4 4 Year Olds & 1 4 Month Old!

We’ve been a busy crew lately with lots going on, I apologize for my lack of blogging over the past week but I assure you, good things are to come :) Our sweet Blade is FOUR months old now, just crazy! He’s officially passed that life-must-be-pretty-boring phase and is laughing all the time, reaching for toys, starting the transition into solid foods…etc. Busy baby for sure!

Blade with his number one playmate, Brody!

I mentioned to a friend of Facebook today that Blade was soooo close to rolling over. He must have heard me because just a few hours later, there he went from his tummy to his back. I, of course, ran to get the camera…

At 4 months he weighs 16lbs 9.5oz (83rd percentile) and is 25 3/4 long (80th percentile). Dr. Reyes is confident he will be our biggest kid when all is said and done ;) Poor buddy got 2 shots this visit just like his brothers and sisters 10 shots total… can you say FUN?!

His biggest accomplishment thus far is SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT! It’s been about a month now that he’s been sleeping a solid 11-12 hours straight. We took the same approach with him as we did the quads (dream feeding, adding volume to day bottles as we took out the night…etc.) and it paid off….again, thank goodness! 5 for 5, I firmly believe this is the way to do it!

Brody, Baxlyn, Kylee & Korbin were all there to help introduce their little bro to his first taste of “real” food. Blade gagged as each of them offered him a small unwanted bite.

This is proof that opening your own mouth when feeding a baby is natural LOL!

Although he did much better during his second try, he was less than impressed the first food trial…

Another first for Blade – Sunday School! We helped start a new church just over a year ago so our congregation is still small. Blade’s been enjoying the services with his Daddy & I but is starting to be the cute baby who makes noises making others turn, look and smile…quite the distraction, a cute one, but a distraction nonetheless! I escorted him out this past Sunday and let him join the nursery. He still doesn’t sit on his own, but did well propped up in the highchair for 5 minutes or so. Here’s my little big man studying “Mr. Turtle”.

Now our little quaddies…. FOUR years old, SO hard to believe! L-R (happens to be in birth order) Brody, Baxlyn, Kylee & Korbin. Silly Babes :)

Broman now weighs 34lbs 2oz (32nd percentile) & is 3ft 3in tall (32nd percentile). We’re so thankful to have gone (almost) four years now with no shunt malfunction with this little guy. Hoping he can be one of the few who never ever have revisions!

Korbin is just a tad behind Brody weighing in at 33lbs 6oz (25th percentile) & 3ft 4in tall (52nd percentile)!

Our itsy bitsy Baxlyn is still the smallest at 31lbs (15th percentile)! I didn’t think she would EVER break 30lbs and here she is at 31! She is 3ft 4in tall putting her in the 57th percentile for height.

Kylee Mae who is usually neck and neck with Korbin is now giving Brody a run for his money. She matched him at 34lbs 2 oz (41st percentile) and is 3ft 4 1/4in tall (60th percentile)

So so thankful for these 5 little peeps!

Coming up… Blade’s first trip to the ZOO! & The Quads’ 4th Birthday PaRtY!!!!

Life's gettin' funny...

A little laughter this Sunday afternoon brought to you by our sweet Blade (3 months)...

Happy 4th Birthday Brody, Baxlyn, Kylee & Korbin!

Our four little miracles turn four years old today!

God thank you for choosing us to be the parents of these precious four. Thank you for protecting them and allowing us to love on them each day. We are blessed beyond measure and will ever be grateful.

Happy Birthday Brody, Baxlyn, Kylee & Korbin! You stole our hearts from the moment we saw you as little black blobs on the ultrasound machine. Words can’t express how much we love you or how proud you make us!

Happy Valentines Day 2013!

When I saw on Facebook that Rebecca Riley Photography was offering Valentines Day mini sessions – I booked immediately and I am soo glad I did. It was a beautiful day for an outdoor session and OH. MY. WORD. She captured some of THE most precious pictures ever!

They just happened to sit in birth order (…sniff sniff) Brody, Baxlyn with Blade, Kylee & Korbin…who was a real ham the whole day!

I mentioned before that Rebecca is a mother of 4 boys including a set of twins. Her love for children is undeniable and the kids warm up to her so quickly. We were in front of her camera for literally 15 minutes and in that 15 minutes she captured individual pictures of all 5 of my kiddos, a beautiful group shot and more! Do you have any idea how hard it is to get 5 little wiggly people looking at the same camera at the same time?!?! I’m tellin’ ya, people, she’s goood ;)

My sweet sweet handsome Brody. Are these props not the cutest?!

Baxlyn Hope

Kylee Mae Mae

Korbin Lee

…and my PRECIOUS number 5!

This picture of the girls…. MELT MEEE…. I see some serious framing going in on my near future…

My boys and their signature cowlicks. Silly Korbin & Brody with his baby blues…

Last but not least, my littlest love and his…

Learn more about Rebecca Riley Photography and see more of her phenomenal work by visiting her website here. Click on over to show her some LOVE on her Facebook page by clicking here – be sure you scroll down a bit to see some of the other adorable pictures from this session!

Thanks again, Rebecca Riley, for the priceless pictures! Can’t wait until our next session :)

Happy Valentines Day Everyone!

Brody & Kylee–Botox Injections

Thanks to all for the sweet messages, calls, texts and prayers for Brody & Kylee. Being up at 3:30am made for a lonnngg day, but all went well! We’ve been told for a while now that Brody & Kylee, due to their Cerebral Palsy & hypertonia/dystonia (tight muscles), may be good candidates for Botox. Even with physical & occupational therapy, constraint therapy, orthotics and endless exercises and stretches, these two will likely have minor issues due to their CP for years to come. After visiting with their neurologist in December, he thought it would be good to give the Botox a shot.

“Following intramuscular injection, the neurotoxin causes a reversible neuromuscular blockade, creating both muscle weakness and a reduction in tone.” We were told that basically the Botox will temporarily paralyze or weaken the nerve endings allowing more flexibility and allowing us to stretch their muscles more effectively.

Brody received 8 injections, 4 in each leg. Because of his tone, Brody toes walks from time to time and his legs stiffen when he runs or gets excited (diplegia CP). Kylee’s hemiplegia CP affects her left side. Her left foot turns inward and she’s also very tight. The doctor used a special needle to both electrically stimulate the muscles and deliver the medication in her leg and hand. She received 5 injections in her left leg as well as one near the thumb in her left hand hoping to give her more range and a more natural and easier grasp. Kids don’t always have to be put under anesthesia for the procedure but given the fact that they’re young, there’s two of them (one will freak the other out before it’s their turn) and they both were going to receive multiple shots, their doctor thought it was best they were asleep for it all.

We took some video of both Brody & Kylee before their injections doing daily things that show their tone and difficulty. We were told that we won’t see any improvement for 3-7 days. Once we do (hoping we do, at least) we’ll show the before and after videos so you can see for yourself. After talking to many of their doctors as well as other parents of kids with CP we’ve learned most people see great improvement after the shots. The Botox can last anywhere from 2-6months depending on the child and the severity of their tone. Many kids continue treatments as needed. We’ll visit the neurologist again in 2 months to discuss how it worked for our two and if continuing treatment will be beneficial. Here’s a helpful site with additional info: http://www.cerebralpalsysource.com/About_CP/botox_cp/index.html

We had the procedures done at Cook Children’s in Fort Worth, the same place Brody had his shunt placed at 32 weeks gestation. His neurosurgeon and their neurologist work side by side which is a plus for us. It was still dark when we arrived at the hospital. The roof of the building is trimmed in blue lights, very pretty if I do say so myself. Upon seeing it Brody squealed from the back seat “Oooohhhh I’m sooo essited!”

Here’s Kylee after taking her “happy juice” while waiting for Brody to be sent to recovery. Girl was loOoOopy! She attempted to sing her favorite song “Pontoon” by Little Big Town and insisted her name was “Grandmudder”. Bret and I had some good laughs while chatting with her, that’s for sure :)

The procedures were pretty simple and only took about 15mins each. Bret & I went to be with Brody and Kylee joined soon after. Poor dude tried and tried to talk to us while waking up but nobody could make out what he was saying. Once he gained speech he immediately asked “Where’s my coke?”. He had chosen a cherry coke flavored gas as he was going to sleep but apparently he thought he was gonna get an actual coke (which would be a real treat for them) somewhere in the process! The nurses hooked him up with a sprite and that may have been the highlight of his whole experience..ha! I also heard him mumble to the nurse that he wanted to watch the Dallas Cowboys. Mickey Mouse clubhouse had to do ;) The injection sites are so small you wouldn’t even notice them if you weren’t looking. Kylee’s 2 failed IV attempts were another story :/

A few popsicles and sips of sprite later they were ready to go. The anesthesiologist came in and gave the go ahead to have IVs removed. Bret was out of the room and I was over with Kylee only to turn around and find Brody had removed his IV by himself…blood everywhere. Didn’t phase him a bit but freaked his me out until I figured out what had happened!  The nurse came in and Brody proudly told her “you were not here, so I did it!”

It was within just a few hours that Brody & Kylee were up and at it just like normal. No complaints of pain or soreness in their muscles or at the injection site which makes mom and dad super happy! They know they received something called Botox to help them but have no negative associations with the whole process which is great if we do continue treatments. We’ll update soon with their progress!

The fight against prematurity continues…

…tomorrow it is in the form of Botox. Kylee & Brody will each be having several injections in the wee hours of the morning (Thursday the 7th). We’re new to this procedure and have been told it’s a relatively easy one. That being said they will still be put under anesthesia. If you could, please say a lil’ prayer for these two little warriors and that things go smoothly and that the Botox can relieve them (temporarily) from some of the affects of their Cerebral Palsy and hypertonia. We’ll update soon with more details and show you video of before and after, assuming there’s improvement.

Thanks!