The Cochran Crew

My Hannah Noelle

2011-08-24T19:28:00.001-05:00

Awards day at school!
Perfect Attendance and
Highest AR points for Kindergarten Being silly after getting dolled up for recital! Recital Costume #3 She wants glasses SO bad, but has perfect vision! She loves trying them on when we take the babies for their weekly “can you fix this broken frame” visit! The only girl at a fishing party and caught the first fish! Go Hannie! Painting at a Painting Party!Nails with Pae-Pae! Field day with Mommy and Daddy!

My Avery

2011-08-23T16:56:00.001-05:00

A little mud never hurt anybody…. RIGHT? At Pump it Up with Sissy! First Day of dance Wiping the Cheetos off of her fingers getting ready for yet another finger prick! She was so used to them by the time we were discharged, they would walk in the room and she would stick her pointer finger up in the air. At Pump it Up with Sissy, again.I told Avery the bucket was for her to put her blanket in at school….. This was her interpretation of that! Crazy hair after the first EEG. Amazingly, she is not sedated in this picture, she was just that calm and relaxed for her second EEG. I think she knew the alternative was being held down and having to make the 3 hour drive another day! She was such a trooper!

*** Avery has had two seizures over the course of the last year. Both have been complex (meaning they last longer than normal) and her “reboot” time (time to come back full circle) lasts several, several hours. We are now seeing a specialist in Jackson, Mississippi and we are very pleased with the options we were presented with and we have chosen for her care. Continued prayers would be appreciated!

My Lauren

2011-08-21T15:20:00.001-05:00

Wearing her daddy’s new teams’ hat! First day of dance!!!! The many “are you serious, mom” faces! And here is another one of those faces! Taking a nap with Jimbo! This is “THE HAT!!!” We have difficulty going anywhere or doing anything without this hat!

Sweet Lauren!!!!

My Gunner

2011-08-16T20:50:00.001-05:00

He beat me to the unlocked gate so it was Pringles for breakfast! A little mud never hurt anybody; right?
First day of school! His first major bo-bo! He liked the Big Big truck SO MUCH! Momma, I fixed my own Spikey Doo! Day 3 of 2 shots of Rocephin each day. He may never eat a popsicle again! He is the only one that went birthday shopping with me and he was in toddler heaven at Party City!

My Cannon

2011-08-13T21:44:00.001-05:00

Camera Phone Pics of my Can-Man
In no certain order!

Before the 4th of July fireworks and, obviously, right before a much needed haircut!
During the fireworks, NOT A FAN!!! One of the many not so sweet Can-Man faces. (Notice the 2 shirts…. he goes through his drawers at nap and dresses himself!) This is my Sweet Man-Man! I have no doubt he will own one of these bad boys one day! He LOVED playing on/in it! Higher Mommy, HIGHER! Hugging his BEST FRIEND, Lauren. Having some one on one time with Mommy, Daddy and Sissy at the beach after dinner!

LOVE YOU CANNON GREGORY!!!!

Smart Phone….

2011-08-11T20:05:00.001-05:00

Not so smart of a user!!!!!

I’ve had a smart phone since the babies were, well, babies, but it wasn’t until today that I actually took the time to actually figure out how to transfer the pictures from the phone to my computer! Every other time I have just e-mailed myself a picture if it was one of my favorites.

Here are a few of my favorites from the last few months! First trip to the fire station! Hanging out before bedtime! First Day of school!Baby Girls and their “Piggy Tails” Big Brothers at a skating party!
Beautiful Big Sissy at Dance Recital!

Have a GREAT DAY!!!!

Rollin' With My Homies

2011-07-22T20:00:00.002-05:00

The Dirty South will never be the same after the Sweet Sixteen took to the streets!

Back Row: Jenn Suz Moni Amy Jo Sandra Charity Mari Kelly Gen

Front Row: Beth, Jenna Kami Casey Heather Jac Misty

Quad Mommas 2011 Shirts:

Front:

Back:

Our 3rd annual Quad mom trip was a blast and we are already planning QM 2012!

Well, Hello There!!!!

2011-05-13T16:02:00.001-05:00

Not going to make any promises that I’m back for good or that I’m going to be a loyal blogger, but I am going to try……
We have so much fun things planned for the summer and have had some great fun over the last… has it really been 7 months?
Here’s a quick recap to refresh your brain…
Daddy ~ Matt
Mommy ~ Sandra
Sissy ~ Hannah Noelle
Can-Man, Can-Can ~ Cannon
Big Boy, Gunna ~ Gunner
Laura Kate, Baby Harper ~ Lauren
Bug, Girls ~ Avery
Pae Pae ~ Andrea (my sister)
Coach ~ Stephen (my brother)
Kae-Pae ~ Kristy (my brother’s wife)
Jayce ~ my nephew
Me-Mom ~ my mom
Pe-Pop ~ my dad
Nana ~ Matt’s mom
Papa ~ Matt’s step-dad
Bebe ~ Matt’s step-mom
PawPaw ~ Matt’s dad
I think that’s about all the people that have funky names! I’m sure as the blogging continues you will hear more crazy names my kids have dubbed people!

And since it’s been so long since a picture, I’ll give you a quick look at their Christmas picture!

When You Life Gives You…..

2010-10-13T15:38:00.001-05:00

.. a little more than you bargained for, you
pray it will all turn out okay!

And with prayer, it did…We have been overly blessed in our life time and sometimes we all take every day things, like life, for granted.
Without going into too much detail, I will please ask for your continued prayer for someone very near and dear to our family.

We’re Two!

2010-10-06T14:35:00.001-05:00

Their party was an absolute BLAST!
I went a little overboard with the Circus Theme, but it was such an easy theme to work around!
Of course, at our circus party, we had a little circus of multiples ourselves! There were 2 sets of quads, 2 sets of triplets and 2 sets of twins! It’s always so fun to see the different personalities each individual brings to the plate!

Ain’t too proud to…..

2010-09-27T16:38:00.001-05:00

… admit I’m in a blogging funk…
…. ask for help when I need it….
…. promote one of my best friends businesses…
…. say my sista rocks more than yo sista….
…. make a friendly little wager…..

So, here’s the skinny of the matter…
My good friend Leighann Scarbrough has a photography business. She does all of our family pictures, party pictures, etc. Her status a few weeks ago read this…
Leighann Scarbrough Photography is looking for 3-5 Engaged Couples for a contest that will win you a free Engagement Session!! Email me at scarbroughclan@yahoo.com

You all know my very best friend, a/k/a Pae-Pae, is engaged, so instead of telling Andrea to nominate herself, I nominated her behind the scenes… yes, I’m a sneaky little weasel!
So, here’s my wager…. Go to Leighann’s Page and “like” her page and then go to this Handy Dandy Pic of my Sis and “like” it. If Andrea and Dan win, I will come out of my blogging funk and promise to blog once a week, non stop for two months. I know you think I can’t do it, I even think I can’t do it, but I don’t back down from dare’s and when you press that little “like” button, I‘ll take it as a dare!! My sister means the world to me and I will never be able to repay her for all the things she has done for my family so this is a tiny way of me saying, thank you, Pae-Pae!

Weighing In

2010-08-25T11:32:00.001-05:00

So, I’m pretty sure I classify as a horrible blogger, but things have been crazy! I promise I will try to get better and I will put together a birthday party post.
Today we went for our 2 year check-up. Holy Cow, my babies are TWO! My best friend, Chad, went with me because for whatever insane reason I scheduled all 4 at the same time!
Note to self: NEVER DO AGAIN!
All 4 had Lead Level Tests and had their Iron checked! We passed that part with flying colors! Next we went on to the physical tests from the doctor! Holy Cow, four butt naked babies….
I’ll leave you with that image!
Cannon:
26 pounds, 12 ounces
33 1/2 inches tall
Gunner:
29 pounds, 6 ounces
33 inches tall
Lauren:
21 pounds, 14 ounces
32 inches tall
Avery:
21 pounds
29 inches short
Dr. Gina is very pleased with their position on the growth chart, wants me to continue high calorie meals with the girls and feed Gunner lettuce only (kidding, kidding!)
Gunner’s lower body muscle tone is still real tight, so we’re going to continue PT to loosen the tone and strengthen the muscles.
I am very pleased that all went well, they are not only surviving, but thriving!

We’ve Come A Long Way Baby!

2010-08-17T22:40:00.001-05:00

From Micro Preemie Diapers to Size 5 and 6
From Isolettes to Mini Cribs to Full Size Cribs From Bili Shades to Too Cool For School Shades From High Tech Apnea Monitors to High Tech Video Games! And most importantly from 2 pound babies to
30 pound toddlers!

Happy 2nd Birthday Cannon!
Happy 2nd Birthday Gunner!
Happy 2nd Birthday Lauren!
Happy 2nd Birthday Avery!

Where have you been?

2010-07-28T21:53:00.001-05:00

We’ve been to a Fireworks ShowWe’ve been to Orange Beach to visit the Lambe Quads We ate at Lambert’s We had a play date with the Wainscott Quads And we went on vacation! When things slow down a little, I’ll update more on each adventure!

Day One and Two

2010-07-06T20:05:00.001-05:00

I could honestly write a post about every day of the trip, but I’ll spare you that, but Day One and Day Two of my trip were probably close to my favorites! When I booked my flight several months ago I was scheduled to land in Dallas around 9 p.m. Well, as we got closer I realized I had to be in New Orleans around lunch for that flight, there were lots of layovers. I decided then if I was already going to be gone all day I might as well just leave a little earlier and get me some Quad Loving from Dallas. I so wish time would have permitted to make the complete rounds around Dallas, but I promise Casey couldn’t have driven any faster. (Seriously not kidding, my knuckles are still white from gripping the door handle!)
Our first pit stop was at the beautiful, fun loving, holiday decorated house of Mrs. Amy-Jo Sather! I fell in love with AJ well over a year ago and her strength and fortitude absolutely amaze me every day! To say she has one of the cutest boys on the face of the planet would be an understatement, but then you add that little giggle he has to it, holy melt my heart! It was an absolute honor to get to hang out with her adorable children! With only seconds to spare, Casey ordered me back in the burb and we two-wheeled it to her house to pick up her girls for dance lessons. I’ve loved her children since I was pregnant with my quads and have watched them grow through her blog, but to actually see them in person was amazing! And the fact that they can all say my name followed by I Love You, had me missing my babies really bad! Just when I was thinking the Nascar race was over Casey had to run me to the other side of town to meet up with Suz and Moni so that we could pick up Gen from the airport. Not real sure what I was looking at!
We got to the airport about the time that Gen realized she had no luggage! It shouldn’t have been as funny as it was, but it was HILARIOUS! We left the airport over an hour later with only the hope of “maybe it will turn up tomorrow!”
We arrived at the Steece’s house around midnight and I was uber excited to meet Joe and…. well, we’ll just leave it at I was excited to meet him! Suz and Joe are one of the most perfect couples I have ever met. They complete each other’s sentences, act alike, look alike and are so truly genuine!! I couldn’t wait for the next morning so I could meet her wonderful children and also a blogger friend, Elyse. Elyse has been a blog follower of mine since the beginning and introduced me virtually to the majority of the quad moms’ blogs. She is a daily dose of inspiration for me! Playing with the Steece babies was AMAZING!
I seriously don’t think these kids could be one ounce cuter!
Look at these smiles!
Shortly after we put the babies down for their naps (in their toddler beds, in their big kid undies!!!) we were Austin, TX bound!!!!! I’ll start working on that post now and maybe I’ll be done in the next week or so!!

Holy Momcation

2010-07-01T10:00:00.001-05:00

16 Best Friends

Front (left to right)

Kelly, Heather, Amy Jo, Misty, Casey, Beth, Mari

Back (left to right)

Charity, Suz, Sandra, Kami, Jenn, Jenna, Jac, Gen, & Moni

mom·ca·tion [mom-key-shuhn]

–noun

a period of suspension of all mommy duties, usually used for rest, recreation, or travel; recess or holiday: 16 moms of Quadruplets met in Austin, Texas for a 5 day momcation

a part of the year, regularly set aside, when normal activities of wiping bottoms, administering time outs and referring to yourself in the third person are put aside

freedom or release from preschool activities

an act or instance of vacating with 15 best friends who are collectively called mom by 67 children

Quad Mommas 2010

We, as always, had the time of our lives and encourage all of you ladies to do the same. When you have unconditional friendships like these, life is so much sweeter. We can't wait for next year!

Ma’am, Your Dogs Battery is Dead!

2010-06-08T12:28:00.001-05:00

From the second those words came out of my mouth, a post was brewing in my head. It was just way too funny not to share.
In the little town where I live even if you’re 5 miles apart, you’re neighbors. We’re all friendly, it’s just how we roll! Well, I have two neighbors on my road most commonly referred to as “The Twins.”Denise and Deanna
The day after I had the babies they came and visited me at the hospital and I offered to bring them up to see the babies. Well, that’s a rule breaker in the NICU, only two people at each bedside and they couldn’t go in together because a parent or someone on the approved list had to go in with them. Long story short, I broke the rules, brought them both in, Shame on Me! Well, I was drugged, to say the least, mildly sedated. I had given birth to quads less than 24 hours ago, for everyone’s sanity and/or safety I was on a significant amount of medicine. When asked by one of the babies nurses if they were my sisters (I’m assuming she thought multiples “ran in the family”) I said, no, they’re just my neighbors. Yes, I admit it now, denied it then, but they are also my friends! So, since I referred to them as my neighbors it’s been a running joke. I referred to them here and here in a jokingly manner as “my neighbors.”
Focus Sandra, Focus… Dog, battery… Focus!
Deanna has a cute little dog named Dixie Dixie has an underground fence and has this cool collar on her neck. Well, when the batteries go dead, Dixie has free roam of the neighborhood. Today was the second time I’ve found Dixie roaming around and when I called “my neighbor” I said, Excuse me, ma’am, your dogs battery is dead!
Okay, so maybe it was a little more funny to have been there, but it’s not too often you hear or speak the words, Ma’am, your dogs battery is dead. Now I know the drill, I just get Dixie to jump in the van, we head to Deanna’s and I put her in her kennel and call Deanna to put batteries on her Wal-Mart list!

Have a Great Week!

We Love FREE

2010-06-06T21:24:00.001-05:00

The first thing I do every morning is roll over, grab my phone and read through my e-mails, texts, instant messages and Facebook messages. When I read a Tweet from @DiaperDiaries about it being National Doughnut Day, I thought, what a crazy day to have. After a little more investigating I realized it was a crazy day that meant FREE Doughnuts at Krispy Kreme, COUNT ME IN! I woke Matt up and said, hey, let’s take a field trip to Krispy Kreme, he looked at me like I was crazy and said, okay. When I explained the whole FREE part, he was dressed in seconds!
We loaded up the kiddos and off we went!I figured it was just glazed for free, but I was happy to hear, no, ma’am, anything you would like!
I got the babies each a glazed and HN got chocolate sprinkles!
My total for 3 chocolate milks, 1 tea and 7 doughnuts was under 5 dollars! HOLLA!
Being the dork I am, I asked for 5 hats as well!
Hannah Noelle LOVES doughnuts! Avery pretty much loves everything except chicken! Gunner loved everything but the hat!Cannon liked the doughnut as long as someone would feed it to him, he was way to cool to get his hands all gooey! And Little Lauren, she never passes up food and wore her hat the whole time just like her Big Sissy!
We also found out that Cannon DOES NOT like chocolate milk, like gagging to the point of embarrassment doesn’t like chocolate milk! Since he embarrassed us I have to throw in this picture where Cannon is doing I’m not sure what, but I’m sure it will embarrass him one day! Have a Great Week!

Pearly Whites

2010-06-03T22:25:00.001-05:00

I called about 6 months ago to make Hannah Noelle an appointment with a pediatric dentist. We had made several attempts with regular dentist and they were a complete waste of time and money because the environment just wasn’t conducive for a child. I heard about Dr. Buddy Brice’s office and how great he and his staff were with children, so I called and made an appointment for her. At the last minute I said, hey, when should I bring the babies in for their appointments. She said generally at 12 months. Uh-oh, we’re older than that, I need to make 4 more appointments please. The first visit was more of a look and see for all 5 and then we would go from there. That visit was short, we were in and out in 15 minutes, of course, with help from Pae-Pae. Upon leaving we scheduled the appointment for 5 sets of chompers to be cleaned! The day snuck up on me and uh-oh, I was helperless (yes, I just made up a word!) I called in the expertise of Uncle Coach whom I referred to as my dental assistant and luckily Kae-Pae didn’t mind handing him over to me even though it was her birthday!
Coach and I headed to get Hannah Noelle from Horse Camp (insert redneck jokes here) and off to Biloxi we went.
First in the chair was Cannon. This was the best shot I could get of him, to say he disliked the dentist would be a GROSS understatement!
Next was Avery-Bug She didn’t necessarily love the idea at first, but was okay with it. Then, when the dentist came in to take a final look…..Next up was Lauren. If you look closely, you’ll see a wrinkled forehead, which is never a good sign!
While I was taking the babies in one by one in the “Quiet Room” which is made so once the door is shut no one but those inside the room hear the drama, Hannah Noelle was outside in the big room being a BIG GIRL!The last in the chair was Gunner. I figured he was going to bite the sweet lady, so I thought I’d save him for last!Look at that poor face!
For the record, that is not blood, the “special toothpaste” is red colored. Coach in the waiting room with the other 3 babies and big girl!

All 5 left with sparkling white teeth, no cavities a/k/a Sugar Bugs and a coupon for a free Ice-Cream. I think that guarantees them that you’ll be back; right?
We were also informed that Hannah Noelle has more than the one loose tooth we were aware of. He said to expect some snaggles this summer! Yay for the tooth fairy!

Have a Great Week!

Oh Wee

2010-05-30T20:58:00.001-05:00

There are two things that are very popular at our house right now. One is the game of Hide and Seek, which is absolutely hilarious!
It was Cannon’s turn to hide. And if the legs sticking out from under the pillow didn’t let you know where he was… The giggling from under the pillow would lead you straight to him! And Gunner, well, he thinks covering his eyes makes him invisible!

The next super popular game is Oh, Wee… Cannon, give Lauren Oh Wee’s! Gunner, give Daddy Oh Wee’s! Lauren, give Gunner Oh Wee’s! Cannon, give Avery Oh Wee’s! Avery, give Gunner Oh Wee’s!

It’s so sweet watching the way they love each other!
Next is a series of pictures to show what a ham Avery is!
She is definitely 100% Diva!
First I said, Smile Bug! Then I said, never mind, I’ll take someone else’s picture!
And she said, CHEESE!
Hope you have a GREAT WEEK!

Clothing Optional

2010-05-24T22:18:00.001-05:00

I am so excited for this summer! The babies LOVE to be outside and would stay out there all day if I would let them! These items are on our shopping list with every Wal-Mart trip! And the babies’ faces light up when they see me grab the Little Swimmers and the Sun Block!Cannon is always the first in the pool! Avery LOVES to splash the water! Gunner is not a fan of being in the pool, but he loves to play close to it.
”Mom, what’s this red thingy for?” Lauren always wants what someone else has!
”Her, Dunna, I’ll show you how it works!” And Hannah Noelle loves to get in there and play with them!

We’ve also stocked up on these little gems!I cut two tubes in half and each baby gets a half. It’s just enough to cool them down, but not too much to get too melted and runny!”Mommy, are you sure these are good for my figure?”
Gunner “I will not look at you, I will not look at you,
I will not look at you!”
Lauren”Mom, the rules say you must wait 30 minutes after eating before returning to the pool!”
Avery-Bug “Who said everybody hates to eat and run?”
Cannon

Hope you’re having a

Great Summer!

Kindergarten…. Here She Comes!

2010-05-19T22:18:00.001-05:00

It seems like yesterday that I wrote this heart felt post!
And then, here we are today.. well, yesterday, that my baby graduated from Pre-K 4!
I was scared I would make a total idiot out of myself and cry like a baby, but somehow I managed to keep it all together!
The first part of graduation the kids got to dress up in what they wanted to be when they grew up and do a little speech. Hannah Noelle, of course, wants to be a Saints Cheerleader. She’s adamant that that is what she will be, even wants to go house looking in New Orleans for a house big enough for all of us to live in. She also said she’d like to work part time at Subway because being a cheerleader “probably doesn’t pay very well!”
Her speech was….
I want to be a Saints Cheerleader and cheer for the black and gold, when my dreams come true, Drew Brees will be old.
I’ll stand on the sideline and shake my pompoms like that (imagine some furious pompom shaking) and when I say, Go Saints, you say, Who Dat!
(Enter toe touch with WoooHooo, Go Saints!)
After that part I was sure I’d melt down, but then I saw this smile, and all the world seemed to stop!

I was so happy she got to graduate with one of her best friends that she met when she was 9 months old! She and Carson were buds back in the Nursery at the hospital, then were reunited when HN joined Caswell Springs Child Care. Rarely did you see Hannah Noelle without Carson and Analeice.Hannah Noelle, Carson and Analeice The graduation was AMAZING! I cannot thank the staff at CSCCC for the hand they have had in the raising of my daughter! I have no doubt she is going to Kindergarten prepared and ready! And before you ask, I have no idea what kind of pose
I was doing!

Tu - be or not Tu - be

2010-05-18T09:39:00.001-05:00

Yes, that would be another painful attempt of humor!
At 5 months old Hannah Noelle joined the Tube Club

In February the boys joined the Tube Club Yesterday, Lauren joined the Tube Club And the outsider of the bunch, Avery, is chilling in the
Not Tube Club! Hopefully she’ll avoid the peer pressure to be like the others and stay in that club! Lauren is doing great post surgery and we’re hoping to see a HUGE improvement in her!

Oh, The Games We Play

2010-05-10T08:25:00.001-05:00

Sure, there are games we play with Hannah Noelle !

And there are games we play with the babies!

But, there are still games we play as adults and parents.
(Moni, remove your mind from the gutter!)
Okay, you’re going to have to run with me here!
Be thinking the Game Show “Name That Tune”
Now, imagine 4 babies with ever so rotten diapers and two delirious parents and this is where our game began.
Sniff, sniff….. I can change that diaper with 5 wipes.No, that diaper will take at least 7 wipes.
No, 6 at the most.
Okay, Sandra, CHANGE THAT DIAPER!
And then the count was on.
Now, if you’ve never watched the show, it makes absolutely no sense, but then again, if you’ve watched the show, it probably makes no sense either, it’s just something we do to pass the time! Over the course of the last week I can promise you that between Pae-Pae, myself and Matt we have changed more foulness than one household should ever have to experience.
I must also add that Matt and I sat in the bed last night discussing our game, how it was played, etc. When we start making our own rules, I think we may need counseling! At the end of our conversation I giggled and he said, oh, I see a Blog Post coming, so here’s to you Matt, may you always be a Wipe Short!

Have a Great Week

I will try to quit blogging about our poo-tivities!

How it went down!

2010-05-08T21:07:00.001-05:00

Sunday Avery wanted some alone time, so she insisted on being brought to the hospital via ambulance! By Monday morning, Avery and Lauren decided they wanted to play together in the hospital!Tuesday they went home and told the boys that the hospital was fun, but the IVs were rough!
Gunner thought hard on the idea and decided he’d give the hospital a whirl! And you know Cannon can’t go too long without his mommy, so he had to come visit too! Then at some point Thursday Avery must have bribed Lauren into getting sick again so that she would be the only one home! By Friday night, my lap just WAS not big enough for Cannon and Lauren and I decided if they felt well enough to fight, they were well enough to go home! And on Saturday morning, Gunner was making hospital supplies toys, so we figured we’d let him come home and play with real toys! Hope you have a Happy and Poo Free Mother’s Day!

Sorry for the poor quality of the pictures, but a camera just wasn't on my hospital packing list so my phone had to make due!

4 for 4

2010-05-06T11:42:00.001-05:00

I’m taking 5 minutes to blog while Matt finishes packing Cannon’s bag to ask for prayers!
Sunday Lauren started running a fever and by 10 she was vomiting and had the Big D. At 1 am Avery had what we’re hoping was only a febrile seizure, so she was brought to the hospital via ambulance. Monday morning Avery and Lauren were admitted to the hospital for RotoVirus and given IV fluids and monitored closely for their fevers. Tuesday afternoon we were released because they were both able to keep fluids down and I was confident we could manage their fevers at home. Wednesday morning Gunner started vomiting and running a fever, I kept praying he would come around and be able to keep some food/fluid down, but by 5pm, I knew it was time to take him in. He was admitted to Singing River with Roto as well as a very high fever that has basically not broken below 102. Cannon started vomiting last night as well and Matt made the call around 9 this morning that he needed to see the doctor. Dr. Gina has decided he needs to be admitted as well for IV fluids and fever monitoring.
Due to poor planning, or not thinking, I was at the hospital with all 4 car seats so there was no way for Matt to get him to me so Matt’s dad came to get the van to come get Cannon, but Gunner did not want his PawPaw to leave him, so PawPaw stayed with G, I ran home, took a quick shower and I’m fixing to head down to the hospital with a puny little Can-Man.
Please keep all of us in your prayers, pray that it stops here, that none of the adults nor Hannah Noelle gets it.
Thanks so much to everyone who has played a role in helping us this CRAZY week in some way or another!

Because You Asked

2010-05-05T09:09:00.003-05:00

Kimberly asked:
I want to know how you stay so beautiful and so well put together always with such a hectic life. You amaze me women!
I so wish I had a happy smiley answer for you, but I don’t. The big secret is, I don’t blog on bad days, I don’t blog about bad times. I try to stay as positive as possible 99 percent of the time because being positive in your head helps even when you really don’t feel positive.
As far as being “put together”, my husband and I have the sink or swim philosophy and we chose to swim all the time, even when we’re beat down tired and sinking like we’re in quicksand!
And, thanks, for the beautiful part, but if you look closely, I’m never in the pictures because although my kids may be dressed to a T, most likely I have on yoga pants and a DFB t-shirt!
Anon asked:
Where do you find those pacifiers that the little boy uses?
The person I originally purchased them from only has limited ones left, but thanks to my dear friend, Casey, whom I called desperate for a Wubbanub supplier, Designed For Babies will be carrying them soon. She’s already placed her order, just waiting on her shipment confirmation before she puts them on her site!

Lauren asked:
How did you and Matt meet?
What was your reaction when you first saw your sonogram of the quads? (probably a question you get asked a lot)
I actually did a blog post wake back when on how we met, but the short version is I went to a high school baseball game with a friend of mine’s family and there he was, Coach Cochran, #32. He was told I was 15 so he thought I was jailbait. I, however, wasn’t 15 and knew I was going to find a way to talk to him. After a group date, a bet and letting him borrow a dime (pay phones were 35 cents, he only had a quarter) (Are there even pay phones around anymore) we fell in love, got married and well, you know the rest!
The reaction, oh, I remember it like it was yesterday. We had originally been told twins, only to find out a week later that (in my doctor’s words) Oh, @$%*, there is Baby C. That weekend was hard, TRIPLETS, what are we going to do. Complicated pregnancy, MINI VAN, I have to quit my job, MINI VAN, I’m gonna be on serious bed rest, MINIVAN. We finally accepted triplets some time three days later on our way to the fertility clinic for our final scan there. We walked in confident, proud, proclaimed to them, we’re having triplets and we’re going to buy a minivan, only to lay on the table and see four flashing hearts. It honestly didn’t seem like that big of a deal, 3 to 4 that is. I was speechless, a couple actually left the fertility clinic after they heard our news. I didn’t have words to say to anyone so I sent out a text, “And Then There Were Four.”

Aunt Margaret asked:
When are you coming to Calif. to visit your aunt?
Well, I just googled how far you are from Sac-Town and you’re not too far, so maybe soon!! I have a dear friend in Rancho Cordova that I plan on visiting some time in the next year or so and I would love to come see my favorite Cali aunt and uncle. I just said a HUGE prayer that no other aunts or uncles live in Cali or I’m going to be in big trouble for calling you my Cali Fav! (My dad has 7 brothers and sisters so I get confused on who lives where!)

Anon asked:
How do you manage to support your family? Major budgeting? Coupons? Family help? Some other secret the rest of us moms don't know? =)
I wish I had a secret, like a money tree in the back yard, but no such luck! We do major budgeting, planning and strategizing. For any holidays, birthdays, Christmas or Happy Friday day, (yes, I’ve been known to make up a holiday or two) we ask that any gifts be money, food or diapers. Both of our families have been a HUGE help and we know that if we need help, they don’t mind us asking! Matt also started coaching football again which helped us financially get from month to month. Yes, people, he gets paid once a month! That means MAJOR planning! I also do a little monogramming here and there to make an extra dollar or two when the month gets really long!

Anon asked:
You are always so positive. I only have 2 girls that are 2 1/2 and 7 months and you always seem put together and on top of things... How???? You are an amazing person!!!!!!!
Thanks so much! Your words alone inspire me even more to stay positive. I answered this question (I hope) in Kimberly’s question at the top. Just remember sink or swim (SWIM) and when all else fails, Smile and Wave Baby, Smile and Wave!

Anon asked:
How do you afford to dress five children in boutique clothing? Isn't that quite expensive??
I have lots of hints and secrets for this. First, read my guest post at BabyGoodBuys.Com here. Secondly, 99 percent of the clothes that are boutique I bought at Kidz Klozet, some consignment and some new. And if I’m wanting a specific outfit for their birthday or something really special, I plan ahead, buy one a month or ask Pae-Pae if she’d like that to be her present to them for their birthday!

Stephanie asked:
How did you decide the kiddos names?
Do you plan on putting them in preschool or a Mothers Day Out program at some point?
Good question!
Hannah Noelle - My parents had decided my name was Heather Noel and changed it last minute and I loved it, so basically this was a first date proclamation. I had named ever baby doll I had for ever Hannah Noelle, it was going to be my first daughter’s name and I just had to hope he liked it, which he did!
Cannon Gregory - We had his named picked out even before I got pregnant with Hannah Noelle. We both really liked Cannon and Gregory is his grandmother’s maiden name.
Gunner Cole - Cole was going to be his first name, Cannon and Cole and then we decided we didn’t want them to be matchy matchy so I put Matt in charge of his name. Around 2 am one morning Matt said, what about Gunner. HN said in the sleepiest voice every, Gunna Coaaal, I love it daddy.
Lauren Kathryn - The day after HN was born I started planning in my head for Baby 2, only to decide about three weeks later I was done with all the baby business! Finding a girls name consumed me for several days and then Matt and I agreed upon Lauren and Kathryn was my grandmother’s name. We had decided we would call her Laura Kate, which lasted until the second ultrasound when we found out there were twins, then she just became Lauren!
Avery Caroline - Her name was the hardest and she was Baby D for quite some time. I had a name, Matt didn’t like it, Hannah Noelle hated it and pretty much every one of my friends frowned upon it. I will not say what it was because I still love the name and I’m sure someone has named their child this and I don’t want to offend them! I finally gave in and said, okay, Hannah Noelle, you name her. Less than two minutes later she said, Avery Caroline. Momma, Avery Caroline is her name!

The babies will start Pre K 3 next year at the same school Hannah Noelle has been at since she was 9 months old. I will work there during preschool hours to pay for their tuition. Basically we’ll break even with my work and they’re school, but I definitely think they need to be around other children and have a different teacher than Mommy!

Rachel asked:
What are some of the funny/crazy questions people have asked you when you go out in public with your kiddos, and how do you answer them? We get a lot of questions when we take our kiddos out, some that make us smile and others that aren't so pleasant!
Qua-triplets, Fourflets, Fourtiples, Two sets of Twins.
Are they all identical?
He must be the oldest (talking about Gunner) since he’s so much bigger.
Are you done having kids?
Are they all yours?
Hold old is he, how old is he, how old is she, how old is she? Oh, they’re the same age; how’d you do that?
Oh, I could go on and on!
Depending on the person asking the question, whether they’re being sincere or just being ugly with their question determines my answer. Normally my answer is something that makes my husband’s face turn red, but I’m trying to get better at that.

Anon asked:
Where did you find the beautiful hair bows on the headbands that the babies are wearing in the pictures when they were little?
I went back and found this old post, which first made me cry, just reminiscing of when they were 9 months old, but it had the link to the hair bow and headbands, My Dollys Bows. I have tried and tried to find her site again, but keep running in circles and I am the queen of Googling something! Darcy, if you read this, please e-mail me with where you do business now!

Thanks so much for all of the questions! I had a blast reading them as they came in and preparing my answers!! If you have any other questions, feel free to ask and I’ll include the answers in future posts!

Have a Great Day!

What Makes You Go Hmmmm?

2010-05-01T21:18:00.001-05:00

Most of my Quad Momma Sistas have done this, but I haven't gotten around to it yet.

Over the last few weeks I’ve received several FaceBook messages asking me questions, some personal, some generic, about our life, so I figured I would bravely open up the opportunity here.

I would like to know what you want to know that I'm not telling you. I will do my best to answer every appropriate question whether it be to myself, Matt, Hannah Noelle or the babies (they can give simple yes and no answers!) The questions that were asked of us by Multiples and More made me realize that you too may have questions of us, so ASK AWAY!!

I will answer questions in a blog post on

We Are Family

2010-05-01T08:53:00.001-05:00

First Came Mommy and Daddy
Next…. Hannah Noelle
3 1/2 Years Later, Cannon
2 Minutes Later, Gunner Cole
1 Minute Later, Lauren Kathryn
1 Minute Later, Avery Caroline
We Couldn’t Do It Without Pae-Pae

Hope you enjoyed this series of pictures!

Thanks so much Leighann
for all your hard work!

We Couldn’t Do It Without Pae-Pae

2010-04-30T09:00:00.000-05:00

First Came Mommy and Daddy
Next…. Hannah Noelle
3 1/2 Years Later, Cannon
2 Minutes Later, Gunner Cole
1 Minute Later, Lauren Kathryn
1 Minute Later, Avery Caroline

We Are Family

One Minute Later, Avery Caroline

2010-04-29T18:35:00.001-05:00

First Came Mommy and Daddy
Next…. Hannah Noelle
3 1/2 Years Later, Cannon
2 Minutes Later, Gunner Cole
1 Minute Later, Lauren Kathryn

We Couldn’t Do It Without Pae-Pae

One Minute Later, Lauren Kathryn

2010-04-29T05:07:00.000-05:00

First Came Mommy and Daddy
Next…. Hannah Noelle
3 1/2 Years Later, Cannon
2 Minutes Later, Gunner Cole

One Minute Later, Avery Caroline

2 Minutes Later, Gunner Cole

2010-04-28T05:27:00.000-05:00

First Came Mommy and Daddy
Next…. Hannah Noelle
3 1/2 Years Later, Cannon
2 Minutes Later, Gunner Cole One Minute Later, Lauren Kathryn

3 1/2 Years Later, Cannon

2010-04-27T08:26:00.001-05:00

First Came Mommy and Daddy
Next…. Hannah Noelle
3 1/2 Years Later, Cannon 2 Minutes Later, Gunner Cole

Next…. Hannah Noelle

2010-04-25T19:31:00.001-05:00

First Came Mommy and Daddy
Next…. Hannah Noelle

Tomorrow…
3 1/2 years later, Cannon

First Came Mommy and Daddy

2010-04-25T19:22:00.001-05:00

I got my pictures in this week from
Leighann Scarbrough Photography

There were so many I couldn’t pick favorites and
they were so wonderful that I didn’t want to put them in
collages so that they would be hard to see!
Hope you enjoy this week’s series of pictures! Then we had to take some cute pics in our super cute
Super Mom and Super Dad
shirts from Designed For Babies

Now, you know who comes next!!
Hannah Noelle’s pictures will be up some
time Monday afternoon!

Water Park ~ Cochran Style

2010-04-22T13:22:00.001-05:00

Sunday afternoon Daddy said, I need to head down to the field and water it a little bit, it’s so hot and dry and we have a home game Tuesday night (which on a side note, WE WON! MP 2010 Div. 7 5A District Champs.)
I said, you grab the sunscreen, I’ll grab the kids and off we went. 5 bathing suits and at least one happy kiddo! We got to the field, lathered them in sunscreen, Daddy turned on the sprinkler system and we let them run wild. We went to the Splash Pad last year and it was a complete flop so we weren’t expecting them to like this too much either, but when there is 90,000 square feet of fenced in area, we are so going to try!!!

Hope you have a GREAT WEEK!

Try ‘em on for size

2010-04-14T21:24:00.001-05:00

Thanks so much to everyone for the awesomely supportive comments on yesterday’s post! We decided not to use the backpacks at daddy’s game because we had one on one combat for the game (a/k/a an adult per child!)
I also second guessed myself because Misty and Jenna told me I needed to let them try them out first.
Daddy gets to come home a little early on Wednesdays so we decided to let the kiddos try out their new furry friends for a while. The tails (leash part) was not their favorite part, but at least we warmed them up to the backpack idea!

I’m on Their Side!

2010-04-13T12:52:00.001-05:00

Before reading this post you may want to look at these posts.
Jenna Walker’s
Mary Kate’s
Yes, I’m joining the backpack harness crowd.
I used to hate these things, thought they were…. well, probably some of the same thoughts you are having right now.
Then I had 4 babies at one time and I only have two arms!
I must say too, that even if Cannon was an only child, I would have purchased him one, he’s wild, crazy and all boy. I wrestled with the decision, I mean, truly beat myself up about it until I took the kids to lunch yesterday by myself and Cannon wiggled out of my hand and made a beeline for the highway. I will be independent and do things with my children on a daily basis to keep their social skills in check, staying at home all day every day is not healthy for anyone. To do that, we must create the safest environment possible. So, today I loaded up the babies and we went to Target (in their stroller) and I let them choose their animal buddy! Cannon, of course, chose the monkey and the other three wanted puppies! We will try them out tonight at daddy’s ball game and see how they work for us!
But please, before you judge, make nasty comments or even stare at someone who has their child on a harness step in their shoes for a few minutes!
Jenna’s post hit close to home on several aspects of how beneficial they are and can be so be sure to check her post out and leave her little Monkeys some love!

John 16:24

2010-04-11T12:28:00.001-05:00

Ask and you shall receive! As you can see Gunner decided to climb out if his bed AGAIN. So, it was time to install the Crib Tents for Cannon and Gunner.
Hannah Noelle and I were in my bedroom folding clothes and she said, MOMMA, look at Gunner on the monitor. (Yes, we are now the owners of a dual video monitor, thanks Me-Mom) I grabbed the monitor and there was Gunner climbing out of his crib onto the changing table. I, of course, in great mommy fashion, snapped a picture of the monitor with my phone before running in there to “save” him. As I slung the door open, he dove in Cannon’s bed, which made Cannon scream bloody murder. Gunner is referred to as Godzilla in our house. When he walks towards any of his siblings, they run and hide, so for Cannon to have him in his bed, the poor dude was terrified! I put Gunner back in his bed and removed the changing table from the room until we were able to install the crib tents!
We just laid them down for naps and they were not so excited to be caged in, but quickly got over it and went to sleep. My babies love their sleep!

Daddy you are….

2010-04-09T16:34:00.001-05:00

the one that helps us when the load gets too tough…the one that guides us when we’re lost… and the one that makes us laugh as if no one is watching!

Happy Birthday (tomorrow) to the most awesome
husband, dad, best friend and soul mate!
Love, Mommy, Hannie,
Can-Man, Gunna-Boy, Laura-Laur and Bug-a-Rug

Yea, We’re Dorks

2010-04-08T13:10:00.001-05:00

But there are two things you can’t doubt…..
#1 We love each other#2 We love our family I can’t wait to post more!
Thanks Leighann Scarbrough for capturing
some amazing memories!

Happy Easter

2010-04-05T21:56:00.001-05:00

Sorry I didn’t get to actually post on Easter. I, of course, forgot my camera yesterday! I did manage to get 5 kids dressed and out the door in time for church! The hair rolling experience was an absolute flop and I had to wash the girls’ hair so that I could fix it for church. I doubt I’ll be trying that again any time soon! Thank goodness Tammy had her camera and took some great shots for us!Me and my Gunna-Boy!This picture is grainy because I cropped her out of the family picture… this is such a Lauren face!!!
Tammy made several attempts at getting a family shot of us.And then we headed outside for some fun!Lauren was an awesome egg hunter!Gunner just wanted the candy!
Look at Avery back there without her skirt on, it kept falling to her ankles so we just took it off! They have become such good friends and it warms my heart!
You may recognize the girls’ dresses from last Easter. It’s all part of that planning ahead problem I have. I bought 2T’s for the girls last year for two reasons. One, I wanted their dresses to be long for their Baby Dedication and two, I knew that if I played my cards right, they could wear them again! That’s the great thing about smocked dresses, the sizes are flexible! The bows however have gotten larger!
I LOVE BOWS!
I hope you and your family had a great Easter!
Check in on Multiples and More Tuesday morning and you may see some familiar faces! And for those of you who came to our site from Multiples and More, WELCOME!!!

Have a Great Week!

Never Say Never

2010-04-03T21:29:00.001-05:00

I can vividly remember my mom putting my hair in foam rollers on Saturday nights and screaming at her, I’ll never do this to my kids!Well, Mom, I eat my words!
Both little girls have my naturally nappy hair and since I can’t put the massive amount of product that I use on my hair in their hair, I took option #2. They don’t seem to be too bothered by it and I’m sure they’ll all be out in the morning when I go to get them dressed!
We’re headed to church bright and early in the morning and then to spend the day with family!
And I must share a special text I got from Matt today….. it said, Hannah Noelle just said do you remember the day Jesus came out of the cave? That’s the day we celebrate Easter!
It sure feels good to know that I’m doing something right as a parent!

Have a Happy Easter

The Zoo

2010-04-01T16:10:00.001-05:00

Yep, that was the best title I could come up with!
We headed out at ~~8:15~~ 9:20 for a spring break trip to the
New Orleans Audubon Zoo
15 minutes into the trip Cannon had a melt down and
Hannah Noelle said, mommy, look at Gunner!Dude had the right idea! Plug those ears up and block out the noise! He rode like this for a good 20 minutes! Within 5 minutes of being there, we had our picture taken twice that we saw and probably 10 times we didn’t see. And we heard the whispers of look, two sets of twins, qua-triplets and my personal favorite ever, Look at the Four-Flets!
As you can see though, we came to the zoo to see animals!
Mr. Chad (my best friend) and his son, Gage, came with us to the zoo and we had a blast!! HN was so happy to have someone to wander around with and Chad keeping an eye on them made it easier for Matt and I to be able to tag team the questions coming from both directions about the babies! We’ve gotten really great at both answering the questions at the same time with different answers, which leaves everyone even more confused that when they first saw us!The babies were AHHHHMMMAZING! We were there for 5 hours and never once got them out of the stroller. Yes, I just told on myself that I did not change the first diaper the whole time we were there. When we had our picnic lunch I said, let’s get them out and Matt said, why mess up a good thing. Good thinking Matthew! They were absolute ANGELS!Lauren saw every animal! She could spot them
from yards away! Cannon would call them towards him..
Keettty Katt, Keetttty KatSometimes the glances from far away were the best. Avery liked the ones that didn’t move the best! And have I told you lately what an awesome husband I have?
I caught him playing pee-pie with the babies behind his hat while Hannah Noelle and I were “browsing” in the Gift Shop.

When we got back to the van we realized we had left the rear passenger door open the entire time we were inside! Thank goodness nothing was touched or stolen!
I can’t wait to go back to the zoo next year!
Have a Great Week and Happy Easter!

A Job Worth Having!

2010-03-29T13:29:00.001-05:00

I complain a lot about my job as a mommy, but when it all comes down to it, it’s the best job in the world!
Thanks Hannah Noelle, Cannon, Gunner, Lauren and Avery!
I love my job as your mommy!

Flying High!

2010-03-28T21:09:00.001-05:00

One out of four has a love for swinging!!

Isn’t his smile just CONTAGIOUS!

Spreading the Love!

2010-03-24T19:54:00.001-05:00

And it’s not necessarily the love we like to be spreading!
Saturday Avery woke up sick and was sick all day.
Sunday everyone woke up great and I thought, wow, we dodged that bullet.
Monday Lauren woke up sick and was sick all day.
Tuesday started with Lauren and Avery both pretty puny and by 8:00 last night I was in the same puny boat with them!
To spare some majorly graphic details today has been filled with lots of clothes changing, several baths, several sheets being bleached and a whole lot of, back up Hannah Noelle, she’s sick again!
We’re praying we can keep everyone hydrated enough to stay home and not have to make a run to The River.
As of the latest tally, all four babies and myself have caught “the love” and we’re just holding our breath hoping
Pae-Pae, Daddy and Hannah Noelle don’t get it!
And while we’re on the topic of spreading some love, hop over to Gen’s Review Blog and see the love towards
Designed For Babies that she shared with us!

Who you Callin’ a Monkey?

2010-03-21T21:50:00.001-05:00

We recently got a Monkey Joe’s near where we live and after attending a party there, Hannah Noelle has been begging to go back! So, I, in what was FOR SURE a moment of insanity, decided to take all 5 by myself!
The play area for younger children was a HUGE HIT!Even Hannah Noelle loved it! She wasn’t getting to far from Mommy because Monkey Joe, himself, was there! And to say that he was NOT a hit with my kiddos
would be a HUGE understatement! Lately the boys have been teaming up a little,
which is good, but scary all in the same!This was all they would do in the jumpies. They hated going through the little entrance holes, so we just played at the bottom of them. There are 2 that are designated just for younger children so we just hung out at the bottom of those!
Since it was around lunch time we decided to eat there! One problem, only 3 highchairs! For some UNKNOWN reason, I chose Lauren to be the “Big Kid” and sit at the table with Hannah Noelle. Do you see why it wasn’t such a good idea?

The babies all wore yellow for two reasons.
Reason #1, if I have them all dressed similar it’s easier to count them 1, 2, 3…… um, there she is, 4.
Reason #2, Gen McNulty is one of my best friends. When her Nani went to give Jesus a big giant hug, Gen shared with us that Nani’s favorite color was yellow so sometime last year shortly after that I went and got the girls these yellow dresses and the boys some yellow shorts. We wore them then and sent Gen a picture and this year when I was busting out the Spring clothes I saw those dresses and this year, they’re doubling as shirts. With some more digging I was able to find the boys some yellow shirts and we decided to have another Nani Day! I asked Hannah Noelle to go find something yellow in her closet and she said, in her biggest 5 year old voice, I love Aunt Gen, but yellow is just not that fashionable, she’ll understand! With a straight face (which was very hard) I said, oh, okay and began texting Gen as fast as my fingers would allow!
Something VERY exciting is going to happen on Gen’s Blog and Gen’s Review Blog one day this week,
**cough, cough* TUESDAY *cough, cough*
So please make sure you make your way to
her blog this ~~week~~ Tuesday.

U Name It!

2010-03-18T15:28:00.001-05:00

After coming up with about 50 different captions to put above this post I figured I would let you caption what Avery is thinking because TRUST me, she was thinking something!

Just When I Think I’ve Done It All

2010-03-16T16:40:00.001-05:00

I’m reminded I will never have done it all!!!

In all the scenarios I have played out in my head, this was NeVeR one of them!!!
2 miles from home my little warning light came on…
My husband has taught me well, don’t stress, just figure out why it’s there. I immediately start scanning through all the little handy dandy functions the mini has and I see
LOW TIRE PRESSURE
32psi 32psi 32psi 21psi
I thought, 21, I can make it home on 21, then I glanced back down, 16…… UH-OH
I had to make decisions and FAST now down to 6psi and 1 mile from home with all 5 kids in tow. I pulled into the driveway of one of my best friends who I have always referred to on my blog as “my neighbor” to aggravate her and her twin sister, but after this save I think she’ll forever be referred to as “My Best Friend Neighbor!” I frantically rang Denise’s doorbell and PRAYED she was home. YAY, she was and she had an air pump. By this point the babies were screaming and OVER it! We hooked up the air pump and it started slowly filling with air.
We then realized how fast it was actually seeping out so in true Girly Fashion, we looked for the Duct Tape. Hey, we knew it was a long shot, but I only had a mile that I needed that air to stay in! I’m proud to announce, though I don’t recommend it, the Duct Tape worked!!! I drove a little faster than normal and by the time I approached my driveway I had 4 psi left and I said to myself, “Self, if it gets to 2, you’ll have to stop and walk the babies the rest of the way home so you don’t mess up your rim!” Well, it hit 2 as we pulled up to the house!
We’re home and I will now be taking a refresher course on Tire Changing and Matt will take a refresher course on turning his phone off of vibrate the second he walks out of school!!!

Need Some Exercise?

2010-03-10T11:38:00.001-06:00

Walk a ~~Mile~~ Block in Our Shoes!

Think before you speak!

Checking My List

2010-03-09T15:21:00.001-06:00

I do a lot with the babies by myself, but I’ve had one thing left on my checklist to get done with them... After going to Developmental Testing at this super cool place called The Watermelon Patch last week, I knew this was the perfect place for my solo endeavor.
I knew not only would Hannah Noelle have fun on the Zip Line.
I knew that Gunner was sure to find something SUPER manly to do..I knew Cannon would find a window to look outside and do his Fancy Dance in front of. I knew that Avery would find something to play Pie-Pie (Peek-a-Boo) with.I also knew that Lauren would take at least 30 minutes of solo time taking it all in, waiting to make sure everything was perfect in her little world first. Watching them ~~interact~~ stare at the other children was amazing to me as well. After an hour they were interacting better with the 5 other children that were there.
After 5 minutes of being there I was satisfied that I had made a great decision and would be joining the Family Plan for Open Play. We are going to TRY to go three days a week during the Open Play time on their schedule.
I can hear one of my best friends, Beth, a/k/a Germie, saying, SAAANNNDRRRA DEEEEE, think of all the germs. Well, that did enter my mind several times over the last few months when I wanted to go, but when I went Friday for testing I saw how super clean and neat this place was.
But as a parent, when you see this… … you immediately SPAZ out! Then, one of the other moms said, hey, there’s a bin over there to put that in. I looked over on the counter and this is what I saw….Oh, wow, that is amazing!!
If you live in our around the Mobile area, you should definitely check this place out and come hang with us sometime!!After we left I decided to tempt fate and take the Crew to lunch. We went to Chick-Fil-A and let Hannah Noelle play on the playground after we ate. They were so good, I even let them have dessert!
There were about 100 times throughout the day I would say, the way you act today determines how many adventures we do this summer. I knew that the Little 4 had no clue what I was talking about, but Hannah Noelle would be on her best behavior!
If they act like this all summer, we should have a pretty interesting time!

You’re Beautiful

2010-03-07T20:59:00.001-06:00

At least once a day if not 5 million times a day I tell each and every one of my children how precious and beautiful they are. I have no doubt in my mind that they will grow up with the self confidence they need to succeed in wherever life takes them. Last year during Pageant Time, which is a HUGE thing in our community, Hannah Noelle started asking to be in the pageant. We did one last year that was a church dress style pageant and she loved it! Every contestant won a trophy and she was so pleased to get the trophy for Prettiest Smile.
As Pageant Season rolled back around Hannah Noelle said, mommy, I want to be in a pageant with a fancy pageant dress. After a great opportunity fell in our laps to purchase a pageant dress at an absolutely awesome price I said, OKAY, we’ll do it, but with two rules. Number 1 rule, HAVE FUN. Number 2 rule, never let the smile leave your face, win or lose, you’re beautiful! The Little Miss Gulf Coast pageant was this weekend and it had one rule that I was a big fan of, No Makeup! Yay!! She could dress up, look fancy, but I didn’t have to stress with putting makeup on her!Special thanks to “my neighbors” Denise and Deanna
for doing her hair and nails!
Mrs. Neese and Mrs. Nana know what they’re doing, Mama! Mommy and Pae-Pae with our Beauty Queen!She was shocked and SO excited to get Second Alternate!
After she got her trophy she said, yay, can we go eat now?
It was very ironic that we matched, I did not plan it, but when we got there I was informed I had to walk her on stage. I was so relieved I had actually washed my hair and worn
non-wrinkled clothes! Hannah Noelle and her (in her words) Fan Club!
Jadyn, Tori, Anna and Abby!
Of course mommy of the year here, I forgot my camera!
Again, special thanks to Deanna for taking pictures and coming down my driveway to bring me the picture CD!
I owe you a car wash!!!

Have a BEAUTIFUL Day!

Go Daddy Go!

2010-03-03T13:25:00.001-06:00

Tonight starts Daddy’s baseball season! We hate missing games, but it’s just impossible to go to every one, especially with this CRAZY weather we’re having!!!

These are all pictures from last season. We made one game with the babies and that was only because it was only 10 miles away. This year, we’re going to go to as many as we can and let the ~~babies~~ toddlers get rid of some of their never-ending energy!
Good Luck Daddy!!

We’ll miss you until Friday!!!

Practice What You Preach

2010-03-02T10:03:00.001-06:00

I woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning, no excuses, just in an all out BAD mood! I fed everyone breakfast and then went to the computer to try and finish up the Media Guide for Matt’s baseball team. I took two years off from doing it, but for fundraiser support we needed one this year. It’s a hassle, a pain and a few other words I’ll save you from hearing, but the money raised let’s the kids eat a meal when they have games on the road so I agreed. I’ve been scanning pictures, picking fonts, rearranging for days. I assumed (that word has bitten me square in the butt a lot lately) that PageMaker saved periodically like Word does, like Windows Live Writer does, well, I was wrong. Hannah Noelle played on the computer some last night and when I got to it this morning all programs had been closed out (I just pressed the little X mommy) and my Media Guide was gone. I did the responsible thing and said, please walk out of the room Hannah Noelle, mommy needs to breathe for a few minutes. As I sat here aggravated, agitated, ready to ground her for the next 30 years I remembered a post I did a while back named The Little Things and in that post one of the things I said that gets me through the day is…

* The day several years ago when I was working on a transcript and something happened, my computer went blank and I lost everything. It was at that very moment I realized I could get mad, walk away screaming or use my frustration to work harder and get it done. (Don't get me wrong, I still get mad at things, just learned it really doesn't do too much good!)

So I took a deep breath, called Hannah Noelle back in here, explained to her what she had done, grounded her from the computer for a day and started working even harder on the Media Guide.
Practicing what you preach is a hard thing to do, but I’m glad for today that I had put into words in my blog something I needed to reread today!

Have a Great Day!

Make sure you read yesterday’s post too!!!

Got a Baby?

2010-03-01T20:44:00.002-06:00

When I got pregnant with the quads there were no websites I could go to generated specifically for multiples that I could purchase from. I was so overwhelmed, confused, etc. How I would have loved a shirt like this……It may have avoided some of the stares that went along with me imagining the cartoon bubbles above their heads saying… Holy Moly, she’s HUGE!
I also would have loved to have purchased this shirt for Matt to wear into the delivery room….It’s a polo style which is Matt’s favorite and the chest emblem says, Proud Father of Quadruplets.
And in the NICU, how cute would my Angels have looked in these little onesies? The front of the onesie says Angel in a precious Script Font.
Well, these shirts weren’t around then, but now, thanks to one of my best friends, Casey Gerwer, mom to BBGG quads, just like me, you can find all these things in a one stop shop!
Since she opened her Online Store Designed for Babies I’ve been a little of a shopaholic! My first purchase was this awesome tee.Then, for Christmas, I received a happy in the mail!
I’m going to order Matt this shirt for Father’s Day! Kidding, kidding, although I do love that shirt, this is the one I’m really going to get him…These are on order for the Babies…I’m also ordering these for the babies…I needed something special for Hannah Noelle too so I sent Casey an email to see if we could do something for the Big Sister to Quadruplets and she said, yes, it’s in the making, stay tuned!!!
I’m so excited not only for a one stop shop for moms of multiples and moms with singletons, but that my friend, a mom to quads, has such an amazing business.
Here’s a few ways to check out Designed For Babies
The Blog, Facebook or Twitter.
One more thing….. if you’re worried about fit because you have the “mommy belly,” quit worrying, she picked out shirts with us in mind. Last year when we were planning the Quad Mom Trip we decided we wanted shirts. That was the first we all heard of her amazing business. We generated a few hundred emails and gave what we liked, didn’t like, etc. We had sizes ranging all across the board and yet, she found the perfect shirt to make us all comfortable! Congrats, Casey, on an awesome business!!!

Is it Hard?

2010-02-28T12:55:00.001-06:00

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

2010-02-23T19:58:00.002-06:00

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….

2010-02-22T21:32:00.001-06:00

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?

2010-02-20T22:14:00.001-06:00

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!

2010-02-19T09:42:00.001-06:00

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

2010-02-15T17:28:00.000-06:00

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

2010-02-14T10:13:00.001-06:00

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

2010-02-12T22:33:00.001-06:00

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!

2010-02-08T13:09:00.001-06:00

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.com We 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!

Do You……….

2010-02-07T16:01:00.001-06:00

Have Your Game Face On?

I’m pretty sure he would rather be playing for the
Saints than having to wear makeup to watch them!!!She was throwing her hands up and saying Touchdown!!! Yes, we’re Saints Fans!!
Yes, we’ve always been Saints fans,
we’re not just jumping on the Bandwagon
I was born and raised in Louisiana!

GEAUX SAINTS

This was Avery’s face when I told her
we had some quad friends that were Colts fans!!

Who Dat

Christmas Eve

2010-01-14T13:50:00.001-06:00

Every Christmas Eve we have the Kirkwood Family Christmas. This year I was able to host the party at my house which, in all honesty, is way easier than having to load up all 5 and head out. Plus, if it’s at your house you are only in charge of paper products, NO COOKING!! I think we may have it at my house every year just so they don’t have to eat my cooking (I’ve actually brought something before that wasn’t completely unfrozen)!
Last year we didn’t get to bring the babies because they were so little and still on RSV lockdown, plus, let’s face it 4 month olds aren’t that much fun! This year, though, they were a blast! Here’s a few pictures from our festivities!

2nd Cousin Anna-Kate, Nana, Avery,
Old Grandpaw and Lauren
(Wait… is it 2nd cousin?
She’s Matt’s cousin’s daughter…. I’m confused.
We’ll just refer to everyone as Cousins, how’s that!)

Cousin Shelly and the Flying Can-Man
(She’s Matt’s cousin, so they’re 2nd cousin; right?
I’m so confused!)

Cannon and his BFF his Pappy Frog!

A serious Avery with a Happy Old Grandpa!
He is Matt’s Grandpa and instead of adding Great, we added Old! He doesn’t mind at all, he loves all the grands and great-grands so much!

Uncle Darnell and Lauren
She loved, loved him!!!

Aunt Gloria and Nana playing
I’mmmma Gonna Getcha with Gunner!!

Gunner making a run for it!

Hannah Noelle playing in her room with
Cousin Kaytee and Cousin Karragan.

Cousin Mike and Lauren, she’s always with a man!
Cousin Mike is Cousin Shelly’s husband!

All the great grands that were present….
Mason, Brant, Anna-Kate, Lauren, Avery, Kaytee, Cannon, Gunner, Travis, Kinsey, Karragan and Hannah Noelle…
there are 5 missing!!

Cousin Brant (Anna-Kate’s brother) and Cousin Mason

Old Grandpa and his Children
Greta, Ronald, Phyllis and Gloria
Grandma Belle was smiling in Heaven, I’m sure of it!

With cleaning and setting up, I forgot to get camera batteries so a special thanks to Cousin Tammy for taking the pictures and sending me the CD!

These were some of many of our attempt at a family shot!

We had a blast enjoying the fellowship with family and of course a really great game of Dirty Santa in which Matt and I worked together and ended up with a super cool flashlight and a Target Gift Card! I threatened anyone to take the Gift Card with the saying… it’s like taking diapers away from the babies! HeHeHe!
The weather was HORRIBLE, someone even got stuck in the driveway (those of you that know my driveway I know that doesn’t shock you!) so special thanks to Old Grandpa, Elouise, Nana, Papa, Uncle Jeremy, Kaytee, Karragan, Kinsey, Aunt Gloria, Uncle Sonny, Bryan, Tammy, Mason, Shelly, Mike, Travis, Aunt Greta, Uncle Darnell, Jared, Uncle Ronald, Sissy, Brad, Anna-Kate and Brant for braving the storm and coming over, it was a blast!

Camo Christmas

2010-01-01T16:07:00.001-06:00

You may remember this picture from February.

And you may remember this post from September.
Well, while we were at Bass Pro, Paw-Paw and Be-Be couldn’t resist getting the Crew new Camo Duds. So in true redneck fashion we decided what better way to dress the Crew for the Cochran Family Christmas Party than in their camo. Lauren Hannah Noelle
She looks soooo grown here!
So grown that I decided to start 2010 off with a new hair cut for my Big Girl! Avery who will no doubt be the first to kill a deer! Cannon Gunner The Boys!

If you missed the Pater Christmas, click here.
And stay tuned we still have two Christmas Gatherings left to post about!

Boxes

2009-12-29T23:10:00.001-06:00

Next year the babies are getting boxes for Christmas!Avery admiring Kae-Pae’s Steamer with Me-Mom!

Now she’s on top of the diapers! Gunner overjoyed about some new diapers!!

The diaper boxes were even a hit for Sissy!

The next best thing was the paper!!!She was literally inside of the bag!!!
Can you tell she’s the one that pushes all the limits?
And where was Lauren??? She was snuggled with Pae-Pae getting fed Powdered Sugar by Pe-Pop!!
No need to ask where Cannon was, odds are he was in my lap!

We were able to celebrate Christmas with the Pater Family (my mom (Me-Mom) my dad (Pe-Pop) my brother (Coach) my sister-in-law (Kae-Pae) my nephew (Jayce) and my sister (Pae-Pae)) the week before Christmas because my mom had to work Christmas night back in South Carolina! That made Christmas last for over a week, it was WONDERFUL!!
Still to come Christmas with the Cochran’s, the Kirkwood’s and then our family Christmas!

Hope your Christmas was everything you hoped for!

OOH, I ALMOST FORGOT!!!
We have a new addition to the Pater Family line-up,
Uncle Dan!!!
You may remember the post from Easter where this picture was listed as Pae-Pae and Mister Dan, well, he decided he wanted to be a part of our crazy family----- well, maybe he just decided he loved my sister so much he’d put up with our family and he popped the question Christmas day! We are so excited to welcome Uncle Dan (it’s at least four syllables, just ask Hannah Noelle) to our family!!

Introducing…….

2009-12-22T14:59:00.001-06:00

Rocky Cochran Who, Me?

This happened over a week ago and according to my pediatrician, “This is the first of many!” On this specific day he pulled an entire table over on top of his head! LOVELY!! We’re not talking about some rinky dinky table I should have had secured or had safety latched, we’re talking about a for-real-deal table that you nor I would have ever thought of as a hazard! We took him straight in to make sure everything was okay since A) there was a cut (although I told the pedi on the phone, I’ve cut myself shaving worse than this!) B) it was on his face and C) there were multiple bruises!!! Everything was fine and she assured me it would happen many many more times! Since then he has had 3 more should we go to the hospital experiences!! I’m thinking Cannon and Reid should start researching padded college campuses real soon or maybe her Mom’s Website should carry helmets and full body gear!
Merry Almost Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas

2009-12-17T09:59:00.001-06:00

I’m skipping a lot of the in between stuff and I’ll get back to that later, but I just wanted to share our Christmas Card. We were late sending them out so if you haven’t received yours yet, hang tight, it may take another day or two!
We have been super super busy around here with Christmas Parties, dentist visits, a new configuration for the playroom (and mommy’s sanity)!
Everyone please take time out this Christmas Season to remember the Reason for the Season and give everyone in your family an extra hug from the Cochran Crew!
Merry Christmas!
If things stay as crazy as they have been, the next time I get around to blogging I’ll be 30! That’s right, I turn the Big 3-0 in 2009!

Halloween in December?

2009-12-08T07:49:00.001-06:00

Sorry I’m just now getting around to posting Halloween pictures! We had a blog-eye-opening experience in the middle of October and let’s just say there are some very strange, sick people in this world. I had thrown in the towel on blogging with pictures, but then I realized this is how some of you actually get to see my children grow up! So with a few new safety precautions, we’re gonna give it another whirl!Group Pictures are IMPOSSIBLE!
Two Frogs, Two Princesses and a Rock Star Princess!Sweet Avery bug!They did SO good and then a dog barked and it was all over!
Avery who we always have had pegged as our Punk-A-Rella loved dressing up!! She played with the tulle the whole night! Lauren, however, could have cared less. The boys weren’t concerned at all with their costumes and Cannon had his Pappy-Frog in his mouth so that’s all he was worried about!Yes, there were some girls Trick-or-Treating dressed up as our kids!Rock Star Princess, Hannah Noelle!

I’ve got lots to catch up on, we’ve been very busy!
Hannah Noelle’s birthday, Thanksgiving and Christmas pictures!

Designed For Babies OPENS Monday, 11/30!!

2009-11-29T19:27:00.000-06:00

One of my extremely hardworking, dedicated, and downright fabulous fellow quad mommas and friend, Casey Gerwer, has put her creativity and drive to work and started an online business. Tomorrow on Cyber Monday http://www.designedforbabies.com/ will be open!!!

Check out their gear for Moms, Dads, babies, kiddos, expecting moms and grandparents! They also have custom diaper bags/handbags, developmental toys and much much more! I know we will be ordering some Christmas goodies from the easy to use site!

PLEASE TELL YOUR FRIENDS AND PASS ON THE LINK!!!!!!

Thanks!

Cochran Quads on WLOX

2009-11-12T19:47:00.003-06:00

WLOX Interview
It makes you watch a little commercial first, then the actual interview!

Thankful

2009-11-10T19:47:00.002-06:00

About a week ago a friend of mine posted a status on Facebook asking us all to take time out every day from now until Thanksgiving to post a status everyday of something that we were Thankful for. This was something I needed to do! Our family has had a very trying week with sick parents, kiddos and two hospital stays and I was finding myself at the very bottom of a very frayed rope! I found myself dwelling on all the bad and none of the good. I'm very exhausted and SO happy to be home from the hospital, but I wanted to share my posts that I have put on Facebook over the last week and I promise to post Halloween pictures soon!

THANKFUL STATUS: So thankful that Cannon doesn't realize how miserable hospital stays really are!!!

THANKFUL STATUS: Thankful that HN in no way feels left out by being a big sister to Quads. She called me this morning to tell me she missed Cannon!

THANKFUL STATUS: I'm so thankful for a husband who works his tail off for our family and even though he got home at 3am from coaching @ 815 he woke me up to tell me to get dressed and get out of the house for a breather!!!!

10 years ago I wondered where I'd be in 10 years. Now I know in 10 years I'll be surrounded by giggles and love!!

THANKFUL STATUS: Thankful that when we were told we had a 2 percent chance of twins that we took those odds and that God doubled that and proved to us all that He's the only one that can truly give you your odds!!

Thankful Status: I am thankful that although every morning the Pizza Cutter is put away in a different drawer and I have to search to find it, the fact that it is put up means someone else unloaded the dishwasher!!!

Thankful Status: I am thankful that even though I'm sitting in a hospital room with my Can-Man I still have millions of things to be thankful for!!

I also want to let you know how thankful I am for each and every one of you that reads the blog and encourages our family!!

What are you thankful for?

Corn Maze

2009-10-26T20:02:00.001-05:00

Saturday marked one year we had been together as a family so we decided to load the kids up and take them to our local Corn Maze. We were very excited to start a tradition with the quads that we have always done with Hannah Noelle. And just as a warning there are tons of pictures, 48 to be exact! I was camera happy and it was a beautiful day, so I snapped away! Gunner Cannon LaurenAvery

The Crew! At least they were all looking in the right direction!

Daddy showing us how to milk a wooden cow!?! Not real sure why I was thinking a PVC slide was a good idea! Hannah Noelle loved it though!And right about now I was getting REALLY nervous!We did it and I still have the bruises to prove it!

Next we moved on to the horsey swing! Avery loved it but wouldn’t open her eyes! Gunner Absolutely loved it!

This picture is just for Beth!!!! Gunner just wanted to eat the pumpkins!Trying to call the chickens over!

LOVE THIS PICTURE! The babies were not real sure about all the corn!

Group Shot! HN found her way out first and tried to scare us! Waiting for the Cow Ride I felt a little too brave and let Gunner
ride with Hannah Noelle!

She did a great job taking care of him though! Then off to our picnic! Cannon was loving it! Avery wasn’t too sure! Need I say more for Gunner? Lauren was a little confused! The group and Cannon escaping with the Cotton Candy! Still trying to get in the Cotton Candy I don’t need a pinch, let me take a BIG BITE! The leaves were also very tasty!

The baby swings were next and a Big Hit!

This was the view from the trunk
looking in when we got home!!!
It was a GREAT day with our family and we were all ready for a much needed long nap when we got home and settled!

For a few pictures from our trip to Baton Rouge three weeks ago, check out the Lambe’s Blog!

Have a Great Week!