Halloween with the quints - another video

My travels

Hello, it has been a little while since I have written but a few significant things have happened. First, the sad news. My uncle passed away a few weeks ago from cancer. He was my mom's younger brother and had a great sense of humor. I got to go to the funeral which was nice. Unfortunately, when the doctors first discovered the cancer a year ago, it was already at stage 4 so he was fortunate to have the one year he ended up having. We will all miss him.

The funeral was in Utah and while I was there I saw a lot of cousins that I hadn't seen for a really long time. That was a lot of fun to catch up with many of them. I have somewhere around 30 on my mom's side of the family (not counting their spouses). It is a lot but it still is much smaller than the 52 from Rachelle's mom's side of the family. One of the cooler things I learned was that my cousin Andrea's brother-in-law is the founder and CEO of a company called Skull Candy that makes cool headphones. What was funny about this was that Rachelle had just purchased some Skull Candy headphones but complained that when she used them, she couldn't hear anything but what was playing on her iPod. This was bad for her because she wanted to be able to hear our kids while she was listening to her books. I didn't have that problem so we traded headphones and I discovered that those headphones actually did shut out a lot of the surrounding noise. In fact, on the plane flight to Utah, I didn't even have to turn up the volume to hear my book (I was listening to The Hunger Games which is a great book by the way). Well, I was really excited to hear that it was my cousins brother-in-law that made these great headphones.

Something else I got to do while in Utah was climb to the Y on the mountain near BYU. Despite having gone to BYU, I never actually went to the Y. I always seemed to have something more important to do. That was the also the reason I never went skiing or snowboarding while going to school. Now that I look back, I am sure I missed out on a lot of things because I was just too busy with school. I couldn't have been THAT busy. Anyway, I finally got to do it and it was pretty fun. While there, I stayed with my sister Megan and her husband Alex. They were fun to stay with and it was good to catch up with them a little.

One other thing I should mention is that I finally updated the look of our web site. I took out some of the stuff on it (including the link to my blog) but it still retains most of the information with what I hope is a much better look.

Update on the broken stuff

Just in case anyone was wondering, I thought I would let you know the results of the repairs. Well, the freezer with the broken ice dispenser took a really long time but I eventually was able to get some plastic epoxy and epoxy it in place. The problem was that every time I tried to glue it, I had to wait about 24 hours before I could test it.

The iPod was a bit easier. The 12 dollar battery I ordered came on Tuesday and I followed the instructions, put it in and it worked great. That saved me about 50 dollars I think. Just thought I would give an update in case anyone was curious.

As far as the kids go, it is still pretty much the same but there are some definite advantages to having them be a little bit older. Ryder can buckle himself in (but not out) of the high chair. Rustin can actually climb up the changing table by himself when he needs a diaper change. Kassidy can help pick up and put away clothes. Something else Kassidy does is run give me a (very brief) hug when I get home from work. Kaydence and Kyndall seem to be the ones that actually like to sit on my lap even when Mom is in the house and they can both communicate fairly well verbally. Anyway, there are also some drawbacks to the whole two-year-old thing but I won't go in to those because I hope to some day forget them and I might not if I write them down here.

This week

So, I am not sure how many people saw the TLC show. Most of the people at work didn't see it but that is probably mostly my fault for not reminding everybody.

Anyway this seems to be the week of broken things. Last Saturday, I had to open up Rachelle's video ipod and fix it. By opening it, I of course broke it a little bit more but it seems OK now. Then on Monday, I went to listen to my Ipod and it just stopped claiming low battery. I am hoping that it is just a battery problem because that is relatively easy to fix. It turns out that if you fix it through Apple, the battery replacement will cost something in the range of 60 dollars and a repair of anything else will cost somewhere in the range of 200 dollars. This, of course, is completely ridiculous. If you ever have an Ipod break, chances are you can fix it yourself. From Ebay or dealextreme.com, you can get Ipod batteries for something in the range of 5 to 10 dollars (and they even come with tools and instructions on how to replace them). In addition to that, you can get new screens, logic boards, front covers, scroll wheel components, and hard drives. In other words, every part of your Ipod can most likely be replaced by a part from Ebay. My Ipod turns out is a little bit different than most so I had to pay 11 dollars plust 1 dollar shipping for the battery and tools. I'll let you know how it goes when I try to fix it.

Today, Rachelle pointed out that the little flapper door on the ice dispenser from our fridge was having trouble closing. When I went to look at it right before leaving for work, the whole door just fell off. I was in a hurry, so I just stuffed a shirt in the hole and ran off for work. When I got back, I took it apart and found that a little plastic piece that holds the door on had broken off. I am attempting to epoxy it back on (I'll let you know how that goes) but I thought that if it didn't work, I could maybe order another part. I looked on Sears web site and actually found a technical drawing of the assembly but noticed that the part I needed is no longer manufactured by the orignal manufacturer and that there is no replacement part. As far as I can tell, it looks like I will have to figure out a way to fix the plastic piece or somehow secure the pin to the plastic. Bummer.

Still, I have to admit that fixing something is really fulfilling. I was excited when Rachelle's Ipod started working again. I was pretty sure that the act of opening it up and poking a screw driver in there almost garanteed it to destruction but by some miracle, it didn't. The funny thing is that I often can't seem to help but try to fix things when something is broken. Broken things really bug me and I get really figity when I feel like there is a chance that I might be able to fix it. I often (falsely) assume that since it is broken, I probably can't make it any worse. Unfortunately, I have definitely made things worse on multiple occasions. However, in this case it seems to have turned out alright.

I am just hoping that I will be able feel that same excitement for my Ipod and our ice dispenser. Fortunately, none of these things are vital but it sure would be nice if they were not broken.

Quint Olympics from TLC Multitude of Multiples Show

Today, they aired the Multitudes of Multiples show that we are in. We had actually seen it a few weeks ago. It is a pretty good show that I think everybody that takes fertility drugs should probably watch (just so they can know what might happen). It shows both when good things happen and when bad things happen. Unfortunately, much of the time with high order multiples, bad things happen. We, were really blessed and I am so grateful for the condition of our kids.

Our section was really the comic relief. You can tell by the music they play each time they start showing us. One of the things they showed was us shooting one of our Quint Olympics videos- The Quintathalon. In this video, they do both the shotput and the "hurdles." The hurdles are really just the stairs but it is a fun race. I actually had to shoot the some of it twice because we didn't have enough time to do all of it while they were here. In fact, I also found that I had a wrong setting on the camera and had to reshoot a bunch of it anyway. The stuff they showed on TV was actually some of the absolute worst footage I have ever shot for these things but...so be it. Here it is:

A TLC blog about the show we are in called Multitude of Multiples

Here is a link to a TLC blog about the show we were featured in.

They have Rachelle's name wrong but I imagine they will fix it. I assume the author just wrote what she heard and since the name Rachelle is pretty uncommon, she probably thought it was Michelle. Anyway, it is still a pretty good blog and it does a pretty good job of summing up what the show will be about. After it airs on Sunday, I think I'll write a little about what it was like to be in something like that.

One thing that I think has changed slightly since they shot the show is that we have realized that we aren't totally in control. Since they have turned two, it seems like they are getting more and more unpredictable and difficult to control. Just yesterday, I was giving them a bath while Rachelle was out teaching and I thought I was doing great until Kassidy decided to poop in the tub. Fortunately, she was the last one in the tub. I hurried and got her out but as soon as the other babies sensed the panic, they all started to run wild and get into stuff. It was like they could sense that I was powerless to stop them. Well, it turned out OK in the end but I had a glimpse of just how close to insanity I am at times. That seems to be happening more and more lately.

Jayson

Quintuplet Dance Party Video

Here is a video we just made. Be sure to catch us on Sunday August 30 on Multitude of Multiples on TLC at 8:00 Eastern.

Happy Birthday Quints

Well, today marks two years since I was sitting in a delivery room with a video camera wondering how the little people coming out of Rachelle's belly were going change my life. At the time I really wasn't sure if they were all going to be OK and if Rachelle was going to be OK. As I am sitting here writing this I really don't know how I kept myself from going crazy. I imagine that in about 18 years, I will look back on this day and wonder how I kept myself from going crazy.

Anyway, it has been pretty fun so far despite the occasional chaos, the puke, the breaking of computers, the early hours, and the poopy diapers. They are pretty cute which makes up for a lot...at least some of the time.

Well, coming up, we are for sure going to have a Quint Olympics video that we post some time around the 17th of August. Hopefully, you will also be able to see some special behind the scenes footage of the making of a Quint Olympics. But I will give more detail on that in the coming weeks.

Happy Birthday Rustin, Ryder, Kaydence, Kassidy, and Kyndall!

New Video on Quint Talk - The secret language question

Here is the latest video. It is about how the quints are learning how to speak and the rumor that multiples often develop a secret language.



We are expecting our next Quint Olympics video to come out some time around August 16th but we might get another "super short" out before that. We are also considering some outtakes videos since Riley and Kaiya are pretty silly.

Our video from "Fox and Friends" morning show

So, we had that article last week on abc.com. Because of that, we got a call from a guy at Fox News that wanted to have us on their show. We had to go to down town Austin pretty early. They wanted us there about a half hour before we were on. The only problem with that is that it doesn't take long for 5 nearly two year old kids to get board of sitting. This is the result:

Some attention about the fact that we don't get much attention

Today there was an article on ABC news about us. It is here:

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=7747473&page=1

It was funny because the reporter that interviewed Rachelle kind of already had in mind what he wanted to write about and only seemed to use the statements Rachelle said that supported his hypothesis. He was hoping to hear that things are really tough for us now and that our help has evaporated. The reality is that if we needed the help, it would be here. It is here at any time we have needed it. Right now, we still receive a lot of help from our friend Virgina, our friend Cassaundra, our friend Halli, our friends the Bollingers, our friend Barbara, our friends the Winerts, our friends the Zamoras, our friends the Reeses, our moms and dads, and a whole bunch of other people. I just want to make sure that all those people know that we really appreciate it.

Anyway, the ironic part was that the article was about how we don't get attention anymore...and here they are giving us a bunch of attention. Kind of funny.

One other thing to note...we are in the process of making a few more quint YouTube episodes. The one we are working on now is a special one that will probably not come out until August (because it is extra special).

5 days without Rachelle

Last week, Rachelle went on a trip to Utah for the BYU Women's conference and to visit some family and friends. Because of that, I got to stay home with the kids. This was a good experience for me because it helped me appreciate what she does just a little bit more and help me realize that she is much more cut out for it than I am.

Fortunately, we have a good friend from church named Virginia that came over ever day. She is like an extra grandma to the kids and really helped out a ton. In fact, about half way through, I realized that I was acting more as back up for her. She came every morning at 6:00 AM, went home for a 2 hour lunch and then came back until the babies were asleep at about 7:20 PM. Without that help, I would have really struggled. As you might guess, it is really hard to watch 5 walking babies at once. Speaking of that, I wonder how much longer I will be able to call them "the 5 babies". I mean, Kassidy tried to dress herself the other day and they are all starting to say a few words so I don't know if they are really babies at this point.

Well, the 5 days went by without any major incidents and I got to go back to work. Rachelle had a great time and even got to sleep in one day. For her sake, I wish she could have stayed longer and slept in a few more days. For my sake, I am glad she is back.

I really wonder how long it is going to be before we can sleep past 6:00 AM. I remember that with the other two kids, it was nice because on the weekends, we could switch off with one of us going out and taking care of the kids while the other one got to sleep in a little. That doesn't happen anymore and I miss it. It is really a lot like a farm I guess. These babies just aren't going to feed themselves... at least not for another 6 months or so.

Something else I realized is that my work is a lot less draining than taking care of those kids. Mothers really do have a very rough job and deserve a whole lot more respect than our society gives them. I heard a woman the other day on TV say something like, "Some woman are more than just mothers." It made me kind of sad because many people seem to think that being a mom (especially a stay-at-home mom) is a path for those that were too lazy or unintelligent to do something better. That is pretty sad and something that scares me about our society. I can definitely say that some of the most intelligent and hard working women I know are stay-at-home moms. Rachelle is no exception. She graduated with a Master's degree in Statistics and had a whole lot more job offers than I did when we started looking. She was also making about 20 percent more than I was when we started working. When she chose to be a stay-at-home mom, it was a big sacrifice for her. Gone was the additional income, gone was the recognition for her talents, and gone was the adult conversation. However, I know our kids are benefiting from that decision and will continue to benefit from it for the rest of their lives. Besides, at this point, daycare would be so expensive that it wouldn't even be worth considering.

Anyway, I just want to say how awesome it is to have great mothers like her in the world. Rachelle, my own mother and mother-in-law are all great mothers and we are lucky to have them. Daddies are definitely necessary but I realize now that I could never do as good a job as Rachelle does. Those are my thoughts after a week without Rachelle. She is simply awesome.

The pinewood derby

I know that it is weird for me to post so soon after the last post but something interesting happened today. Today was the pinewood derby for cub scouts and it was Riley's first pinewood derby too. For anyone that doesn't know what that is, the cub scouts and their mom or dad make a car out of a block of pine wood and race them. Ideally, it would be really nice if the boys made their own cars by themselves but the reality is that making a decent car requires power tools and a bit of know-how...which means the dad pretty much does everything but sand the car.

Well, I was pretty nervous for this because there is a lot of pressure. You see, Rachelle's dad and her uncle John all were big winners of the pinewood derby (which means their boys all won the pinewood derby) in both design and speed. In order to be considered an official part of the "club", I felt like I needed to do something special.

Fortunately, Riley had a good idea. He wanted to make the Batmobile and I thought that would be pretty fun so we did it. Here are a few pictures of how it turned out.

Before painting and adding in the nozzle

After painting and adding in the nozzle:



Back view (where the weight is).


On the night of the race, I wasn't sure how it would go because I hadn't really run it on anything and wasn't totally sure that it would go straight. To make a long story short, it went straight and I feel like I can be part of the club now. He won both the design and the speed portion.




Now I just have to manage expectations for the next year because I don't want him to start thinking he will always win. He was doing pretty well I think. He went up to every kid after just about every race and told them how good of a job each of them had done. I was really proud of him for doing that but I told him afterwords that I wanted to make sure that he also did it when he lost. I think he will.

Finally, another video and another blog post

OK, it has been a really long time so my guess is that nobody reads this anymore. Even so, I decided to post something anyway since I have finally made a new video. We have been having trouble making new videos because they only take one nap a day and we have a hard time making the commentary. Because of that, we decided to go with a simpler format for now. We do still have some quint olympics ideas going but they are going to take a little while to actually make. We have a friend, Ally, who recently won American Gladiators that we are hoping to have come out and do a baby gladiator episode with them.

Anyway, here is a new video:

New Quints in Town

A few weeks ago a new set of Quints were born here in Austin. The parents are Casey and Ethan Jones. They came and talked with us early on to get our perspective on things and we tried to help them get ready for it as best we could. Their blog is here:

http://www.joneslife.net/blog.htm

They are a great couple with a lot of faith and things seem to be going pretty well for them so far. We try to pray for them often because I know (from experience) that they can use all the prayers they can get. It is nice to know that we could assist someone in a way that many others had assisted us. As for us, we are doing well still. Last week HEB (a Texas grocery store) gave us gift cards that I think will be enough for a year's worth of diapers. We were floored. Apparently, they were doing some research to figure out how they can help the Jones' family and in doing the research they found out about us and decided to just give us a big donation. It was really nice of them especially since we are sort of out of the limelight now.

You also might have heard on the news about the octuplets born to a woman in California. Yesterday, someone from the BBC contacted us and wanted us to be a guest on their World Have Your Say program to talk about what it is like to have high order multiples. Rachelle couldn't do it (because she had to take care of five semi-grumpy little people) so I did it during lunch. I thought it was just going to be a little phone interview but it turned out to be a little bit bigger than that. I ended up having to go to a local public radio studio (KUT) and particpate there. throughout the program, the host and myself talked with a whole bunch of guests from all over the world ranging from the couple that had the first set of octuplets to various doctors in singapore, Nigeria and places like that. I even got to talk with the oldest set of triplets current living in the UK (three 81 year old men that were pretty funny to talk to). Anyway, it was pretty interesting. I did get into a bit of an argument because a caller from Washington state called in and said he thought it was bad that the government would give tax breaks for children. He thought that the government should be discouraging people from having children and should make people pay MORE taxes for having children. It was pretty weird and I wish I would have told him that if the government wanted me to pay more taxes for having the children I have, then I would do it because it would be worth it.

Anyway, that is it. Just wanted to give an update since I haven't written anything here for more than a month. I have some video that I need to finish but it is getting too old so I will probably have to make some new stuff to put up there.