The "Littlest" Lesnaus: February 2013

Growing up I totally took for granted the fact that both of my grandparents lived within 5 miles of each other and we had cousins galore all around. I loved having family around and I think it is why I really wanted to have a large family (never thought this large but I love it!). What does make me sad now that I have kids is my children's grandparents do not all live 5 miles from each other. We go months in between seeing some of them. Makes me sad. No matter where we live we will always be far from someone. The girls are getting to the age where they love playing with their cousins and love when we all get together. So last weekend was so much fun for the reason that we had grandparents, aunts/uncles and cousins all here. We had blast visiting, laughing, swimming, eating and just enjoying each others company. I also think they all loved cuddling and feeding babies and it was weird to go multiple feedings without having to feed a single baby. There were many tears shed when people started leaving. I think the girls would have been just fine if all of our company would have just taken up permanent residence at the hotel they were staying at. We can't wait for the next time we get to spend time with everyone which will be in July at my sister's wedding!

Grandpa Rick, Tate & Kenzie

Great Grammie Helaine & Tate

How many people does it take to get the babies to smile?!?

Happy ~~25th~~ 31st birthday Mommy

"There are all these people around and I still have to do tummy time? Pick me up people!"

Exhausted

Great Grammie with 7 of her 8 great grandchildren

Our very eager bottle feeders.

A very sleepy Rylan

Grandma & Grandpa Lesnau

Tate (yes we are still dealing with reflux with this kid)

This summer when Grandma stayed with us she would give the kids foot rubs every night before bed. Drew returned the favor on this visit.

and he gave his mommy one too!

Uncle Dave reading to his godson

This is what date night turned into for Paul and I..sushi at home. I was still a happy camper!!

Daddy and his valentine

Can't wait to have more space so we can have visitors more often

Auntie Sara & Kenzie

Cousin Amanda & Isabella

Uncle Ryan & Rylan

More help than we have ever had. Notice not a single parent is feeding!!

Growing up we went to church because it was just what we did. My brother, sister and I all went to the Catholic elementary school and so we went to mass twice a week; once during school and then on Sunday. As I got into high school we had an awesome youth minster and I loved going to the retreats. Can't say I loved them for the "religious" part of them but they were a ton of fun. Once Paul and I went off to college we found a church and became members. That Catholic guilt gets to you everytime! As Paul and I have gotten older we have come to rely more and more on our faith. I wish I could tell you that we were a family that sat and read scripture every night but we are not. We have our dinner prayer and our bedtime prayer. I am also really good at praying during times of need but not so much when things are going good. Our faith had never been tested as much as it had once we found out we were pregnant with the quads. It was the first time in my life that I can truly say I gave everything over to God. If I wouldn't have I would have been so full of worry and doubt and I don't think I could have gotten through the pregnancy. God really does amazing work even though at times I have questioned it!

Our children's welcoming into the church is always a very special day for us. It is a day that we celebrate as a family the blessings and miracles that God has given us. Natalie and Aubrey were baptized at 6 weeks of age and Drew was 2 weeks old. When I was pregnant with the quads we had planned on having them baptized in the nicu but we found out that once they are baptized they can not then be baptized again in the church. We really wanted the babies to have this sacrament in the church setting. So we decided to wait until they were out of the nicu. When they were first home they were so little and I was worried they would get sick if we had a bunch of people celebrating with us and I was a wee bit protective of my little loves. We originally were going to wait until RSV season was over but because of my sister's wedding in July we knew it would be hard for some of our family to make the trip in April/May and then again in July. So we decided to have it this past weekend but required everyone to get the flu shot if they were coming!

For some reason I love this picture because it so reminds me of our life; choatic but everything seems to fit.

Big sister excited that her babies are being baptized. (A quick story that has nothing to do with the baptism...recently we were talking about what to do if our house ever caught on fire. We reviewed that everyone needs to get out of the house and go to our neighbors where we will all meet up. We were again telling the girls not to worry about their pets and Natalie asked about her babies. I said don't worry about them we will get new ones. She looked totally confused and asked where? I told her we could get another one at the American Girl store. She than said but mom they came from your tummy. We quickly told her that mom and dad would get the babies out of the house if it was on fire. They always amaze me at the love they have for their "babies".)

Baptism took place on Sunday at the church we have been members at since before the girls were born. We recently got a new priest from Pennsylvania and it was his first baptism in this parish. We broke him in though with four baptisms at the same time. The babies were awake the entire time. Isabella blew raspberries throughout the entire baptism and had us all laughing. And not a single baby fussed when the cold holy water was poured on their heads. Each baby did take turns spitting up though so we passed a burp cloth from kid to kid. After the baptism was over Kenzie's godparents went to have a crossed blessed and Father Paul was texting his priest friends back in Pennsylvania that he had just baptized quads. He was pretty excited!!

All of the quads have different godparents who Paul and I chose while we were pregnant. The older three kids have our brothers and sisters as their godparents. Since their were 4 sets of godparents that had to be chosen it took a little time to decide.

Kenzie's godparents are my aunt Sue and uncle Steve. Sue is my godmother and since Kenzie's middle name is after me we thought it would be neat that Sue was the godmother to two Rae's.

Isabella's godmother is my aunt Jenny. I have always looked up to my aunt and she has three amazing children herself. She is truly a a beautiful person on the inside and outside. Izzie's godfather is my sister's fiance Jess. He loves our children as if they were his own. He also treats my sister wonderfully so we knew he would be able to give Isabella the love and guidance she will need as she gets older.

Tate's godparents are Paul's aunt Judy & uncle Dave. Tate is named after Paul so we wanted Tate's godparents to be from Paul's side of the family. Dave and Judy also have two little girls so we wanted to give them a little boy to spoil.

My aunt Dori & uncle Jim are Rylan's godparents. Rylan is named after my uncle Jim so it was only fitting that Jim would also be his godfather. We know that Rylan is loved dearly by his godparents.

My sister stood up for Rylan because his godparents were unable to make it from MN.

We have been so blessed by these four amazing miracles. We will always be thankful that we were chosen by God to be the parents of our seven children. We have vowed to bring up our children in the faith of the Catholic church and to be the best parents that we can be. Now with lots of prayers and guidance hopefully Paul and I will be able to fulfill that vow!

Camera's everywhere!

After baptism it was time to eat and swim. We enjoyed an afternoon at a local hotel which allowed us to have plenty of room to relax. The babies did great being passed from one person to another. Mom and Dad even got some baby free time! By 5:00 the babies were done partying and were very happy to go home for a bath and their own bed.