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