Mia - 18 months

Little Mia is halfway through her second year of life. She's still the tiniest of the quints. People are always asking me if she's the youngest & I'm like, no, she's actually the oldest (but if you want to get technical, she's only a minute older than Tessa- the quints were all born in a span of 7 minutes and Mia came out first).

Weight:18lbs
Height:29.5in

Developmental Accomplishments: Mia is really not talking but she is trying. She's making more sounds. She is walking everywhere and is getting faster everyday. She will run away from you. She is eating so much better.  She's still getting all her liquids through the g-tube and she's still vomiting a lot.

All About Mia: She's got the cutest little toothy grin. Her hair is brown and it's super curly. Her eyes are hazel. She has the tiniest feet. She doesn't like to have her hair pulled up in a ponytail. She tries to take it down and she really dislikes bows in her hair. She takes really short naps and she's usually the first baby to wake up in the mornings (it's usually her or Brant).

Likes: She loves her Mr. Frog paci, she is a total mama's girl, she loves her siblings, she adores Brady, and she loves to love on her fellow quints. She has the funniest laugh. She is starting to assert herself more. She likes to Dance. She likes to watch Mickey Mouse and Bubble Guppies.

Dislikes: She does not like therapy at the clinic. She cries the whole time. She doesn't like people to try to hold her that she doesn't know.

Food: Mia still gets all her liquids through her g-tube. However, she is eating better. She like broth and the juices of food. She also likes chicken (she is her father's daughter).

Personality: Mia doesn't like anything new. New people and new environments push her over the edge and she just can't deal. She's funny, spunky, and hilarious. She is a character, that girl!

Oreo face

See, I told you, she's a character!

Watching her first pep rally. 

Popsicles are yummy!

Sleeping with Daddy.

Cuddling with her reindeer.

She wasn't excited about getting her teeth cleaned.

Mama & Mia

Serious Mia

Swinging with Rayleigh

Selfie with Aunt Kris

Brady - 3.5 years

I can't believe we're halfway through Brady's third year of life! The past three-and-a-half years have flown by. It's amazing how much growing and changing Brady has done. Here's a little update on our big guy.

Weight: 31 pounds
Height: 39 inches
Hair/eyes: His hair is still blonde and his eyes are blue.
Health: He is a very healthy little boy!
Physical Developments: Brady is developmentally right on track. He is fast as lightning.
Sleep: He sleeps in his room in his toddler bed, all night. He loves to snuggle with his pillow and blanket.

Brady's Favorites:
Color: Blue
Movies: Polar Express, Shark Tales, Finding Nemo, Brother Bear, Pocahontas, Up
TV shows: Thomas the Train, Bubble Guppies, Octonauts, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
Hobbies: Going to Aunt Kayla's new house (just down the road), going to watch Makenna play volleyball & cheer, and Gage play football, riding on the golf cart
Friends: Gavin (cousin), Tommy (from church), Jadyn (from church)
Sayings/Words: "Here me are", "Oh, yes me are", " where's my babies", "do you hear me", "let's go to Chick-a-la", "I missed you mama", "let me tell you a secret", "hush your mouth".
Book: The Night Before Preschool
Drinks: Water with ice, orange juice, Sprite
Food: Oatmeal (blue, orange, red), yogurt, chicken nuggets from Chick-fil-A, frozen pizza
Toys: trains, his stuffed monkey and bear

School: Brady has been going to school for almost a month now and he's doing pretty good. I think he's finally starting to get the hang of everything (thank you Lord).

Life as a Big Brother: Brady is a good big brother to the quints. He calls the quints "my babies". If they are asleep, he'll ask me "where's my babies?". He is also good about "alerting" me when the quints are doing something that they shouldn't be doing, like climbing on the chairs or couch. He does not like to share any of his toys with the quints and has no problem telling them to hush their mouth when they are being loud. It took a while for him to adjust to our quintvasion but I think it's finally sunk in that they are here for good. He loves them and I love to see all six of them playing together.

Biggest Accomplishment: Brady says the sweetest prayers. Every night before he goes to bed he thanks God for everything and then he thanks God for our family. His prayers melt my heart! And he has memorized 12 bible verses!!! He has a great memory and we work with him every night on reviewing the verses he has learned and teaching him new ones. Nothing in this world can make me happier than to know my little boy is learning and memorizing God's word.

He loves to be outside riding his tractor or tricycle. Anytime a family member comes to our house, he wants to leave with them. Now that my sister lives just 100 yards from us, he's always wanting to go to "Kayla's new house". He will not look at the camera when it's time for a picture. He is very stubborn and hard-headed! However, he is very sweet and loving. And he's funny and super duper cute!!!

He loves Katie!

Ready to watch some Cardinal Football!

He was a big boy and had a complete dental checkup. 

Yay for no cavities!!!!

He's very independent now. He can even get what he wants out of the refrigerator.

He's still all about trains!

From the second this little guy made his grand entrance into this world, he has brought so much love, joy, and laughter to our lives. It is truly a honor to be Brady's mama! There are no words to express how much love I have for this little boy! I'm so excited to see the young man he's going to grow up to be! Thank you God for blessing us with our sweet Brady Boo!

Grandparents Day 2015

I'm always looking for a reason to bring my whole family together so Steven and I invited our parents and grandparents over for lunch today to celebrate Grandparents Day. We have been so blessed with such a wonderful family who loves us and helps us out so much. We actually announced to our grandparents 4 years ago that we were expecting Brady!!!! So this day is special for several reasons.

Steven and I have lost both sets of our grandfathers. And my maternal grandmother past away when I was only 7 years old. So getting together with the grandmothers is important because I know they won't be here forever and I want to make the most of our time now. Sadly, my grandmother suffers from Alzheimer's Disease. I don't know if she'll be able to come to many more family functions as her condition gets worse so I want to bring us all together as a family as much as I possibly can. We missed my grandmother from Houston; its too far of a drive for her to come up for a short weekend. And unfortunately, Steven's mom was sick and couldn't make it. Otherwise, we had a great turnout and a fabulous time together.

Our menu was roast-potatoes-& carrots, with macaroni and cheese, salad, and bread. Of course we had yummy desserts to choose from, such as: brownies, chocolate chip cookies, watermelon, and jello.

Gage & GeeGee

Grandma, Kayla, Mia, and me

I have the best grandma in the world. I'm so thankful she was able to come eat with us today. She had a good day!

Papa Berney & Tessa

Steven's grandma & my grandma have been friends since they were in school together. We are so blessed to have such wonderful women in our family. And I think it's pretty neat how far back our families go.

We love our grandparents! We had a wonderful day celebrating these wonderful people in our lives.

Brady & Nana

Thank you Lord for blessing our family with the most amazing grandparents and great-grandparents!!

August 2015

Goodbye Summer!!! Hello September. While it's not officially fall, September 1st is when I start gearing up for fall. I love this time of the year and I'm so excited for some cooler weather so we can start taking the kids out walking around the neighborhood. And of course I'm ready for some Friday Night Lights!!!! Can't wait to take all the kids to cheer on the Cardinals!

But before I get too excited and carried away with fall stuff, here's what we did in August. It was hot, but what would you expect in Texas?!? I lost most of my babysitters; everyone had to go back to work and school. August brought BIG changes for our family, Brady started school and the quints started going to the clinic for therapy.

Brady started Pre-K 3. The first week was rough in the behavior department. He ended up in the Thinking Chair 2 out of the 3 days!  :/ I was so embarrassed. The last thing I want is for him to cause all kinds of ruckus in the classroom. I'm praying he'll get the hang of it soon and will have a great year. I think he enjoys school but when I picked him up the first day, he told me he wasn't going back to that "church school" anymore. I thought that was so funny. And I'm happy to report that his second week went much better, he had two good days in a row! Things are starting to look better.     :)

1st Day of Pre-K 3!

Walking with Daddy.
I love this picture so much. 

2nd Day of Pre-K 3!!

Walking with Mama.
I hold his hand and he holds my heart!

3rd Day of Pre-K 3!!!
I get to school early so I can back my big van up and not have to worry about running over anyone. I let Brady get out of his seat and sit by me in the front seat while we wait for the doors to be unlocked. On this particular day, he got down in the floor and was hiding from me. He's too funny!

Such a big boy!
His shirt says Play Ground Legend. I'm pretty sure, recess is going to be his favorite subject!

Since Brady is in school 3 days a week and we're having to make the 30 minute commute to Texarkana to drop him off, I talked to our therapists and asked if we could start doing therapy in the clinic instead of at our house. She said yes, so after I drop Brady off at school, I take the quints to the clinic. It is working out wonderfully. Plus the quints are being challenged by all the cool stuff at the clinic.

Jumping on the trampoline. Brant wasn't too excited about it. 

Rayleigh

Brant playing in rice.

Tessa was taking a little ride.

Mia and Ms. Mia riding on some log looking thingy.
Therapy is so much fun!

Getting used to a new schedule has been tough on the whole family!! I'm trying to take the quints' morning nap away in hopes that they'll sleep longer for their afternoon nap. It has been a struggle. They usually end up falling asleep as soon as we buckle them in the car seat after therapy. They are pretty resistant to change, but I'm not giving up yet. Needless to say, I've been exhausted lately.

We took the girls to Dallas this month to see the GI doctor. Mia did not gain weight so she is on a new formula. He bumped her up from 24 calories to 30 calories in hopes of fattening her up. So far it hasn't worked because she's sick and taking antibiotics. I think the antibiotics are upsetting her tummy because she's had diarrhea and she's vomiting after every feed. Hopefully after she finishes the antibiotics and her tummy settles down, she'll start gaining weight. Tessa is off formula and drinking PediaSure. She likes it and has been taking almost all her feeds from the bottle!! Gracie is my little rockstar, she's also on PediaSure now and taking all feeds by mouth. Rayleigh is on PediaSure now too, she's still using the tube for all feeds. We go back to the GI doctor in October.

I made a quick trip to south Texas to see my uncle get married. It was a beautiful wedding; the setting was spectacular. Travis' new wife, Brooke, looked stunning. She was so gorgeous and her wedding dress was beautiful (Travis looked pretty handsome himself!). It was so nice to get to visit with my Houston family. I don't get to see them nearly as much as I'd like.

In just two short weeks we'll be celebrating everyone's half birthday! Brady will be 3 1/2 on the 15th and the Quints will be 1 1/2 on the 18th! None of that seems possible!

I'm very proud of myself; I have already been working on getting everyone's Halloween costumes together. So far, I have 2 costumes completed and only 6 more to go, because Steven and I get in on the fun too! I can't wait for Halloween, I think our crew is going to be pretty cute and it's going to be so much fun. It'll be hard to beat our 101 Dalmatians from last year, but we shall see.....

We took the kids to watch Makenna play volleyball. 

I love this $10 sign I got at the Dollar Store. I love the beach and look forward to the day when we can take all the kids to play in the sun, sand, and ocean. But summer is over, so my pretty little sign is back in storage until next summer!

My mantel was all decorated for summer. 

Our fun handprint art that we made for my mantel for summer!

Well, that's all I have folks! August was pretty low-key. I'm hoping to have some fun adventures in September when it starts to cool off outside. Stay tuned for updates on all six kiddos; I'll do that when Brady turns 3.5 and when the Quints turn 18 months in a few weeks.  :)

For more updates and to see more pictures of our Six Sweet Seals, go to my Facebook page, Six Sweet Seals.

XOXO,
Michelle

Brady: School Days

I can't believe our little guy started Pre-K 3 today!! The fact that we're at the is point in his life is very unsettling for this mama. I can't seem to wrap my mind around just how fast Brady is growing up. A couple of months ago, I started considering putting Brady in a preschool. This past year has been so hard on him with our quintvasion and learning to live life as a family of eight. I didn't want to take him to a babysitter or daycare when I'm at home, but I really felt like he needed something that was all about him. He needed time away from the quints. So, we looked into a preschool at a church that's about 30 minutes from where we live. The three year old class only meets Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday from 9am-12pm. So, when you put it into perspective that he's only going to be away for 9 hours a week, that didn't sound too bad to me. I did not want him to be in school all day every day, I feel he's way too young for that, but I think he'll do really well with a couple hours a week in a learning environment with kids his own age. I'm excited about this new adventure and I hope a pray this will be an awesome experience for him.

Meet the Teacher
Thursday, August 20th, Steven and I took Brady to meet his new teachers. He's in the Redbird class and his teachers are Ms. Kay and Ms. Holly. I was so nervous about Meet the Teacher. I seriously didn't know what to expect; I had butterflies in my tummy the whole time. His classroom was decorated very cute and his little classmates were adorable. I was even able to meet some of the moms and they were super nice. There was only one little thing I foresee being an issue for Brady, the Thomas the Train table. He loves Thomas and I don't know if he's going to be able to control himself when it comes to playing at the train table. We shall see....

Sitting in his chair.

He looks so big!

I loved seeing his name around the room.

Ms. Holly & Brady

The First Day
I woke up bright and early so I could get ready before the kids woke up. I got about halfway through my cereal when I heard Mia start crying, so I quickly and quietly went and got her before she woke everyone else up. I got almost everything together when the rest of the kids started waking up and help arrived. We got everyone fed, dressed, and I took as many first day pictures of Brady that he'd allow. We were loaded in the van and driving out of the driveway 2 minutes early! Steven met us at the school so he could be there to see Brady off. Walking up to the school, I felt the tears trying to form, but thankfully I kept it together. We got to his room and unloaded everything. His teachers greeted him and he was fine. He was more interested in playing at the train table than anything else. We took a quick family picture, gave him a kiss, and left. I don't think he ever knew when we left. None of us (Dad, Mom, or Brady) cried on the first day of school!!!!!

The whole time he was at school I kept wondering if my phone was going to ring. I wondered how he acted once he realized we'd left him. I wondered how he was behaving and getting along with the other kids in class. Thankfully, I never got a call. However, when I picked him up, his teacher told me he had to sit in the Thinking Chair for not following directions. I was so embarrassed. I had a bad feeling he was going to get in trouble on the first day of school and I was right. Hopefully, he will get the hang of school and will make good decisions from this point on. He did tell me that he wasn't going back to school anymore, so tomorrow should be interesting! I'm really not looking forward to dropping him off in the morning. We need lots of prayers!  :)

I had all his stuff ready by the door.
One of my friends gave me this backpack for free and another friend painted Brady's name on it (also free). So he has a cute monogramed backpack and it didn't cost us a dime!! I've got the best friends ever!!!

Eating his oatmeal

As you can see, getting Brady to up at the camera and smile is not an easy task!

I bought this picture frame at Hobby Lobby and painted the glass with chalkboard paint. I use it for lots of occasions.

Aunt Kris stopped by to wish him well.

All About Brady

This week all the kids take a Teddy Bear to school with them. He loves his bear. They were supposed to name the bear and he had been calling it George all weekend, then today he decided it was Teddy Bear. 

I can't believe how fast my baby boy is growing up!

Not excited to be heading to school.

I love this picture and the two guys in it!!!

Heading towards the Train Table.

Ms. Kay giving him and Teddy Bear a name tag.

Family selfie... He was crying because I took him away from the Train Table to try to get a picture with him.

When I left, we was busy playing with the trains.

Overall, I think his first day went well. Let's hope he doesn't need time in the Thinking Chair anymore!  :-)

xoxo,
Michelle

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