This just happened…

So I’m getting things ready for our fun night out with Daddy tonight. A little dinner, a little school shoe shopping (OMG KINDERGARTEN!!) a nice evening out with our little people. While jamming to my oldies and doing my thing I start hearing a choir of cheering…

“GO BLADE GO! GO BLADE GO! YOU CAN DO IT BLADE! GO BLADE GOOOO! YOU ALMOST GOT IT BABYYY!!!”.

I was a little nervous as to what I would find as I followed the screeches of laughter and excitement. I turn the corner to find Blade being highly encouraged by his entourage of siblings to CLIMB OUT of his crib. Rather than try to stop the action, I ran quickly for my phone.  Let’s face it, Blade KNEW what he was about to do, there was no getting back him being blissfully unaware he could get out his crib if he so desired. I might as well capture the moment on film, right??

Although I am disappointed in the quads I will say I’m glad they at least put down a bean bag chair in the event their lil’ bro took a hard fall. Umm, thanks guys.

Brody & Baxlyn quickly moved out of the way and Blade made his landing safely on the bean bag chair as planned. Victory was theirs and I all of a sudden found myself left in a desperate search of a crib tent. That would be no, I am NOT ready to transition to a toddler bed ;)

I made my entrance into the room of my proud, giddy, over-the-moon excited children and they all shouted at once “Mom, LOOK!… Blade got out of his crib ALL BY HIMSELF!… He is SO big! Look what he did Mom!….He did it, he DID it, HE DID IIITTTT!” Perhaps they don’t remember what happened when each of them escaped (seen here here and here). All I know is Blade was just beaming with pride. Super cute but worries me that this will be an ongoing occurrence since he was so successful the first time! Grr.

Here’s to us embracing toddlerhood and all it’s goodness once again!  Yipeeeeeeee!!!

Hard Working 3 Year Olds – Chore Charts!

One thing I love about the quads getting older is their ability to do more for themselves. Going from having 4 helpless needy tiny infants to having a small somewhat helpful cleaning crew of my very own has been a great change!   It’s a constant battle between them on who is going to help with the laundry, who gets to sweep and who will get to do Mommy a “favor” next. To help organize their help and to help cut down on the fights I implemented a chore chart for each of them. Not only does this help them see which specific chores are theirs, in the end I’m hoping they learn responsibility, teamwork and that they have an important role in keeping the household running just as Mommy & Daddy do.

I had no idea on where to start with making a chore chart, especially when trying to make four charts, all different while keeping them as simple and easy to understand as possible. A friend of mine sent me to THIS SITE that does everything for you! It has super easy to follow steps and in the end you are left with a cute, personalized chore chart for each of your kiddos!

My next task was thinking of actual chores they could do – a lot harder than you’d think. I started with 3 chores per kid. They did the same 3 chores everyday for the entire week and I’ll change it up each week so they all get to do different things and learn they can share in the responsibilities. Let’s face it, although scrubbing toilets is not on their charts yet, nobody is gonna want to own that job on a daily basis when it is added to their list!

Below is Miss Kylee proudly pointing to her Ernie chore chart. Her chores this first week were to make her bed, clean the kitchen counters & sweep the entryway. I gave them all the first chore of making their beds which is expected to be done before breakfast in the morning. Honestly (and as expected) they suck at it and it would be WAY easier for me to go behind them and make them like I have in the past but I’m trying to remember the lesson they’re learning in it all. The neat freak in me struggles to see their upside-down pillow, crooked comforters and imperfectly folded blankets and leave them – but I do! 

Some of the chores they are able to complete by themselves with just a little direction. Kylee, for example, knows just where the “little sweep” is and can get it and complete her chore all on her own while I work with the others on theirs.

A little blurry, but here’s a close up of Brody’s chart. In addition to making his bed in the morning, he got to vacuum the bedrooms and wash the bathroom sink. For each chore completed they get a sticker of their choice to put on their chart, which they love. Other than that, we’re not doing any kind of reward system for doing their chores. I think it’s ok to teach them chores are not a choice or a “favor” you’re doing anyone but something that’s expected of you.

Here’s the Broman hard at work cleaning the bathroom sink. I’m not allowing them to use any sprays or Lysol wipes at this point, a simple baby wipe will do! He’s had the hardest time of them all, understanding that there are no more chores to do once his 3 are completed. I could easily give him a list of 20 chores and he’d happily move from one to the other!

If you know Brody (both boys for that matter) you know he has loved to sweep and vacuum since he was able to stand on his little two feet. Rarely do we go out into a public place where he doesn’t try to sweep or clean something in some way. Whether it’s being intrigued by someone sweeping at a restaurant, the hair salon or hospital hallway he is always ready and willing to lend a helping hand in the cleaning department! That’s right ladies, I’m raising the perfect man ;)

Korbin’s chores for the week were to make his bed, clean the front door & clean the quad table.

   Between waiting for Daddy to arrive home, looking at birds & waving to the garbage men faithfully, our front door is constantly covered with 32,000 tiny handprints and definitely deserves a spot on someone's chart. This chore is one that is done by me on a daily basis and it’s nice to be able to hand it off to one of the causes themselves ;) I’ll admit when nap time comes around this is one of the jobs I re-do. Again…the lesson their learning, right?!

Scrub a dub dub!           

Baxlyn’s chores for the week, in addition to making her bed, were to clean the back door & to vacuum the living room. Although she doesn’t complain about her chores a bit, she has a more typical look at having to do them. She’ll do it but has no desire to keep asking for more and more work like the others. She’s impressed me multiple times as I’ve gone in to get them in the morning and she proudly says “I made my bed, Mommy!” without me even asking!

Of all the chores listed, vacuuming is by far the most special. Here’s my little B cleaning the living room floors – which, for now, look like the floors of a daycare playroom. Not too much longer and I’ll have my nice “living room” looking living room back ;)

        My next goal is to come up with some kind of age-appropriate behavior chart/reward-consequence system. Again, not really a clue where to start but I’ll come up with something soon. If you’ve got any (positive) input or would like to share how you work with your toddlers, I’m all ears…..or ugh…eyes in this case! For you Moms like me who need help in the Chore Chart department, take a look at the link I post above!

Double (Naked) Trouble

Lately, everyday is an adventure when it comes to night and nap time with the boys. I put them in their room and never know what I will come back to. The biggest challenge lately has been keeping them dressed while in their cribs. They were dubbed the Duct Tape Duo a little while back and I thought that phase was over. Boy, was I wrong. It’s been 2 weeks now of constant stripping and getting into nap time trouble in general. I haven’t been duct taping them in a while because, like I said, I thought that phase was over. If you are easily grossed out this is your warning. This post has some pretty detailed happenings in it so you may find it better to come visit in a few days when we’ve moved on to the next subject…

They’re still doing great with potty training and go number 2 on the potty almost daily. I do put them in pull ups/diapers for nap and night. The other week I could smell toxic fumes coming from their room so I went in and found both boys naked with their pull ups laying next to them in their cribs. Korbins was clean but Brody’s was not and he was surrounded by little smeared brown footprints…eww. So I get the mess cleaned up, give them a good talking to, duct tape them and put them back down. The days go on and their room continues to smell like a hamster cage – no joke.  It always stinks but it’s just been wayy worse than normal. I’ve cleaned it from top to bottom. The cribs, sheets, blankets, lovies, floors all of it was cleaned and I just couldn’t figure it out. I eventually go to change the boys sheets AGAIN thinking maybe someone peed again without me realizing. I lift Korbin’s mattress to change the sheet and there in the corner of his crib between the mattress and railing I see something that resembles charcoaled road kill. I thought it was his monkey or another small stuffed animal. After squinting and moving his crib away from the wall to get a good look, I realized I had just discovered the mysterious deadly stench. All this cleaning I had been doing and I totally missed the dried, God only knows how old, crusty turd in the corner of his crib. Although a little disturbed knowing my kid had been sleeping inches away from this thing for days, I was glad I finally found it, hopefully meaning their room would smell better soon. Sheesh.

Needless to say that night I was going to make sure there was no nakedness going on. Below you’ll see they are diaper duct taped, wearing backwards footed sleepers (they can unzip them from the front) which are duct taped at the zipper, AND halo sleep sacks that are also duct taped at the zipper. They did well that night but wow, that’s a lot of work and duct/gorilla tape gets expensive after a while… it worked but wasn’t ideal.

This is a few days before the above mentioned poop party. I was cleaning house and heard the boys’ lullaby monitor/project thingy getting louder then softer, louder then softer, then twinkle twinkle little star followed by the sound of heartbeats. Someone had there hands on it and I was prepared to catch them in the act. With camera in hand I swung open the door and to my surprise saw Brody on top of his dresser having a ball…

I know what you’re thinking. Heather, look at how close the dresser is to the crib, of course he’ll climb up there… But for those of you who know Brody, know that this is quite a huge task for him. He still struggles to get up onto the couch on his own, I still have NO clue how he managed to climb over and on top of the dresser. As mad as I was I’ll admit I was kinda proud of him… this is a serious accomplishment for this dude! That being said it was still a problem. You’ll see in the first picture his crib was then turned around so the tall back side was facing outward making it impossible (err.. I think) for him to climb out.

 OK, back to the nakedness. I still needed a sure way these crazies were not going to get naked and an easier way at that. Layers and layers and boat loads of duct tape worked but was a lot of work and took a good 10mins to do properly…multiply that times two (or more) and it’s a true pain. I had read when the quads were itty bitty about Little Sleeper Keepers but had totally forgotten about them until another quad mom mentioned them again. Not only did she remind me of them, she had some that she was no longer using and sent them to me – thanks again Amy! Little Keeper Sleepers are snug fitting sleepers and have a zipper up the back and have a total of three snaps at the non-stretch neckline. We put them in their, what they call “suits”, and have had no escapees so far!         

We made the switch to toddler beds this week (details to come on following post) and the quads have been on a new high since their new found freedom. Yesterday I made the mistake of putting the boys “down for nap” without the Little Sleeper Keepers. I told myself they would be fine and would be too busy causing other kinds of trouble rather than naked trouble. They’ll be having too much fun jumping from bed to bed to even think about getting naked…. wrong again. After two hours of hearing their giggly fun I stepped in to check on them and to what I swear must have been Poop Fest 2011. Both boys were both out of their beds butt naked, surrounded by (lucky for me) firm turd balls. Absolutely disgusting. I can only thank God it’s only two of them rather than all four. There was poop everywhere. On their beds, in their beds, under their beds, under their fingernails, on the window sill, it was smeared into the blinds…etc. NOT FUN and all because I had faith that they wouldn’t get into “that kind” of trouble. You can bet your rear they will not be left alone again in the near future without being in those new sleepers.

I am confident we have finally found the solution to the toddler nakedness in our house and totally recommend the Little Sleeper Keepers to other moms out there dealing with their own little Houdini!

What a week...

Whew it has been a week that's for sure. I started a fitness camp on Monday with some of the locals. I've committed myself to waking up at 4:40am Monday through Friday for the next 6 weeks to have my rear kicked by a trainer in hope to get into better shape and best case scenario, lose a pound or two. Being in athletics all through high school as well as playing volleyball and cheering, I've had my fair share of workouts. It's been what...omg...8 years since I've graduated therefore have been in no "real" kind of exercise program in nearly a decade. Nice. Hopefully by the end of this 6 week program I'll consider myself, dare I say...fit. As for this moment in time I resemble an 84 year old grandmother in need of her cane to get from point A to point B. My muscles are extremely sore and I've been reminded all week of just what a quad pregnancy can do to your once strong abdominal muscles. The quad's have two new words in their vocabulary "exercise" and "sore". Just this morning I let out a ridiculous moan as I sat bent kneeled FELL down to change Brody's diaper. He softly laughed and said "I sore!". I'll keep you posted on the whole workout thing.

As for the babies. If I truly thought they could, I'd bet they read this blog. I mentioned in the last post how we've had more good days than bad... why oh why did I put it in writing? I'm telling you, they can sense it. This week has been a rough one to say the least. I've been tired, sore, and a little stressed as we slowly approach the potty training stage and the little normal "2 year old" things they do have worn my nerves big time! I've captured some of their mischief on camera to share with you (and to show them when they get older and are blessed with 2 year old angels of their own).

I can remember when they were little, they couldn't even see what was on the tables or dressers, let alone reach for it.

Our first work of art on the wall by Mr. Korbin. As silly as it sounds, color time is stressful in our house. They fight over the crayons, they "hog" them (another new word in their vocabulary by the way) Kylee still occasionally eats one and on top of that drama I'm trying desperately to keep them contained so our carpets and furniture stay they color they are. This particular day they were in the table, I walked away for 4.8 seconds and come back to this...

Using more bins to their advantage... and yes that's a boy in a pink pull-up...Korbin, being a sweet brother, makes sure Brody is in on the action too. "There ya go BroBro, now reeacch, I got ya!"
The ball pit is the one thing I want to get rid of because it takes up SO MUCH ROOM but it's the one thing they play with every single day. Just this week they learned they could push and slide it away from the wall and learned some new, more exciting ways to play with it. Here we have Korbin ready to fly down the slide ON his truck while Miss B takes a leap from the couch behind him into the balls...

Oh and in case that doesn't make me nervous enough, Korbin, after successfully making several trips down the slide going forward decided it may be even more fun to go backwards... Each day that passes is just one day closer to the day you see a post about someones broken arm.

I'll end on a good note. Today I took them all to the local grocery store by myself STROLLERLESS! Like I mentioned above we're slowly entering the potty training stages and we ran out of candy (m&ms and skittles as rewards). It was morning, therefore the store isn't busy and we JUST needed a few little bags of candy so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to give it a whirl. I loaded them up with their Monkey backpacks that also double as leashes, just in case. As we pulled up to the store, I was surprised at how all of the feelings rushed back from when I first started taking them out by myself when they were itty bitty. What if they make a scene and I look like a huge idiot in front of everyone for even trying this? I pushed the feelings of insecurity away, unloaded them one by one and strapped on their backpacks. We had a mob of people watching as I herded them from the car towards the door but we made it in successfully. The first thing they saw upon entering were mylar sports ball balloons hanging in the checkout lines "LOOOOONNNSS!! LOOOONS! BALLSS" they all yelled at one time causing everyone to turn and look. We continued towards the candy aisle and they listened pretty well. At any given time there was a total distance of 20 feet between the first one and the last one as they walked and gazed up at everything at the same time. I'd find myself yelling "Baxlyn slow down, wait for the others...Brody speed up...Kylee look out, watch where you're going!... Don't touch... This way this way!" I know people could hear me across the store and I lost count of how many times I apologized to people for the kids walking into them or their cart. Luckily we live in a small town and the employees of the store "know us" as do a handful of the customers. Everyone was very sweet and told the babies how good they were doing and how impressed they were with their good behavior. Needless to say I left feeling relieved and just a little more confident in my abilities as a Mom of multiples! As smooth as it went we have no intentions of letting go of the strollers just yet!

Until next time!

Hello Toddlerhood. Goodbye Sanity.

Total blog slacker here, I know. Things have been a little hectic lately and blogging has been on my mind but pushed to the side. My nerves are worn and my sanity pushed to the limits with these little blessings lately! I must admit with the big 2nd birthday just around the corner (HOLY COW!) I can see the "terrible twos" running full speed in our direction. My precious babies are turning into mischievous little....dare I say it... ttt....toddlers! Every time I turn around someone is ripping up, climbing, eating, throwing, or getting into something. This is just SOME of what's been going on in our house lately and just a FEW of the reasons this momma is needing "Mom's Night Out" more frequently!

Here we have Korbin and onlooker Baxlyn attempting to make an escape out the front door.

My little innocent Kylee reaching in for the Christmas tree (one of the biggest no-no's right now)

With age comes independence. Miss Thang here REFUSING to ride in the choo choo with her bros and sister. Notice them WAY ahead of her as she struts along with Mickey through the aisles of Target.

Korbin reaching for the candles...

Below - quadruple the trouble. The rule is you can sit on the couch not stand, climb, pull on OR swing from the blinds... "Yeah OK Mom, sure"

Another group effort to completely destroy the boys' room. Situations like these I walk in and am guaranteed to look down and hear at least once little innocent "Uh-Oh?!".

Once again, Korbin using the bins to his advantage and reeeaching up to the counter.
Here we have the boys searching for the long lost rattle under Kylee's crib. While they're down the girls see the perfect opportunity to yank hair and stomp on them. Ahh my sweet little darling girls...

Here we have 3 acts in one. Brody and Baxlyn getting after the tree and Korbin making a run for the window sill and blinds...Last but not least one baby pulling out the wipes as fast as he can while the other attempts to put them all back in as quickly as possible...

Stay tuned! Coming up our visit(s) with S A N T A !

Teamwork: Quad Style

As mobility kicks in so does the mischief!

I turned a corner yesterday to find this...

toilet paper completely unrolled...

every last hair bow taken out of the cabinet...

and the trashcan emptied!

I know I know... it's just the beginning. Little stinkers ;]