Six Month Doc Visit and Ryan's Wounded Army Crawl Video

Updates, updates! I have updates! We took the amazingly unintelligent decision to take the babies to the doctor last week...all five at the same time!! It was chaotic, stressful, crazy, but totally fun and something we'll remember forever...though we probably won't be pulling that stunt again any time soon! Imagine five babies and five adults in a room about the size of a master closet...for two hours, complete with two shots for each baby...aaaaggggggghhhh!!!! Imagine five little wigglers all wearing nothing but their diapers on an examination table at the same time, then imagine Ryan trying to crawl over the other four to get to who knows where while Jack keeps rolling to his tummy, steam-rolling Britton in the process! Then imagine giving them all two shots!!! At one point, they all decided it was time to eat so we had two nurses plus Dr. Ma each feeding a baby while Casey and I handled the other two...too funny! Though it was relatively normal for Casey and I, I think it was a bit stressful for the doctor and her staff. As we were leaving, she said, "I think I liked it better when you brought them three and two." I think we'll take that as a not-so-subtle hint as to how she would like the next visit to be structured... :)

The babies are all doing very, very well and are mostly ahead of where they should be developmentally. They are officially six months and a few days old, but their adjusted age (based on their actual due date) puts them around three months developmentally. Here are the new stats (% based on adjusted age):

- Brooklyn Faith - 24" tall (50%), 12 pounds, 7 ounces (25%), 41 cm head circ. (50%)

- Britton Grace - 22" tall (8%), 10 pounds, 0 ounces (3%), 41 cm head circ. (50%)

- Jack William - 24" tall (50%), 15 pounds, 5 ounces (55%), 43-1/2 cmm head circ. (90%)

- Lila Addison - 23" tall (25%), 11 pounds, 12 ounces (20%), 41 cm head circ. (50%)

- Ryan Elizabeth - 24" tall (50%), 12 pounds, o ounces (25%), 39 cm head circ. (10%)

They are definitely hybrid babies - doing some of the things six monthers do (crawling, for example) and doing some of the things three monthers do (like not sleeping through the night!!!). Ryan is the most striking example of this mix as she is fully mobile now...just put a toy a few feet in front of her and watch her go! This is definitely not something most three monthers are doing by this age! Here is the link to the video of her making her way across the three activity gyms to get to some toys:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYdvjN1wJ0Q

None of the babies made a peep on the drive to and from the doctor's office so I guess they enjoyed it - it was the first time The Fab Five was all together in the car at once. And since we dropped Eliot off at school on the way, it was also the first time all eight of us together in the car. And let me tell you, we were CRAMPED!! Thank goodness none of them fussed because there would have been no getting to them!

Our next venture out as a family is on the schedule for August 16th. We are very excited for this day as it is the day we dedicate the babies to the church at Riverbend. We'll be on stage (yes, all of us!) for both the 9:45 and 11:15 services to introduce the clan to the congregation that has been so supportive of our family since before the babies were born. What a day that will be!

I want to take a quick moment to thank Jan (one of Grandma Stevie's good friends) for making her third trip from the Dallas area to our home for the weekend to help take care of the babies. She has been so awesome to help out and really works hard to give us a break when she comes! Because of her and Grandma Stevie taking care of the Six Pack last night, Casey and I actually got to go out on a date!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

Thank you also to all of the volunteers for their continued support and to everyone out there praying for our family! Life continues to be in a constant state of change and mostly entrenched in chaos, but you all have helped to make it a very rewarding time for our family!!

God Bless,

Ethan

www.JonesLife.net

Not quite done with our 15 minutes!

We had a visit yesterday from two local TV stations who wanted to do a story on the quints' 6 month birthday. It has always been kind of hectic to do these interviews, but it is always so worth it when you get to see your babies on TV, showing off their super-cuteness! Here is the link to one of the stories that ran (the other station hasn't posted their story).

http://www.kvue.com/news/top/stories/071609kvue_Jones_turn_6_mos-cb.48b8dad4.html

God Bless,
Ethan
www.JonesLife.net

Happy Birthday, Eliot McKenna!!

Eliot turned 5 years old today...we can't believe our baby girl is all grown up now!!! Well, I guess "all grown up" is a relative term - I guess grown ups don't put on singing shows for their parents while wearing a princess night grown and singing to "A Whole New World" from Aladdin like Eliot did last night. And I guess most grown ups don't request pumpkin pie for their birthday treat or pout for half an hour because one of their party balloons floated away while unpacking the car. And I would have to say most grown ups do not spend their evenings drawing pictures of their family, complete with rainbows, sunshines, smiley faces, and Daddy's spikey hair.

But she's definitely not the tiny six pounder who came into our lives five years ago today and instantly turned our lives upside down for the first of many times to come! She's not the little one-year-old that I used to call "Two-Toofers" because of the two front bottom teeth that she flashed with every smile. She's also not the toddler who used to run around the house on her tiptoes, used to use my stomach as a trampoline, once spread diaper rash cream all over her face and her stuffed tigers face because they had a rash, and each night at bedtime was never satisfied with just one book. And she's not the four-going-on-thirteen-year-old who developed a taste for independence early on in life and made sure everyone around her respected that freedom. Nope, as all who have kids know, the changes come fast in the first years and with them new joys and an almost equal amount of headaches - headaches that only appear when you forget to laugh first! We've loved every minute of it, Little Miss Sunshine, and can't wait to see what the next chapter in our lives brings!!

Happy Birthday, Eliot! We love you!

God Bless,

Ethan

www.JonesLife.net

The Original 3 Head South

Here are a few pics from our mini-vacation July 2nd and 3rd. We had a blast playing in the sand and the surf (though I think Eliot preferred the hotel pool) then cooled off later taking in Ice Age 3 - Dawn of the Dinosaurs in 3d. It was great to get a small taste of what our life used to be like before diving head first back into reality on the 4th!!

God Bless,

Ethan

http://www.joneslife.net/

Update - Finally!!

First of all, thank you to Elle Mendenhall of Ella Bella Photography for these awesome pictures of the babies!! She came out a couple of times to photograph the babies, volunteering both her time and talents to capture these pics. Elle specializes in newborn photography displayed a unique talent for keeping the babies calm. Too bad she can't hang around more often! Visit her website at www.ellabellaphotos.com!

It's been awhile, hasn't it? Sorry for my absence - school has been working me over lately! Summer session is in full swing and is every bit the wall that everyone told me it would be. The work is intense, the topics are complicated, and the summer school blues are in full effect!! I'm ashamed to admit that for the first summer ever, I didn't get a sunburn until this past weekend...pathetic, I know! I'm used to having my first burn no later than April 1st so this is a bit tough for me to accept! Alright, onto what you really want to know about...The Fab Five!!

The babies are all doing really well and have started to calm down after sufficiently punishing us for being away for a couple of days. The original three - me, Casey, and Eliot - headed south to spend a couple of days at the beach last week and get some much needed time away from Babyville. We had a blast!! We put the little one in charge of the agenda and she wasted no time lining out the plan, complete with a list of events in order of priority! We spent time at the beach, in the pool, in the ice cream shop, and at the movies and even managed to get two solid night's sleep!! It was really good to be back in the normal world even for just a bit and remember what our life used to be like, but it was also good to get back and see the babies.

Obviously, we had loads of help from several different volunteers with the Harrison family staying over at the house to coordinate everybody and handle the night shifts. We can't thank all of you enough!!!!! Supposedly, the Fab Five took it easy on them while we were out, apparently saving their energy for when we returned. We got back on the fourth and spent the next two days mostly without volunteer help as the babies took turns seeing which one could chug the most formula then scream the loudest. I think they set it up as a double-elimination tournament format because the competition, which began around 2:00 in the afternoon on Saturday, didn't wind down until around midnight on Sunday evening.

As expected, Ryan the Lion took the prize for longest period of unstoppable screaming fit throwing. Brooklyn and Britton came in a close second while Lila took the trophy for loudest mouth of the south though it must have taken all she had because it didn't last very long!! Brooklyn was the formula eating champion, putting on an amazing display of back-to-back full bottle chugs several times during the tournament! Even Big Bad Jack had to pay his respects to her bottle management mojo. Let's just hope she doesn't carry that skill with her to college life... :)

All of the babies are rollers now, though only Brooklyn and Ryan can do so from their backs to their tummies. Jack is trying for all he is worth to get the back-to-belly roll down, but his big ol' dome just won't cooperate! They are all smiling with great regularity and Lila, Ryan, and Jack have started to laugh from time to time...it is too dang cute!!! They are also starting to grab toys and interact with the different dangley things that hang from their bouncey seats and other rest stops. Ryan appears to be the strongest right now - she stands all the time and holds her head up for long periods of time when she is on her belly. I guess that's the benefit to her regular screaming fits - strong back and neck muscles from arching and flexing all the time! She's building some serious core muscles in the process as well!

Other than that, they are all still acting like normal babies - restless, hungry, and inconsistent. The longest stretch of sleep we can expect out of them is about five hours, but that is a pretty rare feat. Most nights, one of them will wake up after about 3-1/2 or 4 hours and we wake the rest up to feed at that time. Dear Lord, we are looking forward to them sleeping through the night! Consistency to the schedule is still little more than a dream that can't come soon enough!

I did a very unscientific weigh-in of everyone about a week ago using a bathroom scale. Here are the weights (the scale only reads in whole and half numbers):

- Broolyn Faith - 12 pounds

- Britton Grace - 9 pounds

- Jack William - 14 pounds

- Lila Addison - 11 pounds

- Ryan Elizabeth - 11.5 pounds

In the personality department, Ryan and Britton are the stars of the show for the time being. They are both bursting with smiles, coos, and other flashes of personality while Jack, Lila, and Brooklyn are still pretty laid back. It's so cool to watch their personalities develop and to see how they differ from each other. From their cries to their smiles, all of the babies are incredibly unique from each other! Here is a short video that the Harrison's took while we were gone of Britton saying hello and showing you why we call her Bobbles:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsZAO3Ajo30

So life continues to roll on in this crazy new world of ours. We're still one day at a time and finding that some days it can be a lot easier to keep it all in perspective than other days. We laugh, we cry, we get really stressed and frustrated, then we laugh some more...and we can often cycle through all of that in about an hour or two! If you've been praying for us, please keep us on the list! And if you haven't been praying for us, why not? Kidding!! Y'all take care!

God Bless,

Ethan

www.JonesLife.net