Your Wish Is My Command

Alright, Stephanie! I hope you're happy now! Actually, you weren't the only one complaining about the lack of new posts. A certain other someone has been complaining also and actually made a point to call me and tell me I needed to read your comment because it was so funny-funny because you were complaining too! So I hope you're all happy now! I know I am!

More Tales from Memphis

Okay, it's really mostly pictures and just one long rambling tale, but here goes...In some ways, our trip to Memphis was not so different from being at home. We ate a lot, we just did it in non-matching chairs borrowed from kindly friends and family.
And we still had storytime before we went to bed each night, although we had to climb stairs to get to our beds which was new and interesting and quite tiring for the adults doing the carrying especially if you ended up doing for all four kids-up the stairs, down the stairs, up the stairs, down the stairs. Boy, am I glad WE don't have stairs!

But, in some ways it was very different! For one we got to visit with lots of people we don't often get to see. We got to see our new cousin Kallen!

We got to ride in a wagon and play with Daddy Bud and get our pictures taken at the park by the fabulous Julie of 1:17 Photography!

We got to roam around much more freely than we do at home because Daddy Bud and KayKay don't have a great big gate to confine us to one room. Plus there were so many new things to play with. Some were actually toys and meant to be played with. (A great big thank you to everyone who lent my parents toys for the visit!) And others were unbreakable decorations left out where we could reach them and strew them about the floor.

We got to dogpile on KayKay! And anyone else unlucky enough to put themselves within our reach!

We got some presents like these super cool shades from Aunt Nancy and Uncle George!

We got to play in the nifty old rocking chair that I believe belonged to KayKay when she was a little girl.

We got to make new friends, like Evan (pictured here with his daddy Martin) while Mommy visited with her friend Whitney, Evan's mommy.

And we got to play in the pool! This is just like home too, but here we got to play with Kinley...

...while Kallen napped nearby!

The only other major event of the trip is one that went un-photographed. We had a big get-together at my parents' house with a bunch of the special people in Memphis who have been involved in our lives and have been so interested and concerned in the babies' lives. It was so great to get to see them all and for them to get to see the kids, even if Reagan's diaper did do something weird and leak all over my poor friend! I'm so sorry, Steph! Other than that, the event, like our trip, was great!

Kallen Kaye

Here is a post just for my new niece! She was born July 2 and we got to see a good bit of her while we were in Memphis. I'm so glad we were able to time our trip with her birth. It would have made me terribly sad not to get to see her when she was brand new!

Kallen, so beautiful!

Kinley meets her new little sister

The happy family-Jeff, Jodie, Kinley, and Kallen

The sweetest story: Jodie tells this story better, but I'll do my best. Kinley has a stuffed cat that she treasures (Of course she treasures it! It was a gift from me!) It is her constant companion. She also has a similar smaller version of her kitty, that she didn't treasure in the same way. Nevertheless, at one point, when Kallen was crying, Kinlye went and got the smaller kitty and gave it to Kallen and told her it would be okay. She recognized that Kallen was upset, so obviously she needed a kitty of her own. So, above is a picture of Kallen and the kitty her sister gave her. What a sweet sister!

Sweet sisters! (This adorable picture was taken by Jeff's sister Julie, owner of 1:17 Photography in Memphis. Isn't it great!)

One of THOSE Kids

So, within two hours of our arrival at my parents' house in Memphis, we discovered that Thomas is going to be one of THOSE kids. You know, the ones that crazy stuff always seems to follow. We all have those friends, or maybe it's you yourself, that always seem to be involved in the craziest of things, things that would never happen to other people. They tell you about something they did or something that happened to them, and you secretly shake your head and think, "Only you would have done that" or "That would only happen to you!" Well, that's our Thomas!

We had only been there a little while, when suddenly we hear ca-lunk, ca-lunk, ca-lunk. That would be the sound of Thomas falling down the stairs! He landed sitting up on the floor, and kind of looked around like, "What just happened?!?" before bursting into tears and being snatched up by Jim in a panic, terrified that Thomas had broken his neck and would be permanently paralyzed. He was fine. He only fell down a few stairs, and they were carpeted. Needless to say, we put the gate up after that.

Now barred from more stairway adventures, Thomas, recovered from his fall and finally released by his daddy, went in search of new treasures. He soon discovered that Daddy Bud and KayKay's house is the best place in the whole world! They leave food just sitting around on the floor so you can eat anytime you're hungry! That would be when we found Thomas stuffing his face with cat food. And not the dry kind. Ick. So I hauled him off to the sink and rinsed him off and we had to keep the cat food out of reach after that.

Two hours, folks. We'd been there two hours.

Who, me?

Riding in Cars with Quads

Oh, who am I kidding...it's a minivan! This family doesn't fit in a car!

Anyway, the trip was surprisingly good, certainly nowhere near as bad as we feared it might be!

The trip from Knoxville to Memphis is a long one, for all you readers out there who have never made this trip. It's a little shorter now that my parents have moved to Arlington, which is east of Memphis, but still it's around 360 miles. Normally it would take us about 5 and a half hours.

We left the house around 10AM, a little later than we meant to, but it was okay. The kids were content to ride awhile awake. Praise the Lord for front-facing car seats and babies old enough and big enough to ride in them! The kids are so much happier now that they can really look around and watch the world go by!

After awhile, they fell asleep. Yea! They slept about an hour, I guess. When they woke up they were ready to no longer be in the car and started to get a little cranky. Luckily, we had borrowed a portable DVD player from Josh and Cris, so we put in a DVD and they were mesmerized! We have attempted to watch videos a few times at home, but never with much success, so Jim and I were VERY excited to have so much success this time! The DVD was 20 min long (it was actually a slideshow of pictures of them that I made for their birthday), but by the time we watched it twice, we were in Nashville!

As you can see, there are three kids in the back. This is another wonderful thing about the new carseats! We couldn't do this with the infant carriers. It allowed us to remove one of the middle row seats giving us a lot more room to get in and out of the back!

We stopped at the Opry Mills Mall, parked the van, loosened the carseat straps, and fed the kids lunch in the car. Then I changed all their diapers, and we loaded them into two shopping carts and hit the mall for awhile. This worked out great! They could stretch their legs and move around and be little free, but they were still confined. Plus they loved strolling through the Bass Pro Shops and the mall and seeing all the people and colors and stuff in general. When it started to get close to their afternoon naptime, we headed back to the van and loaded back up and hit the road again! (Note to Molly-the experiment was a success, sort of) The kids dropped off the sleep pretty quick after that and probably would have slept a good long time, if we hadn't had to stop for gas. When the car stopped moving they all woke up and never went back to sleep. They were content for a little bit, but then it became time for more DVDs! After listening to VeggieTales Silly Songs twice, Jim thought he would go crazy if he had to listen to anymore, so we turned it off, and I attempted to entertain them the rest of the way. Luckily it wasn't very long! We reached Memphis around 5PM I think (our time), so the trip took about 7 hours. Not bad at all!


What we learned from this trip...1-if you're going to drive during the day, plan your trip around the naptimes, 2-if you can help it, don't take a long trip until your kids can face forward, 3-somehow, someway, get a DVD player! 4-babies love the Bass Pro Shops!, and 5-get gas before the kids fall asleep, even if you don't really need it yet.


Other than that, really it was a piece of cake, although it hinged on the fact that there were two adults in the car, one to drive and one to run the DVD player! I can't imagine trying to do it alone! Someday. When the kids are old enough to run their own DVD player!

Three New Babies

Meridith, I was a little surprised at not receiving more comments about the babies myself! Thanks for yours!

Now, did I mention I was pregnant?

Just kidding! That's not my baby! I probably didn't fool a single one of you. None of the new babies are mine, thank goodness! I have enough babies already! But that is a very special baby, and I'll get to her in a moment.

First, Baby #1--Great big congrats to proud parents Greg and Tonya and big brother Parker on the birth of Turner Jacob on June 28 (I think that's the right day!). God bless you all!

Baby #2--More big congrats to proud parents Bridgette and Phillip on the birth of their new son Ethan James on July 2. He gave them a little bit of a scare by not getting his platelet count up for a little while. Apparently he just really wanted to spend some time at Children's Hospital and meet the nurses who took care of the quads! Praise God he is home now and doing great!

Baby #3--Great big, super-humongous congratulations to proud parents Jodie and Jeff and big sister Kinley on the birth of their new daughter and my new niece Kallen Kaye. She was born July 2 and weighed a whopping 9lb 5oz. Luckily for Jodie, Kallen was born by c-section! She's just beautiful and looks a lot like Kinley did as a newborn, except her hair is much darker. I'll have more pictures of her later, but here's a couple, including the real version of the earlier picture...

Jeff, Jodie, Kinley, and baby Kallen

Beautiful Kallen Kaye

Jim, Me, and Jodie with all our children! (Reagan, Zachary, Jonathan, Thomas, Kallen, and Kinley)

Really Quick!

Okay, just a quick post to apologize and a teaser for news to come...First, I'm sorry that it's been awhile since my last post (And huge thanks to all of you who commented! It was so fun to read all the comments and see who all is following our little saga.). We've been out of town, just returning yesterday from our first trip to Daddy Bud and KayKay's house in Memphis! So expect a post to answer your burning questions about what it's like to drive all the way across the state of Tennessee with 4 one-year-olds and details of all the fun things we did there! Also expect news of three new babies! I'll just leave it at that. Ha ha! Also, coming soon...the winner of the Walking Award! For now, I have to go. The babies are waking up and I need to start a new load of laundry before I get them out of bed!

Roll Call

Okay, I'm stealing from another blog again, but the blog I'm stealing from stole this idea before me. I guess that's what we blog people do. It's the ultimate form of flattery, right?

So here it is, the babies humbly request that everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, who reads this blog please leave us a comment to say hello. If you're a stranger, let us know a little about you, maybe how you found us. I was on a completely random blog the other day for a total stranger and saw my blog listed as one she regularly reads, so I know there are so many people out there reading about the kiddos and I don't even know you! Take a moment to say hello! We'd love to hear from you! And all you people out there that we DO know, we'd love to hear from you too! My friend Suzanne gets like 60 comments to every one of her posts. I think the most we've had is 6. I'd like to get more than 6 this time! Love to you all from the babies!