Life on Facebook

I’ve mentioned before that I’m a Facebook addict and how I depend on it for a connection to the outside world. I love posting little tid bits about my days (I’ll admit, I’m probably what many consider an “overposter”)  and love to keep up with others as well. During these days especially, nothing brings me more peace than seeing posts from my mom friends about what their kids broke, ate, peed on or tried to flush down the toilet that day. It’s posts and pictures like those that remind me that I am not the only soul on the planet trying to survive this crazy, yet blessed, road of parenting. I thought I’d do a post of some of the things going on on the Facebook page of Heather Cox these days. Enjoy these random status updates, and pictures or course ;)

“Brody "Mom, how bout if we are bad when we go to bed you could separate us. One could go in the playroom. One could go to blade's room. One could sleep in the livey-room and the rest of them could sleep in your bed." Not sure how many kids he thinks we have in this house but ok!”

“Conversation at lunch - korbin "baxlyn, what are you think you gonna be when you grow up?" Baxlyn "I was thinkin I was gonna be a farmer." Korbin "I'm gonna be a cowgirr!"

“The neighbor is walking around her yard in a bright yellow rain coat. I have the quads convinced its a GIANT yellow duck. Muaahaaahaaahaa!”

“Brody's prayer at dinner "dear Jesus, thank you for baby blade. Thank you for daddy, for bashi, korbin and thank you for kylee. Amen!" Once again, thanks buddy!”

“A (very clean) live scorpion just fell out of my washer. Nice.”

“Sometimes parenting involves daddy hiding in the boys room just before they go to bed and convincing them that there's a cow in their closet. Teehee...mean mommy & daddy. RRRoooaaarrrr! MOOOOOO!”

“Listening to Baxlyn singing in her bed "oh mit Donald had a farm e i e i o and on his farm he had......uh?.....oh mit Donald had a farm wit a pig....everyone oink oink, everyone oink oink!" So cute!”

“So I just woke up and talked to this Siri chick on my phone for the first time. I told her I was so tired she replied "listen to me heather. Put down this iPhone and go take a nap right now. I'll wait here." This is my kind of girl!”

“Brody "Mom, you are so handsome!" The best compliment I could ever get. Thanks buddy :]”

“One of the best feelings in the world? Forgetting that two of your kids are spending the night at Nana's house and remembering at the last minute! Enjoying some time with my four men!”

“I just got home from a long (fun) business meeting. Baxlyn peeked out their bedroom door and whispered "I want to habe a date wiff you. I wanna watch a mobie and habe a date wiff you." .....like I can say no to that!”

“Just a few of the questions during dinner... "why is mommy little? why is daddy big? why is blade only one baby? can we have a girr next time?" Oh, four year olds, the questions never end!”

Father’s Day!

“I sat watching these two play and decided to do some measurements for comparison. Baxlyn 32lbs, Blade 23lbs. Their wrists, ankles and biceps are the exact same and his thighs are an inch bigger. Geeeez!”

“They have no idea daddy and mommy went to get them a doggy of their own! They are going to be so happy!” – Bethany, while watching the quads while we went for Brooke.

“Daddy kinda bought the wrong size for night time pull ups... Maybe he was thinking their COMBINED weight? Ugh!”

“Yeah that sucks. Anyone wanna come change a diap?”

“I told her she could do a roman candle when she turned 7. five mins later daddy hooked her up, so much for that!”

Blade’s first 4th!

A trip to the pediatrician’s!

We arrived at swim lessons, I look back to this…

Baby Blade & Brody

Until next time

Meet Brooke!

It’s been a week since we welcomed Brooke, a red fox Labrador Retriever, into our family. We put our two dogs to sleep due to old age and complications before the quads turned 2 years old. To this day they all, especially Kylee, still talk about Rocky & Coco. As cute as they are, Bret and I didn’t want to deal with the puppy stage so we opted for an older dog. Our sweet girl will be six years old at the end of July and although she’s never been around kids, she has adapted great with our house full of them!

We were so anxious to see Brody, Baxlyn, Kylee & Korbin meet Brooke and to our surprise they were very calm, quiet and confused. We have a dog in the neighborhood who always escapes his yard and roams, he’s known as “Brown Dog” and apparently Brooke looks a lot like him. Upon seeing Brooke they thought she was Brown Dog and wondered why he was in our yard. It took some convincing that it was NOT Brown Dog and that this dog was theirs. Brody, Baxlyn & Korbin kinda laughed as they took it all in and Kylee, the one we were expecting a show out of, stood still staring for quite a while. It took some time but once it finally sunk in that this was HER dog she was over the moon excited!

Right off the bat, Brooke wanted to be center of the attention and didn’t mind 8 little hands all over her. SUCH a relief for Bret and I!

Brooke & Baby Blade <3

Kylee & Brooke <3

Korbin and Brooke, which he insisted was “Brooklyn” at first. Once he got her first name down he asked me what her middle name was, I told him I didn’t know and that’s when he decided it would be “Butterscotch”, after the runaway Butterscotch from a few weeks ago.

Baxlyn & Brooke <3

Brody & Brooke <3

The quads with their new BFF on the 4th of July. A side note: this is the girl's’ fourth (and hopefully final) year to wear these skirts – crazy!

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t in love with her too. She’s been near perfect so far. Has tons of energy, loves to fetch, is crate trained, potty trained, doesn’t jump and listens fairly well! Fingers crossed that she continues to be the perfect fit for our family!

Leveling the playing field–we’re expecting a GIRL!!

Estimated date of arrival:  July 3rd of 2013.

Approximate weight: 65lbs.

She has beautiful brown eyes, 4 legs and a beautiful coat of golden blonde hair!

That’s right, you can relax, I’m not pregnant.  If all goes as planned, we will be welcoming a Labrador Retriever into our family ~ TOMORROW! Obviously at 65lbs, we are not getting a puppy but an older dog in need of a good home. A little anxious about the whole transition for her as well as us but I’m praying things go smoothly and we all adjust in a short amount of time!

The best part? The quads have NO idea  

We’ll keep you posted!

Rewind–Preschool for Brody & Kylee!

I mentioned a while back that Brody & Kylee started preschool. They qualified for the PPCD class at our local elementary school due to health impairment/cerebral palsy/prematurity. The approval process is quite extensive and we got a start late so they only caught the last two months or so of school, which was a good way to ease us into the whole new world. They did great in school and loved every minute of it and Bret and I were happy as well. We had the opportunity to sit with their teacher, their principal, assistant principal and several other of the staff members to discuss everything about Brody & Kylee. From their issues in NICU to the long term effect it has had on them to their spunky personalities and struggles today, we covered it all! Much like their earlier days in ECI we came up with a game plan for each of them and set goals that we would all work on together, as a team, with Brody & Kylee. I was SO relieved to learn that they would work on things like putting on and taking off shoes, putting on/taking off shirts, climbing stairs, washing their hands properly…etc. along with basic learning like letters and numbers. I work with all of them at home on a regular basis but have a hard time teaching different kids in different ways to be effective with each one. We’re hoping that we can have PT and OT on board when they start in the fall which would only help even more. Brody and Kylee still struggle with tasks that their peers have had down for a while but are making process as time goes by!

Our sweet peas on their last day of school!

A little hard to see but here is Mrs. K’s person and next to it, Kylee’s!

Brody has very little  interest in coloring, tracing or writing at all. Creativity is not his thing. One task, specifically for him, was to draw a line between two given points as well as copy a “plus” sign. HUGE progress!

At this age, if they all do the exact same task, color the exact same picture or do the exact same craft, Bret and I can tell you whose is whose (if they are unmarked) with almost 100% accuracy. Their little personalities SHINE when it comes to their artwork. Here we have Kylee on the left who completes the task, leaving a few blank spots and Brody on the right who glued a couple of pieces on his number 5 and called it a day… I couldn’t help but laugh when I saw these. Yes, that would be Brody!

Kylee on the left & Brody on the right. They have stations at school and painting is a favorite for sure…

Brody copying the letters to spell his name

One of my favorite things about them being at school is obviously the fact that I get a break. Not only is it such a difference having 2 less kids, but these two kids are the ones I need the break from. Forgive me if that sounds horrible, nobody loves those two sugar plums more than their Mama, but they require a lot of individual attention and it’s tough sometimes. I think the hardest part of school was getting them up so dang early. They only went for a few hours a day but waking them up at 6:30am was new for all of us. Despite being up super early, they were always full of energy and had huge smiles on their faces each time I picked them up. Every day Kylee would tell me that “so and so helped me put my jacket on!” “so and so helped me with my backpack!” “my friend helped me and lefty put on my shoe!” – the fact that she has made friends and that they happily help her makes me SO so happy. I can only hope kids continue to be sweet and helpful as they get older. Brody never talked much about “friends” at school. He was always in a rush to jump in the car to see his “Tug” (yes, that would be Blade’s nickname around here. Not t-u-g as in tugging on a rope, but “Tug” as in SUG-ar…does that make any sense at all?). Another one of my favorite things is looking at their folders each day. I’m like a kid on Christmas, seriously. I love seeing their work and the sweet notes their teachers leave me. This one brought tears to my eyes…

While this one cracked me up. Inquisitive, yup, that’s Brody!

They had a day during their last week of school where they had to make a hat to wear with a letter of the alphabet on it. We chose “B” and “K” for their names and decorated them with things that also started with those letters. They’re were so excited to wear them to school. Kylee ran around frantically before we walked out the door that morning “MOMMY! WHERE is my hat?!?!” not realizing it was on her head! Notice Brody’s overalls? He thinks he is one cool farmer in them

“K” is for Kylee, kites and kittens!

“B” is for Brody, banjo, boots, and beans! –Shout out to Uncle Chris for the help on Brody’s sweet hat!

I had to include this picture of the construction of Brody’s hat. Uncle Chris (seen on the floor carefully tracing Brody’s ahem…unique head shape) is a perfectionist and wanted his hat to be just right! I’m not sure Brody understood exactly what was going on as his Papaw and Uncle Bradley held him upside-down! Oh gosh, just thinking about it cracks me up…his arms out straight to the side like that…bahaaa!

Thought I would share some of their Teacher Appreciation Week gifts. In addition to a couple of small hand-made tokens of appreciation made by Brody & Kylee (which I forgot to photograph, shame on me) we sent along some goodies too! Although I wish I could take credit for these adorable gifts, pinterest deserves the recognition!

Chocolate chip cookies in a jar with a note that reads “Thanks to you…We’re Smart Cookies!”

What teacher can’t use new pencils?! My favorite part is that this is CHEAP to do!

Pinterest may get the credit for my homemade laundry soap, but putting it in a jar and tying a cute little measuring cup to it with a satin ribbon is allllll me ;) Props to my sister for the cute wording “We’ve had loads of fun in your class!”

I added the recipe and directions on the back…

These two amigos have had a blast having some alone time too. If you’ve followed our blog for a while, you know Korbin and Baxlyn have a special bond. That bond has no doubt strengthened since getting more time away from Brody & Kylee. They love their brother and sister, don’t get me wrong, these two have just clicked in a way that’s hard to describe. You hear about that “twin thing” that some multiples have and these two have it for sure. It’s bittersweet that these two don’t qualify for the PPCD/Preschool class. They have no concerns of major delay which is good, but they don’t get to join their brother and sister which is no fun. There’s a small teeeeeeeny tiny chance they will qualify for next year based on income to dependents in the household but we won’t know for another month or so. I am PRAYING that somehow we’re able to send them as well and will be forced to come up with something as an alternative if it doesn’t work out. Now that summer is here, Korbin just KNOWS he get’s to go to school when it starts up again….eeek. Fingers crossed, Buddy!

Blade, Baxlyn & Korbin staying busy while the others are away. They all ALWAYS include their little brother. It is the sweetest thing. Whether playing “zoo” in one of the bedrooms or “camping out” in the playroom, they always want Blade right there with them!

Here’s to hoping school stays this great as the years approach us!

Father’s Day 2013

Why our four year olds love their Daddy?

Korbin - “I just want to give him flowers but he keeps saying ‘no’. I want Jesus to come to our house.”

Brody – “Cause I want him to bring home a puppy. He is SO strong!”

Baxlyn – “I lub Daddy because ebee-day when I hold him he lifts me on his head. That’s why ebee-day I lub him. When I grab his hand he swings me. Ebee-day he forgives me.”

Kylee – “Because he loves me.”

Thank you, Bret, for being such a great father. A role model, a provider, a boo-boo kisser, a comedian, a bug killer and the many other hats you wear, you wear them well and we love you for that!

Happy Father’s Day!

Blade’s First Tooth!

My hunk of goodness, at 7months old, cut his first tooth! I have been on the lookout for several months now and I finally spotted his two bottom teeth yesterday just below his gums. Thinking it would be a few more days before they actually broke through, I was surprised to see the first popped up today. So far he’s not been fussy and I wouldn’t have known had I not been watching closely, let’s pray it stays that way and his newcomers are nice to him :]

Congrats little buddy, that’s enough growing up for the time being