We’ve got a shipment!!!!

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…

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!

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…

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

       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!!!

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

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