Staying A Float As The Seasons Change

This last year I noticed that as we went from fall to winter and then winter to spring I have survived by just keeping my head out of the water. I don't feel as if I am drowning but that every breath I take is so needed. I am not sure if it has to do with the time changes, the amount of daylight or the changes in the kids schedules but for whatever reason when the new season arrives I just feel busy and that every moment of the day is filled with something.

My babies who are nearing their second birthday. How can it be so?

This is not a bad thing but just me trying to figure out how to prioritize my life and also reorganize the things that we need to get done. Playing with my kids in the pool is a must. Having kids in gymnastics right now is not high on the list so we canceled until summer is on its way out. Getting the kids to swim team even when we are parenting alone is done four times a week which means lots of snacks to keep 5 little kids entertained for forty-five long minutes. Washing of clothes happens when the baskets are full which leads me to three endless days of washing, folding and putting away. Paul's solution was to buy another washer and dryer. My solution was everyone is only allowed to wear a swim suit on days we are staying home. Meals are eaten outside with clothing optional. Showers are also done outside. Blogging has taken a step down on the must get done list because I am just not sure what I want to write about and being creative right now is figuring out how best to position my lounge chair to get the best tan.

Love this kid. He was not planned by me but someone knew I needed him in my life!

This guy is pretty swell too!!

Welcome to our summer dining table. We have gotten smarter and the babies booster chairs now live permanently out here because a meal is not relaxing when you have to repeat "sit down" 7,953 times in a span of 20 minutes.

As the school year is winding down I feel as if I am finally able to get more than just my head above the water. My breaths are longer and I am becoming more relaxed with the upcoming season. It just took me about four weeks to adjust. Choir practice ends next week. The school talent show is over. Swim practice will move to 8am (who in the world schedules 6 year olds for 8am swim practice during the summer!) which allows us to have full days at home. No more packing of lunches. No more homework each night but instead I can listen to my first graders (sniff sniff) read to me poolside. We can have play dates during the day instead of squeezing them in on weekends. Grandma Lesnau will be arriving which just shouts summer to my kids.

The girls have started creating their own spa time in my bathroom.

Won't be long and peanut will not be able to walk under the desk. Little Miss finally out grew her infant seat, by height not weight!

Tate doesn't patiently wait for food. Hope he finds a wife who likes to cook because this boy likes to eat.

Housework will get done every two weeks when the house cleaner comes. We will live in diapers and swim suits. Wash will happen when we run out of jammies. Dinner will be thrown on the grill which means fewer dishes to wash. Iced coffee will be my drink of choice. Afternoon naps in underwear will be a daily event. Blogging may or may not happen. I will still have to go to work because unfortunately I haven't figured out how I can still get a paycheck without adorning my scrubs but you can bet we will be having many lazy days in between my work schedule.

All of this will be gone before we know it and we will be back in the grind of school, shortened days and grandma's back in Minnesota and when all happens I will be struggling just at the surface once again for a couple of weeks. So for today I am going to enjoy the fact that my laundry is sitting happily in the hampers with enough clothes hung in our closets to get us through a couple more days. The house is clean only because the cleaner left after the babies went down for nap. A little boy is snoozing in my room. And I have exactly one hour to look through my cooking magazines before I have to pick kids up from school. Summer is here and it is time to make the best of it.

Why do kids have the need to show ones parents dead animals?

Longing to be part of the big kid club.

 

A very blurry video but one I am so proud of. Aubrey has wanted to sing the Alleluia at mass since she started choir in the fall. This past weekend she was asked to sing it and she did amazing. I tear up every time I watch this video because I am so beyond proud of what my little girl achieved by lots of practicing at home with her twin sister. 

Mother's Tea

Today was the day my girls have been looking forward to for months. They probably started discussing the Mother's Tea Party back in October when they had a Dad's Night Out at school and Natalie and Aubrey have been talking about it since. For them, today was just about as big of a holiday as Christmas. Natalie even woke me up at 2 and 4 this morning asking me if it was time to start getting ready yet. Someone was a tad excited! Natalie of course had to dress in her fanciest of clothes after her and her sister went to the principal yesterday to plead their case on why they should be allowed to dress pretty for their mom's special day. I had to laugh when their teacher told me they got the approval from Mr. Nelson for a free dress day for the Kindergarten class because of course Natalie would never find it acceptable to have to wear her uniform for a fancy tea party!

The girls and their teacher (along with a little boy who I thought we should bring home. I am sure his mom would never miss him!)

Their classroom was decorated just perfectly and so much work went into creating a special day for us moms. The room smelled of fresh rosemary which filled vases the kids had made and sat on each table. They sang us songs and said their prayers to bless the person they call mom. They taught us 2 dances and both left us moms laughing because one dance had us weaving in and out under everyone's arms and I am sure us moms looked a little silly. We were shown all the work they have been doing in their garden and the seedling they would be planting later today after the tea party was over. We said a decant of the rosary, praying for our own intentions while the children lead us in each of the Hail Mary's. We listened to 3 songs on the good old recorder after they warmed up their hands. We concluded the morning by eating on fine china as our children each poured us tea in matching tea cups and served us food they had prepared the day before.

Natalie and Aubrey's hand cutouts.

I love the way Kindergartners always want to hold hands with each other. 

The children were so proud of all their effort in making our day special. Some days being a mom can be anything but rewarding but as Kindergartners my girls still think moms are the greatest thing in the world. I am not sure when they actually start viewing moms as something else but today I am not going to worry about that. Instead I am going to look at the gift they gave us and know that without a doubt they have never been as excited to saw, sand and paint a piece of wood because they were making it for their moms with love.

Thank you Natalie and Aubrey for a wonderful Mother's Tea

Quad Mom Weekend

This past weekend I did something I never thought would happen in a million years. I went away for four days sans kids and husband and met up with 5 other quad moms. It was awesome and there really are no words to describe how amazing it was to sit around and talk with women who live my life. We never stopped talking. From sun up til waaaaay past sun down, hello 3 o'clock in the morning!

Mary, a fellow triplet mommy, knew how to start our weekend off right. The most yummy cookies EVER. Visit Sugar Coma Cookies to get your own specialized cookies. You will not be disappointed!

We finally meet in real life! (L to R: Amber B, Ashley, Amber S, Becky, Me, Griselda)

A couple months back during one of our many daily chats we talked about how awesome it would be to plan a mom's weekend get away. In a matter of 48 hours we had decided Gruene, TX would be our meeting spot, a date was set, a condo was found and 2 of us who needed to fly in had bought tickets. It shocked us all how fast it all came together and even better all of the husbands were on board, or at least gave us the thumbs up even if they didn't want to. Then we frequently asked each other if it was May yet when our children were giving us a run for our money. May just could not get here soon enough on some days.

Our view of the Guadalupe River off the condos balcony. 

A lunch in which we all got to eat while it was hot and we didn't have to cut anyone's food but our own.

A meant to be moment: We decided the next passer by we would have take a picture of us. Two ladies came up to us and were more than willing to take our picture. They asked if we were in Gruene for a specific reason and we said no but for some reason I had the need to tell them we were all moms of quadruplets. The other mom's looked at me with the look of 'you seriously just said that'. A major team foul! The lady we are pictured had her mouth wide open and asked us 'really'? She then explained that she is a surviving quad of 53 years ago. What are the chances?!? Two of her brothers were identical and they both passed away within 24 hours of birth. Her and her 'twin' brother were in town for her nieces wedding. It was fate and truly unbelievable. God sure does have a sense of humor.

The lady who took this picture made us all laugh. She asked if we were celebrating our graduation? We laughed and told her that was many  years ago. She then said 'well I didn't mean high school'. She made our day!

See the mess in the kitchen? None of our kitchens look anything like this. Messes make us crazy but for some reason the mess in our condo did not bother any of us. 

When we arrived on Thursday night you may wonder how 6 women who had only spoken via facebook, text and an occasional phone call would get along? Well let me tell you it was as if we had known each other for years. There were no awkward moments of silence but instead there were six girls running to each other with open arms uttering the phrase, "I can't believe we are all together." Four of the girls are from Texas, one was from Michigan and then I represented California. We all had quadruplets within 3 months of each other but in total we have 29 kids between us.That is larger than most Kindergarten classrooms.

Sitting and chatting poolside was so great. Really didn't want this afternoon to come to an end. 

Sitting fully ready for dinner AND reading a magazine. Pure Awesomeness

The number that means so much to all of us: 4.

This picture just makes me smile!

Often times you will find friends who you have things in common with. Whether it is work, the gym, babies or interest/hobbies. The six of us share so much more with each other; we have all gone through infertility, all but one have suffered a miscarriage, we all had the moment of finding out we were carrying quads and then we all had the journey through a quad pregnancy. We then endured months on bed rest doing anything we could to get our babies here safely which then led to the moment of meeting our four miracles and the weeks after weeks of being nicu moms. Three of us sat at our sons bedside early on during that nicu stay praying to God to heal our sons as the doctors and nurses worked to save our little boys. We have been sleep deprived beyond the meaning of sleep deprivation. We have made more formula and changed more diapers than anyone should have to in a lifetime. We have all felt the financial stresses of adding four people to a family at once. We all share the post quad pregnancy body struggles. And now we are all in the middle of toddler mischief x4. The biggest thing we share though is being chosen and blessed to be quad moms and as you can see the six of us share way more than just the average friends. We get each other and when our eyes filled with tears as we remembered some of our struggles getting pregnant, staying pregnant and the never ending days of the nicu we all understood where those tears were coming from. And when we shared in more laughs than I have laughed in the last couple of years it just made us realize we have a bond that most people will never have: it is a sisterhood made up of quad moms.

Lots of laughing and many inside jokes which just are not acceptable on this old blog. What happens in Gruene stays in Gruene!

We created our own spa complete with pedicures and facials.

And this is how we all felt Sunday morning when we had to say good bye.

Our weekend ended all to soon but at the same time we knew we were needed back home to love on our babies/kiddos. The husbands wanted their wives back because when you are back home stuck with all the kids, those couple of days are a huge sacrifice of love. But don't worry we will be back together in only 358 or so days because the quad momma weekend is now an annual event. The weekend before Mother's Day you will always find us together come wind or high water, we will find a way.

Love You Girls!!

A picture in my kitchen reminds me daily of the women who get me through each day; the joys and the struggles of raising quads+3. We all got a number to represent our children and to remind us of our quad momma weekend. (And yes Becky, I did use valcro to attach the #!!)