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.

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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