My kids are old enough?

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…

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?

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…

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…

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…