Happy Halloween!

In honor of tomorrow (today for most of you reading this), I thought I'd share some of our scariest pictures and most frightening stories. Enjoy!

Beware...the Blob!

The banshee...her screams are deadly!

Help! They're everywhere! I'm surrounded!

Watch out or she'll eat you alive!

Okay, there's only one scary story, but it is a little creepy. I just heard it for the first time not long ago. At least, with the details. I personally cannot swear to the validity of this story, as I was unconscious at the time...

Not long after the babies were born, I was lying in my hospital bed, unconscious. Jim, the teller of this story, was by my side, as he was continuously throughout that time. He hears the door open and turns to see my mom enter the room. She looks at the bed and then looks at Jim, confused, and asks, "Did they move her?" Jim looks at my mom, looks at me on the bed, looks back at my mom, and says, "She's right there." Mom looks back at the bed and finally is able to distinguish my body from the sheets. That's how pale I was from the loss of blood. I was so translucent, you couldn't even see me on the bed. It gave me chills to hear Jim tell that story.

It would have been kind of morbid if anyone had done it at the time, but I really wish someone had taken a picture of me. I would like to see what I looked like!

On a happier note, there will be pictures soon of my adorable children in their adorable costumes! Happy Halloween!

The Bugs Are Coming!

Real quick before I have to get the kids up from their nap...here's one last candy corn from last year. This is one of my favorite pictures of Thomas! He looks so wise and thoughtful!

Costumes!

Okay, here's a sneak peek at the Halloween costumes! If you think they're cute now, wait til you see the kids IN them!

And I have to take a moment to brag on myself over these costumes! I am SO proud of the job I did! I didn't have a pattern! I just made it up by looking at the bumblebee costume we borrowed. And I've never sewn anything like this before! I've never sewn sleeves or hoods or pant legs or ZIPPERS!!! And I really think they look GOOD! I'm seriously SO SO proud of myself! The one on the right was the second one I did and it's much better than the first, especially the zipper!

And I know they aren't identical. I did that on purpose because the material I was using was different from the borrowed costume, so I knew my two were going to look different from it no matter how hard I tried to make them identical. So I just decided to make them all different from each other.

Sickness Update

Tuesday night, Jonathan started running a fever. I tell you, it just never ends around here! Wed it peaked at 103 at noon, but after some medicine, it came down to 101 and by the afternoon he was acting like himself again. Yesterday, his temperature hovered in the 99s but he felt fine all day. Today we went to playgroup at Michelle's house and everyone was in fine spirits. Hopefully they will continue to be happy and normal, and we can actually go to church this Sunday!

Updates

Okay, here's the latest on Thomas...As I think I mentioned in the last post, he went to the dr last Thurs and she said it was teething pain. So we kept him on regular doses of pain killers the rest of Thurs, all Fri, and all Sat. He was miserable most of the time. It has been really heartbreaking. Well, Sat night, a rash showed up on his neck and along his hairline--tiny pink dots all over. It didn't seem to be bothering him at all, so we decided to wait and see what happened. Well, Sun it had spread across his chest and back, but his mood was improved. He didn't seem constantly miserable, just every now and then. So we waited some more and made lots of guesses, both rational and irrational, about what the rash could be. Mon, the rash was still there and his mood was equal but not better than Sun, so I went ahead and made an appt for him to see the dr.

This time we got to see Molly. She's our favorite! Well, it turned out that Thomas has an ear infection (again!) as well as infant roseola. That's what caused the rash. The rash looked very different from the red blotchy rash Zachary had which we thought was roseola. Molly said that when she saw pictures of Zachary's rash on the blog, she felt pretty sure that what he had was NOT roseola. She thought it was some sort of hives brought on by Zachary's high fever. She told Jim the name, but he couldn't remember it.

So Thomas is on antibiotics again and seems to feel much better today. Hopefully this won't happen again anytime soon!

In other news, I have finished one of the bumblebee costumes, and I have to say it's pretty great! I'm really quite proud of myself! I'll try to get a picture on soon! It took me forever, so my time is short to get the second one finished. After that, I should have more time for blog posts that have lots of good pictures!

And finally, a belated Happy Birthday to BA! Somebody please tell her I said happy birthday! We all know she doesn't have internet at her house and Blogger is blocked at school! I'd put up a picture, but she'll never see it!

Just wait til you see me as a ladybug!

Not Again!

Tuesday was fabulous! Going to Ladies Bible Class and having happy babies! I felt like a normal person again! This sick episode had hit me pretty hard. I hardly left the house all last winter, but only rarely did it bother me. I was just used to it! But recently, my life had begun to seem much more like that of any other mom. We went to church regularly, we went to Ladies Bible Class, we had playgroup, I've taken the kids to Target and Kroger all by myself! We were really getting to a point where the world was becoming a much more open place for us. Not totally open, but our options have been expanding. So I was starting to get used to being able to load the kids a up and go places! And I was LOVING it! But then they got sick. And I was stuck in the house for days and days. And it was much harder to be housebound after having a taste of freedom! So Tuesday was really, really great!

Then came Wednesday...

Thomas woke up pitiful and feverish. My heart sank! Not again! I thought. He perked up after breakfast, and slept well during his first nap, so I went ahead and enjoyed my afternoon out of the house. Thank you Kim and Jeanette! He was fussy for them. He was fussy all evening, but slept well. Thursday morning, still feverish and super-fussy. He just looked constantly on the verge of either falling asleep or bursting into tears. And he did burst into tears fairly regularly. Since his last ear infection had begun with days and days of low fever, I decided to go ahead and call the dr, just to make sure I was doing exactly what I needed to do for him. They wanted to see him and make sure it wasn't his ears still bothering him. So Jim took him to the dr that afternoon. His ears are fine! Apparently, this time the fever really is being caused by teething! Every single time one of the kids has had a fever without anything else seeming wrong, my first guess has always been, It could just be teething. Teething can cause a fever. And then a few days later they actually have an ear infection or infant roseola or some other awful thing and it's never actually "just teething."

But this time it is, and it's really doing a number on him! Poor thing! Yesterday was just heart-breaking, he was so pitiful. He seemed to really be in pain, despite the pain reliever. He woke up crying from his afternoon nap and I ended up rocking him for over an hour.

Although, I have to say, when he finally got comfortable and fell asleep in my arms, it was really nice. For me anyway! I can't remember the last time one of the kids cuddled up in my arms and went to sleep there. It was very sweet. But I'd rather him feel good!

Happily, today has been better so far. He's still not quite himself, but he definitely seemed to feel better this morning, and he didn't have a fever. At least, I know it's not contagious, so maybe we can still go to church tomorrow!

I want my Thomas back!

Diary of a Quad Sickness

(Note to the Reader: The following is an excerpt from a diary discovered recently by historians researching the lives of the famous Harris Quads. It was their mother's diary and details her struggles with one of the Quads' early bouts with illness. Ultimately, the illness was nothing more than the common cold and its inherent side effects, but there is nothing common about it when it must run its course through multiple young children who have not yet developed the ability to verbally express what ails them.)

Day 1--Thomas was cranky all day today and has started running a fever. I hope it's just the aftereffects of the MMR shot he got on Tues.

Day2--Thomas is still running a fever. It's low, which is good, but he's awfully fussy. We didn't go to church today just in case it's not just from his shot.

Day 3--Thomas is still cranky and running a low fever! Can the MMR cause a fever this long?

Day 4--Thomas' low fever refuses to go away! No Ladies Bible Class for us today.

Day 5--More cranky Thomas. Continued fever. And Yea! Now his nose is running too! I'm so happy. On the bright side, I did get to leave the house this afternoon to go scrapbook at Michelle's. Thank you Kim and Carolyn for watching the kids for me!

Day 6--Thomas still has a fever and a runny nose. Jim took him to the dr today, and she discovered he has an ear infection! She prescribed an 10-day antibiotic and a decongestant. This afternoon, Zachary's nose started running too.

Day 7--We didn't go to playgroup today. Thomas still has a fever and a runny nose. Zachary also has a runny nose. And today Reagan's nose started running and she also has a fever. Oh, and she's coughing.

Day 8--Thomas had no fever today, but Reagan still does. All runny noses continue to run. And Jonathan's nose has joined in. That makes one fever and four runny noses, not to mention my own runny nose and sore throat. Grrrrr!

Day 9--No church again this week. This morning Jonathan has a fever, but everyone else is maintaining a normal temperature. All children have runny noses and are coughing. Reagan's cough is the worst of all.

Day 10--Jonathan still has a low fever. Reagan didn't have one this morning, but did by nightfall. Runny noses and coughing abound. Did get to leave the house for 20 minutes to go to Blockbuster tonight.

Day 11--Continued low fevers for Jonathan and Reagan in the morning, but none at night. Continued runny noses and coughing. We did not go to Ladies Bible Class again. Tonight, Reagan started crying after we put her to bed, despite having napped well all day. We got her up and gave her some pain medicine. I rocked her for awhile, then laid her down. After a few minutes, she started crying again. I got her up and held her in my lap in the living room for a long time. She was only content if she was facing away from me so she could see the TV and kept looking at us and grinning. Eventually, we decided the medicine had to have kicked in, so I put her back to bed. She cried off and on until she fell asleep. She slept fine the rest of the night.

Day 12--Jonathan still has a slight fever, but none for Reagan. Thomas' nose has stopped running, but he continues to cough. The other three are still running and coughing. Reagan again napped well, but started crying after going to bed for the night. She eventually went to sleep but kept waking us up with her coughing, although it didn't seem to be bothering her.

Day 13--Jonathan maintains his slight fever, but doesn't seem to feel bad. No change on runny noses and coughing. Reagan went to the dr today because of her excessive coughing, but it turned out she had an ear infection in both ears! She started her 10-day antibiotic today. No crying tonight!

Day 14--Runny noses and coughing continue. No fevers! Did not go to playgroup again this week.

Day 15--Things are starting to improve finally! Thomas is still on his antibiotic, but is no longer coughing and has no runny nose. I have one well child!!! No fevers today! Runny noses and coughing continue on the other three. Got to leave the house today to go to Wal-Mart and buy material for Halloween costumes!

Day 16--Still too runny and coughy for me to feel comfortable about having the kids in the nursery, so no church again. But they do seem to be getting better!

Day 17--Much improvement! Only a little coughing from Reagan. Noses still runny, but clear and lessening. I think we'll be okay to go to Ladies Bible Class tomorrow!

Day18--Hallelujah!!!! No coughing this morning and minimal runniness! We went to Ladies Bible Class! It was SO great to all get out of the house! I hope the whole winter is not like this!

Halloween Costume Progress

Yesterday, I managed to get the pieces for one of the bumblebee costumes cut out. I hope to get the other one cut out today. I don't know how it will look once I get it all together, but the pieces look really cute just laid out on the bed!

Here is Zachary in his candy corn costume last year. He looks so serious! Probably he was thinking, "If I sit here, nice and still, maybe she won't put that hat on me again!"

15 Months Old!

Okay, so we're actually 9 days away from being 16 months old. Sorry! I'm a busy person!

Here's the measurements as of their 15-month checkups...Zachary is of course still my biggest child, weighing in at 23lb 13oz. That puts him at 45%, up from last checkup's 35%. Reagan maintains her spot in second place, weighing 22lb 14oz and 50% (remember the percentages are different for boys and girls). You may recall that Tiny Thomas had passed Jonathan up at the 12-month checkup, resulting in the new name of Not-So-Tiny Thomas. Well, he remains in third, but is closing in on second! Thomas weighed 22lb 8oz. That's only 6oz less than Reagan! Still, he's on the small side for a boy at only 20%, but that's up from 15% last time! Jonathan brings up the rear at 21lb 1oz and a slight 10%, but that's still a gain from 8% at his last checkup!

The kids all got glowing reports at their checkups. They are in great health, or at least they were at the time of the checkups!

Skill-wise, we just learn more and more all the time! Everyone is walking now!

They look so big, especially when they're dressed to leave the house (they usually just wear onesies all day if we aren't going anywhere!) and wearing their shoes! They love their shoes! It's a challenge to keep them from chewing on them before we get them on, but they sure do love them. I keep them in a big bucket for easy portability, and when they see that bucket, they get so excited!

They are masters of the finger foods, not always clean masters, but masters! That is to say, I don't feed them anything anymore. They won't let me! They want to feed themselves. We're working on spoons. They are very, very messy, so we only eat with spoons when I know they're about to get a bath!

They still aren't saying much that's recognizable as English. If I had just one baby and he wasn't talking at this age, I would probably be a lot more worried than I am. But it isn't like they don't communicate. They know some sign language, they point to things they want, they certainly understand an amazing lot of what is said to them! They babble all the time. There are some sounds that they repeat pretty often in reference to certain objects. Those sounds may count as words. I'm not really sure. And I suppose it's highly likely that they have developed words that mean something to each other, but are gibberish to me. Who knows! I will say that they each can say mama and dada. And I firmly believe that Jonathan says diaper, even though it sounds more like di-dee. He says it all the time while handing me diapers he has pulled off the shelf, so I'm counting it! For awhile, he was saying it more like di...pause...(whisper)purrrr. It was very cute, but I haven't heard him say it that way in a long while.

The fact that they understand so much of what I say is what makes this stage so fun. I ask, "Reagan, do you need a new diaper?" and she runs over to stand next to the changing table. Jonathan picks up a sippy cup from the floor and I say,"Jonathan, whose cup is that?" He takes it to the right sibling and hands it over. I say, "Kids, it's time to eat, find your chairs!" and they all stand in front of their chairs!

Where is your ear?



How old are you?

Of course, the fact that they understand so much of what I say is also what makes this stage so difficult! "Jonathan, whose cup is that?" and he takes it to the right sibling, starts to hand it over, then clutches it to himself, runs across the room cackling, sticks it in his own mouth and starts guzzling away. Thomas throws a handful of food into the floor and I say, "No, Thomas! Do not throw food in the floor!" He looks at me, smiles wide, and throws another handful of food onto the floor. Thomas starts crying, and I look over to see Reagan walking away from him carrying the book Thomas was just playing with. "Reagan, did you take that book from Thomas?" Reagan grins victoriously and holds the book up in the air.

Not to mention the physical acts of violence! Zachary likes to grab siblings by the shirt collar and just haul them to the floor. No one likes to share space. They have shoving matches for who gets to stand in the middle of the gate, who get to sit in Mommy or Daddy's lap all by himself, who gets to stand in front of the window, who gets to be right in the middle during storytime and preferably with no one else close enough to touch! They push each other off of toys, squeeze each other out of chairs, and snatch anything they can get their hands on. If someone else has it, I want it! And Reagan has bitten all three of the boys, some of them more than once.

So it's a fun time, but it's a challenging time. I'm not sure if learning to talk will make it better or worse! Although, I admit, I'm ready to risk it! I want them to start talking! But I'm patient. Language will come! And there are plenty of other things to keep me busy in the meantime!

Changes!

I know that this feeling is not unique to me just because I have four kids all the same age, but when I looked at the picture of all of the kids in their costumes last year, it really hit me how much they've changed! They were just little babies a year ago! Now, they're little toddlers! They're so big, and they just get bigger every day! Maybe it impacts me more because there are four of them, or because I know that this is it. There will be no more babies. That stage is over. Unlike most people with four kids, I don't get to go through the baby stage four separate times. I only got to do it once, and now it's over! Now don't get me wrong, I'm not pining for another child! Goodness knows, four is enough! And there are a whole lot of reasons why I'm glad they aren't babies anymore! But there are some parts of the baby stage that I will miss, and there is a part of me that is sad I'll never get to experience it again.

Anyway, my little candy corns are gone. Not only would they never fit into those costumes now, I can't even imagine trying to fit them in! Why would I want to try to wrestle their strong little legs into those sacks! It would never work! My adorable costumes would probably get destroyed! So I must be content with the memories and the adorable pictures!

And just in case you're wondering, I am working on a 15-month update with new weights and skills and all that good stuff. I just haven't had time to do it yet! Soon! I promise!

Sweet little baby Jonathan!

Coming Soon

Here's just a little teaser to keep you in suspense! I know, it's mean, but when I saw the kids yesterday, I got so excited I could hardly stand it! Halloween costumes are coming! We've borrowed a bumblebee costume and a ladybug costume. I'm going to make two more bumblebee costumes, so the boys will be bees and Reagan obviously will be a ladybug. I tried the two borrowed costumes on Reagan and Zachary yesterday and they were SO CUTE!! I can't wait to get the other two costumes made so I can see them all together! In the meantime, you and I will both have to be content with a flashback to last year...The Crying Candy Corns!

And, as you may remember, for whatever reason, the kids hated the hats and quit crying as soon as we took them off!

New Haircuts!

Recently, my parents made a trip to Knoxville to see their grandquads, and I suppose their daughter and son-in-law too! Ha ha! Mom had volunteered to cut the boys' hair while she was here, and I was eager for her to try. Jim and I both have had hair-cutting experiences with the boys, none of them overly pleasant. (See previous haircutting post) Mom has a lot more haircutting experience than I do, although if I'm going to learn, I guess now is the time to do it, since the kids don't care what their hair looks like these days!

Anyway, Mom did a fantastic job! She knew all the tricks for getting the boys to be remarkably still for most of the haircut, and of course she actually knew what she's doing! It also didn't hurt that Dad and I were both there to help out with holding the comb or the scissors when she didn't need them or add extra entertainment if the child was getting restless.

So here are some pics of the experience, along with the lessons I learned about cutting children's hair.

Lesson #1 Have some suckers handy, and I mean lollipops AND people you can sucker into helping you! It didn't hurt that these were the first suckers my kids had ever had. They thought they were GREAT!

Lesson #2 Put in a video. Our video of choice for this event was the slideshow I made of the kids for their first birthday. The video/sucker combo is a sure bet!

Lesson #3 Strap them into a booster seat on top of a tall stool. My kids thought they were really special sitting so high in the air. Not to mention it made their heads easier to get to and kept them and you out of the reach of the other kids.

Lesson #4 A plastic cape isn't just for looks! Although the sticky sucker drool did still manage to roll down their chins and their necks and onto the necklines of the outfits below the cape, it was still a lot easier to clean up than it would have been if they could have dripped that sucker juice over every inch of their clothes, arms, legs, booster seat, and stool. If you don't have one (this one is my Mom's) just use the biggest bib you can find, or maybe clip a towel around them.

Lesson #5 Make sure you put a blanket or a large towel or a tarp, something, under the chair, mostly to catch the sucker drool so it doesn't get all over your floor. It also catches a lot of the hair, so that's easier to clean up too.

Lesson #6 Don't forget the girl! Just because she doesn't have enough hair to cut, doesn't mean she shouldn't get to experience a sucker too!

Lesson #7 Just because they're still sucking on it, doesn't mean there's still sucker. Apparently the leftover stick is just as yummy. Try to catch it before they eat the whole thing!

Before and After

Jonathan--Before

Jonathan--After

Zachary--Before

Zachary--After

Thomas--Before

Thomas--After

The boys really looked good after their haircuts, although I will admit that the loss of the curls on Jonathan and Zachary did make me a little sad. Mom cut off more than I expected her to. She cut Jonathan's hair first, and when I saw that all his curls were gone, I almost teared up! Of course, it wasn't Mom's fault. I didn't tell her to leave them. I think it just hadn't occurred to me that they would all be gone! He didn't look like Jonathan anymore! He looked like a little boy! Are my kids old enough to be little boys already! It's hard to believe! I did better when Zachary lost all of his. I was prepared that time! Besides, they'll grow back, won't they?

Happy Birthday Daddy Bud!

Happy Birthday Daddy Bud!

Lots of happy birthday wishes go out today to Daddy Bud from all of us in Knoxville!

We love you!

I love you!

I love you!

Yeaa!!! We love Daddy Bud!

We all love you!

Happy Birthday!

SO Embarrassing!

Although obviously not too embarrassing to share with the world! I think I feel a need to apologize or defend myself or something. I'm not sure. I just feel a need to share this particular story.

I carry a container of Cheerios in the diaper bag for those times when we're not at home but the kids need a little snack of some sort. We were nearing the end of the box of Cheerios we were currently eating out of, so before I opened a new box, I thought, "Why don't we empty the diaper bag container so I can refill it with fresh Cheerios!" I knew it had been a couple of weeks since I'd filled it last, and those Cheerios might be getting stale. So I went and got the container and opened it up to discover...several cut-up pieces of cheese quesadilla on top of a bunch of nasty shrivelled Cheerios! Ewww!

My mind flashed back to a couple of weeks ago...playgroup at Michelle's house...Jim had needed the van that day and had dropped us off for playgroup. He wouldn't be able to come back for us until after lunchtime, so I had made a cheese quesadilla for the kids to eat for lunch. Jim showed up in the middle of their lunch and was in a hurry, so I just scooped up the leftover pieces into the Cheerios container, intending to feed them to the kids later...but I forgot about them! They were still warm when I put them in there. Nastiness ensued.

I hadn't opened the container since, although I had mentioned it several times to nursery workers during church services and Ladies Bible Class! How many of those ladies opened that container to discover those nasty Cheerios and leftover quesadilla! What kind of mother must they think I am! So here is my story in defense of the disgusting food they think I was offering to my children. I hope they didn't actually feed the kids any! It really was disgusting!

I'm also pretty sure it won't be the only nasty forgotten food I ever discover. This is only the beginning!