The Best Daddy in the Whole World

Two weeks into our dating relationship, Dave and I found ourselves traveling to different countries.  First, we landed in Switzerland and had lunch, then we were off to Albania. God had put it on our hearts separately to go on a mission trip there over Spring Break. We started the administrative and financial balls rolling months before, then somewhere in the middle of it all, we admitted we liked each other. I should have known after that first month that dating this guy would lead to extraordinary adventures.

Finding yourself in a foreign country during a new relationship is stressful, and I don't actually recommend it. But it did allow us to observe how the other one reacted in situations that you wouldn't otherwise find yourself in, and introducing your new boyfriend to your parents long before you normally would.

One thing I will never forget about that trip to Albania was our walks from the Pollotties (apartments) where we stayed to our daily meeting place. On the way there, we would always see kids along the way. Dave would just light up when he saw them. He would do a little dance with them and learned the phrase Chi Kae Mae (which meant what's happening!?), so he could speak to them. One girl in particular formed a special relationship with him, and I think he gave her more candy than any of the other kids. We always knew where he had been as he left a trail of Milk Duds, which some of the kids had never seen before and inspected before they ate.

One of the things I was looking for in a man that I might marry, was someone who was good with kids. After watching him in Albania, Dave passed that test with flying colors. Since then, he has actually turned out to be far more wonderful father I had imagined he would be. I don't think I could have picked a better Daddy for my kids.

Those of you who know us or have been following our blog know that the last few years have been rough for us. But what I don't think most people stop to realize is that most of the burden to get through those rough times fell on Dave. Not that he wants your pity or even needs a pat on the back. But I think he deserves to get credit for all of the hard work that he has done.

When I first went on bed rest while I was pregnant with the triplets, Dave was actually visiting his parents with Alyssa and van shopping. When they got home, instead of enjoying his Spring Break, he scrambled to find help for watching Alyssa. His work had approved for him to take the last month of school off, but that still left a few weeks to fill. Friends were so gracious to help us out, and Dave packed up Alyssa and carted her around every day for those couple of weeks. Every time I went into the hospital for contractions or the delivery, he found help to watch Alyssa so that he could be with me as well.

When I was drinking over 200 ounces of water a day, Dave was the one who ran up and down the stairs to fill my jug. It was Dave who went downstairs at 10pm to fix me country fried steak and mashed potatoes when my appetite came back after I had pneumonia. And it was Dave who would get up at 3am and get all the supplies to refill my terbutaline pump or move the catheter to another place in my leg, so I wouldn't have more contractions. Taking care of the 5 of us was an exhausting, never-ending ordeal. But he gladly did it, because he loved us so much.

After we brought Lauren, Drew and Jack home, it was a blur of chaos and exhaustion. Before he went back to work, he fed more bottles and changed more diapers than I did. He was also the first to engineer our system of 1 person feeding 3 babies bottles at once. When there was work to be done, he stepped up to the plate and got it done. I can't imagine going through that time without him. There wasn't any job he wasn't willing to do.

 

Fast forward onto SuperBowl Sunday 2007. I was in the ER with chest pains, and two of my blood tests came back indicating I might have a pulmonary embolism (PE). While I had my CT scan done, Dave again rounded up help, so he could come and be with me at the hospital. That isn't easy to do on the spur of the moment when you have 7 month old triplets and a 4 year old, but what more can I say about the phenomenal support we have from family and friends. I was so glad to have him there when I found out I didn't have a PE and I could go home and watch the SuperBowl. But then the doctor told me that they'd found a tumor on my thyroid.................

I honestly think that going through my cancer treatment was the toughest burden that Dave had to bear. Telling him my awful news after the biopsy was one of the hardest things I have ever done. I couldn't even open the door to come into the house, because I knew what a horrible impact this would have on him as well. The night I spent at the hospital after my thyroid was removed turned out to be a horrible experience, but Dave was there again so I didn't have to go through it alone. On Dave's last day of school, instead of celebrating, he started a week of being a single parent to our kids. I stayed with my Dad as the radioactive iodine part of my treatment made me unsafe around the kids. (But contrary to popular belief, I did not glow in the dark!)

I wasn't much of a parent that summer. While they tried to find the right medication to make up for my lack of a thyroid, I was a zombie. I remember taking 4 hour naps to get through the  day, and then going to bed when the kids did. Dave picked up the slack and   never made me feel guilty that I couldn't do more. I was like a car without gas; no matter how hard you push the gas pedal it isn't going anywhere.

 

In God's perfect timing, I was starting to feel better by the time Dave started school in the fall. He turned down coaching that year (which I know he truly loves), so that he could help me out more. He was and always has been so good about giving me breaks from my job. I think going through all of this has made him so compassionate and empathetic about how tough being a parent full-time is.

November came, and I was rear ended in a car accident and injured my back. What were the doctor's orders? Try to get as much help as you can and rest. Dave to the rescue once again! Not only that, but he freed me up for many hours of doctor appointments, Xrays, MRIs and physical therapy sessions as well.

As if that weren't enough, in March the next year, we found out that I had to have surgery again! Not only that, but my recovery would take 6 weeks of not lifting anything over 5 pounds (I couldn't even lift a gallon of milk). So again, Dave shouldered the many responsibilities that come with running our family. I think it was especially tough for him, because he didn't get as many breaks as he was so diligent at giving me. When December rolled around, we found out I had to have yet another surgery to repair some permanent stitches that came out. Dave took it all in stride and didn't even flinch when I was operated on a few days later.

OK, enough of the heavy stuff, but you can see now why I feel justified calling Dave "The Best Daddy in the Whole World".

We are blessed beyond belief to have you in our lives. Happy Father's Day!

In honor of your special day, here's some pictures of the kids sporting your favorite team (including the first baby outfit you bought when I was pregnant with Alyssa).

 

 

 

I love you so much!

Amanda

PS I want to give a shout out to Grandpa and Papo. I haven't forgotten you, and you are fantastic fathers and grandfathers, too! Happy Father's Day!

http://four-and-no-more.blogspot.com/

The Girls' Room

So project #2 for us this summer is the girls' room. (Number 1 is the basement.) We knew the big transition to big kid beds was coming soon, but we weren't sure how to handle it. 4 kids don't divide evenly into 3 bedrooms. However, Alyssa and Lauren have been the best of buds lately. They ask to dress alike all the time; sometimes they are the ones who act most like twins! They also did pretty well when they shared a bed at Grandma and Papo's in April. (Sorry, I thought I put pictures up of our Spring Break trip there, but I guess I didn't). For over a year now, Alyssa has complained that she is the only one in our house that sleeps alone. So we decided that we were going to try putting them in a room together, and they are incredibly excited about it.

What sealed the deal was when a friend of a friend   gave us the cutest bed for Alyssa (thanks Joey and Tim & Amy!). It is like a bunk bed on top with all kinds of shelves for her to hide her treasures from her siblings. Then underneath, there is a little playhouse.

 

 

 

My dad was kind enough to help Dave disassemble it and bring it over here. We are currently working on sanding and repainting it while we have it apart anyway. My Dad is also working on a picket fence headboard for Lauren's bed to match Alyssa's bed.

I had fun teaching Alyssa about the process of redecorating a room. She went with me to pick out 2 matching bedspreads. She did a really good job of picking a flowered quilt that went well with her bed all by herself. Once Lauren gave her approval, we picked out a wall color from it. The girls agreed on pink, so Alyssa went with me to pick up some paint chips. I wish I had recorded how big her eyes got when she saw how many different shades of pink there are! Then the girls narrowed them down to their top 3 choices, and 2 of them went up on the wall as samples. At first we were going to to use both colors (with one being an accent wall), but it turned out not to look so great when we did it. So the process dragged on and on with a few setbacks, but we finally got the walls done and woodwork painted after two weeks of work. (Is it me, or does something always go wrong for us?) We decided on a light shade of pink called Princess. That color became an early favorite just by virtue of its name.

Dave's parents were also nice enough to pick up a quart of glitter glaze for us so that we can have one special sparkly wall that the girls are really excited about, too. You can just barely make it out in the upper left corner of this picture.

The girls have been very patient lately while we have been working on the basement and not on their new room. Every once in a while Lauren will say, "This summer, I get to sleep in Alyssa's room." She doesn't get yet that it will be her room, too. We are hoping that this week we can switch gears and get the bed primed and painted. Until then, that's one more part of the house that is torn up. We do have the mattresses, sheets, dust ruffle and waterproof mattress pads ready to go, though (thanks to an IKEA trip by Grammy).

So here's what it looks like finished. We obviously still have a lot more work to do before it looks like a little girls room, but at least the painting is as done as it will be in this house! It's not our best work, but at least it's done. So if you come over to visit, you have to promise not to look behind the furniture!

We are really hoping this will work out, so that the boys can have a room  and we'll still have a guest room/toy room. That's not to mention how much we don't want to do anymore painting!!!

God bless,

Amanda

http://four-and-no-more.blogspot.com/

The Basement

Over the past couple of years, many people have said to us, "I don't know how you do it." Well, one of our big dark secrets is that our basement has turned into a Sanford & Son dream come true. For those of you who watch Friends, did you ever see the episode where Monica's secret closet was uncovered? Well, that's what our basement has become. Whenever something came our way, and we didn't have time to deal with it, we just threw it in the basement to deal with "someday." Well, guess what, someday has finally come.

The sad thing is that before I got pregnant with the triplets, I spent a lot of time working on the basement and had it almost cleaned out. Then I got pregnant and the exersaucers, high chairs, clothes and cribs came pouring in. It worked out pretty well that we had a place to put all of it, huh?

So here, at the risk of you losing all respect for us, is what our basement looked like when we first attacked it in March. That was when our loan went through, after starting the refinancing process back in December. We started lining up estimates from contractors, and there were no more excuses left to start cleaning out the basement. Up until then, I think it raised Dave's blood pressure every time he thought about all the clutter down there.

So we started with this.............

A month later, after putting all the Christmas stuff in the attic, giving away the rest of the baby stuff, several trips to Goodwill, and putting the rest in our garage, it looked like this...............

Then, after recycling the rest of the boxes, giving a few things to their rightful owners, and shoving the ping pong table in the corner, we were ready for our contractor. The framing and insulating began, and we even got the ductwork insulated before the drywall went up. The closets took shape, the lights went up, and our vision for this space started to come together.............

Now, with a lot of screws, several coats of mud, and lots of sandpaper later, we up to painting. We are doing this part of the project ourselves - thereby delaying the progress a bit. We did get in touch with  our inner Aunt Jemima and primed and painted the ceilings. We have also wiped down the walls and done some touch up sanding. Now just a few more holes to patch up, and we are ready to prime the walls. Anyone out there like to paint?

We'll keep you posted on the progress.

God bless,

Amanda