ABC's & 123's...

Little did I know when I bought the tribe a "traveling" CD that we would ALL be singing the songs. This all began when I was invited to one of those Discovery Toys parties. You know the company that sells all of those developmental toys for children. You host a party at your house & then invite all of your friends. Well one of the mom's in my mom's club had a party & invited me. Like I need more toys in my house! LOL! They do have some COOL toys but I just have to watch my pennies if you know what I mean! LOL! I decided to buy them some play phones & a Sounds like FUN CD to play in the 'burb for when we travel back & forth to Grandma's house. Anything to make an hour car ride more pleasantWhen the CD finally did arrive I popped it into the player in our 'burb & I was not that excited by it. It sounded VERY boring! The woman doing all of the singing seemed to sing in the same tune. Dustyn was with us & he too was not impressed. We really thought the CD could have been better. Apparently we know very little about toddler music because the tribe has made us eat those words! They LOVE this CD! It has become a staple in our car rides, especially our road trips! They know EVERY song by heart & sing them all! Heck we ALL sing them! Last month when we were in GA my teenage nieces even started singing the alphabet song. Apple, Apple, Ah Ah Ah... Baby, Baby, Ba Ba Ba... See it is catchy! The words they use in their ABC song are cute too! E is elbow, G is garden, etc... There's even a song that discusses numbers. But not just 1, 2 or 3. It goes up to 100. Ten, twenty, thirty, forty & fifty... I find them counting up to numbers I did not even realize they knew. When we were at my brother's house in GA they counted the stairs up to twelve. They are not even 2 1/2 yet! It's AMAZING! This CD has really jumped started their little minds & opened up their vocabulary. They LOVE using their words especially when they are put to music. And to think all of this came about due to a silly CD of...

ABC's & 123's...

the things I know for sure (part 2)...

Since becoming a mommy I have learned quite a few interesting things. Things that I may not have learned if I was not "taught" by my children. LOL! Here goes... The things I know for sure are... That I NEVER give the "tribe" rice for dinner without already knowing that they will throw it EVERYWHERE!... In order to not have a ton of laundry they need to be bibbed at ALL times!... That in order for us to have a good experience when we go out to eat we need to have their pocket bibs with us. They seem to catch EVERY crumb & serve as their plates!... ALWAYS have a travel container of wipes with you so messy faces & sticky hands can be wiped!... That even though their quad stroller is one MAJOR pain in the neck it gets the job done!... That most stores do not have enough stroller room for one stroller let alone a quad stroller!... When traveling hide a stash of small toys in the vehicle just to keep them amused!... That books are not only for reading but eating too! LOL!... That telling them you caught a bug will make them come to you EACH & EVERY time!... Never leave an open container out in the open or we will have a HUGE spill to clean up!... The tribe LOVES paper, any kind EXCEPT that which they sit on at the doctors office! LOL!... That certain seats in the 'burb are PRIME real estate & do NOT try to change the unassigned seating arrangement without a fight!... ALWAYS have another diaper under their bum when you are changing a poopy diaper!... and getting with the poopy theme I can now wipe a dirty bum with just ONE wipe! YEP!... That raising multiples is more expensive than I ever thought & VERY hard work!... Be prepared because people will ask MANY questions about our life... AND that no matter what I say people are going to have their own opinion about our "tribe"... These are...

the things I know for sure(part 2)...

Tuesday Toot...

Ok I was "nudged" or better yet reminded to join the ranks of the many that did a "Tuesday Toot" today. I LOVE Tuesday Toot's! I just can never figure out the linky thing to add it to our blog. Remember I am computer challenged! LOL! Actually I have missed a few "Tuesday Toot's" since we went on vacation. It was HARD trying to keep up since I was viewing things through my tiny phone! We're FINALLY home & I am sitting in front of our computer! YAY! During our mini vay cay it rained a lot in S Florida, so much that the pond in our back yard is now a HUGE lake that even has fish in it! Yes fish are now swimming around where our yard used to be! TOO funny! Don't get me wrong I prayed for rain! We have been in a drought & our yard looked terrible! I just would like a yard & not a lake! (= This is a perfect example I give my hubby on why we need to bring in some fill to raise the yard up. I keep telling him that I'd like to bring in a few loads of dirt to raise the yard up a few inches. He says it is a waste I think of the future. That way when we get our NEW "used" swing set it will be high & dry with no standing water! The other bad thing about all the rain is with it comes the mosquitos! Man are they BAD! The county we live in even has mosquito control where they fly planes to spray. Linz ALWAYS gets bitten & bitten BAD! They must think she is SO sweet! She sure has those skeeters fooled! Only kidding! LOL! Here's to hoping for a DRY...

Tuesday Toot...

Tuesdays Tribute #2...

Before I even started to write this post I knew who I would be giving a "tribute" to. I am SO lucky to have an AMAZING friend, a friend who happens to be another mommy of multiples! She has a set of quads & a set of twins! CRAZY! She handles it all with grace! We used to work together MANY eon's ago and WAY before children. She moved out of state after getting married & then she had her "clan"! One summer few years ago Michael & I went up to visit them & here is a pic from that trip.One day I hope to get back up north to visit them! For now our visits are online or over the phone! (= All I can say is that I really do believe that the Lord looked out for me when he put us together & we became friends! She really is the best! She gives me advice on things I may be facing or will be facing in the near future, she'll lend a listening ear when I need to vent, whenever I am having a BAD day, there seems to be quite a few now that these children of ours are soon to be two and a half & CURIOUS! LOL! I will call her up saying "I cannot do this job!". She then turns into my very own "Pep Squad" by telling me that she knows I can do it! Raising multiples is HARD work but the end result is SO worth it! She is practically the ONLY person that I know PERSONALLY that seems to know what it's like having SO many kids! SO Joellen, if you did not know already you are my...

Tuesday Tribute #2!

Which would you choose?...

Our oldest, Dustyn, is SO spoiled! He was recently given the opportunity to spend a month, yes a MONTH, at our cousins lake home in NC. They usually spend their summers up there & invite people up to visit. Their youngest son Dylan just so happens to be the same age as Dustyn. Pretty cool huh!? They just LOVE hanging out toegther. Deciding between staying in FL or going to NC was not going to be a tough decision! We did not have to ask him twice! Since he is a BOY & BOYS do not take pictures to capture moments, LOL, I knew I would not get any pic's from his trip. I searched through all of my photos to give you a glimpse of what he is probably doing. You see BEFORE these munchkins we too visited them. The pic's are a few years old but they serve their purpose. (=

This is the sweet view from their dock. Blue Ridge Mountains baby!




This is a typical afternoon, TUBING! In fact today they went tubing AND hiking! He is having a blast! Trust me he is not even thinking about us! LOL!



We are SO lucky to have such wonderful family members! Thank you!! Here is a pic of their beautiful home that they fill with love.










We on the other hand get to enjoy days like this!














I do not think it was a hard decision do you? LOL!


Which would you choose?...

pigeon toed...

After all of the drama we have had to deal with over the past 48 hours I have to share an important fact, Camryn is pigeon toed! She is forever tripping over her own two feet. I feel SO bad for her but have been told MANY times she will out grow it. Let's face it, Cam is not the most fluid child in the world. She can be rather clumsy. She likes to run REAL fast and 9 times out of 10 she will wipe out. Sometimes she will get up, brush her hands off and go even faster the next time OR she will cry, run to me & show me her latest boo boo. She has quite a few! Our kids all get boo boo's but she is the only one that I can say has an excuse, her darn feet! To make matters even worse we recently found some really cool CROC "imposters" at a steal. TOO good to pass up if you know what I mean! They are a little too big for her & make her pigeon toes even worse! If you can believe it they actually make her trip! Tonight while all the neighbors were outside chatting Cam went for a walk with Emily. She is our neighbors ten year old daughter & lives a few houses down from my mom's. She's a certified "mother's helper" and helps us out a TON! She & her sisters usually come over to play with the babies quite often. Tonight she took the entire tribe for a walk, since I had their stroller in my vehicle at work they just walked. On this walk she tripped & hit the same spot she had stitches several weeks ago. I am told that blood gushed all over the place! I can just about imagine how poor Emily felt. She ended up carrying Cam back to my mom's to get help. Not only did Camryn have blood all over her clothes so did Emily! Of course Michael then calls me at work to give me all the details and tells me that I need to come home. Yes there are four kids that he has to deal with but he can handle this. I was already coming home on my dinner break so I would see how things were when I got there. I SO did not want another 4 hour ER visit! ugh! I have had my fill of hospitals this week! I know it's terrible that I feel that way but it really sucks when you get to the ER, wait around & then they do nothing for you! I could have done that staying at home! LOL! Once I arrived at the house Aunt Kara was already there bandaging her up. She has all the goodies when it comes to boo boo's! We ended up using 2 butterfly bandages & one big bandaid. It looked SO pretty after we were done with her! ha! The good thing was that the bleeding had stopped & she was good. We decided to see how it was in the morning. No ER visit, YAY! I went back to work knowing that she would be seeing a doctor of some sort tomorrow. FYI, I have mentioned her being pigeon toed to our Pedi & they are not concerned. They continue to tell me she will outgrow it. WHEN!?Maybe after they see how many boo boo's she gets or how many stitches she continues to get they will be. LOL! I think for now I need to take stock in BandAids, peroxide & steri strips! I have a feeling this is just the start of our traumatic moments. I just hope that she grows out of being...

pigeon toed...

the pros & cons of life in the SAME bed...

CO Bedding has been on my mind a lot lately! I wonder if it has affected our children for the better or for the worse. I mean we still co-bed our little ones! OK not all 4 but 2 of the 4! The identicals which we sometimes refer to as the "twins" sleep together. They seem to be happy, healthy well adjusted children but are they really? I decided to write a post about it since we dealt with this arrangement on our last trip. Whenever you go away with little ones you always have to think of the sleeping arrangements. Our situation is a litle different since 2 of our 4 still sleep together. This may have started out as a necessity but has turned into something I think they crave. Don't get me wrong, we have an EXTRA crib in our garage but we have never had to set it up. The reason I know they want or need to be together has shone through or a few seperate occasions. You see whenever they go to bed, one of the "twins" will ALWAYS asks where the other is if she is not already in the crib. And once that other twin arrives they get a HUGE smile on their face & then lay down & get all comfy in their side of the crib. They actually have sides if you can believe that! Once they are asleep they are side by side. SO adorable! I bring up this co-bedding topic since we just got back from our latest adventure where sharing the same bed came in handy. I have to admit that we have co-bedded our quads since day one. Once they all got home from the hospital we had all 4 in the same crib for at least the first month or so. It was just easier in the beginning for me PLUS that is how they were in the NICU towards the end of their stay. On a few occasions they have even held "sleepovers" where another one of their siblings will get to sleep over in their crib. Then that ousted kid gets to sleep in the "invitees" crib. They like those rare moments but mostly they just like sleeping together. It is AMAZING to me how the "twins" just LOVE sleeping together! I myself like having a bed all to myself! LOL! When we went away for a family wedding in April they stayed with family& the "twins" cried the first night they were put in seperate pac n'plays. Once she put them in the same one they were fine. UH OH! Did co-bedding them cause that or are they actually so close that they WANT to sleep together? My hope is the latter & they WANT to be together. So after hearing that I knew that they would be ok when we brought them to GA and had just the one pac n'play for them. We actually brought a rather LARGE pac n'play, heck let's just call it a play YARD. The "twins" slept in there TOGETHER and my brother borrowed 2 other pac n'plays for Cam & Bren. There I was laying out liners in each of them & making sure they all had their snugglies. Everyone was happy & their "bed's" took up less room. Getting back to the whole co-bedding topic... We have discused this with our pediatrician several times & they say that the American Pediatrics Association condones co bedding. It helps with multiples especially, remember they were in the same sac in utero! I LOVE that I am actually doing something that is recommended! YAY! We are now getting close to the age that they will move on to their next stage of bed. I I SO WANT THEM TO STAY IN THEIR CRIBS AS LONG AS POSSIBLE! Whether it be a toddler bed or a twin is up for discussion. I cannot see having the expense of buying 4 toddler beds. I'd rather buy BIG boy & girl bed's, the ones that will last them FOREVER. SO I ask you, Did you co bed? If so for how long? and When is it TOO long? Oh...

the pros & cons of life in the SAME bed...