were stars! That just shows you what native floridians know, stars not snow! ha! They let us hang out a bit before our interview so the babies would get used to the room, the people & especially the cameras. They handled it all like pro's. They are SO used to having people look at them that I am sure this was nothing to them. Little did they realize that they would be on TV, LIVE during a newscast. I think we were more nervous than they were! They did AWESOME! I think they liked having the camera in their faces capturing their every move. They even thought the microphone was a toy! Camryn grabbed it when the newswoman was not looking & started acting like she was doing the interview. TOO cute! I did not have my camera on me so I hope to get a copy of that shot! Most of all I hope our small part in this telethon helped them raise some BIG funds! They help SO many people that any donation they receive helps! So when you are considering a good charity to donate to this Christmas please think of them and...

www.quantumhouse.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=events.one_event&content_id=151 - 21k -


our future news anchor...

From Our Home to Yours...

Make a Smilebox greeting

Where is my fairy Godmother anyway?

I cannot believe that Christmas is just over 2 weeks away. I am SO not ready! I have done my elfing all year so I am good in the gift dept, just not in the Christmas photo dept, or better yet in the decorations dept. Our house is bare!! We do not have ANY Christmas stuff up yet at all. Our Christmas tree is malfunctioning (looks like a green candy cane)& our front yard is just in such disarray that I do not even think Christmas decorations would make it look good. We are in dire need of some elves to come over with some Christmas spirit to get us in the mood. Mostly I have just been trying to get "that" picture to send out with our Christmas letter. If I can get this done the rest will follow. I just cannot seem to get them all to look my way. I am constantly telling my children to look at the little birdie or telling them that I have a bird in my hand. Like a bird would even fit in my hand! Anyhow, this usually works, they all look at me & I get a shot of four little faces sometimes smiling, sometimes dazed but it's a picture & I'm happy to have it! Terrible I know but it usually works! Well lately that is just not the case. They do not want a picture taken especially not a Christmas one! It's in times like now when I am under the gun & need to accomplish something quick that they just do not want to cooperate! I even tried getting a picture of them with Santa & they all SCREAMED! It was such a sight. Santa even asked if he could have a copy of the picture for his scrapbook. I do not know if that was a compliment or not! ha! How terrible would it be of me to use that photo? I may have to get creative real soon! Hopefully we will have everything done by Christmas!

Where is my fairy Godmother anyway?

Use YOUR words!

I must have been in denial these past few months. These children of mine are definately getting into their terrible 2's, I just know it! They do ANYTHING & EVERYTHING that they are not suppose to! They climb up on tables, throw things, especially food, and have MANY temper tantrums over silly things. What I mean to say is that I think they should save a temper tantrum for something good! Something worthwhile! Nope, they get upset over trivial things. Someone could get in front of them on their way outside they cry or better yet if someone else throws the diaper away that I asked them to they will get SO upset! Then there is no consoling them! They just have to live it & work it out on their own. I just hate it! I SO want them to use their words! Explain what they mean instead of whining. I constantly tell them "Use your words!", hoping they will say what it is instead of whining about it. I guess that is what I dislike about the infancy stage, that they cannot communicate with us as well. Hopefully soon I can stop saying...


Use YOUR words!

Fulton, party of 7!

the "pillow" for your booby!

Ok this post is not exactly about baby stuff however it is for all women. I hope my experience will help some of you go out & get that dreaded mammogram. I did it, I went & had my very first mammogram. My mom came with me to my appt so she could watch the children while I went in to get my boobs smashed. That is what everyone, most importantly my mother, told me. She said that once I had one mammogram I would not want another one. Geesh! That is not what I wanted to hear! So my number was FINALLY called & I was now a few moments away from experiencing what I thought would be something terrible. I was not excited at all! I mentioned to the tech what my mother had told me & she said my mom has it all wrong! That she must not have had the right person or place. She handed me a "cape", I would call it a robe & asked me to undress from the belly up. She then walked me into this room that had the mammogram machine in it. She placed my one boob on to this shelf looking thing that had a rubbery, pillow like cushion on it. It was like a pillow for my boob, very cushy and soft. After she got me into the correct position she took her photos. I had 2 taken on each boob. This entire procedure did not hurt in the least! I was SO shocked! The woman was right! I was in & out of there in under 5 minutes! Once I got out to the lobby area I shared my experience with my mom. She could not believe it! I told her that she needs to start coming to this place! I am going to tell every woman I meet about...


the "pillow" for your booby!

the DREADED annual...

Today the babies & I went to see Dr. V, my OB/GYN. He is such an AWESOME guy! He actually attends the same church that we do. I tell everyone that the Lord brought him to us at just the right time, I just know it! Anyhow, I had my annual appt. I brought the babies BY MYSELF & they did wonderfully! I warned his staff prior to my appt that I would be bringing snacks & stuff for them just in case he ran late. (They have signs up all over the place saying no food or drink). They said it would be ok for me to feed them. Little do they know that whether they said yes or no I was going to feed them! They surprised me & did VERY well so I never had to break out the stash of goodies. You all know the drill when you go to the Doctor. You have to get on the scale & get weighed. I SO did not want to get on that scale! ugh! It seems that I am finally up to my pre pregnancy weight, actually I have gained a few pounds more. I feel it too! You would think with all the chasing I do of these children that I would be the same weight if not lighter. Oh the scale was not good to me! I never weigh myself & really do not care about my weight EXCEPT when it comes to how my clothes fit. When they start feeling tight I know I need to lose a few pounds. Looks like losing weight is going to be #1 on the New Years Resolution list! Dr V did not keep us waiting & we actually got to chat a little about the babe's. He actually reads their blog! YAY! I owe so much to all of my doctor's for getting me through such a high risk pregnancy. I am SO happy to have my four HEALTHY babies but have no intention of having another. SO, we had the talk about what type of contraception would be best for me. I had already done my homework & decided on the Mirena. He agreed that it would be good for me & hoped it would be covered by my insurance. Heck, when I was pregnant with the babies my Peri had to get prevenative monitoring covered by my insurance. Can you believe that!? They had to have my Peri call them & EXPLAIN that it would save them thousands so they gave in & covered it. I can just imagine what they think about birth control! Insurance coverage & benefits is a struggle any way you look at it! Now my next obstacle is a mammogram. YIKES! Since my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer last year he wants to make sure I get my screening done. I have NEVER had a mammogram before & have only heard horror stories about them. Needless to say I am NOT looking forward to it! I am just so glad to be done with..


the DREADED annual...

Oh Christmas Tree...

I just had to share about our 3 year old "designer", 1000 bulb, always lit no matter if a bulb breaks Christmas tree. First of all the manufacturers lied, a bulb broke & a row of lights is out! The 1000 bulbs may look pretty but it makes it SO hot to even hang out in the same room. It even sheds needles!! It is fake, how in the heck does that happen?! I am married to a BIG clean freak! He even followed me around with the hand held vaccum as I set up the tree just to suck up the fake pine needles as they fell. Could you imagine how he would be if we had a real one!? YIKES! Getting back to the tree, let's just say that it has some MAJOR issues! When it is plugged in it looks like a BIG green candy cane! LOL! I know you all will say that we should get a REAL tree but we are just not home enough to keep it alive till the big day. We thought it would be a good investment at the time. No upkeep, it already has the lights on it, etc. Well, I am telling you now that I may change my mind or just stay home more often so we can get a real one!!


Oh Christmas Tree...

Holiday Season...

To many of you November 30th is just the last day of November but to us Floridians this is the day we can start breathing a little easier. You see November 30th is the last day of the Hurricane Season. Not that we have not been fooled a few times AFTER this day. The rule of thumb is that the BIG Hurricanes have happened already & we can now take down our Hurricane shutters. I would take a Hurricane over any other type of Natural disaster. Tornados freak me out as do earthquakes. I guess that I was alway's meant to live in the Sunshine State. The freaky part about this date this year is that we are getting unusually COLD weather. They say it may even dip into the 40's! Are they out of their minds?? Florida is meant to be HOT! This is way TOO cold for this Floridian! Having four babies to dress during these changes in climate can be challenging. Their wardrobe is pretty much T Shirts & shorts! They do not even own a "coat". A coat can be too warm yet a long sleeve T Shirt is just not enough. Try finding cold weather clothes down here as well, we are in the land of swimming suits! LOL! I just know I will be improvising!! Most of all I am just SO happy to have the Hurricane Season over for yet another year. Just as one season ends a new one begins.. Welcome to the...


Holiday Season...

I've been replaced!

We have a visitor for Thanksgiving this year. My niece, Sarah, brought her best friend Alexis with her to share Thanksgiving with us. Well, Camryn took to her right away. It seems as if she has known Alexis her entire life. She ONLY wants Alexis to hold her, to feed her, to cuddle her, etc. It is BAD! No longer does Camryn want me ALL the time! It is a STRANGE feeling not to have her attached to my hip! I try to get a little snuggle time & she has no use for me! )= Last night we all went out to celebrate Dustyn's 13th birthday. Dustyn got to choose the restaurant & he chose J Marks, it just happens to be down the street from my Mom's house. The weather was perfect so three fourths of us decided to walk there. Of course Camryn wanted Alexis to carry her. Once inside we had to decide where each child should sit. This is important so you have enough helpers by each child. Sarah made the comand decision to place Camryn ACROSS the table from Alexis. It was SO funny to watch her stare at Alexis. She watched her EVERY move. Alexis even helped get her to eat her food. What a great help! It worked out really well UNTIL she had to use the restroom. You would have thought Camryn was hurt by the way she cried for her. Uh oh! I do not know what I am going to do when they all leave on Sunday. I definitely know who Camryn would like to babysit her when we are in Atlanta! For now I just feel like...


I've been replaced!

a day to give thanks...

Ever since I can remember we have been saying the same two prayers. There is the short version "God is good God is Great, thank us for the food we eat, Amen". and there is the LONG one. "Dear Lord, Thank us for the night, for the pleasant morning light, for friends and food and loving care and all that makes the world so fair. Help us to do the things we should to be to others kind and good. In all we do in work and play to grow more loving every day, Amen". I LOVED the 2nd one but would alway's forget how it began so one of my brothers would have to start it for me. That was such a LONG memory and what seems like a lifetime ago. I hope my children grow up with that. To have memories of "family time" with their siblings. I miss that! SO much has happened in my family that we have sort of "lost" that closeness. It is a shame because we used to be close. But time moves on & people change. Hopefully these memories that we create with our family will stick with them. Again, I look to the light at the end of my tunnel & cannot wait for 20 years from now on...


a day to give thanks

old traditions run deep...

When I was a kid we, my entire family on my mom's side, would gather together at a local park EVERY holiday. Most of all on Thanksgiving. We had SO much fun having turkey & all the fixin's out in the wilderness. Ok it was not exactly the wilderness but we were outside under a pavillion in an extremely wooded park. This was the COOLEST park around & I was able to spend time with my relatives. This tradition lasted till I was about 18 years old. The extended family got SO large, the children started getting jobs & some even got married so we stopped doing it all together. I know, I was sad too! Fast forward many moons later & we sort of re created this tradition when I got married for our wedding rehearsal/BBQ. We, the cousins, realized how much fun it was so we decided to start the tradition up again for Thanksgiving. YAY! This will be our 3rd Re-Anniversary for Thanksgiving at the park. We invite our in-laws, friends, friends of friends, etc. Let's just say it is quite the party. Our family has grown a lot & a lot of my 2nd cousins have babies my childrens age. (I started mommyhood late!) Can I tell you how YUMMY the food is!? So many different types of fixin's that it ends up being a smorgasboard of food! Our little one's are just at the age to enjoy it. This park has nature trails, a tunnel that takes you out to the beach & it used to have an observation deck in which we thought took forever to get to. That must be looking at things through a childs eyes. The many hurricanes & years of use have taken it's toll & it is no longer in use. It was SO cool! From the top you could see the ocean through the trees or the boats in the intracoastal. Don't get me wrong, the park is still cool it would just be cooler is the observation deck was still open. I cannot wait for Turkey day! We are going to have such a fun time. I am SO thankful that...


old traditions run deep...

13

Today is our son Dustyn's birthday, his 13th birthday in fact! He is now a TEENAGER!! YIKES! I cannot believe it! It seems like yesterday when he was just 5 years old and I just started dating his Dad. He was a peanut then & now he is SO tall! Pretty soon he will be towering over me. I can wait for that! (= 8 years and 4 babies later he is a teenager! WOW! We have gone through SO many things together. Michael & I have been room parents in many of his classes, volunteered at his school, Summit Christian, even chaperoned some school field trips. I miss that! Now I get to savor his school memories from afar. Dustyn is one SMART cookie. He excells in Math, go figure! He is sensitive & inquisitive, he is alway's learning. Most of all he is a WONDERFUL big brother. The babies absolutely ADORE him! He loves them too! I think having these babies helped him grow as a person. He was the only child for so long. He's adjusted very well to having to share us with them. What can I say? He is one great kid! There is so much I could say about Dustyn. He LOVES cars, knows everything there is to know about them. Especially the high end ones. Knows how much they cost & how fast they go. I do not have the first clue about that kind of stuff. Where we live we have quite a bit of property & he loves to take his air soft gun out to shoot various things. He mostly shoots lizards to feed his dragon, yes we have a pet dragon. After we found some eggs under it he became a "she" & was named Puff. Puff the magic dragon she became, LOL! We have had many "boy" pets. MANY snakes, spiders, iguanas, a fish & even a dog. For now it is just a pet dragon. He is quite the well rounded child and keeps us busy. I need to remind myself that he is just...


13

"Hot"...

We constantly tell the babies to watch out because something is "hot". The stove is "hot", their food is "hot", their "cha cha"(hot chocolate)is "hot",etc. I think "Hot" was one of their very first words! LOL! Well the other night we brought new meaning to the word. It was FINALLY cold enough for us to light the fireplace. In Florida that is a feat! Daddy was excited & wanted them to experience their "first sitting by the fire". He went out & gathered a few logs that a friend of ours gave us from a tree he chopped down. Daddy was excited but I was AFRAID! Too afraid that they would burn their little fingers by getting TOO close to it or by touching the screen & getting burned. I never had a fireplace as a child so I did not know exactly how to "prepare" them. Needless to say I did not do well with this and I put Daddy in charge! Well, They did better than I thought they would. They stood there mesmerized by the sight of it, just watching the wood crackle & flames flicker. It is an AMAZING thing to watch and the aroma of a wood burning fireplace smells SO good. When Daddy opened up the screen to add more wood they paid close attention. I was afraid again that they would copy him & try to open it up themselves. You know how children can be, INDEPENDENT! After a few scoldings they knew not to touch. I just hope that they will remember that a fire is...


"Hot"...

the talk...

Tonight started out like most nights. We all sat down & ate dinner together. Daddy at one end & Mommy at the other with our five children in between. Luckily we did not have any moments of flinging food (Brendan & Avery love to throw food!). After they were "All Done"(Camryn's new favorite saying) it was bath time. Bath night is every other night in the Fulton home. In the beginning I gave them a bath EVERY night but I was too pooped for words! So when they were 7 months old & I got post pardom (LONG story)everything changed. I went in to my Doc's office to talk about my "Life". When she heard that I bathed them EVERY night she gave me a reprieve. She said that she did not even bathe her child every night. So after a LONG chat & a RX later our bath night turned into every other night. It is amazing how a slight shift in the schedule makes everything all better! Dustyn, our soon to be thirteen year old, helps me with them during bath time. He will get their towels, shampoo, stand guard so they do not drown, etc. That was a VERY important job when they could just barely sit up. On quite a few occasions he helped me rescue a baby or two that dropped below the surface & almost drowned! Thank you Dustyn!! Things are MUCH easier now. I will scrub them up, let them play & pretend to swim for a bit then I ask one to pull the plug for the drain. They then say "bye bye" to the water & the bubbles. I then dry them off & they scurry off in their hooded towels to their Daddy in the next room. He lotions them up & dresses them in their PJ's. After the last one is changed we all gather on our bed & let them play. They LOVE Mommy & Daddy's bed. They even know whose side is whose. It is funny to watch how they interact on a KING size bed. Camryn will try to get away from us before she is even dressed. She jumps a bit and then usually finds her way to my side of the bed as if she were me under the covers. She just lays there like she is going to go to bed. It is a sight to see. Avery usually jumps around & then searched out my BIG brown teddy bear. I started snuggling this bear when I was pregnant & has become a hard habit to break. She LOVES it when I say it is MY bear. She then goes after it even more. Brendan just loves on everyone. In the beginning he would climb up to the head of the bed & run his fingers across the carved wood. For awhile there we wondered if he might be a decorator or designer since he noticed the details. Now he just goes up there & trys to give whichever sister is there a BIG hug. Sometimes he will hug on us too! Lindsey is our little joker. She LOVES to jump around from pillow to pillow as she giggles all the way. She likes to be tickled too! Dustyn will eventually hop on the bed and the six of us becomes seven. Tonight's routine was just the same. while we played with the babies we chatted with Dustyn about "stuff". Usually this is when we can get in some conversation about his life & especially about girls. We want to make sure that the info he gets is from us & not his friends. As you can expect he is not quite ready to talk to us about them yet. LOL! During this "talk" little Miss Avery comes by & tackles Dustyn. She is our little brut. Nothing fazes her! Well after the tackle Dustyn then smells something funny. Now mind you Brendan has been constipated & we are in search of a poop. PLUS they usually all poop after a bath, I know, GROSS but it is true! So we all have our "smellers" on to see if anyone does the deed. In addditon to all of that Avery has this very BAD habit of undoing her diaper or at least trying to by sticking her hands down her pants. Below is a picture of this that I captured purely by accident. Avery is in the background doing you know what!

I do not know why she does this or how to get her to break this habit! This is something we deal with EVERY day! It was in fact Avery that he smelled. So in a matter of 20 minutes she stuck her hands down there & she had stinky hands. No poop or pee just a weird smell. My WONDERFUL husband decides this is an opportunity to talk to Dustyn about even more "stuff". So he proceeds to tell Dustyn about how some women douche. I guess he thought odor down there = douching. I do not do this so I do not understand his logic. Well as you can probably already figure out that comment went right over Dustyn's head. So Michael then digs himself in even deeper by saying just like people with bad breath use mouthwash woman use things down there to make it smell better. OH BOY! Did I really marry this man? LOL! Dustyn does not need to know anything about "down there" on a woman! At least not about douching or vaginal odors. Like a baby even has odors! Needless to say we had a VERY red faced soon to be 13 year old! Yikes! We are lucky that he knows what to expect from his Dad. He got up from the bed & said I did NOT need the know that. Good for you Dustyn! I can just about imagine what kind of "talks" he will have with your siblings when they get older! I am just sorry that you had to endure...


the talk...

22 months and a day...

Ok yesterday was their "22 month birthday". We celebrate every month and continue the count down to the ripe age of 2! However yesterday was anything less than exciting. The babies had their annual appt with their pediatric opthamalogist. They do not like going to any Doctor so I do not know what I was thinking when we planned this! I made sure I had enough extra hands for each child. My Aunt Pat & Aunt Donna met my mom & I at the Doctor's office. It started out good, the babies played ALL over the waiting room. This was the first time we actually had to wait in their waiting room. Normally they usher us to a back room to get settled. I guess we are moving up in the world and do not have to worry about catching cooties from other patients. So there we were out amongst the people. They started grabbing books from other kids, made some attempts to "introduce" themselves & they even tried to take a "look see" into another mom's purse. They are WILD! One funny moment came when my Aunt Pat & this other mommy were showing this book to them. There was a page that had a monkey on it. So Aunt Pat says where is the monkey? My sweet little Avery then proudly points to herself! haha! I guess she has been told one too many times that she's a monkey & it set in! What am I going to do with her!? This stage of their life is VERY busy! I feel like I run a marathon every day. It seems like my house is alway's a mess & VERY unorganized! I feel terrible inviting anyone over. Oh to have an ORGANIZED & CLEAN home! ahhh! I have said in the past that I could not wait till they walked & talked. Look at them now!! They are all over the place! Maybe I should retract the statement about wanting them to carry on a conversation with me. Maybe I should appreciate the lack of conversations a little while longer. Especially since they are just...


22 months and a day...

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...

mommy guilt part 2

OK I have previously said that I would explain why I no longer dress Avery & Lindsey alike. Well, There is a VERY good reason for this. I cannot tell them apart when I do! I feel terrible not being able to tell one child from the other. They are SO identical that it scares me! There are some slight differences like Avery has a longer face & Lindseys face is just a tad more petite. The easiest way for me to tell them apart is the birth mark on Avery's shin & the scar on Lindsey's forehead. Thank you God for giving her that birth mark! If it was not for that I would have mixed them up a LONG time ago! My hubby says that he has no problem telling them apart. Typical hubby remark if you ask me! I feel terrible that I cannot. I always seem to second guess myself. I wonder what will happen when they get older. They will probably pull things on me all the time! Oh I am going to be in for it! Some days I just close my eyes & try to listen to them so I can notice their differences. Notice that Avery has a deeper voice & Lindsey loves to giggle. Oh I just feel terrible not being able to tell them apart! It gives me a BAD case of...
















mommy guilt part 2

one wimpy white boy!

When I was pregnant I never thought twice about our children having any health issues. Call it ignorant but I was blissfully happy! All that I concerned myself with was that I was going to be a mommy & just figured they would be ok. My Doctors also did not "Freak" me out with too much worrying either. It was not until the 2nd day of them being in the NICU did I realize how ignorant I was. There were so many babies in there much worse off than our four. I really took in a comment from a passing NICU nurse, that by holding on to them as long as I did I gave them something better than a Harvard education. WOW! We were SO lucky to have some healthy babies! Yes our babies were healthy but they did require a 14 day stay in the NICU at St Mary's Medical Center. Of our four babies Brendan was the worst off. He was the typical "Wimpy white boy" that NICU nurses will share stories of. He had the A's & B's (Apnea & Bradecardia). He needed the CPAP for breathing, the Bili Rubin lights & the warmth from the incubator. He & his sister Lindsey were the last to come home. He was also the 1st & so far only one to go back into the hospital since birth. Over his short 21 months he has grown into quite a little man. He is by far the weakest link of our four. I call it sensitive especially since he is such a lover. He will hug & kiss on everyone! Each of the babies have seen quite a few doctors over the past year & half, but Brendan has one more than his sisters. He see's Dr Bayron, a pediatric Cardiologist for two issues. Being that they were born via C-Section the flap that would normally close during childbirth did not on him and he has a hole in his heart, also known as an ASD. Luckily the PFO closed but unfortunately the ASD has not. So he continues to get checked. I try to see the silver lining & trust that we have a knowledge of things we may never have known about especially if they never caught them in the first place. He is getting the best care & again if he needs surgery he has 2 of the best hospitals within an hour's drive. YAY! Dr Bayron said we will cross our fingers that it will close before his next appt in 6 months I on the other hand want to be prepared. (I had to explain my logic to the doctor because it is always better for me to picture the worst case scenerio & be pleasantly surprised than to go in thinking everything is ok & be blindsided!). I'm telling you this child of ours is...



one wimpy white boy!

insurance shmearance...

I cannot tell you how many times our "wonderful" , I use this word loosely, insurance company has SCREWED up our insurance cards. For some strange reason they cannot figure out who is suppose to have which number. This in turn messes things up for me when I take one of the babies to the Doctor. They submit a claim & the Insurance company denies it because that is not that childs ID #. The saga goes on & on! Why can they not figure this out?! The way I would do it is put us all in age order. That is how our life runs anyhow. We go down the line from oldest to youngest when I share anything about them ie: their names, birth weights, etc. That way the first card would be Michael & it would go down from there. You see the reason for this post is an upcoming Cardiologist appt. for my "Mr. B". He has a hole in his heart that has not changed one iota since birth so we need to see if he needs to have surgery to close it. Heart surgery, just the thought of it freaks me out!! This means I need to get referral after referral due to the type of insurance we have. The things you do just to save a buck when you have so many kids!! I am so not looking forward to his appt. I try to think positive & find the "silver lining" in this. That being that we have some wonderful hospitals near us that are only a short drive away. YAY! I would hate to have to pack up our family for a trek even further away! I am just grateful that my hubby has a job & that we have insurance! Could you imagine if we did not!?


insurance shmearance...

what exactly is "alone" time anyway?

Yesterday I decided to let them eat their breakfast, Cheerios & banana's in their own little bowls in the KITCHEN as I attempted to make my own breakfast. This was a rarity & I decided to take full advantage of doing something for myself. It started out rather well. They all sat down & stayed in one spot sippy's in one hand & their bowls on the other seemingly coveting "their" food. However as I looked at all of them I noticed that Camryn was not part of the "flock". She was all by her lonesome on the opposite side of their play area that has now taken up residence in the middle of my kitchen. Notice that she looks as if she could have cared less.



No one seemed to "miss" her they just went about eating it was just me that found it strange that she was not WITH them. I wonder if this happens with multiples. Is there always one that wants to break free from the rest? Hmmm... Then I started thinking about how she seems to do this ALL the time. When they get bath's she is at one end of the tub with her back to the rest playing with "her" toys. She will go in their play "house" & play with the toys in there while they're some place else with another set of toys. The list goes on & on. Maybe she just would rather not fight over a toy or is she really hoarding her favorite not wanting to share? Is this normal? Don't get me wrong, she does play with her siblings it's just that she just has a lot of "alone time" too. SO I ask you...

what exactly is "alone time" anyway?

bring on the rain...

We found out what caused our leak, our roof! It was only a SMALL section that needed repaired & it was under warranty. YAY! We are SO happy to now have our roof fixed! We could have done without the noise! SO at nap time the babies fell asleep to "bang, bang, tap, tap.." but the end result was well worth it! Now we have to get the wood floor fixed.. ugh..




bring on the rain!...

mommy guilt...

Does anyone out there have this? Find it hard to split up your time so each child can have "one on one time" with their one & only mommy? I find this to be VERY challenging! I try to pick up a different child first each morning, have one child help me fix breakfast or lunch & I even let one tag along with me when I have some "errand" to run. They need that individual time with their Mommy & I try to make sure they get it. But when they are crying unconsolably, I feel like there is just not enough of me to go around. At times I just have to sit on our recliner so they can climb up, at the SAME time, to hug & snuggle with me. Dustyn says it is the sound of my heart that soothes them. Isn't that AMAZING insight from a 12 year old!? They are getting SO big that soon they will not be able to do this much longer. It is in those hysterical moments that I wonder if I am doing what I should, am I being the best mommy!? Does anyone have any suggestions on making this mommy feel less guilty?


mommy guilt...

I voted, Did you?

The day has FINALLY come! I am SO happy that it is almost over! I was sort of scared to hit my polling place because of the LONG lines the early votings sites had. I remembered what they taught me as a Girl Scout & I came prepared. I made sure the babies had their sippy's, something to munch on & dry diapers. Yes I brought the Babies!! Who was I going to find to watch them!? I decided to just go on my way home from my mom's house. The babies napped on the way so that was a relief! I was SHOCKED as I drove up to our polling place to not find a long line! There was no line at all!! This was the first Presidential election since their birth & I wanted them to see how important it is to vote. They sat patiently as I voted & I must add that they were VERY good! I walked in & out in under 10 minutes. See all of that FREAKING out was for nothing. But then I started wondering if there was no line then where were the voters? Had people thought like I did & did not vote at all!? I hope that they did early voting or better yet absentee. I think from now on that is the way to go for me. No worry, no lines, just vote ahead of time thru the mail.

I voted, Did you?

1 day left to go... YAY!

I love politics but this election is getting to be TOO much for even me! I cannot take all the commercials on TV & the radio. I have finally decided not watch any of it! When a commercial comes on I switch the channel. I realize this is a terrible choice but I just cannot take it! This is also why I have our TV tuned in to the music channels or better yet Sprout or Noggin. The babies LOVE dancing to "The Blend", it is a channel we get on DirectTV. They just start moving their shoulders & tapping their toes to the beat. Watching them dance helps me forget about this C-R-A-Z-Y race for the White House. I still honk my horn & give a thumbs up when I see a McCain bumper sticker or better yet a supporter on the street. I just do not want to hear about it 24/7! Next week I will be SO happy to be able to watch & hear anything without political advertisements! YAY! SO forgive me if I am giddy that we have just...


1 day left to go... YAY!

Trick or Treat, Smell my feet, Give me something good to eat!!

Well we decided that we would try to do the "trick or treating" thing with the babies this year. We went to my cousin Lori's neighborhood which is gated & has sidewalks!! YAY! It was an adventure!! The girls were mice & Brendan was suppose to be a "hunk" of cheese. That did not turn out very well. We decided to face the inclimate weather & do some trick or treating. My cousin Lori's daughter Raine did their faces up to look like they had whiskers & a nose. They sat still enough for her to paint it on, AMAZING! It ended up rubbing off but looked cute while it lasted! Over all it was a WILD night! First "Auntie Karen" taught them how to do it. She had them say "trick or treat" to people all over my cousin Lori's house & they then gave them candy in their pumpkin buckets. They caught on VERY quick in fact TOO quick.




Lindsey ruined her mouse costume with chocolate drool. It was terrible! I had not even taken their pictures yet! BAD mommy! (= She ended up wearing a ballerina costume of Raine's. SO we now had 2 mice, 1 Angelina ballerina mouse & a half "hunk" of cheddar cheese. Well, Mother Nature was not very nice to us & rained practically the entire evening. The babies did not care but the BIG kids did not want to weather it. We all got DRENCHED!! At our very first house Lindsey toppled down the front steps. She did not miss a beat, just got up and proceeded to get her candy. I have to admit that I laughed after I knew she was ok. That was terrible of me BUT it was funny! She was like the energizer bunny, takes a licken but keeps on ticking! Avery was a pro! She walked up to the house with Raine, put her bucket out, got her candy & walked back down the driveway.



She got to one house that had these BIG glass windows on both sides of their front door. They were floor to ceiling & just tinted slightly, well she walked right into it. Again she was not hurt. Our twins are SO resilent! It was just a sight! This is when I wish I would have brought my video camera! (= As we continued to make the rounds they walked through EVERY puddle, in their brand NEW shoes! ugh! Oh to be a kid! I must say that they cleaned up in the candy dept. Just wait till they REALLY understand what this is all about. We are gonna be in for it!! They be YELLING...



Trick or Treat, Smell my feet, Give me something good to eat!!

at the mall with our quads...

A lot seems to happen when you go shopping with quadruplets. We get a lot of looks, I should say stares & quite a few comments. These children of ours are little attention getter's. I must say that we definitely meet people that we probably would not have met if it was just Michael & myself shopping. Last night we decided to take the babies to the mall to get some last minute items we still neededed for their Halloween costumes. We needed 3 pairs of PINK stockings!! Why can you never find what you need when you need it? We ended up having to settle for 3 pairs of white stockings. They will just have to do! We decided to hit The Children's Place & our sales lady was SO nice. I started out looking for the stocking BUT I got side tracked, this happens a lot, by their Christmas display. Yes they have Christmas stuff out already! It is not even November yet!! I went from the stockings to the Holiday dresses. Finding 3 dresses that are different but go well together can be a challenge. I have decided to not dress the twins alike for reasons I will explain in a later post. Once she found out why I needed 3 different dresses in the same size she had to see them in person! SO out to the front of the store she went to see them. AGAIN, we get this a lot! I would just love it if they would turn to me & say "Hey, I have a GREAT multiples discount for you!". This is my dream! LOL! Buying 4 of anything can get quite EXPENSIVE! Now that we found what we needed we now needed to find them food! It was dinner time & they were hungry!! I was not looking forward to finding a seat in the food court for all of us! ugh! Good thing this was a Wed night & the mall was not crowded, YAY! Luckily they will eat about anything so the food part will be a cinch, Chick-fil-a! YUM! We brought my niece Lauren with us so she entertained them while we ordered. They seem to LOVE Chick-fil-a just about as much as me! They love their fresh squeezed lemonade too! They ate pretty good. Nothing compares to being in your own home where you have everything you need, HIGH CHAIRS! hahah! Now we were off to Burdines, oops I meant Macy's, old habits die hard. hehee! After seeing the holiday dresses at the Children's Place I now wanted to check them out everywhere. It is better to be prepared! See how side tracked I can get!! On the way up to their children's dept. we were stopped by a very nice woman who offered me something WONDERFUL, a makeover!! YAY! I SO need this! After having these little miracles I have sort of let myself go. I raely wear makeup, NEVER get my hair cut let alone done up. I am in need of a change & Ni'Flame is going to give it to me! YAY! Now just to find the free time in my schedule to do this PLUS find a babysitter. We finally went up to check out their kids dept & their holiday dresses were nothing to write home about. I will just keep the one's that I found at Costco & Sam's. Yes, they sell holiday dresses!They seem to have the cutest girl's holiday dresses this year. Now I start my search for the perfect outfit for my little man. It seems that I will alway's be on a "mission". Thinking back gives me a smile that we survived aanother night out...


at the mall with our quads...

my little monkey...

We have a monkey on our hands! Miss Camryn has realized her heritage & started scaling EVERYTHING! They inherited a new "hand me down" toy called a "Kangaroo Climber". Well, it is what it's called, a climber! IT taught them how to climb & they LOVE it! It it a large plastic/rubber square with holes for their feet & it even has a slide. Now they have 2 slides at Grandma's house. Oh Boy! Anyhow, ever since they stepped foot on this contraption they have been tempting fate. They think they can do ANYTHING! They climb all over it & dive bomb into Grandma's chair which is next to it. They are little dare devils. They really do abuse poor Grandma! Now Camryn has a new "trick" which is climbing over the top of her crib & into her sisters crib. The first time she did this was last weekend on Daddy's watch. He said he heard laughter coming from their room during nap time so he went in to investigate. He found Camryn in Avery & Lindsey's crib. Yes, they still share a crib. I tried seperating them at nap times but they would have none of that. They LOVE being near one another. Well apparently Camryn wants to be near them too! LOL! Luckily she did not fall onto the floor during her scale of the crib! Unfortunately, she continued to do this the next day on my watch, like 4X! I finally asked her to show me how she did it & she proceeded to show me her technique!! She wrapped her feet around the rails of the crib & then pulled herself over. She is not a light weight & for her to do this was some feat. She is talented!! Heck they may have their mattresses on the floor by next week! I just do not know what I am gonna do about...


my little monkey...

and the winner is...

The photo that they chose was the one of the babies in their Easter baskets. I must say that I have received many a compliment on that photo! Everyone says it looks like an Anne Geddes photo. To me it is just a picture of my little one's celebrating their very first Easter! The fun tidbit of information is that the baskets they were in will be their Easter baskets from now on. Cute huh!?

Charmpix

things really do happen for a reason...

We have been on a "MISSION" the past 2 days. Daddy noticed that something was just not right with Camryn. After closer examination he saw that she was missing one of her DIAMOND earrings. Mommy does not even have diamond earrings, yet each of the girls have a pair. Their Uncle Bob gave them each a pair as a gift for their baptism last year. Well, the search was on! I was on a mission looking for this earring. We searched EVERYWHERE! I tried to see if Camryn could show us where she "lost" it. (It was not lost, she had to unscrew it to get it off!) It was worth a try & I wanted to find it! She started pointing to her mouth. Uh Oh! I started worrying that she might have swallowed it. I dreaded that I may have to search through her poop! YUCK! Then she started pointing to the play room floor, under a chair, near the book shelf, etc. You can already tell that I was getting no where with her! I decided I better just start looking all over the place. I checked in, under & around her crib with NO luck! We swept the floors & checked the piles to make sure it was not there. I was getting worried! We decided that she would just be a one earringed girl since we can not afford to replace it. I decided to accept what was meant to be, will be. SO now fast forward to this morning when I get a call from Michael. He tells me that my Mom's neighbor Jim gave her a new area rug for her living room. It is alway's fun to get "new" things! As they were taking up the old rug, GUESS WHAT!? They found her missing diamond earring!! It was under the rug! I was AMAZED that we even found it!
What are the odds?


things really do happen for a reason...

four babies in a row...

Our local newspaper, the Palm Beach Post, recently had this photo contest where they wanted people to send in photos of their multiples all in a "row". Well, I just knew that I had to enter this contest! I put them all in a row each time I try to capture their monthly "birthday's". I attempt to get them all in birth order every month. I must take like 10 pictures before I get "thee" shot. So once I heard about this contest I had to figure out which pictures I should post. Hmmm... There are SO many to choose from! I went into my "vault" of photos & pulled out a few. The following photos are the three that I sent in. The best part is that we actually won! I have no idea what the prize is but just winning is good enough. The winning photo will be printed in Sunday's paper. TOO cool! Now after seeing the 3 photos I sent in I'd like for you guys to guess which one they chose as the winner. Was it the Easter baskets? The Shopping carts? or The Pumpkin patch? Which would you choose?

four babies in a row...

Boy do I feel OLD!

Today is my niece Katies 18th birthday! I cannot believe that she is 18 already! A lot happens when you turn 18 & become an adult. She has already registered to vote, YAY! & given blood. I remember when I was a senior in high school I also gave blood. Katie is very different from my other nieces & my nephew. Working full time for the police dept. meant that I almost always worked during a Hurricane. Well, Katie would call me from GA during a Hurricane to see how I was. Isn't that sweet! I think it is due to our "history" together. You see when she was a baby I watched her while her parents worked. Wherever I went she went. We went everywhere & had a lot of fun in her first year of life. My very first vehicle was a brand new Toyota Corolla 4 door just so I would have room for her & her car seat. My brother then got a new job & they moved to GA after her 1st birthday. So we only saw them over the holidays or when we traveled up to GA. Back then I my schedule was different too, I worked 4 days a week so over my 3 day weekends I would drive up to GA to see them. I did this SO many times! Now looking back I see how CRAZY it was because they live over 650 miles away. That was in my youth & WAY before kids. I could never do this now. What's also WILD is how the circle comes around & she is now watching my babies. Just thinking about all of these things makes me say...

Boy do I feel OLD!...

We did it!

We FINALLY have DSL! I am SO happy! It is such a weird feeling to be able to view videos and music. I can listen to a song without the computer stopping & starting. I have never been able to do this!! I might just have to create an online music library. I can do this can't I?!? I am just SO PSYCHED! Chat with you all later....

the Pumpkin Patch...

Today we took the babies to the Parkland Pumpkin Patch. I figured this would be a fun thing to do while we were still at Grandma's house. I found this place on Pumpkinpatchesandmore.org. It is this website that you can search the US for Pumpkin Patch's and U-Pick it's. I guess they are dwindling so they advertise this way. This was their first outing to a Pumpkin Patch. Having grown up in Florida I do not have the memories I wish that my children would have. Things in Florida are MUCH different than the stories I hear about up north. I wish we could have wooded areas to drive to, the hay rides, hot apple cider and especially the Fall leaves. Where we live used to be all wooded but over time that has changed too. We Floridians have sandy beaches, the HEAT & Palm trees instead. I guess we can travel for the experience! (= This pumpkin patch was about 15 miles away from Grandma's house. The drive was nice but hectic since it was in the late afternoon & everyone was out & about. I do not like traffic! Once we arrived there the babies seemed EXTRA excited to see all of these orange "balls" on the ground. They seem to think anything round is a ball. There were SO many pumpkins in various sizes all over the place. It was such a neat find! They donate all of the money from Pumpkin sales to local charities. I LOVE THAT! The organizer, Debbie, had a few areas set up for photo ops. AGAIN I'm all for a photo! We took quite a few & hopefully we got a good one! As soon as I get them processed I will post them. We just had a great day spending the afternoon at ...

the Pumpkin Patch...

day out with Daddy...

Today Michael took the babies to the Fall Festival at my childhood church, The 1st Presbyterian Church, aka "The Pink Church". Yes the church is Pink! It is very well known in our neck of the woods and as far as I know it has ALWAYS been painted pink. Anyhow, Daddy took them out and to all places a Fair! YAY! I was working like I do most weekends so Daddy & Grandma took them. I love it when he takes them places so he can experience first hand what I encounter when I go out with them. The church is just a few blocks away from Grandma's so he did not have far to go. Luckily they took a good nap & the festival did not start until 2pm. They had Pony rides, various games, music, live entertainment and FOOD. By looking at them you would never know that they LOVE to eat! hahahh! They even had someone there painting faces. So they had their faces painted. The girls each had a butterfly & Brendan got a pumpkin on their cheeks. This is such a fun time of year & they are just the right age to enjoy it. Overall I think that they had fun on their..

day out with Daddy...

the excitement is in the air!!!

For all the people that live out in the boonies like me you will be able to relate to this post! We are FINALLY getting High Speed Internet where we live! YAY! I am SO excited! We do not even have cable! We have satellite which seems to go out whenever we have a storm brewing. I have been wanting DSL for such a VERY long time! It took them FOREVER to get the access out near us but now they do! SO I have to give a BIG Thank you to Michael for FINALLY relenting & checking into it. He is happy that we will be saving money each month too! See there is a reason for EVERYTHING! My life will be SO much easier. I can send & receive pictures over the computer like there is no tomorrow! I cannot wait! Michael may not want to see the monster he has created! HA! I am just SO giddy! ...



the excitement is in the air!!!

YIKES!

Today the babies turned 21 months old. I cannot believe that they are another month older and they are 3 months closer to being 2! CRAZY huh!?! They are really blossoming! They do their own "stunts" and no broken bones so far! YAY! They talk to each other a LOT! Call each other by name. Lindsey seems to be the easiest name for them to say. Sometimes I can understand their "talk" & other times I haven't a clue. There is a lot of truth to multiples having their own language. I do not remember any multiples doing this when I babysat. I guess you pay attention when they are your own! LOL! At times I wonder if they are progressing like they should be in the language dept. Yes they say words but not the normal ones. "Daddy" is the word of choice next to "Debbie". I only hear a "Mommy" when they REALLY want me or they are tired. Why is that? I know that they were 7 weeks premature and I should not compare them to other babies. BUT this is VERY hard not to do! I am always wondering if there is something I could be doing differently. I am sure that before I even realize it this will change & they will be talking TOO much. If they are anything like me they will! haha! I want to hear sentences! Yes, I know that this sounds crazy! That I should be thankful that they are not all jibber jabbering to drive me batty but I long to have some conversations with them! I'll get back to you in a few months with the update! For now just thinking of them turning 2 in THREE short months freaks me out!

YIKES!

16 days of October...

So far October has been a VERY busy & expensive month for us! It started out with my 20th High School Reunion only to have my brother in law Bucky get married the very same weekend. Then we found our leak! ugh! It's just $, $, $! The following weekend my 2nd cousin Dylan celebrated his Bar Mitzvah. Turning 13 made for quite the party! We all had a BLAST! One nice thing is that we were able to get a GREAT family photo with my mom, her children & our spouses all dressed up. It was a black tie affair so we were stylin! We did not break the camera so that is a GOOD thing! ha! Hopefully the photo will look good on our mantel. I am all about photo op's! It was nice to be able to spend a few days with my brothers & their families. The babies got their hair cut too! Then on Tuesday my hubby Michael celebrated his 42nd birthday. It is hard to believe he is 42! I have a few years to catch up to him! (= All in all we have had fun in the 1st 16 days of the month! Tomorrow the babies turn 21 months old! I just wonder what the next 15 days will hold for us!



16 days of October...

they had a few hairs cut!!

Tonight all the babies all got their hair cut. They NEEDED it! But Brendan needed it the most! Their Aunt Haidee was kind enough to be their hairdresser. I must say that they were not happy campers! Brendan screamed like he was being stabbed or better yet cut by the scissors. I think it must have been the sound of the scissors opening & closing that freaked him out or at least that is what I hope it was. This was not his first haircut either! Avery stood around like she was "supervising" to make sure her siblings were well taken care of. She seemed SO concerned when Brendan started crying. It made me feel good knowing that she cared that he was upset. I mean she is usually the one that teases him so for her to worry means that she does love him after all! hahah! The funny thing is that she had NO clue that she was next "victim" & would be getting her bangs cut! So I had to hold her, against her will, just so the cut would be even. I learned a new trick. Place a piece of scotch tape on the bangs so when you cut the bangs they will be even, Neat huh?! The trickss we moms have to do! (= I must say that after it was all said & done they looked EXTRA CUTE! We can now see Camryn's BIG brown eyes, Brendan is as handsome as ever & the twins look really different now that they have bangs. They look SO grown up & Brendan, well he must feel lighter than air since he had SO much hair cut off. His new "do" looks SO adorable! He really looks like a totally different child. I think he looks more like my oldest brother Jim. It's VERY weird how a hair cut can change everything! Of course I took plenty of pictures to share with everyone! I am just SO happy to FINALLY say that...



they had a few hairs cut!!