Magazine Mania

For any of you bloggers that live in Austin, the October issue of "Austin Family" magazine just came out and the cover article for the month is about the quints. The picture on the front is totally adorable, in my not-so-unbiased opinion! The magazine is FREE and can be found at Randalls, HEB, and other local businesses.

Also, for bloggers nationwide, check out page 68 of "In Touch Weekly" when you are in the grocery store check-out lines this week.

Magazine Mania

The Exodus

It is amazing how time flies! I can't believe that it has been three weeks since we came back to Austin. The trip back to Texas actually went pretty smoothly, all things considered. Packing for the trip home was much more stressful than the trip itself---it is incredible how much stuff we accumulated during our stay!

For the trip home, we had one adult per baby---Jayson, my mom, Jayson's mom, myself and Candice Park--the resident who delivered the babies. We managed to squeeze all the babies, baby stuff, luggage, and people into two suburbans to get to the Phoenix airport. The trickiest part of the whole journey was getting to the gate. Airport security is no picnic even when you are traveling by yourself. Getting five babies, five adults, two strollers, five car seats, four diaper bags, two laptop computers, two video cameras, two carry-on suitcases, and five pairs of shoes through the detectors was quite a task! Fortunately the people in line behind us were understanding!

Rachelle, Candice (Dr. Park), Jayson, Betty Ann (Rachelle's Mom), Sylvia (Jayson's Mom), and the quints waiting to get on the plane.


The flight itself was fairly uneventful. Due to the full flight and some faulty seat assignments, all of us ended up scattered throughout the cabin. Once we landed the real circus began! Several local news stations were there to great us, along with our older kids, Riley and Kaiya, and a few friends who came to help us get back home. I have to admit that it was pretty fun to create a spectacle in the airport pushing our triple and double strollers around.

When we arrived home, this is the sight that greeted us:




I walked in the front door and was completely surprised to find that my front rooms had been transformed into most beautiful, wonderful, perfect nursery ever! My friends went all out to decorate, incorporating all five of the babies colors. In one room there are five beautiful white cribs--one for each baby with bedding in their color. The other room has two changing tables, rocking chairs and a large shelving unit with baskets to keep all the baby stuff. The decorations on the walls are so cute. There are even pictures of each baby with name plates in their color (a great "cheat sheet" for all the volunteers who have been coming) and pictures of Riley and Kaiya. An amazing amount of time is spent in these two rooms, and it is so nice to have such a wonderful environment to be in. The way everything is set up also allows us to stay organized, which is vital with so many babies! Every day I look at these rooms and am overwhelmed by the kindness and generosity of those who were involved with the project. It was totally worth having five babies just to get this fabulous nursery!

The babies check out their new nursery suite.


The rest of the house looks great as well. I was gone when all the "moving in" took place and I am so indebted to Aunt Victoria and Aunt Linda, who flew out for a week to help decorate and unpack, as well as countless other friends and church members who helped move and unpack all of our stuff. For the first week we were here, all I could do was walk around and think, "Wow--I can't believe this is my house!" While Jayson's aunts were here, they also did a laundry room makeover, complete with a new washer and dryer purchased with donations from all of Jayson's extended family members. Uncle Ken donated all the wonderful cabinetry.

Since our arrival home, the quints are doing great! We weighed them all today and here are their current weights:

Baby ...................Birth Weight..........Today's Weight

Kassidy................5 lb 1 oz................. 7 lb 15.5 oz

Kaydence ............3 lb 6 oz ................6 lb 10 oz

Rustin ..................4 lb 15 oz ..............8 lb 9 oz

Kyndall ................4 lb 2 oz ................6 lb 6.5 oz

Ryder ...................3 lb 15 oz ..............7 lb 15.5 oz

Ryder has already doubled his birth weight. He and Kaydence have changed the most since we got here. Kyndall has reflux and has a hard time keeping food down, and hence has become the smallest of the bunch.

We have been so blessed with lots of help from friends, family and church members. Everyday I am overwhelmed by the kindness and generosity that has been shown to us.

I'll write more later about what "normal life" is like now.

The Exodus

Mixed Emotions

It is hard to believe that this part of our journey is soon coming to an end. The babies and I are going back to Austin in a few days. I am really going to miss my Aunt Jeanie, Uncle Rick, and my cousins Ashlyn and BrieAnne whom I have been living with for the past five months. They have been amazing to put up with me, my family, my parents, the babies, all our stuff, and all the people that have been coming over to help with the babies. I am sure things will be much quieter around here when we are gone! I will also miss all the wonderful people I have met and grown to love while I have been here and the other family members living nearby who have done so much to help me.

While I am sad to leave everyone here in Arizona, I am also excited to return to Austin. I have been gone for nearly five months and I am looking forward to seeing all our friends in Austin again. I am also looking forward to having my family back together in our own house. It was hard to be separated so much from my husband and older two kids these past months. I have so much empathy for people like my sister-in-law, Tobi, whose husband has been serving in Iraq for the past year and who won't be back until Christmastime.

The babies are doing great! I can't believe how much they have grown! Rustin and Kassidy are both over six pounds now and even Kaydence, who was the smallest at birth, is about 4 1/2 pounds. Each baby is really starting to show their personality. Kaydence is the little fiesty one---I think that she is going to be the "leader of the pack" someday. Ryder is a little thinker. He also makes the best faces of any of them. Kyndall is very sweet--she is going to be the little princess. Rustin and Kassidy are both really laid back and don't get easily flustered. Now that they are all older (four weeks yesterday!!) they are starting to act more like "real" babies. They sleep less than they used to and get a little fussy in the evening. They are all adorable (in my totally unbiased opinion) and I still look at them everyday and think what a miracle they are! I am so grateful for these beautiful little blessings!!

Here are some recent pictures.

A rare moment when all five babies are asleep at the same time!!

(Jeanie, Rachelle, Kassidy, Rustin, Kyndall, Ryder and Kaydence)

Three peas in a pod--Kyndall, Rustin and Kaydence.

A one-day supply of bottles.

The babies get ready for their first big outing together! (We went down the street to take some pictures at a friend's house.)

(Ryder, Rustin, Kaydence, Kassidy, Kyndall)

Mixed Emotions

All Five Home!

Kassidy, the last of the bunch, came home today! It is so nice to have all of them here. It was hard to split my time between home and the hospital. I think it is interesting that the babies came home in reverse birth order. They must have wanted to make it easier for me to remember, since I seem to forget a lot of things lately!

This weekend Jayson, Riley and Kaiya headed back to Texas. Jayson needed to go back to work (since now it is more important than ever that he remain gainfully emplolyed!!) and the older kids were anxious to get back. Riley will start school again in a week. It is strangly quiet around here with Riley and Kaiya gone. They have been so sweet with the babies so far and I hope it continues! They both get excited when the babies wake up and they can hug and hold them. Riley can even feed a baby if we need him to. Kaiya is dying to try feeding a baby by herself, but I am not ready to let her "help" me that much yet!

Our church has been incredibly supportive since we started bringing babies home. People bring meals three times a week and many people have signed up for shifts to help with the babies. The volunteers that really amaze me are the ones that want to come for the overnight shift. Besides the volunteers, my aunt and her family have been incredibly helpful. I am so grateful for all the help since there is no way I could do it alone.

Here are some recent pictures of the babies:

Kassidy

Kaydence



Rustin


Kyndall

Ryder

All Five Home!

Ryder is Home!!

Today we brought Ryder home from the hospital! Rustin will be coming home tomorrow. They actually offered to have me take them both today, but I opted for one at a time. I am not one of those people that jumps straight into the pool and gets wet all at once, I am more the one stair at a time type :-) So far Ryder is doing pretty well, despite all of Riley and Kaiya's attempts to "love" him. I was actually a little nervous to start bringing babies home, but the adventure has to start sometime!

This morning I met with some gals from our church who are organizing volunteers to help. It is amazing to me how many people are willing to do something. Sign-up sheets went around in all the classes last Sunday and even several men signed up to help out.

My recovery is slow, but steady. Everyday I feel a little bit better. I still have a lot of swelling in my feet, legs and tummy. If I leave my feet down for too long, they really puff up. My family finds my feet quite entertaining. They (my feet) have been compared to a memory foam mattress---you can push your finger into them and then take it away, but the indent still stays there. And it doesn't just have to be finger shapes, it works for just about anything.

I also walk pretty slowly, since I still have some pain. Today I took my aunt, who has MS, and my grandma with me to the NICU to see the babies. We had a race to see who could get there first. It was kind of like watching three turtles race in slow motion. I am sure we were quite a sight :-) (No offense Grandma and Jeanie).

My kids, when they first saw me in something besides a hospital gown, had some funny comments. My son Riley told me that I was skinny again and he was so excited that he could put his arms all the way around my waist when he hugged me. My daughter, Kaiya, just said, "Wow, mom! How come you are still fat? Did they leave one of the babies in there?" I think I need to work with her on being a little bit more tactful :-)

Ryder is Home!!

The CBS Early Show

The quints are supposed to be featured on the CBS Early Show tomorrow (Aug 6th). They plan on doing a live (if you are on the east coast) interview with Jayson and I and they are going to try to get all the babies together in one crib. Tune in to see some cute babies!!!

The CBS Early Show

5 Healthy Babies are Here!!

Well Rachelle and Jayson are a little busy right now so I (Cassi- Rachelle's cousin) am posting a quick update on the babies for them. The delivery went well and all 5 babies are healthy. The biggest baby is already in the nursery and the other 4 are in the NICU and doing really really well, they are hardly hooked up to anything, only 2 of them even needed oxygen masks!

WAY TO GO RACHELLE!!!

Rachelle is also doing well. Here are the weights of the babies from smallest to biggest, and then I'm sure Rachelle or Jayson will be posting again in the next day or so.

Baby B (girl)- 3 lbs 6 oz
Baby E (boy)- 3 lbs 15 oz
Baby D (girl)- 4 lbs 2 oz
Baby C (boy)- 4 lbs 15 oz
Baby A (girl)- 5 lbs 1 oz

5 Healthy Babies are Here!!