Celebrating The Big “3”!

Our pediatrician, Dr. Reyes, just moved to nice, new BIG facility. New office, another year older, I went all out and used the front door for the first time too! Dr. Reyes and his staff have always let us enter through the back door to bypass the waiting area and it’s germs. Now that they’re…gulp…3 years old I figured it was time to graduate to the front entrance ;) Baby steps, baby steps…. right fellow preemie moms?! Waiting for the fun to begin while practicing our 3 fingers!

Miss Amy came to check their weights and heights before we saw the doc. Love how Brody has his hands in his pockets as he stands like a big boy on the scale!

Their 3 year stats:

Brody: 30lbs (30th percentile) 37 1/2in (42nd percentile)

Baxlyn: 27lbs (13th percentile) 37in (40th percentile)

Kylee: 29lbs8oz (36th percentile) 38 1/4in (71st percentile). Her head circ. is still not on the chart, but is growing steadily at it’s own pace, which makes us all happy!

Korbin: Also 29lbs 8oz (25th percentile) 38in (55th percentile)

Like last year they had their hearing and vision tested. Looks like they’ll need to continue to follow up with Dr. Leffler, their ophthalmologist, but no major concerns!  Baxlyn getting a good look at Korbin’s mouth with Dr. Reyes!      Of course, our annual picture with Dr. Reyes!

Like last year, we’ve decided to hold off on a birthday party until spring time. After our appointment we met up with some of our BFFs, the Tew triplets and their big brother Britton at Chuck E Cheese. The place was nearly empty and both Bret & Chris were able to join Angela and I. Keeping up with 8 kids is way easier when you have two super dads! There was even a point where Angela and I were SITTING and watching for a change. She and I go out, with all of our children, almost weekly. Most of the time you’ll find us counting, running, counting again and wiping the sweat off of our brow surrounded by moms who sit on a bench, read a book and watch over their one kid.  This was honestly the first time I’ve felt like one of those moms, being able to sit back and kind of relax for a brief minute while watching them play!

Brody riding his “fire truck”. He owned that thing the whole time we were there!

Sweet Kylee bowling for the first time. Never quite got it all the way up the lane, but she had a blast trying!    One great example of a Super Dad. The little ones can’t quite climb up the big steps of the jungle gym so Bret and Chris took turns climbing half way up helping each one as they came. It was pretty amusing, watching a big dude climb up and wedge himself between two steps then pushing one kid up while pulling another up from the floor. Between the 7 of them it was never ending!

With a Super Dad you’ll see a Super Mom who climbs up the slide to photograph her babies coming down it! Love Kylee’s half “wee!” half terrified look on her face and check out that left hand spread wide open!!

Just what every mom wants to look up and see… “You look very cool Baxlyn, now PLEASE get your mouth off of the window!!!!”Our E Buddies: Emmett, Everett & Emerson          Kylee & Brody on a joy ride!

If you are a Quad and you are not stubborn, raise your hand!

Last but not least, I had to throw in one of the “bloopers” from the picture I was trying for for the last post. Bret and I lined them up against the fence, wanted them to stand closer together so said something along the lines of “touch your shoulders”. Slightly confused, they did exactly what we asked!!!

*Everyone asks about their shirts (Quad Squad  “4”). Shout out to Designed for Babies!

Happy Birthday Brody, Baxlyn, Kylee & Korbin

  I’m not quite sure when or how it happened but it did.  3 years ago today, against my will,  your tiny limp bodies entered this world. You put up a bigger fight than most people ever will in their entire lives. Brody, my sickest, you held on so tightly when many thought you wouldn’t. Baxlyn, my leader. I remember whispering into your isolette asking you to somehow send a bit of your undeniable strength to your siblings when it seemed they had none of their own. Kylee, my tiny one, who had so many ups and downs. Korbin, my sweet low-keyed boy. The four of you, together, have shown me anything is possible. I thank God everyday for giving me such fighters and allowing me to have you here to hold today, on your 3rd birthday.

Happy Birthday Brody, Baxlyn, Kylee & Korbin. You are my world, I’m proud of you and I love you so very much. - Mommy

To my little (almost) 3 year olds…

You’re loud, sometimes fussy and often just plain annoying. You’re gross… all of you. You wipe your snot on my shirt. You wipe your poop on my walls. You find nothing funnier than when you fart on each other. You share already-chewed food. You lick each other as if you were dogs and, Lord knows, you’ve been known to eat weird things. 

You push my buttons. You step where I say don’t step,  say what I tell you not to say and touch what I tell you not to touch when you think I don’t see you.  You repeat things over and over and ask the same question repeatedly until I’m two steps from the front door of the nuthouse. I tell you not to yell and you yell even louder, just one more time. I ask you to look at the camera and you all look in different directions, away from it.

Nobody wants the certain toy until one of you heads towards it…somehow it becomes the most prized possession of the house. When one of you gets in trouble for climbing on the back of the couch the other three of you feel the need to do the same just to see what I do. You fight over what we have four of. You rip up your books, pull your clothes out of your drawers and you never fail to “accidently” dump water out of the bathtub.

What’s my point, you may ask? You are here. You are normal. You are healthy. You are thriving. You are strong. You each are the average toddler on the verge of being an independent, proud, confident three year old and I am

SO. INCREDIBLY. THANKFUL.

Complete Blog Neglection…

I have been QUEEN of it these past two weeks and it’s come to an end! Lots of stuff coming your way, so stay tuned! We’ve been good and have been busy enjoying this (mostly) beautiful Texas weather! More than ever I’m wishing I could stop the hands of time, just for a bit. Brody, Baxlyn, Kylee & Korbin turn THREE next week, I can hardly believe it! I’m praying we’ve got nice warm weather so we can spend the day just the 6 of us doing some of their favorite things.

Miss Kylee Mae finished up her constraint induced therapy last week. She wore her “bracelet” for 7 weeks during almost all waking hours. I’ll start by saying I am SO SO happy we did it and encourage any other parents looking into it to go for it. I was so anxious at the beginning about how she would handle it and adjust but she did great. It even got to the point where she would ask for it each morning after she woke up “got to wear my bracelet, Mommy!” It also helped that so many of YOU who know her in person talked about how BEAUTIFUL it was on her each time you saw her, so thank you for the encouragement!

Since having the brace off, she of course went right back to using her “good” hand for just about everything but has involved her left hand MUCH more than before. You can definitely tell she is more aware that it is there and is starting to use it to help her function.  Before the brace/splint she would very rarely use her left hand (without being prompted) to assist in helping with ANYTHING. Now she is using it, sometimes without being prompted, to help stabilize objects. Before the constraint therapy she hard a very hard time pointing and now she's able to point to things pretty easily. One of her biggest struggles is being able to using her thumb and index finger together. Picture putting a coin into a piggy bank by pinching the coin and releasing it into the bank or even picking up a cheerio off a flat surface. Such tasks are very very hard for her left hand or “Miss Lefty” as we call it. Slowly but surely she is making progress. When she was little bitty she would get frustrated and simply give up on what we were trying to get her to do. She’s become much more patient now and really tries and concentrates on fine motor activities. Makes me so so proud!

Below you can see how well she’s holding the puzzle with her left hand. Her little index finger doesn’t always cooperate but hopefully that will improve with time. Looking at this picture makes me think of our NICU days. While seeing them in such bad condition after birth, I couldn’t help but stare at their helpless bodies and wonder about her (their) future and how  prematurity would affect her growth and development. We’ve had our fair share of trials but in the grand scheme of things, it’s been nothing. Seeing her in this picture kicking prematurity's butt WITH a smile on her face makes my heart swell. We are so SOO soo truly blessed!

Here’s a few of “Miss Lefty” working beautifully at helping hold Kylee’s cereal bowl ;)

Oh my sweet Kylee Flower, once again, if there’s anything you should ever know it’s just how proud your daddy and I are of you. Love you so much baby girl!