Wednesday, January 27, 2010

4 month check up

Today the babies had their 4 month check up and shots. I hate them getting shots! It is bad enough to see one of them upset but trying to comfort four babies is so tough. With any luck it will be like every other time they have had shots and they will be their usual selves. Nothing seems to really upset their routine, even when Matthew had an ear infection he slept fine and when they all had colds they slept good and were still good natured. We are truly blessed.

All in all they had a great check up. Matthew has an appointment to have the flat spot on his head checked out at Dartmouth next month. We are hoping he won't need a helmet but we will see what the specialist has to say about it. As for us thinking he may have some acid reflux she said to try liquid antacid as needed to see how he reacts to it. So far we gave it to him once tonight and he seems much more comfortable. Cameron has a urology appointment in March also at Dartmouth to see if he is able to be circumcised. He wasn't before we left the hospital because he had a slight hypospadious so they were afraid of harming him. Aubrey's eyes seem pretty good she will have her 6 month check in March also. Looks like lots of trips to Dartmouth in our future! Brady is the only one that doesn't have anything scheduled.

Their 4 month stats, the percentile is for their real age, not their adjusted age:

Matthew
13 lbs 14 oz (25th percentile)
24.5" in length (20th percentile)
16.5" head circumference (10th percentile)

Brady
16 lbs 8 oz (80th percentile)
25" in length (50th percentile)
17" head circumference (25th percentile)

Aubrey
11 lbs 9 oz (10th percentile)
23" in length (10th percentile)
16" head circumference (50th percentile)

Cameron
13 lbs 6 oz (25th percentile)
23" in length (<3rd percentile)
16" head circumference (50th percentile)

We got their reports from early supports and all four of them are ahead of their adjusted age but not reaching the goals for their true age had they not been born premature. Aubrey and Cameron are both behind on cognitive skills as well. I am very glad they are getting the extra help they need so they don't fall too far behind. The hope is that they are completely caught up by age one.

They all have gotten nicknames which I swore they would not have! I am sure this is the first of many things I will find me contradicting myself on. Matthew is Matty Man, just Matty, or Baby Boo since our friends have a 6 year old Matty Boo. Brady is Brady Monster or just Monster thanks to how big he is! Cameron is Cam,, Cam Cam or Cam Cam Man. Aubrey is Princess or Peaches thanks to my 4 year old nephew who thought I should have named her that because it is "the coolest name ever"! Contrary to popular belief Aubs is still not acceptable!

In the past few weeks they have been doing so many new things.
~Brady and Cameron think it is so funny to make spit bubbles.
~Matthew can really hold his head and shoulders up well when he is laying on the floor.
~They are all trying to roll and Matthew is thisclose to doing it.
~They are taking baths in the sink.
~Sleeping 9-10 hours at night in their cribs in their own room.
~They are all laughing, smiling and talking. Cameron is a little harder to get to smile than the others, he is soooo serious!
~They are so aware of each other now. Talking to each other, touching each other, hitting and kicking each other.
~They boys have all out grown their 0-3 month stuff and Brady is even in some 6-9 but Aubrey is still fitting nicely into 0-3.

Every day is a new adventure for our family and we are loving every moment of it!

Monday, January 25, 2010

Help make Matthew a winner!

Matthew's picture is in the running for Parent's magazine Photo Faves! Help us get him top spot by voting at
http://photos.parents.com/category/vote/photo/63121\

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Everything Elmo

The babies have discovered Elmo and just love him! We have a couple Elmo dolls that they just find hilarious. Last week my mom had Sesame Street on at her house and Brady was cracking up to it so I taped an episode of it and all the kids loved it! It was a perfect distraction for them this morning when I went to take my shower. I listened to them kicking their feet and laughing the whole time. They don't really care for the parts where Elmo is not on. I am not sure if it is the voice or the sight of Elmo but if I sing La-la-la-la" they all smile and laugh.

All four of them are getting up on their sides now trying to roll over but they haven't had any success yet. I am sure it will be soon. They have really started to bat at toys and today I got Brady and Cameron to hold rattles in their hands for a few seconds. Their favorite thing to play with is their own hands...they talk to them, suck on them, and even chomp on them. Cameron thinks that it is better to suck his sister and brothers' hands. The Bumbo seats are big hits in this house too. They think it is funny to sit up by themselves and look at you. They are getting too big!

Being in their own room has been such an easy transition. They actually seem to like being in there and they spin themselves around in their cribs. I think they sleep more soundly than they did in our room. Our plan for next week is to start a new bedtime routine where we bring them upstairs to play in their room around 8:00, get them into their jammies at 8:30, read a couple books then bottles at 9:00. Right now they are doing bottles at 10:00 and I am ready for an earlier bedtime. Hopefully they will continue the 9 1/2 hour sleep pattern and be up at 7:00 am for bottles. We'll see how it goes!

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Big Baby Cribs

We moved the babies from their bassinettes in our room into the big cribs in their room last night and it went so much better than I anticipated. I only got up twice! Once to give Brady his paci and once because Cameron was doing circles and smacked his head off the crib bars. I kept putting off their big move but Ben kept telling me they were ready and he was right! The were cramped in their little bassinettes and slept much more soundly in their cribs. Just another thing to remind me they are growing up. :(
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Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Home again!

We had such a good time getting away for a couple days. The babies did terrific with the car rides and all the new places that we went. We made a quick stop in Concord to see the Lamberts and feed the babies. I was not impressed to find that the mall has no warm water for bottles and the people at the food court were not very friendly. We finally got D'Angelos to give us some hot water to mix with the bottled water I bought.

Our next stop was in Manchester to meet the new quads! It was amazing to see them all doing so well and growing so good. It made us a little sad to look at how big our babies were in comparison. I hope we have many play dates over the years.

After we left the hospital we went to Babies R Us in Salem to do some shopping with the babies gift cards and to feed in the family. Once again NO WARM WATER!?!?! They did have a nice family room to feed in though and the girl at the front desk found us a bottle warmer so it was ok.

Finally onto Uncle Dave and Aunt Susan's. We are so lucky to have such great family that gave the babies a place to come home to when they first were released from the hospital. We all had a great visit and the babies enjoyed the extra attention and the big screen TV. They had their first family movie night and seemed to enjoy it.

Yesterday we took the trip into Boston to see the NICU nurses and bring the photo collage we made for the hall. We were lucky enough to get to see their primaries Mindy and Corinne, unfortunately Doreen had the day off but I am sure that the other girls will fill her in on the babies progress. They were all amazed at how big the babies had gotten and they all showed off their smiles.

We did a little shopping at Target on the way home and the babies got a new baby Elmo doll. They all crack up listening to Elmo laugh and sing. I think we found a favorite toy!

We stopped to see Auntie Allison at work and to have a bottle break before heading home. They were so glad to be home and sit in their swings. All in all it was a great trip but a lot of work! We can't wait to be able to take them all sorts of new places as they grow.

Saturday, January 16, 2010

4 months old

Tomorrow the babies turn 4 months...UNBELIEVABLE! It seems like I blinked and they became big kids. Early supports has been visiting each week evaluating the kids and playing with them. They are developing ahead of their adjusted age of 9 weeks but they are still behind the 17 weeks that they are. We aren't too worried about them because they seem to be doing more things every day.

They had a visit from their home health nurse and the neonatologist from Dartmouth came and gave them their Synergist shot. She checked out Matthew's ears and found that he has an ear infection then Brady got his shot and ended up passing out. Luckily his vitals were good and he recovered quickly. Between the two we got their 4 month stats...

Matthew 12 lbs 14 oz
24.5" long
Head circumference 15.75"

Brady 15 lbs 2 oz
25.5" long
Head circumference 16.5"

Aubrey 10 lbs 13 oz
22" long
Head circumference 15"

Cameron 12 lbs 3 oz
23.5" long
Head circumference 16"

We are all packed for our trip and I definitely think we need a bus! For little people they sure need a lot of stuff! We'll let you know how travelling with 4 infants is!

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Another first!

Today was the first day the babies took baths in the sink with their bath rings. Brady has outgrown the baby tub so we decided to move him into a big boy bath and he did so well we tried all of them in it. With every first we are excited to see the babies doing new things but also saddened because it means they are getting bigger. I cannot believe they will be 4 months old Sunday!

Brady in the sink!
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Aubrey
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Matthew
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Cameron
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Yesterday in the mail we received some free stuff from companies that give out freebies to families of multiples. Gerber sent tons of coupons for free baby food and Gerber products as well as Gerber Baby onesies. Beech-Nut sent coupons for free baby food and cereal, bibs and a bowl and spoon for each baby. Enfamil had previously donated 16 cases of formula which has helped out tremendously considering they go through 13 cans of formula per week!

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Sunday we are taking the babies on our first trip away! We are heading to my aunt and uncles in Massachusetts who we stayed with before my hospitalization and during the babies stay in the NICU. I think we are crazy looking at my list of all we need to pack for a two night stay. We plan on meeting the newest quads that were born to a New Hampshire couple on our quads due date! They are also 3 boys and a girl. We are so excited to meet them. Also while we are there we are going to visit the NICU. While we were there we read the stories of many families and looked at the photo collages that the parents had made on the walls. These stories gave us so much hope while we were waiting to deliver and we are hoping to do the same to other families by bringing the collage we made to display.

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Lastly, tonight a dear friend is in my thoughts. Eve suffered from infertility like we did and her prayers were answered when she found out she was carrying boy/girl twins. Yesterday she was almost 25 weeks when at a routine ultrasound she was devastated to discover that her little boy, William, no longer had a heartbeat. His sister, Abigail, is still going strong and we are all hoping that her brother will be her guardian angel and help bring her to a safe delivery. You can follow her story at http://infertilityrocks.wordpress.com/

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Baptism Day

Today was a big day for our family, the babies were baptized in a beautiful ceremony this morning with many of our friends and family there to celebrate. They did a great job during the service and through some of their pictures. Brady is usually our most laid back one but he was very fussy and Aubrey is normally our fussiest and she was a perfect princess.

Thank you to everyone who attended, brought food for the luncheon and brought gifts. We are very lucky to have so many people who love our children! Here are a few pictures while we were getting ready, we will have more to share later as Samantha McMann once again did a great job taking photos to document our special day!

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Matthew
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Brady
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Cameron
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Aubrey
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Tuesday, January 5, 2010

2010 off to a good start!

Since the night before New Years Eve all four of the babies have slept through the night! Woo Hoo!!! They typically have their last bottle aound 10pm and go down to sleep and they get up around 7:30-8am for a bottle. With a good nights sleep they are in such good moods when they first wake up and are happy to play and talk and giggle.

Now that they are smiling easily and cooing they are so fun! Seeing them smile brings us such joy. I am trying to get a good video of them so I can post it on here for you all to see.

They are all growing so quickly! Aubrey is fitting in her 0-3 clothes very good now as is Cameron. Matthew is almost ready to be in 3-6 and Brady is filling out his 3-6 month clothes and I probably should be looking into getting out bigger sizes for him!

Sunday is a big day for them. They will be getting baptized at 10 am then we will be having a luncheon after for all our friends and family to celebrate with us. Aubrey is wearing my christening gown and looks adorable in it and the boys look so handsome in their new suits. I will be posting pictures from that next week.

We've been FLOCKED!

Nine years ago this summer there was so much uncertainty, would Ben make it through his treatments?  Would I be able to carry all four babi...