And the Cheese Stands Alone

The "Cheese" is unhappy about standing alone.

We hope you guys don't mind, but we need to start this post out by mentioning who visited last weekend. Moni's big sister, Mollie, came down to meet the babes and help mom and dad out with them. We are feeling bad because any visitors we get now are kind of stuck on house arrest too. Mollie was a sport about it and she was even able to give us a few tips on parenting. She let Pius sleep in bed with her one night when he was being a gigantic turd and Moni was at her wits end with him. What a sweet aunt. Thanks for coming down, Mollie, and we are so sorry we forgot to mention it before.

Now onto more current news...We now have the three boys home. Danna (the cheese) is left alone at the hospital. It didn't take long and she had a new roommate. Her roommate is a triplet and Danna let her know that triplets are no big deal, really.

Moni and I really think that Laine might be an angel sent from the Good Lord. Between Pius and Forrest, we were running pretty ragged. Pius would NOT sleep from around 2 in the morning until about 6. Forrest could not be consoled from around 1 in the afternoon until around 4. Laine, our little calming influence, came in and seemed to straighten things up. Moni and I probably had our best night of sleep since we had ANY of them home (we average about 3-4 hours a day). All three of them were perfect angels and required just a little maintenance throughout the night. We hope this trend continues and Laine isn't just masking his true intentions. We really think it might be for real because all of his nurses told us that he was one of the sweetest babies they had cared for.

Individual updates:

Big Poppa: He had his first doctor's appointment yesterday and he passed with flying colors. As a matter of fact, his doctor said that he is at the top of the growth chart for babies born at his gestational age (31 weeks). He weighed 7 pounds, 15 ounces. You can see the doctor wasn't lying. He has been spitting up a little bit after feeds, but the doctor said it is nothing to worry about and gave us a few tips for trying to prevent it. His first two nights at home were a little scary for mommy and daddy, but we have since got into the groove with him and we did well with the adjustment.

Frosty: Just when we started to figure out Forrest, Pius came to join the party. You know those little onesies that say, "Party at my crib, 2 a.m.?" Well if the shoe fits...Forrest was doing a nice job with the sleep until Pius showed up. Those two together formed quite a team of a little terrorists. He has continued to thrive at home, and yesterday at Pius's doctor appointment he weighed in at 7 pounds, 13 ounces. Just so you guys know kind of what we are dealing with, Monica weighed him with all of his clothes on the first time and he weighed 8 pounds, 3 ounces. We knew that couldn't be right so we stripped him down and found the culprit in his diaper for the weight. Ryno, since math wasn't your strong subject, that means that there was 6 ounces of "Forrest goodness" in britches.

Little Man Laine: Before we delve into Laine, we would like to preface our thoughts with the reminder that we get to change our minds about him or any of them at any time. As we said before, our angel got to come home last night. He really has been a great addition to the other two stooges. He must have said something in "infant language" to the Twin Towers about behaving. When he got home, the behavior really did straighten up. Before we left the hospital he was weighing 6 pounds, 1 ounce. They told us that he was eating between 55-65 cc's (30 cc's equals 1 ounce) at each feeding and we can easily attest. The three boys are eating Moni out of breast and home. So far we have been lucky and Moni has been able to keep up with all four of their appetites with her pumping. Hopefully that will continue.

Danna Banana: She continues to amaze us and the professionals with her capabilities. She is off all oxygen and taking all of her feeds (and then some) at each feeding. She received her 2 month shots tonight and did very well. We are hoping to bring our little "Diva" home on Friday or Saturday. If she doesn't have any setbacks and she passes her carseat test, our family will be complete by the weekend. She weighs 3 pounds, 14 ounces now and is steadily climbing up the scales. It is hard to picture her being Pius's birthweight, but the scale doesn't lie. She is still being politely called "feisty" by all of her nurses. That makes daddy grin and mommy grimace.

The Three Stooges all awake for their first picture together. From L to R is Pius, Laine and Forrest. I think Laine is getting squished because it looks like his eyeballs are about to pop out. Either that or he's leaving mom and dad a little present in his pants.

They were all a little bit greasy. It wasn't bath day until today. Pius found something else to eat.

So cute together...don't ya think? Forrest is such a ham for the camera.

Laine and Forrest finally close enough to breathe on each other...or lick each other I guess. Forrest was hired to taste test Laine for Pius.

We tried hard for a "baby-hawk" for Laine, but there just isn't enough hair up there. Gampy Stubby, do you think he could borrow some rogaine? Besides, Laine didn't want us to accentuate his already rather large noggin. L to R is Forrest, Laine and Pius.

This is how they were acting most of the time we were trying to pose them.

This is the "act" they are putting on for the video camera. They were not acting this cooperative before.

As for the entire squad, here is our tentative plan: Our parents and Bucko are flying in for assistance and we will fly out of Phoenix at around 10:30 next Monday. All of this is contingent on Miss Danna following protocol. We are so excited, but also so bogged down with stuff to do and babies to care for.

We definitely need to let everyone know about the help that Becky has provided. Not only has she made it possible for us to come down here in the first place, she has babysat for us a couple of times so that we can run errands. She is our guardian angel and we thank God so much for her.

We also needed to mention another rule that we forgot (our NICU friend, Melody, reminded us about it). If you are over at our house and need to smoke please bring something to cover up with or change into while you smoke. Like EVERY other rule, it is not pointed at anyone in particular and non-negotiable. That rule goes for everybody, including ourselves if we are in that kind of mood.

One more thing before we wrap this one up is about the scheduling. Kelly has received a couple of your emails and they are duly noted. She does have a job that requires 40-60 hours a week, and may not have time to respond right away. Please trust that she is getting them, and she will be in touch when she gets a second. Thanks again, Kelly, for orchestrating our helpers.

Graf Quad Squad

P.S. Now, not only are mom and dad reading the comments, but the three boys are looking at them too. They have been a little disappointed with the responses thus far, but Moni and I are telling them to keep the faith. The commenters always come through.