When the babies were nine weeks old, I exhausted my FMLA and returned to work two days per week.  The cost of daycare is astronomical for one baby let alone four, so that was never under consideration.  My mom has been gracious enough to come Fridays, sometimes with help from a faithful friend.  George had flexibility in his work schedule so he arranged to have every Wednesday off and sacrificed Saturdays.  His father aka Grandaddycame on Wednesdays as a helping hand.  That arrangement was working quite well, until George accepted a different position in his company.  He now works Monday through Friday, which is great for family weekends.  Not so great for childcare.  With thoughtful consideration and prayer, we approached George’s aunt, Carol for the gig.  To our surprise she accepted!  George’s father will continue to come Wednesdays to help her and spend quality time with his grand babies.  Carol came over last week for a little “on the job” training, but tomorrow is her first official day without George or I here.

I know the babies will be in loving, capable hands so that is a piece of mind.  I also know that caring for quadruplet infants is no easy task and not for the faint of heart! I made a bit of a road map for them.  I jotted down our daily schedule with a few painstaking details about the major stuff: diapering, feeding, playtime, and sleeping.  I figure I would want a road map so Carol and Grandaddy might appreciate one too.  Here it goes:

7:45 am

• Change Diapers
• Give the girls juice from the tiny labeled bottles in the fridge (they will take it cold.)
• Feed
• Dress them in day clothes (Yes, they wear clean clothes every day even if no one is visiting and we are going no where.  They sleep in their pajamas over 12 hours so they sweat and sometimes leak from their diapers.  Eww!  Also, they need to wear all of the cute clothes generously gifted to us.  Plus, they look cute in pictures!)
• Playtime

9:30 am

• Nap

11:00 am

• Change Diapers
• Feed
• Playtime

12:30 pm

• Nap

2:00 pm

• Change Diapers
• Feed
• Playtime

3:30 pm

• Nap

5:00 pm

• Change Diapers
• Feed

• Quiet Playtime (e.g.  books, Baby Einstein DVD, rock, chatter, swings)
• Baby Massage with lotion OR bath, then pajamas

6:30/6:45 pm

• Power Nap

8:00

• Change Diapers and add Diaper Booster Pads
• Dream Feed with one tablespoon of oatmeal added to the bottle
• Bedtime

Every time it says “nap”, imagine me morphing into a white tornado that tackles enormous loads of laundry, scads of bottles, Crock Pot cooking, blogging, and slurping a cup of cool coffee.  On occasion, I force myself to indulge in a bit of television or maybe a power nap, but that is rare.  By the end of each day we have changed 20 or more diapers, made and served 140 ounces of formula, settled babies into cribs over 20 times, and washed 130+ bottle parts.  No rest for the weary here!  Now that the babies settle in for the night after their 8:00 pm feed we find ourselves trying to wrap up WAY too many projects in addition to the existing chores.  Sometimes it’s difficult to not do things that need doing, but our bed is calling.  That’s all a day in the life of quadruplets!

hugs!

Amber

Here are some pictures of our playtime activities from today:

Good luck Carol and Grandaddy!