Over The Summer… {sensory play}

August 5, 2013June 7, 2015Amber 12 Comments

Since I work in the public school system, I enjoy a brief summer break. I don’t mean to complain, but summer breaks are not June-July-August like the good ol’ days; they are now a mere couple of weeks. Just like with everything, all good things must eventually come to an end, and my summer break is officially over. Sniff, sniff!

As a bit of a department tradition, on the first day of “school” we swap stories of our summer break, which usually consist of travel across country or abroad. It’s always reminiscent of grade school days where the teacher assigns the infamous essay, “Over the summer…” and you recant the events of summer. While a few of my colleagues were brave enough to travel with toddlers in tow, George and I knew that taking four babies on a road trip would be nothing but drama. However, that doesn’t mean we sat home on our duffs all summer. We had plenty of adventures right from home and around town. Stay tuned for our mini-series of sharing what we did over the summer.

While at home, I tried to expose the babies to a variety of sensory play opportunities. Some were a huge success, others a flop. Nonetheless, they are all worth remembering, even if they include what NOT to do.

One day I was solo with the babies and they were not particularly content staying indoors at home. I had really been wanting to do water play with them, but knew that taking them outside myself was not a stellar idea. Instead, I set up shop in our master bathroom. I filled a shallow tub with water and brought in new toys purchased for the babies’ birthday party. To prevent the bathroom from transforming into a Slip ‘n’ Slide, I set an old quilt underneath the tub. Since the babies aren’t generally permitted in our bathroom, they had a fantastic time splashing and making note of their new surroundings.

Part of the fun was the water, the other was being in a foreign room of the house.

Part of the fun was the water, the other was being in an otherwise forbidden room of the house.

Harper was the only baby who wanted IN the water tub.

Perhaps my favorite sensory activity of all was Cool Whip smearing. I dressed the babies in swim suits and sat them at the quad table where I slapped a dollop of Cool Whip and a few drops of food coloring in front of each baby. It didn’t take them long to figure out this was great fun and delicious too. Sydney was hesitant to experiment since she’s not keen on getting messy, but she too joined in on the action. Since I had a helper with me that day, we transferred the babies outdoors for a dip in the baby pool following this royal mess.

Mason enjoyed leaning forward to dab his nose in the Cool Whip.

I thought it was interesting how each of the babies had a different pattern in their Cool Whip swash. Some made vertical motions while others moved horizontally or even both directions.

Of course, half the fun of Cool Whip play is eating it!

Sydney was hesitant to get her hands dirty, but eventually patted the creamy stuff.

Sydney eventually patted the creamy stuff.

While this activity wasn’t as exciting for the babies, I loved the mess-free play! I stumbled across this idea somewhere on Pinterest. I slipped a piece of card stock into gallon bags and squirted Tempera paint in the bag, and taped them to the quad table. For added dimension, I tossed a few sequins and a bit of glitter in the bags. It entertained the babies for quite a while as they slapped, squished and patted the bags. I don’t recommend using Duct tape, however. George was not pleased to find it took bits of the finish off the table.

Each baby approached their work in a unique way.

Harper didn’t much enjoy this one, but at least he didn’t complain.

Rylin really loved smearing and patting.

For the babies’ party, I reused our water play tub as a make shift sand box. At the party, but it wasn’t a popular station. If given a choice, kids apparently prefer water over sand. However, I wasn’t letting a good bag of play sand go to waste so each of our babies got a turn experiencing the “beach”.

Harper may have taken a teeny taste of sand…

Needless to say, some babies enjoyed the sand more than others…

One night George and I had an abundance of left over angel hair pasta noodles so it became time for yet another sensory play activity.

Rylin tackled spaghetti with reckless abandon!

Sydney delicately touched just one strand of spaghetti at time.

Sydney delicately touched just one strand of spaghetti at a time.

This final activity was perhaps not my brightest moment. I searched for paint with water books (you know, the ones that look similar to coloring books with paint around the edges that brighten with a wet brush?). Instead, I found coloring books with water paint strips attached to the top. I thought it could work. Just like when I worked in preschool, I taped the paper to the table and used a large sponge brush dipped in water. First, I demonstrated dragging the damp brush across the top and over the paper, but the babies didn’t agree with this method. This is when our previous edible sensory play activities interfered. Instead of following my lead, the babies tore bits of paper off the table and proceeded to sample them. When Rylin attempted to eat more than the paper, she did not appreciate being reprimanded. There’s probably a good reason the recommended age for paint with water is three and up. I think we’ll save this for a few more years. In the meantime, maybe we’ll try that edible finger paint recipe I pinned.

Look closely at the tip of Rylin’s paint brush. Do you notice anything?

Stay tuned for more in this series: DIY projects, parents getaway, and Friday field trips. How did you spend your summer?

hugs!

Amber

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How are you feeling today?

August 4, 2013August 4, 2013Amber 2 Comments

While their vocabularies are almost null, the babies have no trouble expressing themselves with body language and facial expressions. Rylin in particular expertly expresses herself and often switches from giving the stink eye to a toothy grin. When going through their birthday pictures, I had fun picking out all of their little facial expressions.

How are you feeling today?

hugs!

Amber

Four Little Monkeys

August 2, 2013Amber 10 Comments

Way back when the babies were tiny three pounders in the NICU, people often shook their head as they remarked, “Oh just wait until they walk…” Back in those days, we had bigger fish to fry than to worry about toddlers. Once the babies became proficient crawlers, baby proofing became a necessity and we figured they couldn’t become much more challenging. I mean, a crawling baby knows no boundaries. How much worse could it be?

Recently, I’ve begun to worry. Although the babies cannot yet walk independently, they are curious and practically fearless when it comes to exploring. Lately they’ve been doing all sorts of acrobatics and risky maneuvers. If they can do all this before they walk, who knows what mischief they can get into after they walk. Not to mention the fact that they can conspire against us. While all of the babies are doing their fair share of climbing, I find that I must keep the closest watch on the boys, Harper in particular. He just loves climbing onto things and slinking
inside things too.

Immediately after tearing into this birthday gift, Harper climbed on top as if staking claim.

This is perhaps Harper’s favorite “new trick”. I’ve been working very hard to teach him how to get down safely and for the most part he’s doing well.

I was in the kitchen approximately 30 seconds and found this upon my return. He was notably stuck.

Harper slithered into this laundry basket and Mason was just behind him.

The babies may not be able to manage the slide ladder, but that doesn’t stop them from reaching the top.

You might suspect that only the boys are expert climbers, but the girls are just as wiry and curious.

Little Miss Sydney perched right on this box without blinking.

Rylin is pleased as punch shimmying up the slide.

Oh yes, Sydney can do it too! In fact, she’s the most adept at slide climbing.

What are your best tips for toddler proofing? It’s painfully obvious that our current baby proofing efforts are insufficient for toddlers and perhaps we better get one step AHEAD of them…

hugs!

Amber

The Little Things Thursdays: Installment #26

August 1, 2013Amber 4 Comments

Sadly, this week marked the end of my summer break as I went back to work yesterday. I must admit, I really enjoyed the extra time home with the babies while I also had extra help around the house. As summers go, I didn’t quite accomplish everything I set out to do. On the bright side, today is Thursday, which means it’s time once again to link up with Rebecca at A Beautiful Ruckus as we reflect upon some of the week’s highlights.

1. Last week, I posted this picture of my father-in-law donning Rylin’s headband as he entertained the babies. I requested captions for it and LOVED hearing some of your ideas. This week, I’m sharing the same picture with my favorite caption submitted by Jack.

2. Nothing warms a mama’s heart as much as when her babies learn new things. The babies are at a fun age where they explore and learn daily.

After a lot of modeling and hand over hand assistance, the babies learned to fit the circular shaped foods onto the plate that goes with this picnic basket. Of course when I tried to get them to demonstrate the skill for George they put it in the wrong slot. However, they do understand the concept of putting the food ON the plate even if they don’t match the shapes 100% of the time.

Please excuse the bit of dinner left on Rylin's face. The breakfast nook lacks sufficient lighting to see everything.

Rylin learned to wave “hi” and “bye”. Whenever someone enters the front door, she crawls to the gate where she says, “hi” and waves intensely.

3. The babies received tricycles for their birthday from Grandaddy. However, ~~some~~ a lot of assembly was required. It took George the better part of a week to finish all four, but he managed. Once we had all of them ready to go, we took the babies for a short ride down the street. What a sight!

Rylin, Mason, Harper, & Sydney

4. For the first time this week, the babies attended a birthday party. Their triplet buddies are just five days younger so it was their turn to celebrate the “Big One”. I was slightly concerned about how they would behave because the party was in the evening during the infamous “witching hour”. We weren’t able to stay long, but the babies seemed to have fun exploring a new place and meeting new faces. Naturally, they crawled right up to the gifts we brought and confiscated the bows right off them! At least it wasn’t a gift from someone else.

Haylie, Landry, & Luke are one!

One of the babies’ NICU nurses, Kim, goes to church with the triplets and was at the party too. We loved seeing her!

What joy did you find this week?

Hugs!

Amber

Wubbanub Raider

July 29, 2013Amber 12 Comments

Several weeks back, the babies’ Wubbanubs (pacifiers attached to little animals) began mysteriously disappearing. I was certain our babysitters were putting them away in unusual places (e.g. in toy boxes) and repeatedly asked them where they put said Wubbanubs. None of them could recall misplacing a Wubbanub. Nonetheless, I gently reminded them Wubbanubs are for sleeping only and stay in the cribs. Then one day I decided it was time to wash the sheets and the dog beds. That’s when I uncovered a cache of MIA Wubbanubs, Soothie pacifiers, and teethers. Sasha apparently snatched them off the nursery floors and covertly buried them in her bed! The little sneak!

Sasha’s cache

These were recovered from one of Sasha’s routine Wubbanub Raids.

Once Sasha was identified as the culprit, I kindly asked our babysitters to check the nursery floors to make sure the dogs could not snatch Wubbanubs (the babies are keen on the whole gravity thing and relish tossing Wubbanubs onto the ground). My efforts were fruitless. The Wubbanubs continued disappearing, but at least I knew where to find them. One night, George whispered, “You’ve got to see this…” I hesitantly trailed him to the girls’ nursery where we spied Sasha poking her nose between crib slats then gingerly pulling a Wubbanub out. Of course I didn’t have my camera handy so I missed capturing it. I stalked that little Peke-a-Poo for days trying to recreate her clandestine affairs, but she was onto me. I’d notice her padding down the hallway and would grab my camera, but each time she’d turn around and abandon her raid. I think this shenanigan went on for two weeks before I finally snapped a photo with a teether in Sasha’s clutches. Now that we’re aware of how a Wubbanub Raid is conducted, we try to keep Wubbanubs from her reach, but if one falls victim we always find it in Sasha’s lair.

Here she is attempting to yank Rylin’s pink bear right from the crib.

This time Rylin intercepted and saved Pinky from Sasha's snare.

This time Rylin intercepted and saved Pinky. I think Sasha looks a bit ashamed of herself.

And I finally caught her in the act!

Have your pets ever hidden something unusual?

Hugs!

Amber

The Little Things Thursdays: Installment #25

July 25, 2013Amber 16 Comments

I think I’m finally recovered from planning and executing the quadruplets four ring party. WHEW! Now it’s time to link up with Rebecca at A Beautiful Ruckus for The Little Things Thursdays!

1. A few nights ago, the girls thought they’d remind us how much we appreciate ALL four babies sleeping ALL night. The dynamic duo took turns wailing intermittently for a solid two hours. About 90 minutes in we realized how they were taking turns and setting each other off so Sydney was relocated into the Pack ‘n’ Play. When we thought she was conked out for good, we decided it was time to return her to her crib. I lost at Rock, Paper, Scissors and had to do it. I found her sleeping with her face pressed up against the mesh with her legs pulled up in a frog position. The girls may have well driven me to gulping two glasses of wine, but finding this reminded me just how much I love them, even when they drive me insane.

2. I had a spectacular time at the quad’s birthday, but needless to say I was exhausted by the time the last guest parted. Our friends, Deven, Alan, and Jen stayed behind and made sure we didn’t have to contend with a mess ourselves. The three of them gathered all the remaining trash, swept, washed dishes, stored left over food, and made sure party evidence disappeared. Plus, Deven and Alan picked up barbeque for dinner so George and I didn’t have to eat more pimento cheese sandwiches. They were so thoughtful and selfless. Not to mention, we really enjoyed their company. It is a rare treat that we enjoy adult conversation without babies interfering.

I ambushed Alan and Deven as they scrubbed the remaining pile of dishes.

3. Yesterday I stumbled upon my father in law playing with the babies at the quad table and it certainly warmed my heart.

This photo really needs a caption so please submit your best one!

4. Just this morning, some special visitors stopped by bearing handmade gifts for the crew plus a huge box of diapers. George and I are eternally thankful to the generous people who have kept our babies diapered this year. We started with a nice stock pile collected at baby showers, but depleted most of them earlier in the year. Amazingly, as soon as we are down to a few diapers, someone mysteriously helps replenish them. My parent’s Bible study and Bunko group even ran a few diaper drives during the year, which carried us from month to month.

Eileen is holding Mason and Sydney while Marrianne has Harper and Rylin.

Marianne made each of the babies a towel with a hood personalized with their name. I can’t wait to use them tonight since it happens to be “bath night”. Eileen transferred classic Disney albums to CD’s for the babies. Disney classics bring back fond childhood memories so I can’t wait to share them with the babies.

What warmed your heart this week?

Hugs!

Amber

P.S. Eileen, the CD’s don’t work in our den CD player, but they DO work in the computer, which is conveniently located in the playroom. I should even be able to transfer them to our ipod.

No Plan B

July 24, 2013June 7, 2015Amber 8 Comments

And now for the post I’ve been teasing for days- The Quadruplet’s First Birthday Party (I promise, NO more birthday posts until next year). The BIG day finally arrived and my Type A personality was armed with air tight plans. In Texas, July is typically drought season throwing us into water restrictions and a deficit for the entire year. This July we were blessed with several days of summer showers. It was great for dropping temperatures, but threatened my brilliant Splash Party plans. I never considered a rain out in July!

Grandaddy and Grandpa managed the quads while the rest of us put the finishing details on the party.

Nisey spent the night prior to the party at our house and made preparations all possible.

Mason and Aunt Carol

Rylin and GG

Aunt CiCi and her “mini me”, Sydney.

This is the sole picture of Terri because she was one of the party photographers.

It was promising the morning of the party, but shortly after the party began, guests arrived with umbrellas in hand and rain spotted clothes. OH NO! I could see my plan and hard work unraveling before my very eyes. We ponied ahead and started with the smash cakes, hoping for an improvement in weather. Otherwise it was Plan B, only I didn’t have a Plan B.

The candle came as quite a surprise to Rylin.

The babies weren’t nearly as messy as I anticipated. Perhaps I did too much practice with sensory play in the weeks prior? Harper was a total tease leaning towards his cake and pulling away numerous times. Judging by the obliterated cakes, who did the most damage?

I nervously peeked out the windows after the babies seemed bored with cake smashing and continued to spot drizzle and dreary clouds. Then it happened, the rain ceased and clouds parted just enough. I immediately solicited help in relocating the babies to the pools outdoors and the guests followed suit. It fell into place perfectly. The rain cooled it down so no one was miserable and the ground was not sopping wet either.

Cousin Reed

Cousins Reese, Hayes, and Reed

Sydney and Cousin Taylor

The bigger kids congregated in the deeper of the pools.

How many littles can you cram into an inflatable pool? I love how Addie is reaching towards Sydney in the smaller pool.

Once the babies seemed fully waterlogged, I assigned each baby to an adult for a quick clothing changes. I was not having drenched babies in my house or more importantly, my lap. I’ll admit, I was totally overwhelmed with the gift opening process so Nisey helped me sort it out. Again, each baby was assigned an adult. Nisey delivered gifts to each baby for gift carnage. Meanwhile my friend, Kaylie, scribbled down what each received; he did a great job considering how fast it went.

Daddy helped Sydney wit her gifts.

Harper was one happy baby! I think he knew this particular box contained a really special gift.

Harper was one happy baby! I think he knew he opened a special gift.

This particular gift was from our quad crew buddies, the Bells, and it required multiple babies to open.

You may recall me noting concern about the number of declines due to having a July birthday. Boy, was I WRONG! The majority of our invited guests celebrated the big day with us and we felt their love and support. Something of particular interest is all the multiples that attended: twins, triplets, and quadruplets! Cool huh? I really wanted to stage a picture with all of them together, but staging a picture of 13 babies and wasn’t totally realistic. In addition to all of those babies, we also had 9 other kiddos under age 8. With so many wee ones, I expected total mayhem, but it was not. The babies and older kids were all exceptional. Everyone seemed happy the entire time and there was only one toy fatality (the bubble machine went for a dip in the pool). I was impressed! Props to all of the parents for helping manage everyone.

This is how Dads of multiples transport babies! These are two of the triplets.

See, all Dads of multiples have mastered this hold! These are three of the quadruplets.

Dad brought the twinkies himself, way to go! They were absolutely precious.

While the babies won’t recall their first birthday, I hope one day they look back at these fleeting moments and know just how much they are loved.

hugs!

Amber

A special thank you is in order to Terri & Jen for capturing all of these beautiful pictures.

PS- If you can’t get enough of Four to Adore, don’t forget to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest!

Party for Four {Splash Party}

July 23, 2013August 8, 2016Amber 16 Comments

In the few months leading up to the babies first birthday I began wracking my brain over what to do. We have a rather large extended family and many friends with multiples so our guest list was a decent one, too large for our home to accommodate. At the same time, I didn’t want to spend money on renting a venue, nor did I want to haul the babies somewhere with their needed gear.

In Texas, July is generally scorching hot and unbearable for outdoor fare. My friend, Jennifer, suggested hosting a “Splash Party”, which was a fantastic idea. It was something we could do at home rather inexpensively, would allow for guests to comfortably spend time outdoors, and provided an activity for the babies. Together she helped me plot the big event complete with agenda: smash cakes followed by splash time (to rinse off frosting without a bath), quick clothes change, cake for guests and then gift opening.

We set the yard up with “stations” to help disperse the littlest party guests.

I used an old tub as a sand box and placed it under my mom’s beach umbrella. A laundry basket housed water toys. The baby Adirondack chairs were a birthday gift that were just right for our “beach” station.

The babies received a children’s picnic table with umbrella as a birthday gift from their Aunt Carol. We borrowed my parent’s awning and bought several inflatable pools

The babies got the giraffe pool with slide as a birthday gift as well. The tiny pool behind the bigger one was filled with boats and fish that could be caught with a fishing pole.

The baker’s rack on our porch held towels, sunscreen, and bubbles for guests to use.

Our menu included items that doubled as beach themed decor. We served up pimento cheese sandwiches, veggie crudites with green onion dip, fresh fruit, and goldfish/ veggie sticks/ cheese puffs. While P, B & J sandwiches would have been easier than pimento cheese, there were WAY too many babies who had not yet tasted peanut butter to experiment with that. Our beverage station boasted basil lemonade, mint tea, bottled water, and of course juice boxes.

George carved a watermelon to look like a shark.

I filled a beta bowl with goldfish crackers and blue M & M's. We skewered grapes and put them in a vase.

I filled a beta fish bowl with goldfish crackers and blue M & M’s. We skewered grapes and put them in a vase.

Aunt Cici’s gift to the babies was a stunning three tiered cake and turtle smash cakes from The Occasional Slice. I was absolutely impressed with Lindsey’s artwork on the cakes. With a close look you’ll notice each edible detail from the sea shells to the painted turtle shells. Usually I am not a fan of fondant besides admiring it’s beauty, but she used marshmallow fondant and it was delicious.

Lindsey, to the right of me is the artist behind the beautiful cakes.

I filled cello bags with bubbles, sidewalk chalk, crazy straws and sunglasses (for boys) or flower clips (for the girls) then tagged them with our family stamp that reads,

As party favors, I filled cello bags with bubbles, sidewalk chalk, crazy straws and sunglasses (for boys) or flower clips (for the girls). I tagged them with our family stamp that reads, “with love, George, Amber, Rylin, Harper, Sydney & Mason”.

To keep babies away from packages, we stored them in the foyer.

I used the fireplace to pay homage to the babies’ growth during their first year. I strung a pair of each baby’s preemie sized pajamas along a clothesline along with a hand and footprint made in the NICU.

I hung paper lanterns that resembled beach balls from the ceiling fan.

Just prior to the party, George used plywood painted with magnetic paint to cover the opening to our fireplace (more about that project later).

Magnetic letters created a fun sign for the babies.

I am always grateful when guests make an effort to attend a party and carefully choose a gift so I try to be prompt on thank you notes. To make it easier on myself, prior to the party, I printed a copy of our guests addresses on blank labels, stamped cards with our family signature, and stamped envelopes with our return address. It worked out well because our thank you notes are already written. Stay tuned for a play by play from the party and more pictures.

hugs,

Amber

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Birthday Sneak Peak & Video Do Over

July 20, 2013July 21, 2013Amber 5 Comments

I would love to do a full post with all the details of the quadruplet’s first birthday, but I’m EXHAUSTED! Also, I appointed several friends as photographers so I could focus on the party. As a result, my camera is void of photos. In the meantime, I am adding a link to our first year video without the You Tube settings on private so you can actually view it. If you are viewing from a mobile device, there is a Facebook version of the video as well (I can’t find the You Tube setting that allows view from a mobile device- ARGH!) Apologies for my technical difficulties. This is the sort of thing that happens when a quad mama tries to hostess a party, make fantastic memories, and maintain a blog.

hugs!

Amber

One Year

July 20, 2013July 20, 2013Amber 11 Comments

Each morning as I wake to the chatter of four babies, I sometimes wonder if they are all ours. Now I am even more amazed that we made it through the first year. The past year has been perhaps the most challenging of our lives, yet also the most JOY filled to date. Caring for four infants and now pre-toddlers is no easy feat, but we manage. A friend once told George, “You were given the Grace for four. Someone else who was given the grace for one or even two would be overwhelmed in your world.” We go back to her comment often, remembering that God blessed us with these four precious babies for a reason. Despite the hours of sleep stolen from the night and many tears shed (usually the babies’ but sometimes mine too), we would not change a thing. When we’re out with the babies people often blurt out, “How DO you do it?” Almost always we reply, “By the Grace of God.” It is true. This amazing challenge would be impossible on our own and our faith carries us through.

Reflecting upon the past year is a fast flurry. Every new stage and milestone comes and passes in a whirlwind. All too soon we will miss having babies in the house. In the future, I believe we’ll enjoy going back to this blog to recall glimpses of time we’d otherwise lose in a fog. The day we discovered we were expecting quads, I recall George repeating “four” followed by something we’d have to buy (e.g. cribs, cars, college educations). While we don’t have four of everything, we’ve gone through more than the average household of most every baby item. Together, George and I calculated rough estimates of our consumption this year-

9,600 Diapers
36,000 fluid ounces of formula (just over a TON!)
730 baths
32 visits to the doctor (only two of which were “sick” visits and neither baby was actually sick!)
8,760 bottles prepared & served
43,800 bottle parts washed
182 loads of laundry

We’re afraid to calculate the cost of all these things so don’t expect dollar signs to follow! We’d like to thank each person who supported us along this journey from prayers said to diapers donated. Each of you are part of this journey too. Mascara alert: I compiled this video of our first year together.

hugs!

Amber