A Party of Multiples

When I found out I was pregnant with the quads I decided to rejoin our locals mom's of multiples group. I was in it when I had the twins but I had a hard time with the group because I felt it was very difficult for a new member to fit in. Fast forward to expecting multiples again and I decided to rejoin only because I knew I needed to buy a ton of baby equipment and usually moms of multiples sells things in pairs which would help me in the need to buy 4 of everything. Instead of finding baby paraphernalia, the group ended up providing me with the most amazing friends. The group is made up of moms of twins, triplets and quads so having multiples is really no big deal to anyone in the group. There is no "your hands are full", "how do you do it", or "were they natural". We get each others lives and understand what it is like to have to feed multiple babies, the fact that it takes longer to load everyone up than to actually run the errand and how coffee/alcohol are necessities to our daily routine.

We loved having a set of quads come from the Bay area join us. My big kids jumped at the opportunity to help with getting jammies on and feeding night bottles. Us adults could have gone out for dinner and the babies would have been in good hands with the big kids. Someday...

Recently we got talking on fb how cool it would be to have a summer bbq/swim party and before I knew it I blurted out that I would have it if people really wanted one. Less than 24 hours later it was decided that we would host a swim party on July 3rd. Thinking it was the Friday of a 3 day weekend I wasn't expecting too many families to RSVP which was just fine because I knew even if only a couple came my kids would love the opportunity to have a play date. You can imagine how surprised I was when we had 11 families who came which totaled; 2 sets of quadruplets, 11 sets of twins and 4 singletons (58 people all together including our family). It was so much fun!!

As a mom of multiples you can imagine how amazing it is that she has no kids within her personal space and is enjoying hot food!

No one drowned. No one got hurt. I don't think a single kid got put on timeout. The grill stopped working but that didn't stop us from eating until our tummies told us we had had enough. Of course that is right about when we brought out the desserts and then everyone was hungry again. We swam until lips were blue and kids had to warm up in the shower.

Even though I did not rejoin the group this year in an effort to spend less time on facebook I plan to open our house again next year to the Placer County Mom's of Multiples because we had a blast. Now I am off to figure out another reason to have a party because though I despise decorating for them (which I have decided is not necessary so I totally skip this part), I love making food for a ton of people and enjoy spending time with our friends and watching my kids have a blast with their friends.

Ready for the next party!!!

Let Freedom Ring...

I literally could have hit "repeat" from last July 4th for today which means we had 7 kids who were so excited to celebrate the mid-summer holiday. Sometimes when you find something that works there is just no sense in changing it. My guess is for the next couple of years our Fourth of July will continue to be very similar with just a few minor tweaks as the kids get older.

Big kids 2012

Babies 2012 (26 weeks preggo)

2014

2015
And yes Kenzie is wearing the same shirt as last year because when you only gain 1.25lbs in a year you are able to keep wearing the same clothes over and over. And I found it funny when pulling the pictures that Tate wore the shirt that Drew wore last year!

To sum up our day; woke to Natalie and Drew coming in to our bedroom to wish us a Happy 4th just as if it was Christmas, had breakfast and left for the parade we have attended the last couple of years, got wet (minus some babies that had complete meltdowns every time a single drop of water hit them), headed home with 7 overtired kids which created a crabby mommy, naps were needed for all and we did just that by taking a family nap of 2.5 hours. It was awesome!! We then woke up much happier and had friends over for dinner. Now the babies are asleep and the big kids are out enjoying evening festivities which will end with a couple big booms. I do find it hilarious that Natalie, Aubrey, & Drew were more excited for the annual stop at 7/11 for pure junk food. The things you get to do when mom stays home!

And just to show that mom was actually there!! Us mom's are always missing from pictures.

Hands down the babies favorite part was the airplane fly over to start the parade off.

I could fill in the blank spaces with more words but I personally think my kids are way cuter than anything I could say so enjoy our 4th in pictures. Hope y'all had a wonderful day celebrating our independence.

We got smart half way through the parade and sent them to the other side of the street. That way they could literally get hosed down and we only got sprinkles.

This was him all morning every time a drop of water got on him which pretty much means he spent the whole parade in tears and not even a sucker cheered him up.

Happy 5th Birthday Drew-Drew

You may be turning "5" today but no matter how many years the calendar says you are you will always be my little man. And I may be wrong but for some reason I have a feeling you will always hold a special place in your heart for your mama. There is just something unique about the relationship you and I have. It started the minute the nurse brought you back from the warmer a couple minutes after you were born. From the moment they handed me my perfect son, my mama heart has never been the same.

For the first three years of your life you were by far my easiest child. As long as you got to be one of the big kids you were happy. And then you turned 4 and I can easily say you gave me a lot more run for my money this year. Hello tantrums....over anything that meant you did not get your way. I do not like my little boy when he finds the need to melt down and unfortunately it happened many times a day this last year. You are still so super sweet but seriously who did you learn this new act from? You often found yourself in time out because when you went off the deep end it usually meant you were over stimulated and needed space to yourself or were over tired. Even though mom and dad knew sleep helped you so much you decided to give up naps this year and always put up a good fight when we would lay next to you to allow sleep to win. Always amazed us though how after you told us over and over that you were not tired, you would sleep soundly for over two hours. But don't worry buddy you always got us back at bedtime when you would come downstairs a million times with a different question or need.

This year you started preschool and though you were so excited on the very first day of school you would have been more than happy to make the first day your last. Once you realized nap time was included in your school day you hated going. As in, clung to mom and dad's legs when we tried to drop you off. All because they made you lay down from 1-3. Luckily by Christmas you stopped putting up the battle and instead told us each day "I'll see you when you pick me up before nap" with the biggest grin on your face because you thought you were so funny.

Even with all your tantrums and your never ending persistence I wish I had 10 more of you. You are amazing. You are all boy, yet at the same time you are so gentle with your tiniest sister. You play hard but you love even harder. You are the perfect middle child. You love to work with daddy outside but you are also content helping mom in the house. You could easily go to Kindergarten next year because you are socially ready but you are more than happy to still spend the majority of your days at home and so that is what we are doing. You are my only singleton and somehow became my little sidekick. You are only turning 5 but you seem so much older than that to me but yet not too big to find the need to crawl into mama's lap for cuddles. You are mine and I am so thankful to God for surprising us with you when we were least expecting it. He knew I needed you in my life.

Who says that 5 year old's can't have a good time riding their baby sister's pink horse!

Drew today is your 5th birthday and I am so very proud of you. You are becoming the most amazing little man and I pray that you will continue to grow into the man you are already becoming (though with a few less fall-to-the-floor-with-your-legs-thrashing moments) because if you continue being the person you are today you are going to be something special when you are a husband and father.

Happy Birthday Drew Bear!