As a new weekend rapidly approaches, I thought I'd share a couple photos from this past one that included some fun firsts—the babies' quad buddies first birthday and our crew's first swim in the pool!
The quad's birthday party came first, on Saturday afternoon, and we were running late...then even later since we took a wrong turn onto the highway and had to backtrack a ways. We missed the smash cakes and the outdoor baby pool and splash activities, but the babies looked cute as ever when they arrived. You might remember a few play dates I've chronicled with our quad buddies, the Shawvers, and we were thrilled to celebrate with them. Logan's always expressed a fair bit of "stranger danger" when around unfamiliar circumstances and loads of people, and their house was packed full of friends and family. But both Logan and Kailey stood between my knees while I sat and let them get acclimated and after a few minutes, they both began walking out into the crowd, seeking toys or smiling faces for entertainment. In fact, all four babies did awesome and Harrison had a blast! As soon as his feet touched the ground, he was zooming all over the place, deftly maneuvering in between people's legs and feet, around other kids, checking out toys, the play room, the birthday babies opening gifts and occasionally coming back to mom or dad for a bite of cake. I was so proud of my little man!
The next day, we woke literally two minutes before it was time to feed breakfast and went scrambling to prepare food, pack diaper bags, towels, clothes, rubber duckies for the pool and package a birthday gift for their cousin, Hailey, who turned five. We were late to this party, too, but still had a little over an hour to get the babies in the water and swim around. It was their first time in a real bonafide pool and they all ended up loving it. (So much that I made them a little splash pad at home this week.) Kailey took to it instantly. I held her hands and she went kerplunking through the shallow water, wading all the way up to her waist without a single concern. Grandad B took Trystan, who required a little more time to sit with her ankles in the water and ponder the scenario, Grandma C had Logan, who was fine for the most part as long as she was allowed to pinch the living daylights out of your sleeve or arm, and daddy had Harrison, who also didn't take long to warm up to the water. And they all looked so adorable in their swim outfits and hats (and loads of sunscreen).
By the end, Harrison let me help him take a few trips down the slide in the kiddie pool area and Logan was up for walking around with just a little assistance. Kailey got cold so she was wrapped up in a towel with Grandmommy B and Trystan took up residence with Grandma C on the side of the kiddie pool watching everyone. We later dried them off, changed their diapers on a chaise lounge, put dry t-shirts on 'em and stuck them in the quad stroller where we fed them lunch (squeeze pouch meals, applesauce, goldfish, animal crackers and cupcakes!). Then it was time to load up—thank goodness for the helping hands of family!—and they all passed out on the way home.
The husband and I really enjoyed the weekend and relished all the "firsts" that came with it. We made a pact to not work on a single thing at the house and rather just focus on the activities with the babies, which made things less stressful and (slightly) less exhausting. It's still a feat for us to pack up the quads and their supplies and participate in any kind of event for several hours, but it's important to us to have the babies out and about and enjoy normal experiences that other kids their age get to do. Every time we have a new experience with them, we do our best to soak it in and observe it as much as possible, because there's four "firsts" to watch at one time!
This weekend we have kept plans simple and are meeting up with friends for an adults-only dinner tomorrow evening, working on the house some more and unpacking boxes and I've got a baby shower to attend on Sunday. What are your weekend plans? And how do you make time to enjoy the little things in life?
That is fantastic picture of the girls and their daddy.
ReplyDeleteDoes Logan have a few little curls?
So glad you are able to enjoy the firsts of many enjoyable outings.
Thanks for sharing,enjoy your weekend:);
Your babies were perfectly behaved at the party. I was impressed especially with Logan who wasn't such a happy visitor before. Thank you for bringing them, and it was so nice to finally meet your mom. Yay for a dip in the big pool, such fun.
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