walking in my shoes...

I happen to have two different friends that have quadruplets, I know how lucky am I!? Joellen used to work with me years ago. She ended up moving away a LONG time ago but we continue to keep in contact. She too struggled to get pregnant & with medical intervention had quadruplets. She has a set of twins too but that is another story! LOL! Michael & I visited her family the summer before we got pregnant. At this point in our struggle multiples were not on our mind nor did we ever think we would have any. We just wanted one baby! Anyhow that visit with her is still etched in my memory like it was yesterday. We arrived just before she got back from grocery shopping with all 6 kids. I know, CRAZY! She had like 4 gallons of milk plus several bags of food. I was truly amazed! She has three boys & one girl, plus her twins are boys. The boys were wild! They each wanted out attention, wanted to sit by us for lunch, etc. Lunch that day was so funny. They wanted to eat something other than what was on their plates & Joellen did not budge. She told them that was their lunch and to sit down & eat! LOL! I am SO this way! ha! Being that they live up north they have a basement, this is something a native Floridian knows nothing about. Their basement was the BEST playroom ever! There was SO many toys down there for them to play with. I guess when you have that many kids you need a TON of toys! I decided right then that I wanted a basement, in Florida! hahah! I think we left their house that day in a blur thanking God that was not us! Ha Ha Ha, the joke sure was on us! Little did we know that just a year later we too would be having quadruplets! WOW! Life sure is amazing! Those who cross your path and you get to call them friend is too! Joellen & I were meant to have that connection! She is one of the first people I called when my triplets turned into Quadruplets. She calmed me down & said that life would be CRAZY but it's manageable. Her saying that was all that I needed to hear! Thank heaven for her! (= This is why I appreciate my friendship with her so much. She provides for me something that is a hot comodity around her, someone that understands all the chaos! I talk to Joellen especially when I am in need of an "experienced" quad mommy's advice. She helped me through those first few months with VALUABLE advice on what to do, how to feed them all at the SAME time & how important it was to keep to a tight schedule. That is SO important even now! We continue to chat from time to time over the phone. We have not been able to travel up to see them since that day in June of '05. But one day we will introduce our children to each other! My other compadre is Nicole, she is my "new" friend who lives about two hours S of me & her quads are 15 months old. We chat about schedules, their development & our mommy guilt quite a lot! Yes that is something we struggle with even now. It is always good to have someone to bounce ideas off that will not judge because they too feel like you. The cool part is that she lives so close. The bad part is that our schedules conflict & we never get together in person. I know, TERRIBLE! I have to work on that! I just keep telling myself that we will get together one of these days! At least for now we can give each other the support & encouragement we need. I cannot tell you how important it is to talk to another momma that is part of the same club! I value these friendships SO much! In this CRAZY life we lead I NEED more friends that have been...

walking in my shoes...