Birthday Celebrations!

Last week our baby turned 6 & our quadlings turned 2!!!!!  I have never, ever, ever had 2 of the hardest years go by so fast in my life!  The quads had their 2-year Well Child visit this week, and we have quite a (healthy) range!  I will put them from biggest to smallest:

Drinking their morning milk, from L-R:  Tanner, Tyler, Hannah & Lauren

Lauren:  Weight: 25.15# (41%)            Height:  2' 10" (53%)
Hannah:  Weight:  25.13# (39%)          Height:  2' 9" (13%)
Tanner:  Weight: 24.7# (11%)              Height: 2' 9.5" (24%)
Tyler:  Weight: 22.8# (1%)                   Height:  2' 9" (15%)

Looking at all 5 children lately, I have been blown away by God's goodness.  We have five healthy, normal, lively, curious and crazy-busy little people.  The whole pregnancy with the quadruplets and their first few weeks were very touch-and-go regarding whether they would even live or not.  Their first year of life my therapist eyes were always "on" for any signs of developmental delays, knowing I would love them just the same but also knowing there was a greater chance of that due to their early & tumultuous start in life.

Our little lady Lauren... she & Tanner had tubes put into their lungs and had serious problems.  Tanner almost lost his life that first night.  Lauren was on a ventilator and I was unable to hold her her first 9 days of life.

BUT- To look at them now, one would never guess they had such a start to life!!!  God is good regardless of life's blessings or sorrow, I can personally vouch for that.  But ohhhhh how He has demonstrated His goodness in our miracles thus far!  I always tell our children, "God has such amazing plans for you, I can't wait to see what He has planned for your life!"  Blessings or sorrow, I will continue to praise Him daily.  And today, we celebrate the blessings.

For everyone's birthdays, we kept it low-key and just had cake and ice cream with family and our neighbors on a sunny Sunday evening.  I made a semi-homemade Frozen cake, meaning Costco made it & I decorated it.  Best of both worlds, since I love to decorate but don't have time for all that kitchen baking & cleaning!

On July 17, Lauren (baby A) Tyler (B) Tanner (C) and Hannah (D) officially turned two.  We started the day with a baked french toast & sausage breakfast, and after naps all five kids went crazy for an hour at a local gymnastics open gym.  I thought I did good bringing Courtney to help out, but lesson learned:  if EVER we do an open gym again, we need at least one or 2 more helpers- it was hectic keeping up with them in a busy gymnastics room!  Courtney & I were drenched in sweat at the end, but thankfully no children were harmed in the craziness ;).  Everyone got presents and it was a fun day.  I did not take any photos of open gym, but here are some fun recent candids.

A glorious moment:  all four playing well together!

Silly Kiddos!  Prince Tanner & Princess Hannah

An impromptu picnic in the front yard

On Friday, July 18 Jenna Joy turned 6 (snif, snif!).  To celebrate, I took her & the babies to my sister's in the afternoon to swim in the pool (well, Jenna swam, and the others chased cats and got their feet wet).  We had a nice Arby's dinner (a very special & classy dinner for a 6 year old!) and rounded out the evening with gifts and a watermelon "cake".  One of the COOLEST things was this beautiful Elsa shirt hand-crafted by my friend (and fellow quad-mom Ashley) who is the owner of Sweet Dumpling Boutique.  She does the most high quality, beautifully embroidered items.  Please stop by & visit her site by clicking here!  Jenna loved it.  I love it, and I will definitely be having Sweet Dumpling Boutique make more personalized items for us in the future!

On the home front, Andy & I are getting ready to have a huuuuuuuuge adjustment coming soon:  we have decided to do an addition to the house so we can add another bedroom & a little more living space.  Over the last year, we have prayed, contemplated, and gone back & forth on what to do.  We have looked at moving and almost went that route, but in the end we LOVE our location, setting, and house.  We just wish it had one more bedroom!

Currently all four kids share the same bedroom and while it still works fine, I must say at night, in the morning & during naps, when one is awake he/she wants everyone else to be awake, too.  And that gets old fast!  So we are *suppose* to start the addition in 2 weeks.  Which is great because our family will be away on our annual week-long vacation in Holland, Michigan.  The kitchen will be renovated first (since it is still in its original state 30+ years later), and I am really not looking forward to the mess but people keep telling me it will be worth it.  I am praying already for it to go smoothly and stay on schedule!  More to come on that in the future.

Until then, I hope you are enjoying the sounds, smells, sights & tastes of Summer!

Hugs!

Becky