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  

2 in a month? WHAT?!

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!!!

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