Sunday, November 25, 2012

“The Christmas Farm”

We loaded up and headed to a local Christmas Tree Farm…or “The Christmas Farm” as Brody called it. This was our first year to get a real tree and we went all out by picking it out and cutting it down ourselves! It was so much fun and I’m hoping it will be a new annual tradition. Chris & Bethany went along with us for the fun and to help with quad control. The weather was perfect and luckily everyone else in Texas was Black Friday shopping leaving the farm pretty empty and giving us plenty of selection for our tree!

We parked and took a hayride out to the back field where all the trees were. Mr. Korbin enjoying the ride!

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Brody , Baxlyn, Kylee & Korbin ran and played while Daddy & Uncle Chris were on the search for the perfect tree. Below, Korbin & Baxlyn. These two are INSEPARABLE lately…an ever growing bond these two have I tell ya!

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Bethany & Brody. The boys are a bit hard to tell apart when they’re all bundled up and just their little faces are showing…

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Sweet “Stisters” as Kylee would call them. Ugh, love love love these lil’ skinny girls so much!

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Kylee on a mission. There were hundreds of trees to choose from, Daddy insisted on finding the tallest they had…

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We finally found the one to take home! It was a 9 foot tall beauty calling our names. L-R Korbin, B, Kylee & Broman

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Let the fun begin!! Daddy let each of them get down and help cut down the tree, they LOVED it! Korbin was bummed he forgot his own saw…next year little Buddy, next year.

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I love this picture. All of them, so serious at work!

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IMG_4949IMG_4935Little Blade (who has made nearly a 100% recovery!) was able to come along as well. Not sure he knew we left the house, but he was there Winking smile

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After finding our tree we stayed a while and played, enjoyed hot cocoa and browsed through the gift shop. The babies…ahem….big kids could have stayed all day! If you haven’t ever taken your kiddos to cut a tree, I highly recommend finding a tree farm near you and doing it. It totally beats the boring trip to Home Depot to buy a tree and I was surprised at how non-expensive it was for the whole “experience”!

Kylee Mae a bit lost in the maze that was set up for the kids…

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…and driving her car!

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This little car was hilarious. A small tree tied to the front not allowing the kid driving to see where he was going….Brody pushing from the back…lol!

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Once home we set up our tree and decorated it as well as the rest of the house. At this age everything is so exciting to them and everything is new. The decorations, their Christmas stuffed animals and things they’ve had each year they don’t remember so their little eyes light up like it’s the first time they’ve seen it all! I love love this time of year and am super excited to have our first Christmas in our new house with our new lil’ Baby Blade as a family of 7!

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Last but not least I had to share this picture I took before we left the house. It could possibly by the most forced picture taken thus far… just look at each of their faces BAAHAA! People always ask how I get the great pictures I do. Truth is, I have HUNDREDS of these types of pictures for every “good” one I have. Someone’s eyes are closed, someone is picking their nose, one is pouting, one fell down, one is looking in the opposite direction…etc.

Thanks for trying guys, thanks Winking smile

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Thursday, November 22, 2012

Happy Thanksgiving 2012!

 

Brody, what are YOU thankful for?

“Somebody, little bitty flowers, elephants & squirrels.”

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Baxlyn, what are YOU thankful for?

“A bicle-cycle, a scooter, golf carts, motorcycles, Jesus, our new house, ‘thank you Jesus for making the sky white’, ‘thank you for making Daddy’, ‘thank you for the leabes falling on the twees’, Baxter (our friend’s dog),  Twees (Trees), our table, the moon and the sun, dirt, colors, the bwanches on our twees, the squirrels, wood, grass and our garden (we hardly have any grass and no garden!), walls, our road & the T'.B. (T.V.)”

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Kylee, what are YOU thankful for?

“God, a doggy, a kitty, snacks & a swing”

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Korbin, what are YOU thankful for?

“For Jesus & God, Christmas, four wheelers, blinds & the counter.”

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Sweet Baby Blade with his turkey colored by big sister Baxlyn!

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Happy Thanksgiving! Remember to count your blessings and be thankful!

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

When it rains…it pours…

Well well. I mentioned before that the quads got sick and that Blade had escaped it. Apparently I spoke too soon. Just when I thought we were over it, our little Blade caught it. Coughing, congestion, loss of appetite & fever landed him in the emergency room Saturday night and he ended up being admitted until Tuesday. 2012-11-18 09.55.04

I had no idea just how serious just a little fever could be in a newborn. We were told he needed to be taken in if he did 100.4 or greater. I made the call to the on call nurse once he hit 100.5 and we headed to Children’s Medical Center. Upon arrival the doctors quickly started blood work, took urine samples and performed a spinal tap on our little man. My big, fat, full term baby now going through just a tiny bit of what the quads went through at birth Sad smile No fun! Someone must have told him the quads had some major hospital time at birth so he needed to see what it was all about. The upside, I got to spend some one on one time with my lil man!

We finally were put into a room at about 2am where the doctors informed us they wanted to keep him a minimum of 48hours to watch cultures to make sure he had nothing serious going on including meningitis. After several hours of observation the were able to rule out RSV/Bronchiolitis. He did however test positive for Parainfluenza type 3 (I was told different than the flu). Although not too serious, they were concerned because of his age. I had to convince them he was only 23 days – they thought for sure he had to be 6-7 weeks based on his size! They said Parainfluenza 3 can easily lead to Bronchiolitis which wouldn’t be good at all which was another reason for the extended stay. After continuous IV  fluids and antibiotics our little man finally started to perk up.

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After much improvement, our little big man and his VERY sleep deprived Mama were released. Blade is feeling mucccchhh better and the follow up with the ped today confirmed clear lungs, thank goodness.

Special thanks to all who helped out with the quads while we were down and out. Randell & Collette, Nana & Aunt Beth, Papaw & Linda, Chris & Bethany – THANK YOU! We are so blessed to have friends and family there to step in when needed.

Here’s to hoping for a clean bill of health for the rest of this nasty season! If you are not familiar with RSV please please click here and learn how to protect the little ones in your life!

Friday, November 16, 2012

Blade’s Homecoming!

Forgive me for just posting Blade’s coming home pics. We’ve spent the last week with the flu & strep and life has been nothing short of crazy. Vomiting, diarrhea, high fevers, breathing treatments…you name it, it has made it’s way through our house since Blade came home. Great timing, ehh? Needless to say I was TERRIFIED he would catch something but thanks to lysol, frequent hands-cracked-and-bleeding-hand-washing & separation from his siblings, he escaped it!

Blade has been home for (almost) 2 weeks now which is hard to believe. The morning we were discharged Brody, Baxlyn, Kylee & Korbin came to the hospital so, once again, we could leave as a family. Bret went down to help unload the quads while Blade and I spent some last nice quiet moments in our sweet suite just the two of us. The reality of what life was about to be hit me when I heard the sounds of 8 little feet and 4 little voices running down the hospital hall towards our room. Deep breath…..5 kids all under the age of 4…are you ready for this, Heather?! Cause ready or not, here they come…

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Brody, Baxlyn, Kylee & Korbin were super excited to be there and to finally take Blade home. They all “helped” get him set and ready to walk out the door…

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Below, Blade’s “going home” shoes that I couldn’t even begin to get his foot in… BIG BOY!

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I did however manage to squeeze him into a newborn outfit. Needless to say this one (along with most of his newborn clothing) has been packed up already and ready to be given to a new, smaller baby!

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Brody in love with his new lil bro!

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Love this view as I was being wheeled out…

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Korbin, Kylee, Dr. Leveno with Blade, Brody & Miss B. Again, seems just like yesterday Dr. Leveno sat holding all of the quads in his arms after discharge. As soon as he saw Dr. Leveno, Brody immediately told him “We need a girl!” as if placing an order! He continues DAILY to say “My need to tell Dr. Leno thank you for taking baby Blade out you tummy” sweet boy!

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It seems just like yesterday we stood in this same spot taking pictures as we brought each of the quads home. Never imagined we would be there again one day, with the quads, welcoming home a new baby…

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My sweet five <3

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The quads helped us welcome Mr. Blade home before Nana & Aunt Beth took them off of our hands for another 2 days. Bret returned to work the next day and I got to spend additional 1 on 1 time with my new baby. Thank you again, Mom & Sis, for taking them. You’ll never know what it meant to get those special moments alone with my baby.

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Brody & Blade

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Blade with Dr. Reyes at his first pediatrician’s appointment…his only doctor – crazy! The quads left NICU with a list of doctors and we’ve continued to add some along the way due to prematurity issues. So crazy being discharged and only having the pediatrician to visit! We returned this past week for his 2 week visit and Blade had already hit 11lbs and has grown an inch since birth – SLOW DOWN sweet baby!!!!

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My heart was literally racing when Brody, Baxlyn, Kylee & Korbin came home that Wednesday. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t slightly terrified at the thought of having all 5 home, together all under my care. Sure I have four, what’s one more? It wasn’t going from 4 to 5 I was worried about as much as combining two different sets of needs and schedules together. To my surprise it’s been a much easier transition than I anticipated. Of course we could have done without all the sickness but overall it hasn’t been bad at all. The quads have zero jealousy issues that I hear many siblings deal with when having a new baby and Blade is a very good baby, which makes things easy as well! It’s just been a few weeks now but I can only hope things continue to go so smoothly!

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Baby Blade’s Birth

We’re home and settled so I’m back to blogging! Bret and I went in Thursday (Oct. 25th) morning for our scheduled C-section. We didn’t have to be at the hospital until 10am which allowed us some special time with the quads in the morning before taking them next door to Papaw and Linda’s.

It was so surreal just driving to the hospital….going to have a baby like it was nothing! We were greeted by familiar smiles once we entered L&D and it just so happened the same nurse I had on the day I delivered the quads was prepping me for this delivery as well! Lots of familiar faces dropped in during our prep before going into the O.R. The staff at The Medical Center of Plano was phenomenal during our stay with the quads and they were equally as great this time around too. So many people cheering us on and genuinely happy to be a part of our Sweet Number 5’s arrival.

When we arrived, one of the nurses asked us if we had decided on a name. Hesitantly I said “I think we may go with Blade Thomas”. We had been considering the name for several months, but like Baxlyn’s name, it took a while to grow on me. Here we were an hour or so before delivery and we were still undecided. The nurse wrote on our white board “Blade Thomas ? “ (with the big questions mark). A few minutes later Bret took out the camera and started snapping some pictures. Pictures of me laying there looking big and ridiculous, pics of or room number..etc. He went to take a picture of the white board but just before he took the shot, he walked over, erased the question mark next to Blade’s name and then snapped the picture. I said “Did we just decide on a name?” to which he answered “Yes”! After being so wishy washy and hesitant on a decision, now that he is here, Blade is the perfect name for him, no doubt! Many of you know the quads’ all have the middle names of our parents (my dad and I share a middle name as well so Korbin got us both!). Blade’s middle name, Thomas, is also in the family!

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Big ole me drugged and excited to deliver my ONE baby!

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Below is Dr. Leveno, Dr. Parker & a random man I don’t know doing there thing! Dr. Leveno is my OB and Dr. Parker happened to assist him during this birth as well as the night the quads were born! At one point I heard Dr. Parker say “Wow, it looks really good in here (talking about my uterus, incision, scar tissue..etc) and Dr. Leveno responded “We’ll, we did it!” So special to have them both deliver all my babies!

IMG_4431IMG_4430The actual delivery was much different then with the quads. We were in a huge operating room with them surround by doctors, nurses, therapists…etc. A total of 28 people to be exact. This was a much more calm setting with maybe a total of 8-10 people. The surgery itself was a bit more rough this time than with the quads. We all knew Blade would be big, they were guessing 8.5-9lbs. The casual conversation between the doctors and Bret went from politics and football to a more serious “Wow…he’s really big…” as Blade’s head came out. All I kept hearing was “Oh, he’s a really big baby….really big”. Before you know it the pressure picked up immensely and I had several grown men pulling/pushing and tugging at my numb body below the curtain. Apparently my BIG baby was a bit tough to get out. Once he was out and I could breathe again I asked how big he was. My jaw dropped when they said 10lbs 8oz! HOLY COW! No wonder I was SO uncomfortable. My ONE baby weighed just 4 ounces less than all of his brothers and sisters combined at birth! Each of the quads let out a tiny weak whimper after being delivered, tears fell as I heard Blade scream at the top of his well developed full-term lungs. Something I’ll never take for granted.

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Bret & Big Baby Blade

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Mommy & Blade. Not sure who captured this picture but I’m so glad they did :)

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Like with the quads, one of my first questions was “what color is his hair?!” They told me it had a hint of red…not what I was expecting at all! Since birth it seems as though it’s a light brown with a lil blonde tint to it. I’m anxious to see if he’ll loose it all like the quads did.

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I love this picture. Bret beaming with pride! Seriously yall, check out that baby’s cheeks!

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After delivery I was wheeled to my post partum room. They have remodeled the entire second floor of the hospital and every square inch of it is gorgeous. If you are local, THIS is the place to have your baby no doubt! During prep the nurses told me over and over “you’re gonna love your room!”. Little did I know. A beautiful suite complete with a living room/sitting area, kitchen, 2 baths, a private room for myself and a separate little nook for Bret had been awaiting us. This picture below is the view from just outside my room…

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As silly as it sounds, I was a little nervous about the “newborn nursery” as we’ve never had any experience there. L&D we knew, NICU we knew, Post Partum we kinda knew. The newborn nursery was brand new territory for us and had only been a place where we peeked through the window at the big babies on occasion. I quickly learned several of the nurses there “knew” us through the blog and have followed our story all along which put me at ease. Bret and I kept Blade in the room with us during the days and sent him off to the nursery, or what I called “the playground”, at night where the nurses took excellent care of him and returned him for feedings!

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Below, a simple picture but such a sweet moment we rarely got with the quads. Bret and I soaked up as much as we could while in the hospital. The quietness, just the three of us, Bret holding his new baby… just bliss. After the quad’s delivery, I was in horrible pain, we were stressed & worried about our tiny sick babies, in and out of the NICU, awaiting more bad news from the doctors day after day..etc. We were(are) so thankful to be able sit back, relax and enjoy our big healthy baby with no distractions or worry.

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Chris & Bethany watched Brody, Baxlyn, Kylee & Korbin that day allowing the grandparents to be at the hospital for Blade’s birth. Once things calmed a bit they brought the quads up, all dressed up in their Big Brother/Big Sister shirts, to meet their new baby brother…

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Sunday morning Mamaw brought them back up for another short visit. This particular morning they were a bit hyper…gave me just a glimpse of what I was getting myself into when I was to leave my quiet haven at the hospital and return home as a Mom of 5!

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Brody seems to be the most in love with his little brother, which is no surprise to me. All he wanted to do was hold him and hold him! We had some friends drop by to visit while they were there. Brody, with our help, “carried” Blade over to our friend and proudly said “You wanna hold this thing?!” So sweet, sharing the love.

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I think this is about as close as Korbin has gotten to him yet. He tends to stay back and watch from a distance while the rest of them get up close and personal.

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Daddy, Kylee & Blade. “Her Baby” looks almost as big as her in this picture!

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Baxlyn, not quite ready to hold him but willing to give a kiss!

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We are so so blessed and look forward to seeing what God has planned for our little Blade Thomas <3 I am so so thankful to the staff at The Medical Center of Plano for making our stay everything it was. Everyone from the nurses to the cooks to the cleaning staff were nothing but welcoming and friendly as always. A HUGE thanks to everyone who helped with the quads as well allowing Bret to stay at the hospital with me. Mamaw & Wayne, Nana & Papa, Papaw and Linda, Bethany & Chris, Aunt Beth & Uncle Darrell – THANK YOU! I honestly can’t express how incredible it was to spend special time with Bret and our new baby, just the three of us, which we’ve never done before. I am so so thankful for the near perfect experience we had with Blade’s birth.

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