Professional Pictures!

Ruth Williams is INCREDIBLE! You guys MUST go check out her website! And if you are in the DFW area or anywhere close (even if you live far, far away) you MUST use her as your photographer for all of your professional pictures! She is so incredibly talented and is such a beautiful Christian woman...heart of gold! She will be coming back soon to finish the rest of the photo shoot! It gets kinda hectic with four babies and takes allllll day long! :)



Here is a taste of Ruth's talent!

For more sneak peeks of the STEECE FAMILY PHOTO SHOOT, please go to Ruth's webpage. There are SOOO many other favorite shots that I didn't put on here because I want you to go look at her blog page and her formal website! Let Ruth know what you think of her work!!

Ruth, thank you SOOOO much! Beautiful pictures! I just can't stop looking at them!!! ;)

The Christian Chronicle

"HOW IN THE WORLD DO YOU DO IT???...
RAISE QUADRUPLETS???"


(We get this question quite often!...so read below! Women out there who are pregnant with multiples and don't even know where to begin, pay CLOSE attention!)

If you guys are interested in more of our story, check out the Christian Chronicle website! Tamie Ross came out to our house about a month ago, took lots of pics, and wrote a GREAT ARTICLE about the Steece Quads and all the help we are receiving! I don't know what we would do without our church families helping us out on a daily basis!! Such incredible, wonderful, self-sacrificing people...PLEASE READ!!!

These are all photos off of the Christian Chronicle website, taken by Tamie Ross.


Juggling all four...my hands are constantly moving! Putting a paci in one's mouth while patting another...it is never ending bliss!


Sweet Ladelle giving some good luvin' to Savannah


"Baby Central" as I like to call it! This is our upstairs living area that we have turned into "Babyville" (it used to house Joe's pool table...which now resides in the garage!) This is where we feed, burp, and play with babies all day long!


For MANY more pictures, please check out the site: The Christian Chronicle! You will get a VERY GOOD glimpse of what our lives are like on a daily basis. Our home is always filled with amazing helpers!

Oh my, Oh my! BIG babies!!!

Man, you guys have been so patient with me! Finally have updates on my precious, four, little baby blessings! I have updates and pictures from the past couple of weeks.

Savannah is out of her harness! (woo hoo!)
Both Drew and Ethan are on wedges now! (reflux)
Ben will only sleep in his blue swing! (hey...you do what you gotta do!)
We are able to let the babies sleep through the night! Right now they go about 6 uninterrupted hours! (can I getta AMEN??! Hallelujah!?)
Thanksgiving was wonderful...so many things to be thankful for this year! I can think of FOUR things right off hand! ;)


Weights:

Ben- 11 lb. 1 oz., 23 1/8"

Ethan- (our littlest squirt born at 2 lb. 7 oz!) 10 lb., 22 1/4"

Savannah- 10 lb., 22"

Drew- 10 lb., 21 7/8"

The pedi says that with preemies, they like to see them catch up with the "normal" curve by their one year birthday....well, 3 outta 4 are already in the "normal" range for growth and development! Ah WOO HOO!!! After only 3 months! (very proud mama!) God is good.

Benji-Boo-Bear



The Princesssah



E baby



Drew baby

Our good ole morning routine:

Following the babies morning feed, I set them all up on pillows and dance around, shake toys, and do my best to keep them entertained and awake! ;) Ben laughs and smiles and goos...Savannah smiles...Drew smiles occasionally...and Ethan looks at me like I am CRAZY! (but cracks a smile every once in a while when he thinks I'm not looking!) Drew, Ben, Sav, and Ethan

The little twin boys are OUT!



Sweet Sister Savannah...this was the day we had professional pictures taken! I can't wait to see them! It was pure madness in the Steece household! Our WONDERFUL photographer has to come back to get more images! It was just too wild! The babies were WORN OUT! (as were the parents! ;)



Thanksgiving 2007...Ethan, Savannah, Andrew, & Benjamin



My sweet baby boys! Ben, Drew, and Ethan...LOVE to play and watch their activity sets!



Boo Bear (Ben)...my little Aggie Elf! Sooo cute!



Ben is by far, the happiest little baby, smiling all the time! He just melts my heart! I like to think that he is a momma's boy...but he is a flirt! He gives those smiles away to everyone! Such a sweetie! (By the way...notice the blue swing? or should I say, Ben's new bed?)

Lets Finish This Already, eh??

Okay guys...and now...the rest, of the story... (ah ha...cheezy...anyone? Paul Harvey? anyone?)

Sav, Born 2nd...2 lb 14 oz...of course she was the most vocal! of course! My little Diva!



Ethan, 3rd...Breech...my smallest little man, weighing in at a whopping 2 lb 7 oz!




Baby Ben...Big Ben weighing in at 3 lb 4 oz!! What a big boy! ;)




Okay, more excerpts from my journal:

I continued to lay there...weeping, while Joe got up and watched the doctors and nurses work on Ben to get him ready for transport. I never got to see Andrew & Savannah. However, when Ben & Ethan were about to leave the OR for their journey to the NICU, the nurses stopped the isolette to where I could see one tiny foot pressed against the side.

The nurses asked Joe if he wanted to go with the babies or stay with me and he stayed with me. (He was a little freaked out at the thought of watching them work on the babies in the NICU). When the babies were out, Dr. Tabor asks Dr. Thigpen very loudly: "Hey Dr. Thigpen...where did you go to school again?" He replied proudly: "the UNIVERSITY of TEXAS!" Tabor then says: "ME TOO!", leans over the drape and says: "I just wanted yall to know that the first people to touch your children were longhorns!" (hisssssss) ;) We LOVE Dr. Tabor!

Then Tabor walked around the table, shook Joe's hand and said: "Congratulations!" He then put his hand on mine and I remember looking deep into his eyes and said: "Thank you SO much." I have never appreciated any one person more in my life then at that very moment as I looked at the man who had helped us every step of the way and who had just brought our beautiful babies into this world. I felt that I owed him my life.

The scrub tech began washing me off and began thrusting all her weight onto my stomach to expel massive blood clots...(okay, now, I'll spare you some gory details of the rest of the evening and continuous blood clot expulsions...but know that it happened every 15 minutes for HOURS AND HOURS AND HOURS....worst pain in my life!) Multiple births have a tendency to be VERY bloody and the uterus stretches so much that the body has a hard time contracting the uterus back to a normal state (henceforth, all the bleeding and blood clots!)

Back to the journal:
The next couple of hours are very hazy. I just remember lots of nurses around me as they all pushed on my stomach. (skip several paragraphs...) They set me up with a Morphine pain pump...I spent the rest of the night extremely "doped up!"

It was hours before we were able to go see our babies...I got VERY, VERY sick and could barely look at the kiddos...I thought I was about to vomit! The nurse pumped me full of Phenergan and I was OUT in no time. (I remember being SOOOO sad that the first time I was able to see my babies, I was SOOOO sick and can't really remember it!)...

and there you have it...the end of the birth story...Remember the infamous picture of my pasty white cadaverous arm??? I had lost about 50% of my blood volume and had to have 3 pints!! Here's that pic!



Here is a video of me doped up the day after delivery, pushing my Morphine pump! My voice was so scratchy...I felt like I had been through hell and back! You'll love the awkward pause with Joe trying to figure out how to work the camera...all I wanted to do was eat my cookie!



It is so funny going back and watching these videos and seeing pictures of myself!!! Such a different person! Hilarious! I remember Joe and I would laugh at how HUGE I was and how bloated my face was! Too funny! What else could I do but laugh? ;) Cry? I guess...but laughing was so much more therapeutic for me...hee hee. Speaking of...here is a pic of me getting to see Shiloh for the first time in months...it just happened to be the last pic of me before I delivered (2 days before the birth)



I am trying to decide if I want to type the word: "YIKES!" or go with my go-to favorite: "HOLY COW!".....I think I'll go with "HOLY COW!"...seems more fitting! hahaha ;)

More updates soon...so little time!

RSV

R S V

For an update on what we are preparing for in these next couple of months...please read Jen Murray's blog. She did a wonderful job of explaining what RSV is and why our little premature quad babies are at such high risk. For all of you loved ones wanting to see my babies out and about...this is why they must be isolated until April 2008 and no one can enter our house who hasn't had a flu shot.

(Now, before you share your advice, fellow bloggers, keep in mind that this is not mandatory across the board for others in our situation...everyone is different...this is just what we have agreed upon with our pediatrician)

Murray Blog

Please read Jen's post and be praying for them. Our babies will receive the Synagis shots for the next five months...maybe longer.




Look how big my babies are getting!