Our 1st (and possibly only) Q & A....

First and foremost THANK YOU for your outpouring of encouragement and congratulations through the past week. I'm glad I could share little pieces of our celebration of LIFE with you.....

I've been a bit stumped on how to follow up what has been some of our best blog posts ever (in my humble opinion). I can't possibly beat the 1st Year Video, Cake Pics, or 1st Bday Memories! So I've decided to attempt a Q & A....Hopefully I don't kick myself for it later!

I've selected a FEW questions/comments that I've been getting via comments or email.

Please don't be offended if I didn't choose your specific question. There's probably a variety of reasons why I did not (ie: It was too intrusive, I've answered it before on this blog, I don't know the answer, or because I'm just mean like that -HA!). I also would ask that you refrain from turning this post into a forum of comments/questions that you would never say aloud to your grandmother......(I'm typing this with a smile, but in all seriousness there is some REAL negativity in the air these days in the blogosphere, so I ask that you'd respect our family and keep in mind that our boys will be reading this someday.) I do read every comment, but screening every comment would be much too time consuming. On the other hand, I do like to promote blog interaction....just use some descretion! We'll see how it goes and who knows perhaps we'll turn this in to somewhat routine post?????

Let the Q&A Commence....

~What Artist/Song Titles did you use in the video montage? (-Anonymous)

"All Things New" - Watermark

"Ordinary Miracle" - Sarah McLachlan

"Everything Glorious" - David Crowder Band

~Where do you get a feeding table like you have? (-Stacy, Auntiem)

You can find out more details here, but we researched and found it for the best price (plus free shipping) at http://www.justmultiples.com/ It's our all-round favorite "multiple" product! Yep, Suz, original seats + still room to grow!

~Where did you get your plastic bibs? (- The Donovans)

Baby Bjorn. Love 'em! Rinse 'em off and they're good to go for the next feeding. Best part: no extra laundry!

~Are Brooks and Isaac "the twins"? (-Joan's Musings)

Trust me, I get the "which ones are the twins" question a TON! I'm always tempted to say "they all are!", because truly they are ALL either fraternal or identical twins or to say, "none of them, they're quads!"....but I get it, you want to know who's identical: Brooks and Clark are the 2 peas in 1 pod!

~What color are my kitchen walls? (-Karen)

Glad you like them, but I have trouble remembering the last time I brushed my teeth. I can't recall the paint color from 3 years ago. Sorry. We got it from Porter Paints - hope that narrows it down to a few thousand.

What would you recommend for a Hospital Bed Rest Kit? (-Amanda)

Hmmm...I think I'm better at NICU Kits...maybe my quad sistas could chime in with some great suggestions for this one....Anything homemade is appreciated when your "institutionalized", toe polish, lotion, music, sudoku, a visit????

~Which hospital did we deliver at? (-Dawn)

St. Vincent's Women's. Can't say enough great things about the NICU care we received. Check out the commercial we were featured in on their behalf if you haven't already.....

~How's come our kiddos didn't have to wear cranial bands like Suz's? How did you get them in shape post-birth without them? (-The ever so popular Anonymous)

Without getting too "medi-techno"....Although the boys' heads were quite a mess at birth due to being soooooo cramped inside me, somehow our kids' heads have shaped up remarkably well on their own. (They did use a Halo Pillow in the NICU for Henry's preemie head) However, this does not mean I did or didn't do something right. Simply, our little guys heads were more pliable/soft and more symmetrical. Congrats to the Steece Quads for escaping theirs so quickly!

~How do we tell our boys apart? Do we use bracelets, etc.? (-You guessed it!)

We just know. I wish I could tell you the secret, but I can't really describe it. They seem so distinct to me....Brooks and Clark are the trickiest, but once you're around them for a while you begin to pick up on the little things. Their personalities are all sooooo different as well.

Top 5 Christmas Traditions to Be Shared

Welcome back!!! Many of you are buried up to your elbows in tissue paper, 13 lbs heavier, and contemplating what to do with the life-size stuffed pony that Aunt Beth thought would be so appropriate for your little cowboy - but we're glad you're back to checking out the Murray Crew!!!

In all seriousness, I hope this post-Christmas you aren't experiencing the blues, but you are filled with a renewed love for Christ and His goodness. It's so common to try to satisfy ourselves with things during this season, but things leave us empty. I read a great quote on my dear friend Gretchen's blog a few weeks ago that I find appropriate today,

"Take the Christmas season, for instance. Every holiday I can be drawn to all things Christmassy--the shopping, buying gifts, wrapping presents, decorating the tree, baking holiday treats, attending parties and celebrations. Of course these things are not wrong in and of themselves. They can be delightful gifts from God. But I can be tempted to desire them more than the most important thing--regardless of the season: sitting at the Lord’s feet (Luke 10:38-41). And then I wonder why my heart feels so dull come December 26th. This holiday I don’t want my soul stuffed only with decorations, shopping, and Christmas cookies. I want to make every effort to drink deeply of God’s presence so my soul will be truly satisfied." -Carolyn Mahaney

I encourage you to take some time to reflect on your Christmas and how you were able to celebrate the birth of our Savior. That's why I saved my traditions post (well, that AND because it took me so long to narrow down my favorites). It's not too early to plan for next year and it's not too late to continue celebrating!!!!!

Here's my Top 5 Favorite Christmas Traditions that YOU Shared!!!

1. I've heard others recommend only giving 3 presents to represent the 3 gifts brought to Jesus by the magi, but ahenfelters had a great way of giving this idea even more meaning

Gold - a gift that is truly desired

Frankincense - a gift for the body (lotion, clothing, jewelry, etc.)

Myrrh - something to improve your spiritual walk

2. Jo suggests after you've put the tree and decorations away for the year to leave out the basket of Christmas cards and pick a card each night to pray over the individual or family who sent the card.

3. A few of you suggested acting out the nativity or having your own Christmas Eve service if you can't make it to your local church service. I think this is one we'll have to incorporate in the near future - 6 people could make up a pretty good cast of sheperds, donkeys, wisemen, etc.

(and 2 other "delightful gifts".....)

4. Many of you know how much I LOVE children's books. Lori's idea is to collect 24 Christmas/winter books from rummage sales,your local library, or your own collection to use as a nightly reading countdown for December.

5. Amy R made a tree skirt and puts her kids handprints on it each year, so they can look back each year and see how tiny their hands used to be. (Evidently Amy R is much more crafty than I, but it's a great idea!)

Need more ideas? Check out the comments from this post or these great reads: The Miracle of Christmas by John MacArther, Treasuring God in Our Traditions by Noel and John Piper, and Celebrating a Christ-Centered Christmas: Ideas from A-Z by Sharon Jaynes.

NICU Survival Kits: Part III (If you are still counting)

I've been hit with several emails from many of you around the country about our NICU Survival Kits (See Part I and Part II to get on board). I'm so excited to hear that some of you want to contribute, or better yet want to start your own NICU Survival Kits in your neck of the woods! Way to Pay It Forward, Fellow Bloggers! Today I want to discuss the contents of the kit.

Here's some things that have been included so far in the kits.....

*On the Night You Were Born by Nancy Tilman - I am HOOKED on this book! I've bought a total of 5 copies now for the kits, a few baby showers, and finally one for my boys. It's illustrated and written so beautifully and I especially like it for preemies/multiples. Highly, highly recommend! (If anyone knows Nancy or the publisher, Feiwel & Friends, or perhaps the CEO of Amazon that could give me a discount for the cause - definitely give me a call!) PS I call dibs for future baby showers!

*Preemie Blankets - Thanks to Tami for volunteering to make these!!!! They are beautiful! (We could eventually use another knitter/crocheter/fleece cutter as demand for Kits goes up - so let me know if you're a crafter)

*Lip Balm and Lotion - you have to wash your hands all day long at the NICU, even between each baby, which leads to dry chapped skin. Alcohol gel really starts burning! Eeeeowwwch!

*Disposable Cameras - One for each isolette, This way the nurses can snap a precious moment if you are away; It's very difficult to leave you babies every night, especially as you watch moms all around you being wheeled out with their full-term newborns on their laps, so I think knowing that your leaving your nurse with a camera helps to know that you won't miss everything. (Kodak, give me a call as well!) =)

*Snacks and Change for the Vending Machine - For the long hours and to hold ya over until shift change

*Name Tags for the Isolettes - Makes it personal and cheery. I have several of these pre-made and ready to go... Here's a pic of me putting these together

*Journal - also to keep at the isolettes to record updates, notes to nurses, latest weights, thoughts, etc. It's info overload - so writing things down helps you make sense out of it later!

Okay so here's YOUR big part! Ready - who's in? Your mission is to make these kits even better! Do some brainstorming, talk to other preemie moms and get their input, think creatively, and leave me a comment (or send an email) with your great ideas! Or do you have an ability that we could put to use for our project??? It's a community effort! 'Tis the SEASON!!!

(Don't forget you are already contributing just by visiting our blog - so pass our blog along to others!!!)

Happy Birthday Jen!

Hey all,

Just a quick post to let you all know that today is Jen's birthday!

A little over a month ago, I was trying to decide what I would do for Jen's birthday. I have always tried to be creative in making Jen feel special. Well, here is this year's big idea. I went to each of the medical offices/hospitals that played a part in getting our boys here safe and sound, and asked all of the staff involved to wish Jen a happy birthday on video. This is not an easy task to keep secret with so many people to capture on video. But, I was able to get to most of these places on my lunch.

I was not successful in getting EVERYONE that I wanted involved, but I was able to get a good representation of the wonderful people that God used in our lives in the past year. Thank you to all of you who helped make this video possible for Jen, I really appreciate it. These will allow us to remember all of you for years to come.

Jen,

I love you more than you could possibly imagine. The sacrifices you made for our family in the past year will never be forgotten.

I love you for every tear we've cried, every decision we made together, every day you spent on bedrest, every contraction monitoring session you endured, the hundreds of needle pokes you took, every hospital trip we made together, every doctors appointment we went to, the discipline you displayed in caring for your unborn children during pregnancy by staying on bedrest diligently and eating right, the pain you endured for the TAC surgery and c-section, every smile you forced, the great attitude you had, the four beautiful children you gave me, and every other great thing you do on a daily basis that I tend to overlook and take for granted.

You are an amazing woman and you will always be my beautiful princess. The rest of the world needs to know how incredibly lucky I am to have you as my wife. I am not ashamed to say that you bring me to tears just thinking about everything you mean to me. It is difficult to even express. You make a positive impact everywhere you go, and are such a blessing to those around you.

Happy Birthday baby!

Ok, this goes for EVERYONE, even those of you that follow the blog and we dont know you, please hit the comment button below and wish my girl a happy birthday! Lets see how many Happy Birthday Jen comments we can get. I dont care, e-mail your friends, I want a bunch of Happy Birthdays!! :)

Show Your School Spirit!

Sometimes I forget how much I love the changing seasons, until suddenly the air conditioning is off, the windows are wide open, I'm wearing capris, and I'm craving apple cider from Beasley's Orchard. Of course, we live in Indiana where our motto is, "Don't like the weather? Wait a day or two, it's bound to change", because our taste of fall is now quickly forgotten highs in the upper 80's once again. Regardless, fall is just around the corner.

Brad and I were able to enjoy the absolutely gorgeous fall-like weather on Friday with a trip to my old stomping grounds, Butler University. Like most alumni, I have a great pride in my Alma Mater. It's such a beautiful, historic campus that holds many great memories, and now a new fond memory.

We took a giant walk along the canal. I've noticed that my stamina and strength is still increasing since my months of bed rest, for which I am quite grateful. I can't wait until the boys are old enough to get excited about all the wildlife we saw. I could picture them with grins on their faces shouting, "Daddy, Daddy, look at that turtle!" We also took pictures at Holcomb Gardens - aren't the flowers and grass a great backdrop? I love God's creation and beauty! Sometimes we are reluctant to take group pictures, since it's while an ordeal to take 4 happy babies out of their strollers and arrange them without stress, but I'm so glad that we went for it this time. Even though they aren't picture perfect, it's just fun and natural! Our day ended with some Starbucks Green Tea. I might add, Butler Starbucks was the first Starbucks in Indiana. There's some trivia for you.

It was great to be back on campus. My how things have changed in the 5 years since graduation!

As for the suprise, I haven't forgotten. I just need to download some pictures.

For some crowd participation leave us a comment to show your school spirit.

Go DAWGS!

4 Hour Shiftaroo

Sorry for my delay in blogging, but we are trying out the 4 hour schedule with the boys, meaning we have bumped up their feeds and their "waketime" so it's 4 hours between each feeding . It's always a challenge when you switch something in quadworld, but so far it's a go. The boys are eating between 7-8 oz a feeding now! That's almost 2 cans of formula a day! I think Brad and I calculated the other day that it cost about 7 dollars each time we feed the little birds (over 30 buckaroos a day). Isn't that incredible? There's no way we could do it without all the help we've received and we are soooooooooo thankful daily for our stockpile of diapers, along with many other blessings. We can't thank you all enough, so we will continue to thank you on this blog!

We are still thrilled that we aren't taking care of a post-surgery Brooks right now. We all celebrated Friday with a walk along the canal, downtown Indy. Perfect weather - low 80's with a breeze, not your typical July Indiana weather. We discovered that the canal is a great place to take the boys, because people are on the move. Let me explain myself.......when you have quads, like it or not, you are on constant display and interview mode. It's like we wear a t-shirt saying, "Ask us anything that comes to your head, don't worry nothing is off limits". While we love sharing the boys with everyone, and love sharing the story that the Lord has given, it definately makes you chuckle at some of the reactions and questions we get. You want examples? Oh alright....

• Are those triplets? Sextuplets? Whatever they're called
• You've got 2 sets of twins?
• Are they all yours?
• I hope you're done (having kids)
• That'll teach you what to pray for
• (In an Indiana hillbilly tone) D'jew take dem shots?
• And our personal favorite that we hear AT LEAST 10 times an outing: YOU'VE GOT YOUR HANDS FULL!

A girl even ran into a sign one day because she was walking and trying to look back at our babies at the same time. Anyway, it's a hoot, but it does get difficult at times to get from point A to point B. Needless to say, the canal was a very enjoyable walk, because we only got stopped a handful of times, since people are on paddleboats, bikes, even segways. By the time they counted all the babies in the strollers, they had already passed us!

We've been blessed this summer with visits with friends. A great suprise visit was from our friends, the Mathisons who have been in East Asia for the past few years. Amy was my Bible study leader/accountability partner during college.They are dear friends to us. It was wonderful to see their growing family and squeeze them in person.

Some other extra special guests include another set of quad parents, the Benners. We first met them at our first appointment with our high risk doctor during the pregancy. I believe I was about 10 weeks pregnant, and both Brad and I were tremendously anxious about not only having quads, but the mono-mono situation for Clark and Brooks. (If you are new to this "mono" language, Brad posted a great explanation in December on our pregancy blog.) Denise and her quad squad were getting their pictures taken for a brochure for our doctor's office, since she had such an amazing pregnancy. I tease her that she's the "postermom for quads". Just to see 4 healthy babies crawling up on her lap was a realization to us that this was truly possible. God has really used them in our lives as an encouragment and a tremendous resource to bounce questions off of sometimes weekly. It was great to have them love on our babies.

Speaking of quads, please continue to pray for Suzanne. She is hours away from 28 weeks! Remarkable! She is hangin' tough and enduring her hospital stay. Let me tell you from experience hospital bedrest is extremely difficult. Hands down the hardest thing I've had to endure. Please pray for her little ones Ben, Andrew, Savannah, and Ethan to develop and enter this world safely - specifically that their little lungs would start developing, that Suzanne could have the strength and sanity to keep pressing on, for God to give her husband Joe courage, wisdom, and strength for today and days ahead, and that their story would bring glory to God.

Friends and family are so valuable to us these days. It's been a challenge to stay "connected", but please know that we love you all!

Hope you enjoy the pictures - does that bring back any memories from the ole viewmaster days? Personally, I loved The Incredible Hulk reel. What was your favorite?

28 Week Celebration!

Friends and Family,

Most of you who have been following our story know that since day one, 28 weeks has been the biggest goal for us to get to. At 28 weeks more than 90% of babies survive, and of that 90%, 95% of those babies do very well and have no long term major complications.

Today is 28 weeks, 7 months! Our doctor found no problems this morning and four healthy babies. We want to praise our God for choosing to allow our babies to live this long. We continue to hold our babies with open hands, willing to give them back to the Lord if He chooses to take them. We are certainly not out of the woods yet, but this is a major victory and we want to celebrate this great milestone.

Where now? Well, the next goal is 30 weeks. At 30 weeks, there will be a significant increase in lung development which will make thriving after birth much easier. We continue to pray for 32 weeks for the long-term goal, but ultimately want our babies to be born when our Great Physician, God almighty, chooses for them to be born.

If you are reading this post and have not signed in to the Role Call that we did last week, please go to the message below and let us know that you are checking in on us, we would love to hear from you. We have been so encouraged this week by the overwhelming response to the role call. We are amazed at how many people God has brought to us to support us at this difficult time in our lives. You all have no idea how helpful it is to know that we are not walking this road alone. It sometimes seems as though all of you are carrying this heavy burden with us, making it much easier to endure.

Also, on a sad note, our friends, Brad and Dee, whom we go to church with, have good friends who were expecting triplets at Women’s hospital where we are going tonight. We were really looking forward to meeting these folks and have been praying for them. Well, last night, she gave birth to all three of their precious babies at 22 weeks gestation, leaving no hope of survival. I don’t want to mention their names, but please be praying for this family as they grieve the loss of their children. I cannot imagine the agony of loosing your babies at this late stage, or any stage for that matter.

We love you all, thank you so much for all of your encouragement!

Brad, Jen, and the Quad Squad

(Post Copied from www.triplet-update.blogspot.com)

Happy New Year! Roll Call!

Hello all,

Happy New Year from the Murray clan. We are so excited that our boys are still in the oven in 2007! Thank you for your prayers as we enter this new and final phase of the pregnancy, hospitalization. (Starting this Friday)

We know that there are a lot of you out there checking in on us somewhat regularly, but we really have no way of knowing who you are unless you leave a comment. I thought it would be encouraging to Jen to see just how many of you are out there checking this website. Would you be so kind as to leave a comment with your name, just letting us know that you are there. Even if you do not know us well or at all, we would love to know you are out there.

To leave a comment, simply click the word "comment 0" at the bottom of this post. Once there, click the "anonymous" option below the message, then type your message in the box provided. Please be sure to leave your name! :)

We love you all, thank you for your prayers,

Brad and Jen

(Post Copied from www.triplet-update.com w/ 110 comments)

15 Weeks, Another Week Behind Us....

Posted by Brad:

Thank you all once again for lifting Jen and the babies up in your prayers this week. It has been an up and down week, but seems to be ending on a high note. Jen seems to take 2 steps forward and 1 step back in her recovery the last 2 weeks. She had a few rough days this week, but we are so thankful for all of you who have helped in various ways to make it easier. Jen has had a couple good days in a row and we are praying that the worst of the surgery recovery is now behind us.

I thought it might be kind of fun this weekend to ask you all for a little input. Jen and I have begun talking about names this week. As many of you now know, we found out recently that we have four boys on the way. And while we are not going to release any of our name ideas until the boys are all born, I thought it might be fun to get some nicknames started. Then, we will select our favorite from what you all suggest, and that is what we will refer to them as until the pregnancy is over. I have no idea how many people are even reading this blog, so we may only get one or two suggestions, who knows.

Here are the names that have been suggested so far, you can add to the list:
(Leave suggestions in the comments link at the bottom of this post)

-Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John
-Eney,Meany,Miney, and Moe
-The Blue crew
-The Quad squad
-...???

(Post Copied from www.triplet-update.blogspot.com)