Chicken in a Crock Pot

December 31, 2012August 13, 2014Amber 13 Comments

For years our family mercilessly teased my Aunt Linda about her limited cooking prowess. When my cousins were dating, they often invited their boyfriends over for dinner. The joke would always be “Don’t ask what’s for dinner because it’s chicken in a Crock Pot”. That’s the only thing Linda ever seemed to cook. Being a busy working mom, she managed to get dinner on the table by tossing chicken and some sort of sauce into a crock pot most nights. If they didn’t have chicken in a crock pot, it was most likely take out instead. I don’t recall ever having one of these infamous chicken in a crock pot dinners so I haven’t the foggiest idea how they tasted. I only remember years of barraging remarks from everyone about how Linda only knew how to cook chicken in a Crock Pot.

Before the quads, George and I were foodies. We loved experimenting with new recipes and relished homemade meals. We rarely go out for dinner and can’t tell you what fast food restaurants are near our home. We have a history of inviting people over for dinner only to get them involved in dinner prep. After work, I almost always cooked dinner and if George was off work, he did. (George is actually a better chef than me and taught me a lot about cooking over the years.) Having four babies at home makes it difficult to find the time for exquisite cooking. Sometimes it isn’t even the cooking that is difficult, it is managing to go to the store to buy needed ingredients for a recipe if I found time to choose a recipe. I try to keep our pantry and freezer stocked with versatile staples so we can whip something reasonable on the fly. We bought some freezer meals from Costco, but we miss fresh homemade stuff.

Thanks to Pinterest, I am rethinking Linda’s style of cooking. There are actually tons of recipes for the crock pot besides pot roast. I’ve experimented a bit and found a few keepers. I found a recipe for Crock Pot Chicken Tacos, but realized I was missing half of the ingredients and it wasn’t even a Crock Pot recipe. I improvised with what we had and it turned out great! George loved the tacos so much he had a second helping.

Here’s what I threw in the Crock Pot:

1 can of tomatoes with green chiles

1/2 can of chicken broth

1/2 an envelope of Ranch dressing mix

1 envelope of taco seasoning

4 frozen chicken breasts

I put it on high for an hour then stirred it a bit and flipped the chicken. I left it on high about 2 more hours then shredded the chicken and returned it to the Crock Pot where it simmered on low for 30 more minutes or so until we were ready to eat. We had lettuce, shredded cheese, salsa, and cream cheese for garnish. However, I think it would be great with feta or jack cheese, avocado, lettuce, and tomatoes in a corn tortilla.

Here’s what I dumped into the Crock Pot. I only had half of an envelope of Ranch dressing because we sprinkle it on popcorn, but you could use an whole one.

After a few hours, I shredded the chicken with two forks.

We needed some side dishes so I used Rice a Roni and steam in the bag roasted corn. Voila! Lame, I know, but it worked.

Here are the results! George added cheese to the rice, but I don’t think it was necessary.

We had a lot of chicken leftover so I transformed it into chicken tortilla soup the next night. Here’s how I did that:

In a stockpot, I sautéed

1 large onion diced

4 minced garlic cloves

4 corn tortillas cut into strips

and handful of chopped cilantro

a few tablespoons of olive oil

I then dumped the following into the stockpot:

leftover chicken

2 32 oz. boxes of chicken broth

3 cans of tomatoes with diced green chiles

1 tablespoon mild diced jalapenos from a jar

1 tablespoon ground cumin

1 bay leaf

a dash of pepper

We garnished the soup with avocado, crushed corn chips, fresh chopped cilantro and Colby Jack cheese. It turned out really well.

In addition to making these two meals, I found the Six Sisters blog at: http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/ On it, they have a post about how to make 8 freezer meals for the Crock Pot. They provide a grocery list sorted by area in the store and a list of the recipes. You then dump a bunch of raw ingredients into gallon sized freezer bags. When you are ready to cook them, you thaw 24 hours in advance and cook in the Crock Pot. They claimed the prep work would take an hour, but it took me much closer to two hours. Apparently the six sisters work more efficiently than I do, but there are six of them and only one me. I now have eight Crock Pot meals in my freezer ready to go! In fact, we are trying the first, Country Style Pork Ribs, tomorrow. We are making our traditional New Year’s black eyed peas and corn bread, which I thought would go well with ribs.

Our family has a tradition of eating black eyed peas for good luck. It dates back to the Civil War when the Union troops burned all of the crops in the south. The black eyed pea crops were spared because they were used for animal feed. People living in the south survived the harsh winter by eating black eyed peas! Last year, we made a batch and brought some to our RE prior to my IUI on New Year’s Day. George thought it was a horrible idea, but I wanted to keep our family tradition alive. As it turned out, they were quite lucky for us! We struck the quad jackpot in 2012.

I am signing off for 2012, but don’t worry there is plenty more to come!

hugs,

Amber

Of course, I wouldn’t leave out a baby picture so here you go!

Everyone is wearing their Baby Legs! The girls are still a bit small for them, but I just love Baby Legs so they are wearing them anyways.

We did a little art with the babies using their adorable footpritnts. We don't have tons of wall space for art, so we bought a frame and stack of canvases. We will make new art for the changing seasons.

We did a little art with the babies using their adorable footprints. We don’t have tons of wall space for art, so we bought a frame and stack of canvases. We will make new art for the changing seasons.

Four with the Four

December 29, 2012Amber 10 Comments

I am “four”tunate to have not one or two, but all four of my grandparents. That means that we now have four generations on both sides of my family. After a great deal of finagling and patience we managed visits with all of them and captured some rare pictures of four generations with quadruplets. My Dad’s mom coined the names “GG” for herself (aka Great Grandmother) and “GG Paw” (aka Great Grandpa Pa). I thought that was pretty cute for them to have special great great names. My mom’s mom is sticking with her name, “Grandma” and her father remains “Grandpa”.

I think it is really incredible to have my grandmothers who are both in their eighties dote over my babies and help take care of them. I only wish George’s grandparents were here to meet the babies in person. I just know Granny is fussing over them from Heaven and wishing she could hold them. Granny really would adore our four!

I love this picture. You can see my mom kissing Sydney’s head and Sydney grasping my grandfather’s hand.

Here are four generations on my Dad’s side of the family. GG promised to locate baby pictures of Dad to compare to Harper.

Here are four generations on my Mom’s side of the family.

Dad got his tripod out so we could do a whole group picture for once. This took a lot of patience and rearranging!

Sydney is getting really good with her thumb these days.

The babies are starting to notice each other. Here Sydney and Rylin are making faces and cooing at each other. I sometimes wonder who they think they are looking at, themselves or someone else?

Harper is showing Grandpa how he can hold his head up like a big boy now.

GG spent lots of time cuddling Mason.

Hugs!

Amber

White Christmas

December 25, 2012Amber 12 Comments

While our extended family made rounds today, we declared Christmas Day pajama day at home. When the babies took their morning nap, George and I took time to make one of our old favorite breakfasts, crepes. We acquired an affection for them when we traveled to San Francisco a few years ago. Since then, we’ve developed all sorts of beloved fillings from chocolate chip marshmallow to cream cheese jalapeno. Today we chose savory cheddar, sausage, salsa crepes complimented by Eggnog flavored coffee. Of course, we didn’t have too much time to relish our breakfast before Harper began letting us know it was time for bottle #2.

Mmm, crepes!

George’s dad stopped by for a quick visit to deliver some toys to the babies. The babies are becoming increasingly curious about their surroundings and are discovering their hands so I know they’ll love the new toys. He skedaddled just as a winter storm approached. It started with a bit of sleet then a lovely white powder dusted our lawn. Who knew we would have a White Christmas after having highs in the eighties? Texas weather is really bizarre sometimes! We didn’t think the babies would enjoy romping in the snow just yet so I brought them to the window to gaze at it instead.

Harper needed a bit of help opening his gift. It will be quite different next year! I think he will LOVE tearing paper by then.

Daddy helped Rylin open her gift from Grandaddy.

Mason and I enjoying our White Christmas from the inside.

While the babies napped in the afternoon, George took the time to create some beautiful artwork for the boys’ nursery. He painted a tree mural in the girls’ room, but we had trouble finding inspiration for the boys’ artwork until a few days ago. He made custom frames from reclaimed barn wood then created brilliant, playful paintings of giraffe and elephant silhouettes. I absolutely love how George can make all sorts of creative visions become reality and that his talent makes our home unique in a sea of cookie cutter houses.

He painted for the boys on Christmas, but the quads Christmas gift is yet to come. His next project is creating a quad feeding table. You can order quad feeding tables, but 1. they are expensive 2. they are atrocious looking. Instead, we ordered red replacement seats for a ready-made quad table and George is going to custom fit them into another table with a bit more design flare. We are hoping this will all be done in time for the babies’ six month birthday when they are supposed to begin eating solid foods!

Here’s the front of our house dusted in snow!

Here is the artist at work. I thought this was the best scene. George is here painting with a view of a snow dusted lawn and our dogs snuggled on the chaise lounge.

We rounded out the evening with a Baby Einstein Santa DVD and a reading of the Night Before Christmas. I really enjoyed our pajama day Christmas at home and think it could be the beginning of a new family tradition. What Christmas traditions do you hold dearly?

hugs!

Amber

Over the River and Through the Woods

December 25, 2012Amber Leave a comment

For as long as I can recall, the holiday season (Thanksgiving and Christmas) have been reminiscent of the movie, Four Christmases. We are very fortunate to have the majority of our extended family within the metroplex, but during the holidays it can get dicey making the rounds. The radius around the metroplex can mean jaunts of several hours and over one hundred miles from one holiday hot spot to the next. One year I believe we ate FOUR Thanksgiving dinners in a single day!

Since the quads arrival, we knew the holidays would be a bit different than our usual. While the babies are growing and thriving, it can be easy to forget they are still preemies. Yes, Harper is wearing SIX month clothes now, but his lungs are still underdeveloped when compared to same age peers. This means, we are on lock down even on Christmas. Besides the fact that they are preemies, George and I have a history of getting very sick this time of year after visiting so many people in tight quarters. We’ve been to Care Now for the past four years running for everything from the flu (that’s when we started getting the shot) to bronchitis. Keeping that in mind, we knew we weren’t making rounds this year. Honestly, I haven’t the foggiest idea what we’ll do next year when we have four 17 month olds getting into everything…

For fear of becoming shut-ins, we decided it would be okay to head to my parent’s house for an intimate gathering and family traditions. My Dad also picked my grandparents up for a quick visit since Grandpa hadn’t seen the babies since they were four days old. Even planning a small family Christmas meant a lot of planning on our end. It felt as if we packed everything but the kitchen sink; we packed four pack ‘n’ plays, 20 pre-filled bottles, four sets of pajamas plus a spare, and an entire package of diapers and wipes. We started feeding babies at 8:00 am and were unloaded at Nisey and Grandpa’s house by 10:30 am! That’s including the one hour trip over the river and through the woods. Not shabby for traveling with quads in tow huh?

Everyone is happy that we finally arrived at Nisey and Grandpa’s.

It doesn’t matter where we are, there is always a feeding frenzy about every three hours. If we’re lucky there are more adults than babies so they get individual attention.

We even put Great Grandma Mc to work feeding Mason.

Harper was the first baby to open a Christmas gift. I think he could fit into the box!

Rylin went next. I just love how their gifts were bigger than them!

Aunt CiCi made each of the babies a quilt with their name embroided to match their curtains and sheets for when their cribs convert to toddler beds.

The boys’ quilts look like this. I love the quilts so much, I may need to figure out how to display them until the babies can sleep with them.

Nisey made each baby a NICU keepsake box to store all of their tiny stuff (e.g. diapers, clothes). She also managed to make ornaments with their hand and footprints while we were away one afternoon.

Aunt CiCi snuggled Sydney and Stella together.

Grandpa Mc made friends with Stella. Actually, I think she jumped into his lap.

Grandpa giving Harper some individual attention. We’ve noticed that these two have a bit of a special bond as Harper is apparently my Dad’s “mini me”.

Sydney morphed into a very fussy girl in the evening. Dad taught George how to “fly her” they way he used to do with my sister when she fussed. It is no coincidence that Sydney also looks so much like Courtney that we call her “mini Courtney”.

Courtney found these goofy elf hats for George and I to sport.

Nisey used a warm compress to help soothe a fussy Sydney.

I figured Rylin would make a cuter elf than me.

The babies enjoyed looking at a new Christmas tree.

Mason is finding dexterity in his hands and enjoys grabbing everything within reach then trying to munch it. Here he’s gotten some ribbon.

Everyone is all cozy in their pajamas for the ride back home. Notice the present aftermath behind them.

By the end of the evening, we snuggled all of the babies up in their Christmas pajamas and headed back home. We managed to get everyone in the house by 8:00 pm for their final bottle of the night and then we tucked them all safely into bed after saying our bedtime prayers. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

hugs!

Amber

Heartwarming

December 22, 2012February 10, 2013Amber 7 Comments

With four babies at home, it is easy to get wrapped up in everything that needs to be done, especially with Christmas just days away. We have diapers to change, baths to give, bottles to make, babies to feed, and clothes to wash. I find myself constantly thinking of my next move to tackle that daunting to-do list, but then realizing that I forgot to savor the moment.

Usually, during the winter, George and I enjoy sitting fireside in the evening as we unwind. We have a wood burning fireplace and just love hearing the crackle of the wood and smelling the aroma fill the air. However, we’ve been having such warm weather, we’ve been running our air conditioner more than the heater! A few days a go we finally had a nice cold snap. George seized the moment to build a nice fire just in time for the final bottle of the day. When I came into the living room with Mason, I found George and the girls gazing into the majestic fire in awe. The babies had never seen fire and were totally mesmerized by it. This was a truly heartwarming moment and the perfect time to neglect the routines and to do list. Sydney in particular enjoys looking at novel things so she was situated to see the fire during her feed. Then after all bottles were drained, I situated the babies in their Boppies and let them stay up a bit later than usual for some cozy fire gazing. It was all worth it! What warms your heart this time of year?

hugs!

Amber

Here’s the scene I saw when I entered the den. So sweet!

Notice how Sydney is watching the fire while eating.

Here’s everyone lounging in Boppy pillows.

Now everyone can see the fire!

I think Sydney enjoyed the fire more than anyone.

Even Lily snuggled up by the babies and rire.

Even Lily snuggled up by the babies and fire.

Special Helper

December 18, 2012February 10, 2013Amber 28 Comments

Since the arrival of the crew, it’s been difficult to manage everyday things that involve leaving the house. Basic home maintenance is manageable, but running around town is a feat. We never enjoyed errands before, but it was nice to go together to take care of mundane things like grocery shopping and oil changes. Now, any type of errand happens when one of us is en route from work to home in the evening. This is after one of us worked a full day outside the home while the other contended with four babies all day and witching hour is looming. Needless to say, many errands take a backseat to sanity. Yesterday some special friends, Billie and Bob volunteered to care for the crew so George and I could take care of errands together. We arranged it so we would get the babies late morning feed done, dart out, and get back for the late afternoon feed.

When Billie arrived at the door, she stood alone as she glumly stated, “I’m really sorry, Bob wasn’t able to come with me today.” I looked back at her with a tinge of dismay. I was sad to hear Bob couldn’t make it, but I felt even worse to leave Billie on her own with the quads. She is totally capable of the challenge, but I felt guilty to ask her to stay alone. I think she relished this quick tease as she brightly announced, “But I brought a special helper instead.” I thought perhaps Billie brought one of her daughters along, but there was no sign of either of them. All of the sudden, Santa popped from around the corner of the house with a big a”Ho Ho Ho” and a twinkle in his eye! I don’t think I’ve been so excited to see Santa in over two decades.

Many have asked if we’d take the babies to see Santa for their first Christmas and the answer has always been a resounding, “NO WAY!” Not that we don’t want them to see Santa because it is a very special Christmas. It’s just that it would be excruciating to wait in line with four infants. Then, we would have to attempt to shield them from the bazillion germs finding sanctuary on Santa’s crimson suit. I would undoubtedly be the insane lady who doused Santa with two cans of Lysol and slathered his arms with GermX. I am fully aware that the babies haven’t the foggiest idea who Santa is and haven’t the slightest desire to meet him just yet. However, it is their first Christmas and I thought skipping Santa was almost a travesty. However, I knew skipping our first Santa visit was all in the name of good health. At the same time a tinge of jealousy ran through me knowing how a few of our quad friends had private visits from Santa this year. Thanks to the coordinated efforts of Bob and Billie, the babies were able to meet Santa this year. I hope they look back at our special pictures in years to come in awe knowing Santa made a special visit at our house when they were so small.

A year ago I never would hava imagined we would have EIGHT stockings hanging along our mantle. We used a curtain rod and brackets to hand them instead of stocking holders. It worked great for so many stokings.

A year ago I never would have imagined we would have EIGHT stockings hanging along our mantle. We used a curtain rod and brackets to hand them instead of stocking holders. It worked great for so many stockings.

Santa sees you when your sleeping (Rylin and Harper) and he sees when your awake (Mason and Sydney).

That is a lot of babies for Santa!

Sydney kept tugging at Santa’s beard. Here she has a handful of it! When I put the girls to bed, I found wisps of Santa’s beard wrapped between their tiny fingers.

Everyone gathered around Santa.

Rylin and Santa

Mason and Santa

Sydney and Santa

Hugs!

Amber

Table for Nine

December 11, 2012February 10, 2013Amber 10 Comments

After 10 weeks of strict bed rest, a 7 week NICU stay and now lock down with quadruplets, we have a full blown case of Cabin Fever. The only antidote for Cabin Fever is of course, to leave the house. Thus, we decided to take our very first outing with the entire family, that is excluding the doctor. We opted to go out to dinner in honor of my mom’s birthday while taking as many precautions as possible.

With five adults, we finally outnumbered the babies so we figured it could work. A bustling restaurant full of onlookers would be a total nightmare. So, as our maiden voyage, we decided it best to start with a low key pizza joint in our neighborhood called Polenzo’s. It’s within walking distance from our house so the original plan was to load the Snap ‘n’ Go strollers and just walk. However, that was a few days ago when we were having highs in the 80’s. When the temps fell to the 30’s we were forced to contend with the Routan instead. You’ve gotta love Texas weather; we’ve literally run both our air conditioner and heater in the same week!

Mason dressed up for the occasion and wore his “Bro Bib” with his Little Johnnies

In order to make the whole field trip as smooth as possible, we hatched a well prepared plan. First, we perused the menu online and made our pizza choices. We then fed the babies so they were full and content. Next, we called Polenzo’s to place our order and reserve a table for nine. Polenzo’s is a mere minute from our house by car, but it takes about 10-15 minutes to load the van, leaving ample time for the pizzas to cook.

How many adults does it take to load a van with quadruplets? Looks like four at least.

Upon our arrival, my sister took care of our order while, the rest of us nonchalantly took one baby each. We simply sashayed into the restaurant right to our reserved table situated in the back corner. Honestly there weren’t many people there this Sunday evening and I don’t think a single patron noticed our shenanigans. We situated the babies on the corners of the table so each one was supervised by an adult. The babies were all very alert and seemed to contemplate their new environment. I just love moments like that!

Rylin finally had an occasion to wear hear bear bottom tights with ballet slippers attached. So cute!

Rylin finally had an occasion to wear her teddy bear bottom tights with ballet slippers attached. So cute!

Our plan worked perfectly! As soon as we were situated, the pizzas arrived at our table. We had plenty of time to enjoy a few slices and a glass of wine before feeding time loomed again. Harper pretty much slept and munched his thumb, Mason looked googly eyed at his surroundings, Rylin maintained her pensive look, and Sydney looked at everything with wide-eyed curiosity. And then it happened….Sydney screamed! I knew the chances were high that someone would be upset, it was just a matter of when and who. After all, the dinner hour is also “witching hour”, when one or more of the babies fusses A LOT. Thankfully, Grandpa was able to save the day by talking softly to Sydney and lulling her to sleep. He bought us just enough time to wrap up dinner and settle the bill before an escape was mandatory.

Thankfully, Harper discovered his thumb and was calm the whole time.

Sydney was situated at my corner. You can’t see her feet, but she is wearing shoes for the first time.

Mason was Nisey’s charge for the night.

Grandpa kept an eye on Rylin until he had to take Sydney for me.

Smiley little man

Everyone is ready to head home. Here is what it looks like to have quads sitting on a restaurant table all together.

When the last slice of pizza disappeared and all of the wine glasses were drained, we left just as nonchalantly as we entered. The only person to chatter with us or ask any questions was actually our waitress and she was very sweet. I think she only asked us what it is called when there are four babies at a time. I don’t know when a full fledged family outing will reoccur, but our first table for nine was really nice.

We love that Polenzo’s is a BYOB establishment. Notice the giant bottle of Reisling?

hugs!

Amber

Immersion Program

December 4, 2012February 10, 2013Amber 6 Comments

If you want to be fluent in a new language, immersion is the most effective means. You literally plop yourself into a new country and just start communicating as the residents do. At our house, we don’t exactly speak a new language, but we adopted an entirely new way of life since the quads debuted. Of course there is lots of baby terminology tossed around at our house. We say things like Boppy, Wubbanub, Mama Roo, and feed regularly. To the average visitor, we may as well be speaking Greek. That is, until they participate in our immersion program.

Over the Thanksgiving holiday, we had the privilege of immersing some of our youngest cousins into our new lifestyle. Between George and I, we have three tweenage cousins who have been absolutely dying to finally meet the babies. My cousins, Seth and Ryan, were at the hospital the day the babies arrived. They were crushed when we learned that all NICU visitors had to be at least 18 years old. When they all went back to school, we had to wait for everyone to be free of any type of cold or sniffle for at least a week. This took several months! When their time arrived, they all hit the ground running. As soon as they entered the door, each of them slathered with hand sanitizer, kicked off their shoes, and washed their hands thoroughly. Then, we pretty much handed them a baby. It was precious seeing these tweenagers taking to baby care so quickly. Within an afternoon, they were all well versed at bottle feeding, soothing, and entertaining babies. Brandi was often seen bouncing a fussy Sydney or Harper on her hip. She even tackled feeding two qualdings simultaneously. Seth and Ryan fed babies as if it were old hat and had Mason and Rylin grinning from ear to ear. They all drew the line at diapers, however! Brandi wouldn’t even touch a wet one. I’m relatively certain our cousins have some new favorite cousins because George and I aren’t half as cute as the babies. I’m hoping that we’ve molded some future babysitters at the same time.

Ryan and Mason became good chillin’ buddies.

Seth fed Harper like a champ.

Where did Ryan learn to chill with a baby? From his dad, Dale, of course! Here I think Dale and Sydney are being couch potatoes.

Seth apparently can lounge and feed a baby simultaneously.

Brandi entertaining Lily and Mason together!

Brandi decided to show Rylin a view of the backyard.

We didn’t stop our immersion program with our younger cousins. This past weekend, George’s cousin, Randall and his wife, DeAnna came for a visit from Missouri. Since these two are still newlyweds, we figured we’d give them our Parenting 101 class. During the course of their stay, each of their mothers sent a text indicating they hoped the pair would catch baby fever. I’m not sure if taking care of quadruplets for a weekend cures or exacerbates a case of baby fever. On one hand, if George and I can take care of four, Randall and DeAnna could certainly handle one, or even two. On the other hand, taking care of babies is just a ton of work! As with the younger cousins, these two were well versed in all things baby and they DID change many a diaper. They even pushed our twin strollers to the neighborhood grocery store. I’m sure two couples with two twin strollers was quite a sight! I’m relatively certain we kept everyone guessing with that. It was wonderful having four adults to help take care of four babies all weekend. For once each baby was fed individually every feed. They’ve been gone for all of a day and we already miss them. We’re currently trying to convince them to come back in July just in time for our first birthday bash.

Watch out, these two rock two twin strollers like pros!

Aren’t they cute doting over the babies?

And we couldn’t leave out the handsome guys. Here is George with Harper and Randall with Mason.

DeAnna with Sydney and Me with Rylin for a shot of the girls.

Here’s to learning immersion style!

Hugs!

Amber

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.