we're back....

Hi all... bobby and i are back from our mini-vacation/belated anniversary trip... we went to corpus christi and we had a blast... we left friday afternoon after we ran a few errands and got to the coast around 5pm... it really wasnt a long drive... a trip that i usually sleep through, i read through this time... we ate landry's on friday... they have the best stuffed jalapenos there.... that was the best thing i ate whole trip.. i also got some stuffed shrimp wrapped in bacon, whish bobby thought was the best.. but i was hooked on a the jalapenos... saturday we went to the texas state aquarium and i got the babies some souveniers... i got the boys little stuffed sharks and a dolphin and bekah got a little stuffed penguin... (penguins were my favorite animal when i was little)... then we ate at Joe's Crab shack... it was good but not as good as landrys... (or maybe i was still thinking about those jalapenos since i could see landrys from joes where we were sitting)... we left sunday morning at check out... it was a nice relaxing time... we stayed up late watching movies, swimming, and walking on the beach... and we (or should i say bobby) slept late... i couldnt sleep late... i guess my "inner" alarm clock was still set during vacation... we had a blast.. i did think about my babies though... bobby would ask me what i was thinking about... look at my face.. see my eyes tearing up.. and he'd say "you're thinking about the babies arent you?"... of course... here is a picture of us... we were finally in our room on friday... i took one when we were in the parking lot... kind of like how we took one on our honeymoon, but the flash was wacky and it didnt turn out very good... the babies all did well with my parents... they stayed at our house... and i had no concern that they would be good or for my parents... my concern was for me missing my babies... but i had fun and am looking forward to next years trip...

bobby had off on monday too so we took the babies to the park in nb... we had our very first train ride as a family and it was the quads first train ride ever... afterwards we had a little picnic in the park and played for a little while... we had a good time.. and i think the babies did too... we finally took them to the playground part and let them play and run around after lunch.. but since it was after lunch they were ready for their nap.. so we didnt play very long...

here is evan and seth on the cunductor's seat for the train.... the conductor and the person that sold us the tickets were very nice... the conductor was the one who suggested the picture on the seat...

here is bekah and austin... i know that austin's arm is in bekah's face... but it was the only one of the two of them looking at us...

here is the conductor with the babies... this was after the ride and they were getting hungry but the conductor sat through 3 pictures like this... he was very sweet and i think this is a pretty sweet picture...

after the park... we left to get bobby and i some lunch and the babies konked out... they were exhausted... and i was too ...

here is seth... he was actually the last one to fall asleep... he was talking but when we were waiting for our food he fell asleep...

they were really out cold... my camera makes a little "ring" noise when i turn it on and that usually brings their attention to me.. but not this time...

austin... he is usually the first one asleep and the first one awake... and he held true to form this time too...

bekah... she was a little fussy before finally falling asleep... but she did sleep and isnt she just the cutest girl..

and evan... he was the second one out cold... they played hard.. had full tummys... and were ready for a good nap.. and they did...

they had fun... we had fun... it was just a fun family day... we dont get out very much as a family but when we do it is a lot of fun... im glad to be home.. back to the "daily grind" of breakfast, play lunch, nap, play, dinner, play, bath, bed, sleep.... im not sure bobby is glad to be back to work... maybe next year we can make take a longer vacation than just two nights... but the time we did have this year was perfect.. i was ready to be home but once we got back to the city limits i thought to myself we could have at least stayed another night... but it was my idea of coming back on sunday... well maybe next year... i am glad to be home though... even though i dont think that the babies missed me at all....

this is your weekly episode of "a day in the life of quads"... hope you enjoyed it... by the by... happy birthday papa.... we love you...

me

lists, Lists, and more LISTS....

Well first of all i would like to say thank you for all of the encouraging words... so Thank You... as you can tell by my title i have been making a lot of lists this week... bobby and i are going on a belated anniversary trip to the coast for the weekend.. im looking forward to it, but it is the first time i will be leaving the babies over night period... thankfully my parents are going to watch them and stay at our house so that the babies have more room to run around... anyway.. believe it or not i actually had to put blogging on one of my many lists or it wouldnt have gotten done... bobby and i have mowed every night this week after we put the babies down to sleep... so we are really trying to get the house clean inside and out... i think that we have finally gotten the yard work done... thankfully.. i enjoy mowing.. it is a good work out... and i just enjoy it... all i need to do now is cut and bathe maddie (our dog), vaccume, wash sheets, and pack... well now that i have rambled sufficiently about lists and cleaning, ill move on the babies...
We had our physical therapy on tuesday.. it went well... we were given things to work on with them some easy and some... well not hard, just.... hard when you have four babies you are trying to teach at the same time...

Like our therapist wants us to work on using an open cup instead of using a straw cup... well with four babies all i can say is that the concept is good but actually trying this.... i am likely to go insane on training my babies to use an open cup rather than a straw... i have tried it a few times and each time i just get... i guess frustrated.. not with the babies, just with the water that is now in their laps, plates, and table... and then they want to play with the spilled water... so... i know i just need to keep getting them used to the open cup... its not like im filling the cup too much either... our therapist wants us to teach them the word "more" so its just a few sips of water in their cup and then they are "supposed" to ask for more water... well again this is much easier said than done... well i guess we will just have to continue to practice... im thinkinh it might be easier to learn the word "more" with food rather than water...

they did learn a new word yesterday... there was a tractor out mowing near our mailbox.. so now they all are saying tractor... i think austin might really like the way tractor sounds... cause sometimes he'll just say it... and also every truck or train we see in a book is now a tractor... so need to work on that... lets see i think last week or the week before seth started to say "happy guy" now every one says it...its so cute... when we ask him "seth are youa happy guy" he gets this funny grin and says "happy guy"... we also are saying apple and happy.. so they are doing really well with their speech and vocabulary... and i did have more pictures than this but i accidentaly deleted two of them... so maybe next week.. ill be more careful about the delete button...

anyway.. we do covet your prayers on their speech and vocab.. and our trip this weekend, and of course bekah's surgery...

nice "talking" to ya'll... talk to you later...

andrea

Here is your weekly update on "a day in the life of quads"... not very much has happened this week... we were supposed to have a pt session, but there were some scheduling conflicts so we will probably be having therapy next week... i guess so far the biggest thing that has happened is i took bekah to her eye appointment... she seemed to have been getting better and not crossing her eyes as often... monday she did it only 3 out of 10 times.. the other two days it was around 5 out of 10... in previous weeks.. she would cross them 7 or 8 times... so it seems like an improvement (to me)... i told the doctor this and he examined her.... his concern is that 5 even though it has dropped is a lot... and also that when she crosses them they stay crossed for awhile.. they dont immediately return.... so we are scheduled for surgery for August 21 at 9am.... im trying not to think about it... i feel that if i do... i WILL start worrying... he says that their is a possibility that it will "fix" for awhile but then might go back to crossing them and have to do another surgery... he also said that their is a possibility that surgery could fix her eyes crossing out but might make them cross in... so again surgery... or their is the possibilty (which im praying for and ask that you do to) is surgery will fix her eyes from crossing at all... and of course their is the possibility of losing the eye... so im trying not to think on that... the good news in all this is... we are going back for another appointment in two weeks Aug 6... where he will measure her eyes again... just checking her near and far sightedness. we are still praying for a miracle that she wont have to have surgery at all... but knowing its already scheduled... is a little stressful... and again im really not trying to think about it... i just hope and pray that if she does have surgery her eyes will be corrected and not need another surgery...

for other other little ones... they are doing well... babbling and mimicing us so much... its a lot of fun to listen to them jabber and say words... very cute to hear how their voices will sound.... this pic is from sunday... everyone in jean and white polo... they looked so cute.. but i dont think our church nursery likes that we put them in matching outfits all the time... thankfully this last sunday my friend was in the nursery and she is able to tell them apart.... they are doing very well in the nursery.. pretty much every time we drop them off we have a crier.. and usually someone different every time...

they are doing pretty well... our baby fish are still alive but one of our original fish "little black" died last night... we gave him a burial at sea... it was a little sad.. cause we have had them since the fourth of july weekend.. he was or seemed fine yesterday but he was dead last night.... our other "originals" are still swishing.... so... my mom got bekah a doll stroller the other day but no dolls have made it in... the boys would rather sit in it and be pushed around than push around a doll... bekah too... as soon as i set it up for her.. she grabbed the doll out and pushed around an empty stroller till i think it was austin figured out he could sit in it... very cute ill post some pics of that at the next post... im thinking about our birthday pics we will be getting done in january... either black and white or i dont know... i keep going to black and white.. but bobby doesnt want to discuss it yet because its too soon... so he says... i like to plan and have lists... and i plan WAY in advance... i dont know... anyway.. im just rambling now sooooo ill "talk" to ya'll later....

i hope you have enjoyed this segment of "a day in the life of quads"...

andrea

TWINS....

we have unknowingly added onto our family... it was not planned... and it truly was by accident... we have welcomed into our family... TWINS..... if you cannot tell... those two black spots are baby fish... the bigger fish was acting weird last week.. she would nip at all the other fish we have in the tank.. and i even thought about calling the store we got them at to see if this was normal.. because the fish we got were supposed to be compatible with each other.. i had even mentioned to bobby that maybe it was a girl and she was "pregnant" and he of course told me fish dont get pregnant... well we got them at the beginning of july... and know we are the proud parents of nemo and nemo II.... i know this isnt the best pic... but i thought it wsa pretty cool... we didnt see any fish eggs... so i dont know... well thats it... i just wanted to let out a "birth announcement" of our newest family members....

by the by.. i will be updating later on this week about another "day in the life of quads"..

me

PICS....finally

hey all.... just thought i would put some pics on... we took these on sunday at church... needless to say our hams of children really didnt feel like being hams when we were taking pictures.... but we had planned on pictures and we were all matching so it was going to happen even if "we" didnt want it to happen....

obviously here is daddy with bekah who just didnt want to smile at all....... as an update we go back to the eye doctor next thursday... he said that we will probably be discussing surgery then... but he has said that 2 visits ago also... so we might stillbe watching her after that appointment.. thankfully and weirdly enough im not really worried... YET....

here is Seth with Mimi.... he is doing well... he and Evan had an evaluation on thursday from his Physical and Occupational therapists....i cant believe its been a year already from when they started.... it seems like ive known our therapists for much longer.... they are awesome... they are very pleased with how they are progressing.... the only reason they are keeping them in for "therapy" is because the speech therapist requested them in... so when our physical therapist comes she will really be working on speech... im really excited about this... im ready for them to be talking consistently.. and yes.. i do know what im wanting and asking for...

here they are with their cousins.... we just really didnt want to take pics... in fct the reason bekah is crying is because she wanted her Papa to be holding her.... also the reason we took these pics is because bekah's dress matched her oldest cousins dress.. so of course we had to take a picture... i forgot my camera, but my sister remembered hers... thankfully.....

and at last one big happy family..... we're doing well.... im definately ready for the weekend.... although nothing really planned... might go see a movie with my mom and sister.... yes that means bobby will have the babies by himself.. which i dont think has ever happened... but its during nap... but even if it wasnt he could handle it... he really is a GREAT dad... my sister taught me how to put pics on.. so ill try to keep up...

well i do hope you have enjoyed your weekly installment of "A Day in the Life of Quads" it really is much more fun than i can put into words.... and i am just extremely happy with how my life has changed since i learned i was even pregnant.... God is GOOD!