Friday, December 5, 2008

I love my kids

I love taking pictures of my kids, and I love having great pictures taken of them. Today we went to Sears, and had Christmas pictures taken (for the 2nd time). They turned out so great!!!! It was work, and the photographer was very patient and great with the kids. So, since they came out so good, I thought I would share with all of you.

Jeremy
Samantha

Christian


Paige


(L to R) Jeremy, Samantha, Christian, Paige (on the bottom)




(L to R) Christian, Samantha, Jeremy, Paige






(L to R) Samantha, Jeremy, Paige, Christian







Sunday, November 30, 2008

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was great. I got to sleep in a bit, and then cook and then eat! Wonderful!! The kids decided that Turkey is the most vile thing in the world, but they got over it. Friday I was going to go Black Friday shopping, but I couldn't be bothered to get up.... 6am is REALLY EARLY. Greg and Nicole came to visit (along with their kids of course!!) and they stayed until after dinner. It was so much fun. It was nice to visit with Greg and Nicole and play with the kids. Our kids had a great time, and can't wait for them to come back.

We are gearing up for their 5th birthday party. I can't believe that they are going to be 5 in less than 2 weeks!! Where did the time go? It seems just like yesterday that I was in the hospital still pregnant with them. Wanting everyday to give birth to them. Wanting them out so I could meet them, and now... I would give everything I have to be able to put them back in. I want to keep them small forever. I don't want them to grow up. Where did my babies go? They ride bikes now, and they write and are trying to learn to read, I think they are ready to go to college already. Then there are moments when I can't wait for them to go to school. I think they are going to love it, although Christian told me that "learning is boring" today. Samantha is going to think school is the best thing. I really think she will love it. Jeremy will probably have so much fun and Paige is going to have a hard lesson to learn about listening to the teachers and letting go of her stubborn streak. I think once she learns that she will love being in school. Christian, on the other hand, I am not sure where that is going to go. I think he will love recess, other than that.... I have no idea! But that's okay. It's going to be fun. I can't wait to be the volunteer mom... bringing things in, going on field trips all that fun stuff.

Okay, I have rambled on long enough. That is about all I have to say for tonight.

Monday, November 24, 2008

Things I am thankful for...

I love my kids. They are definitely the best thing that has ever happened to me. I look at them and it makes me smile. I remember why I was put on this earth. I am so grateful for them, and some days, my love for them overwhelms me. Today is one of those days. It seems like it is the simple things in life that make me the happiest.

When they are at Karate, they all strive to be the best behaved so they can be the kid to ring the gong. Samantha has been chosen 3 times, and she lets everyone know it! Jeremy, Paige and Christian talk about it on the way to class. Every day they tell me that they are going to be the one to ring the gong. Christian is the one who talks about it the most. He loves his Sensei, and he wants to please her. He wants to be the one she picks, because that means that he is being singled out, that he is special. Well, today Christian got to be that kid. He was SO excited. He was in the dojo, and called to me "Mommy, I got to ring the gong!!!" He had such a smile on his face, and I almost cried! I was so proud of him. I love it when they get to feel the pride that I feel for them when they are being the great kids I know they can be! He was so excited to come home and tell Daddy, and I was really excited for him.

Even Paige, who often has trouble with her focus at class, did a really good job. She had trouble when she ran herself into a wall, and then she just fell apart for the rest of the class. I am sure she will be able to handle it better next week.

I went to Church yesterday, and it was nice. It was very different from what I am used to, but I liked it. I will be going back for a few weeks and see how things go. One of the things the pastor said was that we need to think about 3 things we are grateful for. Three separate things to be thankful for every day. I am going to try and do that. So here goes. I am thankful for my husband, first and foremost. I am thankful that God chose to make me a mother to 4 wonderful Children. I am thankful that I have a nice home to raise my family in.

Wow, that was easy. I wonder if it will be easy tomorrow. We'll see. :) Okay, well that is it for me. Off to bed!

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Visitors

I love the holidays!!! Simply because someone comes to visit us and the kids love to see that person. They are happy, fight less, whine less and are just all around happier kids. So right now my sister-in-law is visiting for the week from college. She is a great girl and I just love having her around. She was here for the summer after the kids were born and was just the best help I could have had. When ever she comes to visit the kids get so happy, and they just love her. They are excited to take her to karate on Monday, and she is going to go to a new church with us tomorrow. I have wanted to find a church for a while, but I am nervous about going to one. One of the students at the kids karate class was telling me about his church, so I thought I would give it a try. We'll see what happens with that. I miss going to church. I really never thought I would, but I miss the worship and just the feeling I have during worship. The last few months at my old church were so stressful for me because of the senior pastor, that I really stopped enjoying it, and I didn't think I was going to want to go to another church. We'll see.... more on that tomorrow.

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Nothing in Life is free...

I got a call yesterday from someone letting me know that we had "won" a free 1 room carpet cleaning, and did I want to go ahead and schedule that right now? I politely tell her I don't have carpet in my house. She then tells me that if I have hard wood floors, they will be happy to buff polish one of the floors. I say, well, what is the catch? She says there is no catch, we just have to listen to the demo about the Kirby Vacuum. So we talk, and I finally tell her that I believe that nothing in life is truely free... and she assures me that all I have to do is listen to the demo, they will buff my floor, and then leave if I don't want to buy the product. Sure I say... I have time for a demo.

The kid shows up,(I don't think he was 25 which recently feels really young to me). He procedes to show me how wonderful this product is, and I am completely sold. I LOVE the Kirby Vacuum cleaner. I want to buy 6 of them, just because they are so wonderful. But then.... he tells me the price, and I almost fall over.... $1,749.00 (with $199 down that is only 40ish dollars a month for the next 24 months). I looked at him and said, are you serious? It's just a vacuum!! That made him mad. Then he called his office, and they brought it down to $900. And I say it's still just a vacuum. Granted it is a really cool vacuum. Well, I tell him no... that's still too much money. So he calls his office again, and they tell me they can give me a "previously enjoyed" older model for just $650. Um... that is still more than I am going to pay for a vacuum. SO I politely tell him no thank you, and he finally gives up, but he is not happy. You can tell by the way he is cleaning up and puting things away. He has stopped talking and when he does, it's in short clipped sentences.

So he cleans up and leaves and I got my dining room floor buffed and polished for free right??? NO!!! Today I am living with the guilt of having the guy come here knowing I was not going to buy the product he was selling, and he spent 4 hours here showing it to me. I feel bad that he was really excited to see that I liked the product so much and then he was very annoyed with me because I did not buy it. I feel bad... and once again I have confirmed to myself that nothing in live is free!!!!

Friday, November 14, 2008

One of those days

Ever have one of those days... you know, you just shouldn't have gotten out of bed, wish everyone you came in contact with had stayed in bed. I had one of those days today. We had to go over to my mothers summer place to clean out the pantry and try to find some stuff we were looking for. The kids were making me crazy with the whining and not listening. The more I yelled and lost my patience, the worse they were acting. Then we went into a store and again they were just driving me crazy. My mom stayed with them at the register while I went back and got something. When I got back to the register, they were talking to the cashier, being great kids, too cute, just totally engaging. Then I remembered why I love being a mom. I love that they can make me totally crazy one minute, and then fill my heart with love and pride the next minute. I love that they can be so helpful at times and then turn right around and make the biggest mess ever seen. I love that they try to help me clean, but never finish the job, but think they do such a great job. Most of all, I love that even when I turn into crazy, mean mommy, they still love me and they forgive me for my shortfalls.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

The First Year.... Continued

So I was thinking about their first year today, and how much they have changed. Sometimes I am sad, and other times I am so excited for the new phases of their lives. Sometimes in the first year I would watch them and just be so sad for them. Sad because their lives were an assembly line, sad because there were times when all of them needed to be held, and I only have 2 arms. Sad because I was never the mom that could rock her baby to sleep, sad because I couldn't breast feed. Then there are times like today, when I look at them and I see little kids, not babies and then I am so happy. I think back fondly of their infancy and toddler hood, and I look forward to the times to come.

So anyway, I was looking at pictures of them today and I was so happy. They were so small, and so happy (for the most part)...LOL
I saw the picture of Jeremy the night before he had his surgery. Jeremy had to have his umbilical hernia repaired at 10 months, it was huge... I had forgotten how big it was....















He used to play with it and I was actually worried that he would miss it... Okay... so I am not the most sane woman in the world. It was actually funny... he was clearly excited to be with just mommy and daddy, and then they gave him some kind of medication that made him giggle. He sat there for about 10 minutes giggling...















This is Jeremy with his little hospital gown on right before they gave him his giggle medicine.

Halloween was so fun. Paige got so mad at me because of the costume I chose, it was really very funny. When I bought her costume, she wasn't crawling, but by the time Halloween came around she was the crawling queen!! I have a great picture of how mad she was....


Can you say..."Mommy...I am soooo going to get you back for this when I am a teenager"
















Here is the picture of all 4 of them... they didn't all hate their costumes...

We went to the Harvest Party at church and they went on their first hay ride. It was really cute, and I think they really liked the hay, they all kept pulling it and trying to eat it!





We went to a friend's house for Thanksgiving and it was alot of fun. The kids ate Turkey and squash and green beans... and it was alot of fun for them.
Christmas was a big deal. We went to Dan's parents house and got to spend their first Christmas at home with Grammie and Grampie. Very Cool!!! There were so many presents under the tree, and they had put a gate around the tree so that the kids couldn't get into the presents before they were supposed to....











Christmas dinner was an adventure...I think there was a contest to see who could get the messiest... and Samantha won.





Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Surgery... Ugh!!!!

So Samantha, the first born had to have surgery today, and can I just say, Dan and I were so stressed and we felt so bad for her. She was a trooper though. She walked in and was so brave. The only time she seemed scared was when we walked into the OR and all of the people were in masks. When she woke up she was happy and only complained about the IV in her hand.

It's funny, she was really okay with it, but Dan and I were so stressed out for her. We wanted to make sure that she was happy so we were playing with her and just spending time with her. Afterwards, we went to her favorite restaurant and had brunch. It was really cute because you could tell that she was prolonging going home so that she could have mommy and daddy all to herself.

All in all it was an okay day for her. I really think she has already forgotten about it! :)

Sunday, November 9, 2008

The first year

The first year of their lives is a blur. It was hold a baby, change a baby, feed a baby, repeat. When we finally got all 4 of them home, it was such an amazing thing. We were so happy. I actually miss those first few weeks with them home. My mother (she stayed with us for a while to help out) and I used to sleep on the recliners at night and we would each have 2 babies on our chests, it was so sweet. We all got peaceful sleep when we did that. The babies slept better and even though we were only getting a couple hours of sleep at a time, we were actually feeling rested. I loved watching them sleep. It was so peaceful, it actually still is. I still love to go into their room at night and just watch them sleep.

When they were 3 months old, we moved into our first house. It was perfect for us. This house was worth every penny and every stress involved, because the first night we were in the house, the babies slept for 6 1/2 hours. OMG... I woke up, completely startled ran into their room convinced they were all dead. They weren't!!! It was so wonderful. By the time they were 8 1/2 months old, they were sleeping for 12 hours a night with 2 naps in the day.

The first summer we were in this house was complete torture for us. The A/C wasn't working and it was so hot. Our house was almost always over 85 degrees. I kept the babies in just diapers or onesies. They cried all the time because they were so miserable. We finally got it fixed (kind of) in August, and that helped a little. We went to Massachusetts in June for about 3 weeks to visit family and just have a good time. Life was good with all those extra hands to help out!!! Summer ended and fall began. We started taking the babies outside to crawl around in the grass. That was always so funny because they really didn't like to be out there. We would put a blanket down, and they were happy until they would crawl off the blanket, and then get the funniest look on their faces. They didn't understand what this prickly stuff was under their hands.
They continued to grow and thrive. It was wonderful to watch them learn to sit up, roll over, crawl, pull themselves up, and finally learn to cruise. The looks on their faces were precious. I liked seeing them so proud of themselves. Fall turned into winter, and their first birthday was upon us. I cried the whole day. I felt like my babies were gone. I was so happy to have them, yet, I felt like I was already losing them. We had a small party for them with cake and balloons and presents. It was really great.

Happy Birthday to my precious babies...












Samantha thought the cake was great, she dug into it with flourish.











Jeremy was hysterical to watch, and I wish we had gotten it on video. He just started tearing into it like a dog trying to dig through the earth to get his bone.

Paige didn't really understand. She tasted it, but didn't really do much more than sit there and stare at it.

Christian had the strangest reaction to the cake that I have ever seen. He put his hand in the icing, and then cried until we washed it off. I don't think he ever actually put any in his mouth. He didn't eat cake for a long time, and he still doesn't like to try new foods!

The NICU Stay

From the time I first found out we were having quads, we were told to expect the babies to spend time in the NICU. I have to tell you, that even though you are told to expect it, and you prepare yourself for it, it doesn't make it any easier to see your babies wired, and tubed, IV's in their head, bells and whistles going off. There is also no words to describe how I felt leaving them there in the hospital while I went home. Leaving them there to let other people care for my sweet babies, people who were better equipped than their own mother, to care for them. That was hard. I remember sitting in their room at home about 5 hours after leaving the hospital and just breaking down. I missed them so much. I needed to go back, but my husband (in trying to take care of me) had said he didn't want me to go back that first day, he wanted me to rest, and recover. We went back though... because he heard me crying, and knew it was what I needed more than rest.

For the most part we had an uneventful NICU stay. There were some scary days, and some terrifying moments, but most of it was fine. Samantha developed a Staph infection in her blood when she was 7 days old and she stopped breathing and we really though we might lose her, but she is a trooper and pulled through just like she was supposed to. Christian decided not to poop for 6 days, no matter what the nurses and doctors did so they were testing him for NEC which can be fatal. Turns out he just didn't want to. On day 6 he decided to let it all out, and the final "explosion" caused him to be put in a regular crib because he decided to use the isolete as his diaper, and it was just too gross to clean. LOL Jeremy and Paige, there just hung out. There were no issues with them. Well, almost. All 4 of them contracted MRSA while they were in the NICU, but it was nothing serious for them.

We were constantly told they would not come home before February, but on January 13 we got to bring home Jeremy, he was the first, then the next day, we were surprised when the nurse called us and said we could spring Samantha. Yeah.... we had 2 at home. Um... now what???? How do we visit with 2 in the hospital and still have 2 at home? We couldn't bring Samantha and Jeremy into the NICU now that they had been sent home.... well, we managed it. Christian came home on Friday of that same week, and we were elated. Unfortunately we had to wait until Feb 1 to have Paige home... but that was okay, she needed to gain some more weight. There was drama at home, and stress, but it was so wonderful!!! I love my life!!!

So... I need to catch you up a bit

I am going to put in a post from our original site. This is a sight my husband wrote while I was pregnant. This is the day they were born.

December 12, 2003 - Week 31
For years now I have herd people saying that the day there children were born were the best day of there lives. I always expected it to be a great day, but there are many great days in life...boy was I wrong! I have never in my life underestimated something so badly. Today was so much better then GREAT I can't even put it into words.
Well lets start from the beginning. Last night we had a lengthy discussion about when these babies were going to be delivered. We came to the agreement that she would talk to the doctor about scheduling the delivery for next week. We felt that this would be in everyone best interest. The babies would have been in there 32nd week, Dawn would finally be out of the pain she has been in for months, and we would not get stuck with the doctor that could not get Christmas week off because he is the low man on the totem poll.
Today started just like any other Friday in my life, got up, went to work, and proceeded to do my job when I got a phone call from Dawn at about 10:30 am. She began to explain the results of her Level II Ultrasound and also inform me that Paige's condition had worsened slightly. The doctors told her that in Paige's current condition she was not in any immediate danger but gave us an option for delivery because of how far she had gotten and how well the babies were developing. It would be another 7 days before she had this type of scan again and a lot can happen in 7 days. In out minds this really was not a tough choice she was delivering TODAY at 3:00 pm.
After making a few key phone calls to get the word out I hurried over to the hospital and arrived around 11:00 am. From 11:00 am until 2:00 pm was just a blur. It was non-stop visits from half of the doctors and nurses in the hospital. Everyone was coming up and explaining what there part was going to be in this hole process. On top of all this our cell phones were ringing off the hook. Maybe this will help you understand how many phone calls I received today. I had to recharge my phone three times from 11:00 am til 2:00 pm. Don't misunderstand this, I loved hearing from everyone, I am just trying to accurately convey the utter chaos that was going on.
About 2:00 pm they began to prep Dawn for surgery. Just the standard stuff, getting her IV started, installing the catheter (god just typing that word makes cringe), and getting her on a gurney for the trip to the OR. This took about 45 minutes or so then we were off. We were put in the staging area for the OR for about 30 minutes. By this time Dawn was completely freaking out (honestly so was I). She was in tears she was so scared, but that was all about to change. To all of our surprise Dr. Rode came in to join us and everything was instantly better. It was as if someone flipped a switch from scared to happy. We spent several minutes joking and laughing and she was in MUCH better spirits now. Dr. Rode told us that she was not going to be the one doing the delivery but her boss Dr. Colemorgan, the head of the department, would be. The time for joking and laughing quickly ended and it was time for her to go.
As Dawn and her mother headed off to the OR I was heading down to the waiting room. Yes that is right ... the waiting room. I am a total wuss when it comes to needles, blood, or just about anything that has to do with a hospital. I took a lot of crap from a lot of people about this decision but it was mine to make and if you don't like it ... tough.
Anyway, the walk from the OR to the waiting room was the slowest two minutes of my life. It seems to take me a week to get down there because of what was going on in my head. I was completely freaking myself out by thinking about all of the millions of things that could go wrong. I was starting to sweat and feel like I was going to pass out. I think I was well on my way to having a panic attack or something.
I did eventually make it down to the waiting room where Uncle Rich was waiting. Honestly, I think that if he wasn't there I would have been seeing a doctor myself in the next few moments because my chest was starting to tighten. I was loosing it! I am sure he could see the panic in my eyes or the sweat all over my shirt and forehead. In his calm and cool way he got me talking about different things and quickly my mood began to change. Don't get me wrong, I was still pretty stressed out but it was manageable. I just want to take a second to thank him because without someone there to get my head in check who knows what would have happened. Before I knew it two hours had passed and a nurse was calling to to go up and see Dawn.
I arrived in the recovery room to find only Dawn's mother there ... and no Dawn. Well as you can imagine this had me rather concerned. No more then a minute later the anesthesiologist came into the room. She explained that there were some "problems" giving Dawn the spinal block and they had to give her general anesthesia instead. As it turns out Dawn had retained so much fluid she could not find the right spot for the spinal block. I believe she said they tried six times to get it in with no success. I can not even begin to comprehend how much of a living hell that must have been for her. This poor girl, 31 weeks pregnant with quads, scared out of her mind, curled up on a gurney while this doctor sticks her in the spine with a needle SIX times.
Because they ended up giving her general anesthesia Dawn's mother was not allowed in the OR with her after all. She had to wait outside the room while they delivered the babies. There was one good thing about she not being able to be in the OR with Dawn though, she was able to take pictures of Samantha, Jeremy, and Christian as they took them out of the OR and into the special area where they stabilize them. The only reason she did not get a picture of Paige also was when she was taking the pictures of Samantha and Jeremy they took Paige out without her noticing. I do NOT want you to think that there is something wrong with Paige because there is no picture of her in the Image Gallery. There was just no opportunity for her to take the photo.
At 3:48 pm my first child Samantha Alexis Weir entered the world weighing in at 3 pounds 8 ounces.
At 3:49 pm my second child Jeremy Raymond Weir entered the world weighing in at 2 pounds 12 ounces.
Also at 3:49 pm my third child Paige Murphy Weir entered the world weighing in at 1 pound 8 ounces.
At 3:51 pm my forth child Christian Murray Weir entered the world weighing in at 3 pounds 15 ounces.
HOLY SHIT I HAVE 4 KIDS!!!!!
Dawn will be spending at least 24 hours in the recovery room while they closely monitor her. From what the doctors tell us she is doing well but her blood pressure is still high. She will be able to return to her room sometime after 5:00 pm tomorrow.
As for the kids I really don't have a lot of information. Samantha and Christian were the only ones that needed to be put on a ventilator. The doctors had told us that is was very likely that they would all need to spend some time on a ventilator when they were first born but Paige and Jeremy seem to be doing better then they had expected. They are all stable and seem to be doing well however the next few days very important. They are far from being out of the woods but all of the doctors are telling us they are doing very well.
Because Dawn has to be put to sleep for the birth she did not get a chance to see them while they were being born. At this point all she has seen in the three photos her mother took as they rushed them out of the OR. Once released from the recovery room she will be able to go and see them all she wants.
At around 10:00 pm Dawn's drug induced fog had lifted and we still had not heard much news about the babies. I called over to the Special Care Nursery and they told me that I could come over any time I wanted to see them. Dawn insisted that I take my mother and her mother over to see them right away. She knew she could not go over and see them herself but needed to know from people she trusted that they were truly ok.
For the next half hour or so I experienced something that I can not even attempt to explain. This was the most amazing time in my life (and amazing doesn't even come close to describing it). We walked into a room that was filled with these little tiny babies that Dawn and I brought into this world. Any further explanation would not even come close to doing it justice so I am not even going to attempt to. If you have gone through the experience yourself you know exactly what I mean.

Our Story

On June 10, 2003 I went to my first ultrasound. My husband (Dan) had to work, so I went by myself. I was so excited. We had been trying to have a baby for 4 years, fertility treatments, 2 miscarriages, lots of needles, blood tests, more needles, Dr. appointments everyday... oh.... did I mention the needles? Now it looked like everything was going well. My levels were looking really good, I felt good and I was excited! I was going to see the baby's heart beat. Yippie!!! So I went in and the ultrasound tech told me that my numbers were too high and that I was "too pregnant". I wasn't sure what that meant but since I was hoping for twins, I took that to be a good thing. She showed me 2 grey blobs on the screen and I started to cry. There were twins!!!! OMG.... I couldn't believe it. Then she moved the wand and I saw what I thought was another view of my twins. I WAS SO WRONG!!! She commented again that I was "too pregnant" and I asked what that meant. She said, "Dawn, you are having Quadruplets!" Terror was the first feeling I had, that went to fear, and then total disbelief, all in about 60 seconds. I laughed, I cried, and then I sobbed. I was not prepared for this, I was sure I couldn't do it. I left in a fog, and called Dan, told him to meet me out side. He of course freaked out and wanted to know what was wrong, so I told him. Looking back on it now, it's funny, at the time... not so much! He kept asking me "What do you mean there are 4 babies, we can't have 4 babies?"


Anyway, so everything went well for the next few months, I was measuring full term at 17 weeks, put on modified bedrest at 19 weeks. At 20 weeks we found out we were having 2 boys and 2 girls and started the ridiculously hard process of deciding on names. You would think that would be easy, but no, it was the cause of many tense moments in our house. At 22 weeks, we found out that Baby C (Paige) had Low Diastolic Flow in her placental cord. We were told that at best, it would stay this way and she would just be slow growing. At worst, she would eventually move onto Reversed Diastolic Flow, and we would lose her. So that of course cause great amounts of stress. We were lucky that she never moved into Reversed Diastolic flow, it never got worse than Absent Diastolic Flow. So, during all this time, my blood pressure was rising, and at 27 weeks, I was admitted. Constantly told I would deliver any day, and to be prepared for that. We wanted to make it to 32 weeks. That was the goal even though it seemed as though that could never happen. I will save you all the details, but I was able to hold out until 31 weeks and 2 days. Baby C (Paige) was having trouble and was showing signs of distress, and we decided it was time. They were born On December 12, 2003 at 3:48, 3:49, 3:49 and 3:51 pm via C-section.


Introducing, Samantha, Jeremy, Paige and Christian the most precious people in my life.