Who Do They Look Like?

Hello again!

Many of our friends and family ask us, "Who do the quints look like?"  Well, I thought we'd see for ourselves.  Here are some photos as Michael as a baby.

And here are some photos of me as a child.

And here are our kiddos.  What do you think?

Clara

Luke

Ava

Millie

Isabelle

Learning to Live in the Moment

Hello Again!

I'm so sorry it's taken me so long to write.  This month has been full of firsts.  From smiles to head turns to sleeping in the nursery, we are making great strides!

Still, there are moments that I'm totally overwhelmed.  When five babies are hungry and we only have two adults to feed them. When the first baby I bathe poops in the bath water.  When I realize I haven't been alone in my house since August.  All of these things can overwhelm me, but I'm trying to learn to hang my hat on the good moments.  The smiles, the coos, the cute outfits.  These moments keep my spirit afloat.  The other night, Millie was working on her smile.  Here's her progression.

Of course, smiling is hard work, so a nap is a necessary recovery method.

Smiling came a little more easily to Clara and Luke.

Happy Clara!

Luke loves selfies with Jess!

Smiles really started to come for Ava when we allowed her a bit of naked time.

Michael's parents were generous enough to host a shower for us in Connecticut.  Since traveling is difficult these days, we Skyped in to introduce our new family to Michael's family and friends. This was one of the first times I played dress up with the quints and boy was it fun!

L to R:  Millie, Clara, Izzy, Ava, and Luke

Izzy pretty much slept through the entire thing, but she loved cuddling with her sisters (see far right).

Luke quickly grew weary of all of this drama.

We were also happy to welcome Michael's mom's cousin, Terri, to meet the quints.  Millie especially loved her girl talk with Terri.

We were also thrilled to welcome my sister, mom, and Emma Kate (my eight-year old niece) this weekend.  The quints LOVED Emma Kate and her mom, Leigh Leigh!

Lastly, my friend Mairi hosted a little get together this weekend to officially welcome the quints home.  Thanks to my mom, the kiddos were ready for their close up.  

L to R:  Millie, Izzy, Luke, Clara, and Ava

Millie and Izzy

Michael and I loved seeing our friends and family for this special day.  I certainly had a moment when I looked around and realized that THESE are my children and THIS is my life.  Yes, that life is overwhelmingly chaotic, but it's full of love, joy and the sweetest smiles I've ever seen.  

The one thought I'll leave you with is this.  Know that in this time of hate, fear, and judgment, know that kindness is real.  Love exists.  People can and do give without expectation of anything in return.  Their is beauty in love, forsaking all things and all others.  

We thank each one of you for your love and support.  Without our family and friends, we wouldn't have made it to where we are today.

From our days in the NyICU in Arizona...

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To our insta-family in our Virginia home!

Four Letter Words

Sorry it's taken me so long to post an update!  We've been fighting the worst four letter word you can imagine--SICK.

About three weeks ago, our sweet Clara started out with a little cough.  At first we thought she was just clearing her throat, but when we took her to the doctor for her vaccines (ugh), they confirmed it was an upper respiratory infection.

Poor, Clara.  She wasn't herself.  She coughed.  She sneezed.  She cried.  She vomited. It was horrible.  We quarantined her from the rest of the kiddos in hopes that it wouldn't spread.  We even assigned certain people to care for Clara so they wouldn't contaminate the others.  We even put on t-shirts when caring for Clara and then took them off and washed them before touching the others.

Cuddling is the best medicine!

You must be thinking, "Wow--great work!".  Ha.  The four letter word then spread to Ava (insert another four letter word here that Mom would prefer I not use on the blog).  Poor Ava.   She coughed.  She sneezed.  She cried.  She vomited.  All while Clara did the same. It was terrible.  We hoped the worst was over, but then something even more unfathomable happened.  My mother in law, the caregiver in chief, got the sickness. Ginny was taking charge of the night shift and with her sickness, Michael and I would have to step up.  We did and we thought the had the sickness contained.

It was another three days before Izzy got the illness.  And again, sweet Isabelle wasn't herself.  She coughed.  She sneezed.  She cried.  She vomited.  She vomited so much that she began to wheeze and get dehydrated.  After a trip to the doctor, he confirmed that if Izzy continued in this direction, we would have to hospitalize her.  Needless to say, we were panicked.  We backed off to smaller, more frequent feedings and did a lot of praying. Thank goodness Izzy pulled through without hospitalization.  Unfortunately, before she recovered, she gave the illness to Millie who, in turn, gave it to Luke.  You know the drill....they coughed.  They sneezed.  They cried.  They vomited.  Just today I think we are turning the corner.  We've been sick for almost a month.  Oh my cow...how will I ever make it through pre-school?!

All while this was happening, we said goodbye to my mom and Michael's mom.  Our moms have been AMAZING.  They've cooked, cleaned, burped, cleaned poop/spit up, all while hardly sleeping.  We've been so grateful to have them as long as we did.

Michael's parents, Ginny and Charlie with the kiddos

My mom, Kaye, with Millie

My mom with Ellie and Isabelle

In saying goodbye to our moms, we say hello to our au pairs.  Can I just tell you how AWESOME they are?!  They're awesome.  We love them.  We welcomed Merle from Germany and Jess from Sweden two weeks ago.  These are no ordinary au pairs--they are superstar au pairs.  Already they've introduced us to German and Swedish food (mainly candy!), organized my kitchen, and loved on my babies.  They already feel like our family.  I can't say enough about how much we love them.  Here's Jess catching up on her reading.

In other news, we had an Ellie scare.  She's been a bit more desperate for attention (imagine that!), and she's been acting out.  Lately, she's been getting into the trash.  Well, late on Friday I found her vomiting uncontrollably in the family room.  After talking to poison control, and desperately calling one of our babysitter friends from down the road, I took Ellie to the vet to find out she'd eaten a tampon.  (Insert another four letter word that Mom wouldn't like).

The doctor said that since tampons expand in liquid, Ellie may not be able to pass it, so we may be looking at exploratory surgery.  You can imagine my stress level when combining this with caring for five newborns.

So, we kept a close eye on Ellie over the weekend (meaning I was on poop patrol). Luckily, things have improved dramatically and she's resting comfortably.  Thank goodness we avoided the surgery!

Ellie getting some much needed snuggles (and Dad getting some much needed rest)

The last milestone of note happened on Sunday morning.  Michael has been taking a major portion of the night shift duty (while working full time) and as a result, he's exhausted.  I got up for the 4:00 am feed on Sunday morning and told him to keep sleeping until more kiddos woke up.  Well, Izzy woke up first.  I fed her and changed her diaper.  She went right back to sleep.  Luke woke up.  He ate and burped well and just as I was about half way through, Ava woke up.  I put Ava in the Boppy pillow and fed her while Luke finished and burped.  I changed Luke while Ava sucked on her pacifier and then I finished Ava as Millie woke up. I got Millie started eating while I changed Ava and put her back to bed.  Just then, Clara woke up and I double fed Clara and Millie before changing them both and putting them back to bed.  I did it!  I fed all five kiddos!  And Michael got to sleep!  I felt like Mom, Ninja Warrior.  I floated on a cloud for about an hour and then realized how exhausted I was.

Just again this morning, though, I woke up for the 4:00 am feed.  Again, I told Michael to sleep until more kids woke up.  Well, Luke woke first and I fed him.  Followed by Izzy. Followed by Ava.  Followed by Millie.  Once they were all fed, changed, and back asleep, I woke Clara and fed/changed her.  As I sit here now, I've fed all five kiddos alone (again!) and I am feeling better about myself.  Maybe we'll make it after all!

I Don't Know How You Do It

Greetings!

I hope everyone is doing well.  We are getting settled back in our Virginia home and my my, is it a different kind of normal.  The grandmas are still here helping us (God bless them!), but they will be departing soon as the au pairs arrive.

As you can imagine, with five kiddos, so many people will look at my insta-family and say, "I don't know how you do it!".   I simply smile and say, "Well, someone has to!".  I have the blessing and the curse of not having any children before I had five children.  So, I don't know what a "normal" nap schedule is like or how to only make one bottle for every feeding.  I simply don't have any sense or perspective at this point--and this can be good and bad depending on the scenario.

Since so many people have asked, I thought I show you a bit of the mechanics of what makes a quint household run.

As I said, we feed about every four hours with five bottles at a time, of course.  My mom (KK) is our "chemist" and makes the bottles several hours in advance.  Three of our kids are on one kind of formula and two are on another.  So, KK is mixing two formulas and measuring for each feed.  God bless the KK!  I'll assume this duty when our moms leave, and the au pairs will be a great help.

We also bought a new car!  This is the Nissan NV, also known as "Bubba" as in "Bubba Bus."  Bubba comes highly recommended to us from other moms of quads and quints.  The seats come out and in easily and at capacity it can hold 12 people.  Hopefully this will last us a while!

Feeding five hungry babies simultaneously can be challenging, especially with only two people.  With Michael now back at work, we have three women home with the kiddos full time.  This in addition, of course, to the amazing volunteers who have been coming out to the house to help hold babies and wash bottles.  If you are a volunteer, please accept my sincerest gratitude.  I'm definitely living day to day and you guys are such a welcome source of support.

But as I was saying, feeding can be tricky, especially if all of the kids wake up at the same time.  Typically four people do the 10:00 pm feed; then, two people will do the 2:00 am feed; and two people do the 6:00 am feed.  With the early morning feeds, the two people have to get creative (and quick!).  To help in this endeavor, Michael and I purchased two Table for Twos.  This product is a life-saver for moms of multiples.  I'll write more about this product later.

Clara and Millie model the Table for Two.

Other funny photos...a box of pacifiers?  You got it!

Collection of Rock N Plays?  Check.

Three changing tables?  Oh yeah.

Things are chaotic here to say the least.   Hope you guys are sleeping more than I am!

Oh Virginia

Greetings All!

Well, we're home.  :Deep breath:

I'll say it again.  We're home.  I can hardly believe it, but I am more grateful than words could ever express.  The journey home was exhausting, but so worth it.  Let me catch you up a bit.

As you may know, a very generous friend helped us get home by way of private jet. We are so grateful to that family as well as to those of you who tried to help us find a way home.  There are no words to be able to tell you how supported I feel.  Thank you.  From my parents' friends from high school to my friends from my hometown to our new friends in Cville to nurses in the NyICU at St. Josephs, thank you for your generosity and love.  I believe it's Proverbs 22:9 that says the "generous will themselves be blessed."  God bless you, generous ones, we are so grateful.

Once we learned that we could fly home via private jet, we began to pack up our Arizona house.  A big thank you to the St. Joseph's NyICU nurses who came to help with the children while we packed.  We couldn't have done it without you.

I'm still recovering physically from my C-section and being on my feet all day as I packed up the rental house was by far one of the toughest physical activities I've had during this postpartum period.  Still, I did go to my last postpartum check up and I've been cleared for all physical activity.  That's a good thing because I'm pretty sure I'll never rest again.  Oh well--on we go!

We packed up the Arizona house and prepared for departure.  Both Michael's and my moms are in AZ with us, so we flew my mom back to Virginia ahead of us to prepare for the arrival and Michael's mom stayed behind and helped us get on the plane.  Then, she flew to Virginia behind us.

The private jet experience was one like I'd never experienced.  I certainly understand the luxury behind this industry.  Wowsa!  We caused quite a spectacle with our five car seats, dog, and 3 adults piling onto this luxurious jet.  Many heads turned as we transferred car seat after car seat out of the car and into the plane.  The kids did SO well on the plane--it must've been that excellent care!

Ready for departure!  Five car seats and all!

We fed all five kiddos two meals while in flight.  I'm afraid I didn't receive the beverage service, but the kids did!

Landed safely in VA!

Millie was bored the entire flight..no movie to watch!

We asked one of the amazing nurses at the nursery ICU at St Joseph's in Arizona to fly on the jet with us in case a medical emergency arose.  She was a rock star.  Changed diapers, fed meals, and kept ME calm all in the course of three hours.  Her husband even drove us to the airport.  We absolutely adore their family.  

After loading into our family's cars, we arrived home.  What a treat.  I think I finally breathed a sigh of relief.  We made it.  I'd gotten our family home.  Maybe these super mommy powers were a real thing?

Many thanks to Screenco (and my Dad) for this adorable sign!!

As we walked into this home that I hadn't seen for almost six months, I smelled the "my house" smells and saw all of the items I'd lovingly furnished our home with.  I immediately felt more in control of this chaos and ready to tackle my new challenge of managing this family.

The first few nights were tough because the kids were adjusting to the new setting (and the new time zone), but with the help of two sets of grandparents, we made it through.  I can't tell you the amount of joy it brings me to watch my children with my parents. My dad can sing some excellent songs as he holds these little ones. He's especially charmed little Ava.  She thinks he's the best thing since sliced bread!

Given that we flew home, we had to leave our car in Phoenix.  Michael's father left VA on Sunday and flew back to Phoenix and promptly drove our car back cross country.  Talk about an act of love!  We're so grateful to him and Michael's aunt, Aunt Margie.  She lives in Scottsdale and has been such a source of support for us. She joined Michael's dad on the drive back east.  It was great for him to have company!

As we got settled, exhaustion set in.  After such a big trip (and lots of packing/unpacking), we were also only sleeping in 2-3 hour spurts.  Unfortunately, for me, I also developed mastitis.  I was dealing with fever, chills, body aches, and breast pain all in the course of adjusting to our new way of life. Thankfully we have both grandmas here with Michael and me as we prepare for our au pairs to arrive in February.  I'm so thankful for our friends who have been bringing dinners and helping with babies this week.  I know I  couldn't have done it without them!

First trip to the pediatrician

The first trip to the pediatrician went well.  We got all of the kiddos to the appointment on time, dressed in coordinating outfits, of course.  Everyone is gaining weight and the doc is pleased with their progress.  Luke, Isabelle, and Clara are all above six pounds.  Millie is 5.14 and Ava is coming up at 4.12.  Given Ava's surgery (and the fact that she's only taking breast milk), this is great progress.

That's about all for now!  Babies just started crying for the 10:00 pm feed, so I best get moving.  They are eating on a 3.5 hour schedule, so I feed them, pump, and then try to sleep for an hour or so before doing it again.  Please let me know if you're in VA and would like to come hold/feed a baby, I'll take you up on it (as long as you've had your vaccines).  

More to come later!

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