November catch up

The past few weeks have been a big mash up of fun and hard times.  I've been to my fair share of doctor appointments with Leah, Levi, and Allison- all follow up and future planning things.  Dave caught a stomach bug and was quarantined for 3 days.  He was nice enough to pass the bug along to my mom, one of Leah's therapists, and several of my regular volunteers.  Needless to say, that week was TOUGH!  I am thankful that I avoided it and the babies too.  But, now the babies are catching colds- especially little guy Levi :(  I feel so bad for them!  And I'm really hoping this doesn't turn into anything worse.

Amongst the sickness and doctor visits, Dave and I have managed to get out of the house a little bit- thanks to some fantastic friends!!  I went to the Nutcracker Market for the first time.  It was fun and overwhelming, and a little embarrassing when my friend asked every booth "Do you give a sextuplets discount?"  Although it did pay off once :)  One lady was from Wyoming and knew all about me from the news- weird!  And NO she did not give me a discount.  Dave and I have also had separate movie dates with friends- I saw Twilight and he saw James Bond.  I've never been to opening night before and the screaming girls were quite amusing!  I really appreciate everyone who helps with the babies so we can get a break here and there; it's nice to miss them sometimes :)

2 major things that have happened recently.... baby dedication and first solids!

Our church does baby dedications twice a year, it's a casual deal, but something meaningful and important to me.  As with all events, it took some special planning to have us there- like our secret hideout room, but it went smoothly.  I wanted us to go last so we wouldn't steal any attention from the other babies being dedicated.  No babies cried or vomited!  Can't say the same for the adults.  It was more of an emotional experience than we anticipated, reminded us of everything we've been through the past year.

Babies and their holders ready to be dedicated to the Lord

The 5 have officially started eating rice cereal every evening!  Ben and Caroline have taken to it (surprise, surprise) and Andrew likes it, but hasn't quite got the hang of keeping it in his mouth.  Allison does surprisingly well, but she is the messiest eater.  Levi HATES it!  His faces are hilarious.  What makes feeding time soooo much better is our new feeding table!!  I was totally and completely surprised with it this week.  Our small group and some regular volunteers pooled together to buy it for us :)  It happened to arrive while I was bringing Levi to the doctor and when I got home it was set up in the kitchen waiting for me!  We really have the best support system anyone could hope for and I'm so happy these wonderful people are in my babies' lives!

Ready to eat!

Levi says "I hate this stuff!"

A little backyard fun on a nice day :)

Andrew's song

Here's my latest songwriting creation to the tune of "Where is Thumbkin?":

My name's Andrew.  My name's Andrew.
I am loud.  I am loud.
I don't like to stand up.  I don't like to stand up.
I crouch down.  I crouch down.

I know my creativity is mind boggling!  :)

Mr. Twinkle Toes himself-Andrew!

The First Halloween

Halloween was a success!  With 2 sets of costumes, we were able to play dress up 2 days in a row!  My cousin provided us with cute little pumpkin hats and an awesome sign that says "Perkins Patch".  I plan to use this as my fall yard decor in years to come.  The day before Halloween we set everything up in the backyard for a mini photo shoot.  Unfortunately, the babies weren't quite as excited about this idea, so they're crying in most of the pictures.

Levi, Ben, Andrew

Caroline, Leah, Allison

For Halloween night the babies dressed up as animals/insects. These costumes were half hand-me-downs and half new from Gammy (my mom).  The babies weren't thrilled with being dressed up, but they did great while we trick or treated!  Our Bible study group joined us for Trick or Treating with the Perkins Pack.  It was nice having a large group so no one had to carry a baby for too long.  We walked around the block stopping at a few houses for candy.  These babies scored some major candy- which was distributed amongst the adults :)  All in all, it was a fun time!

Leah, Ben, Alli, Caroline, Levi, Andrew

Action shot of the fun

All our great baby holders

6 month check up

We had our 6 month well checks this past week.  First time taking all 6 to the doctor at once.  I had 5 helpers, so with that and a well prepared pediatrician, the visit went smoothly.  We took up 3 rooms (2 kids per room).  The nurse went one by one getting the vitals and asking developmental questions, then I "huddled" with the doctor and discussed each child and asked all my questions, then he went one by one examining them.  As soon as he finished they all got their shots.  Long process, but we were out of there in 2 hours- not too shabby.

The only kiddos who had a hard time with the shots were Allison and Leah.  Levi got a referral for a helmet.  Benjamin, Andrew, and Caroline are off the preemie high calorie formula and on regular now. Everyone except Leah got the ok to start rice cereal.  Besides that, everyone looks great and we got a big thumbs up!

I forgot to grab the after visit summaries, so these stats may need correcting after I get them in the mail...
Andrew- 16 lb 7 oz  25.5 in
Benjamin- 16 lb 10 oz  24.5 in
Caroline- 15 lb 10 oz  24.5 in
Leah- 10 lb 9 oz 22 in
Allison- 11 lb 1 oz  22.5 in
Levi- 11 lb 8 oz 22.3 in