Blade’s First Graduation!

Our Sweet Number 5 graduated from his DOC Band about a week ago – woohoo! He was in his band for just under 3 months and they flew by. Miss Kylee went along to help us celebrate :]

My sweet boy and his first certificate!

Yay Blade! He’s a clapper as of about a month ago ;)

Although I was very impressed with the technology Cranial Technologies used when the quads were in their bands, they’ve upgraded yet again and the imaging resources are amazing. This is just one of the many pictures we have of his DSI images, the left being before banded and the right picture now. When in the office, the pictures can be rotated together on the screen giving you a phenomenal look at every last angle of the baby’s head. So cool!

Here’s some of our own before and after pics…

one more before…

…and the best after I could get. This dude moves non stop these days! Huge difference and Bret and I are super happy we decided to band him.

A look back at the quads’ DOC Band graduations. Baxlyn, Korbin & Kylee…

…and our Broman after his long journey with his bands. Oh that hair!

For those of you that are the least bit concerned about your baby’s head shape, I encourage you to go visit our friends at Cranial Technologies. An evaluation is completely FREE and I promise you won’t feel forced to band if it’s truly not needed! We’ve been nothing but happy with the company and the results, well, they speak for themselves :)

Quads meet PRESCHOOL!

Brody, Baxlyn, Kylee & Korbin started PRESCHOOL today! You probably remember that Brody & Kylee started towards the end of last year. Luckily Korbin & Baxlyn were able to join them and be a part of the pre-k/PPCD program!  As excited as I am for them to start school for me I (honestly) am way more excited for them. They all love to socialize and I know they’ll all soar academically this year! I personally will look forward to a short break during the day and special one on one time with my sweet Blade :]

A picture of Nana and her quads before they left for school…

Bret and I walked our little foursome to their class this morning and not a tear was shed. I made it thru our goodbyes dry eyed and
(barely) held it together as I kissed each one and told them how proud I was of them.

The Pre-k and Kindergarten parents were all invited to stay for a  “Boohoo…Yahoo!” breakfast where their principal welcomed us, assured us our “babies” were in the best of care and shared her own story about dropping her own four kids off (including a set of triplets!) at school many years ago! A book was read about letting your babies grow up and I think I was the ONLY mother in the room not crying. Does it make me a little sad that they’re growing up, sure, but I can’t put into words just how proud I am of how far they have come since their first few months of life.

The quads only go for a short period of time each day and as I picked them up they were all smiles as they ran out to greet me! Although they were a little bummed they didn’t get to do EVERYTHING from sandboxes, to coloring to gym time on the first day, they’re all excited to go back!

Once again, sweet babies, you’re daddy and I are so incredibly PROUD of you. We are beyond blessed to have each of you here with us today and we look forward to watching you continue to grow in school!

Blade–9 months. Mobility & Mischief!

Our BIG dude is 9 months old already! Can’t believe I’ll be planning his first birthday party in just a short couple of months! At his 9 month check up, Blade weighed 24lbs and was 29 3/4 inches long, both landing him in surprisingly just the 90th percentile!

Brody, Baxlyn, Kylee & Korbin tagged along to his check up and answered all of Dr. Reyes’ questions. “He’s sitting up unassisted?” YES! “He babbles and plays with his toys?” YES! They were thrilled to help in the process. Big dude got shots and not only did he cry, but Brody shed a tear or two as well. Love the brotherly love Brody has for Blade.

It’s INSANE seeing him develop and hit milestones at a “normal” pace. The same things that took the quads MONTHS of therapy to accomplish he gets within just a couple of tries with no assistance at all – it just blows my mind! Blade has been cruising in his walker for a few months now and learned to crawl just a few weeks ago. With the mobility has come mischief, as expected, but WOW. This dude is a busy one! The new house is much bigger than the last and we had the old house completely quad-proofed before they even came home. The quads had their fair share of destruction but I have a feeling Blade will outdo them in no time. He earned a new nickname of “Dozer” (as in bulldozer) just this past week while on his first vacation to Kentucky! Below are just a few pics of our sweet number 5 in action…

Although he’s not quite pulling to stand just yet, he’s learned he can reach the blinds. Drives me nuts!

He attended his first VBS at church a few weeks ago and of course, found ways to get into trouble around the church each day during set up…

…the computer cords are another favorite…

Nothing beats the laundry room and the stash of vacuums Mommy has. This is his absolute favorite and he lights up if he notices the laundry room door got left open only to be followed by crocodile tears when we pull him back and close it :(

…the carbon monoxide detector. Yup, THAT sudden unexpected alarm can seriously freak a bunch of four year olds out.

One of his newest finds since learning to crawl – the plug to the lamp off the living room.

Last but not least he makes a mad dash towards the kitchen if he sees me in the general area of the dishwasher. Always there to lend a helping hand ;)

Baby proofing for the quads consisted of baby gates, outlet covers and door knob covers. Other than that, the house was set up like  daycare (no nice furniture, no lamps or table décor…etc.). So far we don’t have any gates up and wont be able to gate him completely like we did with the fab four. If you have any recommendations on the latest baby proofing gear, feel free to leave a comment. I’d love to hear some of your favorites!