When I was working full time, three day weekends always threw me for a loop. I’d either think it was one day ahead or behind the actual day. Despite the fact that I no longer work on Mondays, the Memorial Day holiday confused me yet again. I keep questioning what day it is. Low and behold, it’s THURSDAY! Of course that means it’s time to link up with Rebecca at A Beautiful Ruckus for the Little Things Thursdays.
1. In honor of Memorial Day, we dressed the babies in patriotic duds. While we didn’t celebrate with a traditional BBQ or splash in the pool, we took a trek to Target together as a family. Keeping up with their reputation for outings, the babies behaved beautifully. This time, George took Mason and Rylin in a twin stroller while I wore Sydney in the Baby Bjorn and put Harper in a shopping cart. That baby toting plan worked perfectly because we got almost no inquisitions and only a few admiring smiles.
2. Since Mason outgrew his initial DOC Band, we got his new one this week. George was not quite as inspired as with the first band as far as decorating goes. While, I lack his artistic prowess, I absolutely could not have Mason sporting a plain white clinical looking band. I took matters into my own hands and purchased star stickers at Hobby Lobby with some red acrylic paint. On his first night of band wearing, we painted three coats of red onto the band and attempted to affix the stars on it. My brilliant plan was foiled as the stars resisted adhering to the band and only scarred the red paint. For several days George and I rejected the design ideas of the other until we agreed on a dragon. 2012 was the Chinese Zodiac’s year of the “special dragon” so his band is homage to that.
3. Amber B. and I met up for play date round #2, which was a success. This time, her babies acclimated much faster than before and napped pretty well to boot. Rylin was not to be outdone by the Bell girls and decided to show off her Banshee scream during nap time. She finally conked out for about 20-30 minutes, which helped her power through the evening. Amber and I figure that the third time will be a charm and all things will be absolutely perfect (we can dream, right?). She posted some really cute pictures on Texas Tales, including one of seven of the eight babies enjoying an Elmo performance.
I captured seven of the eight babies in action. Can you account for all four Shawver babies? If you look to the right, two of the Bell girls are at the gate crawling towards Mama and I’m pretty sure Amber has the third girl.
4. After work yesterday evening, I was in a cantankerous mood for no apparent reason. I blatantly lashed out at George who was just trying to relish a bit of downtime. I wasn’t sure quite why I was irritable, but decided it was time for a glass of vino and some dark chocolate. In honor of Mother’s Day, our next door neighbor gifted me a bottle of wine from her personal winery. I decided it was an appropriate occasion for said bottle of wine. I enjoyed a glass with a few chocolate chips as I soaked my feet in a Mary Kay treatment while I skimmed a few magazines. Mood fixed! I really is the little things that can turn a day around. My demeanor was clear indication it was time to STOP and just relax for a moment.
Coincidentally, this bottle of wine is from July 2012, when the quads were born!
5. I’ve been at this blogging gig for over a year now, but still have TONS to learn. I finally figured out how to do links properly. In the past, I would just copy and paste the link so it looked something like this: My friend, Becky writes Our Multiples Journey here: http://ourmultiplesjourney.blogspot.com/ Sure, you can access the link, but it looks rather unappealing and cumbersome. Instead of that, I may say something such as, my friend, Krista, maintains a blog called The Littlest Lesnaus. Instead of pasting, you can just click on the title of her blog and BAM, you’re there! Cool huh?
What brought a smile to your face this week?
Hugs!
Amber
Four to Adore 
Your blog brings a smile to my face whenever I read it–which is each & every posting. DARLING KIDDOS! Loving, nurturing, creative parents. Thanks for sharing your life with us.
LikeLike
That is so sweet of you to say! I always hope we can make someone smile =)
LikeLike
Glad you took a personal timeout! We need those badly for personal reasons but also for others, too, like husbands!! I bought some magazines yesterday (mail forwarding service has been less than productive) and will prop my feet up during afternoon naps today. However fleeting they may be…
LikeLike
Haha, so true! We need to take breaks for the husbands sakes just as much as our own! George may have been chewed up if I didn’t stop last night. Enjoy your magazines, they are such a simple pleasure even for a fleeting moment.
LikeLike
You are too sweet to add our blog to you Thursday installments. Must keep on on blogging now in case I get some of your followers. I am working on a very long Q&A post and then I think it’s time to share some post from a couple of my quad momma friends. May have to think about a topic to have you ponder in all of your free time!
I love Masons new band. I think even better than his first! I love the color red though so that may have something to do with it. Harrison’s expression makes me laugh. Kind of like “mom, really…more babies that we have to hang around. This is getting old.” I am totally jealous of the Amber Squared and recently told Paul that I want a weekend to fly to Texas to get away. I totally think he will let me but I am waiting for fall. Don’t really care to do Texas in the summer!
LikeLike
You and Becky are some of my quad mama BFFs so I love to do a shout out =) I’m looking forward to your next Q and A segment. I asked for questions but didn’t get any! LOL.
Aw, glad you like Mason’s new band. There was a lot of deliberation about it. Haha, about Harrison’s facial expression. If he could talk that might well be what he’d say. Becky’s sister lives just outside Dallas so we should totally coordinate some sort of meet up. Not that I’m partial to Dallas or anything 😉 Texas summers are brutal. It’s getting HOT already. Bah.
LikeLike
Great pics the dragon is too cool. Dad
LikeLike
Glad you like the dragon =)
LikeLike
I read your blog every now & then and I think it’s cute and interesting. You linked to the other lady with quads and I read a few of her posts also. It strikes me as very odd that you both seem to shun or strongly dislike people who come up to you & make comments. You knew this would happen with 4 babies and it will continue to happen your entire life. I have triplets, they are 18 now and they actually made the newspaper because they are all 3 going to different colleges on scholarships & will be apart for the first time ever. So it never ends. Why do you show disdain for people approaching you, when you have made a choice that literally draws people into your life?
LikeLike
Hi Brenda,
Thank you for stopping by and pointing out some perceptions of disdain. I am aware that some moms of multiples are uncomfortable with answering questions in public and find it off putting. I’ve been advised by others to “avoid eye contact”, ect, but I generally do not. I’m so proud of my babies I literally beam when I am out with them.
George and I try to be open and transparent with people as best we can. We believe that the energy you put out there is what you get in return (e.g. being cold and off putting will result in people being rude to us and having a bad experience with seeing multiples).
I suspect you got that impression because of posts where I mentioned going under the radar or trying to go unnoticed. Those are times we are attempting to run a quick errand with four babies on borrowed time. I don’t think anyone in Walmart wants to listen to four babies meltdown simultaneously. Since we try to answer questions from observers, it can slow us down tremendously. If we need to be quick, it’s easier to split up a bit and be less obvious that we have quads. I’m sure as a mom of trips you figured out efficient ways of doing things like run errands.
You must be a proud mama! I love hearing stories of multiples graduating and going on to do great things. That gives me great hope for the future, especially when we were told by professionals of all the significant risks involved. Best wishes to your three miracles!
LikeLike
I had to laugh at your comment about 4 simultaneous meltdowns. Been there with 3 babies and then once in the grocery store when they were about 13, dear Lord!!! I had thought I was 10 years past the grocery store meltdown and our teen years were pretty good, but that was just a bad day. I can laugh about it now.
LikeLike
Aye, aye, aye. I dread the day when the inevitable toddler meltdown occurs in public. I never even considered the possibility of a teen meltdown times four in public! I guess you are never really out of the woods for having your kids embarrass you in public.
LikeLike
Oh wow! You must be so proud to have 18-year-old triplets who are clearly doing amazingly well to be going to college on scholarships! It sounds like you raised them right!
I know Amber, and I can definitely attest to the fact that she is far from rude. In fact, she really likes to answer and educate the public about what it’s like to have multiples. I do know that sometimes she has to roll through errands before naptime comes though. I think she’s found a really wonderful balance between being kind and open with the public and meeting her kids’ needs as well. As a fellow higher-order-multiple mom, I’m sure you understand that it takes a bit longer to do everything, even without the questions. 🙂
Again, I think it’s so amazing that your triplets are doing so well! I also have quads, and I can only hope that my kids turn out as well as yours. Thanks for leaving a comment, because it’s so encouraging to hear about other MOMs who have made it and are still sane!!
LikeLike
Yes I understand better now, about what she was saying. I guess I read it wrong, which is easy to do when you’re just reading something online. I got the idea that she was somehow mad or ticked off at people who dared to bother her with questions, but I see that is not the case. I love how she said someone told her to avoid eye contact, but she doesn’t, because she’s beaming with pride. I know the feeling. My sons are both going to different colleges on baseball scholarships and my daughter has an academic scholarship and was in the top 10% of her high school class so she has admittance to any state university. The boys were better at sports than academics, but I’m thankful they are going to college so they can have that degree to fall back on. It’s amazing that those tiny 3 pound things I just brought home yesterday could grow up so fast, they will soon be having their own families.
LikeLike
I am so impressed that your trips not only all were accepted into college, but got scholarships too! I pray that the quads find that kind of success as they grow up because goodness knows we don’t have the income for college time four.
As far as answering questions goes, I really answer pretty much anything because you never know who is asking and why. Once a man stopped pulled over and got out of his car while I walking with the quad stroller. I felt safe because it was in our neighborhood and many people were around us. I let him approach us. The first question he asked was the seemingly rude one of “did you use fertility drugs?” He asked because he and his wife were dealing with infertility and we gave him. HOPE! I added them to our prayer list.
LikeLike
Very artistic family 🙂 absolutely love these babies!!
LikeLike
Why thank you! =)
LikeLike
[…] We made the difficult decision to have him fitted for a DOC band to correct his head shape. Although treatment was estimated to last 2-3 months, Mason endured treatment for a grueling 5 months. In the beginning, he didn’t mind wearing the band 23 hours a day, and we thought he was adorable wearing it. His new accessory seemed to highlight his dreamy brown eyes and huge dimples. I also enjoyed having one on one time with him as I took him for adjustments on a weekly basis. We anticipated that he would complete treatment prior to the onset of a hot Texas summer, but he just wasn’t done by then. He ended up outgrowing the first DOC band and was evaluated a second time. Based upon evaluation results, Mason was fitted for a second DOC band. […]
LikeLike