4 two year olds and a fly...

It will be two years ago tomorrow (April 27th) that I finally brought all four of my tiny babies home from the hospital, together. The last two years have been some of the most difficult yet best years ever and these precious babies continue to take my breath away daily. It amazes me lately how completely oblivious they are to me and the things going on around them. At this age, they are so full of wonder and I love to sit back and watch as they explore their little world around them...and take pictures, of course. I just happened to get this little tid bit on film and thought I'd share.

It all started with Baxlyn. She trapped, and squished, a fly near her bedroom window.

Being the sweet sister she is, after exploring it herself she passed it off to Korbin.

Korbin then passed it to Brody to check out...

Brody passed it back to Korbin...

...who showed Kylee...

...and for those of you who know Kylee...

........

...Poor lil' fly never had a chance!

Dudu & Poop

I guarantee you the thought that came to your mind when reading that title is nothing like the thought that pops into my babies' minds when hearing those words. The words "Dudu & Poop" to the average person are quite unpleasant. The words "Dudu & Poop" here in our house are the words that make four little toddlers drool and come running in excitement ready to satisfy their hunger with a delicious treat.

As some of you know, Brody calls his Mickey Mouse "Dudu". That has been Mickey's name for quite some time now. Recently I introduced the babies to Whinnie the Pooh....which quickly translated to Whinnie the Poop or just "Poop" most of the time. Sams sells a huge container of cookies and our house is never without one. The first time while handing out the cookies Brody, looking at one side of the container yells "Duuduuu!!" and Korbin, sitting on the opposite side exclaimed "POOOP!!!". There ya have it folks... our Dudu & Poop cookies...

Hope you are all having a great week!

March of Dimes 2011

I walked right into my late 20's bright and early Saturday morning (thanks all for the birthday wishes!) accompanied by some great friends, adorable kiddos, beautiful weather and all for a GREAT cause! The March of Dimes March for Babies walk was a huge success this year and the day was just about as close to perfect as it could get. We spent a lot of time answering questions and posing for pics...as well as many "not posing for pics"... there had to have been hundreds of pictures taken of the babies that went home on other peoples cameras. Sheesh! We met several new faces, friends of friends and blog followers, people who "knew" us via the computer.

A view from the sky (Fox 4 News) showed the thousands of people who came together to walk. People of all ages, many affected by prematurity and other birth defects. People, like us, who walked in honor of their healthy babies and people who walked in memory of their angels who never made it home. Sooo many people all to support the research and funding for healthy babies... simply amazing.

Below: Trysta's awesome Big Brother Hayden with dad Jamie, handsome lil' Will & Trysta all lookin' cute in her matching hair bow!

We had a total of 9 adults and 8 kids with us, 7 of them being ages 2 and under! Between the 6 car choo choo wagon and 3 single strollers, each baby was ridin' in style. Trysta, Levi & Will had a blast riding in the choo choo while the quads took turns livin' the life of a singleton in a "normal" stroller!

We saw many familiar faces along the way, hospital staff and other Medical Center of Plano NICU graduates. I've had several opportunities to go back to our NICU since being discharged and I've talked with and cried with other parents whose tiny babies were just barely holding on. This weekend I got to see some of those same parents walking with their little miracle babies just beaming with pride!

At one point we had all 7 babies in the choo choo, which made for a must-have photo! Unlike last year we didn't have to stop for feedings, we just filled each cup holder in each wagon full of goldfish and cheerios...easy peasy!

Below Kylee & Brody. Will lovin' the view in the choo choo. Kylee saw a "woof woof" so you know we HAD to stop! Sweet Trysta sippin' some H2O! All 7 of the littles Trysta, Baxlyn, Korbin, Kylee, Levi, Will & Brody!

Bret and I sincerely want to thank all of you supported our walk by donating money THANK YOU! Another thanks to those who walked with us, we hope you consider joining us again next year as we strive to make this an annual event and help to raise awareness!

Last but not least we want to especially thank Mike with Prosper Marketing for providing our awesome team shirts! Last year we made our own shirts with iron ons and well, they didn't last long. This year Mike and his company provided us with high quality t-shirts with our logo on them and I have no doubt they'll be around a while! If you are local and are ever in need of custom made shirts (or any other gear for the matter) I highly recommend Prosper Marketing, they've got a HUGE selection and were SO easy to work with! Check out their site here!

Thanks again to EVERYONE, EVERYWHERE who had a hand in supporting the March of Dimes this year!

2 MORE DAYS...

...and these 8 little feet, with many others, will be walking in the March for Babies walk! I got a late start this year on our personal fundraising goal so set the bar at $300 hoping we could reach it. Thanks to ALL OF YOU that goal was blown out of the water! Thank you so so so much to all who have donated, every dollar will make a difference in helping women have full term pregnancies and help those babies that are born too early have a better chance at survival. Bret and I are extremely thankful to those of you who are joining us in our walk this year! We are super excited and hope to have an awesome day with beautiful weather as we join together for a good cause!

To learn more about the March of Dimes March for Babies, click here. You can donate in honor of the Cox Quads here! Thanks for supporting the March of Dimes!

Texas Bluebonnets 2011

As Amy Horton herself would say "What signals the beginning of spring better than bluebonnets?!"

Thanks again to Amy Horton, they're just beautiful!

Quad's First Easter Egg Hunt!

Last weekend our local moms of multiples group had a "Spring Fling" at a local park. There were lots of cool things set up for the kids like face painting, a petting zoo, pony rides, all in addition to the playground and the highlight of the day, the Easter egg hunt! Brody was super excited at the sight of all the "putballs" sweet lil guy! I was really looking forward to see them carry their cute little color-coded baskets all around and gather eggs (or putballs in Brody's case) with big smiles on their faces. The parents, all having twins or more, all held the littles back until the whistle blew (clearly I didn't get the memo, hence mine charging for the field of eggs alone) and when it did, wowie it was like the flood gates opened and a sea of little people went running!

It was Daddy's job to take pictures and my job to count to four over and over and over again, making sure we kept track of everyone. It was NOT easy. Within 30 seconds after the hunt began, all four babies and all four baskets were in 8 different spots. Korbin was more interested in picking flowers, Brody (seen below without his basket) was more interested in watching someone else gather eggs, Kylee had found someone with a dog, and Baxlyn was in her own world as well! Seriously?!?! Here I am trying to keep track of my four (among the 150 other toddlers their size), I'm sweating my crack off running across the field trying to chase our baskets down, again trying to hunt down the quads to get their baskets back to them, all while trying not to run over other babies along the way. Whew! What. A. Challenge.

We were told to bring 1dz plastic eggs PER BABY filled, then each child was able to leave with 1dz eggs. By the end of the hunt, no joke, I think we had like 3 eggs between all of them. Luckily our triplet friends were better hunters than ours and they had plenty to spare! Once the hunt was over, they started to realize the eggs opened and there were things inside. Here's a shot of Baxlyn checking out her goodies! Me showing Brody the goodies in his putballs.... I love this picture of Angela (mom of triplet boys) going as fast as she can to find age-appropriate candy in the eggs while 7 toddlers beg! What you don't see are the two dads standing just 3 feet from her relaxed, arms crossed, hair (or lack thereof) blowing in the wind... just watching her do her thing ;) Of course I had to try for a group picture... It didn't last long but, it was a group picture, so I won't complain. Baxlyn, sweet thing, trying so hard to cooperate for Mommy!

You better believe we came home and PRACTICED our egg hunting skills and are now more than ready for the next hunt!

Kylee & Brody's Developmental Check Up

Bret and I had a double date yesterday with Brody and Kylee! We spent the whole afternoon with Dr. Roberts (their developmental pediatrician) bragging on them and showing off their new skills. She was THRILLED to see them both walk into her office for the first time and said multiple times she couldn't believe her eyes and how phenomenal they are doing!

Do they not look like they're 5 years old in this picture?! They look HUGE!

Brody was up for evaluation first and did well overall. After various tests (cognitive, fine motor, expressive/receptive language...) he scored between 22months-24months of age, just where he should be! Although he's been walking for months now, he still resembles a baby deer to a degree. He has a hard time, even on flat surfaces sometimes, with his balance and coordination. When we play outside for example, he prefers to stay on the porch, avoiding the grass or any other challenging surfaces. We had X-rays done a few weeks ago to rule out any abnormalities with his hips/gait, everything looked normal, thank goodness. Brody does have some tone issues tho, through his ankles which leads Dr. Roberts to believe it's safe to say he has VERY MILD Diplegia CP (cerebral palsy affecting the legs only). You can learn more about this particular type of CP here. This doesn't mean a whole lot to us and won't change a thing when it comes to Brody and his therapy treatments, we will continue PT through ECI and once he "graduates" from ECI(at 3 years old) he will likely need additional private therapy. Brody weighed in at 27lbs 1oz and was 33 1/4 inches tall!

Kylee had a great check up as well. It was less than a year ago we were pretty concerned with Kylee's head circumference and the word "microcephaly" was added to our whole new vocabulary since having the babies. Her head size is now right on track and she is showing TREMENDOUS growth in all developmental areas. 3 months ago, she hardly said any words and today she has too many to count and even has some 2-3 word phrases. It seems like once she learned to walk, she has just taken off in all other areas at full speed! She scored a little bit higher than Brody in some areas, landing her in the 23-24month range, again perfect! Dr. Robert's had mentioned at a previous appointment that one of Kylee's legs measured a tad bit longer than the other. Yesterday, her left leg (her affected side) measured half an inch shorter than her right. We were told this is common in kids who have hemiplegia cp and that it's often that the bones on the affected side don't grow at the same rate as on the "good" side. Right now this causes Kylee's walk to look a little "Bambi-like" too. For now, her docs will keep an eye on it and treatment may be given when she gets a little older. Our big little girl weighed in at 25lbs 12oz and was a bit taller than Brody at 33 1/2 inches tall! My two little loves picking out their stickers! We're sooo sooo sooo proud of you Brody & Kylee!

Humpty Dumpty...Humpty Korbin...

"In the clubhouse Korbin stood tall,

Through the window Korbin did fall...

A land on the head and a scream from Mom,

Blood coming from the mouth said something was wrong..."

I'd continue in rhyme, but it may be a few more weeks before I'd have a new blog post ;) Amy came over yesterday to teach me a thing or two on my new camera. We were in the backyard letting the kids roam and play while we were snapping pictures when I turned just in time to see Korbin fall, headfirst, out the small window of their new clubhouse (seen in a post a few weeks ago). As if seeing his head hit the ground were not bad enough, when he started crying, blood came running out of his mouth - FREAKED ME OUT. Thank goodness Amy, a mother of three rambunctious girls, was a little more collected than myself!

A good "mommy evaluation" was done and we felt his little noggin was fine, his front tooth on the other hand, was shifted forward and easy to wiggle. A call to the ped's office led us to a visit with the dentist this morning. He was a champ through the whole thing, Xrays and all! The doctor said his tooth is extruded and has a 50/50 chance of "dying". Although I'm thankful his fall didn't lead to anything more serious, I'm reeeeeaalllyyyyy hoping we hit the good 50% chance and his tooth survives! If it does she said it won't go back into its "correct" spot, but shouldn't affect his permanent tooth. He will go back in 6 weeks (which happens to be the time of their semi-annual check up) to see how the lil guy is doing!

I knew the times were coming... accidents, bloody noses, broken bones, cracked noggins... but do they HAVE to start at 2?!?!?! Ahhh...the joys of parenthood!