Billy, Moni and the Graf Quadlings

Danna Day 2012

2012-01-23T07:13:00.001-06:00

Danna at 4 (Family pics? “Odie”)

Danna Day 2012 has arrived. In a few years, I’m sure that Danna will expect everyone to serve her every need on this day…hell, she already expects people to serve her every need, Danna Day or not. A couple years back, before she was walking, I wrote that Danna probably just thought she was one of those princesses that had me and her brothers here to carry her around on a platform. Danna still believes this is her world and we all just live in it.

At the age of four, Danna is still a little slower than her brothers on reaching developmental milestones. She keeps hitting the milestones, but it takes her a little longer to get there. Her doctors told us to expect this for the first 5 or so years because she had such a rough life starting off in the womb. Danna had IUGR (Intra-Uterine Growth Restriction) after she was conceived. She was born at a svelte:) 1 pound, 10 ounces.

As for what our little peanut is like now…

Danna loves animals. One of her absolute favorite places in the world is the zoo, but she especially loves doggies and to a lesser degree cats. Her love of the domestic animals make us wonder if we might have a future veterinarian on our hands. She has about a million stuffed doggies and while it used to switch regularly, for the last half a year or so, “Odie” goes everywhere with her. To school? “Odie” goes with her. Grocery shopping? “Odie.” A wedding that she is the flower girl in? “Odie” got earrings and a necklace and walked down the aisle with her.

Danna also loves balloons, flowers and books, just not to the extent of dogs. She has a few of these eccentricities that are adorable, but also challenging to deal with. We lost “Odie” for about a week and that was a bad week. If we go grocery shopping and she sees balloons, it gets pretty annoying trying to get her to understand those are “decoration balloons” and she doesn’t get to hold them. She is getting a lot better at understanding she doesn’t get everything she wants. Seeing as how I created this “monster,” it has taken quite a while breaking her of the spoiled routine, but she has really started to grow up about things.

Danna has her downfalls, just like the boys. She honestly loves her brothers so much. She gets upset when they get in trouble. “Fo-Fo doesn’t want to sleep in the peapod.” “Pius wants to have his spiderman mask.” “LAINE DON’T WANT TO BE A JERK. LAINE DON’T WANT TO CRY.” “AAAAAAAHHHHHH!” Laine is her hero. If Laine is upset, we have a loud house. While she gets upset for Pius and Forrest, if Laine is mad, she screams and cries. We keep hoping this is a stage that will pass, but it has lingered on for about 6 months now.

Danna also has the strangest eating habits. This probably leads to her small stature, but she doesn’t eat unless she really likes something. If we ate cereal for every meal, she would probably be six feet tall already. She LOVES cereal. She also seems to prefer more adult foods. What kid doesn’t like macaroni and cheese? Danna will not eat that, but if she sees us eating a steak or some chicken, she is like a baby bird trying to score bites. She is definitely going to be an expensive date…if anyone ever asks her:)

Danna’s 2nd day of life

Danna at 3 months next to a football.

Danna at 1

Danna on her 2nd birthday

Danna at 3

Danna Lynn, your mommy and I love you so much. You are the toughest little girl in the world. You have fought through so many battles in your life and I know that your determination will take you wherever you want to go in life. You are a beautiful, smart, loving little girl that makes us so proud.

Laine Day 2012

2012-01-15T09:16:00.001-06:00

Laine at 4

January 15th is “Laine Day.” Our little Train is quite the character. Born the smallest of the three boys (2 pounds, 4 ounces) he has never acted like the smallest. He was usually the first to start achieving physical goals (rolling, crawling, walking, etc.) despite his lifelong battle with respiratory issues. He still gets wheezy when he gets fired up and playing too hard, but he usually won’t slow down.

Laine loves people that he knows, but is probably the most stranger-shy. Whenever we get around large groups of kids or people, he usually sticks pretty close to his family. One of his new favorite sayings is, “I’m pretty shy.” (So he obviously likes the attention he gets for this trait, which makes me wonder how shy he really is). He does love being around his brothers, sister, uncles, aunts, cousins…and especially “his Grammy.” Grammy (my mom) is his favorite person in the world…other than Mommy or Daddy.

Laine also seems to have a great sense of humor. He laughs at funny parts of movies, he laughs at goofy things his brothers and sister do, and he just seems to like to laugh. I remember hearing one time, the youngest of families tend to be the clowns. While I don’t think he necessarily tries to make people laugh, he seems to recognize when people are trying to be funny and enjoys it.

Laine definitely, like ALL four-year-olds, has some bad traits. One of his characteristics, his perceived maturity, is a good and bad thing. Despite being the youngest, Laine sees himself as the boss of everyone. He can get mouthy sometimes, because he thinks he knows what is best.

To hear Laine try to explain why things work they do is hilarious. He will go into deep explanations about clouds, and “the shocking thing”, lights, whatever he thinks is needing explanation. When the kids wake up in the mornings, Laine will go into dissertations about the ways of the world to his brothers and sister. He is sure that he is right and his convictions are strong:)

Laine on his birthday (sometimes I forget about the CPAP)

Laine at 1

Laine at 2

Laine at 3

Laine, you are a sweet boy. Your teacher says that you like to be in leadership roles, and I am confident that you will use this leadership ability in good ways. When you are in a good mood, you are so fun to be around. We love you and are so proud of you.

Love,

Daddy and Mommy

Pius Day 2012

2012-01-09T07:24:00.001-06:00

Pius at his 4th Birthday

My “main man” Pius came home on January 9, 2008. We are so proud of our 1st born. Pius James Graf was the biggest at birth and he has always seemed to have a sense that he was the “big brother.” Right after the kids were born, Pius and Danna got put into a room together. During the early times in the NICU, Pius insisted that he would be facing Danna at all times. The nurses would have to completely flip his body because, honestly, he would SCREAM if he wasn’t facing his little sister.

One of my absolute, favorite stories about the kids happened before they were born. When we found out Danna was struggling in the womb (she didn’t have enough room, wasn’t getting enough nutrients, etc.) Pius moved himself in Moni’s belly. He really dropped a few inches in the womb and Danna instantly had more room. Also, during our sonos, Pius would always kick Laine or Forrest whenever they would crowd Danna. Strange coincidence? Probably, but he has seemed to relish the “oldest, leadership” role since the beginning.

I am doting on Pius, but he does have a few downfalls as well. Pius is the sneakiest little shit I have ever met. He is always up to something…always. I know that we have made jokes about checking Pius’s bed for contraband, but we do. Pius is the sneaky one that hides things (food, toys, knives,etc.) in his bed.

Pius is also the one that loves to “trick” us. He is always trying to pull one over on Moni or me, his babysitters or visitors that come over. Our little Pi-Pi knows no strangers and he makes every day a lot of fun. Nothing fires him up more than being the center of attention (almost to a fault) and while it frustrates us, it is also one of his most adorable traits.

Pius on the day he was born

Pius at his 1st birthday

Pius at 2

Pius at 3

Pius is so excited that his day falls on “championship day.”

The night before Pius day, we had a little injury.

Pius James, you are my “main man,” and we are so proud of you. You love sports, spiderman and attention and you are so fun to be around. I hope you continue to look out for your brothers and sister and keep your great sense of humor. You are a joy to be with. Have a great “Pi-Pi Day 2012.” We love you so much.

Forrest Day 2012

2012-01-01T00:02:00.001-06:00

Forrest Michael at 4

While we have slowed down on our blogging and have forgotten a few things over the past four years, we have continued to keep track of each of their days they came home from the NICU so they each can have 1 special day for themselves. Forrest Michael was the first of the crew to come home. January 1, 2008 was a very happy day for the Graf family. At the ripe, old age of four, Forrest has developed some characteristics that have kept hold of our hearts, but also a few not-so-good ones, too.

Forrest is extremely smart. This is probably why he loves to learn new things. In the summer times, he loves going outside with Monica and helping her garden. Outdoor work is one of Moni’s loves and she has passed this trait to Forrest. Forrest will work with her and listen to everything she says about plants, trees and making things grow. He listens and then remembers it all.

He also loves to learn about dinosaurs. It is fun for us to bring out his toy dinosaurs and let him name them off for people. Not only can he name each of them, he can also tell you fun facts about each of them. “That’s the dromaeosaurus. It is the fastest dinosaur. It also is a carnivore and likes to eat other dinosaurs’ eggs.” Good Lord, Son. Where’d you learn all of that? “Dino Dan” is currently his favorite show and he will sit at attention and listen to everything Dan says.

Forrest also loves to interact with other kids. He doesn’t care if they are older. He yearns to play games and be included. This concerns me a little, as I worry he may be easily convinced to do things he shouldn’t, but hopefully we can continue to develop his conscience and he will be able to make good decisions.

As for the things we don’t like so much…

I believe Forrest may be the most stubborn person I have ever met. When he does or doesn’t want to do something, he’s going to do things his way. Last week, I was going to take them to look at Christmas lights. I knew they would be up later than normal, so I made them take a nap. The other three immediately went potty and went to their beds. Forrest did not want to take a nap so he sat out on the couch and pouted. Aunt Lainie was going to come and stay with him, but Moni finally convinced Forrest to take a nap…after he got to help her measure one of our bedrooms. That was “Forrest’s idea” so therefore, it was acceptable to him to take a nap since he decided to do it.

Forrest also can get pretty whiny. He seems to get bored easily. When he gets bored he gets crabby. It’s pretty hard to get four four-year-olds cleaned, dressed and loaded so we are home a lot. I know it is partly my laziness, but taking them places is hard. He is very creative, though, so when he’s not in a bad mood, he can entertain himself. I definitely prefer him making up games to all the whining.

The day he was born:)

The very first “Forrest Day”

Forrest at 1

Forrest on his 2nd birthday

Forrest at 3

Forrest Michael, some day when you read this, I want you to know how much your mom and I love you. We are so proud of you, and with your great attitude towards all the people you meet, you will be able to accomplish whatever you want. Stay sweet, Fo-Mikey:)

Love,

Dad and Mom

Shocker Sound-Off

2011-12-08T16:22:00.002-06:00

Hi everyone. I hope everyone is ready for Christmas. I will be at
All-Sports Wichita located in the Westlink Shopping Center, 8909 W.
Central Ave., to do a Quadfather book signing. 1410 AM KGSO will be
doing a live remote from All-Sports for "Shocker Sound-Off" (the
pregame show for Wichita State men's basketball). As a Wichita State alum, (and former assistant basketball coach at Friends University) it is quite exciting for me to get a chance to do a signing as a small part of the show. I've listened to the show when I can as part of the WSU pre-game at it's an excellent source of insight from the coaching staff and to get a sense of the pulse of the fans. I've also been into All-Sports on a few occasions and I know it is a wonderful place to look for Christmas gifts for the sports fanatic in your family...even if they are KU fans:)

The show runs from noon to 2 p.m. this Saturday and, like I said, airs
on 1410 AM KGSO. If you are from out of town and would like to listen to the show, you can stream it from www.kgso.com. Seeing as how it is the WSU basketball team show, you probably won't have to hear me get on my soapbox and explain why my Broncos are playing so well and why Bama DOES deserve to be in the national championship so you don't have to worry about that:)

I hope to see a lot of you there and, if not, you get a chance to listen.

Happy Holidays,

Billy

Small mix up

2011-12-01T19:11:00.001-06:00

Hey all,

There was a mix up so I'm not going to be on tomorrow morning. We are working something out for the next week to week and a half on KGSO 1410 AM. As soon as it gets sets in stone I will let you know.

For the people that live or will be out of town, though, you will be able
to listen through your computer. The website is, www.kgso.com, and it has online streaming. Sorry about the mix up and I'll update you when I find out more.

Thanks,
Billy

Quick Quadfather update

2011-12-01T12:05:00.001-06:00

My publisher is releasing The Quadfather on Amazon.com for hard copy and the Kindle. If you still want a signed copy, you can order it through my website on the paypal button in the top left corner of the blog.

I will be on KGSO 1410 AM tomorrow morning to talk the book, and some Bama and Broncos football. I will be on around 9 a.m. so if you get a chance, tune in. Hopefully it goes well.

See you all later,
Billy

Ghosts of Halloweens Past

2011-11-05T12:49:00.001-05:00

So, I was blindsided earlier this week while cropping/fixing the pics we took for Halloween this year. It turns out, I have almost every pic I’ve taken already loaded into a Picasa Album. I got lost for hours looking through all the memories from before the quads were born, through their NICU stint, the infant years, and now almost graduating their toddler phase.

So, the trip down memory lane got my mind thinking about this post I’m about to present to you all.

Billy and I have ALWAYS loved Halloween and we would dress up creatively for the holiday every chance we had before kids came into the picture. Now, I’m all about ~~obsessing~~ thinking about new costume ideas for the kids in the future (even if Halloween was only a few days ago). I’ll admit……..it IS an illness.

But I thought it’d be fun to showcase our Halloween attire just so everybody can see where we started.

First off, I present this year’s costumes…….Oompa Loompas from the 1971 movie, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

These are my personal favorites and were easy to make. Plus, the kids LOVED them and still go around singing the Oompa Loompa song and break into the Oompa Loompa dance randomly throughout the day.

LAINE

FORREST

PIUS AND LAINE

PIUS…..WHAT A GOOBER

……A REALLY BIG GOOBER

FORREST

PI-PI AND DADDY FACING OFF

FO-FO, LAINE, PIUS, DANNA……IN A VERY GREEN BATH

……AND NOW, FOR THE GHOSTS OF HALLOWEENS PAST…..

2010 - “Four-of-a-Kind”

2009 – 3 Elmer Fudd hunters with Danna as their bunny rabbit

2008 – The Wizard of Oz

DANNA AS DOROTHY

FORREST AS THE SCARECROW

PIUS AS THE LION

LAINE AS THE TINMAN

2007 – ALL 4 IN A JACK-O-LANTERN

They were SO much easier to contain back then! But I really don’t miss those days.

Hope everyone had a great Halloween!

The Graf’s World…It is a Changing!

2011-10-25T12:55:00.002-05:00

This morning, we had our first ever parent-teacher conferences. The verdicts:

Pius: “Enjoys Prekindergarten. Pius is tender-hearted and gets his feelings hurt.” He is doing very well. He is polite, and is very good at his “gross motor skills,” a.k.a. catching and balancing. Look out NFL, here comes the Pi-Pi.

Forrest: “Loves to have a ‘Helper Job.’ Confident.” Forrest is also doing well. He is very good at his Language Arts, and has mastered the prayers, names and various songs. Look out Pulitzer Prize, here comes the Fo-Fo.

Danna: “Danna is becoming more comfortable with the routine of Pre-K. Quiet.” There are still areas of concern. She isn’t quite as social as her brothers, but she is starting to follow the rules. Danna just continues to live in “Danna World,” overly concerned about doggies. Look out PETA, here comes your biggest supporter, Danna Banana.

Laine: “Likes to answer questions. :)” Laine is also doing a great job at school. He loves to be the “grown-up,” and be involved with Mrs. Meier and Ms. Glenda. He loves trying to be a leader. Look out politics, here comes The Train.

Overall the kids are doing well. It was great hearing where they are each ahead of or behind other kids their age. Each of them have strengths and weaknesses, and Mrs. Meier said, “You can tell they are siblings. They take care of/fight with each other all the time.” I think we are doing alright so far. They are polite and they love each other, and that has been the most important lesson we’ve been trying to convey. Love God above all else, and love your neighbor as yourself.

Moni continues to work her butt off. She is scheduled for 3 12-hour shifts a week at the hospital, she always picks up at least one extra 8-hour shift, most the time 2 extra shifts. Her normal hours are 2 p.m. to 2:30 a.m., but when she picks up extras, her hours change. Her body plays hell trying to maintain the kids and my normal daytime hours, but she usually keeps up.

As for me, I’m still peddling my book. I’ve done speaking engagements for Rainbows United, Inc. and for PAMOM (Plano Area Mothers of Multiples). I am waiting to hear back from other regional multiples groups, and hopefully I’ll get some momentum going locally. I was on KGSO 1410 last Wednesday, and I am waiting to hear back from a few other radio stations who had said they would have me on after the book was published.

We have also made some changes to our appearances. For those of you who hadn’t heard, Pius gave Danna a haircut and so Aunt Donna came over and rescued Danna’s hair. Now, both of my girls in the house have my favorite kind of hair. Short, and jaw length:) After the Broncos finally changed quarterbacks and Tebow led the Broncos to a John-Elway like comeback, I decided that I would make a fresh change, too.

Until we meet again:)…

We should be the Von Graf Family Singers:)

2011-10-20T11:28:00.001-05:00

Forrest and Laine wanted to be on the blog doing “The Lazy Song” dance, too.

A quick video from the Graf house…

2011-10-19T14:12:00.001-05:00

Pius is obsessed with the Bruno Mars song “The Lazy Song.” Pius always picks one of the monkeys to act like. Hope you enjoy:)

These are a few of my favorite things…

2011-09-21T11:03:00.001-05:00

This morning has been one of the few times in the past year that the kids have woken up in a great mood. I know I’ve said it before, but “terrible twos” my ass. The age of three has been, to say the least, the most challenging year of my life with the kids.

Growing up, one of the favorite movies in my house was The Sound of Music. Now I know that may sound a little strange to some people that know me best, but I don’t care. It is still one of my all-time favorite movies. It is truly one of my guilty pleasures:) Because of how this morning has gone, though, I will tell you my favorite things about each of the kids.

Pius-My favorite thing about Pius is his ornery attitude. I love that he is always getting into something or up to something. He is a curious little boy who loves candy, stickers, makeup, nail polish or anything that we tell him he can’t have or we give him in rations. It has become a habit at nap time and bed time that we check Pius’s bed for any contraband that he may have hidden away for down time, especially after he foiled Grammy one time with a butter knife. He is a sweet boy and LOVES to cuddle against mommy’s chest…..although I think that might be more related to his fascination with boobies.

What a cheeseball:)

Forrest-My favorite thing about Forrest is his imagination. He loves to make things up about dinosaurs or anything else that has held his attention for a little while. He is so smart and he listens to everything we say and he remembers it. Forrest can name more trees and flowers than I can and he loves to learn about everything. He will watch and listen and remember everything and then turn what he has learned into games and stories.

Forrest with the Monarch butterfly. “DON’T CALL IT A MONARCH, FORREST. CALL IT A BUTTERFLY!” –Uncle Ryno (Mommy defended her little genius by telling Ryno not to be hateful because a 3 yr old knows more than him)

Danna-My favorite thing about Danna is her determination. This not only goes for getting things she wants but also for getting things done. I am so tired of drawing doggies for her on her magna-doodle and because I don’t do that for her nearly as often anymore, she has learned to draw doggies. I can guarantee that she is better at drawing them than I am. To watch her sit and draw is amazing. The look that she gets on her face and the care she puts into it is truly a joy for me to see.

She does smile!

The Beaner’s depiction of a doggie….pretty impressive for a 3 yr old, if you ask me!

Laine-My favorite thing about Laine is his maturity. At 3 years old, Laine thinks he is 30. He knows right from wrong and honestly thinks he is the boss of his brothers and sister, and will attempt to dole out timeouts and punishments for his siblings appropriately. He is a little tattle-tale and one of the easiest ways to get him to snap out of a bad attitude is to tell him, “If you want me to treat you like a grown up, you need to act like a grown up.” He does a good job of telling the truth when he misbehaves.

Don’t let that grin fool you.

As for how school is going, they really seem to be enjoying it. Their teachers, Mrs Meier and Miss Glenda, are awesome and the kids love going to school each Tuesday and Thursday morning. When I drop them off, they always tell me, “Daddy, you need to get out of here.” But to see their faces light up when I pick them up is priceless. Forrest and Miss Danna have each received two notes from home in 9 days of classes and Pius and Laine have each stolen a toy. I’m pretty sure it is going to be an interesting 15 years when it comes to school.

At Old Navy picking out book bags. Amazingly, the boys all picked the same one. The looking was over for Danna after she saw the Sparky the doggy.

An update from The Quadfather

2011-09-15T16:09:00.002-05:00

Hi everyone. I'm home from my first speaking engagement with a
multiples group. On Tuesday, I was invited to speak with PAMOM (Plano Area Mothers of Multiples) and I learned a very important lesson. If you haven't done your speech in about a month, you should probably practice a couple of times before doing it again. When I spoke with Rainbows United last month, I was very well prepared (with a ton of help from my family), and afterwards, I felt very good about my performance. When PAMOM invited me down, I went back through my first speech, added some stuff, subtracted some stuff, but it was about 75% the same. I found out I was a little overconfident, because I stumbled around for the first couple of minutes, but after I found my groove, the rest of it went well. The audience was awesome, it was a lot of fun getting to meet some other multiples families and overall
it was a profitable trip:).

I don't currently have anything else (speaking engagements/signings)
scheduled for now, but I have exchanged emails with a few other
multiples groups regionally and I'm hoping to hear back from them.
I'm also going to get back in touch with my local media (radio and tv)
contacts and see about trying to get a little momentum back locally.
Any other ideas are more than welcome.

As of right now, I have sold 501 copies of the book. I have heard
back from a lot of the people who have read it and they say they
really enjoyed it. Of course, I don't think friends or family are
going to come out and tell me that it sucked, but I have received some
feedback from people I don't know and it has been good, too.
Hopefully, if it gets released to some kind of professional reviewer
or parenting group or website, it will be as well received by
professional people.

Almost all of the people I have talked to about the book have asked
me, "We don't have to wait another three years for the next
installment, do we?" I think I have a fun idea for the next one, and
may start working on it shortly, I just wanted to concentrate on this
first one for a little while.

It is still available here via paypal so if you know someone who has said they were interested or if you haven't got your copy yet and would like one just click on the paypal button in the top left corner here on our blog. Thanks again for all of your support.

Sincerely,
Billy

P.S. I’m working on a new blog with pictures from the kids’ first month at school. I’ll have it up by early next week.

My kids are old enough?

2011-08-18T09:02:00.001-05:00

I am kind of starting to understand what people mean when they say that time flies when it comes to your kids. I remember, what seems like yesterday, we were living in Phoenix, over 1,000 miles away from home, scared to death, not knowing what was going to happen. Now we are dropping the little nuggets off for pre-school!

The first of our feeble attempts.

Attempt #2. (Pius what the hell are you doing?)

Us walking in, Danna running to catch up.

The boys getting name tags, and Danna looking for a doggy.

Last night was pretty hard for me as I sat out their clothes to wear, and got their “emergency clothes” ready for them to take. I just sat down and thought, “Where did the last four years go?” I know on my Facebook page and in talking to people sometimes, I seem completely exhausted from the kids’ antics, but they really are a lot of fun.

Pius, my little instigator.

Forrest, my little sweetheart.

Danna, my little Diva.

Laine, my little practical joker.

I’m so proud of how far they’ve come in such little time. I can’t wait to pick them up, find out how their day went and hear if they’re going to be allowed back:)

Since we saw you last…

2011-08-09T10:59:00.002-05:00

We left off last time with the Graf quads meeting another set of quads, The Goerlich Quads. Looking back, that was just a really cool weekend. My kids haven’t forgotten them, and they want to pray for the Goerlich quads at least three or four times a week at bedtime. I hope that we can meet more sets of quads and see our new friends again sometime soon.

We got our Moni back later that week. She returned from her quadmama vacation in the New Orleans/Biloxi area with more fun stories (a lot of them, frighteningly, had to do with planking). For awhile, after she had returned home, it seemed kind of like I had a middle schooler on my hands to go along with the four toddlers and puppy running around the house:)

As for the kids, and their latest update:

Right now our big thing we are working on is potty-training at nap and bedtime. We are completely comfortable with their pottying when they are awake. Danna even poops on the toilet now and has better aim while she is peeing! It’s going pretty well, but any suggestions for the nap/bed time training would be welcome:)

They also start pre-school next week. We went to get signed up last week and they got to see their room. Pius, Forrest and Danna took off, but Laine grabbed my hand and it took him a couple minutes to calm down. I really hope they do well with it because I think I’m going to have a rough time if they panic.

Our current favorite movie is The Wizard of Oz. I had forgotten, but that movie really is pretty good. It is such a fun and creative story, plus it has a tornado in it, so it’s got the boys’ total attention. The also love the “knife guys” (the wicked witch’s guards) and the flying monkeys. They always want me to name the monkeys and guards so I do the best I can to come up with people they know.

The Quadfather continues to do well at shows. Yesterday I had my first speaking event. Our Early Childhood Intervention resource, Rainbows United, Inc. asked me to come and speak about our story. The audience was awesome, and very receptive to my speech. On top of that, Danna was the star of the show. Moni (as is typical) was about 15 minutes late and when her and the kids came in the room and Danna saw me speaking on the stage, her face lit up, she started running towards me and yells, “HI DADDY!” They came to the stage and I introduced each of the kids and Moni. When I got done introducing, Danna was holding on to Odie (her new stuffed doggie that goes everywhere with her) and she holds him up and says, “And Odie!” It was a lot of fun, and the sales afterwards went well:)

And finally, the latest pictures from the park…

Pius making his “mad face.”

Forrest having fun on the teeter-totter.

Danna hitting up the slide.

Laine on the other end of the teeter-totter.

The kids with all their new friends.

What would you do if you had a million dollars?

2011-07-17T20:18:00.002-05:00

I’ll tell you what I’d do, man. Party with two sets of quads at the same time, man. That’s what Chris Goerlich and I decided to do a couple of weeks ago as our wives’ quad mom group planned their third annual quadmom vacation. Chris emailed me because he was taking his kids north to visit Mari’s family and their trip happened to roll right through Wichita. We made a quick weekend party of it. Here is how it went down.

(L to R on the step): Finn, Cohen, Sophia, Pius, Forrest, Noah, and Laine. Danna in the front.

The Goerlichs rolled in here around 5 p.m. Friday night. There was all of the normal sniffing and feeling out that goes along with 3-year-olds. They stayed pretty close to their own siblings the first night. The Goerlich quads have met other sets of quads before, but this was the Graf quads first rodeo. They were so excited to see and meet them.

We decided to have them all have a “slumber party” in the Grafs’ bedroom. As the Goerlichs are veterans of this situation, they handled it very well. The Graf boys also did very well with it. Danna, on the other hand, screwed it up for everyone. She is usually the last one asleep anyways, but now she had four more 3-year-olds in the bedroom to terrorize. I felt like I had an infant again because I had to go into the room about 4 times through the night because Danna would wake up screaming. It wasn’t a fun night time for us dads, and I can imagine, for her roommates either. Amazingly, though, we survived.

This was their cluster…err…sleeping quarters for the two nights.

On Saturday morning we took the 8 man crew to my cousin, Ashley, and her husband, J.D.’s swimming pool. We rocked it for a couple of hours over there, and mine were so excited at first because I actually swam with them, too. I am terrified of water for myself as it is, but when I add my four toddlers to the pool my anxiety level goes even higher. So normally, I sit on the side and count to four…CONSTANTLY. All 8 of the kids have puddle jumpers and have become very good at “swimming” so it wasn’t bad. We had a blast, and it worked really well because they were all wiped out and took a nap so we didn’t have to battle Danna again.

Taking a break from the pool for some snacks.

Saturday evening we grilled out over here. I made “spicy burgers” for the adults, and chicken and hot dogs for the kids. They all ate really well and they stayed up pretty late driving our four power wheels cars around. What was really cool was that as the day went on, the kids started to interact with each other a lot more. The kids had a ball playing with each other throughout the day. Saturday night bedtime went a lot better so it was a good end to a good day.

The Grafs and Goerlichs attacking Stubby on Saturday night.

Dinner time!

Pius and Finn cruising the back yard.

Danna watching Cohen and Forrest.

Chris finally figured out how to make the fire truck go. Add a dude on the back.

Pius doing his best to charm Sophia. After they left Sunday afternoon, Pius and Laine started fighting about who Sophia would sleep next to the next time they came over.

Sunday morning we rolled out of bed, ate some breakfast, played with the powerwheels/in the basement for a little while and it was time for the Goerlichs to continue their trip. It was one of the coolest things I think I’ve seen. My kids interacting and playing with another set of kids that they had a ton in common with. I know Moni always says that those girls are her best friends and she is so thankful she met them. In this last year, as I’ve got to know each of the couples more, I’ve really started to feel a bond with all of them, too. How lucky for us to have such great friends that we share a pretty unique trait with:)

The last month…

2011-07-10T10:55:00.001-05:00

Well, we left off about a month ago with the Riverfest, dentist appointments and severe weather. In the last month, we’ve potty trained (pee only) Danna, I’ve had 4 book signings locally, Moni and I celebrated our 11th anniversary, we survived the 4th of July and the kids have continued to drive us FREAKING CRAZY! I know I’ve said it before, and I apologize for repeating myself, but people need to change the term “terrible two’s.” Two-years-old was easy compared to this three-years-old stuff .

The potty-training of Danna was so easy, it pissed me off. The first day, we woke up and put on her panties. She WOULD NOT go potty on the potty. She would hold it for hours. I could tell she had to go, but she wouldn’t let it go while she was sitting on the pot. The second day, her and Moni had a battle of wills. Moni kept pumping the fluids, sat her on the potty (she would sit, she just wouldn’t go) and wouldn’t let her off until Danna went. Danna held it as long as she could, but when she realized she could pee on the pot she was basically trained. I think in the last two weeks we’ve had one, maybe two, accidents. She’s known what she was doing the whole time. As far as pooping, she still won’t do that on the pot. She will wait until nap time or bed time and go in her pull up. Not sure how we’re going to combat that for sure yet, but any ideas would be more than welcome:)

This beautiful, little girl is too smart for her own good.

The week of Father’s Day, Suzanne Perez Tobias came out and interviewed me for an article that ran that Sunday in The Wichita Eagle. It was a lot of fun for the kids to see themselves in the newspaper that Sunday, and it was GREAT publicity for my book. I had four signings the past couple of weeks and they have all been a lot of fun and, for the most part, very well attended. I’m sitting at 346 copies sold, and I’m hoping to start traveling to speak to/do signings for multiples groups soon, and the book is still available for order here on our website. I was invited by Rainbows United, Inc. to speak here in Wichita in early August so I’m pretty excited about that.

The picture that was in The Wichita Eagle

Moni and I had a low-key celebration for our 11th anniversary on June 24th. We had an all-day family fun day. We went to the park and played on the playground and fed the ducks. After the park, we went over to Uncle Jim and Aunt Renee’s house for some swimming fun. It was a long day, and the kids were ready for bed. After we got home and got the kids to bed, we were joined by some family and friends to celebrate for the rest of the day. The following pictures are from our fun day at the park.

As for the 4th of July, it proved my theory of feast or famine. We were invited to four or so parties, and couldn’t attend all of them. It seems like when we have one thing on our calendar, we get invited to multiple other things so we can’t make it to everything and that’s a bummer. Maybe as the kids get bigger, and we get more efficient in our travels we’ll be able to attend more things…hopefully anyways. The following pictures are from the 4th of July “fireworks extravaganza” at the Graf house. Can you tell who the two are who weren’t at all interested in firing off the fireworks were? The little Diva didn’t even care to watch.

See you later:)

Just another busy week…

2011-06-12T11:36:00.002-05:00

The Graf Quads are worn out.

Too much excitement…

I won’t fall asleep, I won’t fall asleep.

We’ve had a busy couple of weeks here since our last post. We found out a couple of weeks ago that exactly 4 spots miraculously opened up at the St. Peter Catholic School pre-K program (which had been full previously). We took that as a sign and got them registered, so our babies will be starting school next fall! LOTS of mixed emotions springing up around this. I mean, how is it that we were JUST anxiously awaiting their birth, and NOW it’s time for them to go to school?! So crazy. We made appointments for them to see their doctor for the 3 year checkup and physical routine that is required by the school, AND we also finally bit the bullet and made appointments for their very first dentist visits.

Forrest is already talking about getting girlfriends. He thinks his "Bear Bryant" hat will help.

Laine is a wild one…hopefully he won’t drive his teachers crazy.

The sneaky one…almost always up to something.

That better be the only boy she is kissing. Eyes closed and all.

The boys trying to show their sweet side.

Pius showing off his “ouchy” on his forehead from a fall on the first Friday at Riverfest.

One of the highlights the first Friday, seeing the Police horses.

The pediatric dentist we chose wasn’t going to be able to fit them in until November, but again, by shear luck (or divine intervention), 3 spots opened up in their schedule for last Monday. The boys filled those appointment openings and then they were able to fit Danna in on Wednesday of that same week. Funny how things just fall into place sometimes. We were really excited to find a pediatric dentist on the West side of Wichita with outstanding reviews. Dr. Walker’s group was incredible with the kids and it was a fun atmosphere for them. I was worried about how the appointments would go, but the boys were AWESOME! They laid on the chairs and opened their mouths wide and let them do whatever they wanted. Danna, on Wednesday, was a different story. She wasn’t scared or bad, but she was completely uncooperative. The patience and caring that was shown to all four of the kids was tremendous, though, and I am very happy with Dr. Walker and her group.

Pius helping.

Forrest opening wide.

We took the kids in (7 months late) for their 3 year checkup and physicals for school yesterday. Dr. Chavez was surprised to see how big the kids were and very pleased with their health and development. Laine has officially caught Pius in size and while Danna still isn’t on the charts for weight, she is for height. Dr. Chavez also put our minds at ease because of the kids’ odd eating habits. They’ll eat like horses at one meal a day, but never consistently. One day, they will eat four bowls of cereal each and then pick at the next two meals. Or they won’t eat any breakfast, but chow down at lunch or dinner. It is strange how it works. Dr. Chavez told us to expect them to eat well only once every 4-5 meals so that made me feel a little better.

As for official sizes, here they are now:

Pius

34 lbs (51%), 39.25 inches tall (55%), head circ 50.5 cm (50%).

Forrest

36.6 lbs (74%), 39.75 inches tall (67%), head circ 51 cm (75%).

Danna

25.2 lbs (<1%), 36.75 inches tall (14%), head circ 47.5 cm (24%).

Laine

34 lbs (51%), 39 inches tall (49%), head circ 49.25 cm (48%).

We also had some more severe weather last week. The kids were excited to go to the basement because “tor-MAY-does” might come. When they got down there, Forrest got kind of scared and hid under a pillow and the next day he said, “We had to go to the basement because tornados and hail were coming and I was a little frightened.” Laine and Pius convinced Forrest that, “Daddy will throw the tor-may-does into outer space if they come.” It was a pretty cute interaction to witness.

Just another summer day in Oz. This pic was taken at Moni's work from the ambulance bay. The hospital is less than a mile from our house.

We took them back to the Riverfest last night for fireworks. Last Friday we watched the parade, but last night we went to the Admiral’s dinner where the kids played in the inflatable spider, we ate, the kids danced all night and the night was finished off with another round of fireworks. They were in awe of the sights and the sounds last week and were excited to go back. The weather was supposed to be sketchy last night, but thankfully it held off until the late night hours. Another fun year at the Riverfest and we can’t wait for next year.

They were so good, even if Pius was being cheesy for the picture. Kids' shirts were purchased from Designed for Babies!

Laine rocking it in the spider.

Spiderman in the spider jumper.

Forrest showing off his muscles.

It’s a wonder we ever got Danna out of there. She LOVES jumping.

See you next time…

Hercules! Hercules!

2011-05-26T10:17:00.001-05:00

This weekend we will be witnessing my cousin, Daniel Duling, being ordained into the priesthood of the Catholic church. We are all so proud of him for his perseverance through A LOT of years of school and studying and we know that he will make a wonderful leader in the church. Congratulations, Daniel.

As for the kids….ahhhhh, the kids. They are still pushing us as parents, but we know that they are starting to grow up. They improve a little each day with how they act and are starting to get easier to rationalize with (little by little).

The kids were so excited to go to Bishop Carroll for one of my signings. That doesn’t mean that they moved any faster than normal.

Much to Monica’s chagrin, I joined a Disney DVD club so we could start building the kids’ movie cache. In the first shipment, we received a Handy Manny movie, Bedtime Stories and Hercules. I made watching the kids a much easier job with the Hercules movie. They LOVE THAT MOVIE. They want to watch it all the time and love singing along with the songs. Hercules has even taken over as the top idol among the Graf boys…Buster Posey, Tim Tebow, Champ Bailey and Daddy have been replaced.

What our house looks like after Hercules is turned on.

Lunch? Please, Mommy!

LaLa (my brother Ryno’s fiancé) came over last week and surprised the kids with a bunch of new toys. She brought the boys some new sandbox toys for the playground in our back yard and she gave Danna a princess potty and some new big-girl panties. Danna was so excited she started tearing off her diaper and wanted to sit on her pot. So we gave her a go at it…and she lasted about 2 hours before peeing in her new panties. We will probably start on that next week after Daniel’s ordination because Danna now has a potty that she isn’t terrified of.

“Danna-Banana”

My career as a “professional” author started with four book signings last week and I was extremely pleased with the turnouts. I’ve almost sold out of my first shipment which I am very happy about. The reviews (although all by friends and family so far) have been very good and it has been nice to hear good things about the book so far.

“Scary Monster Pi-Jimmy”

“Fo-Mikey being a clown”

“A Mommy/Laine-Train self-portrait”

See you next time…

Jekyll and Hyde!

2011-05-18T11:46:00.001-05:00

As strange as it may sound, some days it seems like we have 8 kids. It feels like each of our children have two completely different personalities. I know I have said this about Laine for a couple of years now, but as they each grow and develop strengths and weaknesses the other three seem to be joining him with split-personalities.

In two days they will be officially three and a half years old. While we are so thankful for them, this stage in their lives has easily been the most challenging. Here, on the brink of them turning “halfway to seven,” I will give a current profile on each of the kids.

Pius James is a sweet little boy. He is so good-hearted and is a lot of fun to be with. It is almost impossible to be mad at him because of his infectious smile and attitude. Pius was probably the first of the boys to be fully potty-trained, however he has started a new trick. We put the boys in pull-ups for naptime and bedtime, and Pius has decided to start pooping during these times. He poops on the toilet, but you can tell that he forces some out while he is lying down. We’re not sure why he does it, but if it is staying consistent with his past exploits, it is purely for attention.

Pius is also the whiniest. He seems to be the least tough of the four of them and if he gets dinged a little bit he is pretty whiny about it. I can tell if he is honestly hurt, or if he is just being a little soft. I’ve told him over and over that if he wants to play sports he is going to have to toughen up. Usually when I say, “Buster Posey doesn’t cry when he gets hurt,” he will pop right up and say, “I’m going to play catcher for the Giants.” He loves his sports.

Forrest is a smart little boy. I know I’ve said over and over that he is our parakeet, but he really is. He loves to be outside and work in the garden with Monica. He listens and remembers every thing she tells him. I’m pretty sure he knows more plants by name than me. Last night he asked me what kind of tree some tree was. I told him I didn’t know for sure, and he says, “Daddy. That’s an evergreen tree.” We honestly kind of talk to him like an adult and sometimes I worry that might make him a little bit nerdy. Last week, I took the kids to a WSU baseball game and we were out on the hill behind the outfield wall. There were a couple of other kids there and Forrest walks up to them and says, “How are you doing today? It’s a beautiful day outside.” The two boys looked at him and didn’t know how to respond. I was just laughing and thinking, “Good Lord. I need to get my kids around other kids more often.”

As far as Forrest’s biggest current weakness, I think this may be a recurring battle that we will have for his whole life. He is hard-headed and things have to be his way. It gets extremely frustrating because his way is not always the best way. In fact, his way is sometimes completely unacceptable. Well, as far as he is concerned, his way is the only way. Forrest and I have had more than a few “who can be more stubborn” standoffs and that gets pretty tough sometimes when I don’t feel like fighting the battle.

Little Miss Danna Lynn is easily our biggest challenge right now. Her brothers and I have created a spoiled little monster. She is content and happy most of the time. She loves animals (especially doggies), balloons, books and flowers. Every morning I ask them what they dreamed about. Danna always dreams about doggies. Every night when we say what we each are going to pray for, Danna always says doggies. Perhaps we have a future veterinarian on our hands?

I’ve already touched on her biggest weakness, but without a doubt, her selfish attitude is hers. Danna is selfish about everything. As I said, her brothers and I created it. For the first three years of her life, “Dannawant” meant Danna gets. Since we always gave her what she wanted, the past couple of months have been a real struggle. And her scream is piercing. I will say she has improved (a little) but that much “unteaching” is taking pretty long and has been hard.

Laine-Train is usually a pretty fun challenge. He seems to think the most like an adult. The other day he was messing with something I’d asked him not to and I told him, “I’m going to smoke you, fool.” He doesn’t even look up, he keeps messing with whatever it was and says, “You better pack a lunch if you’re going to smoke Laine.” He asks why a lot. He is extremely inquisitive and wants to know how and why things work the way they do. He is always the first to figure out how to do things because he studies them. Also, his sense of humor seems to be the best of the four. When they are watching movies or TV, he laughs at things that are supposed to be funny, and he will try to tell jokes that he’s heard.

Notice at the beginning of writing about Laine I said “usually”? Laine talks back all of the time. I know that he thinks of himself as an adult and as his brothers and sister’s daddy. He constantly “counts to three” for his siblings if they aren’t doing something he wants them to, and he is turning into quite the tattle-tale. He has foiled quite a few of Pius, Forrest, and Danna’s plots and I know that as they grow up, this is going to be an issue between the four of them.

I promise that when I find the camera, I will post some updated pictures of our brood.

Billy

Another show next week!

2011-05-13T12:41:00.003-05:00

Hi everyone, I've added another show next week. The schedule:

Saturday, May 14th
Oasis Lounge (Maple and West)
3:00-6:00 p.m.

Wednesday, May 18th
West Acres Bowl (Central and Ridge)
7:00-9:00 p.m.

Thursday, May 19th
Bishop Carroll High School (Central and Tyler)
11:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

Saturday , May 21st
Avon Store (Maple and Maize)
2:00-4:00 p.m.

Hopefully we'll get some pictures from the shows to post for everyone to see, and I will write another blog post about what has been going on with the kids at the end of the weekend.

If you've received your book, I'd love to hear what you think. You can leave comments here, Facebook, Twitter, or you can email me at quaddaddy21@gmail.com. Thanks for all the continued support!

Billy

The first 3 book signings!

2011-05-13T12:04:00.001-05:00

Hi everyone. I’ve scheduled my 1st 3 signings here locally and hopefully you can make it to one of them. I will be doing more shows locally and regionally in the coming months, but I wanted to do a few here quickly so I can learn what to expect and how they work.

The first one is this Saturday at the bar where I used to bartend, The Oasis Lounge (Maple and West). I will be there from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. selling books and signing them if you want them signed. That is also the day of the annual patio party so there will be a lot of drink specials and, of course, if you haven’t already, you have to eat an O-burger (Top 10 burger voted by U.S.A. Today).

The next one will be at West Acres Bowl (Central and Ridge) on Wednesday night, May 18th from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. This is one of our favorite places in the world. They also have great food and also will have some drink specials going on that night.

The third one will be Saturday, May 21st at the Avon Store West (Maple and Maize) from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. There will also be a live KGSO remote at that strip mall at Rolling Hills Wine and Spirits. (Notice my first few shows involve alcohol in some way? Not on purpose, but that’s the way it worked out.)

If you pre-ordered a book, I signed and shipped them today (United States Postal Service) and they told me you should receive your book/books in 3-5 business days. If you haven’t received your book by next Friday, please let me know so I can try to track it down.

Thanks again for all of your love and support. Hope to see you all soon.

Billy

We’ve got a shipment!!!!

2011-05-09T21:23:00.001-05:00

I received my first shipment tonight around 6 p.m. CST. For those of you who pre-ordered (FREAKIN AWESOME, THANK YOU SO MUCH), I will have them shipped out tomorrow morning. As far as those of you who will be coming to signings (hilarious to me), I have three places lined up here in Wichita…for now. They will be at the Avon Store (west), The Oasis, and West Acres. I don’t have specific times or dates, but as soon as I have them (hopefully in the next few days) I will post them here, my Facebook page and my Twitter account. Thank you everyone for your support, and hopefully you will all enjoy the book. It’s a fun, short (105 pages) story to read….PLUS I only use my “bar language” twice:)

Being Blown Away…

2011-05-07T09:47:00.001-05:00

No. I’m not talking about the Kansas wind (although that has been blowing like crazy too). It hit me like a ton of bricks the other day, my kids have grown up. They are so smart, so funny and so independent. They all hold onto everything we say and they love trying to sound grown up.

Here are just a few examples from the last couple of weeks:

Pius: Daddy, it’s spring time right now, but when it turns to summer and warms up we are going to go to Paula’s and go fishing. The water is too cold right now so the fish are still sleeping. (That last part was my explanation to them why we can’t go yet.)

Pius is already like his mommy, taking self-portraits.

Forrest: Tornados are scary because they knock down trees, destroy houses and throw cars into the air like little toys.

Danna: I need the doggie. I need the moth. I need….(smiles at me), no, Daddy, I need a hole in my head.

Laine: You better pack a lunch if you’re going to smoke Laine, Daddy. (After I told him to quit doing something or “I’m gonna smoke you, fool.”)

Forrest and Laine fighting over the box. Forrest wants to “read” it, and Laine wants to stand it up and stand on top of it.

They have turned from babies to toddlers to now full-fledged little kids. They want to do things by themselves, without help a lot more often. The boys have done a great job with potty-training and we haven’t really had an accident in as long as I can remember. Danna does not even want to try and I think she has been scared to sit on the pot since she felt like she was falling through one time when we were trying with her. She is still so little and even the baby toilet seats are too big for her small frame.

I’ve also been blown away at the reception I’ve been getting for The Quadfather. Family, friends and our blog followers have been so helpful to me to get the word out on my book and buy it :) and I can’t thank everyone enough.

Even little Danna loves it!

One last thing heading into Mother’s Day 2011, I wanted to send a shout-out to Moni, my wife, my kids’ mother, my best friend. She works so hard for us and the house couldn’t run without her. I love you so much.

That’s her. My beautiful wife. Happy Mother’s Day, Moni!

See you next time!

The Quadfather is almost here!

2011-04-27T18:42:00.001-05:00

My publisher told me that it is time to start accepting orders for the book I wrote, The Quadfather. For a limited time only, the new book will be available exclusively from our blog and the publisher’s website at a special introductory price. Advance orders typically ship in four to six weeks. The book tells our story from battling infertility issues, becoming pregnant with quadruplets, through the kids turning 3.

I received the first proof copy last week, sent in revisions, and am waiting to receive one more proof copy to read through before it goes to print. The price of the book will be $11.99 (plus shipping and tax) and you can pay via pay-pal. Or you are welcome to attend any book signings and pick up a copy. After I receive my first shipment, I will start scheduling signings and will post the times/places here, my Facebook page and my twitter account (quaddaddy21).

If you have any questions feel free to email me at quaddaddy21@gmail.com.

Happy reading!

Three and a half year olds…

2011-04-20T18:10:00.001-05:00

Can amaze you with how much they know…

We have called Pius and Forrest the Twin Towers since they were born, but the other night Aunt Lainie says something to “The Twin Towers” and Forrest replies, “We’re not twins. We’re quadruplets.” And Pius says, “We’re SUPER twins.” Little geniuses.

Fo-Mikey getting a kick out of his blinky-thing at the circus.

Know exactly how to push their parents to the limit…

Laine’s new (well, not so new) thing is looking at whoever is talking to him and yelling, “NO! I WILL NOT GET DOWN!” He understands that talking back is a HUGE no-no in our house, but that doesn’t stop him from doing it just to get a rise out of us.

Can you believe this sweet face is capable of such things?

Can make a mess of themselves in a hurry…

Sometimes I wonder what age it occurs to people that they have something on their face and it bothers them. Our kids can have food all over themselves and it doesn’t bother them at all. They destroy themselves and they don’t seem to mind. Moni does her best at keeping them spotless, but I’ve long since realized it’s a losing battle.

Seriously, Danna?

Are so much fun to be around…

They are really starting to love to play together. They play “dogpile,” “hide and seek,” “running,” “ring around the rosie,” “bowling” and various other games that are fun to watch and it is fun seeing how they interact.

Fight ALL THE TIME…

Right after the paragraph about how much fun they have, I should have said they have so much fun with each other…in about 6 minute intervals. They will be doing so well taking turns, but then all of the sudden something will happen that will set one of them off. I don’t understand why they don’t realize that things are so much more fun when they get along.

Probably our biggest antagonist.

Are old enough to know better…

Sometimes I think they still try to play the “baby card,” but it doesn’t fly anymore with us and they realize it. Pius has been getting into Monica and Danna’s nail polish and when we bust him, he says, “Nail polish is for girls.” “What are you Pius?” “I’m a boy.” “What are you doing then?” “I don’t know.” We’ve had this conversation like six times in the last month.

We caught Danna smiling!

Are fascinated by the strangest things…

Our kids will stop and pay 100% attention to some of the oddest things. They will be running around and be acting like complete maniacs, but when Montel Williams comes on TV and does his commercial about “getting money right now,” they will freeze and watch the entire commercial…what is that?

Elephants I understand, but some of the other stuff just makes me laugh.

Act the best when they’re sleeping…

I LOVE NAP TIME AND BEDTIME MORE THAN ANYTHING!!!

Sweet Pius…under his pillow as usual.

Forrest with his hat and his thumb.

Danna actually fell asleep for a minute.

The calm before the storm.

Love,

The Grafs

March Madness…Graf Quad style

2011-03-29T10:24:00.001-05:00

The kids celebrating St. Patty’s Day.

Pius and Danna giving kisses.

Sorry it’s been so long, but you guys are getting used to it from us right? At our last post we left off with the poop down the floor vent and pee all over the mattresses. The all-afternoon timeout worked for all of them, except Pius. For some reason the following Monday he decided to poop in the room again. This time was right before nap time.

Here is the floor vent they removed and used as a toilet.

I put on his pull up and started on one of the others. Pius went back to his bedroom and while I was getting one of the others done, he decided to move Danna’s mattress, take off his pull up, squat on the floor, make a huge poop, and replace Danna’s mattress to cover his evidence…if only he would have had some air freshener. He was given away when I walked into the bedroom.

After I had cleaned it, and they had finished naptime, Pius got another long timeout. None of them have pulled anything like that since…thank God.

We handled “spring forward” very well. Actually, I was shocked at how well it went. The first part of it was easy. I woke the kids up at the “new” 8 o’clock in the morning and despite some sleepy eyes they did well with it. When nap time rolled around they were more than ready for a nap. As they woke up from naps, I got them out of bed (even if they woke up a little early) so that bedtime would stay the same. Their bodies adjusted very well and we haven’t had any problems with it.

As for my personal favorite over the past couple weeks my wife went from completely gorgeous to totally hot in a matter of hours. She surprised we with a new haircut. I’ve always been a short-hair kinda guy and Moni surprised me with a trip to Aunt Donna to chop of her hair. She also darkened it, which is also a personal favorite of mine. Here is the photo evidence:

Before…like I said completely gorgeous.

After…with beautiful Aunt Donna and her hair completely chopped!

About a week and a half ago I heard back from the company that will be publishing my book. They are going to continue forward with the project. I returned a signed contract and they are working on the preliminary layout of the book. Hopefully in about a month they will be sending me what the inside of the book will look like. I will make suggestions for changes to the layout and hopefully it will go into print sometime in the next few months. I’m pretty excited about all of that and hopefully everything continues to go well.

The kids are in the midst of the threes and whoever came up with the term “terrible twos” needs to rethink that thought process. Two-years-old was a piece of cake compared to what we have been going through for the past couple of months. In the words of the great Torey Tubre, “Goooood Laaawd.”

Pius “mean-mugging” the camera.

Pius and Forrest making funny faces.

Danna with her “Josie-doggie” and her drink.

Laine-Train’s funny face. (Sorry hadn’t washed his hands yet, but the picture opportunity took precedence.)

B, M, P, F, D,and L

Fat Tuesday!!!

2011-03-08T10:34:00.001-06:00

It’s Fat Tuesday, which for me means trying to eat fast food 7 times today, drink a case of Dr. Pepper and be as lazy as possible. My Lenten sacrifice is going to be giving up the fast food, pop and working out every day. Wish me luck.

As for the kids, I hope they give up a few things too. Last weekend, we celebrated Stubby’s birthday. The kids earned the first real discipline of their little lives as they were forced to miss his birthday dinner on Friday. Friday morning we were getting excited to go to Dudley’s for his birthday dinner and watch WSU hoops. The kids must have got a little too excited because at nap time they were holy terrors.

They never went to sleep during their entire nap time. They fought, played and basically yelled the entire time. With about an hour left of nap time, I got Moni up because I had to run to the grocery store. I went into their room, threatened them that if they didn’t lie down and be quiet, we weren’t going to go to Stubby’s birthday party. I left and when I got back home, Moni was in their room and the boys were all sitting against the wall while Moni was cleaning.

After I had left, they took their sheets off of the mattresses, pissed all over them and Laine had taken off his pants, removed the vent from the floor and pooped down it. Needless to say, it stunk and the kids were in BIG trouble. I had just changed the sheets and cleaned their blankies so that was a waste chore.

They were not very happy, but they got an entire afternoon/evening time-out. They were really mad when Moni went to Stubby’s birthday party and we all stayed home and watched the game. They kept begging me to turn it to Sprout, but every time they would talk, I would say, “Be quiet. You are in time-out.” The boys sat on the couches and Danna was on the rocking chair from 4-7:30. I think the extended time-out worked because we haven’t had a problem at naptime/bedtime for the past 4 days…knock on wood.

Pius in timeout…pretty sad about it.

Forrest…probably was the most angry…that’s not a fake face.

Danna is shocked she got into trouble from Daddy.

Laine with his tale between his legs…he knew he had done something wrong.

The kids did get to go the next day to Chico’s for dinner for Stubby and I think they learned their lesson. Since our 3 hour time-out they have acted a lot better. I think that was the first time they realized they missed out on something because of how they acted, so hopefully they will behave a little better when we threaten to take something away.

Picture of us administering a timeout.

Other than all of that, it was a great week. I hope next week’s post is another “uneventful week” post.

Billy, Moni, P, F ,D and L

Uneventful Week

2011-03-01T11:24:00.001-06:00

This past week has been pretty uneventful. The kids are growing and learning and it is a lot of fun watching their personalities continue to become their own. They each have certain attributes that they each claim exclusively.

Pius is an extremely good-hearted little boy. However at the same time he is our little antagonist. It is hard to explain. He wants to be a good big brother so badly that he will do something ornery so he can turn around and do something nice. I can say without a doubt that he loves each of us in his family so much, but sometimes he thinks he has to stir the pot to show it.

Pius and Forrest playing on the rocking chair...and we wonder why it’s broken.

I think Forrest is going to be the most challenging of the four as they grow up. He is hard to handle. I was telling Moni the other day that he is so stubborn that sometimes I just let him go so he will learn that his fit throwing isn’t going to accomplish anything. He also remembers AND repeats everything. We can say something one time, and it is stuck in his steel trap of a brain. He tells everyone, “My name is Forrest. I live in Kansas.” “Don’t say that word. That’s a bad word.” “You don’t know poop from apple butter.” “I am three years old right now.” (Just to name a few.)

Danna continues to amaze us. When Moni’s quad mama buddies were in town a couple of weeks ago and they met the kids all of them said she is a normal little girl….surrounded by men all of the time. It was good to hear people that have just met her reinforce to us that she is doing well. She is still behind the boys on some things, but she honestly seems to catch up a little every day. She is also obsessed with three things: doggies, balloons and flowers. We can get her to snap out of any funk with one of those things.

Danna showing off her nappy, messy hairdo.

Laine is set in his ways and usually he will not budge on them. If I am here for it, I have to sing “Walk the Line” and “Folsom Prison” along with the music during naptime and bedtime. I have to drive if I am going with them somewhere in the car. Everything has it’s set way of happening. Laine seems to panic if something gets changed around a little. He always looks for comfort in consistency and if something gets out of order he doesn’t always accept it at first.

Laine really wants to dance, but really wants to avoid the camera, too. What to do? Oh, I know, I’ll get jiggy with my fire truck blankie over my head.

As for Monica and I, we can now breath a little since we got our tax return back. Whew! The kids make for wonderful little write-offs so when we are losing our patience with them we have to remember that despite their annoyances, at the very least, they come in pretty handy during tax season:)

Anyways, this past week was as regular as one can expect with quadruplet toddlers in the house.

With love,

Billy, Moni, Pius, Forrest, Danna and Laine

2 in a month? WHAT?!

2011-02-22T16:46:00.001-06:00

This past weekend I went to Denver/Arvada, Colorado for my Great Uncle Bill’s funeral. For those of you who don’t know, I lived in Denver from the age of 4-7. When we lived out there, we had my dad’s sister’s family, my mom’s aunt’s family, and my dad’s uncle, aunt and their kids (the Gerber crew). We have always been extremely close with them, and it was a real loss for all of us and his family.

Every year when we go to Denver we go visit Bill and Armella and they have always been so good to me, Moni and the kids. Besides the fact that I had lost someone I was extremely fond of, this was my first time since the kids were born I had spent more than a day away from them AND Moni at the same time. It was a tough weekend, but when my family loses someone we CELEBRATE their life. It seems odd to say, but some of the most fun times in our family seem to be funerals. We spent the entire weekend doing a lot of crying and a lot of laughing and it was wonderful seeing some of my family that I don’t get to see very often.

Probably the funniest part of the weekend for me was the fact that I had as much fun with the kids while I was there as I did with the adults. It became the running joke with everyone that I don’t know how to interact with adults anymore and all of the kids there seemed to gravitate towards me.

As for the kids and Moni they had a fun weekend too. One of our close family friends, Mandy, got married this past Saturday. From all of the stories I heard, the kids were the life of the party. Laine had a dance circle around him as he was getting jiggy. Forrest even joined Laine in the circle. Pius said to Mandy, “Your dress is very pretty and I would like to dance with you.” Even our little Beaner joined the dance craze. While they were there, Aunt Lainie was helping Monica with the kids and I called her to see if I could talk with the kids. I had an entire phone conversation with Pius.

Me: “Hi Pius. What are you doing?”

Pius: “I’m at Mandy’s wedding with Ryno.”

Me: “Are you having fun?”

Pius: “Yea.”

Me: “Are you going to pick up some chicks?”

Pius: “Yea. I’m going to dance with two girls.”

Me: (Laughing so hard and wishing I was there).

The next day, Moni took them over to her parents’ house so they could play with some of their cousins and go to the park. Monica said they all had a blast and when I got home that evening they were happy to see me, but a little grumpy as they had just went their second day in a row without a nap.

Anyways, that’s about all that has been going on with us. See you later. I promise pictures next week.

Love,

Billy, Moni and the P,F,D,L Flyers

Dusting off the cobwebs…Holy Moly, we posted!!!

2011-02-08T13:44:00.001-06:00

Ok. It’s been a long while since we’ve posted and I apologize. A lot has happened since September 10th of 2010. The kids have turned 3, Moni has settled into her new job at Via Christi-St. Teresa and I have written a book. I hope that gives me a little leeway and hopefully friends and family have been able to keep up with us through my Facebook updates, word of mouth or we’ve been lucky enough to run into some of you.

As for the subject of our blog (the kids) they have continued to grow and amaze us with the things they have learned…

Group shot of the “5” Graf kids.

Pius has been growing so big and I think he tries to be the happiest toddler in the world. He is the quickest to get over being pissed off or sad about something. All of us Graf men are currently getting over a bout with the flu, but one thing I noticed about Pius when he was sick was he still always looked for a reason to smile. He loved all of the attention he got while he was sick and still did his best to make his parents, visitors, or siblings smile…even while lying on the couch.

Pi-Pi hamming it up.

Forrest is still the biggest of our brood. He also has an incredible memory. He holds onto everything that comes out of peoples’ mouths. Forrest was sick the longest and I took him to the doctor yesterday. Doc told us we would just have to keep drinking liquids and tough it out. Forrest said, “I’ll be a tough nugget, Doc.” What was so funny about that was that I’ve told all of the kids to be tough nuggets….like twice ever. He held onto that saying, and used it in perfect context. The doctor and I got a pretty good laugh out of that.

Check me out…Fo-Fo be smokin!

Danna has taken the princess title to an entirely new level. She has started to come out of her shell socially and I see improvements with her cognitive skills everyday. She reminds me a little of Forrest in that she will hang onto everything we say. She says phrases out of nowhere that we may have used once ever. Danna is also really starting to get a kick out of her brothers. She loves to play “running” with them and tag. Danna has some major issues with sharing however. It is Danna’s thought process that every book, toy and other thing in the house is hers if she wants it. I know it gets frustrating for the boys that she is so selfish with things but they do a great job with her.

The little girl’s fascination with balloons is frightening.

Laine is quite the Laine. It is hilarious to me how he can be so night and day. Laine can be the sweetest boy of all time and then turn on a dime and be a COMPLETE jerk. Laine’s newest thing is looking at me, pointing and yelling at me. The Tabasco put an end to that pretty quickly, but sometimes he still falls into a rage with anyone when he doesn’t get what he wants. His overall attitude is getting better though, and I hope this means he is starting to grow up.

Laine and Champ are as thick as thieves.

Monica recently turned the big 30. I surprised her by getting most of her quad-mama buddies and their husbands here to celebrate. It was one of the best weekends we’ve had in forever. The girls, of course, all knew each other and were ready to have fun. The incredible thing was us dudes hit it off as well as the girls did a couple of years ago. We were instantly great friends. It was great for Moni to see her ladies again and for me, it was a lot of fun to put faces to names and meet most of them for the first time. Monica continues to work her butt off at Via and she is really enjoying her new workplace.

Before Moni and I got to Nick and Paula’s barn. The whole group ready to surprise.

The lovely ladies.

Back (L-R): Jenn, Sandra, Jaclyn, Moni, Gen, Kami, Mari

Front (L-R): Heather, Beth, Casey, Amy-Jo, Suz, Charity

As for me, I’m getting over being sick for the first time in as long as I can remember. I honestly have been pretty lucky with my health, but this last weekend SUCKED royally. Fever, cough and achiness knocked me on my butt. I recently finished a book about the first three years of the kids and our lives together. There is a publisher who might be publishing after I beef up media contacts, book signing/seminar locales and submit a final copy. I’ve been extremely happy with how well it has gone up to this point. Hopefully I will have a book I will be pushing for you all to buy sometime soon.

Anyways, that is just a small sample of what’s been going on in our world. I’m going to try to turn this back into a weekly chore.

With love,

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

A Reunion, a dog, a few less letters…

2010-09-10T16:34:00.001-05:00

The Graf Quad Squad had a busy last week. Last Friday, we headed west to God’s country, Colorado. Moni worked the night before so we left around 5 in the morning. Before we got to our cabin, we stopped in Colorado Springs so the kids and I could meet the newest member of the family. Moni’s sister, Emily and her husband, Andy had their first baby, Veda Maxine, around a month ago so we stopped there for lunch and to visit. The kids were all very happy to meet their new cousin and acted pretty decent.

We got to our beautiful cabin in Lake George, Colorado late that afternoon and the kids, Moni, and I were all ECSTATIC to get out of our van. We spent Friday evening waiting for the rest of our cabin mates (Kelly and Russ, Courtney and Jason and Solomon, Aunt Gloria, Mom and Dad, Ryno, and Lainie and Adam…it was a full cabin) and exploring our lot of land. Saturday morning we ate breakfast and went to check in at the dude ranch owned by my Dad’s uncle that we were having the reunion. It was great seeing so many long-lost cousins, aunts and uncles. Everyone was excited to meet the squad, and the squad was happy to see everything…especially the dogs at the ranch.

Sunday was full of activities. There was the family picture, the kids had a carnival, and I had to embarrass myself in horseshoes and 3 on 3 basketball. Monica spent the day wrangling kids and laughing at me trying to regain the athletic form of 10 years and 50 pounds ago. My personal thrill was the kids getting to see Uncle Bill and Aunt Armella. They made a surprise visit. They are my great-aunt and uncle from Colorado who have always been my personal favorite since I lived there from the age of 4-7. We aren’t going to be able to make a Denver Bronco trip this year, and not getting to visit them along with our Schwartzes is what will bother me the most.

Monday morning we made the trip home and the kids were so excited because we had been telling them that the day after we got home we would go get their new puppy dog. My friend, Wendy, works at a vet clinic and they had a boxer pup that they had nursed back to health. He had suffered from anemia and had parasites and wasn’t supposed to make it. When she was telling me about this dog, I couldn’t help but notice the parallels between him and my own kids. Forrest and Danna had been praying for a doggie for the past three months so I figured it was time. (Now they pray for Champ).

We brought Champ home on Tuesday and he has adjusted very well. The first day he was a little overwhelmed I think, but here we are, three days later and he is playing with all of them (when he isn’t sleeping, which is a lot) and already trying to eat us out of house and home. The kids are doing great with him and love having him come in the room and wake them up with me each morning.

(This is one of their favorite games to play with him.)

As for the letters segment of my title, they all got ahold of our computer and now we are also missing the buttons for the letter e, the space bar, the tab key, and 2 other keys I don’t ever use so I don’t know what they are. This is to go along with the letter c that they pulled off a couple weeks ago. No one to blame but ourselves, but it makes typing a lot harder. We’ll see you guys later.

Love,

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

You never realize…

2010-08-25T10:30:00.001-05:00

How much you use the letter c until Danna pulls it off of the keyboard.

How much 4 toddlers can destroy a house in a matter of 10 minutes until you leave the room for 11 minutes.

How much laundry you go through with quadruplet toddlers until they need an outfit change after each meal and trip outside.

How many times a toddler boy pisses himself until you start potty training.

How much they look up to you until you start hearing phrases that you use all the time coming out of their mouths.

How mad someone can make you without even saying a word until you walk into your spotless basement to see it wrecked after one morning play session.

How many teeth a two and a half year old has until you count them on the bite marks left on another two and a half year old.

How nice it is to be able to take a shower until you are forced to make a decision between a shower and a nap.

How nice it is to take a nap until you are forced to make a decision between a nap and a shower.

How small 6 tons of gravel looks, but how much it actually is until you move it 30 feet.

How many pieces are in a board game until every one of them that you have are dumped all over a room.

How much you can love something until you are blessed with kids.

With love from the Graf house,

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

And then?

2010-08-18T22:05:00.002-05:00

NO AND THEN!!!

I thought this afternoon was so humerous that I decided to blog on it. You're not getting any pictures or videos because, 1.) I don't know where the camera is, and 2.) I'm pretty lazy at the end of my days.

Today I took the kids to the zoo to meet up with our long lost friend Aunt Melody. Melody is one of Moni's nursing school friends and was one of our most faithful helpers when we first came home from Phoenix. Melody, and her mother, Marilyn met me and the kids at the zoo this morning for some animal-gazing. Pretty normal morning, especially when the kids asked for Taco Bell for lunch. We went and got them their mexican food that they love so much, and this is where the day took an odd turn. I ordered all of my food with volcano sauce and all of the kids' and Moni's food with mild. The restaurant missed the mild part of the order, so before naps we had a wrench thrown into our day.

We calmed them down with extra drinks and everything was fine. They went down for their naps pretty well and when I got them up is when everything went off track. They started "talking" and playing around 3:45 and I went to get them up. They had taken their window cover (a decorated piece of plywood that fits perfectly over their window to keep the room dark) off of the window. I walked in and here is the conversation (I apologize if you've heard the story).

Me: "Who touched the window?"
Laine: "The boys."
Me: "That is very naughty!"
Pius: "That is very good."
Me: "No. That makes Daddy very mad."
Pius: "I don't want to fight right now, Daddy."

And he walked out of the room. I'm not going to lie. It pissed me off a little that he walked off in the middle of our conversation, but it was a pretty funny response.

Anyways...we came out into the front room and changed diapers. The boys wanted to go downstairs and play, so I "opened" the basement and they went down to play. Danna and I stayed upstairs and watched some Sprout channel. I went downstairs to check on the boys (after 10 minutes) and they were in the laundry room. I went in there and all three of them had detergent scoops and were covering each other in laundry soap. Of course, Laine got some in his eyes and he was crying and saying, "Laine has chemicals in his eyes." I brought him upstairs, flushed his eyes with water, and calmed him down.

Danna had decided to go downstairs, and Laine wanted to go back down there so we went down there to play. When I got down there, Danna had decided to pull EVERY book of the shelf and throw it on the floor. Really? Danna, you can only read one book at a time. I picked them all up, reshelved them, and looked for the boys. Laine and Forrest were still downstairs with us, but then I heard a chair being dragged upstairs. SH*T! Pius had come upstairs and gotten into the bag of tomatoes that our neighbor had just brought us. No big deal right? Well Pius had decided to take one bite out of 7 of the tomatoes. In the meantime, Laine had came up to see what Pius and Daddy were up to. So I cut up two of the tomatoes for them to eat. While I was cleaning up the tomato mess, Laine had finished his and decided to go back downstairs with Danna and Forrest.

It was way too quiet in the basement so I went downstairs. Forrest and Laine decided to start peeling wallpaper in the basement. They peeled a good 10 feet of wallpaper in the basement. Really? When Moni gets home I'm not sure who she is going to yell at more...me or the kids. I honestly said to all of the kids...."NO AND THEN!" They were not being bad kids, they were just being SO ornery. It was like I had a house-full of two-year-olds....oh yeah!

They continued to bounce off the walls until bedtime, at which time this is what they each wanted to pray for (in their turn):

Danna: A doggy
Pius: Needles
Forrest: Another doggy
Laine: A swimming pool party

With love from the Graf house,
Billy, Moni, Pius, Forrest, Danna, and Laine

What’s Going On Here?

2010-08-11T07:00:00.001-05:00

To the few of you left reading the blog...ha ha, here in the Graf house it has been a whirlwind of a month. I started potty-training with the boys, Danna is getting dismissed from Rainbows and talking up/screaming up a storm, Moni started a full-time position at the new Via-Christi/St. Teresa Hospital, and I took up full-time Daddy Day Care. I will give you a profile on each of us and what we are up to these days.

I quit the Oasis Lounge a couple of weeks ago, but will still fill in when they are in a bind and I am able to. With Monica going back full-time (and making pretty good money) it just made more sense for us to have me stay at home. I could go find a job and turn the check around to daycare times four, but that would have us spinning our wheels, and we would not fully be in on this very important time in the kids' lives. I have not NOT had a job since I was thirteen, so it has been an interesting experience and will continue to be an interesting time in my life.

Monica has been able to charge her battery with a couple vacations in the past 2 months before she went back to full-time. She went on her annual quadmom vacation at the end of June with some other quad mothers she has gotten to know very well over the past four years. A week and a half after that, her little sister Emily gave birth to her first daughter in Colorado Springs. Emily asked Monica to be the Godmother and Moni was honored and happy to be there for the birth. Right after Monica came home from the Springs, she started full-time at Via-Christi/St. Teresa not to mention she still had a week left of work at Wesley hospital so she doubled up on jobs for a week, so her plate has been stacked pretty high.

Pius James has become quite the performer. He LOVES attention. He usually starts off pretty bashful, but after he sees he can command the stage you have to watch him sing, swing his baseball bat, play catch, run bases, throw anything, eat, etc., etc., etc. Like I said, he LOVES attention. Another thing Pius loves is the San Francisco Giants. I am not lying even a little when I tell you the story of the Giants being on during an afternoon about a week ago. He sat and watched a full 2 innings with me (which is a lot for a 2 1/2 year old). He knew when we were pitching and he knew when we were batting and cheered accordingly. Pius knows how to get something he wants. He will go ask every adult in the house until he gets what he wants. He is freaking adorable and he loves to make people laugh or clap.

Forrest Michael has finally figured out that he is the biggest and strongest. This has led to a lot of fights. Forrest really is kind of a butthead. He wants every toy, book, and person at his disposal. He will not let anybody play with something if he has already claimed ownership. Despite all of this, Forrest is the absolute best cuddler in the world. If he is in the mood he will sit on your lap for hours and just cuddle. He is a little boy with a wonderful heart, but sometimes he forgets his manners and can cause quite a commotion.

Danna Lynn has finally become all of the things that we used to joke about. She really is a little B sometimes. Since she has really started talking and communicating with us she sees herself as the princess of the house. If she doesn't get what she wants she SQUEALS like nobody's business. If one of her brothers or mom or dad take something away she SQUEALS. If she can't get to what she wants she SQUEALS. Let me tell you guys that it might be one of the most annoying sounds in the world (think Lloyd and Harry in Dumb & Dumber). Rainbows (our local ECI) was helping us to get her up to speed on her language, but they will be dismissing her after this month's appointment. She is so smart and she really is incredibly beautiful. I'm scared for the rest of the world in a couple of years.

Laine Ryan is our little bi-polar piranha. He is incredibly smart and sometimes this works against him. The last couple of months he has really seemed to calm down with fewer and fewer tantrums. He gets so mad, and it is hard to get him to "snap out of it" sometimes, and when he is pissed he bites. We have been embarrassed to take his brothers and even his sister once or twice out into public. He bites everywhere on the body including the face and nose. Hopefully that is something that he will grow out of because everything we've tried hasn't worked. On the other side of his personality, he can be the sweetest boy in the world. When he is in the mood he will randomly walk up to me, Moni, his brothers or sister and just give them a kiss and pat our arm or back. Luckily for us he has seemed to be in that mood more often lately.

And for the most recent weights/heights from their July check-up appointment:

Pius – 30 lbs 6 oz – 36 inches

Forrest – 31 lbs 6 oz – 37 inches

Danna – 22 lbs 8 oz – 34 inches

Laine – 29 lbs 2 oz – 36 inches

The Graf Quad Squad continues to grow and amaze their family everyday. We have understood all along that with bigger kids come bigger problems. I wouldn't say that is any easier today than it was on day 1 when we were fighting different battles, but I also wouldn't say it is any harder either. All four of them are so sweet (most of the time) and they make Monica and me so proud.

With love from the Graf house,

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

Holy Momcation!

2010-07-01T10:00:00.003-05:00

16 Best Friends

Front (left to right)

Kelly, Heather, Amy Jo, Misty, Casey, Beth, Mari

Back (left to right)

Charity, Suz, Sandra, Kami, Jenn, Jenna, Jac, Gen, & Moni

mom·ca·tion [mom-key-shuhn]

–noun

a period of suspension of all mommy duties, usually used for rest, recreation, or travel; recess or holiday: 16 moms of Quadruplets met in Austin, Texas for a 5 day momcation

a part of the year, regularly set aside, when normal activities of wiping bottoms, administering time outs and referring to yourself in the third person are put aside

freedom or release from preschool activities

an act or instance of vacating with 15 best friends who are collectively called mom by 67 children

Quad Mommas 2010

We, as always, had the time of our lives and encourage all of you ladies to do the same. When you have unconditional friendships like these, life is so much sweeter. We can't wait for next year!

Where to begin?

2010-06-05T15:10:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone. I am truly sorry it has taken so long for us to blog. I would like to say it’s because we’ve been so busy (which we have), but actually I would have to say that laziness is a major contributing factor as well. I know the last post of Pius’s rendition of “Jesus Loves the Little Children” was completely adorable, but it could only hold out for so long. I’m not sure what all has happened since the last post so I will go to my facebook and use Moni’s idea of posting my status updates. I will add commentary where I see need. Here goes.

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Billy Graf Laine decided the joke was on me this morning. After breakfast, as I was applying butt cream after I changed his diaper he cut a gigantic fart and started laughing so hard. He thought it was pretty funny that he farted on my finger. Btw, check our website for the cutest video to date.

April 14 at 9:35am via Mobile Web · Comment ·LikeUnlike · View Feedback (6)Hide Feedback (6)

This was the same day as the last post.

Billy Graf This morning at breakfast I said, "Hey guys, guess what?" To which Pius replied, "CHICKENBUTT!" I just had to laugh.

April 17 at 9:32am via Mobile Web · Comment ·LikeUnlike · View Feedback (6)Hide Feedback (6)

Billy Graf Danna must have her first hangover. Last night at Patty-poo's party she got into someone's strawberry daiquiri, and this morning she's a little grumpy. You do the booze, you lose little girl.

April 18 at 9:16am via Mobile Web · Comment ·LikeUnlike · View Feedback (3)Hide Feedback (3)

Patty-Poo has been a family friend for years. She is one of the “fat-ladies” and has been like another aunt for my brother and sister and our cousins since we were little.

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Billy Graf It's official: Life as we know it, naps, nigh time sleeping, un-grumpy children...OVER! The toddler beds are in. THIS SUCKS!

April 18 at 10:29am via Mobile Web · Comment ·LikeUnlike · View Feedback (5)Hide Feedback (5)

This was the morning that we put in their toddler beds.

Billy Graf Once again, my kids AMAZE me. Their first nap and bed time in their toddler beds went wonderfully. They slept and we didn't have to go in the room ONCE. Maybe it's because Moni struck the fear of God into them, but I think they're just the best freaking kids in the world.

April 19 at 8:26am via Mobile Web · Comment ·LikeUnlike · View Feedback (16)Hide Feedback (16)

The success of toddler beds is still a hit and miss proposition at our house.

Billy Graf The start of the day had me a little worried, but the boys are settling in. Pius and Forrest are getting a kick out of "tickling" me. Laine has calmed down since our battle over his diaper change, and beautiful Danna is being her typical, content self. Wish the sun would come out so we could go play on our swing set.

April 21 at 9:25am via Mobile Web

Travis, Slim, Stubby, and I put in their kick-ass swing set on a Sunday over here in about 5 1/2 hours. We had a lot of fun (if you can believe that), and at the end of the night (after a few adult beverages) Ryno, Slim, and I took on the gigantic wasp nest that was our barn.

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Billy Graf Someone told me yesterday to cherish all the time with my kids. If the time goes by so fast, then why is it taking forever to get to nap time?

April 22 at 10:19am via Mobile Web · Comment ·LikeUnlike · View Feedback (10)Hide Feedback (10)

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Billy Graf Of all the shit they did this morning that pissed me off, this is the only cute thing. I took a picture of Pius's new hairdo. He decided he needed some butt cream hair gel. They got a bath, but I can't get it out.

April 22 at 12:53pm · Comment ·LikeUnlike · View Feedback (9)Hide Feedback (9) · Share

Billy Graf Is it possible for four 2-year-olds to go 15 minutes without fighting? I have learned that the Graf Quad Squad can not. I'm just wondering if there are any in the world that can do it or if my kids are just a-holes.

April 23 at 10:05am via Mobile Web

Billy Graf Fricken Pius finally got his hair clean, and what did he do? Put more fricken butt cream in his hair. Frick!

April 24 at 10:12am

He still sneaks off to do this every once in awhile. We have learned, though, that when you can’t hear Pius that means he is up to something that he knows he shouldn’t be.

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Billy Graf It's great to hear...kind of...that now Danna is repeating EVERYTHING that she hears. The one of them that was left that I could cuss in front of is no more. Danna now says the word sh*t. Great work Daddy.

April 25 at 9:42am via Mobile Web · Comment ·LikeUnlike · View Feedback (9)Hide Feedback (9)

Billy Graf Just got home from the lanes. The kids did awesome. They were so well behaved and I was proud of them. Wondering if I'll keep this feeling. Now for naps.....

April 29 at 1:15pm · Comment ·LikeUnlike · View Feedback (2)Hide Feedback (2)

Billy Graf I came into the kitchen from picking out clothes for them after baths to all three boys yelling, "boobies" at the top of their lungs. What's going on here?

April 30 at 11:42am via Mobile Web · Comment ·LikeUnlike · View Feedback (16)Hide Feedback (16)

That was one of the funniest random things they have ever done. I really don’t know where they came up with that. Seriously.

Billy Graf Today has been GREAT! The kids stayed in bed until their sun light came on. They ate well and did well on diaper changes. Then Danna came up to me with a big smile and said, "kissing monster." It's a game we play that makes her giggle so hard. Plus the boys are doing great at playing together and sharing. I'm a lucky man right now.

May 1 at 9:29am via Mobile Web · Comment ·LikeUnlike · View Feedback (5)Hide Feedback (5)

Notice this was at 9:30 in the morning. I do think I need to update when the kids are being good, though.

Billy Graf I know that when kids are mean to animals that sometimes is a sign of a future serial killer. My question is: If my kids play with june bugs until death does that count?

May 3 at 9:05am via Mobile Web · Comment ·LikeUnlike · View Feedback (9)Hide Feedback (9)

Billy Graf This morning at breakfast out of nowhere the boys made a list: no biting, no climbing, no hitting, no scratching, no touching sunshine, no kicking. Danna just said, "awesome." Can you tell the things that Moni and I repeat ALL DAY, EVERYDAY?

May 6 at 8:35am via Mobile Web · Comment ·LikeUnlike · View Feedback (4)Hide Feedback (4)

Billy Graf Today is starting off very well. The boys are actually being very good, and getting along. Danna, of course, is being perfect (HAPPY BASE, HAPPY FLOWLER!, her new favorite sayings). We'll see, there is still 3 1/2 hours until naptime.

May 7 at 8:44am · Comment ·LikeUnlike · View Feedback (3)Hide Feedback (3)

Billy Graf Forrest honestly about got murdered today. He has been/is being such a butthole. Pius hasn't been much better. Thank God Laine is being good. If he was being his typical self we would probably have the police over here. And not to leave Danna out, as usual, she is being a perfect princess.

May 9 at 10:16am via Mobile Web ·

Billy Graf Sometimes I wonder why I try to rationalize with a 2 1/2-year-old. WHY DON'T THEY GET IT? Oh yeah, they're two and a half.

May 10 at 9:30am via Mobile Web · Comment

Billy Graf Forrest is just like Tom Hanks in "Castaway". He usually insists on falling asleep on the floor beside his bed. What a weirdo.

May 11 at 1:12pm · Comment ·LikeUnlike · View Feedback (2)Hide Feedback (2)

He still does this and it has started to cause a minor problem. Pius and Laine try to sleep on the floor, but they roll around and play and cause problems. Forrest actually falls asleep on the floor.

Billy Graf We've had our pool table for29 hours and we have already lost the 8 ball. Should've known the boys wouldn't follow the freakin rules.

May 18 at 4:38pm via Mobile Web · Comment ·LikeUnlike · View Feedback (8)Hide Feedback (8)

Billy Graf The 8 ball has reappeared! Don't know where it was, but the boys were downstairs playing pool and we now have an entire pool ball set. I "LIKE"

May 19 at 11:49am · Comment

We keep losing pool balls, but they always re-appear a couple days later.

Billy Graf Forrest has had 4 meltdowns. Laine has had 2. Pius has pimped them both into a couple of the meltdowns. And even Danna has been a bit of a bitch this morning. This is all in less than 2 hours of awake time. And as I type this, Forrest has started number five. WAKE UP MONI!

May 23 at 10:22am via Mobile Web · Comment ·LikeUnlike · View Feedback (3)Hide Feedback (3)

Billy Graf Moni and I just rode to the Cavo concert with Cavo's lead singer and drummer...yea we're badasses.

May 24 at 4:48pm via Mobile Web · Comment ·LikeUnlike · View Feedback (16)Hide Feedback (16)

Billy Graf Cavo rocked it. Lifehouse and Daughtry were very good, too. I hope my kids are going to NOT rock it this morning. Daddy was up way too late for any shenanigans.

May 25 at 8:09am · Comment ·LikeUnlike · View Feedback (3)Hide Feedback (3)

That night was so much fun. One of Moni’s quad-mom friends, Beth, is married to the lead singer for Cavo. We did go out late and partied hard thanks to Mom, Lainie, Bucko, Dad (our taxi), and Rachel.

Billy Graf Let's see kids. What do you think for lunch? "Taco Bell", "Pizza", "McDonalds" were the three answers I received. Sorry boys. You get chicken nuggets and strawberries. Do they think money grows on trees?

May 26 at 11:15am · Comment ·LikeUnlike · View Feedback (3)Hide Feedback (3)

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Billy Graf DAMMIT! The day was going so well, and then Forrest struck. I'm over the 2 and a half year old thing. Can I skip the next 8 years and just have them be 10 year olds?

May 27 at 9:53am via Mobile Web · Comment ·LikeUnlike · View Feedback (12)Hide Feedback (12)

Billy Graf Horrible father of the year award here. Laine and Pius got into a jar of medicine so after talking to poison control I'm sitting in the ER with them. They are acting fine, but better safe than sorry. DAMMIT! I SUCK! Was pretty worried but I'm starting to feel better.

May 28 at 12:17pm via Mobile Web

Billy Graf Got home about 2 hours ago from the ER. The boys are fine. The doc said that the stuff that they got a hold of wasn't that toxic, from what I told him they probably didn't get very much of it, and the charcoal (that the boys sucked down like crazy after a popsicle bribe) would take any of the toxin that they did get out of their blood. Thank God! Thanks to everyone for the thoughts. Scary couple hours for me.

See More May 28 at 2:47pm

They wanted to go downstairs and play pool, so I went down to turn on the lights and check everything. It was all fine. Laine unzipped a suitcase, got out the medicine bottle, and opened the childproof lid. Their intelligence amazes me, makes me so proud, but scares the hell out of me sometimes.

Billy Graf Sometimes my kids just amaze me with their incredibly good behavior. Sometimes my kids humiliate me with how they act. I've noticed, though, that it is in the times that they humiliate me that I realize how much I love them because I can give just as mean a scowl at the a** who gives my kids a dirty scowl in church. They are two and a half years old (TIMES 4), ya dick.

See More May 28 at 8:45pm · Comment

Billy Graf I don't think today could've started any worse. They've calmed down and I hope it lasts because I'm not in the mood. I WILL allow anarchy today, because I'm too tired.

May 31 at 8:58am via Mobile Web · Comment ·LikeUnlike · View Feedback (4)Hide Feedback (4)

Billy Graf My kids just ate an entire box of cereal. I just wish they wouldn't have got half of the cereal and milk on the floor. Who knew that eating cereal could be so freakin messy? I guess their motor skills aren't quite ready for cereal.

June 1 at 9:19am via Mobile Web · Comment ·LikeUnlike · View Feedback (5)Hide Feedback (5)

Billy Graf I'm starting to think that I may NEVER get Pius a driving license. On our way home from the zoo (and whenever we drive) he gets pissed when you stop. "No Daddy, drive." "Pius it's a red light, Pius there is a car stopped in front of us, Pius we have to wait for traffic." He really doesn't care, "No Daddy, drive."

Yesterday at 11:07am · Comment ·LikeUnlike · View Feedback (6)Hide Feedback (6)

Billy Graf So I should've known that my kids would dip their strawberries into the mustard I gave them for their sausage.

Yesterday at 11:45am via Mobile Web

Billy Graf I just was told the first lie. I heard Laine & Forrest fighting, & then Forrest started screaming. I went downstairs & the boys were all standing together & Forrest had fresh, straight teeth bite marks. I asked who bit Forrest, Pius & Forrest both said, "Lainer." I asked Laine if he bit Forrest & he said, "No. Pi-Pi bite Fo-Fo." He insisted Pius bit Forrest. That vinegar must be working if he's lying.

See More about a minute ago · Comment

Now for pictures:

Pius before haircut.

Pius since haircut.

Forrest before.

Forrest after.

Danna before haircut AND “ear pretties.”

Danna after.

Laine before.

Laine after.

Moni and Beth at the Cavo pre-concert acoustic show. A hot pair of quad-moms.

Moni and I with Cavo. (Quad-daddy, Casey, is to Moni’s left in the blue shirt).

Chad (drummer), Stubby (all of our driver), Brian (bass player), Me, and Moni. After our post-concert partying.

So as you all can see, nothing major to report on, just regular toddler growing up stuff. The squad’s next big step is potty-training. I will be starting that in a couple weeks. Should be an interesting month. I will try to be better about keeping up, but I know Moni and I have both said that a hundred times. All we can do is keep trying.

Until next time….

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

Jesus Boobies

2010-04-14T01:58:00.000-05:00

All of our kids LOVE music....they always have (hey, it got us on America's Funniest Home Videos a year and a half ago). I sing to them every time I put them down for a nap and at bedtime. Billy sings to them during bathtime and any other time we need a little diversion, which is OFTEN. Some of their current favorites include: You Are My Sunshine, Away in a Manger, Jesus Loves the Little Children, Swing Low Sweet Chariot, Amazing Grace, Daddy's Hands, anything Johnny Cash (for real), various other church songs and all the normal lullabies like Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. They have them all memorized and will fill in the lyrics when we pause long enough for them to shout them out. Our little Pius is especially fond of singing and has taken up a habit of finding any toy or object to use as a microphone. Today while we were playing in the basement, he started singing his ABC's into his "mic" and I ran upstairs to get the camera. By the time I got back, he'd changed his tune to "Jesus Loves the Little Children" and it was too funny not to share. But the best part is his commentary after the song is over. Watch this sucker all the way to the end.........Pi-Pi will NOT disappoint you!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

The Makings of Quad Toddler Bed Boot Camp....Graf-style

2010-03-31T00:45:00.002-05:00

Billy and i have known for several months that we just can’t keep holding on to the hope that no more babies will jump in their “mini-cribs” and break the bottoms out…..which was the unfortunate occurrence that happened with Big Poppa’s bed a few months ago. Pi-Pi’s bottomed-out crib became Danna’s night-time abode shortly after the incident because she’s the only one light enough to keep the bottom in place with a pink emesis basin wedged securely underneath it. Sad but true. “

Pius: “Not me, mama! I NEVER do things I’m not supposed to….like climb up to the kitchen cabinet and scout out my next snack…..NEVER!”

Danna’s just content as can be in her own little world! I think she will be the roughest to train….toddler beds, potty training, sharing, anger management….you name it!

Lainer and Pi are DEFINITELY thick as thieves when they’re together. If you don’t see or hear Laine, then you’d better go find him FAST!

Frosty, here, does whatever the heck he wants, to whomever the heck he want to do it to. Hard-headed but the gears in his brain are most definitely working……he KNOWS how to get things done.

Discussions of transitioning to toddler beds were dealt with like the plague around the Graf house for many a-weeks. I felt we just had to get all our ducks in a row before starting. Billy was holding on to the dream of keeping them in cribs until they were 18 years old and ready for college. For ONCE in my life, Billy didn’t mind my procrastinating ways and petty projects that I thought up to get done before the training actually started.

Step 1: Find inexpensive toddler beds.

I looked on Craigslist for weeks and weeks without any good leads. Finally decided to look the retail route with all the price-matching and promo codes out there. I thought I could snake a good deal that way. Lo and behold, the sleigh-bed style toddler beds in cherry finish that we found IN-STORE at the local Wal-Mart actually WAS the best deal for what we wanted! Sure, it took going to 3 different stores around town to track down 4 of the same bed, but was most definitely worth it in the end. They were a good buy at only $55.00 a piece.

Step 2: Put the summabitches together.

After some trial and errors on the first bed (and maybe the 2nd one, too), I got toddler bed assembly whittled down to a fine art. I should go into business….or not. They are sturdy, beautiful, and will serve their purpose for the next 3-4 years.

Step 3: Find 4 toddler/crib mattresses.

Because we had mini-cribs (they’re about the size of a pack-n-play), we’ve never had the full-size mattresses that fit a crib and/or toddler bed frame. Again, looked on Craigslist and then quickly stopped…..FYI, there are some SHADY PEOPLE out there. Next, approached our ginormously large (and highly fertile) family and friends who may have outgrown their mattresses for the time-being…..or at least didn’t have another bun in the oven, and asked to buy their used mattresses. Score! Thanks to our friends Rhiann and Teena, cousin Erin, and sister Mollie, we were able to gather the 4 needed mattresses! Thanks again, guys!

Step 4: Find bedding and sheets for the toddler beds.

Does it piss anyone else off that it costs more to dress a child’s bed than an adult’s?! I settled on buying some basic sheets and then came up with a hair-brained idea to make my own toddler quilts. In all honesty, sewing is one of my guilty pleasures and I consider it a hobby. Half the fun is coming up with the design and layout! So I put my pen to the paper and my nose to the needle and started making 4 individual toddler bed-sized quilts for my fabulous foursome. It’s taken some time, but not nearly as long as I anticipated. I guess I was motivated! And I’m proud to announce that I’ve finished the last one tonight! Of course, our camera has been broken for a couple of weeks, so I can’t take the end results pictures just yet….but I did take some pics from when they were halfway done.

Danna’s 1/2 finished quilt (all done now)!

The front of Frosty’s new quilt

Step 5: MAYBE the most important step in this whole boot camp scheme……THE NEED FOR VIDEO SURVEILLANCE WHEN THEY’RE BEHIND CLOSED DOORS!

Fortunately for me, I have some GREAT friends, who are also mothers to quadruplets, to bounce ideas around with. Suz Steece just made it through the transition from cribs to beds and was a wealth of knowledge for me. A video baby monitor was at the top of the list of necessities. I started searching high and low, not wanting to break the bank buying new. To make a long story short, I got jacked around with the used one I bought off of Ebay (it was a piece of crap and wouldn’t turn on, even though they listed it as working in great condition). Fortunately, Safety 1st has an excellent customer service department and I played my cards just right, and our brand-spanking-new monitor should be at our door sometime next week! I’d like to think I got dealt a little good karma there.

Step 6: Figure out a consistent disciplinary approach for the detainees/escapees! They already know NOT to stand on their “big kid beds” and know what the consequences will be if they do. I’m hoping this whole ordeal will be nothing more than a minor bump in our day and the kids will surprise us with their compliancy, like they usually do. When you dream……DREAM BIG, right?!

So, as soon as we get the cameras here and set up and new furniture arrangements made, we’ll be sending updates on our progress. Wish us luck and say extra prayers for our patience and sanity!

Love,

Moni

Billy’s Facebook Status Updates

2010-03-13T14:54:00.001-06:00

Instead of blogging about what’s been going on for the last couple of months, I thought I’d let Billy’s FB status updates do all the talking. He’s so much better at updating about the kids than me and it makes me laugh to go back and read how each day went when he was on “Quad Duty”! Enjoy catching up on the last couple of months! And of course, some pictures at the end…..

Billy Graf Don't turn your back. If you leave your two-year-old quadruplets in a different room for 5 minutes unattended...they will get into the fireplace and get old ashes EVERYWHERE. Thank God we didn't have a fire going, but ASHES everywhere... everywhere I tell you. Crap.

November 22, 2009 at 9:26am · Comment ·LikeUnlike · View Feedback (14)Hide Feedback (14)

Billy Graf Kids first introduction to Taco Bell. The verdict: Forrest, Danna, and Laine all really liked it. They all ate all of their quesadilla and their cheesy fiesta potatoes. Pius LOVED IT! He ate all of his, ate a couple bites of mine, and then licked the rest of his plate clean. HE LICKED ALL OF THE NACHO CHEESE AND ...SOUR CREAM OFF HIS PLATE. I'm going to have a lunch buddy!

See More December 5, 2009 at 1:01pm · Comment ·LikeUnlike · View Feedback (11)Hide Feedback (11)

Billy Graf Anybody want to swim in a pool of snot? The Graf House is your place. We may even have enough for a deep end.

December 8, 2009 at 11:06am · Comment ·LikeUnlike · View Feedback (7)Hide Feedback (7)

Billy Graf Sorry about that, Josh. Try this one: Two little boys for sale. Forrest we will give up for around 100 dollars. As for Laine, he is like the old couch you just try to get rid of. We will put him in the front yard with a sign that just says, "Free".

December 8, 2009 at 12:52pm · Comment ·LikeUnlike · View Feedback (9)Hide Feedback (9)

Billy Graf The market has changed. Forrest is now off the market. Any taker will have to pay for Laine. He might be coming off the market soon, though.

December 8, 2009 at 4:43pm · Comment ·LikeUnlike

Billy Graf I WANT OUR KITCHEN BABY GATE BACK! I WANT PIUS TO USE HIS BIG KID WORDS TO ASK FOR AN ORANGE, INSTEAD OF EATING THROUGH THE PEELING! I NEVER WANT TO GIVE MY KIDS ANOTHER BATH! SHIT!

December 31, 2009 at 10:01am · Comment ·LikeUnlike · View Feedback (5)Hide Feedback (5)

Billy Graf After baths, Danna decided to drop a deuce in the middle of the floor while i was diapering one of the boys. For those of us men that didn't think girls pooped, having a daughter blows that theory out of the water. Especially if her name is Danna Graf.

January 14 at 10:09am via Mobile Web · Comment ·LikeUnlike · View Feedback (13)Hide Feedback (13)

Billy Graf I've come to the conclusion...The Wiggles Show is like crack for the Graf Quads. They can't get enough.

January 14 at 11:02am via Mobile Web · Comment ·LikeUnlike · View Feedback (7)Hide Feedback (7)

Billy Graf The new quad squad revelation of the day: All 3 boys know how to crawl out of their cribs. I was woken up from my nap by Forrest, Pius, and Laine getting really close to me on the couch and Forrest saying, "Shh," in his loudest "whisper" voice possible. Guess the door knob locks go on the inside of the room now.

January 20 at 5:27pm via Mobile Web · Comment ·LikeUnlike · View Feedback (13)Hide Feedback (13)

Billy Graf The boys are downstairs right now. Danna wants to stay upstairs and watch "Play With Me Sesame!" Don't worry anyone, we have toddler-proofed the basement. The question, though is, "Can they be trusted?" I will let you know.

January 22 at 10:08am · Comment ·LikeUnlike · View Feedback (3)Hide Feedback (3)

Billy Graf Okay so the basement thing went alright. Pius and Laine lost interest in the basement after about 30 minutes, but Forrest stayed down there for almost two hours. What a weird little boy!

January 22 at 2:17pm · Comment ·LikeUnlike · View Feedback (2)Hide Feedback (2)

Billy Graf WOW! Just got home from mass...Laine is in the liquor cabinet, the door knob lock (which was on the inside of the door) is broken, the door to their room is wide open, the light is on, Pius is in Danna's crib with her, and sweet Forrest is sleeping like a baby. Maybe we need to put lids on their cribs.

January 24 at 7:57am · Comment ·LikeUnlike · View Feedback (6)Hide Feedback (6)

Billy Graf Danna is getting better. This morning at bathtime she decided to take a dump in the kitchen at least. It is so much easier to clean poop off of a hardwood floor than off of carpet. I think she was looking out for me. What a sweetheart.

January 25 at 9:32am via Mobile Web · Comment ·LikeUnlike · View Feedback (7)Hide Feedback (7)

Billy Graf Pius's new obsession with bowling (while I think it is awesome), is getting INCREDIBLY annoying. His cute little voice saying "bowling pins" and "knock em over" is starting to get old.

January 31 at 9:56am via Mobile Web · Comment ·LikeUnlike · View Feedback (1)Hide Feedback (1)

Billy Graf God I love nap time. It couldn't have come quicker. Phew!

February 4 at 12:27pm · Comment ·LikeUnlike · View Feedback (9)Hide Feedback (9)

Billy Graf Laine is so much like me it is out of control. Example 1: The boys were stacking blocks today. Pius and Forrest were going slow and being careful. Laine was going for speed and couldn't get his stack as high as them. That really pissed him off. Example 2: He was one gigantic temper tantrum all day. He is still ...alive, he isn't screaming anymore, he isn't hurt, but I wouldn't call him happy.

See More February 5 at 7:39pm · Comment ·LikeUnlike · View Feedback (7)Hide Feedback (7)

Billy Graf Pius is freakin hilarious. He's figured out the night system. He now drinks his night sippy of milk as slow as possible so that he can stay up longer. AND tonight he wanted to pray for "bowling" and "pins down." That boy cracks me up.

February 10 at 7:50pm · Comment ·LikeUnlike · View Feedback (5)Hide Feedback (5)

Billy Graf I guess Pius thought he was a steak. He got into our drawer and completely seasoned himself. I should've known something was up when I heard Laine laughing hysterically. Add steak seasoning to the grocery list.

February 12 at 10:54am via Mobile Web · Comment ·LikeUnlike · View Feedback (14)Hide Feedback (14)

Billy Graf Danna is a very happy camper today. That means the Graf house is a happy house today. With the exception of Laine occasionally biting one of his brothers.

February 15 at 10:40am via Mobile Web · Comment ·LikeUnlike · View Feedback (2)Hide Feedback (2)

Billy Graf We just asked Forrest what he wanted for dinner. He said, "Taco Bell." These guys are going to be expensive to feed if they are already asking to eat out and they are only 2.

February 16 at 5:28pm · Comment ·LikeUnlike · View Feedback (6)Hide Feedback (6)

Billy Graf Frightening revelation of the weekend: The kids already eat an entire large pizza for a meal. Seriously? A whole large? Yep, that's right.

February 22 at 9:19am via Mobile Web · Comment ·LikeUnlike · View Feedback (5)Hide Feedback (5)

Billy Graf Somedays my kids make it so fun to wake up. Today is one of those days...for now. I reserve the right to change my mind.

February 24 at 9:23am via Mobile Web · Comment ·LikeUnlike · View Feedback (8)Hide Feedback (8)

Billy Graf And just 2 days after I say how fun it is to wake up with my kids...Laine pisses me off before I even open their door. He has started climbing out of his crib again (and into the others) and he turns on the light. I'm not looking forward to toddler beds. AT ALL! What a little shit.

February 26 at 8:30am via Mobile Web · Comment ·LikeUnlike · View Feedback (6)Hide Feedback (6)

Billy Graf Getting ready to go "fishin in the dark." Pretty damn excited about it, too.

February 28 at 5:20pm via Mobile Web · Comment ·LikeUnlike · View Feedback (3)Hide Feedback (3)

Billy Graf The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band better be good because The Trishas are AWESOME.

February 28 at 7:31pm via Mobile Web · Comment ·LikeUnlike

Billy Graf Took the kids outside this afternoon. They acted like they'd been cooped up in the house for 4 months. A bunch of crazy, spazzy monkeys.

March 3 at 6:32pm via Mobile Web · Comment ·LikeUnlike · View Feedback (4)Hide Feedback (4)

Billy Graf I really don't feel like giving baths tonight. Will anyone tell on me?

March 5 at 5:59pm via Mobile Web · Comment ·LikeUnlike · View Feedback (11)Hide Feedback (11)

Billy Graf It is amazing to me...the way Pius and Laine can go from complete rage with each other to laughing uncontrollably at and with each other instantly. In the last 10 minutes they have switched emotions about 14 times.

March 7 at 9:49am via Mobile Web · Comment ·LikeUnlike · View Feedback (5)Hide Feedback (5)

Billy Graf Heading to Carlos O' Kelley's for dinner. I hope the kids like C.O.K. As much as Chico's. Chips and salsa are well liked anywhere I think.

March 7 at 5:10pm via Mobile Web · Comment ·LikeUnlike · View Feedback (4)Hide Feedback (4)

Billy Graf Carlos O' Kelly's went really well. They might even let us eat there again. As for this morning, 2 things occurred to me: Forrest is lazy. He made me feed him his oatmeal (he wouldn't use his spoon). And Danna is adaptive. She struggled using her spoon so she just started grabbing her oatmeal and shoveling it in with her hands. Who needs utensils?

March 8 at 9:11am via Mobile Web · Comment ·LikeUnlike · View Feedback (7)Hide Feedback (7)

Billy Graf I've got 3 EXTREMELY wound up little boys and 1 EXTREMELY sedate little girl on my hands today.

Wed at 9:24am via Mobile Web · Comment ·LikeUnlike · View Feedback (1)Hide Feedback (1)

Billy Graf Is it bedtime for little heathens yet? No? Dammit.

Wed at 6:14pm via Mobile Web · Comment ·LikeUnlike · View Feedback (5)Hide Feedback (5)

Billy Graf This morning at breakfast Danna farted. Laine started laughing, Pius said, "Danna farted," and Forrest tried to fart so hard that he shit his pants. Typical stuff for the Graf Quads.

Yesterday at 8:49am via Mobile Web · Comment ·LikeUnlike · View Feedback (19)Hide Feedback (19)

Billy Graf This one is going to be gross. You know how about a month ago I said we had a pool of snot at our house. Well now the kids have some kind of stomach virus, you can fill in the rest. SMELLY HOUSE.

4 hours ago via Mobile Web · Comment ·LikeUnlike · View Feedback (3)Hide Feedback (3)

Up next on the Graf Quad’s slate…..TODDLER BEDS! We’re delaying as long as possible, but the switch is imminent.

Love,

Moni

It Was Once Danna Day 2010!

2010-02-24T01:55:00.002-06:00

Our sweet little ray of sunshine…..complete with her favorite toy zebra (she carries either the zebra, the giraffe or a rubber ducky around with her everywhere, everyday, all day…..even the boys know not to mess with Beaner’s favorite toys because there’s hell to pay if they do).

Danna Day 2010 came and went. But then again, I think everyday is Danna Day as far as our little princess is concerned. To read last year’s “Danna Day 2009”, click on the link. Danna Lynn got to come home from the NICU on January 23, 2008. She was born at 1 pound, 10 ounces and 12.25 inches at 4:40 p.m. on November 19, 2007. She was seriously about the size of a big can of soup. TEENY! Danna is still our little peanut, but she has grown up so much since then. She’s still not on the growth charts for weight, but she finally made it on there for height at our January checkup. She makes us marvel every day at just how far she’s come in 2 years….

Danna has had the idea in her head that she is calling the shots since she was conceived. We delivered at the 31 week mark (November 19)because Danna had IUGR (intra-uterine growth restriction). We joked at the time that she was just ready to get out and start showing everyone who the boss was. Not only did she determine the day they were all born, she determined the day we got to go back home from Phoenix to Wichita. She has continued to “call the shots” since then.

Now let me tell all of you this: Danna has so many strengths at this point in her little life, but there are some weaknesses too. Much to Danna’s grandmothers’ dismay, our little Beaner has some downfalls. If Grammy or Budda were writing this post, no one would know that she is prone to some of the same faults as other people. We want to make sure that her shortcomings are documented, though, so when she is big enough to read back on all of this she will know that she ISN’T as perfect as she thinks she is (even when daddy and her bubbys try their hardest to make her think that).

Mama’s learned to leave the hair-trimming to Aunt Donna…..even if it was just to get her bangs out of her eyes!

Danna’s strengths:

Our little Banana is probably the easiest toddler to take care of in the history of the world. Danna makes it so easy on everyone that sometimes people forget that she is here. Moni and I have both caught ourselves calling our kids “the boys.” The boys all have such strong, outgoing personalities that little Danna gets overshadowed sometimes. It is so nice, though, not having to worry about ONE of the four getting into trouble. Danna’s most mischievous thing that she does is turn the lights on in the kitchen during “wind down” time at bedtime…..well, that and trying to be sneaky while throwing unwanted food under the table.

Danna is the most easy going of the kids. She really doesn’t get too shook up about very much. Perhaps this trait comes from the beginning of her life outside the NICU. Danna came from the only room she had ever known in her life (NICU at Phoenix Children’s Hospital at Banner Good Samaritan) to a crazy, hectic apartment all a-flutter with the busyness that goes along with packing to go home, to an airplane, and finally to an even more crazy house that has been being prepared for her homecoming, in a matter of two days from start to finish. I know if I went through something like that when I was first born, I would probably go into shock. Danna really handled it very well, and she continues to handle new things (transition to sippy cups, using utensils, always having a ton of people around, sometimes nobody around, etc.) wonderfully.

Danna’s always been a big fan of making faces at herself in front of a mirror. She cracks herself up!

Miss Independent…..doesn’t like her hand to be held or to be lead around by others.

Little Beaner is incredibly independent. She is a tough little nugget that can accomplish her goals if she wants. If she wants to say a word, she will. If she wants to watch TV, she will turn it on. If she wants to read a book, she will find one, open it and read it (in the cutest gibberish language ever spoken). If she wants to go downstairs with the boys, she goes.

All of this being said, she only does it if she WANTS to. She isn’t like our little monkey boys that will do any trick on command just to see someone smile or produce a clap from them. If she wants to do something she will, but only when she is ready. I think this trait will eventually be one of our favorites as parents, but we do get frustrated with it sometimes right now.

I have NO IDEA where the obstinacy comes from….ahem…her mama….ahem!

….ahem….AND her daddy…..ahem!

One of mama’s favorite Danna traits is her tough head. And that does not mean her stubbornness! This little girl seems unaffected by physical pain (thumps, spankings, being knocked over by the boys, catching her head on the corner of a table….nothin’), which comes in handy when we have to de-knot her rat’s nest that has taken residence at the back of her head. It’s bad. However, it has improved somewhat since Aunt Donna trimmed it up a bit. Holy Lord, that girl can rock a frollet (mix between an afro and a mullet) and we have to douse it in detangler spray and go to town on it with the brush. We use to tease her when she’d get up in the mornings or from a nap about how she was our little Don King princess.

♪ I’m too sexy for my hair, too sexy for my hair, too sexy, yeaaaah! ♪

♫ I’m too sexy for my frollet, too sexy for my frollet, too sexy, yeaaaaah! ♫

Danna’s weaknesses (yes she has them):

She used to just throw her hands up in the air when she got mad. Now she’s upgraded to balling up her fists and throwing her head back as well. It’s an impressive technique, really.

Danna is incredibly independent. Sound familiar? As I stated numerous times earlier, she can do anything she wants, IF she wants. Sometimes, our little Danna seems afraid of change. She is so much like her daddy in this that it is scary. Some days, she doesn’t want to do anything except for read books or watch TV. The boys always seem to be willing to try new things, but like I said before, Danna only does it when she wants. Haven’t I said this all like five times already? At the suggestion of our speech therapist, we’ve started working with her more on her sensory perception issues. Minor little changes in how we interact with her seem to be making a HUGE difference already and we see our little flower bud blooming more and more every day.

Danna seems to be our magnet for runny noses. If someone says “runny nose,” Danna will get one that night. This is in no way Danna’s fault, but she seems to have a constant snotty nose. What is amazing about this is the fact that that seems to be the only thing she gets. She never really runs fevers, she has never really been a big puker, she has avoided diarrhea for the most part, and she always seems to scathe by with a cough and sniffles when the rest of the house has been wiped out with a nasty cold virus. But the little girl is a constant snot pool! This makes it hard to keep her face clean, but trust me when I say that she has no problems staying beautiful.

Our little Danna also has quite the temper. She really does believe in her mind that she rules the roost. If something pisses her off, she screams, and screams, and screams. It is so rare when she loses her temper that it is kind of funny. Just today, I was in the kitchen making lunch and one of the boys made her mad and she started screaming. She came into the kitchen looked at me while she was screaming as if to say, “DAD! I AM NOT HAPPY! DON’T YOU SEE THIS? FIX IT! NOW!” I know I am not a nice dad, but it was funny.

As we’ve mentioned before, Danna almost always has a death grip on her favorite toys (the zebra, giraffe or rubber ducky). They are requirements to help get us through each day. If she starts crying and we aren’t in the room to see what happened, 9 times out of 10 we just holler for one of her brothers to give Danna her toy back. Not that her bubbys pick on her….just the opposite, actually. They treat their sissy so well and will randomly walk up to her just to give her a kiss. I hope they are always as loving to Danna, because it makes me smile to see it now.

But back to the toy thing. We’re not sure why she’s become so attached to these items. They are all cheap, hard plastic animals and not the normal soft fluffiness that princesses tend to prefer. We’ve TRIED offering her baby dolls and teddy bears, but to no avail. I guess it all goes back to Danna wanting what she wants!

Christmas morning brought Danna a new mini-doll. Sadly, Pius was more interested in it than she was.

Again with the zebra…couldn’t leave it inside!

The duck makes daily appearances at the table for meals and snacks, too.

Our little Danna is so hard to describe because she is a princess, thinks it, acts like it, but doesn’t really need any of us to validate it for her. She just knows and doesn’t want or care if anybody is around to tell her. She is in her own little kingdom and sometimes she graces us enough to let us in.

She is so funny and words can not begin to describe how proud we are of her. She has fought so many battles since the day she was born and she continues to win the battles. We know she is going to be successful at whatever she tries to do. Beaner stay independent, and continue to let everyone around you see how wonderful you are. We love you so much!

Love,

Daddy, Mommy, and your loving bubbys

(most of the time) Pi-Pi, Fo-Fo, and Wainer

It was once Laine Day 2010!

2010-02-04T04:45:00.000-06:00

Thanks to Aunt Donna, Laine has had a haircut since this picture!

We have missed Laine Day for a second year in a row, and I’m sure that some day he will bring this up as proof about how much more we like his brothers and sister than him. I can guarantee that we love our Laine as much as any of our other children, we just have dropped the ball and there is really no excuse. We apologize so much, and I’m sure that we will have to continue to apologize to him in the future….but not NEARLY the amount of apologies we expect to receive from him during his adolescent and teenager years! So, we’ll call it a draw. Here’s the link for Laine Day 2009 if you want to read back and see the changes from this year.

Laine Ryan was born at 4:41 p.m. on November 19th, 2007 and he tipped the scales at 2 lbs., 4 oz. He was released from the NICU on January the 15th, 2008.

Laine’s affinity for high-5’s began shortly after birth. He still gives them out freely!

Laine was the only one out of the four that both: A)Really liked his pacifier when he was younger, and B)Was coordinated enough to actually keep it in his mouth. Forrest liked his paci but couldn’t manage to keep it plugged in….hence the thumb-sucking dilemma we have now.

I will say that I always felt a very special bond with Laine going all the way back to the NICU days. I would go by the hospital every morning on my way to work and without fail, Laine would wake up for me (or at least pry one little eye open to look up at his adoring daddy). He was my “Number-1 Buddy” back then, and he still is today. He’s the only one out of all four that I can say without hesitation is a “Daddy’s boy”….the other 3 switch hit depending on the day or are most definitely “Mama’s boys/girl”. But Laine is all mine without a doubt.

“Daddy….just one more time. Will you please tell me the John Elway story about “The Drive”? Pretty please?!”

“So this is where the Mile High Magic happens, huh dad?”

I swear, Laine is never more than 10 feet away from Billy wherever we go. He has an adventurer’s spirit but is the biggest family-man in the group. He always likes it best and is most happy when the whole fam is together at home……all 6 of us (give or take Fo-Fo some days). He’s the one that gets most upset if mom or dad steps out of the room or leaves for work.

”Come on, dad….let’s go see what kind of trouble we can get into over there!”

I sometimes wonder if The Good Lord sent Laine to me to make me repay all of my indiscretions that I put onto my parents. From all of the stories that are told to Moni and me, it’s become apparent that we have a “little Billy” on our hands. I’m quick to point out that after I turned about 9 years old, I was easily the best of the Mike and Vicki Graf kids. However I’ll also admit that for the first 9 years of my life, I probably pushed my parents (and anyone else who crossed me or even looked at me the wrong way) to the limit. Well…karma has a way of making it’s rounds, which is most likely the reason our Laine-Train is the way he is.

”Ahhhh….whaddya mean by that?! That kind of hurts my feelings. I’m not THAT bad!”

”Really?! You’re gonna say I act like YOU did, dad? Not even CLOSE, buddy!”

Now, while I make Laine sound like a little devil, trust me when I say that he is definitely NOT. Here are Laine’s strengths and weaknesses as of his second birthday…

Laine’s Strengths:

We make countless jokes about Laine being our little serial killer and even call him Lainerzynski or “Zynski” for short after the Unabomber. But Moni or any one of our helpers and I will be the first to tell you that Laine is the sweetest one of our four…if he is in the mood. We don’t have to ask Laine, he will just give loves and hugs and kisses to anyone that he loves. At bedtime when we are winding down for the day, Laine will walk around the room and kiss all of his siblings, his parents, his aunts and uncles, his grandparents (basically anyone that he knows) spontaneously. He loves the people that he loves very much, and we are so proud of him for that.

Laine was the first to walk. He started standing and taking steps at around 10 months and was full out on-the-go by 12 months. That would make his adjusted age for walking at 9 and 3/4 months. I’m not 100%, but I’m pretty sure that is early. Forrest was usually the first to do things, but Laine blew all of them away when it came to full mobility and physical prowess. He still has incredible balance, and like I’ve told some of you, that makes him incredibly daring (Note to self here: Laine is NEVER to have the top bunk bed when the time comes!)

Because of his naturally curious, adventurous spirit, Laine often finds himself in odd predicaments and situations. He’s learned it’s much easier to get IN to those positions than OUT!

He LOVES his cars or anything that even closely resembles one. Future racecar driver, perhaps? Only if A.J. or Uncle Jim “Slammer” have something to say about it!

Bodies by Laine. Check out his one-handed push up (okay, not really….but one day soon).

He ALWAYS has his hands in something. If you can’t see or hear Laine, you’d better go find him because chances are…he’s doing something he’s not supposed to be doing! He’s our sneaky one.

He’s a class clown, second only to Pius. But sometimes, you’ve just got to stop and smell the geraniums (and maybe give them a little taste too).

Laine Ryan is easily the best eater now (not so much one year ago). He isn’t picky about any food and he almost always cleans his plate completely, and then some. Even after we are all done with our meal, it doesn’t take him long to be in the kitchen, pushing a chair to the counter, climbing it, and trying to grab some pretzels out of the jar. The kid LOVES to eat. I’m so happy that he is growing tall for his age or else I would worry that we had another Grampa Stubby or Uncle Ryno on our hands.

Laine’s biggest strength is probably his sense of humor. That kid has been laughing at things for so long now.

Laine was the first to realize that it’s funny when someone farts or burps (yes, we pride ourselves on the juvenile humor associated with bodily functions…..always have). After he farts or burps, he looks at one of us and starts giggling. The fact that we know he has a good sense of humor stretches beyond THAT stuff, though. He laughs at a lot of things. And he doesn’t start in because we did first… he laughs BEFORE we do because he thinks it’s funny! I think Laine is going to be a bit of a prankster and that will most likely get him into trouble more often than not. I pity his future partners in crime who may not realize what they’re getting in to by befriending him. He can be a persuasive little boy!

“Hey mom, check out my static-fro!”

“Do these glasses make me look innocent? Because I’m gonna need the jury to think I’m innocent.”

“Anyone seen the comic section?!”

“Oh great….now it’s time to hear about my weaknesses. I can’t watch this!”

Laine’s Areas for Improvement:

This should have been our 1st sign of Laine’s oppositional defiance disorder…flipping off the camera at 3½ months when I made him wear bunny ears for Easter pics. Or as Bill Engvall would say, “Here’s your sign…”

Laine has the worst temper of the four. This goes back to many people who knew me when I was little, knowing that I had the worst temper of all time. My mom sent me to a child psychologist for awhile when I was 5 or 6 and Moni is already doing research for Laine (not really, but probably wouldn’t be a bad idea). Laine gets so mad that he seems to lose control at times. Nothing anybody does will calm him down. I have taken many a shots from flailing arms and legs trying to get him to relax. We are trying very hard to remedy this little problem. Sometimes sitting him in timeout cools him down and distracts him long enough for the spell to pass…..SOMETIMES.

I’m not sure if this next problem totally relates to his temper, or if his selfishness/spoiled-rotten-ness causes it, but Laine is our little BADASS. Laine has beat up Pius, Forrest, and even got a couple good shots in on Danna. Pius and Forrest don’t want anything to do with Laine when he wants something from them. He bites, he pulls hair, he rubs their faces in the carpet while sitting on their heads…..he really works them over.

Pius knows what’s coming but is powerless to stop it.

And the rest is history. Good effort, Pi-Pi, but you honestly didn’t have a snowball’s chance…

Since (despite my temper) I’ve never been the physically aggressive type, I’m not sure where it comes from. Maybe he just has Little Guy’s syndrome because he is still obviously smaller than his brothers. And I haven’t completely ruled out getting some of this from Moni’s genes. After all, her siblings didn’t call her demon-ica when she was younger for nothin’! In fact, there’s STILL a little truth to that nickname for her……her horns really do seem to help keep her halo straight!

The aftermath of one of Laine’s rages… This was unwitnessed because I was getting ready for work, Billy was getting dinner ready upstairs and the kids were playing in the basement. He actually had a rug burn on his face too, but this was a couple of days after the attack. You can’t see it here, but Pius also had a bruise on the outer edge of his ear along with the bite on the cheek and scratches. INSANE.

And Forrest fell victim to the Zynski the very next day. He sustained two bites to the face. Laine has very distinctive bite marks…his are the only ones that are actually straight. It’s a tell-tale sign of a Laine attack.

Who would believe that a face this sweet could accompany those kinds of actions?! I wouldn’t believe it either if I hadn’t seen it happen.

Pius jumped on the rare opportunity to sit on Laine. Capturing a picture like this is equivalent to snapping one of a UFO or the Loch Ness Monster or Big Foot. It just doesn’t happen. This photo is completely untouched and untampered.

Laine has minor health problems that he has to deal with that the others don’t. He has reactive airway disease or “baby-asthma” and has to do regular breathing treatments (especially during the winter or if he has a cold). He has started doing much better with cooperating during the treatments and even holds the mask for himself now. I think he’s realized that they help him feel better and allow him to get on with his shenanigans in a more timely manner.

Laine also has eczema which causes him some problems. He’s been referred to a dermatologist because it got really severe during the summer. Go back up to the picture of Laine stuck in the black folding chair and take a close look at his legs…when it gets really bad, those large welts are ALL OVER his entire body! When he breaks out (usually goes hand-in-hand with cold symptoms), he is pretty miserable for about a week. Laine gets a special “taste” (what we call his dose of Xyzal allergy medicine) each morning and has special soap, diaper and skin cream that we use a couple times a week or more often when he has a breakout. His scalp gives him problems too and I believe that is the reason he HATES having his hair washed and always has. He’s fine in the bath tub until you try to wash him….

Laine, we are so sorry for being late again. You are so special to us and we love you very much. We have heard about the youngest child having the best sense of humor, and we can see that in you. We are sure that you will be the one pulling the pranks, trying to sneak stuff by us, keeping EVERYONE on their toes and telling the best jokes. Your loyalty, grit and sheer determination will take you wherever you want to go in life. We know you’ll use your talents to better yourself and help others. We can’t wait for you to show us what kind of man you are going to become. You are such a good boy and have a kind, gentle heart and we are all SO proud of you, little man!

Love,

Daddy, Mommy, Pi-Pi, Fo-Fo, and Danny

Pi-Pi Day 2010!

2010-01-14T15:55:00.000-06:00

**Well, Pi-Pi Day 2010 has come and gone. It was last Saturday, but we've had lots of activities (work, Ashlyn's wedding, more work, basement organizing/cleaning because it looked like a clown threw up down there, laundry, work, etc, etc, etc) going on since then. Billy had the post written, but the pics and commentary just didn't get done by me. My bad, homes......I apologize to the future Pius James that will be reading this in about 14 years. I know he'll forgive me because by that time, he'll have realized that his mama is ALWAYS late, even with the best of intentions! To read last year’s Pius Day post, click HERE.**

Pius Day 2010 is here! Little Pius James was born at 4:38 on Nov. 19, 2007. He was consistently the biggest in-utero AND out-utero (not really a word, I know....but just go with it) for the first year of his life. He weighed 3 pounds, 14 ounces when he made his debut appearance. Pius was our first-born child and was dubbed early on by Moni and me as the "lazy giant". Since then, we have learned that he was just getting his bearings about himself and is by no means lazy today!

Remember back in those early NICU days? Pius loved to just kick back and sleep all sprawled out.

Case in point.

Today, Pius normally sleeps all balled up on his belly with his arms and hands tucked underneath him and his butt in the air. So when I saw him sleeping like this again, it brought back the NICU memories and I had to snap a pic for comparison’s sake.

Pi-Pi came home with us on January 9, 2008, and it has been an entertaining two years at home with all his antics. To put it mildly, Pius is a CRACK-UP and never fails to make people smile! He’s also the “Accessory King” and loves to wear anything he sees as a possible bling thing. Ever seen the movie Office Space? Think the Flannigan waiter guy with all the flair…..that’s Pius!

Pius with his “flair”

…..and yet MORE flair! Bucket or hat? It matters not.

Pius's Strengths:

Pius is an extremely social little boy. He absolutely LOVES all attention. Pius does quite a few little tricks, and will do all of them on demand. He really likes to be in the center of all the action. Pius has learned that in order to get "fun" attention, he needs to be well behaved. Like I said, he always wants attention, so I think that drives him to be a pretty good boy most of the time. Actually, he is the best behaved boy at least 90% of the time, and I can only remember once or twice that Pius was the worst of the four.

Happy-Go-Lucky should’ve been his middle name!

Gotta love those dimples from daddy-o!

Pius is very good-hearted. Just like his Aunt Lainie, he has a heart of gold. He plays with all three of his siblings, or with anyone who is over at our house. He especially likes to feed his siblings bites of whatever they’re snacking on (and Lord knows, they are ALWAYS snacking).

They’ve recently acquired the skill of pushing a chair up to wherever they want to climb. Not so fun for us.

Pius has gotten caught with his hand in the ~~cookie~~ pretzel jar more than once.

Did we mention they’re all big cake fans?! Funny story…..a couple weeks ago I asked Pi-Pi what he wanted to eat for dinner. Hey replied, “CAKE” so quickly and matter-of-factly that I had to laugh!

He likes to give hugs and slobbery kisses to his brothers and sister and any of our visitors that he knows. He also really likes to give "high-fives" and "pounds." Pius gets his sensitive little heart broken very easily. If he thinks that you are upset with him or mad at him, he just puckers up and starts crying so hard. It is very endearing and it is hard to stay upset with him when he drops those squishy lips and cheeks. They really are irresistible and everyone always wants to give ‘em a little squeeze.

The boy definitely acquired his mama’s cleft chin! Which must be why he’s the biggest mama’s boy on the planet. Look at that mushy face!

Pius likes to show everyone how much he knows. If we are watching the Sprout channel, he will repeat the title of each show a million times. E.g. "Weegles, weegles, weegles," or "Thomas, Thomas, Thomas." He also is constantly dancing…..to show tunes, commercials, the radio, the beat to his own drum…… He is very smart and seems to be pretty proud of himself for knowing so much. If Forrest, Danna, or Laine do something that we notice or acknowledge, you can bet your bottom dollar that Pius is right behind them learning it so that he can do it too and show off (there’s that attention obsession again).

Pius is a great athlete and entertainer. He is able to catch a ball from up to 10-15 feet away, swing a bat and hit a tossed ball, and throw a ball across the room. He even makes sure he has a football gripped the right way before throwing it! What a stud. I also think he is going to be daddy’s number one bowling buddy in a couple years. He definitely has taken a liking to the lanes.

Not only is Pius a great athlete, he LOVES to "play guitar." Moni bought them a toy guitar that makes music, and I am not kidding you guys, it is the CUTEST FREAKING THING he does. He will close his eyes, start strumming, bobbing his head, and bouncing up and down. It is so adorable. He doesn’t even need a guitar to do it….that’s right, folks…..he’s a master “air guitarist”! He’s also recently began to TRY to sing. We’re working on his tune-carrying abilities, because they’re pretty rough right now.

Look at that finger form! We’ll have to get him into guitar lessons as soon as he develops an attention span that is longer than a goldfish’s.

Other cute things he does: Whenever I’m looking for one of his siblings and yell out their name, Pius automatically follows it with “Arrrrrrre Youuuuuuuu?” As in, Danna?! Where are you? It has been extended to when he’s lying awake in his crib and ready to get up and play. We’ll hear him on the baby monitor saying, “Da-ddyyyyyyy, Momm-yyyyyyy……Arrrrrrre Youuuuuuuuuuu?” It makes us smile every time.

He’s really starting to understand pretend play right now and LOVES acting like “mama’s sleeping baby”. I’ll cradle him in my arms and say something along the lines of, “Oh look at my sweet baby Pius…..is he sleeping?” After which he’ll immediately close his eyes and pretend to sleep. Then he’ll open his eyes wide, smile and say, “baby Pi-Pi wake” followed by a few fake baby waaaah cries.

He also likes to say the word, “Okay” and will use it every chance he gets. For example, if he wants a cracker, he’ll tell us and point to them. When we repeat back to him, “Pi-Pi…..you want a cracker?” He says, “Okay” like it was our idea to give him a cracker in the first place and he’s just trying to give us our way by accepting the food. Manipulative? Quite possibly. Funny to witness? Absolutely.

Pius's Areas for Improvement:

How could anyone really get angry with this child?! Look at that face!

Pius can be a little bit weak psychologically. He starts crying if we correct him or if one of his toys gets stolen. We are trying to get him to stand up for himself a little bit when one of his brothers take something from him. I really think it goes back to his soft heart. If we say, "No" and are even a little bit stern with our voice he acts like we just shot his dog. He definitely needs to toughen up a little. If we catch him doing something he knows he isn't supposed to be doing, he will get startled and jump about a foot and a half when we say his name……the jump is a tell-tale sign that he’s in to something he shouldn’t be in to! I love when they have guilt written all over their face!

Sometimes Pius can be a little klutzy. When he gets going too fast he will inevitably bite the dust. He is very tough physically and he will get up and laugh with all of us, but it looks like he falls so hard sometimes. Some of you may remember that Pius had to wear "magic shoes" for awhile and they helped a ton, but he still reverts to his in-turned ways sometimes.

One of the most disgusting things he does is store chewed up food in his mouth for HOURS! If he thinks a bite of food or a drink will be his last for awhile, he saves it in his chipmunk cheeks. I’ll notice that he has something in his mouth about 2 hours after our last meal. When I ask him what he has, a steady stream of liquidy brown crap comes out of his lip when he opens his mouth to tell me “All gone!” It really is one of the nastiest things any of them do. He’s learned to swallow the food remnants quickly if I catch him doing this because the only way I can seem to stop it is by threatening to hold his nose until all the food is swallowed. That was a hard lesson for him to learn….and even harder for me to follow through with! Usually because it meant that mama would get a face full of saliva and partially digested food after Pius just couldn’t hold his breath any longer and has to open his mouth to breathe. GROSS (but effective)!

Pius James, you are the most charming little boy in the world (minus the food-storing thingy…but even that is pretty funny). We all love you so much and are so proud of you. You bring smiles to the faces of all who know you and have the most sensitive soul! It’ll serve you well throughout your life and we don’t ever want you to lose that caring spirit. It’s part of what makes you……YOU!

Love,

Daddy, Mommy, Fo-Fo, DAN-nawww, and Waine

Billy Day 2010!

2010-01-06T23:55:00.001-06:00

Well, how many times can you recount a life-altering event?

Many, many times!

For the sake of not wanting to top last year's rendition of "Billy Day"...and because there just aren't enough hours in a day, you can click HERE to read all about the little slice of our past that we'd LIKE to forget. It's all there!

Love you Bill-boy and I'm SO glad we can celebrate this day every year. You're still my Superman!

Moni

It's Fo-Fo Day 2010!

2009-12-31T18:05:00.002-06:00

This boy is just high on life!

Some of you may remember that New Year's Day means it's "Forrest Day" to the Graf Quad Squad. For those of you new to our blog, we kept track of each of our kids' release day from the NICU. They will always share their birthdays, they share their clothes and toys, and everything else that multiples share. So, their “going home” date has become their own special day to have each year….all by themselves. To read last year’s Forrest Day Tribute, click here.

We got to bring Forrest Michael home on January 1, 2008. What an incredible way to start off the new year! Some of this may be repetitive, but Forrest was our second biggest of the squad. He weighed 3 lbs., 9 oz. and had blonde hair. Forrest probably had the smoothest stay in the NICU, and he was a pretty happy baby boy.

And the spoiling begins…..Gramma Bicki has her hand over Forrest while he was still inutero. Budda has half of Laine and half of Danna.

And then he was here in all his glory. The NICU was an uneventful obstacle for our Frosty. He graduated with flying colors!

Forrest was the 1st one to christen the Phoenix apartment after the NICU gave him the boot.

Who could forget that “jump out and poke you in the eye” umbilical hernia he sported for so many months?!

Like we said…..a happy kid who enjoys being a part of everything that is going on around him!

Those earlier days are hard to remember because little Forrest has turned into quite the brute. He usually is the heaviest and longest (not by much over Pius), but he is big. His head is big, his voice is big, his feet are big. We haven't had to worry about Forrest fighting the normal preemie size battle since he was about 6 months old and caught up to the normal age/size measurements.

Our plan this year is to go through each of the kids' strengths and weaknesses on their "day."

Forrest's strengths:

Forrest is a very physically strong boy. Some of you may remember me taking them bowling about 6 months ago and him carrying around a 10 pound ball with relative ease. We are pretty relieved that Forrest doesn't quite realize his strength just yet, because when battles occur in our house it pretty much comes down to who attacks first (usually Laine). I really think if Forrest used his strength to his advantage he would be the dominant alpha male in our house.

Braun AND Brains…..no big deal.

Forrest is the farthest along verbally of the four. I have stated before that he repeats EVERY word out of everyone's mouths, and that is still true. Forrest has some favorite words: NO, Jiggieeee (as in “get jiggy, Forrest….dance!”), Bwoncos, Bankie, TV, Peez-Dankooo-Welcome (in that quick successive order….all one phrase with him) and reindeer, just to name a few.

He is EXTREMELY SMART! Forrest starting saying his "ABC's" at around 20 months old. No big deal some may say, but he's also been able to pick out any letter separately since before that. You can ask him to find a “T” (or any other letter) in the room and he’ll hunt one down like a bird dog on a mission. That is a 2 1/2 year old skill and he has been doing that for quite awhile now. We’re not proud, or anything! Forrest also loves to count. He can count to twenty relatively easily, and that also is well ahead of schedule. Maybe that abnormally massive head of his is holding an abnormally large-sized brain. I don't know.

Forrest is a good-hearted kid. He likes to make people smile (most of the time), and does some of the funniest things. I have a Broncos text with sound on my phone that all four love (any old school gamers out there that can recognize the tune to Tokyo Magnum?!). But when they catch me looking at the messages on my phone, they all start saying "Broncos, Broncos" with the hopes that I will start it. When I do inevitably start the music, Forrest begins dancing and saying, "Jiggy, jiggy, jiggy" over and over. It is freaking adorable.

Forrest: “Uh-Oh….here’s where things start getting a little dicey for me. Better put my serious face on.”

Forrest's biggest areas for improvement (AKA weaknesses....we just don't like to call them that):

Forrest is easily the worst at sharing. If one of the kids so much as touches a toy that he is playing with, he starts throwing a fit…..usually traipsing off into another room to scream and huff-n-puff, throw himself on the ground, and pretty much just be as dramatic as possible for as long as possible, or until something else distracts him. Now if the others try to mess with his most sacred green blankie, all bets are off and he REALLY flies off the handle! It’s funny because if Forrest wants something the others are playing with, he will walk up, hold his hand out and say (so sweetly), "Share? Share?" But when HE doesn't get the item HE wants, the tantrum mode returns in full swing. You know the saying, “What’s mine is yours and what’s yours is mine”? Frosty fully believes that “What’s yours is mine and what’s mine is ALSO mine!” He guards his belongings fiercely.

Sweet Fo didn’t even want to bowl because he did not want to let go of “HIS” ball! So he sat and watched everyone else play with his ball tucked securely in his lap and arms.

When Young Forrest goes into said "tantrum mode," he becomes extremely irrational. I don't know if that is a 2-year-old thing or a spawn of Billy Graf thing, but it can be very frustrating. That is also when his favorite word "NO" comes out profusely.

The beginning stages of a melt-down. They started at such an early age!

Fortunately, Forrest can normally be distracted pretty easily and will return to his charming self quickly.

Forrest also has an unsettling attachment to his blankets. He doesn't want just ONE of his blankies either. He wants all FIVE of them AND his pillow to be taken out of his crib immediately after we pick him up in the morning, if not before. Most days he won't even eat breakfast without at least one of his blankies in hand. After obtaining his blankies and they are properly secured, he shifts to his next major attachment…..his thumb. The thumb goes directly to his mouth (he no longer has a normal-looking right thumbnail due to it’s constant state of dampness). It’s actually quite cute and endearing, but I’m sure it’ll be a bear to have to break him of his thumb and “blanks” down the road. Let them be little, right?!?!

So those are some of his best traits and his worst traits on Forrest Day 2010. We could not have asked for a better second child and we thank God for him everyday. Because of all the things we have mentioned and so much more, we can not wait to see what kind of man he turns out to be! We already know that he is one of the best boys in the whole world and we’re excited to throw ourselves into these tumultuous TWO’s . We love you so much, Fo-Fo!

Love,

Daddy, Mama, Pi-u-see, Dannie, and Wainer