Call us CRAZY!!!!



Lulu and Lilya

I was on Christmas Break in 2010 when I took our miniature daschound to the vet because she was breathing funny.  The vet sent us to Purdue to have what he thought was a hernia fixed.  At the time, we were about 16 weeks pregnant with the quads, so when they came out and told me that it wasn't a hernia, and the surgery to fix what would save her life was going to be $4000, maybe I shouldn't have paid for it (or gotten the carecredit card to cover it).  I just HAD to.  She was my baby.  She was only 6 years old, but I had her before I had any of my children, and she was like the oldest child.  I'm surprised that the worrying I did over those next few days didn't end up putting me in the hospital.  She was in the ICU at Purdue for 3 days, and still had a chest tube when we brought her home on Christmas Eve.  I was sure that we had just paid and arm and a leg for a surgery that was going to fail to save her life, but she pulled through.  She was much better, and back to her old self for about 3 months.  Then, we noticed she was beginning to look pregnant.  Since she was not able to have puppies, we knew right away that something else was wrong with her.  By this time, I was being admitted to the hospital so they could keep a closer watch on the contractions I was having, so Tony was in charge of taking care of Lulu (the dog) and Lilya.  When it got to the point that she could no longer get up and down stairs by herself, he took her back in to the vet.  Draining some of the fluid, he was 99% sure that she had lymphoma.  It was then, that we made the very hard decision that we didn't want her to suffer.  The day before we brought home Benjamin, Jaylyn and Harrison, we put Lulu to rest.  It is still hard to think about as I wanted so badly for there to be something that we could do for her.  I swore that I would never get another dog, I would never go through the heartache of losing again...

Well, meet our new puppy!  Skippy Jon Jones-Stewart (aka-Skippy) is a full blooded Chihuahua...the runt of the litter.  The kids are absolutely in LOVE with him.  The parents...well, we are second guessing ourselves already ;).  Crazy how much having a puppy is like having a baby, and I'm thinking maybe this would have been easier if we would have taken all 4 from the litter!

Benjamin loving on Skippy

Lilya loving on her new best friend.


Go ahead, call us crazy!

Wow, a look back at this time last year

 It's hard to believe that this is what I looked like at this time last year.  Trying my hardest to keep those little ones in for as long as I could.  I was 30 weeks in this picture, and still would not completely let myself believe that all would be well, and we would go home with four healthy little babies.  The staff at St. Vincent Women's Hospital in Indy were wonderful.  I was very well taken care of in the short 3 weeks that I was there.

 I LOVED when Lilya could come and visit me.  I'm so glad that when we look at these pictures together, she doesn't really remember that I had to stay away from her.  She asks if we were sleeping in that bed together. :)  This was a little over a week before delivery, and I'm amazed at how NOT pregnant for quads I look here.  I guess that's why I'm sharing the one photo below this.

 WOW!  This is what I looked like 5 days before delivery.  It's the last picture taken that shows how big I was.  Amazing that there were 4 little babies in there.

I can't believe that just two weeks from tomorrow, the babies will turn 1!  As unreal as that sounds, these stats sound even crazier.  In the last 365 days we have:

 -changed aprroximately 8000 (yes, 8000) diapers

-clipped approximately 2500 fingernails

-clipped approximately 2500 toenails

-fed approximately 7000 bottles

-fed approximately 800 jars of baby food

-given approximately 520 baths

and the best of all

-received countelss smiles, coos, hugs and kisses!

Just notice that I said WE.  I don't just mean Tony and I either.  We are blessed with wonderful people in our lives.  We have wonderful family and amazing friends that we would be lost without.  Looking forward to celebrating this first year with so many!