Isaac & Andrew’s special day

Handsome boys ❤

A year ago today our house became a home. The boys came home together, after 46 days spent in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Thinking back at that day… oh man! We were SO nervous! I don’t think I have EVER been that nervous in my entire life. We spent the whole day at Northside Hospital, signing papers and checking off some last things on our to do list before we were able to take the babies home. We had to take a CPR class too -one the hospital’s rules when it comes to preemies. So many emotions combined, heavy hearted because we we’re leaving the girls but excited to bring the boys home! I can’t even remember how many times I cried that day. I felt sick to my stomach all most all day long worrying about how things will be once we’ll get home. No machines to let us know if something was wrong or if someone wasn’t breathing right or breathing at all, no nurses, no doctors… Are we going to be OK? That’s what was going on in my head. My husband was holding it together better than me, at least that’s what I thought. But I know that it wasn’t easy for him either. There we were, at the end of a long day, getting the boys ready for their first car ride. Oly gently took all the wires off the boys and I got them dressed. It was weird to not have them connected to computers and different machines. We were not used to that at all. Every time we wanted to change their diapers or clothes it just felt weird not dealing with the wires. I will never forget that. One of our favorite nurses, Kristi, was the one that discharged the boys and prepared us for this next step. She stayed with us an extra couple of hours after her shift ended just to make sure we are fine and ready to go home.

First car ride! Andrew (L) ~ Isaac (R)

And off we went. And we were fine… We did have to be really careful handling them especially during feeding time; Andrew had a few episodes when he would “forget” to breathe while taking his bottle, very scary! But it was amazing to finally feel like a parent! We were missing the girls so much but in a little while they got to join us all at home too.

These two munchkins were quite a pair from the beginning. We could tell there was something special between them and it is wonderful to see how amazing their bond grows with each step of the way.

Morning nap in their Rock & Plays

Brotherly love ❤

We always hoped that the boys will become friends and really get along and play together. But we never imagined that at the age of 1 they will entertain each other and have such a great relationship! It is so adorable to see them interact.

Dear Andrew & Isaac,

Today we celebrate your homecoming and could not be more proud of you guys. You have showed such strength and courage from the first moments you were born. In the NICU they say that the boys are much slower and lazier than the girls but you proved everyone wrong! You really, really wanted to come home! Isaac, you are such bubbly baby! You laugh fill our hearts and our home. You were the one that came into this world first, I guess you just couldn’t wait anymore to meet Mommy and Daddy.  Andrew, you are the energy of our home! It is such a joy to see you accomplishing new things every day. You bring excitement and enthusiasm in our home. We love you both so, so very much and pray that your lives will continue to be true miracles. God has truly blessed us with the best pair of boys we could have asked for!

While visiting the girls in the NICU, the boys got their own crib just to hang out.

1st Christmas A & I

Sleeping buddies

Chubby faces 🙂 A & I

Isaac -baby A & Andrew -baby D

Isaac & Andrew

6 months old A & I

Tough love 🙂

Reading time in Andrew’s crib

Getting ready to swim for the 1st time

🙂 When Andrew wants something, he gets it!

Always together! A & I

Here comes trouble.. double trouble!

Playtime!

One of their favorite things, to carry this green blanket all over the place!

A & I

13 months old, Isaac & Andrew

We try to video record them all the time, because there are so many cute moments that we want to hang on to forever. Here is a video from a few days ago – this is what the boys do when we put them down for a nap. Sometimes it takes up to an hour for them to actually go to sleep, they are busy having fun 🙂

 

Now I have to get some stuff ready because tomorrow we have a very important day! Daddy’s Birthday! What an amazing bday present he had last year, having both boys home!

 

The Birthday boy and his little presents ❤ (2013)

Love,

Lori.

 

 

Bye bye bottles!

Finally we said our goodbyes to the bottles. I was dreading this transition thinking it is going to be so hard (X4) but it was actually not that bad. Yesterday I even cleaned out the counter space where we had our “bottle station”. It has been 5 days and everyone is going strong, yay! At the 12 months checkup, the pediatrician was happy with their weights and their growth si she gave us the OK to quit formula. But I wasn’t ready! I thought it is going to be the biggest deal ever!

Look at that big smile, she is so proud!

Like I said in my last post, Alexis was the first one to be done with formula. She just didn’t want it anymore.

So for a while, while the others were still taking their morning and bedtime bottle, I would sit her at the quad table and give her finger foods. She always looked very proud of herself 🙂 Because I was nervous to take the bottles away from the other 3, we continued to offer them each morning and night. But then Andrew wasn’t really interested anymore so he joined Alexis at the quad table. Hannah and Isaac did not show any intentions of being done with the bottles, instead they would gulp up 7 oz every.single.time! I was nervous. Ever since the quads came home from the hospital, they were all on the same schedule, they all did the same thing and now we had 2 in the Rock & Plays taking bottles and 2 at the table. Not good. So I woke up one morning last week feeling very brave and decided to hide the Rock & Plays since the babies associated them with “bottle time”. Once everyone was awake, I sat them at the quad table and I acted like that is our routine. Isaac looked very confused… but he went along. Hannah concerned me the most since at that point she was the only one that was not interested AT ALL in whole milk. Not even a sip. Well, breakfast went pretty well, but I decided to offer a bottle to Hannah and Isaac, just in case. They didn’t want it and I didn’t insist. Same thing at night. Next day I stopped the bottles completely and that was it, no turning back. That day Hannah started taking little sips of whole milk out of her sippy cup, she loved the water but she still wasn’t happy with cow’s milk. To our surprise, just a couple days later she started drinking whole milk like it was her favorite thing ever, phew! 🙂 At bedtime, instead of a bottle, the quads get a snack with milk of course. They’ve been sleeping well and seem to be very happy.
When we first introduced sippy cups, we got the Nuby Sippy Cups. They worked pretty well for the quads since they were beginners. They mostly chewed on the silicon spouts but we considered that “training” 🙂 Then we switched them to the Playtex Twist ‘n Click Lid because we happen to have them at home. We use those for milk. They babies really like them and so we adventured to Babies R Us one day to get them some more, but we couldn’t find any so we tried the Tommee Tippee  Explora Training cups. Great cups! No spills and fun colors. But it took a few days for the quads to get used to them, the flow is a little faster than what they were used to. As of right now, everyone is very happy drinking water and milk out of big kids sippy cups and once again Mommy & Daddy couldn’t be happier! I have to admit…. I was sad cried a few tears yesterday while cleaning our the bottle station… But I looked forward to this moment every night back when I used to fix 32 bottles for the following day. From 32 we went down to 24 and so on. One shelf in our fridge was designated to bottle only and not all were able to fit in there!

32 bottles ready for the next 24 hours

Our fridge almost a year ago!

Less bottles, more sleep 🙂

Here are the quads, mastering their sippy cups!

Andrew

Hannah

Alexis

Isaac

The crew

I love this picture of all 4 drinking out of sippy cups!

Smiley faces 🙂

Have a great week everyone!
Lori.

Look who’s ONE ~ updates & pictures ~

Happy 1st Birthday Quads!

Many times I ask myself… Is this really happening? We managed to survive the hardest year of our life and I am pretty sure my husband agrees with me. Looking back… whew! We made it! A short pregnancy that kept all of us on our toes, endless doctor’s visits, bed-rest, hospital admissions, aaaaand boom! Here they were, the Four babies we kept talking about, saw them on ultrasounds, felt them kicking and turning, dreamed about holding them and how much fun it will be…also how hard it will be… the Four that turned our world up side down, left to right and gave our life a new meaning. The Four that surprised all of us, arriving sooner than we thought… the Four that fought a great fight from the beginning. The Four that were so tiny and helpless but so strong and courageous. The Four that God had in His mighty plan, and no matter what the statistics said, He gave them life, health and helped them strive every single day. The Four that made us a family and made us realize what true LOVE is.

It is hard for me to write all this, tears fill my eyes and I get overwhelmed looking back at this last year. We started off unprepared and inexperienced (first time parents). From an ordinary couple that had no children but really wanted a baby, we were launched into this crazy adventure almost overnight! Suddenly we became responsible for FOUR little persons by becoming parents of quadruplets.

First day of life 9/07/2013

And here we are, a year later, with our hands full but our hearts fuller. Loving every second and cherishing every moment! Time is flying by as I said many times and even though we celebrate every milestone and every accomplishment of each baby, it is SAD!!!! They are getting bigger and bigger and we can’t turn back time so I try to hold on to every moment as hard as I can!

In this past year the babies took numerous trips to the doctor’s office, not only for regular check ups but also different screenings just to make sure everyone is on the right path. We’ve had  some scares, but thankfully every single time we got great news and all four passed all tests.
We’ve used TONS of diapers and Formula of course but good news – slowly we are saying goodbye to formula! 🙂 Actually we have a little “big” girl that decided to eat only solids and drink whole milk and so she’s been done with formula for a few days now… miss Alexis ❤
All the babies are doing great eating whatever we eat. No more pureed baby food, which is awesome! I am very happy about this, it was one of my goals for them to be able to feed themselves and eat regular food when they are one. They’ve tried a bunch a things including peanut butter and honey (they love this combination).  Also, they are doing pretty well drinking out of sippy cups, such a hard transition! Big boy Andrew is rocking at this task, he picks it up easily and drinks lots of water or milk with each meal. The other 3 still need a little help but they all improved so much. Hannah doesn’t really like whole milk so I am hoping she will give in soon. Here is how the Quads’ schedule looks like at 12 months old:

7AM: bottle (Alexis gets cereal with milk in sippy cup)
We usually go outside for a walk if the weather is fine.
9AM: breakfast & sippy cups with milk/water
9:30AM: nap
12PM: lunch & sippy cups with milk/water
playtime, books, walk outside
1:45PM: snack & sippy cups with milk/water
2ish PM: nap
4:30PM: dinner, sippy cups with milk/water
play time
7PM: bottle (Alexis gets a snack & a sippy cup with whole milk)
7:30PM bedtime

Their weights at the 12 months checkup:
Isaac: 21 pounds 4 oz
Andrew: 21 pounds 4 oz
Hannah: 19 pounds 1 oz
Alexis: 19 pounds 10 oz

The days are really busy and sometimes I can’t believe how tired I am after we put them to bed. More tired than when I used to work! The babies are keeping us very busy but this stage is so much fun, we loooove it. We’ve been able to get out more and have a taste of what is like to be out in public with so many babies. Well, it’s been pretty ok. I think we (the parents) need to get used to people asking questions and being curious about our life. Sometimes it can get pretty overwhelming and weird, but some people are really nice and even offer to help us any way they can. We live in a nice neighborhood, with lots of wonderful people. I had the chance to meet a few moms and their babies, a few parents and grandparents that love to chat and I actually enjoy telling them about the babies. They offer their help every single time we see them and I think that is very sweet.

None of the babies walk yet, Andrew takes a couple of steps and stands up on his own all the time. Isaac loves to follow him everywhere and they always play together. When they go to bed, they sometimes spend 30 minutes playing with each other. Their cribs are still one next to the other so when they stand up they can touch each other. Isaac loves to throw all his friends (his little loveys)  in Andrew’s crib and they both laugh so hard! The girls are so funny together, Hannah grabs Alexis’ pig tails and they both laugh (or cry haha!); it’s so cute to see them together. Alexis loves to stand up but she needs help so she gets mad at us if we don’t pay attention and surely gets her point across in no time. Hannah is a little trouble maker, she likes to bite. I don’t think she does it on purpose though, she’s been chewing everything she gets her hands on, including her siblings.

For their 1st Birthday we had friends and family over to celebrate an amazing year. The party theme was their 4 colors – blue, pink, purple and green. Thanks again aunt Adina for giving me this idea! We wanted to do so much but you know what? The simplest ways end up being the best. I made some tissue pom poms with each of their colors, we used their first outfits, their tiny little diapers from the NICU and pictures of the quads to decorate and illustrate this first year. It looked beautiful and everything had a story behind it, so we loved it. We had cupcakes and of course each baby got to smash/eat one! They did a great job 🙂 Oly and I ended up with icing all over us, we like to be kids sometimes too! 🙂
One of their birthday presents was a professional photo session so I will share some pictures from the party and the photo shoot.

My loves!

We did it! Survived the 1st year! Happy Birthday quadlings ❤

Isaac Nathan Lupei

Hannah Liana Lupei

Alexis Madeline Lupei

Andrew Davis Lupei

Here are some of the pictures from the 1 year old photo shoot of the Quads 🙂

Our girlies!

The boys 🙂

We are happy and so blessed to call these precious angels our babies. We fought for them and prayed hard along with many of you and they are truly amazing. We can’t thank God enough for His grace and mercy… There are days when we struggle and stumble but we try our best to be good parents, good examples and so on.

I wonder how this year will be, transitioning from babies to toddlers! I would love to be able to update my blog more often ~ that’s one of my goals for this year! Thank you for keeping up with us!

Lori