Now, Fertility Spas

Blame it on that ever-expanding Jolie-Pitt brood: I've been reading lots of reports about the increasing popularity of fertility spa treatments. This is not limited to big cities, where career women may be postponing having children. In Ohio, BecomingMom, a "Pregnancy Spa and Imaging Center" offers a 50-minute Preconception Massage for $69, and Peaceful Beginnings in North Carolina offers the same at $40 for 30 minutes.
Many spas list causes of infertility as stress and accumulation of toxins, none of which are causes listed on the evidence based medicine websites. In fact, really the only cause listed that a woman struggling with infertility may be able to change on her own is consumption of too much caffeine. Traditional infertility treatments can be dangerous and expensive so spas have picked up on the need for something more gentle and less invasive, which may be a good thing. But are they peddling false hope? While alternative treatments may be worth a try, it's worth considering why so few of these spas offer infertility treatment for wannabe fathers.

A Biological Clock for Dads Too

Turns out women aren't the only ones with an expiration date on their fertility. An emerging body of research is showing that men, too, have a "biological clock."

Not only do men become less fecund as they age, but their fertility begins to decline relatively early - around age 24, six years or so before women's. Historically, infertility has been seen as a female issue, as has the increased risk of Down syndrome and other birth defects, but studies now also link higher rates of autism, schizophrenia and Down syndrome in children born to older fathers. A recent paper by researchers at Sweden's Karolinska Institute found that the risk of bipolar disorder in children increased with paternal age, particularly in children born to men age 55 or older.

It used to be that "if you had hair on your chest, it was your wife's problem," says Barry Behr, an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the Stanford Medical School and director of Stanford's in vitro fertilization laboratory. Even now, he said, though about half of infertility cases are caused by male factors, such as low sperm count or motility, there are many more tests to evaluate a woman's fertility than a man's.

To some degree, that bias is rooted in biology. Women are born with as many eggs as they'll ever have - about a million. That number steadily diminishes, and "the best eggs are ovulated first," Behr says. The ones that remain - after age 35 or so, on average - are vulnerable to toxins, radiation and other insults that may degrade their quality and viability.

By contrast, men make new sperm about every 90 days, Behr says, so the logic has been that there should not be that much difference between a young man's sperm and an old man's. Indeed, men as old as 94 have been known to father children.

Still, the research suggests it gets harder with age. A French study published in the current issue of Reproductive BioMedicine Online found that in couples undergoing infertility treatment, the father's age had as much effect as the mother's on rates of pregnancy and miscarriage - the older either parent was, the less likely they were to get pregnant, and the more likely to miscarry. Other studies have found similar trends: on average, it will take longer than a year to conceive for 8% of couples in which the man is younger than 25; that percentage nearly doubles, to 15%, in couples with men age 35 or older. Data have also suggested that couples whose partners are the same age, or in which the man is younger than the woman, are more likely to conceive within a year, compared with couples in which men are at least five years older than their partners.

There are many possible explanations for the decline in male fertility, from a decrease in the number of sperm and their motility to lower testosterone levels to the effects of other age-related diseases like diabetes, which is associated with erectile dysfunction and lower levels of testosterone. But researchers think that genetic factors may be behind the link between paternal age and a child's risk of bipolar disorder and psychiatric disorders like autism and schizophrenia, whose origins are increasingly being attributed to DNA. Although sperm may be no more than 90 days old, the cells that make sperm may be subject to increasing DNA mutations as men age, affecting the quality of the sperm they produce.

In the Swedish study, published Sept. 1 in the Archives of General Psychiatry, researchers found that the risk of developing bipolar disorder began to increase in children born to fathers around age 40. The highest risk, however, occurred in men age 55 and older; their offspring were 37% more likely to develop the disorder than children born to men in their 20s. Children of older men were also twice as likely to develop early-onset disease - before age 20 - which studies suggest has a strong genetic component.

What does all this mean for would-be older dads? While women are used to seeing grim statistics about their decreasing chances of achieving pregnancy and the increasing risks of Down syndrome as they age, men have typically believed that they have all the time in the world. Perhaps now, men in their mid-30s will start sharing the same "now or never" pressure to conceive that women have long endured.

When older men father children, Behr says, the traditional response has been to "pat them on the back and buy them a beer." He has seen patients that he felt were too old to become fathers, but "plenty of people make decisions about parenthood that I wouldn't," he says. "Our responsibility is to educate patients with the facts, and they decide."

Fluctuations

I had a bunch of Canadian dollars I needed to exchange, so I went to the currency exchange window at the local bank teller line.
Just one lady in front of me. . .an Asian lady who was trying to exchange yen for dollars and she was a little irritated . . .
She asked the teller, "Why it change?? Yesterday, I get two hunat dolla fo yen. Today I get hunat eighty?? Why it change?"
The teller shrugged his shoulders and said, "Fluctuations".
The Asian lady says, "Fluc you white people, too!"

Lawyer Tale

Having already downed a few power drinks, she turned around,
faced him, looked him straight in the eye and said,'Listen up, Buddy.
I screw anybody, anytime, anywhere, your place, my place, in the car,
front door, back door, on the ground, standing up, sitting down,
naked or with clothes on, dirty, clean . . it doesn't matter to me.
I've been doing it ever since I got out of college and I just love it.'
Eyes now wide with interest, he responded,
'No kidding. I'm a lawyer, too. What firm are you with?'

Beckham in Trouble

Hotel Atlantis, Dubai

Germicidal UVC Lights Improve Clinical Pregnancy Rates for IVF Lab, New Study Finds

A seven and a half-year study conducted in the In Vitro Fertilization Cleanroom Laboratory of the Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network found that the use of ultraviolet C or "UVC" lights installed in the HVAC system had a clinically significant impact on clinical pregnancy rates (CPR). In presenting the findings at the annual meeting of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM), Kathryn C. Worrilow, Ph.D. reported that the + beta and CPR increased by an average of 17.8% and 18.2%, respectively, following 10 of the 13 change-outs of the Steril-Aire UVC Emitters(TM) over the test period.

Clinical success in an IVF lab is critically dependent upon the quality of the ambient air, which in turn, is directly dependent upon the HVAC system. The study led by Dr. Worrilow tracked three key components in the HVAC system -- particulate filters, gas phase filters and UVC lights -- and the timing of their replacement -- to determine whether these individual components affected markers of preimplantation embryogenesis and clinical pregnancy rates.

According to the findings, "There were no statistically significant differences...associated with the replacement of the particulate or gas phase filters in Testing Quarters 1-48. In contrast, immediately following 10 of the 13 UVC Emitter change-outs, the + beta hCG and clinical pregnancy rates increased 17.8% and 18.2%, respectively."

The study goes on to say: "UVC energy will destroy 90 -- 99% of airborne microbial contaminants. By targeting the DNA and RNA of microorganisms, UVC degrades and abates the proliferation of airborne and surface embryotoxic organics. Of equal significance to the developing embryo is the suggested impact of UVC irradiation on the degradation of VOCs. Our work has demonstrated that VOC levels as low as 2.2 ppb can be embryotoxic to the embryo cultured in vitro."

The authors conclude: "Although the use of UVC light represents a departure from the standard HVAC design used in many IVF laboratories, the current study suggests that the use of UVC germicidal technology in the HVAC system serving the IVF laboratory may play a critical role in providing optimal ambient air towards improved clinical outcomes. The current study demonstrated that a clinically significant relationship existed between the replacement of the UVC Emitters and the associated clinical pregnancy rates."

Robert Scheir, Ph.D., president of Steril-Aire, Inc., states: "This new data provides scientific evidence of the germicidal benefits of UVC technology. The potential benefits are far-reaching: not only for the potential to improve CPR in IVF clinics, but also for enhancing infection control in hospitals and healthcare environments, and for maintaining better ambient air in medical and pharmaceutical manufacturing clean rooms."

Scheir adds: "The study also confirms the importance of adequate UVC output and changeout frequency in achieving desired results. The study used high-output Steril-Aire UVC lamps with a changeout schedule of 6-9 months. In the 3 of 13 UVC replacement test quarters that did not result in improved clinical pregnancy rates, outside factors may have played a role in the outcomes. As long as the lamps were functioning properly and were changed on schedule, results were consistently positive. The message to anyone using UVC is that it is critical to select a device with adequate output and to replace the device consistently at required intervals to maintain that output. Otherwise, germicidal effectiveness will be diminished."

See Brigitte Nielsen After Full-Body Plastic Surgery

After undergoing full-body plastic surgery, Brigitte Nielsen debuts her new figure on last Tuesday's The Insider.

The Danish actress, 45, previously told Hello! magazine she underwent a facelift, liposuction and a breast lift last month after leaving rehab for alcoholism last year.

"I'd cleaned up on the inside and wanted to freshen up," she told Hello!. "I had it done in Germany because they try to stick to your natural look. In America, no disrespect to the plastic surgeons - everyone comes out looking the same."

She also opened up about her marriage to Sylvester Stallone, which she told The Insider was "more of a curiosity than love."

After being romantically linked to her VH-1 reality co-star Flavor Flav, Nielsen married her fifth husband, former Italian model Mattia Dessi, in 2006.

Nielsen -- who has four kids -- recently said she wants to try IVF in hopes of getting pregnant again.

France: Woman, 59, is oldest mother of triplets

A 59-year-old Frenchwoman has given birth by Caesarian section to two boys and a girl, who are in good health, the Paris hospital treating her said on Monday last.

"Everything went smoothly," said a spokesman at Cochin hospital where the triplets were born overnight Saturday.

The woman, of Vietnamese origin, is thought to have resorted to a private Vietnamese clinic willing to overlook the age limit for egg donation and in vitro fertilisation (IVF), set at 45 in Vietnam, according to press reports.

Egg donations are authorised in France but most fertility clinics here set a maximum age limit of 42 for would-be mothers.

But nothing prevents couples from seeking fertility treatment abroad and in 2001 a 62-year-old Frenchwoman gave birth to a child conceived through IVF, in the Riviera town of Frejus.

Earlier this year, an Indian woman said to be 70 years old gave birth to twins after receiving IVF treatment.

The baby girl weighed in at 2.42 kilograms (5.34 pounds) as did one brother, while the second boy weighed 2.32 kilograms.

The birth of triplets by a mother in her late 50s was unprecedented in France and possibly a world first.

But the news raised eyebrows among French health professionals concerned that science was pushing the limits of motherhood too far.

"Having children at that age is dangerous in terms of child development," said child psychiatrist Nicole Garret-Gloanec.

Women of child-bearing age are able to "draw the link between their own childhood and their baby," she said.

This case raises questions as to "how you can help a child grow, in educational terms and development," said Dominique Ratia-Armangol, president of the national association of early childhood psychologists.

She said a child born to an older woman can become confused about the role of grandmother and mother.

Garret-Gloanec suggested that the mother's late-in-life desire to have children was "a denial of ageing and of death."

"It's unhealthy, to project onto children your own anxieties about death," she said.

Ron Mueck's Amazing sculptures

Ron Mueck is a London-based photo-realist artist. Born in Melbourne,Australia, to parents who were toy makers, he labored on children's television shows for 15 years before working in special effects for such films as Labyrinth, a 1986 fantasy epic starring David Bowie.

Eventually Mueck concluded that photography pretty much destroys the physical presence of the original object, and so he turned to fine art and sculpture.

In the early 1990's, still in his advertising days, Mueck was commissioned to make something highly realistic, and was wondering what material would do the trick. Latex was the usual, but he wanted something harder, more precise. Luckily, he saw a little architectural decor on the wall of a boutique and inquired as to the nice, pink stuff's nature.

Fiberglass resin was the answer, and Mueck has made it his bronze and marble ever since.

Lavasa - The Kingdom of Zeus is Born

Zeus ( Greek: nominative: Ζεύς Zeús /zdeús/, genitive: Διός Diós; Modern Greek /'zefs/) in Greek mythology is the king of the Gods, the ruler of Mount Olympus and the God of the sky and thunder. In addition to his Indo-European inheritance, the classical "cloud-gatherer" also derives certain iconographic traits from the cultures of the ancient Near East, such as the scepter. In Hindu mythology his counterpart was Indra with ever common weapon as thunderbolt.

Zeus, poetically referred to by the vocative Zeu pater ("O, father Zeus"), is a continuation of *Di̯ēus, the Proto-Indo-European god of the daytime sky, also called *Dyeus ph2tēr ("Sky Father"). The god is known under this name in Sanskrit (cf. Dyaus/Dyaus Pita), Latin (cf. Jupiter, from Iuppiter, deriving from the PIE vocative *dyeu-ph2tēr), deriving from the basic form *dyeu- ("to shine", and in its many derivatives, "sky, heaven, god"). To the Greeks and Romans, the God of the sky was also the supreme God. Zeus is the only deity in the Olympic pantheon whose name has such a transparent Indo-European etymology.
The war of the Titans & Gods in Greek Mythology lasted ten years, after which the gods divided the earth among themselves by drawing lots. Zeus took the sky, Poseidon the sea and Hades the underworld.

After my first visit to Lavasa, I just knew that this was the Indian connection to the Indo-European mythography. Look at the pictures. In free India, we have never seen a planned hill-abode with the best architecture & facilities that contemporary building industry has to offer today. Lavasa at 3000 feet above sea level is indeed the Kingdom of Zeus or Indra that was promised to Hindustan in comparative mythology. This is the Kingdom of Zeus in the skies- this is the place where Zeus-the cloud gatherer resides. This is the promised Kingdom in the skies.

The LavaBahn took pride in being the only blemish-less road in the region which was pot-hole-free, but this time around I counted 5 pot-holes on this road. Must inform the seniors who pride themselves on the LavaBahn! I took a walk on the first Dam and got some excellent aerial shots;) (see pictures). The lakes are overflowing & this is one of the best seasons to visit Lavasa.

The last weekend that I drove there in my new car (Incidentally, this car will have the distinction of being the first vehicle to be registered at a Lavasa address!), the workers were scrubbing the floating piers clean, in preparation for the post-monsoon relaunch of the water-sports. What I repeatedly wondered was why should the eco-friendly team allow the diesel motor-boats to run in the main lake? This is the lake that gives the potable water-supply to the township. In this lake, which is the smallest of the 22km dammed Warasgaon lake, the authorities should only allow paddle-boats or sail boats or rowing boats - no fuel driven boats should be allowed in the main lake touching the Portofino area. There is a huge second lake (see pictures) which I believe will be home to the pontoon boat imported from the USA. This lake should be the venue for all motorised crafts & aquatic-sports. I hope some-one sensible in the Tourism Vertical pays heed to these suggestions.

The Kingdom of Zeus is fast-shaping up and probably will be ready before the projected 2010 Monsoons. There are 2000 skilled engineers and workers besides the unskilled labourers today, working 12-14 hour shifts giving birth to a new township-the likes of which our country has never seen before. On 15th October 2008, the ITC Fortune Hotel is due to kick off its operations with 60 rooms. Shortly, before the end of this year, 500 serviced apartments will be ready. Presently, the Corporation is restricting the visitors cars to 100/day. I think there will have to be extended visitation restrictions till 2010 when the Kingdom will be thrown open to the public.

I am glad I was introduced to Lavasa in its gestational period and am seeing the baby grow in its womb! I'm sure, the delivery will be a moment to cherish. Rumors abound that PVR will set-up a 4 screen multiplex & a world-famous adventure sports company will be setting up shop here. Lavasa - The Kingdom of Zeus is Born!

Banta Singh in England

An anglicised sardar from Amritsar was visiting the UK for the first time, and got onto the tube at Knightsbridge.
Sitting across from him, was an upper-crust Englishman in a pinstriped suit, reading the Times.
Wanting to to strike up a conversation, the sardar leaned over and asked the Englishman, "Excuse me, sar, what is your name?"
Not very happy at this development, but not wanting to be rude, the Englishman said, "John Fanshawe. And what is your name, sir?"
The sardar replied, "Banta Singh."
The Englishman smiled politely and went back to his paper.
"And where are you from, Mr Fanshawe?" Banta Singh continued.
The Englishman looked up from his paper, "From Sussex , actually," he replied, "And what about you, Mr Singh?"
Wanting to show how anglicised he was, the sardar replied, "From Amritshire".
"Amritshire?" said the Englishman, puzzled, "You have me there, sir. You see, I've heard of Warwickshire, Derbyshire, Lincolnshire and Worcestershire, but I've never heard of Amritshire."
"Yes," said Banta Singh gravely, "That is where I am from."
"Could you tell me where exactly it is? What is the latitude and the longitude?"
It was now Banta Singh's turn to be puzzled.
"I don't know sir," he replied, "You see, in Amritshire we only have Makitude and Bhenkitude."

Brain 'master switch' controls reproduction, weight

Recent studies describe a genetic "switch" in the brain that is regulated by the hormone leptin and appears to link reproductive function and body weight. Scientists are closer to understanding the links between body weight and fertility after finding a genetic "master switch" that influences both.

Although the switch was characterized in the brains of mice, lead study author Marc Montminy from the Clayton Foundation Laboratories for Peptide Biology in La Jolla, San Diego, California, USA, noted that, "because this gene is crucial to the daisy chain of signals that run between body fat and the brain, it likely plays a pivotal role in how much we, as humans, eat and whether we have offspring."

Montminy and colleagues discovered the gene, known as TORC1, while studying appetite-regulating hormones such as leptin that carry information from fat tissues to the brain.

The investigators studied mice lacking TORC1 and found that these animals rapidly became obese after birth and were usually infertile.

Further study showed that TORC1 responds to leptin by up-regulating the Cocaine and Amphetamine Regulated Transcript gene (CART), which suppresses appetite, and turning on the KISS1 gene, which is essential for normal reproductive function.

In the absence of leptin, therefore, appetite is not adequately suppressed and reproductive functioning is abnormal, the researchers explain.

They conclude that, since TORC1 is kinase regulated, it should make a good target for therapeutic intervention to treat both obesity and infertility.

Source: Nature Medicine 2008

Low-birthweight babies predisposed to psychiatric disturbances

A Recent study examined the long-term effects of low-birthweight on psychiatric problems in socially disadvantaged children from Detroit and others from a middle-class suburb. Low-birthweight babies are more likely than those with a healthy birthweight to develop psychiatric disturbances during childhood and through high school, research reveals.

The findings add another disease to the list of conditions, including respiratory disease, cardiovascular disease, and irritable bowel syndrome, that low-birthweight individuals show a predisposition to.

For the study, Kipling Bohnert and Naomi Breslau (Michigan State University, East Lansing, USA) looked at the association between low birthweight and psychiatric problems among 413 children from a socially disadvantaged community in Detroit and 410 from a middle-class Detroit suburb.

Mothers and teachers both rated children's psychiatric disturbance at ages 6, 11, and 17 years.

Results showed that low-birthweight children had "modest excesses" of externalizing (odds ratio [OR] = 1.53) and internalizing disturbances (OR = 1.28), compared with normal birthweight children.

An increased incidence of attention problems was seen in low-birthweight individuals from the socially disadvantaged urban, but not the suburban, community, compared with their normal-birthweight counterparts, particularly for those with a very low birthweight, of 1,500 g or less.

Bohnert and Breslau note: "Attention problems at the start of schooling predict lower academic achievement later, controlling for key facts that contribute to academic test scores, which in turn predicts termination of schooling and curtailed educational attainment."

They suggest: "Early interventions to improve attention skills in urban low-birthweight children might yield better outcomes later."

Source: Arch Gen Psych 2008; 65: 1080-6

Advancing paternal age risks bipolar disorder

Babies whose fathers are older than 55 years of age face a significantly increased risk for bipolar disorder, an extensive study has shown.

Despite robust evidence supporting an association between increasing paternal age and severe mental disorders, including schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorder, the researchers believe no previous trials have looked at the association between paternal age and bipolar disorder.

They analyzed information on 13,428 patients with bipolar disorder and their parents by linking data from the Swedish Multigenerational Register and the Hospital Discharge Register.

Five healthy control individuals, matched for gender and year of birth to the case patients, were also studied.

Overall, 68 (0.5 percent) of the patients had fathers aged at least 55 years.

Analysis showed that, after adjusting for parity, maternal age, socioeconomic status, and family history of psychotic disorders, these offspring had a 37 percent increased risk for bipolar disorder (odds ratio [OR] = 1.37), compared with children whose fathers were aged 20-24 years when they were conceived.

The association between paternal age and bipolar disorder was much stronger for early-onset cases (OR = 2.63), Emma Frans (Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden) and co-workers report.

Increasing maternal age also showed an association with the incidence of bipolar disorder, but the effect "was less pronounced," say the researchers.

"The results are consistent with the hypothesis that advancing paternal age increases the risk for de novo mutations in susceptibility genes for neurodevelopmental disorders," they conclude.

Source: Archives of General Psychiatry 2008; 65: 1034-40

Adolescents conceived with IVF psychosocially similar to those born naturally

Adolescents conceived through IVF show similar psychosocial development to adolescents conceived naturally and have comparable relationships with their parents, researchers report.

Hilde Colpin and G. Bossaert from the University of Leuven in Belgium previously compared psychosocial development at age 2 years in children born naturally and those born using IVF.

Most previous studies of this kind have found no statistically significant differences between children conceived through IVF and those conceived naturally, but these focused on young children, mostly less than 5 years of age.

For the current report, Colpin and Bossaert studied 24 of the families involved in the original research, each of which had a child conceived through IVF now aged 15 or 16 years.

The investigators assessed psychosocial development in these families and in 21 control families with children born through natural means.

The results of this assessment show that parents who used IVF to conceive and their children are not significantly different to families who did not use IVF in terms of parenting style, parenting-related stress, and behavioural problems in the child.

Behavioral problems also occurred at a similar frequency in children who knew they were conceived using IVF and those who did not, the team reports.

"As far as we know, this is the first psychosocial study following up IVF families into children's mid-adolescence and the first to investigate adjustment level by disclosure status in this age group," conclude the investigators.

Implants or Indians?

Selby quadruplets turn 5

Everyone in the seven-member Selby family gets to claim a day of the week. Having a "special day" means each girl -- quadruplets turning 5 today and 7-year-old big sister Brooke -- can pick breakfast, choose a movie and generally have a say in daily decisions. It's one way Brian and Bonnie Selby balance the competing needs in a family where "everything we do is five times over."

The river of laundry, diapers and formula unleashed by the quads after they were born six weeks premature on Aug. 25 in 2003 is a distant memory. Car seats and strollers also are gone, making it much simpler to get out.The biggest challenges now are tracking all the activities, from part-time preschool to ballet to swimming lessons, and tailoring parenting to the girls' evolving personalities.

"They're individuals," said Bonnie, 41. "They don't like to do the same things."

Sydney -- a tall brunette in contrast to her shorter, blond sisters -- is introverted and passionate. Amanda is a "sweet teddy bear" who loves to cuddle.

McKenna and Ryleigh looked enough alike that their parents finally decided on a DNA test to determine whether they're fraternal or identical. Turns out, they're identical.

Along with looks, the two share some personality traits. They're outgoing, strong-willed and free-spirited. But while Ryleigh is the princess, McKenna is more sporty.

The "quad squad" still shares a room, recently switching from toddler bed to bunk beds. To keep things fair, they switch every couple of months so each girl gets time in a coveted top spot.

The four girls also share a middle name -- Faith -- after Baby Faith, a fifth sister who died during the second trimester of Bonnie's pregnancy, the result of an exceptionally fruitful in-vitro fertilization.

Though multiple births are on the rise, quadruplets remain rare.

According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention there were 434 quadruplet births recorded in the United States in 2002, compared to 69 quintuplet births. There were 4 million U.S. births that year.

Mornings at the Selby house are a mad rush to get everyone fed and dressed and Brooke to nearby Superior Elementary, where she's in second grade. At night, even with "assembly line" showers, it takes an hour to get all the girls washed, dried, dressed in pajamas and hair detangled.

And, five years after their birth, the quads' baby books aren't done.

"I still haven't really started," Bonnie said. "The intentions are good, but the time isn't there."

Big sister Brooke is generally "gracious" about sharing her world with four younger sisters. To give her personal attention, she gets to go on "date nights" with dad, a 46-year-old corporate controller for a biotech firm.

Bonnie keeps their Rock Creek home ruthlessly organized.

A new mud room -- previously the laundry room -- keeps a multitude of shoes and coats out of the way. Plastic bins keep art supplies and toys contained. A drawer in the kitchen holds hair brushes and ties.

The basement was transformed into a fantasy playroom with the help of friends.

Walls are washed in pastel hues. A friend painted a tree on one wall, while Bonnie added hand-painted letters that spell out words like "dream" and "laugh." There's a "schoolroom," a homemade wood "stage" and a playhouse donated by a neighbor.

The Selbys said they've been blessed with both material donations and donated time.

A friend with older twin girls regularly leaves clothes on the doorstep. A stalwart volunteer from Rock Creek Church has continued her weekly visits since the girls were born, coming each Wednesday to make peanut butter sandwiches. Bonnie's mother, Minnie Byrd of Denver, remains their No. 1 helper.

The girls celebrated turning 5 with a weekend party at Chuck E. Cheese. They donned princess outfits, played games and indulged in the rare treat of soda.

Turning 5, McKenna said, is "to be older and do more fun stuff."

The family took their first real vacation, a weeklong trip to a ranch near Gunnison in June, since the quads were born. But their favorite activity of summer, hands-down, was a trip to Denver's Elitch Gardens amusement park. Coming in a close second was learning to ride two-wheel bikes and learning to swim.

Noted Ryleigh, "I'm learning to blow bubbles out my nose."

Asked what it's like to be a set of four, the girls are stumped. After all, they've never known another way.

Five years into living as a family of seven, their parents can't imagine a different reality, either.

"This is my life," Bonnie said. "You either fight it or learn to love it. I love it."