FOUR little FULTONS: charity

Friday, August 6, 2010

the art show...

I know that I have shared that I get to work OUTSIDE the home & how I've been there FOREVER! Recently those co workers of mine that work on the midnight shift created a fun event for everyone in our Communications Center to participate in, an art show! You see they have been coloring for quite some time as a stress reliever. Working in law enforcement and all those crazies can be quite taxing so you can imagine the stress! I have to say when I walked in the center I was AMAZED! They decked the place out with all kinds of decorations not to mention all of their artwork, 110 drawings to be exact! Here's what we get to see for the next few weeks...

The creators have asked for us to "vote" for our favorites & the winner will get a ribbon. Much thought has gone into on what to do with the art after the "show" ends it's run and they decided they will donate them to a local charity here in Pompano Beach. I myself said they should auction them off on eBay & give the money raised to a local charity. Who knows what they will finally decide to do but if you'd be interested in purchasing one of these beauties PLEASE let me know. Remember ALL art & proceeds made are being donated! Any contribution is appreciated & it's going to a good cause! Here's quite a few of the "works of art" from...

Here's one of my favorites!!

the art show...

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

the tribes first concert...

It seems like forever ago, OK it was ONLY February, that we had the great fortune to be invited to a private concert by Kenny G. Yes, a PRIVATE concert by Kenny G at a place near & dear to our hearts, The Quantum House! I cannot believe it took me until today to post about our adventure! Maybe I was waiting for the pictures! Yes, that is my excuse, gotta have GREAT pictures! [=When they invited us they said they were only inviting three former families and thought of us! If you do not know about the Quantum House you should check them out! It is a place like none other which happens to be in our neck of the woods. This is the "house" that we stayed at while our tribe was in the NICU after birth. It happens to be on the same campus of St Mary's Medical Center here in West Palm Beach. We LOVE them & cannot say enough about the place, their staff & the other families we have met there!SO to be thought of for a special event is the best feeling ever! SO SO thankful! For those that do not know this, Kenny G also happens to play a little golf. SO besides doing a little performing he also got a little golf in by way of the Honda Classic. In fact he golfed with NFL Great Dan Marino, Superbowl champion Drew Brees & non other than Jack Nicklaus. How's that for a foursome?! For all of you NON golfers out there the Honda Classic is a BIG deal golf tournament down here! In fact they helped sponsor the concert! A BIG thank you to the Honda Classic!We literally found out about this concert four days before the event! After MUCH finagling with our schedules my mom, the tribe & I arrived at the Quantum House to take part in the festivities. I really had no clue how many people would be there! I mean there was a TON of people all over the place! I don't know what I was thinking because it was a concert after all! [= One special lady that I met was the person responsible for organizing this event, Barbara Nicklaus. There would not have been a Kenny G concert if it were not for her! What a remarkable woman she is!For those that do not know who Barbara is, she is the wife of golf legend Jack Nicklaus. But believe you me, her contributions to society stand alone and in my book are much more valuable than those of her husband! Sorry Jack! She is just such an amazing woman! With her husbands assistance they have created the Nicklaus Children's Health Care Foundation. They donate to MANY different organizations, too many to mention. Just trust that the children of Palm Beach County are much better off because of the generosity of the Nicklaus family! So when I use the word AMAZING you will understand why! By the way she even offered to babysit our tribe! Can you believe that?! That in itself is AMAZING!The tribe really enjoyed the music. If they were not listening to the music then they were having fun being able to sit ANYWHERE! Note to self: when you only have one helper with you make sure you bring toys! Luckily Cam took to one of the ladies & wanted to sit with her ALL the time! She on the other hand probably did not feel so lucky! LOL! Towards the end Aave got up and was about to dance! I think if he performed another twenty minutes she would have done a twirl or two! LOL! As it was when he performed "Somewhere over the Rainbow" she started humming it! I did not even realize she knew the tune! Oh the memories I will have to share with them about about...

the tribes first concert...

Our Story...

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

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