on their way to Temple...

Last week while down in Miami Beach visiting "Grammy", aka Aunt Judy, in rehab we had a Fulton "funny" occur. It was a Saturday almost noon and we were searching ALL over downtown Miami for a place that sold soup. I never thought soup would be so hard to find but it was. Apparently it's too hot in Miami Beach for them to sell soup during the day. LOL! Well during our trek around town Linz notices these people by a bridge all dressed up. She proceeds to say "Look Mom they are getting married!". I am a sucker for a wedding so I looked up from playing "Bejeweled Blitz" on my iPhone (love that game!). Do I see a bride & groom? No. I sort of chuckle to myself and then proceed to explain that these people that are all dressed up were not getting married but walking to church. Yes you guessed it they were orthodox Jews...

on their way to Temple...

I am never going to use a Q-tip again!...

I have been sort of out of the blogging loop these past few weeks. After all of the stuff with the "B man" I really thought I was going to finally catch a break. 2011 has not been that good to us in the medical bill dept. It seems like when we have one medical issue along comes another. Let's just say that I am NOT a happy camper. First Brendan had his ASD closure on his heart, then he contracts Salmonella from God knows what (I thank my lucky stars that the rest of the tribe did not get it!) Lastly last week while doing our nightly routine ie: bath, trimming of all the nails & cleaning of the ears with a Q-tip. Yes I use Q-tip's. Trust me after what I tell you next I will not be using them EVER again! You see Linz moved her head away from me & the next thing I saw was blood by her ear. I really do think the Q-tip went into her ear. Amazingly I did not panic. I just flushed her ear out & made sure her ear was dry. I asked her if her ear hurt & as usual she said no. (These children have a VERY high pain tolerance!) so off to bed they went. The next morning she had dried blood on the side of her head so I decided I better take her in to the Dr just to make sure. To make a LONG story as short as possible, she was diagnosed with a busted ear drum. She had to take antibiotics & ear drops for 10 days & then get re checked. sigh... Only me! That brings us to today when I took her in to the Dr for her check up. The ear drum is healing but now the Dr thinks it may have injured the middle ear so she now needs to get her hearing tested & then see an ENT to possibly get tubes. Isn't life grand?! UGH! They say things come along in sets of threes so I am hoping we are good till at least the rest of the year! I swear...

I am never going to use a Q-tip again!...

NO school Monday's...

Today was one of those days where more than one was not feeling good so they ALL stayed home SICK! You see last night out of the blue while at a CHRISTmas performance Lindsey threw up multiple times. Right there at the end of the pew in front of a packed church! It was bad! Luckily my 20 year old cousin came to our rescue & cleaned it all up. What else that I found amazing was that not one other person got up once she did it. They all just went along watching the performance! WOW! I really don't know why she threw up or where it came from but she did so there would be no school for her today. Well it seems that Avery did not want to be outdone by her sister because she too threw up on the ride home. Sigh... I just hope it ends with her! I could tell it was going to be a LONG night!

I prepared them like my mom always did us by placing a "puke bucket" by their heads & lined the edge of the bed with towels. If they were going to threw up again I was ready! I have to admit that before they actually fell asleep Linz threw up one last time on of all things her "Patty"! I think she was SO tired from throwing up that she didn't even care that she had to fall asleep without her! I checked on them a few times before I went to bed & they were all fast asleep! YAY! Apparently over night Avery threw up one last time, a small bit, but none the less I had to wash ALL the bed linens! She was clingy & not herself all day! I guess the silver lining in all of this was that none of them had any fevers! I decided to keep to the BRAT {Bananas, Rice, Apples & Toast} diet just in case they were not really over this illness. All things bland were my friend today. The one EXTRA thing I let them assist me in doing was making cut out sugar cookies. Boy was that a mistake! The darn cookie dough stuck to EVERYTHING!

In the end I was better off making our designs by hand! I made each of their letter's, the B & the A were "interesting"! Heck I even made a snowman without even trying! LOL! They were SO excited! From mixing the batter to cutting out the first cookie to seeing them bake in the oven it was quite an experience! There's nothing like...

NO school Monday's...

I better watch what I promise them!...

This story begins on a day I had Avery home sick from school, for those of you that have children you know that kids while do just about anything to stay home with Mommy. I had scheduled their "well check-up" the day before Thanksgiving but rescheduled for this day and here Avery goes & gets sick! UGH! She had a fever so there would be NO SCHOOL for her! When the others heard she would be staying home they tried faking some symptoms to get to stay home too. It was quite funny seeing Camryn & Lindsey say that their bellies hurt & then Brendan tagging along saying he was sick too! They were not sick, they just wanted to stay home with me! In the end Daddy took Camryn to school, she had her "well check-up" over the summer in preparation for speech school. There I was taking the rest of them to the doctor. Three "well check-up's" turned into two! Thank the Lord for our Pediatrician Dr Mahoney, she is AWESOME! They asked me all sorts of questions about what was going to happen while being there. The most important question was if they were going to get a shot. I said No, this was a well check-up not a sick visit. I guess they have been to the doctor sick WAY more than being well because they could not understand what a "well check-up" was! LOL! The doctor was pleased with all of them in fact Mr B gained a pound from his last visit! WOO HOO! This is a BIG deal! We have to plump him up for his heart surgery in March! Lindsey is the tallest & is like in the 44th percentile for height. This is an accomplishment since all 4 of them are scrawny & weigh like 30lbs! hehee! Oh & Avery's illness is just that, an illness. She was negative for strep so it's most likely viral & will stay the course. So just like we thought she would be staying home sick from school. Brendan & Lindsey did not really like hearing that! haha! Our day get's even better, the "well check-up day" turned into "Flu shot day". Yes, the three of them all got shots! UGH! All that preparing I did telling them no shots because it was a "well check-up" went right out the window! There I was consoling them after they each burst into tears! Oh did I feel bad! Luckily after the flu shot Dr Mahoney took each one of them over to the special treat box for a prize. I am now the proud owner of two planes you put together & a bottle of Santa bubbles! =] I think in the future...

I better watch what I promise them!...

smells like dinner...

The supermarket of choice for our family is Publix, they are just down the road & their slogan is "Where Shopping is a Pleasure". Who wouldn't want shopping to be a pleasure?! LOL! Let me tell you some days it really is pleasurable to shop there! PLUS they do a TON in regards to "Customer Service". When I have to go shopping with the ENTIRE tribe Publix will have an employee push one of the shopping carts as I push the other one. LOVE that! Not to mention their "Cookie Club". Each & EVERY time we go there the tribe has to get their FREE cookie & once their card gets filled with hole punches they can be entered to win a Cookie Cake! YUM! See I can find MANY pleasurable things at Publix! =]

Now I feel like I should fill you in on some things before I can share this recent memory. You see Publix has this area set up near the front of their store where they have this "kitchen" to cook some of the recipe's from their "Apron Collection". It's a great set of recipe's that are EXTRA yummy! ALL kinds of family food & again it's YUMMY for the tummy! Depending on the time of day you could actually get a meal while doing your shopping. This particular day I only had Lindsey with me because she had a Doctor's appointment. She LOVES having that "Mommy & Me" time, heck I do too! There she was in a shopping cart meant for SINGLETON'S when we leave one aisle & turn the corner which placed us near their "kitchen". The Apron's lady was sauting something with onions & the aroma was something out of this world! I guess Linz noticed it too because she proceeds to say Mommy it...

smells like dinner...

Disney World!...

You know the ad where the team just wins the Super Bowl, they run up to the MVP & ask him "You just won the Super Bowl, What are you going to do next?", and they reply "Go to Disney World!". Well that is how I felt yesterday! I got to take the tribe for their very FIRST visit to Disney World on of all days MY birthday! I just want to give a shout out to whomever thought up the get in free to Disney on your birthday sales promo! What a great idea! I do not think I could ever get my hubby to take us ALL to Disney World any other way. I was psyched! We invited our niece to tag along so our tribe of seven expanded to eight! Once we got to the hotel, Disneys Pop Century, and I saw the decade signs out front I knew I needed to get a picture! Being that I was born in 1970 it was perfect! Look really close & you will see me in the bottom zero! There was just one glitch to our last minute plan, the weather! We had a cold front come through & the temp's were frigid! This Florida girl is not used to COLD weather & Mother Nature sure did provide us COLD weather! Once in Orlando we awoke to FOURTY NINE degree weather, YIKES! It was a bit nippy & even with all the preparations we could not keep the tribe or ourselves warm! It was BAD! We ended up returning to our hotel just to warm up! CRAZY! I know, there is a blizzard going on up North but remember this is Florida people!We are used to WARM weather! Once we warmed our tushes up we headed out to the Magic Kingdom. All the tribe kept talking about was seeing Mickey Mouse. I knew this would be short lived because like most children they usually talk a good game until thee moment & then they bawl. I was preparing myself for that exact thing! Oh to be in Disney World with my family on MY birthday! It was such a fun day even if my hubby was "Grumpy" himself. He does not do well in the patience dept. and when you have 5 kids plus one to get ready & out the door by a certain time he just could not do it! Patience is NOT his virtue! LOL! Lucky for us we had reenforcements already at the park! Our good friends Andy, Laurie, Travis, Carol, Norman & their families were there to help us wrangle our brood. THANK YOU GUYS! They are pros at all things Disney so we followed them. The BIG boys went to do BIG boy stuff while we ladies PLUS Daddy went to see little people stuff. We decided to hit "Toon Town" first to nip the whole Mickey & Minnie experience in the bud.After waiting about 45 minutes in a line that seemed to go on FOREVER we finally met the Mr & Mrs of all Disney! Brendan of course freaked out & wanted out of there! I think his seeing Mickey was fine if he was about 50 feet away but once he got up next to him he wanted NO part of him. Lindsey felt the same way but not as extreme as Mr B. Avery was okay with both of them. Not overly excited but not scared either. Camryn on the other hand LOVED Minnie! She did not want to leave & kept hugging her & giving her kisses. "Aunt Larry" said waiting in that 45 minute line was worth every minute after seeing her reaction! awhh... After that experience I realized just how difficult it was going to be to take our family of 7 anywhere! Some of them are going to be "easy" and some are going to be "difficult". I am just going to have to figure out how to meet them halfway. Trying to get pictures was even harder! I ended up doing Disney's photo pass. What a great idea! Even if it will cost us an arm & a leg to get copies made at least we can say we went to...

Disney World!...

Look Mom I can swim!...

Earlier I took the tribe for their ritual morning swim. Boy do they LOVE the pool! They will gaze out of our sliding glass door & say that's MY pool. TOO cute! We have only had the pool about 3 years so our pool toys are not immense. One BIG expense was this HUGE umbrella that we keep near the shallow end of the pool to give us a break from the Florida heat. It was super expensive with the special umbrella holder but well worth it! Gives us just the right amount of shade & being that we live in Florida we need shade! (= I usually leave it open when we are home but Daddy closes it up after each swim. Needless to say it was closed today. There I was opening the sucker up when I found not one, not two, but THREE sticky frogs inside the umbrella. You know the kind that stick to you if you touched them! YUK YUK YUK! I can handle almost any type of amphibian but the one I REALLY REALLY loathe is the sticky frog! The fact that they are sticky does not help! DISGUSTING!Where we live there are PLENTY of them so it's a constant battle. Anyhow I put on a brave face while I shooed the frogs away & raised the umbrella. No sooner do I have the umbrella up when I realize there is a frog on top of my head! YES on top of my head! I was no longer brave, I proceeded to do the freaked out dance. YUK! I wanted it off my head & did not want to touch it to get it to move! After what seemed like an eternity it finally leaped off into the grass. I turned to Camryn & said "Did you see that frog on my head?!". She said "Yes". I then said "Next time you see that there is a frog on mommy's head please tell her!". LOL! You think the frog freaked them out? NO... They spent the next 10 minutes looking for more frogs! I bet not even seeing a snake would scare them! They love the outdoors & all the creatures that inhabit it! They are definitely their father's children! LOL! Once they finally gave up on that mission they set their sights on the pool & their new found talent... swimming!It was CRAZY! They were leaping off the ledge into the pool like they have been doing it forever! {It has only been 2 days! LOL!} They were kicking their feet & even floating on their backs! I was VERY proud of my three little swimmers! Brendan on the other hand still does not want that freedom. He was much happier if I held him or just standing on the steps. We still did our Mommy "swim" lessons so he can keep up the practice. I think he likes it when he is held because floating sort of freaks him out. I am OK with that. One day he will be a WILD man & we won't be able to control him! (= I did not want them to be out in the sun too long so I made them get out. They did NOT want to leave. After about 4 times of me telling them they had to get out they finally listened. Then it was all about the towels. You see they each have their "favorite" or the one they think they should be using & will cause a scene if someone else uses it! I tell you I have created little monsters! hehee! It's just that they have a routine & do not want to veer far from it. I just tell myself that they like "structure". LOL! Well, Today I only brought out two BIG towels for the five of us. Needless to say that did not go over well. They kept telling me that they needed their towel. How exactly do you explain to a two year old that you are going to share? hmm...I ended up distracting them by letting them play on our back porch. It is covered, has a slide/climber & many other toys on it. It may be hot but at least we'd be under cover! It was a win win situation. At least that is what I thought. Before I knew it they got into some mischief with a potted plant & had dirt EVERYWHERE! I now had to clean them up & sweep the porch! The work never ends! LOL! I decided a hose would be the quickest way. After hosing them down I thought why not let them go back in the pool for a quick dip. No sooner did I open up the pool fence & tell them they could go "swimming" did Lindsey taking a running leap into the shallow end of our pool. This jump was MINUS her "swimmies" and she CANNOT swim! There I was jumping in after her. However just as I got to Linz Aave also jumped in. CRAZY children! I pulled the both of them right up & luckily neither one of them sucked in any water. Can they possibly be holding their mouth when they go under water now? It's scary moments like this that keep me on my toes. Their "swimmies" are now going to be on before the pool fence is even opened! It was just like what Grandma said would happen, she was telling me...

Look Mom I can swim!...

M I A...

Last night I was FINALLY able to attend a MNO, {Mom's Night Out}, with the ladies from my mommies of multiples play group. We went to the Melting Pot for dessert! YUM! You can imagine how much fun it was for us! Eleven women {all mommies of multiples}, three bowls of various flavors of chocolate & ton's of dipper's. ie: strawberries, rice krispy treats, brownies, you name it we had it! We had the best time chatting away about anything & everything when I noticed I had a missed call. It was from my hubby. He NEVER calls me when he is in charge of the tribe! Scratch that, he did call me one other time & that was when we ran out of diapers. Yes we ran out of diapers! You can imagine how that went over! LOL! So I knew that it had to be important for him to pick up the phone & interrupt my fun.What fun we did have but that's another story! (= Anyhow he proceeded to tell me when he was putting the tribe to bed he could not find "Patty", Lindsey's "lovey". She was MIA, For those in the airline biz NO I am not talking about Miami International Airport, I am talking Missing In Action! "Patty" is the stuffed panda bear that she can NOT live without! He searched EVERYWHERE & she was getting upset that she was going to have to go to bed without her. Daddy did some quick thinking because after searching the house with no luck he remembered "Patrick" out in the 'burb. Patrick is a let's say "plumper" version of Patty, so we said he was "Patty's" "brother" & then named him "Patrick". I keep him out in the 'burb just for moments like this.Nothing like having a child hysterical because her best friend is missing! He gave her Patrick & all was right in the world. YAY! I'm telling you this is why I do not want them having "loveys"! Another thing to make my life even harder! ugh! Needless to say I did my own search this morning. It's weird the places you know to check when you are around them 24/7! I finally found her in of all places Dustyn's room. This room is off limits when "D" is not here. I remembered that they had "helped" me with the laundry and carried a set of his clean sheets to Dustyn's room for me. So I picked up the sheets & there she was under them! YAY! I am just happy that I will not be dealing with "Where's Patty?" ALL day long! Nothing like dealing with a lovey that is...

M I A...

bath day...

As I have probably mentioned before, our Linz has just started having a "lovey", you know the stuffed creature children can not live without! None of the kids really had anything that they were really attached to UNTIL we went to my nieces high school graduation in May. We drove up to Atlanta & I made sure each of them had something to snuggle with while they slept in their pac n' plays. If I only knew that this would create more drama in our lives I may have re thought the entire thing!Lindsey's snuggly happened to be a stuffed Panda bear that Dustyn won God knows where! She liked it so much that it was an easy choice for her. We gave her the name "Patty" & that was that! WELL little did I know how much that event would change our entire lives! Now we cannot go twenty minutes without her asking any one of us where that darn panda is! It's CRAZY! I get afraid if we forget it at Grandma's!UH OH! As you can see Patty is her new best friend, she takes her EVERYWHERE! Needless to say that the Panda get's quite dirty being dragged over heaven & earth! SO I designate a special day to give her a "bath". I make sure I tell Linz the day before that tomorrow "Patty" is getting her bath so she will be forewarned! It has seemed to help her grasp not having her around for the two hours it takes to wash & dry her. Sometimes she will forget & when I tell her she is having a bath she will run into the laundry room. It is SO funny to watch her run in there just to watch her spin in the washer! LOL! I just wonder how long "Patty" will hold up for her...



bath day...

time...

These past few days have been quite the experience for all of us! It all started out on Saturday night with the littlest of the bunch heaving up her dinner. It did not get any better by Sunday night. It went from puking to pooping & trust me, I was not happy that they were being regular! LOL! All I can say is, YUK! I've changed more cribs, washed more clothes & gave MANY a bath in the past few days! It has not been much fun! I thought it was an isolated incident but then it moved from child to child. So far, knock on wood, Camryn has not caught the bug! We were awoken rather EARLY this morning by Linz having yet another poopy diaper which then gave her a raw butt! It is terrible! No ointment or cream seems to help her! However once she was changed she was raring to go. You would not have thought she was even sick. Mommy was TIRED & she was bright eyed & bushy tailed! She then wanted each of her siblings to be WIDE awake with her. Oh what FUN! The rest of them FINALLY woke up 2 hours later. Brendan was sitting at the end of his crib and at the other end was vomit! He also had a cough that I did not like the sound of. He was the next victim! DISGUSTING! Remember, I do not do vomit! I'm the poop girl! Where was Michael when I needed him the most!?! There I was trying to clean him up & get the sheets off his crib. Then Avery has a blow out & I had to take care of her. I had the washer going, the bath running & LUCKILY we were at Grandma's so she kept Linz entertained. Throughout all of this Camryn just sat in her crib watching me & continued to say "Mommy, Oh My!". Wonder where she gets that from! hahah! I decided I better take Brendan & Linz in to see the doctor. FYI, Being able to get 4 sick kid appt's all together is difficult so to get 2 seen was better than none. Grandma & I made the drive 45 minutes N to their doctor. We got there just when our appt. was to start. That never really matters because lately we always seem to have to wait, FOREVER! I SO dislike waiting in a doctor's office lobby with four toddlers. Today was extra bad since they all had poopies while we waited. This is my life! ugh! We finally get in to see Dr. Kraft. He really is a great doctor. Helps me not freak out over silly stuff. He told us he's not too worried about the weight they lost from throwing up. They will gain it back. That their ears, eyes & chest all sound good. Brendan is extra lean & that is why it I overreact when it comes to him. He is NOT dehydrated & he will be ok. To rinse Linz's bum instead of using wipes & to put 4 oz of white vinegar into the bath water. The vinegar will help dry her raw bum up! (interesting..) That we need not worry about getting them to eat but rather make sure they drink & have at least 2 pee pee diapers a day. If things change to let them know, it is hopefully just a bug & the best medicine is...

time...

the JOYS of motherhood...

Today is our day! A day that we mom's are celebrated for all that we do! With as crazy as things have been over the past few months I sure needed this day! To be pampered & loved on was WONDERFUL! We started a little early by going over to my mom's neighbors house for an impromtu get together Saturday night. Two of their daughters had a joint birthday/slumber party & they invited us over to join in on the fun! Their house was full of a bunch of nine & eleven year old girls! OH MY! The things I can look forward to! We brought along my cousin Raine who was visiting us. Having some girls her own age to play with had to be more fun! It was SO nice hanging with adults & having margaritas! I LOVE a good margarita! (Thank you Vicky!) It was a BEAUTIFUL evening filled with great conversation. Too bad our evening was cut short due to one sick child. Miss Linz was SICK! She ended up waking the rest of the tribe up so we then had four crying babies to deal with! She had thrown up earlier in the evening but we thought it was due to her gulping down her food. She has a very bad habit of inhaling her food when shes hungry. Well, she threw up again in her crib. It was EVERYWHERE! YUK! I am SO glad I made that deal with Michael years ago, I do poop, he does vomit! He deserved a medal for what he cleaned up! LOL! We ended up setting up a pac n' play in our room as her bed for the night & put the rest of the tribe back to bed. They did not want to go to sleep without her, kept calling out her name. I felt SO bad but we did not want to have to deal with four sick babies. Linz on the other hand was feeling rather perky now that she was done feeling sick. In fact you would have never known she was even sick! She kept talking to us & even refused to go in the pac n' play. We tried putting her between us but I just cannot sleep with a child in our bed. Afraid we'll roll over on them or maybe it's because of all the stories I hear about how it's a BIG no no. How you should not let kids sleep with you because they will get too comfortable & never be able to sleep in their own bed again. I do TOO much thinking!! haha! So there I was climbing into the pac n' play at the foot of our bed just to get her to lay down in it. REMEMBER she still shares a crib with her twin. Weird how that was all it took. She needed to have someone next to her I guess. I was afraid I'd collapse the thing but it held us. She must have thought I was CRAZY for climbing into her "bed" but it did the trick! I layed there for almost 2 hours until she was tired enough to not care when I got up. In the end I lied to her as I got out saying "Mommy has to go pee pee and I'd be right back". She bought it & fell fast asleep! All I wanted was for her to be well & to get a good nights rest! I cannot tell you what time I finally fell asleep but I knew that I would remember this Mother's Day forever. Oh...

the JOYS of motherhood...

Happy Spring!

Hi Everyone! Here are a few NEW pic's of our "tribe". It took quite a few pictures to get these few! We hope you all enjoy looking at them as much as loved taking them!

Here's a photo of our 4 in their new BOAT clothes! Thank you Aunt "Larry"! =)
Mr B with Miss Cam Cam posing on our front porch! Gotta LOVE that grin!

And last but not least Miss Avery & Miss Lindsey doing their thing in matching dresses, Can you guess who is who? Hope you all have a...

Happy Spring!

to bite or not to bite...

We have two biters on our hands. It is quite SCARY! Little Miss Avery & Miss Linz have taken to biting each other. They do not do it very often but they do it & it drives me CRAZY! The other day they looked like two dinosaurs attacking one another, there was no blood or marks just acting it out was enough for me. It sort of reminded me of something you would see in the Jurassic Park movie. They stood there like two dinosaurs face to face, jaws open wide. They were almost salivating like they wanted to eat one another! I do not know what I am going to do. They think it is funny & laugh when I catch them trying to bite. I am SO tired of saying "No Biting!". I guess the good thing is that they only bite one another and not other kids, when they are excited or when one of them trys to take their toy. Camryn will tattle on them if she gets bite. EACH & EVERY time she gets bit she will point to one of them and say "BITE". She knows to tell me so THEY can get in trouble. Oh what am I going to do. Lately it has all been about whether...

to bite or not to bite...

Potty Training Progress Report # 2

OK, It has been almost a month since my last report & I thought I'd post an updated "Progress Report". I must say that when they say patience is a virtue it really is!! I am searching DEEP within myself to find it! LOL! Some days are better than others. I cannot tell you how many times I have just wanted to throw in the towel. Potty training 4, well 3 kids because I gave up on Brendan for the time being, is H-A-R-D! I do not know what I thought this experience would be like. I guess I was dreaming things would be a piece of cake & they would just take to it. I mean I would not want pee or poop near my butt longer than it took to come out so why don't they?! Today we started out with their new training pants. I purchased some the other day & they now have each have their own color & design. So far this morning has turned out pretty good but then they realized how to take their pants off & on. Lets just say they were pretty much off most of the time. I had at least one naked butt running around the house until I could catch up to her to get her panties back on. Will they ever "get" this!? I wonder if this will be worth it or should I just wait awhile longer. I must admit that of the 4, Linz has really taken to it. She has already pee pee'd in the potty 4x today & did not wet her pants at all! Can we have some excitement here & a few high fives? YAY! I just hoped to have more to share by the time I posted this...

Potty Training Progress Report #2...

13 revisited...

Lately we have been a house full of teethers. The quads have been teething their eye teeth aka their canine teeth for quite some time. It always seems to be Camryn & Brendan that have a TERRIBLE time teething. Our pediatrician told me that these are the worst teeth to teethe. UH OH! Like I need more drama in my life! It started with Camryn spiking a fever one day & then she basically refused to eat. I have tried EVERYTHING & even gave her some icecream thinking that would make her gums feel SO much better. NOPE! She wanted no part of it! She is just one BAD teether! Now on the other hand we have Miss Linz who apparently thinks teething seems to be a piece of cake. She never gives us any trouble. She may be clingy but that is for other reasons. Having 4 children of the same age going through the same stages makes it VERY hard to keep up with. Seeing who has what tooth & when did they get it is SO hard to keep track of. I just started to write ANYTHING & EVERYTHING that happens down in my agenda. That way there is a record some place! LOL! Every few days I attempt to check for an new teeth by sticking my finger in their mouths. I know, what am I thinking? Do I WANT to get bitten!? I seem to have gotten pretty good at swooping in & checking, PLUS they seem to allow it from time to time. Well, the other day on one of my "checks" I found that Lindsey has 13 teeth. 1 more than the rest of the bunch. She never complained one iota that she had a new tooth coming through. It was just there! Funny huh!? Well, It was Dustyn who noticed that she has as many teeth as he has years. That made me realize that this moment was definitely...

13 revisited...

4 times in a row!

That's how many times Lindsey has pee pee'd on the potty! Could we go for 5?!? Nope... 4 seems to be her record for now. I must say that she is definitely getting the hang of this potty training business. Speaking of business, trying to potty train four of them at the SAME time is HARD work! I feel like I am ALWAY'S in the bathroom waiting for a urine sample! I thought those days were over! LOL! They LOVE the idea of everyone sitting side by side, in their "special" potty, yes they think each potty is different just by where it sits on the floor. Sometimes they drive me crazy by how many times they switch seats & then scoot around on them across the floor. I told you this was difficult! ha! Sometimes I am caught saying "Just sit down & pee!". Terrible but it works! Then there are the days where they "pretend" to go. Do they think they can fool me? LOL! SOMETIMES they surprise me & actually do go. Then there's the flushing of it down the BIG potty, oh how they LOVE that! I just wish they would dislike the diaper more so this process would be a whole lot quicker! Now Brendan is the only one that has not peed at all on the potty. I just do not get boys! I asked Michael how he potty trained Dustyn & he said he had him pee when he did. Well, times must have changed because this boy LOVES sitting on the potty, fully clothed & then will proceed to point into his EMPTY potty saying "Pee Pee". Oh to be that cute! I NEVER thought I would be SO happy to have a child pee...

4 times in a row!

it's all about the number 2!

Well, we finally made it! The quads are now 2 year olds! YIKES! I wonder if anything will change, if they will now start being little devils? hmmm... This has been one LONG road we have been traveling on & for the most part we have enjoyed EVERY minute of it! We decided after MUCH thought that we would not be having a party for our foursome. Things are just TOO expensive & we could not justify the cost. Not that we do not LOVE them & especially all of YOU who have touched our lives. It was just not meant to be! When I was pregnant with these guys I joked about having their birthday party on their "half birthday", you know, when they are 1 1/2 or 2 1/2. That way we could celebrate with warm weather & it would be FAR from Christmas. I do not do well when everything happens all at once! So check in with us come July to see if anything is in the works! You never know! Stranger things have happened! haha!

Now for the update on our FABULOUS four!

Camryn is mommy's little helper & trys to mother her sister & brother. She is always looking out for everyone. If someone gives her a snack she makes sure everyone gets one. However, she does not like when we break a pretzel stick, she likes them whole. Weird I know but if that is the worst of her quirks I can deal with it. If she sees clothes on the floor she will put them in the hamper. Oh how I LOVE that! She can have a temper when someone takes something from her. She will usually throw any object that is nearby & then look at you to make sure you noticed. She can also be VERY sweet & when Brendan crys it is usually her that consoles him. She will pat & rub his back as she says "Don't cry". She is just TOO cute for words!

Brendan is our sensitive one. He usually gets every COOL toy taken from him by one of his sisters and then will proceed to whine or cry. Now you see why Camryn always consoles him! LOL! He has taken to grabbing something he knows that one of his sisters wants & then runs as fast as he can. He has become a pretty good runner! He is fascinated with anything on wheels, Matchbox cars, trucks, etc. However he has been seen carrying a purse & even a pink or purple cell phone! What can I say he has 3 sisters! He likes what they like! Most of all he is VERY affectionate. He gives tons of kisses & hugs! He comes when you call him & will wait patiently to hear what you have to say. Everyone tells me that is because he is a boy but I know it is due to him being MY little boy!

Little Avery is our "Wild Woman". She is by far our toughest child & like Timex she can "take a beating & keep on ticking!". This child has had SO many bumps & bruises that she AMAZES us all. She once even took a nose dive off the top platform of a slide, fell 3 feet, got up & started giggling. I said she was wild, I should have said CRAZY! haha! Dustyn says she is a tomboy however she is a girly girl too. She loves purses, clothes & shoes. Most of all she loves her Daddy. She does like to bully her siblings, even Camryn, to get whatever she wants. Mostly it is by taking a piece of string cheese or a pretzel from them. I know if I start hearing one of them cry it is due to her "stealing" their snack. She is just a spitfire & we would not want her to be any other way. We LOVE her immensely!

Miss Lindsey is our baby girl. Lately she has been going through a phase of just wanting me. She just wants me to hold her & love on her. It is in these moments that I realize there is not enough of me to go around. SO I give everyone a day to be first. She LOVES being first! She makes sure the others know it too! When it is "her" day she will help me cook, walk out to get the mail or just sit with me on the recliner. Just being with Mommy makes her happy. Most people probably do not realize that Lindsey & Avery still share a crib. They do & she loves that too! They are two peas in the same pod! They giggle together, play together & get into trouble together. The two of them can make quite a mess! She LOVES Dustyn even more than we will ever know & has the best laugh EVER! She makes our party of 7 complete!

It is hard for me to put into words what these past 2 years have been like. The BEST explanation is that we are on the VERY best roller coaster ride that never ends! There's twists & turns, lifts & BIG drops. We have felt anxious, excited, happy, sad, wishful, thankful & most of all LOVED! Thanks for following along with our journey and seeing our four find out...



it's all about the number 2!

Potty Training Progress Report...

Well it has been approximately 2 weeks since we started this Potty Training business. I must say that it has been one roller coaster of a ride. I have had a few moments where I wanted to pull my hair out. But I just perservere. I mean all I want is for them to learn to do this monumental thing that EVERYONE eventually does & all they want to do is stack them up or line them all in a row. Can you tell that they have inherited my compulsion for things to be straight & orderly!? LOL! There have been a few successful moments where Camryn & Lindsey have actually pee pee'd in the potty. I make a VERY big deal of these little successes. They each get some applause from the "crowd" & a BIG "high five" from mommy. Oh how I cannot wait for no more diapers! One day Camryn even pee pee'd in TWO potty's! Yes, She pee'd in hers & then "stole" her sisters spot & pee'd in hers as well! If I wasn't there to see it I probably would have thought they both had pee'd! LOL! I just sit back & smile that I even have these moments to share.



Potty Training Progress Report...

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