Sunday, August 30, 2009

On the move!

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Boy what a difference a week makes in quadville. The girls are doing so awesome. We are so proud of them. We now have three crawlers! Samantha strickly crawls now, Sandra crawls and rolls to get places and Hannah rolls and crawls backwards. Makaila has done great this week also with rolling more and holding all bottles. Actually, I wonder what happened because we haven’t used props in awhile now. Yeah girls! We have tried them with sippy cups. Sandra did the best but just couldn’t figure out how to get the last bit. So with the new crawlers in town it takes more energy to follow or return a baby back to the flock. We were going to baby gate the kitchen when they started crawling but have decided that since we still have a pallet full of foam mats (yes, we did the math way wrong on the second order) to cover the kitchen too. Other than that, the kitchen is baby proofed.

We have been trying to get the girls to want to hand feed themselves. Samantha still loves her Cheerios but they are just too small for the other three to grab. One night we gave them biter biscuits. Yes, I said one night, and it will only be that one night. They are the messiest things, it took awhile to clean up that mess. They have eaten small pieces of bananas and avacodos. They love vanilla pudding so we decided to try chocolate/vanilla pudding. And would you believe it, we think Sandra might be allergic to chocolate. How could a daughter of mine be allergic to chocolate? Let’s put it this way, I had Josh buy ME a triple chocolate cake this week to curve a craving. Sandra got a small rash on her precious face after eating a few bites. Luckily, she did not inherit the NEED for chocolate.

Even though the girls require more attention and time right now it is so much fun! It is so awesome to see them interact with each other, the dog, cats and us. They each have their own games and personalities! They each have a certain trait to make us laugh and they do it to see us laugh! And they laugh with us! It is so darn cute! We are so blessed!

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Alright, alright, I know it’s been over a week since you have heard from us! Let’s get to the nitty gritty! Hmmm! Where to start? Let’s start with tooth count…teeth are coming in causing for a little bit more noise around here. Samantha has four teeth, Sandra two (working on two more) Hannah and Makaila each have one (working on another). Foods…we have been trying new foods and textures. They recently had mac and cheese, sliced cheese, pudding, jello, beef, baked potato, pasta and tomato sauce. Oh it’s been messy at times but oh so fun. They still love their fresh fruit and yogurt. Development…The girls turned 10 months on Monday! Makaila, Hannah and Samantha are sitting by themselves and can pick up toys to play with. Sandra is just too wiggly to sit still. She does do an amazing trick; she can lay on the ground and arch her back that only the top of her head and her tippy toes touch. It is so weird to see. I am so afraid that she is going to hurt her neck. They each have their own game they like to play and love to make us laugh.

Josh and I have been trying to have a date night for several months. Anytime we plan one something comes up and we have to reschedule. We had three this week. The first was on Monday. I was having a bad day and couldn’t drive so he took me to my doctors appointment. Thank you Lynn again for a last minute notice of helping Deb with the girls while I was gone. Tuesday Josh called me and said he had bad news. He was unable to go in reverse in the car. So, we had a date to the auto shop (for a new clutch and battery) and stopped for ice cream. Finally last night we had enough and wanted a real date night. We went to the Astro’s baseball game. We had a good time and it was nice to be together and not at a doctors office. Thank you G-Ma for watching the girls so we could finally get out.

Last Wednesday Deb and I brought all four girls to the prosthetics for head scans and “official” measurements. He told us that he wished they were in helmets a few months ago for best results. Oh well! Anyway, the girls of course did fabulous even though they had to wear a ridiculous sock over their head. Because we are getting three and having to pay cash they are giving us a nice discount. They will help us fight our insurance but we can’t wait since we already missed big growths. The girls will be in helmets for atleast 4 months. After that if they show sings of growth they may wear it another month. They go back Sept. 2nd for fitting and will actually start to wear them the following week.

Josh finished another semester of school, only two more to go. And as if you were curious he still has a 4.0. How he does it amazes us all. Good Job Daddy. He is VERY busy at work right now. And he starts teaching two classes on Tuesday and taking three classes himself. It is going to be a difficult semester for him so please keep him in your thoughts.

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Monday, August 10, 2009

Teeth, Ice Cream, Cheerios, Big Cups

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Alright, I hate starting posts like this but we have been so busy lately. Every time I think we had a busy week the next one is crazier. First, I’ll start off with some good news. I started to see a new doctor. It took me 45 minutes to get there and over an hour to get home. However, the drive is worth it. I felt that she listened to me and was whole heartedly concerned about my situation. She said that I had brought in enough reports and results to confirm IC but she has a totally different treatment plan. She is going to be more aggressive is trying to get me out of the severe spasm that I have been in since January. Instead of shock treatments which are not proved to be effective I will be getting a “cocktail” put in my bladder weekly for 8 weeks. People get immediate results (two hours up to a week). She now has me on five different meds. To be honest, I feel less spasms in the morning now. By the afternoon I am bad again which means I need to increase my meds. It is all gradual though. The side effects are less except the dropping to my knee migraines which should lessen in two weeks. So I am hopeful and actually see a difference in my whole self.

Josh will be going out of town on Wednesday for work. And something came up at his work recently that will keep him very busy for the next several months. So it is a good thing that G Ma is actually flying in right now to help out. The girls and I have several appointments and the extra hands are needed. Whenever G Ma flies in to help I have a list a mile long of chores that need to be done while she is here. Josh has 4 projects (they are big projects) on his list (or the list I wrote for him). I am happy to say that we are getting some rain right now. Oh I hope it is enough, not too much to cause flooding but enough to get us out of this drought.

The girls are so amazing! We love them so much it is insane. They are so fun to play with and watch them learn. The other night Josh was throwing a ring and making it spin when it landed (it was a cool trick). Samantha thought she’d give it a try and now drops the ring and giggles if it rolls. Samantha and Sandra are about to get their top two teeth. If I look after nap time they may have cut them. Samantha just takes it in her stride while Sandra is a little fussier.

We have changed their dinner time to 4:45 working up to 5:00. I wanted them to be in their feeding tables while Josh and I ate dinner. So I try to have dinner ready by the time they get up and just heat it up while cleaning them up after they eat. That way they watch us eat and if there is something on our plate they can have they can try it. They recently have drank water from our glasses and have ice cream with us. We put the ice cream on a spoon and they feed themselves. Speaking of feeding themselves they now are getting Cheerios. Samantha is the best at feeding herself, she loves it! Makaila is great at picking them but instead puts her thumb in her mouth with the Cheerios in her fist. Any one have ideas on getting a infant to stop sucking her thumb I am all ears. Hannah is constantly coming up with new noises, she is so comical. Samantha and Sandra are really close to Maxine and roll/scoot over to hang out with her. They love their kisses from her and play with her.

Ten minutes after G Ma arrived she finds two teeth in Hannah. Now you don’t understand I have not found the “first” teeth. I am constantly sticking my finger in someone’s mouth to check for teeth and she is here ten minutes and finds them. So, I had a long talk with Makaila and told her to pull through for me and wouldn’t you know it; she did. Thank you Makaila! I found a tooth on her right before I put her to bed.

p.s. Sorry about all the red eyes in the video. Something you just got to deal with four blue eyed girls and a blue eyed Daddy!

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Oh money tree, oh money tree!

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Oh money tree, oh money tree; where are you? The girls went to the plastic surgeon today. Yes, they were supposed to go last week and after changing their schedule and loading them up the appointment it was canceled due to the doctor in emergency surgery. At first I was so mad then felt guilty since a poor family was awaiting the results of their sweet angel in surgery. Ok so back to todays appointment. Josh had a meeting to attend and was unable to be home to help. Today I conquered something that I have feared (since my medical issues) for a long time. I got all four girls fed, dressed, ready and the hard part loaded for the appointment. It is very difficult to get two of them in the third seat of our Yukon. Anyways I did it! Sandra, Makaila and Samantha need cranial helmets. Ok not a surprise to us. The surprise comes in when we find out that our insurance does not cover them. I was quoted over the phone $2800 per helmet today. We will make things work but I am going to look darn hard for that money tree. It is a good thing that I can load the girls by myself as I will be probably doing it more often now since they will be seen weekly for six weeks. I just need to find strength in order to load and unload the stroller.

Sunday, I went through the girls clothes and realized we had 82 pairs of shorts and two tee shirts. So, we took the girls to Target to buy some tee shirts. While there I noticed that Samantha had scratched her left eye. So Monday morning I had to take her to the pedi’s office to get some ointment. The scratch was small but irritated her, as she kept rubbing her eye, she poor girl. Another project I did was down load 1702 pictures to cds since my aunt and mother in law recently lost everything on their computers. I would have cried for a month if I had lost all the pictures since 10-17-18.

I am excited that tomorrow is my appointment with the new urologist. I hope that they are able to continue my bladder shocking treatment with little or no break. I am doubtful but also hope that they have more answers for me. The next couple months will be busy for us with lots of appointments. But, if it ain’t busy around here something’s wrong!

Saturday, August 1, 2009

Babe, you won't believe this!

"Babe, you wont believe this!" is not something you want to wake up to. The girls refrigerator/freezer died AGAIN! I am so angry. We have lost so much food in the last couple months. I buy the girls fruit in bulk and freeze. I also buy a TON of meat cook and freeze. This in the 4th time in the last few months that the frig has died. Last time the store was kind enough to give us store credit for a new one. We bought one that was twice as expensive and a different brand. Oh my! I can't believe how mad I am right now. So today, I had set a side to go through the girls clothes, an all day event, and can't. Instead, I need to go though and rearrange food. I am going to go through the inside refirg/freezer and put food that I won't need this week in a neighbors freezer and put the girls food in the inside freezer. Each time this happens the company promises to reinburse our food (once not 4 times). But I have not gotten the form to fill out. The company is not a small one either. It is a big company! I WILL NEVER BUY FROM THEM AGAIN. I WOULD ADVICE THE SAME OF YOU! DO NOT BUY FROM CONN'S APPLIANCE!