The Best Birthday Yet: Part 2!

Part two of the Quad's 2nd birthday we spent at the ZOO! Big Surprise, huh? I'm teased by everyone all the time on how often I take these kiddos to the zoo, but we LOVE it! Last week was one of the best trips so far. Daddy was with us, the weather was a perfect 68 degrees, and it just happened to be the same day our local moms of multiples group went too so we met up with a couple of triplet friends to spend the afternoon! Below we have the Ballew Triplets, the Tew Triplets, and our lil' clan ready to roll...

Angela and I go to the zoo often together and completely wear ourselves out pulling the choo choos around everywhere and up and down hills, Bret did most of the pulling this time....ahhhh thank you Bret! Pretty funny to walk 20 feet behind him and watch the reactions from others when they see him and his parade of babies!

Another first for Bret was keeping track of a 7 toddlers and a 4 year old while us moms did the diapee changes after lunch. He had an audience watching him from the cafeteria windows!

The babies' favorite stop at the zoo is the goat pen. It's a small area that the kids go into to pet (or in Kylee's case ride, pull on, poke, smell, kiss...etc.) the "Doats". This was our best shot at a group pic...

Baxlyn and Daddy

I would seriously consider getting a goat if I had to... they are SO patient with kids, it amazes me. The first time we let the babies in with them, I was a little nervous I would be with an unfamiliar dog. Now days I swear you could drop em off, go for lunch, come back and they would still be there having a bawl and the poor goats would just be sitting there like they always do. Here's a picture of Korbin playing with this poor guy's ear flinging it back and forth over and over and ovverrr... he thought it was hilarious.

Sweet Kylee is in Heaven when she's around animals and cares nothing about anything else surrounding her. She loves (almost) any animal and doesn't hesitate to touch! Here's my sweet girl getting up close and personal with a "Doat"..."Doat? Doat? Eat? Doat?"

Korbin, Kylee & Brody

Before heading out after a long day at the zoo, we decided to let each one ride the horse. We paid $2 for each baby to walk in a 50 foot circle one time. Really? It's their birthday, nobody else is waiting in line, you have nothing else to do, ya can't take em around twice?! Anyways, Brody was up first and enjoyed every second of it, he would have stayed on all day. The entire time I could hear him yell "Woohooo Woah! WOW!" it was ADORABLE!

Next up was Miss Baxlyn, a little more cautious and still, but had a good time none the less!

After B was Korbin. Love this picture of Baxlyn watching him through the fence!
Poor Kylee, as surprising as it is, wanted NOTHING to do with that horse. Each time we would put one back to grab another she would cry and say Nooooo. Once the other 3 had gone I asked her "Ky Ky, do you want to ride the horse?" to which she quickly replied "Nooo Nooooooooo Buh-bye Buh-Bye NOOO!!!!!". It broke my heart that she was so terrified. Here she is waving and yelling "no". My poor doll!Once we chuggalugged away from the horse Kylee was fine and the rest of our day was nothing but smiles. We packed up and the babies napped on our way to our final destination to end our day of celebrating their 2nd birthday. Stay tuned for Part 3 of The Best Birthday Yet!

The Best Birthday Yet: Part 1!

The quads had a GREAT birthday, seriously nothing but fun for them and us! Bret and I decided to postpone their birthday party until May hoping we will have better weather as well as lessening the chance of sickness and germs. Bret took the day off work so we could all be together on their our special day. We didn't do birthday hats, balloons or even presents. Instead we just had fun and reflected on the past two years and how thankful we are that our sweet babies are here with us today. We thought about the first sonogram when we first saw our little black blobs, our second sonogram when the doctor said the terrifying words "There might be a fifth....", the day I was admitted at 26 weeks, the moment my doctor said he would be back around 5pm to take them, and the exact moments they were born.... their b i r t h d a y .

First thing in the morning we went to see Dr. Reyes for their 2 year check up! This was the first time they could all walk into the office on their own, nobody being held, no strollers... that alone was amazing. We were greeted by all of the nurses who showed us to our room and started taking temps, measuring heights and head circumferences and taking weights!

This was also their first check up that they were able to stand on the big big/girl scale!

Dr. Reyes, being the phenomenal doc he is, even had a 3-tiered birthday cake waiting for them with "Happy Birthday" written with candles! THANKS AGAIN!!

Brody's Stats:

At birth: 3lbs At 2 years: 26lbs 8oz (30th percentile for full-term two year olds)

At birth: 15inches At 2 years: 33inches (15th percentile)

Baxlyn's Stats:

At birth: 2lbs 10oz At 2 years: 23lbs 1oz (7th percentile)

At birth: 15inches At 2 years: 33 1/4inches (33rd percentile)

Kylee's Stats:

At birth: 2lbs 7oz At 2 years: 24lbs 4oz (18th percentile)

At birth: 14 1/2inches At 2 years: 33 3/4inches (47th percentile)

*Kylee's head circumference is looking much better than before. Still not on the charts, but the docs are not as worried now!!!*

Korbin's Stats:

At birth: 2lbs 11oz At 2 years: 26lbs 4oz (27th percentile)

At birth: 14inches At 2 years: 34 3/4inches (59th percentile WOW!)

Our next rounds of tests were hearing and vision. I had a feeling we would need to check these two areas and was a little apprehensive... hearing and vision tests on 4 two year olds can't be fun, or easy. To my surprise it was a breeeeze, SO easy! The pic below shows Brody going first at the eye exams... it was like a camera that flashed a few little lights for a few seconds and that was it!

Kylee was next...Then Korbin, who immediatley flashed a smile thinking it was just another picture being taken!

Then it was Baxlyn's turn. If you know this girl, you KNOW she is different, in a good way, but different. Very independent and always does her own thing, she doesn't follow the crowd, she leads the crowd. At this point in time she was "cuh-lah cuh-lah"ing and didn't want to be disturbed. "Baxlyyyynn... look at the camera Miss Baxlyn....here Baxlyynnn..." the nurse tried and tried to get her to cooperate (and by cooperate I mean look at the camera for like THREE seconds) like the rest of them. Baxlyn would look up for .2 seconds and then go right back to coloring. After a few minutes of begging, we had to give up. This lil' girl didn't get her eye exams done.
Sooo GOOD NEWS - the eyes were easy, quick, and painless. BAD NEWS - they all failed multiple tests on their left eyes, Brody's being the worst. Nothing to be too worried about, but we will be making an appointment with Dr. Leffler in the near future... and that one, Miss B will be attending as well. After the eyes we went for the ears and again they all (even Baxlyn) cooperated and all passed with flying colors!

The Quads at their first year appointment with Dr. Reyes!
Much happier Quads at their 2nd year appointment with Dr. Reyes!

Thanks so much to Dr. Reyes and the staff at Stonebridge Pediatrics for being so good to us. We appreciate everything you have done for us over the past 2 years!

Stay tuned, readers! The Best Birthday Yet: Part 2 is next!

Happy Birthday My Beautiful Babies!

February 16th 2009

Two years ago today, four tiny babies were born and had already beaten the odds that were stacked against them in an extremely high risk pregnancy...

The next few months they literally fought to live and by God's grace, all pulled through. A day has not gone by, and never will, that I don't thank our Lord Jesus Christ for these precious gifts.

Happy 2nd Birthday Brody Baxlyn Kylee & Korbin, we cannot believe you are TWO already! There are no words I can type that will make you know just how much you mean to us. We have enjoyed every day with you and look forward to so many more and seeing what else God has in store for your little lives! We LOVE you and are so so so so so so so so so so so PROUD of you! You will always be our babies!

-Mommy & Daddy

Valentine Quads!

www.amyhorton.com

Our Super Sunny Sandy Saturday!

After a couple of weeks of NASTY weather, we finally got out for the entire day! It was a nice 60ish degrees out so we packed up and headed to Papaw's house where the babies played for hours with old tin popcorn cans and empty CD cases! Uncle Smiley and Cousin Jason came down from Kentucky for a surprise visit (ahem... Uncle Joe??? Where are you?!?!) so we spent a great deal of the day with them. I offered to let them take a few babies with them back to Kentucky...they passed ;)

When loading up to head back home the quads were running in opposite directions and screaming "Noooooo!" not wanting to leave. We ended up giving in and letting them play for an hour so in Papaw's BIG fenced in yard. They ran, fell, got up, found sticks, ate snow, threw the ball, fell some more, smelled the flowers, ate the flowers, picked the leaves, threw the dirt... and did anything else lil' almost 2 yr olds would do! It was fun and we left tired and dirty!

Uncle Smiley, Jason & Papaw with their girls!

It wasn't long after leaving the babies were all sound asleep in the car. Bret and I took full advantage of the quietness and had a romantic (haha!) drive through date at sonic! After dinner the sun was still shining so we headed over to the park to let the babies play. We've tried the park a couple of times now and it's one of the HARDEST things ever not having an even adult per baby ratio. Practice makes perfect right? We gave it a shot.

Baxlyn is always the first one to start climbing so Bret quickly goes to the top of the playground and waits as I send them up one at a time. Kylee usually prefers to stay on the ground and observe or be held so she and I watch as Daddy alone attempts to direct the other three away from danger and drop offs and towards the tunnel slide. Bret yells from the top "Baxlyn's coming down!" as Kylee and I wait at the bottom of the slide to catch. When she's done Bret sends the others down one at a time. This is where it gets tricky. After I catch B, I have to have at least one free hand to catch the next one so while Daddy sends down the next baby, Baxlyn is well on her way back up the HUGE playground by herself and soon to be followed by another. Stressed yet? I am. By this time, other parents at the playground are stopped dead in their tracks watching us with their jaws dropped. Bret and I have to work as a team and cover a large area from the top of the slide, to the bottom, to wherever Baxlyn and so and so have decided to try to climb back up. Bret and I have some mad communication skills when it comes to public areas and safety! At any given second we are speaking to each other, listening to each other, handling babies and counting to 4 simultaneously. At this point our conversation sounds something like this:

Bret: "Here comes Brody!"

Me: "Ok go ahead, Baxlyn is on her way back up."

Me: "Ok I've got Brody, send Korbin.... Hurry get Baxlyn!"

Bret: "Ok here's Korbin. Baxlyn, come here!"

Me: "Watch out, Brody's on his way up! - KYLEE quit eating woodchips!"

Me: "I have Korbin. 1,2,3.... we're missing one.... where's Brody?!"

Bret: "I've got him, Brody COME HERE! Do you have Baxlyn?"

Me: "She's right behind you headed to the other slide, grab her! Don't let go of Brody! Korbin, hold on, wait for me!"

Bret: "Kylee's eating dirt. I've got Baxlyn."

Me: "Kylee, quit eating the dirt. Korbin go to Daddy now! Send down Brody."

Bret: "Here comes Baxlyn."

Seriously wears me out just thinking about it again. It is so hard and I long for the day I can take them to the park by myself, sit back on the bench like the other moms, and read my book (Ok, I wouldn't be reading, but you get the point). After many rounds of sliding, climbing, chasing, and sliding again we gathered them all and walked over to the sand volleyball court and for once Bret and I could take a breather. A big flat open space was just what we needed and it was easy on the eyes as far as counting to 4 over and over. Once I caught me breath from the slide extravaganza, I grabbed my camera and started snapping away. It was their first time to play in sand and they enjoyed every minute of it. They played alone, played together, and I even caught them playing boy/boy girl/girl! They threw sand, ate it (Kylee of course), dug into it with sticks and piled it up on the concrete ledge. No doubt, they could have stayed all day long!

My lil' sand babies!

Brody & Kylee

The Korb

Kylee & Baxlyn

Sisters & Brothers (LOVE THIS!)

It was such a fun day and I'm so thankful God finally gave us some warm sunny beautiful weather to enjoy! It's supposed to be this beautiful alllllll weeeeeeeek loooonnng and I intend to get these lil' almost TWO YEAR OLDS (holy cow!) out as much as I can!

***To all of you Facebook peeps- Bret and I have a chance at winning a day at The Essence of Eve Med Day Spa and we need your help! Click on this link: http://www.facebook.com/#!/EssenceOfEveSpa , Scroll down to our family picture and comment saying you think we should win (if you do indeed think that, of course!) Thanks!***

Cabin Fever

The above picture is a pretty accurate illustration of how last week went down, although we had more ice than snow. The weather we endured was INSANE for Texas. We woke up Tuesday morning to nothing but ice and our freezing temperatures continued through Friday afternoon. It was a week of school/business closings, rolling blackouts, empty grocery shelves and facebook status weather dRaMa! On top of the ice, we were told by our weather guys to expect up to 1 inch of snow in parts of north Texas Friday morning. That one inch ended up being 4 inches and it continued to snow alllllll day long. I know you northerners laugh at the thought of 4-7 inches, but down here, that's unheard of!

I'm pretty sure only 4 people in North Texas went to work over the course of the week, Bret being one of them. Despite the dangerous roads and freezing temps, he went to work everyday, missing not one single hour... which is good I guess...no vacation time was wasted BUT it left me at home with all four babies and no where to go. Although we don't get out everyday, between therapy, house guests, trips to target and playdates we have plenty of ways to "change up" the average day. We spent our iced-in week, indoors, just the five of us and I did my best not to turn them into TV junkies. Thanks to things like coloring books, songs, Nemo, and turning the living room into a bounce house made of crib mattresses, we survived Cabin Fever!

How long until Spring?!?!?!

A Surprise in the Land of Oz!

This weekend 11 (and a half!) couples ran far from their children for a weekend getaway to Kansas. We traveled from all over the US all to wish one of our fellow quad mommas, Monica Graf, a happy 30th birthday! Billy, Moni's husband, has been planning this surprise bash for months and did a phenomenal job getting all of us all there without Moni finding out - husband of the year let me tell ya!

13 Moms 55 Kids and 1 Unique Bond

Jenn, Sandra, Jac, Birthday Girl Moni, Gen, Kami, Mari

Heather, Beth, Casey, AmyJo, Suz and Charity!

Thanks again to Billy for making this all happen and a special thanks to the many babysitters who watched all of the kids so we could all get away! Happy Birthday Moni! We Love You!