Our Journey Part #7

The news of our unusual quintuplet pregnancy had leaked to the public the week before and phone calls began trickling in from local media outlets. However, we didn’t want our story made public knowledge quite so early into the pregnancy in case something tragic should happen. I remember one news anchor in particular was extremely pushy. I’m sure her job is to break any big story before the other news stations catch wind of it. I don’t respond well to pushy people (I’d already switched doctors so outwitting an overbearing anchorwoman was a piece of cake!) so that made it easier to keep our big news a secret a little while longer. I also wanted our tiny hometown of Princeton to have the first opportunity to break the story. We had an interview with the Princeton Daily Clarion and 98.1 WRAY one afternoon. After that first interview everything is a blur. Luckily, Rob is quick on his feet and a very smooth talker. I left most of the talking to him, and he did a fantastic job. It was really stressful sitting through all the interviews. We wanted people to share in our story, but what we were going through was a very personal and scary situation. How do you determine where to draw the line? It wasn’t long before readers started weighing in. I didn’t pay much attention, but there are always those people out there who have to put their two cents in even when they have no idea what they are talking about. The comments generated by people from the newspapers were mind blowing. I decided the best course of action was to refrain from reading it, but only after I set one very judgmental, poorly informed person straight about the process of infertility.

I have one memory of my pregnancy that is funny and I hope to never forget it. It was about 6:00am Christmas Eve morning 2006. I was 20 weeks 2 days along. I looked like a big full term pregnant person. I got up to go to the bathroom. Our bedroom was right off the living room and across the hall from the bathroom. As I walked out of our bedroom I looked to my right and saw someone standing in our window. It scared me to death! I immediately turned around and woke Rob up. He got up and looked out our bedroom door into the living room. Sure enough, I was right. Why would I joke about something like that? Rob and I respond to situations like these totally differently. I would like to hide and be quiet and hope they go away. Rob runs out of the bedroom shouting at the top of his lungs, but the guy didn’t leave. Rob then yells at the guy that he is going to get the gun. In the mean time I am asking if I need to call 911. Of course we decide that law enforcement would be a good thing since this guy seems to be unafraid of Rob’s threats. Where is the phone? That is what runs through my head now. Cordless phones are the only way to go these days. I mean, you can take them anywhere in the entire house and leave it. That way, it is close by when you need it next time. So, where is the phone I ask again? On the charger! In the kitchen! About 10 feet away from the window that has a scary man standing in it! So, what does a very pregnant woman do in a situation like this? She crawls on her hands, belly, and knees the best she can to the phone. With the phone in hand, I crawl back to the bedroom, where I ask again…Do I need to call 911. YES!!! So, I sit on the floor by the door and get on the phone with a dispatcher. I’m whispering like I am trying to keep the guy outside from hearing me. I am telling the dispatcher that the cops need to come right now because I don’t want this man to die. Isn’t that silly, my husband is being heroic and protecting his family and I am trying to save the scary prowler outside. I am listening to the dispatcher and the police talk back and forth and know they are near. All the sudden the scary man walks away from the window. We don’t see him anymore. As the police make their way to the door, we realize what has happened. Down the block and across the street is a car dealership lot. They have a huge bright light that is high enough in the air that it shines on our house. At that very time in the morning, our neighbors were loading their car to leave for Christmas. The neighbor was standing in his driveway taking in the fresh air and the light from the dealership cast a life-size shadow of him in our window. We have curtains over the window, so it looked like someone was standing right up to the window. It was the perfect light outside with him in the perfect spot and I getting up at the perfect time to have this situation happen. How crazy is that? Two cops came to the door. One was annoyed and not friendly, the other happened to be a guy I knew growing up. He was friendly, and decided they should look around just to be sure. Looking back, that was hilarious. We were so embarrassed that we didn’t tell anyone what had happened. It had to look pretty real for both of us to think the guy was real. I’m lucky I didn’t go into labor after that stress. Needless to say, I couldn’t go back to sleep after that.

A Day In The Life Of...

Today will go down in history as the worst day we have had to date. I will start from the beginning and work my way through the day. Bear with me, it was a long day. I got up at 8:00 as the kids were starting to stir. I fixed waffles for them and got their milk cups ready. Once I had picked everything up in the living room and raised the blinds and closed all the gates, I headed back to get the kids up. I got my toothbrush and theirs ready for our morning brush. I started in the girls room. When I turned the light on I noticed that Sydney's shirt was off. Their pj's are a little big and they can get them off easily. I handed them their toothbrushes and we started brushing. Once they were going I walked next door and go the boys going. After about a minute in the boys room I headed back to the girls room to finish them up. That is when I saw it. Sydney had a blob of poop on her shoulder. In the 90 seconds I was gone she had stuck her hand down the back of her diaper and grabbed a hand full. So, I had to think on my feet and decide what the next order of business would be. I had to get the others up and fed, but I also had to get Syd a bath. Why not do both at the same time???? That is what I did. BAD IDEA!!!

I left Syd in her bed as I got everyone else up. I changed Peyton because he had pooped. One thing I have learned is that you never put a poopy person at the table. It always gets smashed and seeps out the sides. So, I got him changed and everyone else up to the table with their mound of waffles. They love breakfast, so I thought everything would be fine. I ran to Syd, put her in the tub for a 2 minute bath and we were in the living room in no time. As I was entering the living room I heard a noise. Peyton had decided that Jenna's food looked better than his and he was going to go try it out. He wiggled out of his seat belt, climbed onto the table and over to her. When he decided to get down he fell off the table. That is the noise that I heard. He was stuck under a highchair and it scared him more than anything. He got a scratch down his back, but other than that he was fine. I ran to him and got him wiped off and over to the living room. I looked back to Syd because she was still naked. Not 30 seconds later I glance back to the table and found Ethan on top of the table. Before I could run over there he fell off the table trying his best to get back into his chair. He only whimpered a little and didn't suffer any injury. Once I got him cleaned up and in the living room I finally got a diaper on Sydney.

I forgot to mention that I woke up feeling really bad this morning. My entire body ached. It felt like I was coming down with the flu. I got Rob up at 9:00 so he could see the kids before he had to leave for class. He also works second shift, so he is really stretching himself. I was laying on the floor and he was sitting next to me when he started yelling for Ethan. Landon and Sydney were in the living room and everyone else was MIA. When they didn't come he went to look for them. We thought they were playing peacefully in the boys room like usual. Not today. In the chaos of the morning I must not have gotten the girls door completly closed. Ethan, Jenna, and Peyton had shut themselves in the girls room. They had knocked a rocking chair over, dumped out their tubs full of socks, and drug all the clothes out. The worst part was that they had picked up the Vicks humidifier and dumped the entire thing all over the floor. It was everywhere! We have wood floors in the girls room so it was from one end of the room to the other. Jenna was soaked from head to toe. Ethan was soaked from the waist down. I think he is the one who did it. Jenna is to small to lift that thing and Peyton was completely dry. So, Rob cleaned the kids up while I cleaned up the floor. All of this happened in the first 45 minutes they were up. I was ready to call it a day and go back to bed by that time.

The morning was its normal chaos, but I called a friend to watch them for about 45 minutes while I ran to Walmart to buy a few sleepers for Sydney so she couldn't get her clothes off. My mom thankfully came at 11:30 to help me for the last hour before nap time. I took some Advil and laid down for about an hour to try to feel better. Thankfully, that did the trick and I was fine the rest of the day.

3:45 rolls around and it is time to get the kids up from their nap. I went into the boys room first. I smelled the poop before I even opened their door. When I flipped the light switch on my worst nightmare had come true. Peyton was squatting like a caveman playing in his poop. NOT AGAIN!!! I had showered and gotten myself ready to go to the Mothers of Multiples meeting. Now I had to get him up, leaving everyone screaming from their beds because they wanted up. I took him straight to the bathtub. I ran some water to soak the dried crusted poop off. Once I got all the visible poop off I let the water out and made him stand on the bathroom while I scrubbed the tub with Tilex. After it was clean, I put him back into the tub to give him a real bath. Once he was clean I put a diaper on him and got the rest of the kids up.

I hate to admit it, but I left the poop mess in the boys room for my mother-in-law and the other helpers who were coming. I couldn't bring myself to do it. That sounds terrible, but I was ready to run for the hills. The kids got the best of me today. I wasn't smiling or laughing or enjoying one second today. It was really hard. I will look back at this one day and laugh, but not for a long long time. I am beat. Jon Gosselin said in their latest episode, "It's like being pecked to death by a duck." That is exactly what I feel like on a daily basis. Today was that multiplied by about 10x. I hate to complain, but I am totally spent. It is easy to blog the great things about being a family of quintuplets. I don't want to post about the hard things we go through, but the truth is that this is REALLY hard. My house is nasty, gross, and stinky. Laundry is piled to the ceiling and my kitchen has old, crusty food everywhere. The dining room has clothes all over the floor that need to be washed and sorted for when they are older. I have about 3 bags of shoes to sort by size. Their highchairs have old dried food that is stuck to them. The living room has this awful poop smell that I can't figure out where it is coming from. I have vacuumed under the couch cushions and recliner. I am beginning to think it is in our carpet. I am drowning in filth. That is what I am feeling today. Give me a good nights sleep and I will be ready to go all over again.

I have to say, my sitters tonight did attempt to pile the clutter and clean the chairs. They did a great job. Given the chance, I would probably jump at the chance to change some things in my life. I could think of a few things that could make my life easier. One thing that will never change, I love my kids with everything I have. They are what keep me going. I love them more than words can describe. This blog may be different than my normal funny, joyful posts, but today was a tough day for me. I had to record it so I never forget some of the hardships we had to go through. Tomorrow is another day. I will willingly get up and do it all over again. They are my kids. Rob and I worked too hard to get them here. Nothing is too much for us. We will do whatever it takes to survive. God will see us through.

What to do???

What would you do if you had five 20 month kids and two of them left for the day to visit grandma and grandpa? That was the question we were left to answer on Saturday. So, what was the first thing we did? We went to McDonalds! We haven't ever taken the kids to a restaurant by ourselves. It was a lot of fun! They sat and ate their food great. When we were driving home Rob and I talked about how easy it is to have just three! Isn't that funny, I never thought I would say that three kids are easy! I'm not making light of having three kids for anyone who has three, but it is a drastic change from five. We went out to their house after nap time and everyone played outside. It was a really fun day! The best part is that they will take two more next week! We drew names out of a bowl and the last two left got to go. Landon and Jenna were the lucky winners.

Missing...

We have unfortunately lost our camcorder. We think we left it in the van and forgot to lock the doors at church on Sunday. The only thing we can think of is that someone stole it. It is not in this house and we haven't had it since we used it at Mayse Farm. I know I had it on the way home because I watched what Rob had recorded on the way home. We go to New Life Nazarene Church across from the Middle School in Princeton. If anyone hears anything about it or comes across it, please return it to us. It has EVERYTHING on it. We will loose their entire lives on camera if we don't get it back. Please, please, please let us know if you know or hear anything about it. It is a JVC Everio GZ-MG37 Digital Camcorder.

MOMS Fall Party!

Saturday morning we got up and were so glad the weather was perfect. The Mothers of Multiples group was having their annual fall party. It was at Mayse Farm Market in Evansville. I was really excited about going because the kids are finally getting old enough to enjoy things.

We immediately headed for the straw maze. That kept them confined and occupied for a really long time. Once they decided to walk and explore they were roaming everywhere through the maze. They tasted the straw and admired each others stickers. I was in charge of the camera and Rob was doing the video. Between the two of us we have plenty to look back on. After the straw maze we decided to tackle the much bigger corn maze. That was a little bit of a challenge. We took the choo-choos, which worked very well, and started down the path. I don't know if we did it right or not. We came in and left out the same entrance. I think we should have come out at a different spot we found later in the day. Oh well, we got the picture. The problem was that the kids were throwing their cups out and we wouldn't notice until we were far away from where they tossed it. I made a few jogging trips to find some cups. We had to hustle back because we didn't want to miss the hay ride.

That was a lot of fun. We were the last ones on the wagon and got to sit by our friends the Holsey's and Burketts. It was about a 10 minute ride to the pumpkin patch. We all unloaded and the kids scattered to find the perfect pumpkin. Jenna went to the first one she found and decided that it was hers. Ethan and Landon were quick to choose also. Peyton had to search the entire field to find his. Sydney didn't really care about which pumpkin she got. She was more interested in the toys that the littler kids had. In the end we picked out 7 pumpkins and loaded back into the wagon. The trip back seemed a little longer than the ride there. The kids were getting restless and hungry be then.

Once we returned to the barn we unloaded and drug them up to the mini playground made of straw. We couldn't resist letting them go down the slide. Especially since there was a mattress at the bottom to catch them. They all liked the slide, but Peyton couldn't wait to go again. Syd was right behind him in trying to figure out how to get up there too. They are so funny. Landon was amazed at the willy worm Stacey Holsey found. Poor willy worm. I was really careful to make sure Landon didn't squeeze its eyeballs out, but I'm not sure it didn't have a few broken ribs by the time he was set free.

After a few more fun trips down the slide we packed up and headed home. They were exhausted and fell asleep right away. That was a lot of fun. I highly recommend Mayse Farm Market. It is great for families!

Burkett Family

Holsey Triplets