Birthday Presents

Today is the quads birthday - and it's also Geana's birthday. She wrote this earlier in the week and I thought I'd share it with you today. Happy Birthday to my lovely wife... and to my four crazy quadruplets.

By Geana Morris:

OMG – were you freaking out when they told you, you were having QUADRUPLETS!?

Do you want the real answer? Or, the answer I give people on the street because I know it is what they want to hear?

Street: OMG, YES. I was totally freaking out. I was like, OH MY GAWD - WHAT AM I GOING TO DO?

Real: No. Strangely enough, this weird sort of calm came over me. Anyone who knew me pre-quadruplets could tell you I am not a calm sort of person. But, when faced with the overwhelming truth of something incomprehensible, my body went into this calming mode that even I can’t explain.

As my four are turning five, it is causing a nostalgic moment in which I look back and ponder wistfully at the last five years of my life. Where did the time go? The last time I looked, I had 4 babies and now I have 4 soon-to-be kindergarteners. What’s the deal with that?

As a biological defense mechanism (I suppose) my body has forgotten some of the story re: pre-birth and birth of my quadruplets. Fortunately, I have a Discovery Health show from which my most vivid recollections come. I do remember bits, like feeding time when I would line the kids up and use my homemade bowl contraption to feed them sort of like an assembly line and singing (to the tune of Down by the Station),

Up in the bedroom, early in the morning
See the little babies all in a row.
See the little Mommy feed the little babies
Chug, chug, toot, toot, off we go

I didn’t know what to expect. I knew I would need 4 cribs, lots of bottles, formula, diapers, etc. But other than that, there really wasn’t anything to prepare for prior to bringing them home. I was fortunate to find an organization called Mothers of SuperTwins (MOST). There I joined a group specifically for Quads, Quints and Sextuplet parents. The group and reading lots of books, gave me some sense of what I would need and some decisions I would need to make along the way. Like, RSV – I had no idea what that was prior to having premature babies. But I was ready for the visitors when my babies came home.

In addition to MOST, I found Mainline MOMs. The only group of people who don’t refer to me as “the quad mom” – well, most of the time. It’s a place I could go to and be Geana Morris. I am a mother to quadruplets, therefore I get the adjective. But there, I was just a mother like the rest who had too many kids and not enough hands. Albeit, I had 8 (10 really) hands, but who’s counting. This group of women didn’t let me drown alone. They forced themselves on me because they knew if they didn’t I would’ve tried to go it alone. No – they didn’t force help like bombarding and taking over babies, etc. They forced me to get out, laugh, talk, and think about other things at a time when I could’ve just vanished into a haze of babies and all of their stuff.

Oh, and the baby nurse, Rye. I had no idea who she was. Really, an online friend gave me her info and in a desperate moment when the quads were 6 months old, I called her. She came over, took pity on me and within two weeks scheduled the babies and forced me to get dressed EVERY day. That was a hard task – not the scheduling, she had that under control in ONE day. It was the dressing thing… I had no clothes! Rye saved me and my marriage. The quads still got to bed at 7:30 every night. Everyone says “Oh…. You must have gotten no sleep for the past 4 years” I definitely play into it when it will get me some sympathy, but truthfully, from 6 months old the quads slept from 7:30pm to 7:30am EVERY NIGHT. We got more sleep then singleton parents who rock their babies to sleep and refuse to put them in bed awake letting them fall asleep on their own. Suckers! (jk – not suckers, just ill advised)

Between then and now, it is all a blur. In fact, I often come to tears when looking at photos from the last 4-5 years. I have a vivid memory of Robby pushing himself up to sit and turning around to look at me (is it a true memory or Memorex – I’ll have to go watch the shows to figure it out). I especially love the clip of Ella trying to walk at Theraplay and falling back on her bum (thanks D.H. for thinking that was worth seeing). Otherwise, my heart breaks at the memories that couldn’t be stored in this over-worked brain of mine.

I do remember lots of hugs and kisses. Sheesh – I can’t get out the door without hugging and kissing everyone. I will need to remember that and plan accordingly once I start working again. I know my kids yell, because I yell. I am trying to work on that. I do as well with not yelling as I do with dieting. Every morning I wake up and it is going to be the day I do everything right…. Usually by 10am I’ve yelled and eaten the wrong things! Some day. Some day.

I’m gearing up for the first day of Kindergarten. I can’t tell if I will be emotional or not – you know, it’s been a long five years. Will I fill up at the thought of my babies growing up? Or, at the thought of how the heck did I just do what I did? Remember, in the beginning I had no idea – I still don’t. I was looking at my sister’s 14-year old twins tonight and thinking – HOLY GOD, what am I going to do with 4 of those!? No, I think I will be filling up because they survived me. Regardless of how I messed up or yelled or wanted to be anywhere but here at times, they survived. I don’t know about you, but I know there were days when the sun came up and I thought “how can I do this again?” Thinking, this cycle never stops – day after day, after day – this is hard and I’m tired – this isn’t glamorous and if one more person rushes over wide-eyed and gushing I will scream. They survived homework and tantrums. Meetings. Boredom. Because sheesh – there were times when I was bored to death. I love them and all, but hey I loved working in town and going out to lunch and taking showers and buying clothes and talking to people too. Yea… they survived me.

So, instead of all that, I give the street answer:

OMG, YES. I was totally freaking out. I was like, OH MY GAWD - WHAT AM I GOING TO DO?

Happy 5th birthday to Robby, James, Anna & Ella – the best birthday presents ever!

1 Year Ago

Exactly one year ago, yesterday, was the worst day of my life. If you are new to this blog, our family endured emergency brain surgery to Sammy (our oldest) at about 6:15 in the evening, followed by a devastating house fire at about 9:15pm - from which our friend and Geana's sister safely evacuated all four of our three year-old quadruplets as well as their own two children (cousin Justin is in the pic above). Sammy was hospitalized for a week and we were out of our house for about 4 months as it was cleaned and rebuilt. As I reflect back on those memories, I can't help but be grateful for each member of my wonderful family. We could have easily lost all of our children on August 1, 2008.

Sammy:
Thank you for being so sensitive. I know that I get on you at times for not being "tough" enough and for not sticking up to your little brothers when they gang up on you. I know you can do it and just choose not to. When I really sit back and think about it... I'm glad that you are so caring of the others around you. That deep rooted quality within your being will set you apart from almost everyone else as you grow up. I urge you to not let go of that piece of you as you get older and to let it be the foundation of who you become and share it with everyone who gets close to you. It makes you incredibly special. I love you. Thank you, also, for you increased interest in baseball this past year.

James:
You're always trying to make people laugh around you and I see the delight in your eyes when you achieve your goal. Sometimes you cross the line to inappropriateness (is that a word), but as you get older and learn how to navigate that line and make people laugh without talking about poop and butts (sometimes it still works), you'll become even more funny and make me laugh even more as time passes. Thank you, also, for allowing me to link back to a poop joke in this post.

Robby:
You're brilliant. Your mother and I know it. Sometimes, though, your brilliance is lost in your strives to gain our attention. I'm sorry for that. Please know that we can see past your misbehavior and occasional craziness into the bright, smart, and intelligent little boy that you have become. I will strive to give you the attention that you need in order to help bring out the incredible little boy that lives within you. Thank you, also, for all of your help while I've been in my cast. You've done everything that I ask of you - even taking out the trash at the ripe old age of four years old.

Anna:
You are so caring of your brothers and sister as well as your Mom and Dad. You constantly are doing things to make your siblings laugh - usually so that they stop crying. You're wonderfully wacky and I can see the creativity that bubbles within you. You're also hot and cold, my dear. When someone crosses you (even if it's me) you aren't afraid to show me how you feel. But then your crooked smile lights up my eyes and your dimples pierce my heart. You are my grandmother - Gram Morris - through and through. Thank you for living up to the nickname, "Drama" that I gave you when you were a weeeee little baby.


Ella:
You may have the smallest body in the family but you have the biggest mouth. I can hear you as I walk up the street, walking home from work. You're usually yelling at Robby and James or calling for your Mommy. Fortunately for those around you, your hugs are as big as your mouth. Honestly - I've never felt a hug from someone that is so strong and complete as when you give me a hug. Your fake kisses, as you lick my cheek, are wonderful, too! You fill my heart and every one's who comes around you. Thank you, also, for learning to snore so loudly that you wake me up in the morning when you come into Mommy & Daddy's bed.

Geana:
We've been through a lot this year and, though it all, we've remained together. Sometimes that's simply enough when the stress gets so great that you don't know what to do and don't know where you can turn. I'm looking forward to a new year with a little less brain surgery, some fewer house fires, and a little more time for the two of us... together. Oh yeah - and congratulations on your Master's Degree that you just finished in July. You did it - despite all of the stress and craziness!

All Stars!

I sat down last night to watch the HR Derby with Sammy. Is there any better sporting event to share with your 7 year-old son? I think not. We donned our team's uniforms, got some ice cream, and settled in for the extravaganza. It started off with David Cook - the legend from the other TV show that we watch together. Neither of us made it all the way through it (we fell asleep) but we had fun saying, "Back - back - back - back.... GONE!" a la Chris Berman for awhile.

Fast forward 24 hrs. to this evening and we took our spots on the couch again... watching the hype, adoring our players, and waiting for the game to begin. This time it was Anna and me watching the game. Sammy joined us later (after his game of war with Mommy) but the night started out with just me and Anna. I started taking notes right away. Here were some of the priceless moments that I enjoyed this evening watching the game with my 4 year-old daughter:
--

TV: From the New York Yankees... Shortstop - DEREK JETER!
Anna: Daddy - why do they call him Derek Cheater? Are all the Yankees cheaters?
Me: Yes, dear.
Anna: That's what I thought.

--
Pepsi will be happy to hear that, as we're sitting there together drinking our generic brand of root beer and watching the festivities drag on and on, Anna turns to me and says, "Daddy - why do they keep saying 'Pepsi' all the time? Maybe we should be drinking that instead of root beer." Holy crap! That marketing stuff really does work!
--
Why is it that the Pirates didn't even have a representative in the "All Stars Among Us?" Not one of them was wearing a Pirate's jersey. We really do stink.
--
Sammy came in just as the game was beginning and proceeded to expound on how he learned, at the local library, that baseball started during the Civil War when soldiers needed a break from fighting and made up baseball to pass the time. That's why it's called the National Pass Time.
--
By the bottom of the 1st - Anna was asleep and Sammy was ready for bed. A fun night was had by all - for sure!

Adults vs. Kids

The girls had their annual (I guess it's annual - this is our first season) girls vs. Parents softball game. I was super excited for the game... but came home utterly amazed at people's... umm.... lack of awareness (nah), blatunt disregard for safety (nah), f-ing stupidity... that's it.

Someone should tell these 30 to 40 year-old men that they are playing FOUR YEAR OLD GIRLS! Seriously - I wish I had my video camera with me because I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Some of these dudes were crushing the ball to the fence. Literally - taking a stance and swinging as hard as they could. One guy actually hit the fence on a fly. Never mind that there were about 10 four year-olds about 15 feet in front of him - none of which were actually paying attention enough to follow what was going on or be alert if a screaming liner happened to be hit their way. Way to go dude... you can hit a softball, thrown from a pitching machine, to the fence on a tball field. Hey - maybe you should unzip and whip it out, too. This'll really show all of the other parents how manly you are. One thing is for sure - it would be equally inappropriate.

Only one kid actually took a line drive off of her head today... Anna. She's fine - but of course it happened to my kid. That dude's kid was probably picking her nose, ducking behind the pitching machine for safety. Geana asked Anna if she was okay and she was upset that she didn't catch the ball but she stayed in the game. In related news, Anna came in second of about 30 girls in a cut-throat game of "Simon Says." She only lost to a 6 year-old but was visibly upset when she was eliminated. She is, hands down, the most competitive of my kids. One time we were playing "The Quiet Game" and about 20 minutes after I thought we had completed the game she tapped on my shoulder asking the non-verbal question, "Yo Dad - can I talk yet?"

Speaking of injuries - Sammy is on the 15 day DL. He helped coach firstbase today and followed the coach around because of his cast. He actually thought it was a lot of fun.

Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms out there!

A Tug of the Heartstrings.

Today the girls went to a party at our favorite birthday party getaway, Jumpers.

What was so thrilling this time was seeing Anna climb to the top of the slides and crawl her way to the deepest innards of this large jungle-gym-type-thing that they have. She kept up with her sister (as well as the other girls at the party) every step of the way and was able to participate in all of the jumping and craziness.

This was especially touching to me because of her recent diagnosis of Cerebral Palsy. The docs have all told us that she has a minor case, but none the less, it still gets to ya sometimes. Having the opportunity to see her keeping up with the other kids, physically, was an amazing moment for me.

I guess it is fitting that we're getting ready to assemble our family team for the March of Dimes this year. The March of Dimes is an organization that helps to fund research to eliminate premature births and to treat the conditions that are associated with being born early. Our kids received the best care available and because of that, they are growing up in to healthy and active little people. There is no doubt that The March of Dimes had a direct impact on the lives of our children and we're going to do the best we can to help raise $4000 for the March of Dimes this year, $1000 for each of our kids that was born prematurely. Donate if you can and let us know if you are interested in walking as a part of our family team.

Ok - I'm off of my soap box, now.

Let me know if there are any organizations out there that I can support that fund research for how Dads can avoid wrenching their backs when playing with their daughters at places like Jumpers.

The Gatekeeper

Ok - so I'm sorry that the blog posts have dwindled down to once a week. I'll try to rectify that. That being said, I have been taking notes of funny things that the kids have done recently to share with you. Here is one from the past week...

I was doling out tangerines to the kids that I had sliced up but not peeled. I figured it would be fun to put them in their mouths and pretend that we are monkeys. Only trouble was that Anna said, "I don't like Tangerine. I'm not eating it." After a little prompting she still didn't want to have anything to do with it and the last thing I wanted to do was force her to eat something that she didn't want to eat (or play a goofy game with Daddy that she didn't want to play).

All of the other kids are playing along and after I had finished my slice, I grabbed Anna's and put it in my mouth, thinking she didn't care about it. Bad move. Talk about getting pissed off!! She immediately went into a rage that I wasn't expecting at all - complete with flailing arms, loud screaming, eyes rolling into the back of her head, foaming at the mouth, levitation, bolts of lightning, etc. My response - go into the kitchen and get her another slice of tangerine. I thought she may partake in our game, now. Wrong!! After having turned into Zuul, the Minion of Gozer, she proceeded to get up from the table with her slice in hand, walk over to the trash can and chuck it in. She turned to me and said, "Eat that tangerine, Dad." Then she stormed out to go look for the Keymaster.

Letter to Anna

Dear Anna,

Last night I came into your room to check on you before I went to bed and you were laying there in your bed, half asleep, and you asked me for "another big hug". It was my pleasure to come over and give you an extra squeeze before I went to bed.

One day you'll be a big ol' teenager and not want to give me those hugs. I love you very much and hope you never stop hugging me.

Love,
Daddy

A Day With The Kids

Geana is in Bedford, PA today, attending the Mother's of Multiples State Board Meeting. This means that, all across the state of Pennsylvania, there are multiples hanging out with their father's today. Below is a chronicle of our day:

5:30 - Mommy woke up and left.

8:30 - Daddy woke up with Anna, Ella, and Robby (James and Sammy are visiting Aunt Roe)

9:00 - Arrive at Dancing School with the three kids. That's right - we were up at 8:30 and out the door by 8:50. I'm accepting "Father of The Year" votes now. Hey - just three kids is cake.

10:00 - Invade the local Dunkin' Donuts and gobble down wee fistfuls of munchkins.

10:30 - Get home from Dunkin' Donuts and use the potty for the first time today. Whew! I was livin' on the edge this morning. Potential disaster averted...

10:45 - Clean for about an hour while the kids watch Dora and Johnny & The Sprites.

12:00 - James gets home with G-Mom but Sammy stays with Aunt Roe and Justin to go to the movies. G-Mom leaves and we play dress-up until nap time at 1:00. We devoured a bag of pretzels and I showed the kids how to lick their fingers and eat the salt at the bottom of the bag.

1:00 - Nap Time

That's where we are right now. We're either going to the Zoo or to Chuck E. Cheese this afternoon, I think. It depends on the weather and my ambition once they wake up. I will blog the rest when I get back.


UPDATE - 5:55pm

We ended up venturing out to Chuck E. Cheese. I made the mistake of thinking that a Saturday afternoon at 4pm wouldn't be very crowded. WRONG! I knew that there would be some people there, but there were enough people there to make you think the Pope was speaking or something. PLUS - about 25% of the games didn't work. Literally. I'm not a complainer but I was contemplating talking to the manager. It's hard enough to take 4 kids there, but having to test every game started getting annoying. I'm too tired to list all that was broken - but it was a lot!

4:00 - Arrive a Chuck's.

4:01 - Realize I've made an error in judgment about the number of people that go to Chuck E. Cheese on a Saturday in November.

5:00 - Leave Chuck's with two spiders, two dinosaurs, and two hair clips - courtesy of our 76 tickets.

6:00 - Dinner

6:30 - Mommy Home

7:00 - BED!

Bloody Noses and other Medical Emergencies...

Sammy woke up this morning with a bloody nose. He didn't know what was happening, more than anything. I think that the uncertainty of what was going on was more upsetting to him than anything else. His frantic parents may have contributed to the crying as well, although I can't be certain.

I feel for our kids because they have two extremely dramatic parents. Sorry guys - it ain't gonna get better. Kids look to their parents to be the calming rocks in their lives, this I know. Our kids are going to have to be okay with a pebble or maybe a calming stone. For us - bloody nose = brain hemorage. We realized this morning that, although Geana and I have had plenty of bloody noses ourselves, we've never had a child with a bloody nose before. This was reason for us to be concerned. Logically - I know that a bloody nose is just a bloody nose 99 out of 100 times but that ONE time could be happening to us... RIGHT NOW! This will be that one time when the bloody nose is a sign of something else (perhaps he stuck a pencil up his nose, puncturing his sinuses and scratching the bottom layer of his eyeball and neglected to tell us). Nothing is outside of the realm of possibility at the moment we see blood all over our child's face and pillows.

It turned out that the bleeding stopped pretty quickly and it was probably the result of us using the heater for the first time, drying up the air in the house to a point that Sammy's body wasn't used to it... or he could be snorting cocaine at Kindergarten in between recess and nap time. !!LIGHTBULB!! His teacher has been saying he is restless at nap time... he woke up with a bloody nose... you tell me???

Like I said, kids - you'll have to settle for a calming grain of sand rather than the rock that you really need and desire.

In other, more serious news, Anna had her appointment with the neurologist this morning. She has Cerebral Palsy, as we had expected, but it is a very minor case. The Dr. said that she probably had a minor stroke while in utero and that she is doing just fine both physically and mentally. He recommended that we keep her in physical therapy, but not a type of therapy that targets the "disease", rather one that just gets her some exercise and lets a professional monitor her progress. He seems to think that she's going to be just fine and that is wonderful news to us.

Be sure to check out our Halloween pictures at www.flickr.com/photos/morrisquads

Break out your ribbons!

It seems that every "cause" has a month these days. As if the magnetic ribbon on the bumper of your SUV wasn't enough - now you have a whole month, too!! Come to think of it, which came first - The Ribbon or The Month?

Anyway - November happens to be Prematurity Awareness Month, a cause that hits very close to home with the Morris Family. I wanted to point you towards this really cool thing that The March of Dimes is doing in honor of Prematurity Awareness Month. (keep reading it's lots of fun!) You can go to their website: www.marchofdimes.com where they have a link called, "Every Baby Has a Story." That link takes you to a virtual "workshop" where you can create a scrapbook of pictures, videos, etc. of your child and you also write a short "story of their life" to accompany the multi media stuff featuring your kid. When I posted Anna's page, there were about 150 stories. I expect that number to grow rapidly as the word gets out about this fun exercise. As of now there is 270.

Check it out... it's lots of fun!

Some of the stories are really touching. Take a minute to read about the other kids that have pulled through some really tough times, largely because of the research done by the March of Dimes. Enjoy!

Houston & Anna

I just got back from Houston where I stayed in the stuffiest hotel this side of George Bush's asshole. http://www.thehoustonian.com/ Don't get me wrong - it was very nice - but OMG was it full of rich, white Texans. I'm also not into the spa thing all that much and this place is a spa resort.

The trip was work related so I didn't get to see much of the city. Also, it was raining the entire time so it wouldn't have been much fun to walk around Houston anyway. I did have some great food that was supplied by the hotel (I think) for the conference and a lunch at Smith & Wolensky that was incredible.

On a very serious note Geana told me, as I was getting ready to board the plane for Philly, that the physical therapist thinks that Anna has Cerebral Palsy and that we should probably see a neurologist. Anna has fallen pretty far behind the others, physically, in the past few months - so we just recently started sending her back to Theraplay (a physical therapist near us). To give you an idea - she kind of walks like Fred Sanford and also has trouble going up and down the steps (she can do it, although she tries to get away with being carried up). She's always been clumsy and we thought that this may just be an outgrowth of that clumsiness. Her clumsiness has always been "cute" in our eyes until recently when it seemed to start having a real effect on her. I can relate - I've always been a klutz, too. The therapist noticed that she was favoring her right side and really using her left arm/leg for everything. The combination of Anna's premature birth and the fact that the issues seem to be on one side of the body are symptoms of Cerebral Palsy, from what I've read online. We'll have to wait and see what the neurologist says next week.

Anna is sharp as a tack. She is always amazing me with the thoughts that come out of her mind and some of the stuff that she does. The other day we were at a restaurant and she had the children's menu and some crayons. She colored one kid on the children's menu blue and the other kid on the menu red, all while staying in the lines. She said, "That's the blue boy and that's the red girl." It is something that we hadn't seen the other kids do, yet, and made us so proud of her. She's already starting with addition and subtraction with food on her plate, too. She's extremely gifted and I hate to see her going through any physical hardship like this.

I guess I shouldn't put on the gloom and doom before we've seen the doctor, but there is clearly something going on with her, physically. I'll be sure to update you more as time goes on...

Back to Poop

Not to belabor the talk about poop, but we spent the day at Linvilla Orchards today with 6 kids (Justin was with us again) - 3 of them had diarea. I'm not sure what we were thinking...

Of course - nobody had to go when we asked before we left the house. Once we got into the van, though, the story changed. We stopped once at Aunt Lisa's house, on our way to the orchard, so that Anna could poop. She went up to the bathroom and couldn't go - so we continued on our way. A few minutes later, we were forced to pull into a Sunoco but someone else seemed to have the same problem as Anna and was occupying the only restroom for 10 minutes - before we finally gave up and left...

We got to Linvilla and took everyone to the crapper. Mind you - it was 85+ degrees out, humid, and it was the busiest weekend of the year. The makeshift bathrooms at the farm were... ripe, to say the least.

Anna pooped. James peed and convinced us that he didn't have to poop. Robby told me that he'll poop tomorrow. All other kids were in and out with no issues.

About 15 minutes later we were at the playground and Robby, on the very top of a slide, gave me a look that seemed to say - WHAT JUST HAPPENED - THAT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A FART!? I climbed up the slide, picked him up, and shuffled him to the bathroom. BTW - I'm sorry to all of the little children that I pushed away in an effort to get my kid.

Poop ran down his leg as we waited in line to use one of the 2 stalls at the bathroom.

Once we got in there, we decided that his underwear was unsalvageable and tossed that in the trash can. (The place smelled atrocious already so I didn't feel badly about contributing to the stench.) I cleaned his shorts as best I could and we put them back on and went on our way... commando.

As we were vacating the bathroom we ran into Mommy who was in line for the ladies outhouse. That line was much longer than the men's so I took James into the same stall that I just left with Robby. (Everyone in the bathroom who just saw me leave assumed I was coming back for more with the same kid and let me through to the front of the line - little did they know that this was James... NOT Robby... hehe.) James unloaded into the porcelain trough below and is the success story for the day. We left in under 60 seconds flat.

Back to the playground.

Robby - in the bowels of a large wooden pirate ship at this point (with lots of other little children who are wondering where that fowl odor is coming from) is having the time of his life. He's back to normal - playing and living the dream.

All of a sudden he looks over at me with a look of questioning in his eye. It isn't the same look as earlier. It was if he had learned that sometimes a fart isn't just a fart and he was trying to determine what to do. I asked him if he had to go and he said, "I think so." We rushed to the bathroom, in time for this one, and had another bout of the runs for the next 15 minutes.

After this - we left. I had enough and wanted to get to more familiar and friendly ground. Geana agreed. We went to Aunt Lisa's and didn't poop once in the 2 or 3 hours that we were there... go figure.

As far as the public restrooms count goes I'm up to about 30 of the public restrooms in Philly with only about 330,202 left to go.