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!

What a week...

Whew it has been a week that's for sure. I started a fitness camp on Monday with some of the locals. I've committed myself to waking up at 4:40am Monday through Friday for the next 6 weeks to have my rear kicked by a trainer in hope to get into better shape and best case scenario, lose a pound or two. Being in athletics all through high school as well as playing volleyball and cheering, I've had my fair share of workouts. It's been what...omg...8 years since I've graduated therefore have been in no "real" kind of exercise program in nearly a decade. Nice. Hopefully by the end of this 6 week program I'll consider myself, dare I say...fit. As for this moment in time I resemble an 84 year old grandmother in need of her cane to get from point A to point B. My muscles are extremely sore and I've been reminded all week of just what a quad pregnancy can do to your once strong abdominal muscles. The quad's have two new words in their vocabulary "exercise" and "sore". Just this morning I let out a ridiculous moan as I sat bent kneeled FELL down to change Brody's diaper. He softly laughed and said "I sore!". I'll keep you posted on the whole workout thing.

As for the babies. If I truly thought they could, I'd bet they read this blog. I mentioned in the last post how we've had more good days than bad... why oh why did I put it in writing? I'm telling you, they can sense it. This week has been a rough one to say the least. I've been tired, sore, and a little stressed as we slowly approach the potty training stage and the little normal "2 year old" things they do have worn my nerves big time! I've captured some of their mischief on camera to share with you (and to show them when they get older and are blessed with 2 year old angels of their own).

I can remember when they were little, they couldn't even see what was on the tables or dressers, let alone reach for it.

Our first work of art on the wall by Mr. Korbin. As silly as it sounds, color time is stressful in our house. They fight over the crayons, they "hog" them (another new word in their vocabulary by the way) Kylee still occasionally eats one and on top of that drama I'm trying desperately to keep them contained so our carpets and furniture stay they color they are. This particular day they were in the table, I walked away for 4.8 seconds and come back to this...

Using more bins to their advantage... and yes that's a boy in a pink pull-up...Korbin, being a sweet brother, makes sure Brody is in on the action too. "There ya go BroBro, now reeacch, I got ya!"
The ball pit is the one thing I want to get rid of because it takes up SO MUCH ROOM but it's the one thing they play with every single day. Just this week they learned they could push and slide it away from the wall and learned some new, more exciting ways to play with it. Here we have Korbin ready to fly down the slide ON his truck while Miss B takes a leap from the couch behind him into the balls...

Oh and in case that doesn't make me nervous enough, Korbin, after successfully making several trips down the slide going forward decided it may be even more fun to go backwards... Each day that passes is just one day closer to the day you see a post about someones broken arm.

I'll end on a good note. Today I took them all to the local grocery store by myself STROLLERLESS! Like I mentioned above we're slowly entering the potty training stages and we ran out of candy (m&ms and skittles as rewards). It was morning, therefore the store isn't busy and we JUST needed a few little bags of candy so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to give it a whirl. I loaded them up with their Monkey backpacks that also double as leashes, just in case. As we pulled up to the store, I was surprised at how all of the feelings rushed back from when I first started taking them out by myself when they were itty bitty. What if they make a scene and I look like a huge idiot in front of everyone for even trying this? I pushed the feelings of insecurity away, unloaded them one by one and strapped on their backpacks. We had a mob of people watching as I herded them from the car towards the door but we made it in successfully. The first thing they saw upon entering were mylar sports ball balloons hanging in the checkout lines "LOOOOONNNSS!! LOOOONS! BALLSS" they all yelled at one time causing everyone to turn and look. We continued towards the candy aisle and they listened pretty well. At any given time there was a total distance of 20 feet between the first one and the last one as they walked and gazed up at everything at the same time. I'd find myself yelling "Baxlyn slow down, wait for the others...Brody speed up...Kylee look out, watch where you're going!... Don't touch... This way this way!" I know people could hear me across the store and I lost count of how many times I apologized to people for the kids walking into them or their cart. Luckily we live in a small town and the employees of the store "know us" as do a handful of the customers. Everyone was very sweet and told the babies how good they were doing and how impressed they were with their good behavior. Needless to say I left feeling relieved and just a little more confident in my abilities as a Mom of multiples! As smooth as it went we have no intentions of letting go of the strollers just yet!

Until next time!

Hello Toddlerhood. Goodbye Sanity.

Total blog slacker here, I know. Things have been a little hectic lately and blogging has been on my mind but pushed to the side. My nerves are worn and my sanity pushed to the limits with these little blessings lately! I must admit with the big 2nd birthday just around the corner (HOLY COW!) I can see the "terrible twos" running full speed in our direction. My precious babies are turning into mischievous little....dare I say it... ttt....toddlers! Every time I turn around someone is ripping up, climbing, eating, throwing, or getting into something. This is just SOME of what's been going on in our house lately and just a FEW of the reasons this momma is needing "Mom's Night Out" more frequently!

Here we have Korbin and onlooker Baxlyn attempting to make an escape out the front door.

My little innocent Kylee reaching in for the Christmas tree (one of the biggest no-no's right now)

With age comes independence. Miss Thang here REFUSING to ride in the choo choo with her bros and sister. Notice them WAY ahead of her as she struts along with Mickey through the aisles of Target.

Korbin reaching for the candles...

Below - quadruple the trouble. The rule is you can sit on the couch not stand, climb, pull on OR swing from the blinds... "Yeah OK Mom, sure"

Another group effort to completely destroy the boys' room. Situations like these I walk in and am guaranteed to look down and hear at least once little innocent "Uh-Oh?!".

Once again, Korbin using the bins to his advantage and reeeaching up to the counter.
Here we have the boys searching for the long lost rattle under Kylee's crib. While they're down the girls see the perfect opportunity to yank hair and stomp on them. Ahh my sweet little darling girls...

Here we have 3 acts in one. Brody and Baxlyn getting after the tree and Korbin making a run for the window sill and blinds...Last but not least one baby pulling out the wipes as fast as he can while the other attempts to put them all back in as quickly as possible...

Stay tuned! Coming up our visit(s) with S A N T A !

Teamwork: Quad Style

As mobility kicks in so does the mischief!

I turned a corner yesterday to find this...

toilet paper completely unrolled...

every last hair bow taken out of the cabinet...

and the trashcan emptied!

I know I know... it's just the beginning. Little stinkers ;]