Is it Hard?

Any time someone finds out we have quads they have lots to say, facial expressions to make, etc.  Then, generally everyone says, How do you do it? Is it hard? Is it easier now that they’re older? I’ve thought a lot about those questions these last few weeks.  At first, I thought, nothing can be harder than the pregnancy!
My mind, my body, my everything was in a complete wreck! Then they were born and fighting for their lives and I thought, this is WAY harder than being pregnant was, watching your babies struggle, strive, struggle and strive again day to day.  Surely once they’re home it will be so much easier.
When they came home we were SO excited, then the reality of the fact that now we have to feed them, change them, burp them, console them hit us.  There were no longer nurses around to help us, surely this was as hard as it could get.
Then as they grew, more issues became apparent… REFLUX.  Surely we’ll get over this hump and it will be easier.  

I could honestly go on for each month and the changes in the “hard” parts.  The point is, it’s hard, one kid or four.  You make the most of it every day, you realize that even though you think it can’t get harder, it can and when you think it can’t get better, it does.  I think the key to survival with a baby or 4 babies in our case is knowing we’re here for a reason, God decided we were the parents for these precious children and whether it’s easy or hard, good or bad, how we react and go forward each day molds their futures!
I hope that today you look at the Bright Side of what often feels like the Dark Side!

Our First Trip

Until this weekend the babies have never spent the night anywhere but a hospital room or at home. Matt had to work Friday night and had to go out of town Saturday so I called up one of my best bud’s Jac Tubre. Turns out her hubby had to go out of town for work as well so we planned a Get-Together. The closer it got time to get packed the more nervous I got. Can I do this? Can I travel with 5 kids by myself? Am I crazy? Some of my Quad Momma Sisters talked me closer to the not going side and then a few more said GO, it will be fun, if anyone will understand your kids being crazy and cranky another Quad Mom will. I also knew Jac wouldn’t hate me forever if my kids were complete monsters.

As it turned out the trip there wasn’t too bad. We didn’t even have to pull off the interstate to let HN use the portable potty I had for the car. (Yes, I have to pack a potty, what else am I supposed to do, send her in the gas station alone?) When we arrived in Baton Rouge we were welcomed by some smiling Tubre faces!!! The kids did great together until right around bedtime and then it was very apparent all 8 children needed some sleep. The night went great! All 9 kids slept great and we started Saturday on a good note! Jac and I were either stupid, brave or crazy, maybe all 3 and we took the kids to the mall! Talk about some funny looks!
When we came home from the mall the kiddos took naps and we waited for Kami Lambe and her quads to come over. 13 children, 3 moms, 1 house! WOW!!!
After Kami left Jac and I fed my 5, bathed them and we loaded up and headed East. The trip was a blast and I’m way more confident about traveling now!
Thanks Jac, for having us and thanks, Kami, for coming to play with us! The big boys playing!
Cullen and GunnerTried to get a group shot, I got 8 of the 9.
Missing Cannon Take 2, I got 8 of the 9.
Missing Abbey.Cannon and Avery exploring. Abbey in the back playing with Lauren.
Gunner, Cullen and Tyger playing. Sweet Emma!!!!Who’s Hungry?
The Whole Crew
And in case you wonder how many pictures
it took to get this one shot of 13 kiddos! Goodbye Tubre’s We Miss You Already!

What Had Happened Was….

On Monday and sometimes on Tuesday I have to load the Fab 4 up and go pick Hannah Noelle up from preschool.  I have been very fortunate to have help on Thursday and Friday that help with lunch and then I go get Hannah Noelle while they get the babies down for nap.  Wednesday is her “stay day” at preschool where she stays all day so that she can go home with a friend of mine and her daughter so she can go to choir.  Well, today while I was getting the clothes out and ready for the babies to get dressed to go get Sissy I heard a thud, then nothing, so I assumed nothing was wrong. A few minutes later I hear Avery and Gunner crying so I run to Avery’s rescue.  I again assumed Gunner had bitten Avery, which is a common occurrence around our house! When I arrived to Avery, I found her looking like this……..

Doesn’t look too bad; right?
Well, the more we sat there the more I realized it was getting worse, was bruising more and every time I tried to touch it she grimaced BIG TIME! So, I made a few calls, had a friend meet me to get another Mom opinion and we determined a trip to the doctor was necessary.
I picked up Hannah Noelle and headed to Pascagoula.  Matt met me there to sit in the van with the Cannon, Gunner, Lauren and Hannah Noelle and Pae-Pae also came and met me to be my support.  After explaining to the doctor that I wasn’t 100 percent sure what happened, but that I assumed (using that word A LOT today) that she had climbed on the arm of the couch and Gunner (yes, he gets blamed for everything and if you saw him in action you would understand) pushed her off onto this chair….
   Since we weren’t really sure if she lost consciousness since I had heard the thud, followed by no screaming, then screaming minutes later, my doctor felt a CT Scan was necessary.  I immediately started feeling even more horrible than I did before.  I, however, have one of the best doctors on the planet and she began to reassure me that things happen, it will happen 1,000 more times, that with one 18 month old accidents happen and with 4, it’s going to happen even more! The CT Scan was done, she was such a trooper, and it was determined she was just fine! WHEW!
This is what she looks like tonight!  In the midst of my already HORRIBLE, yet blessed day (trying to stay positive) nap time was going great, the babies were super tired and super quiet during nap time.  When I entered the boys room, this is what I found….Gunner had climbed out of his crib and emptied several drawers, taken all of the diapers off of the changing table and obviously tried on a few shoes!! The best part is when I entered the room, he was sleeping on the floor!!
 
HAPPY MONDAY!! 

How High Can You Count?

If you look really close, you should see 13 smiling….. well, 13 faces!!! We had an awesome trip to Baton Rouge and spent the night with the Tubre Quads and they’re rocking momma, Jac.  Then today the gorgeous Kami Lambe, and her quads came over to play! I have tons more pictures to upload, just need to upload on energy a/k/a sleep first!

Gunner, Cannon, Rocco, Jagger, Hannah Noelle, Madden, Avery, Emma, Lauren, Cullen, Abbey, Sloan and Tyger
I’m pretty sure I mislabeled the 3 identical Lambe Boys’, but I made the picture black and white and my cheat sheet had the color of their socks on it! :)

We’re Heading Out!

Thanks from some major encouragement from my fellow Quad Mom’s, me and the Fab 5 will be hitting the highway solo today for a 3-hour drive, with a one to two night stay! Please pray for our safety, sanity and strength!!! Matt has to work this weekend and the plans just fell into place so, we’re going! Stay tuned for a picture that might possible include 13 children and 3 Mommies!! Do you know where we’re going?
The van is almost loaded, I’ll be sure to take pictures of that so you can how much it takes to travel with the crew! Not to mention our packing was cut way down due to the place we’re going is definitely Kid Friendly and Kid Ready!!
Again, please say a quick prayer for our safety, sanity and strength!
And thanks again to all you Quad Mom’s who talked me into it last night!!! (Suz, Casey, Beth, Misty, Jenny B, AJ and Gen)
I AM THE MOMMA! (Thanks, Mari!)

Happy Birthday

January, February and March are packed with birthdays of several of our friends and family members! We’re getting a little more brave and venturing our a little more often with all 5, but haven’t completely mastered it yet! I’m not going to list all the birthdays that we’ve missed over the last month and the upcoming months because I’m sure I’ll forget someone, just wanted to send a generic Happy Birthday to Everyone! We all have birthdays; right?
These pictures are from one of Matt’s coaching buds, Kevin Fant’s, son, Kale’s 1st birthday.  The weather was beautiful, the babies were all in good moods so we figured we would load up and go.  They had a blast and gave us the hope that maybe we can attend more parties in the future! CannonGunnerAveryHannah Noelle and her mini-me, LaurenGunner, HN and Lauren Gunner running with the bouncy ballCannon going for a ride with the Birthday Boy, Kale! 
 
Happy Birthday!

One party we’re going to miss, due to a scheduling conflict on Hannah Noelle’s part (she’s such a busy lady) is our cousin Mason’s 2nd Birthday Carnival.  We’re going to have dinner next weekend to celebrate, so be expecting pictures from Cochran/Saxon, table for 10, 4 adults, 6 high chairs and a booster, please!

Happy Valentines Day

I stumbled across this box at Wal-Mart and my first thought was, eww, those look nasty.  My second thought was, oohh, that’ll make a cute Valentine’s post.  To be 100% truthful, they actually tasted pretty good! I will never understand “Bed Head.”  I mean, really what do they do in their cribs when they’re supposed to be sleeping?Cannon met his love, Addison King, whose blog is private in an online Blog Session where her parents where describing her as a one man for the rest of her life kind of girl.  Cannon begged for me to ask for her hand in marriage and that’s where their love began!Gunner was hitched with his girl, Jillian Walker, while still in the NICU at USA W&C.  Jillian and her super cool brothers had just been born and we decided whichever of the boys was discharged from the NICU first would forever be betrothed to the amazing and beautiful Jillian Walker.
Lauren’s love is Pius James Graf.  There was only one available Graf Quad and one available Tubre quad and since the Graf’s were the younger of the set whomever came home first got the available Tubre and then the available Graf Quadling, Pius, was set to be engaged to Lauren.Avery, as stated above, was the first Cochran Quad to make the drive home to Mississippi so she was then set to marry Cullen “The Moose” Tubre.  Cullen’s mom’s blog is now private, but you may remember them best as The Cupcakes! Cullen and Avery are literally a match made in heaven.  When Jac and I are describing the two it’s like tit for tat!! 
Needless to say, none of our sweet darlings have actually met each other, it’s just a sick idea we have in our heads that they will actually meet, fall in love and one day all the quad families will live in a compound and we will raise our grandchildren together. 

As for Hannah Noelle’s love, she currently thinks she will marry her Pre-School sweetheart Ty-Ty Goff.  However, Charity and Beth both have invited Hannah Noelle to join their family! They both have an older male sibling to their quads, Aidan and Colin.  When I ask her which she will choose, she laughs and says, well, Colin’s dad is a Rock Star mom, but, I really love Aidan’s little smile.  Then she’ll go on and on about the fact that Aunt Beth really shouldn’t have cut Colin’s hair, it was so super cute, but……ugh, I’m marrying Ty-Ty anyway, so it doesn’t matter!

The pancakes along with Yogurt Raisins were a definite hit in the Cochran House!!
Matt took me to dinner last night and shopping for a few much needed new clothes and then like every grown up date ends, we ended up at Wal-Mart!
Hannah Noelle and I worked hard on our Valentine’s Day present for daddy.  Well, Pae-Pae, really did most of the work cutting them out, etc., but we had to hang them up!!
   The first heart says I Love You Because:
You make me giggle and laugh
You have snowball fights with me
You bring me M&M’s and Sprite
You always get me prizes from McDonald’s
You make me smile
You snuggle with me
Then, mine to Matt says…..
I Love You Because:
You love me unconditionally
You are an awesome Daddy
I always feel safe when you are near me
You “ get me” and even when you don’t, you pretend
You make me smile

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Royalty for a Day

Everyone should have the opportunity once a year to feel like royalty, even if it’s just for one day. 
When Hannah Noelle was asked by Jayce’s Me-Me (who is Jayce’s great grandmother) to be her escort in a Mardi Gras Ball in which she was queen and to walk alongside her and Jayce, Hannah Noelle was THRILLED! The best part for mommy, was she was able to wear the dress she had previously worn last year in Taris and Corey’s wedding. Me-Me wanted a little pink added so I made a quick trip to Hobby Lobby, bought some hot pink satin and with the magic of some safety pins we transformed the sash! Hannah Noelle’s favorite part, of course, was the tiara! I was very nervous how she would react once they announced her name and she realized the massive amounts of people in attendance.  Like true royalty, though, she marched right on out and was a waving and smiling machine! I was one SUPER PROUD MOMMY!

And since Formal Attire was required, I also got to get spiffied up! Matt, made me feel like a queen on this night by calling me twice on my way to the ball to tell me how beautiful I looked and how gorgeous our children were! He “took one for the team” and stayed home with the babies so that we didn’t have to rent a tux and/or hire a babysitter.  He pretended to be a wee bit sad when we left he house, but I’m sure if you ask any man, they’ll agree, tux shoes are not only not attractive, they’re painful!! Hannah Noelle was very concerned when she asked me where I got the beads and I said, well, I kissed the King and the Dukes on the cheek and they gave them to me.  Ewwww, I’m gonna tell daddy! She’ll learn soon enough all the Mardi Gras traditions, I just hope that’s a few years off! 
Happy Mardi Gras!!!

P.S.  If you followed the link to the newspaper article you read it right, they had her name incorrectly.  Me-Me has called Hannah Noelle, Hannah Nicole since she was born.  I made sure the emcee had her name correctly when he introduced her, but obviously didn’t proof the press article! Hannah Noelle has never corrected Me-Me, so we just let it ride…

All in a Day!

Last Wednesday… or was it the Wednesday before? I’m so behind on blogging! One Wednesday in the last few weeks we had a BIG day! First Cannon had an appointment with his Eye Doctor at 8 AM in Mobile, which is (on a good day and not during rush hour) a 45 minute drive! Keep in mind our babies sleep stay in their beds until 8:30 and we had to leave at 7:00.
When we arrived at the eye doctor I realized my camera battery was dead and I was SO bummed! We were in and out of the eye doctor in 30 minutes and loaded up and headed to Wal-Mart, mommy needed batteries!!! After a lot of ignorant questions we were done at
Wal-Mart and headed to our 10:40 appointment with the pulmonologist!
We whipped through a drive-thru on our way so that the babies could eat breakfast once we arrived at the doctor.Gunner with a Mouth Full! Avery with the static electricity going on in her hair!

The stroller lasted for about 5 minutes and they were ready to roam! Thank goodness we were the only ones in the waiting room so we let them loose! They had a blast running free and exploring!
And in the hopes to avoid some of the questions that are asked of us, I wore one of my FAVORITE shirts from one of my FAVORITE stores, designedforbabies.comWe still got the questions anyway!!!

The weights and heights were:
Cannon: 23.81 pounds, 31.10 inches
Gunner: 27.34 pounds, 30.5 inches
Lauren: 19.84 pounds, 29.13 inches 
Avery: 19.62 pounds, 28.15 inches
You think they were a little
worried about being precise on those measurements?
After their initial checkup we were put in a TINY room to wait for Dr. Sindel.
Gunner and his juice box!Climbing and exploring! Daddy was not happy Lauren kept gravitating to the soccer ball! He was not happy about this shot either!  We got great results at both appointments and are heading down a road of better health we hope!! The boys had surgery last week to have tubes put in their ears and we hope this keeps away some ear infections. Cannon also had the frenula in his upper lip cut and now his smiles show his teeth and he seems to be drinking and eating better as well! Both recovered wonderfully and we’re full speed ahead for now!