Our first night without our babies!

Yes we left them last night for the first time to attend a beautiful wedding (Congrats Keri & John!). Sure I have left the house at times by myself and obviously Bret does, but together without any babies... never! With two sitters ready for a challenge I kissed each baby and headed out the door. It wasn't that hard actually... it's been so long since Bret and I have been out we knew we owed it to ourselves to break free. We got home at about 11pm everyone was asleep but Miss Baxlyn I think she had the sitters wrapped around her little bitty finger. She had them and the whole living room to herself getting rocked and loved on! As if getting out wasn't a treat in itself... the boys slept more than 8 hours!!!! I didn't have to get up to feed until 4:30am!!! Bret on the other hand did the midnight feeding with the girls as well as the 4am... maybe next time Daddy!

Here are a few pics from last night's outing!

Bret being a ham... as usual!

My Mom and I

Family Pictures at the Park!

OK.... we attempted anyways! It's impossible to get a good pic with 4 babies... ones screaming, ones puking, ones sucking another ones elbow...etc. (The babies are a little less chunky in these pics because they were taken about a month ago!) Anyways, here's what we managed to get...

Everyone grab a baby...

Grandma with Korbin & Me with Bro-man and his wild hair!

Dad juggling the girls!

We thought we would get one of those cute - camera looking down on us in a circle pics - .... chyea right!

Trying to get the girls to stop crying.

Did I mention it's not easy getting 4 babies to cooperate for the camera???

Bret and Kylee

One group photo and we called it a day!

I have hope that photo sessions WILL get easier :/

We're 4 Months Old!

Yes Sir... the babies are 4 months old ALREADY! They had their check up today. I have time to post a blog this quickly thanks to their not so fun shots... they are sleepin' good. They all look great and are measuring up (developmentally) to 2-3 month olds! Wahoo! Not bad considering they are 6 weeks adjusted! The other night at the ER (read previous blog for details) they asked me how much Korbin weighed, I told them "Oh I'm guessing he's around 8.5lbs now...." they put him on the scale and boy was I wrong! He was at 9lbs 14oz. Today just 3 days later he is at 10lbs 3oz. Brody was at 10lbs 15.5oz Miss Kylee 10lbs 1oz and Little Bit Baxlyn weighed in at 9lbs 8oz! We also get to start cereal in their bottles... ugh they are growing up so fast! The main concern the pedi had was Kylee and Brody's heads are getting a tad flat due to them laying on one side so we are going to meet with a specialist to consider cranial helmets.

Bret and the babies

The girls and their bellies hangin' out! Notice they're starting to get little rolls in their arms :)

Dr. Reyes with the quads

Like I said the babies got shots therefore they were OUT! Bret and I decided to be brave and try going out to eat for the first time with them. I have been craving Snuffers lately (thanks Misty and Casey I'm hooked) it's this little burger joint with greasy cheesy bacon-y fries and huge juicy burgers... you get it. At first we were going to order and eat in the car then we noticed they had a covered outside patio with fans and it was completely empty! After deciding a little heat wouldn't hurt them we went for it. I went inside and around to the patio and Bret was able to sneak the babies out of the car right over the cement wall thingy and I put them where I could. We explained to the staff this was our first little outing and we needed to hurry before we had any melt downs or quad drama. They did great (the babies and the staff) we got our food extremely fast, stuffed our faces and loaded them up without causing a huge scene!

GO Mommy and Daddy!

I think this pic shows just how big they are getting. Mommy and the girls!

They have all started smiling like crazy over the past few days I love love it! Brody is even starting to giggle! Here's a gummy smile from Baxlyn who seems to love whatever it was I was doing while Brody looks like he's thinking "Dude, Mom put the camera up you're a nerd."

Here's the last half of a smile form Brody and one HUGE yawn from Baxlyn.

The sisters trying out their Bumbos. By the way, these are the real uses for them unlike the previous blogs pics.

"Hi friends, family and fellow bloggers!

I'm doing great now, sorry to scare everyone the other day!" - Korbin

Have a great week all!

-Heather

A Heart Attack For Mommy...

Well well well (sigh). Last night was a bit of a nightmare. I left the house to go have a night out playing volleyball while Bret stayed home with the babies. Ten minutes or so after I left Bret called and I prayed he was playing some kind of sick joke when he said frantically "Heather come home. Korbin is not breathing... he's blue....". When I realized he was serious as you can imagine I was terrified, my stomach felt as if it fell to the floor and my heart was racing. Sure our babies have dealt with scary stuff before but not without being inches away from even life support if needed and being under (for the most part) control of the neonatologists.

I called 911 and took the next exit to head back home. By the time we (myself and the ambulances) got their Korbin had started breathing again and his color was back. Bret said it was 1-2 mins he had not taken a breath. He had only gotten .25cc of his prevacid (reflux med) when he started to choke and wasn't able to grasp air or cry. I rode along as the paramedics transported him to the ER for x-rays and other tests to make sure he didn't have fluid in his lungs or cause any serious damage. After 4 long hours of being watched in the ER they admitted him for the night. Several of the neighbors came over to watch the trio so Bret could get to the hospital after the 8pm feeding (THANK YOU!). It was comforting having the NICU nurses check in on us and walking onto the pediatric floor and knowing the nurses behind the desk. Korbin did great all night and did nothing to concern the doctors. He had blood drawn and a "swallow" test done today and everything looked perfectly normal. He gets a little choked up often, but nothing too bad that he can't overcome himself or with a little stimulation from us. This time it just happened to be a choke bigger than he could handle. Lately I try to find the best in every situation... I got to spend "alone" time with just Korbin all night and most of the day today. Anyways he is fine now. Thank you Jesus... (another sigh).

On a lighter note, here are a few pics from this weekend of Bret and I with some of our favorites!

Mason an Chris (Yes these are bumbos on their heads. Until the babies can sit up in them, helmets they will be!)

Feeding time! Notice my arms are EMPTY!

Short post for today. I'm EXHAUSTED and need to get to bed! Lots of appointments this week. More updates shortly!

Sleep Sleep Sleep...

It's all they do lately, you know what that means... grow grow grow! The babies are getting more and more tummy time as their little necks get stronger and they love it! There are many times they sleep from one feeding to the next with an occasional "re-plug" (we stick the passy back in) in between. Below you'll see only a few of the many pics we have of their "Back off I'm sleeping" pose. Anybody else have babies who sleep/slept like this?!

There's something about this particular changing table (below). You lay them down on it and BAM! they're asleep. I find myself at least once a day gently lifting it and slowly setting on the floor while trying not to wake the sleeping baby. Korbin looks twice the size of Brody in this pic but I think it's just the camera angle.

Baxlyn and her brothers

Please ignore Korbin's pink bib. Bret gets mad at me when he sees one of the boys wrapped in pink or wearing a girly bib. But ya know, when you have 4 screaming babies ready to eat you grab whatever is closest. I'll try harder Babe just for you (and the fact that the boys will look back at these pics and not be too happy themselves)!

Here's Korbin (sporting his BLUE bib by the way) with his Uncle Bradley who came to visit. Korbin is Bradley's mini-me. After the babies were first born the girls looked like Bret and Brody clearly his momma... but Korbin we couldn't figure out. Then one day all of a sudden it was like looking in at a tiny version of Bradley!

OK by now you are probably wondering what these animals are hanging out of my babies' mouths. They are called WubbaNubs. It's a beany baby like stuffed animal attached to a passy that is supposed to help the baby hold it in his/her mouth. We swaddle the babies with the animal tucked into the blanket so when the baby loses suction on the passy, it doesn't go too far and they can (sometimes) attempt to re-plug themselves.

My Sweetness...

My Sweetness and his very first explosion... eww! Who did he save it for??? His Aunt Bethany! Bethany and Michelle came over to watch the three while I took Baxlyn for a doctor's visit. Just before I walked out the door, Bethany realized why Brody (who was fussy just moments before) was all of the sudden calm. As you can see through the diaper, up the back, all over the clothes and burp rag... nice! Baxlyn and I waved "Later Bethany.... good luck with that!"

Here's a list of some of the people who emailed in and joined our prayer chain. I said I would post a pic and here it is. It stayed at the NICU with the babies until Brody came home. Thanks again everyone from everywhere!

Until next time!

Heather

More from Baby Land!

Yes yes, I know... where have I been? Why haven't I posted anything in over a week? How are the babies? All I can say... sorry! Babies are all doing great, I can't believe it's June and they are already 3 and a half months old... it seems like yesterday I was laying up in my room 13 wishing they would hurry up and get here so I could see their faces. Anyways, I am soo so glad to say we are down to 28 bottles a day YAY! That means a little more sleep for mom and dad! The babies are all sleeping in their cribs and doing well. There's occasional melt downs throughout the night (mostly from the girls I will add), but nothing too horrible.

My Brody Love

Don't let her "Look at me, I'm so sweet and cute" face fool you.... she's the d r a m a !

(Kylee Mae)

I escaped last week with just Kylee and Brody to go see their developmental pediatrician. They were the only ones to go this time due to their higher risk for complications from their brain bleeds. Korbin and Baxlyn will be seen in August. I was a little nervous going alone to the appointment but found out quickly it was a breeze with just 2 babies to lug around! She said they both looked good, a few things to work on, but nothing major. Brody at the appointment was still right at 9lbs and Kylee was 8lbs 1 oz. Baxlyn and Korbin have not been weighed in a while, but I'm guessing Korbin is right around Kylee and Baxlyn still a tad under 8lbs.

Another attempt at a group photo :/

As you can see they are getting more rolls and bigger bellies!

Speaking of photo shoots, we had our first "real" one this weekend! Chuck and Angela with Parrish Photography came out to the house, equipment and all to take our pictures. The babies for the most part cooperated well. It was one long, interesting, very entertaining afternoon and I think we got some great shots! It will be a few weeks before we can share them. Thanks so much Chuck and Angela, can't wait to see them!

Here's a few of Korbin being Korbin!

That's all for today!
Have a great week everyone!

-Heather