GQ Personality Profiles - by Billy

Hey everyone. It has been awhile since we last posted, and since Moni has done the majority of the typing I figured I owed her one. Now, the only problem with me posting is that I don't know for sure how to do the pictures since we got the new computer at home so you all are only going to get a narrative update and not a visual one.



I like to go in order on my posts so here goes:



Pius-Pius James has really become a lot of fun. He isn't crawling like Laine or inchworming like Forrest, but he, like them, is fully mobile. It is so funny to watch him see something he wants, angle himself towards it, and then roll all the way across the room to get it. He is pretty fast too. We're wondering if his feet might have something to do with his lack of crawling. He's still "in-toed", which means his feet turn inward on their sides when we stand him up. It's been this way since birth. The doctor says we don't have anything to worry about until he gets a little older, but if it's not correcting itself, that boy is gonna get himself some magic shoes! He also REALLY likes to talk. He talks up a storm with "Da-Da-Da-Da" when he is happy and "Ma-Ma-Ma-Ma" when he is sad or pissed (coincidence? I think not). He sleeps until one of the others wakes up, and then he will talk until we come to get him. He scrunches up his nose and makes the funniest faces, sometimes. We are sure he has passed the 20 lb. mark as a couple of weeks ago, he was at 19 lbs., 6 oz.



Forrest-Forrest Michael was the first one to really start crawling or "inchworming" as we like to call it. He doesn't use his legs a whole lot, but he will army crawl all the way across a room in no time flat. He uses his arms for all his pulling up and crawling. I swear he's gonna have an upper body like The Rock and a lower body like Nicole Ritchie. Mr Forrest is also the first one to cut teeth! He has his bottom two teeth coming through as we speak. The whole teething business started about 1.5 weeks ago and might account for some of his crankiness and high maintenance ways lately. He has taken over the role of main toy stealer. He has the most hair (think Fabio), and continues to like to smile. I think he might be the one that we need to have a more intense "stranger talk" with than the others. He loves everybody and he especially loves the WOMEN. He does like to be held, but doesn't seem to like to be kissed and cuddled that much. If Monica or I are sitting on the floor with the babies, you can bet Forrest is trying to crawl all over us. When he is in the mood for it we take advantage though. As of a couple of weeks ago when we did the new measurements, he had flown by Pius and was weighing 19 lbs., 15 oz.



Danna-Danna Lynn officially has her daddy wrapped around her finger. She hates being touched by her siblings on the feet, on her torso, or on her head when she is laying down. If one of the boys will roll, inch, or crawl over to her and touch her anywhere she will look right in my eyes and SCREAM. I am trying to toughen her up and make her handle it a little better, but when she looks at me it is hard to deny her. She isn't moving all over the room yet, but she can do a mean 3-60 and for as far behind as she is in mobility, she is blowing the boys away verbally. She started talking about three months ago and has yet to shut up. She will watch us say something or make a sound and then mimic our mouth shape with hers and try to make the same sound. She is, by far, the lightest sleeper of the four. She can be in a dead sleep and then one of the boys so much as farts.....her little head pops right up. Her next move is to find her paci. Seriously...one time I flushed the toilet and she woke up. At the weight check, she was up to 13 lbs., 7 oz.



Laine-Laine Ryan is probably the farthest along with his motor skills. He crawls, he can lift himself up onto things and then can walk the length of whatever he is holding onto. The other day I had them in the basement and I was playing with them. I learned a lesson because I turned my back to him for probably 30 seconds and when I looked back he was gone. I went to find him and there he was...4 steps up the stairs. I guess we need to put a gate on the bottom too. The funniest thing with Laine is watching him when he doesn't have a set goal in mind. He seems to be thinking all the time and he will crawl one step, stop sit himself up, re-assess the situation, turn himself, crawl a step in another direction, and repeat the process. If he knows where he wants to go, though, you have about two seconds to catch him. At the weight check, he was 16 lbs. 7 oz, I think.



Moni-Continues to work her A** off and amaze me everyday with her perseverance. She is more beautiful now than when I saw her last night. I am not sure what her weight is, but if I did know I don't think she would let me post it.



Billy-I did start back to school taking 13 hours and I am one of the oldest students in all of my classes. I really felt old now that I have seen four of the kids that I coached in youth basketball camp around campus. Classes are going well and I do enjoy my teachers. I haven't played the "I have Quadruplets" card yet because I am saving it for when I need it. I can't quite keep the charade up of I am working "full-time" anymore. I work a couple of nights a week at the QT and in a couple of weeks I will be back behind the bar at the O. When that starts I will be working around 30 hours a week. I am around 220 lbs., up about 50 from my playing weight.



Our helpers continue to be incredible and flexible for us. Melody, Ashlyn, Moni's aunts Cathy and Ginny, my aunt Nancy, my uncle Jim and Aunt Renee my cousin, Ashley, and her sister Rachel have helped us various set days and nights. Grandma Vicki, Grandpa Stubby, GG Bucko, Grandma Budda, Papa Rog, neighbor Carolyn, Janet Neville, and especially Aunt Lainie have continued to fill in and help at a phone call's notice. There are so many other people that have helped us at various times. Please know you are ALL so appreciated!



Something funny that just happened to me this morning: My classes don't start until 9:30 and Monica works late at night so I handle the morning feeds. This morning they all woke up around 7:30 (this is after Laine woke up at 4:30 a.m. for an early-morning snack and as I said above if someone wakes up, Pius does too-so he got a snack as well). I had them all fed and I was changing diapers. Changed Danna, Laine, and Forrest without much happening and was changing Pius just fine. They all poop on almost every diaper now because we have upped their solids and Pius was no exception this morning. I took off his bad diaper set it behind me and was cleaning him up when Laine took off on one of his "sprints." I couldn't release Pius's ankles fast enough and Laine had tracked right through the soiled remains of Pius's underwear. He continued through them about 2 feet by the time I had caught him, so I had a little mess to clean. (Side note: That story is REALLY gross, but I found it humorous and thought that some of you might, too.)



By the way, all of those weight checks (the kids) were a long time ago. I can't remember the date, so I am sure it has been quite awhile. We have our next doctor's appointment on September 18th so we will update the weights then. I will make sure Moni posts visual evidence of the kids growth, oral skills, and movement.



Billy, Moni, Pius, Forrest, Danna, and Laine