Dane came home last Sunday.
Brock and Cameron came home yesterday.
Summer comes home tomorrow.
Saying they are cute doesn't do them justice - they are precious.
Life is a bitch and then you die, so get busy livin. A saying I refer to often.
I received an email from a dear friend over the weekend. My friend told me a story of how he was with some dear friends that he doesn't get to see often enough. My friend began placing money on time. He said he would give $100 if it were 9:00 pm. That was at 1:oo am. At 4:30 am, it was up to $500. These were my friends on the night of September 13, 2008 - they were gettin' busy livin'! These are my friends that banded together to do something so incredible I just don't know where to start. Thank you my friends.
Tonya and I don't know where to start with a lot of things. What took place on September 13, 2008 was more than special. We are so blessed to have come to know such a wonderful network of friends. We love you all.
Less sleep means more time awake which means you live more. Tonya and I will be sleeping less and livin more for awhile here, but we know lifes a bitch, we're just making sure we get busy livin' before we die.
Get Quads, Be Cool
Love,
Lew
Monday, September 22, 2008
Thursday, September 11, 2008
The Quads Are Coming, Part II by Lew
Okay, I believe I used that title, minus the Part II, on July 31, 2008 around 11:30ish am? That would have been the day they were born, duh! However, when I was typing that email, I was shaking profusely and could hardly even think! This time I am typing in pure joy!
Well, this time the title means THEY ARE COMING HOME...not as a group, but we have a very good idea when...
Dane-O ETD: Sunday!
Cameron ETD: Early-mid next week!
Summer & Brockie ETD: Late next week-weekend!
Cale and Aiden call Brock Baby Brockie - so cute!
Holy Balls!
Dane-O said he wants to golf. We told him we thought that might not be a good idea - too many germs. He was pissed but hey, he shouldn't even be born yet! So, in order to insure Dane-O's health, he will be home on Sunday. Geez, we are just so amazed at how these babies performed over the past 5-6 weeks! Just plain amazing!
Well we did it. We did it with a heck of a lot of help. We are so thankful for everything that everyone has done for us. I have to give special thanks to the staff at Munson. They kept our babies alive from the first second and we are forever indebted to them. Their care has been instrumental in the survival and ultimate health of The Quads.
Of particular note, there was a nurse named Julie that was with The Quads quite a bit during their first week or so. I do not know Julie's last name. She has not been with the staff since as she had to get surgery. When Julie left, she told us it was her job to make sure The Quads made it through the first week. They made it with flying colors and here we are! Thank you Julie and every other staff member at Munson for treating our babies as if they were one of their own. It brings tears to my eyes! I wish Julie could be here to see them off...
Feeling overwhelmed right now so I just want to say thank you.
The Lewandowski Family - Tonya, Jeremy, Aiden, Caleb, Summer, Brock, Cameron, and Dane.
Well, this time the title means THEY ARE COMING HOME...not as a group, but we have a very good idea when...
Dane-O ETD: Sunday!
Cameron ETD: Early-mid next week!
Summer & Brockie ETD: Late next week-weekend!
Cale and Aiden call Brock Baby Brockie - so cute!
Holy Balls!
Dane-O said he wants to golf. We told him we thought that might not be a good idea - too many germs. He was pissed but hey, he shouldn't even be born yet! So, in order to insure Dane-O's health, he will be home on Sunday. Geez, we are just so amazed at how these babies performed over the past 5-6 weeks! Just plain amazing!
Well we did it. We did it with a heck of a lot of help. We are so thankful for everything that everyone has done for us. I have to give special thanks to the staff at Munson. They kept our babies alive from the first second and we are forever indebted to them. Their care has been instrumental in the survival and ultimate health of The Quads.
Of particular note, there was a nurse named Julie that was with The Quads quite a bit during their first week or so. I do not know Julie's last name. She has not been with the staff since as she had to get surgery. When Julie left, she told us it was her job to make sure The Quads made it through the first week. They made it with flying colors and here we are! Thank you Julie and every other staff member at Munson for treating our babies as if they were one of their own. It brings tears to my eyes! I wish Julie could be here to see them off...
Feeling overwhelmed right now so I just want to say thank you.
The Lewandowski Family - Tonya, Jeremy, Aiden, Caleb, Summer, Brock, Cameron, and Dane.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Jail Break by Lew
Cripe, almost forgot how to get signed in....so much for the photos. It would definitely help if we had a home so we could use our computer. We're working on getting a lap top which would allow for photo posting on a more regular basis. In the mean time, I'm going to keep my yapper shut as I just can't find enough go-juice to get into work super early to post photos.
Tonya gave birth to exactly 10 pounds, 8 ounces of babies. With 3 babies currently over 5 pounds, yes Brock broke the barrier the other day, The Quads as a whole have almost doubled there total birth weight! Cute little Summer is lagging a bit on weight, I think she's tippin' scales around 4 pounds 11 ounces or so. She's just so cute though...and she looks tough!
Relevance of the title of this blog - both Tonya and I just committed to partaking in this crazy golf outing deal this weekend. Now, after seeing how much the babies have progressed in the past couple days, we are wondering if we will be informed of a jail break release at our Staff meeting on Thursday? Seriously, these babies are amazing! Our thougths now are we might have these babies home this weekend, yikes! Most likely next week thought. We could not be any happier with their progression. It is best described as follows:
Week 1: Rollercoaster from Hell
Week 2: Stabilization with some progress
Week 3: Progress
Week 4: Slow and steady
Week 5: Progress
Week 6: Mom, Dad, would you please get us the F*$K outta here
So yeah, they want out and they are showing it. I got to feed Brock after work yesterday. He was awake from the time I got there (~5:40) until I got booted at 7 pm (for shift change charting thing). We played. Brock and I played! It was so fun! We was so alert, I held him so he was prone and he was pushing his feet off my lap. He was smiling and looking around and was intrigued by the noises from other babies. I sure wish there was a way to know what babies are thinking or saying. Like from the movies Look Whose Talking (I think). Anyway, it was cool!
Most importantly, Brock was off the sauce the whole time I was there, including through his feed, and including not needing the oxygen after his feed! That was huge! He's there!
So, I hope you can feel the excitement in my writing, because Tonya and I are very excited. Pretty scared and feeling kind of behind on where we need to be with some of our preparations, but excited nonetheless.
Van hunting has started. Going to check out a conversion van today. I'm hoping it's all black so I can paint it like the A-Team van! Give Cale a mohawk and dangle all kinds of gold from his neck!
Well, I need to work now. Tonya and I are really looking forward to seeing those that will be making the trek to Traverse City this weekend. Means more than we could try to put into words. We are hoping to somehow figure out a way to be able to convey our gratitude to everyone - this whole ride had been such an amazing experience - thank you all!
Any how, safe travels to all. Those that are leaving family behind, give them a hug from The Quads!
Drive Fast and Take Chances,
Lew
Tonya gave birth to exactly 10 pounds, 8 ounces of babies. With 3 babies currently over 5 pounds, yes Brock broke the barrier the other day, The Quads as a whole have almost doubled there total birth weight! Cute little Summer is lagging a bit on weight, I think she's tippin' scales around 4 pounds 11 ounces or so. She's just so cute though...and she looks tough!
Relevance of the title of this blog - both Tonya and I just committed to partaking in this crazy golf outing deal this weekend. Now, after seeing how much the babies have progressed in the past couple days, we are wondering if we will be informed of a jail break release at our Staff meeting on Thursday? Seriously, these babies are amazing! Our thougths now are we might have these babies home this weekend, yikes! Most likely next week thought. We could not be any happier with their progression. It is best described as follows:
Week 1: Rollercoaster from Hell
Week 2: Stabilization with some progress
Week 3: Progress
Week 4: Slow and steady
Week 5: Progress
Week 6: Mom, Dad, would you please get us the F*$K outta here
So yeah, they want out and they are showing it. I got to feed Brock after work yesterday. He was awake from the time I got there (~5:40) until I got booted at 7 pm (for shift change charting thing). We played. Brock and I played! It was so fun! We was so alert, I held him so he was prone and he was pushing his feet off my lap. He was smiling and looking around and was intrigued by the noises from other babies. I sure wish there was a way to know what babies are thinking or saying. Like from the movies Look Whose Talking (I think). Anyway, it was cool!
Most importantly, Brock was off the sauce the whole time I was there, including through his feed, and including not needing the oxygen after his feed! That was huge! He's there!
So, I hope you can feel the excitement in my writing, because Tonya and I are very excited. Pretty scared and feeling kind of behind on where we need to be with some of our preparations, but excited nonetheless.
Van hunting has started. Going to check out a conversion van today. I'm hoping it's all black so I can paint it like the A-Team van! Give Cale a mohawk and dangle all kinds of gold from his neck!
Well, I need to work now. Tonya and I are really looking forward to seeing those that will be making the trek to Traverse City this weekend. Means more than we could try to put into words. We are hoping to somehow figure out a way to be able to convey our gratitude to everyone - this whole ride had been such an amazing experience - thank you all!
Any how, safe travels to all. Those that are leaving family behind, give them a hug from The Quads!
Drive Fast and Take Chances,
Lew
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
What's New by Lew
Soooo much new news!
Blogging these days is tough - both Tonya and I have been scrambling to make time to get some updates to ya'll. Tonya has zero time and I need to get a schedule figured out.
By any means, holy cow are things nutty!
Dane should be over 5 pounds today and Cameron is right there with him. Brock will be there shortly and Summer, well she's cute and that's all that matters! Summer hit the 4 pound barrier on Sunday weighing in at 4 pounds 0.5 ounces!
The news with Summer reaching the 4 pound barrier is that she was able to be cool with her brothers - yeah, all The Quads are out of their isolettes! Brock is the only one with a nasal canyal thing for oxygen. It was determined that he was retaining fluids so he got a diarhetic yesterday morning and has been peeing his brains out since! The thought was that he was retaining too much water which could possibly have been accumulating in lungs, potentially inhibiting his repiratory progress. We are hoping that he will now continue to progress towards getting off the oxygen. It may take a bit yet, he had the most severe respiratory issues with his lungs and his path was more of an uphill battle compared to the other babies.
I really need to get some photos on this thing. We had a photo shoot in the NICU this weekend. It was awesome! We have some beautiful photos of our family with all 4 babies! That was monumental! First time we were able to hold all of The Quads at once!
Tonya has been able to nurse the babies and I am able to assist with bottle feeds. Dane is the big eater and Brock is better at nursing. Cameron and Summer are close behind as well. All in all, they are doing great with getting accustomed to nursing and they all seem to be progressing.
Tonya has been spending some long nights in the NICU. Her schedule, when we don't have assistance, generally see's her arriving at the hospital between 10 and 11 pm and her departure is usually sometime after 2 am! She usually takes Aiden and Cale to see the babies for a brief stint or two during the day. She is incredible. Her love for her family is profound! I am very fortunate to have Tonya as my wife and our kids are blessed to have her as a mom. She is doing whatever it takes to maximize her time with The Quads and with Aiden and Caleb.
The Quads are doing so damn well it is just mind boggling! We are simply awestruck by their health! We are still taking it day to day and week to week with when they may be released from the hospital. It has been estimated at 3 weeks for the past 3 weeks or so. It really doesn't matter. What matters is that they continue to do well and when they are ready to come home, they will come home. Not sure where home is yet, but for the moment, it will be the cottage in TC.
Sure would be nice to have a place to call home, but again, what matters is we have healthy babies, a healthy family, and we will all be together soon enough.
Our family enjoyed a lovely Labor Day Weekend in Northern Michigan! We spent the weekend at the cottage on East Bay. Aiden and Caleb were in their glory, as was the rest of our family. Aiden and Cale have taken up scuba diving - at least that's what they call it. Most of us would refer to it as snorkling - but scuba diving sounds so much cooler. Watching them swim, or flop, around in a mask and snorkle is hilarious!
We are really looking forward to seeing everyone that has been so influential in our journey! Though the golf outing may be a bit uncomfortable for Tonya and I, we will do our best to accept that there are indeed wonderful people in this world, and we truly are humbled by the fact that we were able to make people feel good about being generous to some regular old friends. Thank you all for everything, again.
Also, we continue to received gifts for The Quads and Aiden and Caleb. Our apologies for not getting thank you's out. We have a huge list and we are looking forward to lots of hugs at the golf outing.
Hopefully my next post will have a ton of photos...
Peace out,
Lew
Blogging these days is tough - both Tonya and I have been scrambling to make time to get some updates to ya'll. Tonya has zero time and I need to get a schedule figured out.
By any means, holy cow are things nutty!
Dane should be over 5 pounds today and Cameron is right there with him. Brock will be there shortly and Summer, well she's cute and that's all that matters! Summer hit the 4 pound barrier on Sunday weighing in at 4 pounds 0.5 ounces!
The news with Summer reaching the 4 pound barrier is that she was able to be cool with her brothers - yeah, all The Quads are out of their isolettes! Brock is the only one with a nasal canyal thing for oxygen. It was determined that he was retaining fluids so he got a diarhetic yesterday morning and has been peeing his brains out since! The thought was that he was retaining too much water which could possibly have been accumulating in lungs, potentially inhibiting his repiratory progress. We are hoping that he will now continue to progress towards getting off the oxygen. It may take a bit yet, he had the most severe respiratory issues with his lungs and his path was more of an uphill battle compared to the other babies.
I really need to get some photos on this thing. We had a photo shoot in the NICU this weekend. It was awesome! We have some beautiful photos of our family with all 4 babies! That was monumental! First time we were able to hold all of The Quads at once!
Tonya has been able to nurse the babies and I am able to assist with bottle feeds. Dane is the big eater and Brock is better at nursing. Cameron and Summer are close behind as well. All in all, they are doing great with getting accustomed to nursing and they all seem to be progressing.
Tonya has been spending some long nights in the NICU. Her schedule, when we don't have assistance, generally see's her arriving at the hospital between 10 and 11 pm and her departure is usually sometime after 2 am! She usually takes Aiden and Cale to see the babies for a brief stint or two during the day. She is incredible. Her love for her family is profound! I am very fortunate to have Tonya as my wife and our kids are blessed to have her as a mom. She is doing whatever it takes to maximize her time with The Quads and with Aiden and Caleb.
The Quads are doing so damn well it is just mind boggling! We are simply awestruck by their health! We are still taking it day to day and week to week with when they may be released from the hospital. It has been estimated at 3 weeks for the past 3 weeks or so. It really doesn't matter. What matters is that they continue to do well and when they are ready to come home, they will come home. Not sure where home is yet, but for the moment, it will be the cottage in TC.
Sure would be nice to have a place to call home, but again, what matters is we have healthy babies, a healthy family, and we will all be together soon enough.
Our family enjoyed a lovely Labor Day Weekend in Northern Michigan! We spent the weekend at the cottage on East Bay. Aiden and Caleb were in their glory, as was the rest of our family. Aiden and Cale have taken up scuba diving - at least that's what they call it. Most of us would refer to it as snorkling - but scuba diving sounds so much cooler. Watching them swim, or flop, around in a mask and snorkle is hilarious!
We are really looking forward to seeing everyone that has been so influential in our journey! Though the golf outing may be a bit uncomfortable for Tonya and I, we will do our best to accept that there are indeed wonderful people in this world, and we truly are humbled by the fact that we were able to make people feel good about being generous to some regular old friends. Thank you all for everything, again.
Also, we continue to received gifts for The Quads and Aiden and Caleb. Our apologies for not getting thank you's out. We have a huge list and we are looking forward to lots of hugs at the golf outing.
Hopefully my next post will have a ton of photos...
Peace out,
Lew
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