Individuals

November 27, 2012December 28, 2012Amber 11 Comments

Most people would agree part of the fun of having a baby is being able to dress them up and tote them around in adorable attire for others to admire. Why else on earth would they make precious baby clothes with the cutest accessories? Being on lock down with quadruplets sort of puts a damper on that concept.

When we get out as a family, it is usually for a doctor’s visit or perhaps a neighborhood stroll. During these times, we garner quite a lot of attention. Four babies in TWO twin strollers aren’t terribly conspicuous when together in public. People marvel over them, but it’s not as if each baby gets admiring glances on their own merits. Honestly, it can feel like a bit of a freak show for us. And of course, there are always lots and lots of questions and comments. For the most part, onlookers are very polite and only complimentary. I beamed when one passerby said, “Oh what a blessing!” I replied, “YES- they are a blessing!” The occasional person throws out the rude question or comment. The worst was when we were on a walk and a neighbor shouted from across the street, “Are they natural?” It’s not that we mind sharing our story or keep it a secret. But come on, shouting across the street isn’t the best way to inquire. I’ve joked about making a banner to hang on our strollers that reads, “Bet ya’ got a lot of questions. Visit fourtoadore.wordpress.com for answers”. That could be a bit presumptuous for the average inquiring mind so I haven’t gotten around to that.

I picked up baby sunglasses for everyone not because they are precious, but because macular degeneration runs in my family and our peepers need protection!

I absolutely love being at home with our babies and watching them grow each day. Yet, at times I just want to get back out into the world a bit and I want my babies to see the world too. So, for the past few weeks we started a new mission, to take everyone out shopping individually. We have a system where my mom takes care of three babies while I take one on a quick errand. We time it so the baby is fed and changed, I take them out and get back before they realize it’s time to feed again. Of course, germs are still a concern even for just one baby. Thus, I take full advantage of cart sanitizing wipes and slather myself in hand sanitizer a bizillion times.

Several weeks back when we decided to to this, I chose the most alert baby after feeding. Mason was the lucky guy that round. He and I made a quick jaunt to Kid to Kid to trade outgrown clothes for bigger ones. Then, we ran into Target. Of course my alert Mason conked out during the 20 minute car ride, but at least he was angelic the whole time. Later that evening, I decided to pick up a few groceries at Kroger. The evening here is affectionately referred to as “witching hour” because one or more of the babies is extremely fussy. Most of the time, the girls are the biggest offenders. I decided to roll the dice and take Rylin. I knew it would go one of two ways 1. she would enjoy the outing and behave OR 2. she would wail as if being tortured and we’d be forced to bail on the trip. Luckily, she LOVED it! For the entire 45 minute trip, Rylin was incredibly alert and appeared to be soaking in every bit of the novel environment. I think she also enjoyed rolling along in the grocery cart. I got two out in one day, leaving Harper and Sydney.

Mason and I chose the best cart from the corral.

Rylin soaking it all in at Kroger.

She’s so bright eyed!

The next week, we had tons of outgrown diapers that needed exchanging at Target. I figured if I need to convince customer service to swap diapers for a larger size, I better take Harper since he is far bigger than my pixie, Sydney. So, Harper and I headed to Target. Like his brother, Harper passed out during the car ride and pretty much slept the whole time we were in Target. Every now and then he stirred and I thought, “Pllllllease don’t scream now….just a few more things” and fortunately he fell back to sleep. Finally, this past week it was Sydney’s turn. She and I hit Kroger on Black Friday while everyone else was in the big box stores trying to score mega deals. Sydney got many ooohs and ahhs, but I think it was partially due to her big red bow and Santa socks. She was the only baby who dared cry while out. Just when our cart was over half full, Sydney scrunched her face tightly and let out a shrill scream. I averted bailing by pushing the cart at warp speed and lulling her to sleep. Mission accomplished!

Harper was down for the count, but so cute at Target.

This is after I got her to fall asleep. Prior to this,Sydney was alert and enjoying the scenery.

Sydney rocking her big red bow in Kroger.

It’s been so much fun having individual time with the babies and hearing others admire them for who they are not because they are part of a pack. This is something I plan to keep doing as they get older so there is always individual time for them. As I am more skilled in baby toting I may venture to take two at at time! I recently saw a mom of twins leisurely rolling two store carts side by side, and thought to myself, “I can do that!” I figure if I can take two out at a time, finding a sitter may be a viable option too! I enjoyed seeing what it is like for the average new mom and being asked “normal” questions. You know, “How old is he/ she? What’s his/ her name?” That sort of thing. Now that everyone’s been out, I have to start again!

hugs!

Amber

Deck the Halls- Check!

November 20, 2012December 28, 2012Amber 4 Comments

The weather outside is delightful so a fire would be just frightful! That’s because it is a lovely sunny day with a high of 80 degrees and yes, we have a house adorned for Christmas! I am fully aware we have not yet celebrated Thanksgiving and it’s over a week until December, but Christmas decor is here. George and I were both home yesterday so I decided it was opportune time to get in the holiday spirit. Christmas decor is a lot of work and having four infants doesn’t make the task any easier so I seized the moment.

George helped me heave Steralite boxes from the attic to the den and I busily worked between feeds during naps to get everything just right. All the while, our Christmas playlist blared from the ipod, which really put us in the spirit. In approximately four weeks, that same Christmas playlist will make me want to hurl. It was quite a sight during feeding time to see Boppies full of babies surrounded by a sea of Christmas glitz, half opened Steralite boxes, and oodles of wadded paper. Too bad I didn’t have the foresight to capture that in a picture. As usual, George left me to the tree. This is because I am a bit particular (when I say particular, I mean downright OCD) about it. I absolutely must find just the right spot for each ornament. The translucent ones must catch the light so they sparkle and the colorful ones go into dull spots to brighten them up. Throughout the season, I have a habit of finding better spaces for ornaments. When it’s finally perfect, it’s time for the tree to retreat back to the attic.

Here’s my favorite collection of ornaments, four pacifiers and a sea turtle!

George helped me with our Charlie Brown kids’ tree, however. The Charlie Brown tree is a skimpy, limp four foot tree that we fill with old homeade ornaments and others from childhood. For the first time, this tree has a bit more purpose and will be even better when the babies can appreciate it. Oh how I look forward to celebrating our Christmas traditions with the foursome.

Charlie Brown Tree

This year, the babies haven’t the foggiest idea that Christmas is coming, but it’s fun to watch them marvel at their new shining surroundings. I try to make sure tummy time faces the tree so they can enjoy it. I figure this is the last year for a while that the tree resides in the den. We generally have at least one ornament fatality thanks to my klutzy hands. Imagine it with four toddlers lurking about! With all the Christmas decor scattered around, the best new decorations are of course the four little ones playing on the den floor.

Everybody’s having a bit of supported tummy time facing the tree. Poor Mason is still working on raising his head, which is why he gets OT.

Sydney stopped looking at the tree when she caught a glimpse of her own precious face in the mirror.

Rylin could be looking at the tree, or perhaps just the monkey on her bouncy seat.

I’m pretty sure Harper can see the tree here.

Mason didn’t seem to mind the new decor and just conked out!

hugs!

Amber

A Change of Plans

November 13, 2012December 28, 2012Amber 7 Comments

I have a long-standing tradition of celebrating birthdays with my college roommates, Neha and Kristen. We always start the evening with homemade cake, which is usually sort of wonky looking. We never intend for them to look bad. It’s just that something always goes awry so we end up with ugly cakes that taste downright yummy. Before we devour the cake, we take a goofy picture using a timer and tripod. Neha makes sure to find a prop for said goofy picture and there are plenty of outtakes. We’ve got scads of pictures with someone half in them or a weird facial expression. We then head out to the birthday person’s eatery of choice. Over the years we’ve gone everywhere from mundane places like TGI Friday’s to chic wine bars. I think, with age, we have gotten more sophisticated in our picks.

One year, Neha and Kristen attempted to make a rainbow cake for my birthday. It apparently got stuck in the pan, left a hole in the center, and the colors ran together. They attempted to “fix” it by filling the hole with frosting and adding red sprinkles to the top. This one “takes the cake” for ugly cakes, but is a good memory.

Here is one of our goofy pictures in our old place. The extra guy is Faisal who lived downstairs from us.

We went to the Glass Cactus, which is a local “hot spot” one year.

No surprise, this year was a bit different with the additions of the newest Shawvers. It’s not as if getting a sitter for four infants is an easy task. Plus, we are currently on modified lock down to protect the babies from cold/flu/RSV season as much as possible. This means we pretty much take them out only to visit the doctor. Really, who am I kidding??? Even if we weren’t on lock down I don’t think we’d get four babies out in public it’s too much work. We also restrict visitors to well people with current flu and Tdap vaccines, ask visitors to remove shoes and wash hands thoroughly before handling babies.

When Kristen’s birthday rolled around this month, I invited my roomies over for some take out Chinese food and baby fun. Being the awesome friends that they are, Kristen and Neha accepted this change of plans and jumped right into our normal evening routine. Once they arrived, both scrubbed up and started falling right into place with us. In the span of one evening, the four of us changed babies, fed babies, burped babies, played with babies, put babies to bed, bathed babies, changed babies, fed babies, put babies to bed, made bottles, fed babies, burped babies, and tucked babies in for the night. Whew! Oh yeah, in between baby care we managed to enjoy a nice dinner with a glass of wine. At the end of the evening, Neha looked at me wide-eyed and said, “You guys do this every night?” Yes, we do. We do all of these things all day long every day, but honestly we are accustomed to it because it is our normal and our routine. I must say, it is so much more fun with a few good friends along for the ride! I hope we didn’t scare them off….my birthday is coming up after the new year. Maybe they will come back???

This was Neha’s first time feeding a baby. She did a great job with Sydney even though Sydney can be a bit tricky at times with her leaking and gagging antics.

It’s fun when we have visitors and everyone gets a baby!

This assembly line thing works well with a four member team!

We created an assembly line. Here George is filling bottles and Neha is capping them.

This is what it looks like when there are babies and baby feeders everywhere!

These two were pretty good at feeding by the third feed of the night.

Kristen’s birthday dinner 2012. We took a goofy picture, but I can’t seem to find it. Oh bother…

Here is this year’s wonky cake. Notice where I ran out of frosting for the sides and the top is a bit uneven? I did manage a checkerboard center though.

Cheers to good friends AND sleeping babies!

hugs!

Amber

Moving on Up

November 6, 2012December 19, 2012Amber 8 Comments

Well, everyone is officially out of newborn sized clothes and diapers! In fact, Harper’s size 0-3 month clothes are already getting a bit tight. I cannot believe that the babies have all more than tripled their birth weights by 15 weeks. Perhaps they will all be double-digit weights and on the growth charts soon. Since everyone outgrew their entire wardrobe in a matter of days, we started shifting things pretty much everywhere. George came home one day last week and asked, “Why are there clothes in limbo EVERYWHERE????” It took me the better part of last week to get everything sorted out. There are now boxes to donate, boxes to share, boxes to consign, and boxes to grow into. It’s here there and everywhere! Along with getting bigger, the babies are starting to meet some early developmental milestones. They are all pretty much neck and neck, but each one has a bit of a thing they are the best at. Rylin is our toy batter, Harper is thestuff grabber, Sydney is the thing tracker, and Mason is our smiley guy. They have been doing some of these things for a while, but started getting much better the past two weeks or so. Here are some of the cool things they can do now:

smile in response to another person smiling or being tickled

Mason just loved when Kristen tickled his belly.

Smiley Guy Mason

visually track objects

Sydney is really checking our her mobile!

show interest in toys, books, and objects like the fan

grasp objects, including mom’s hair

What’s that in Harper’s hand? A rattle!

Mason not only grabbed a rattle, but brought it to his face.

lift head with good neck control

Harper is demonstrating head control and toy grabbing at once.

Sydney lifted her noggin.

bat at toys

Here, batter batter, here batter batter…

look at a person talking to them and appear to listen

G.G. is really chatting Harper up here

kick legs, which is a lot of fun with rattles attached!

Rylin is kicking like she’s got a bad case of Restless Legs Syndrome!

notice when another is crying and join in the choir (this one is a problem during sleep times so we started using a sound machine and lullaby CD to help muffle the sounds)

Not sure who started it, but both girls were M A D!

suck thumb when upset (this is mostly Sydney and sometimes Mason) I know thumb sucking isn’t necessarily considered a good thing, but for a quad to self-soothe it is great!

And….the Holy Grail for multiples: We mastered the QUAD FEED thanks to tips from fellow quad mamas Amber, Becky, and Krista.

Ta da!!!

The four are showing off some of their new 3 month duds from the Cox family.

More three month sized duds here. This time they are showing off their Notre Dame spirit for our friend, Kelsey.

hugs!

Amber

Mommy’s Mummies

November 1, 2012October 7, 2013Amber 11 Comments

Halloween has never been my favorite holiday, particularly during the years of feeling like the only child free home on the block. However, George absolutely LOVES Halloween. He decorates our home with the gusto of Clark Griswold at Christmas. Our house is the only one on the block complete with a kitschy graveyard (I swear that thing MUST go when the babies are old enough to know what it is, but for now I let him do it.), spooky lights, and large silhouettes of a witch and cat highlighted with a strobe light. The neighborhood kids seemed to appreciate his kooky spooky decor and came by the droves. We always seem to underestimate how much candy to buy. I always start out overly generous, giving several pieces to each little spook and by dusk realize it’s just one bite size piece per kiddo. I think we had 400 pieces this year and only gave out two per kid, which means we had about 200 little spooks come a knocking.

Despite my lackadaisical attitude towards Halloween, it was much better this year with our four to dress up. It will be even better when they can join in the festivities. I already have grand plans for next year’s costumes. I just hope Aunt CiCi is up for the gig! Perhaps Halloween will become a beloved holiday for me one day.

It’s a bit hazy, but here is George’s graveyard.

And, here are his silhouettes

The babies sported Halloween bodysuits for the day courtesy of Marin’s Boutique. Rylin was not too happy with her get up.

Mommy and the gal mummies. I couldn’t resist the Halloween hair bows for them!

Here are Mommy’s Mummies handmade by Aunt CiCi herself!

The babies chilled in Rock ‘n’ Plays in the garage while we passed out candy. When the neighbors realized the babies were out the mummies stole the show. The little spooks did a great job of not touching and just looking.