Together Again!

It is Sunday night as I write this two day journal entry and Louis Dean and I are home together!!!

The last two weekends he has been left unsupervised for at least PART of the time!

When I did finally get home, he had these roses waiting for me!!

 I woke up in Quadville on Saturday morning and the weather was still pretty bad. The snow had turned to freezing drizzle and the roads were still icy in places. We sat tight and waited for the temps to rise above 32 degrees. 

I encouraged Amber and Mike to take in a movie while I was still there so they prepared lunch for all of us and then high tailed it out of there!!

All that was left for me to do was read a chapter of The Little House book and all four kids were out like lights!! Their parents arrived back from the movies just as they were waking up!

Being a part of a set of quadruplets is pretty special.

They are all extra close in their relationships to each other.

They comfort each other and they enjoy each other's company in so many ways.

They know what it means to take turns, back up, wait for each other, and do most things as a group of FOUR!

Yes, they fuss and cry and whine at times. They are age appropriate in all areas.

Being 'age appropriate' also means they occasionally need some extra special 'one on one' time.

Amber and Mike do a great job in taking each child alone to run errands or have a special treat whenever possible. 

Granddad and I like to bring someone home with us to simply BE with that child and get to know them better and, most of all, make them feel SPECIAL!

Mike was my knight in shining armor yesterday afternoon and volunteered to drive me home.

This made it easier for Louis Dean who was a little gun shy after being stuck out there on those icy roads for over four hours on Friday!

I pleaded my case to take Trystan home WITH me and they graciously said yes.

This was a Win! WIN! for BOTH households!!

ONE child is a proverbial 'Piece of Cake!'

THREE children are actually MUCH easier than FOUR!!!

I know parents with twins and triplets more than have their hands full.

However, just one LESS for a little while is a good break.

I am certain parents of quintuplets and sextuplets will also agree - one less just makes it slightly easier! FOR A TIME!!! 

Amber was missing Trystan by the time we arrived at our house!!

Trystan was lapping up all of our attention!

AND Lucy's!!

She sat on Granddad's lap and watched the You Tube video of Robin Hood and Little John.

She watched it over and over, giggling all the time!

Louis Dean is learning to play it on the guitar. They will LOVE that!

She played with Lucy AND Maddie!

I guess Maddie isn't as afraid of ONE child as she is of FOUR!

Granndad made us a Saturday night supper of hamburgers and oven fries.

Delicious!

I gave Trystan a bath and then she and I settled down in my big bed to read another chapter of our book. We climbed into bed at 8:00 and were alseep by 9:00. BOTH of us!! We didn't open up the bedroom door until 8:30 this morning!

Breakfast was bacon - as requested - and I added a heart shaped fried egg and buttered toast.

Lucy got the egg. I tried.

Of course we had a cup of COFFEE together!

We enjoyed this whole day - from playtime to lunch to naps! She requested I read the book before we napped when I forgot!! She went to sleep before I finished the chapter and than I went to sleep right beside her!

We BOTH got a lot of rest!

After naps we took Trystan home to Quadville!!

The other kids were anxious to see Trystan AND Granddad since he had stayed pretty much in his room on Wednesday and Thursday when they were over here due to his asthma attack.

Amber made dinner for ALL of us and we all sat together around their dining table which easily seats EIGHT!

We are back home now and in our nightclothes ready to watch a little TV before going to bed.

Facebook

This is something I will definitely be making this week!!!

I plan to use a sheet and just sew seams to hold the four pillows.

With the fourth one flipped back to make a pillow - this will make a perfect nap mat!

I am in somewhat of a nostalgic mood this evening and am thinking back to that day in November 2011 when Amber and Mike came home from the doctor's office with their announcement.

I was just hoping and praying that the pregnancy was still in place and all was well.

We were down there in Houston at their house celebrating an early Thanksgiving together since they would be flying to Italy on a business/pleasure trip during the Thanksgiving holiday.

I was stunned when they told me MULTIPLES!!! As in FOUR!!!! I admit my very FIRST thought was for my daughter. Could she survive a QUAD pregnancy??? I was petrified. My face showed my shock and I remember Amber telling me I needed to sit across the room with THAT look!!! I recovered rather quickly. 

They went on to tell us there were FIVE sacs but one was empty and one was really TINY!

That tiny little peanut turned out to be our Logan!

Christmas Morning 2011

Now came the hard part!!!! I was sworn to secrecy until they announced it to the family on Christmas Morning. My mother is STILL mad at me for not telling her!!

It didn't end there. I could NOT tell ANYONE until they announced it themselves on Facebook which was a LONG time for me to keep this secret!!!

I was really good and honorable. It was hard.

This quad pregancy and the quadruplets came at the perfect time in our life.

Any earlier, both Louis Dean and I were dealing with health issues.

I had a knee replacement and Louis Dean suffered a heart attack.

We had recovered and even enjoyed spending the month of December 2010 in Aberdeen, Scotland with Amber and Mike when they lived there for a year.

Amber and Benjamin were born to me in my 'old age.' I was 36 when Amber was born and 39 soon to be 40 with Benjamin. I was extremely young when my first two children were born.....just barely 15 years old when I had Summer and just turned 18 when I had Jesse, Jr.

One reason Amber and Mike had been talking about having children sooner rather than later  was they wanted the babies to know all their grandparents.

It was a time when Louis Dean and I neither one worked and we had no heavy responsibilities and could actually BE there for this pregnancy. While Louis Dean worked on the campere here at home....I stayed with Amber in the hospital. She was there for 52 days hooked up to a magnesium sulphate drip that caused her to be exceeedinly sick. 

We were BOTH there for the last weeks before the four babies were born and there to help take care of them - both in the NICU and at home.

We fixed our RV up and lived in it for 7 months until Amber and Mike were able to move back here to the area. I won't kid you. This was a tough time for all of us. Sleep deprived and exhausted.

Amber's body did NOT recover well and I worried constantly about her health.

Somehow those hard times faded from our memory as we embrace all the joys God has granted us with these sweet quadruplets.

We intend to enjoy every single minute we can with them. Nobody knows the future. None of us know how long we have to be with our loved ones. They could leave us or we them in death or sickness in the blink of an eye.

When Louis Dean and I married, he said he thought God had something special for us to do together.

We found it and praise God for the priviledge of being a MeeMaw and Granddad to four babies who love us uconditionally. That's the way we love them.

If something happens to one of us - we will have no regrets about how we have spent our years together! We will soon celebrate our tenth wedding anniversay.

I do believe we HAVE made a difference!