FOUR little FULTONS: BIG KID beds

Friday, November 19, 2010

no more cribs...

The tribe is now WAY over three & a half years old and we I just decided to finally take down their cribs at our house. They have been sleeping on a bunk bed at Grandma's house for a few months but still slept in cribs at our house. Weird I know but you work with what you have. It took me about half the day to tackle this but in the end I was SO happy that I finally did it. I was not able to get the room all put back together completely by the time the tribe arrived home from school. Brendan was the first one to notice the BIG changes in their room. He looked around the room & said there's no more cribs! He then asked me where was he going to sleep? Awhh.. I told him he was a BIG boy now & he would be sleeping on a BIG BOY mattress. He thought that was EXTRA special! Little did he know that the mattress was the one from his crib! LOL! One day soon we will get them a REAL BIG KID bed. But for now at least it's...

The room is almost ready!

Their first night out of the cribs!

My BIG boy!

Can you tell how happy Aave was?!

Linz & her "Patty", all is right in the world!

no more cribs...

Monday, April 26, 2010

we bit the bullet?...

We finally bit the bullet and the tribe now has a new BIG kid bed at Grandma's house! It was such a BIG decision to make because what do you do when four kids share the same room? In an ideal situation we would have more bedroom space & split them up two & two but no we are not the fortunate! )= I mean four seperate beds can eat up a TON of space in a bedroom! Luckily we have some pretty awesome friends who always think of us & came to our rescue! Not only did we get everything we needed in a bed but it was FREE! When you are part of a party of seven anything FREE is MUCH appreciated! Their new bed is a twin over a full BUNK BED, yes I said BUNK BED! After tossing around many different bed ideas this just works for us! It kills SO many birds with one stone & the tribe absolutely LOVES it! I realize now that they needed this change more than I could ever imagine! [= I have to send out a HUGE Thank you to my good friend Renee who gave the bed to us! It's hard to believe that I used to lay down on this very same bunk bed when her girls were little! They are about to graduate high school! YIKES! I am SO aging myself there! ha! So Renee & family the tribe wants to say THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! & THANK YOU! You have helped our munchkins grow both physically & emotionally! [= It was SO cute watching them see the room being painted, the pieces being put together & then finally being able to check out their new bed! This process has taken us a LONG time to complete! I think I started this "project" about 3 months ago. I first painted the room this cool shade of green, then I deceided to paint chalkboard paint in there. I figured, let them be creative! That turned into a MESSY, MESSY idea! When you live in two homes it is hard to finish anything! Basically this bed was the last piece of the puzzle.Now to get them to NOT climb up to the top bunk! I know, I am CRAZY if I think they will not climb up to the TOP bunk! I mean the bed is practically calling out to them "Climb up here..." LOL! Let's just say any worries that I had about them having a bunk bed flew out the window when Daddy showed them how to climb up & down the bed. Yes, he actually showed them how to get to the TOP bunk! arghh! His theory being that you cannot expect them to stay away from it & they need to learn what to do! Hello!? They are three years old after all! The things you do when you are a parent of MANY! hahah! Anyhow, after about thirty minutes of exploring it they have become semi pros at it! I had forgotten that they have already had some BUNK BED experience from climbing up & down their friend Ashley's bunk bed.Even knowing that does not help this mama feel any better, I mean the thought of them falling off the top bunk FREAKS me out! Let's just say there will be MANY night time checks to make sure that NO ONE is caught up on that top bunk! After all is said & done should I be happy that...

we bit the bullet?...

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....

Blog Archive

These words & pictures are MINE & MINE alone