This past Saturday started off bright and early for me, not the usual way I ease into my weekends since my wonderful babies typically sleep until nine!! The husband happily rolled over in our comfy, cozy bed while I got dressed and grabbed a donut and a Sonic coke on my way to the pool to judge my first synchronized swim meet as an official judge. No more practice rounds, this was the real deal! It was an association meet featuring my home team, the Pirouettes of Texas. I swam for them competitively for 11 years, starting when I was just seven years old. There was an adorable eight-year-old little girl in the competition who swam a solo to the Little Mermaid, and she reminded me of myself when I was her age! She was so cute and swam very well considering she ad-libbed most of her routine as she went. A trait I also shared! My coach, Mary, used to start the music and tell me she couldn't wait to see what solo routine I was going to swim this time since they were usually all different. ;)
For this particular meet, I judged figures (a requirement for all swimmers and judged by a panel) then I judged the artistic impression category for all the routines. It really was enjoyable and always feels so natural. I think I make a pretty good judge and I'm also spending time at the pool where I spent 90% of my time growing up, smelling the all too familiar aroma of chlorine and watching the sport I love.
Plus my mom was there—also just like old times, since she was present at every practice and competition I attended and still is!—and one of my best friends and former teammates is now the head coach. She's pictured above in the white tank working with her swimmers during warm up in the competition. I'm so proud of her and how hard she works to keep the team going!
After judging concluded, I ran a couple errands all by myself on a sunny Saturday afternoon, which was a really nice change of pace. Then I headed home to make snacks for the babies since the husband had just gotten them up from naps. He was also glad to have some time at home by himself for once while they had slept and enjoyed his play time with them earlier that morning. He's been working so hard during the week, that we all miss him and are ready for some quality time when the weekend rolls around.
trystan cracks us up when she walks around with those rings on her feet, like high heels |
Later in the afternoon, the weather was so warm (78 degrees!) and perfect that we couldn't resist taking the whole crew outside. The husband cleared out a bunch of the giant dog crap that fills up our grassy area courtesy of our two massive labs, and I hauled out some chalk, bubbles and the babies' water play table. They had a blast! Of course, the most entertaining item they went for were the dog bowls of water and the water spout on the backside of the house. They dumped it all over themselves and didn't mind being wet a bit! They also climbed and hobbled over all the dirt that daddy was hoeing in an area we'll soon be converting into a little playground for the quads. I can't wait for outside play time on the daily!
Everyone was so dirty when it was time to call it quits that we peeled their clothes off on the patio and toted them upstairs for bath time. The husband and I sat on the floor by the tub and laughed and laughed at our little munchkins squirting bath toys at each other and patting each other on the back anytime someone choked on too many bubbles! Dinner was enjoyable too—baked salmon, quinoa and veggies, green beans, cheese and berries. Yum!
Sunday was a truly relaxing, slow-paced, mellow day all the way through. We did breakfast about 9:30am, then chilled out in the play room and did a little bit of laundry and cleaning. Then we baked pizza for an easy lunch. It was all about keeping things simple and stress-free. The quads napped for over two hours then spent nearly another two hours very happily playing in their cribs, so the husband and I got a nice break! We caught up on some DVR shows while simultaneously working on our computers and knocking out a couple of our own projects.
I really do love that the babies spend time alone in their cribs so well. It's important to me that they have some time to themselves during each day, since they are otherwise spending every waking second with three other siblings, constantly having to share things and crawl and walk all over each other and wait their turn. It's good for them to have a chance to play with their own toys without interference from anyone else, and makes for happier babies in the afternoon, too, if you ask me! Plus I truly think they start to miss each other as they're often cracking each other across their rooms by the time I head up their to get them all out. So cute!
Aren't they looking so much more grown up these days!? Logan was apparently putting herself in timeout for some unknown reason, so Trystan had come over to investigate. And I scheduled Harrison's first hair cut appointment for this Friday morning, so my nanny and I will be taking the whole crew with us to get his curly locks chopped. I will definitely be saving some baby hair!
More good weather was in store, so while the husband finished building the last of his work bench in the garage (now things will finally get organized!), I set up the quad's corral outside on the driveway and outfitted them with chalk, cars and sticky string from their Aunt Deanie. They happily entertained themselves while I basked in the breeze and made our meal plan for the week and finished my issue of Parents magazine.
Not a bad way to wrap up the weekend, and a vast improvement from last weekend when I ended up in the ER! Hope your Monday is off to a good start!
P.S. Some recent posts you may have missed: what the quads have been eating lately and the things they're loving now.