All about Blade!

Our sweet Blade turned THREE at the end of October! This boy (for the most part) is at such a fun age. His vocabulary is huge and his perception of the world at this age is adorable...yet trying at times.  He's "big nuff" to do it all and has no idea he's the youngest of the bunch. To think that the quads were this age when he was born is insane. I felt like we had a decent age gap between the four and Blade but now, sometimes I look at Blade and can't imagine having FOUR his age and about to welcome a fifth...he's just a baby himself!

The summer and fall brought some big things for our little guy. You probably remember the quads' beaming with pride when they encouraged and successfully coached Blade in climbing out of his crib a while back. We ended up dropping his mattress to the floor after that and finally transitioned him to an actual toddler bed when his siblings got their new beds over the summer.

Another huge success was....POTTY TRAINING! I did the three day method with Blade, just like we did with the quads and he was a total rock star. Having just one toddler to train, we altered our approach a bit this time. We didn't quite put our entire lives on hold like we did last time (who can with four other kids?) and we didn't feel the need to tarp the entire house like before! A potty, a sticker chart and some skittles was all he needed and before we knew it, we were diaper free and never looked back. Like his siblings, Blade didn't night train at the same time, but did on his own within a few months.

The girls were sick at the time, but here are all three boys enjoying some bowling at a friend's birthday party...

Blade's three year stats:

Weight: 33lbs (70th percentile)

Height: 40 inches (95th percentile)

He passed his hearing and vision with flying colors and is one healthy little dude, which we won't take for granted ;)

Another first for our lil dude was the movie theatre! We saw Inside Out... it was the best nap he ever did have ;)

To celebrate his big number 3, we rented several bounce house/obstacle course things and invited friends over to play. He still LOVES "Mouse" (not Mickey Mouse, it's just "Mouse") and so that's the theme we went with. He loved seeing all the balloons, piñata and party loot just for him!

Some of Blade's favorite things:
-His little pink blankets (yes) also known as his "mimis". He is attached and can't be without one at all times.
-He eats just about anything...with the exception of tomatoes.
-Like his siblings, he loves rain boots, being outside, anything that goes and playing in the creek.
-Like mentioned above, Mouse. The dude would watch Mickey Mouse 24/7 if I allowed him.
-He has a slight obsession with smelling things (like his blankets, for example) and he encourages others to use their sense of smell as well. He is constantly asking people to "nose it" when he wants them to smell something.

At three, I'm thankful he's still a faithful napper. Due to the quads being in school, he's up by 7am and takes a 2 hour nap or so after lunch and goes back down around 7pm. I'm SO thankful God gave me some good sleepers :)

Blade and Korbin

Love this sweet boy!

Now if time could just slow down a bit, that would be great!

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!!!

Toddler Transitions: Update!

We’ve made two major transitions over the past 2 months; Potty Training and Toddler Beds. I thought I’d fill you in on how they’re going and how the quads are adjusting.

We went with the 3 day method on potty training and had great results. Here we are 2 months out and they are still doing great! They regressed a little the first few days we went to toddler beds but quickly picked back up what they had learned. We’re still doing diapers at night and pull ups during “nap time” (and I use that term loosely. ugh.) but strictly big girl panties and big boy undies during the waking hours and all outings. I actually can’t remember the last pee accident anyone has had (it’s been a few weeks-knock on wood). They still prefer to poop in their diaper at night/nap and have only gone on the potty a few times each. We’ll tackle night training soon enough, for now, I know they’re not ready. I will say, unlike most moms say, my BOYS have been easier overall than my girls throughout the whole process. We still don’t dare leave the house without a potty or two and make frequent breaks when out and about but it’s working! I no longer fear them not being able to hold it until we reach our destination, they’ve just continued to amaze me!

Toddler Beds. Toddler beds have by far been the hardest transition yet since bringing these 4 crazies home. We made the switch just days before Christmas and Ay Yi Yi! My other mom friends have always been super jealous of me and my “perfect little sleepers”. I’ve grown used to babies sleeping a good 12-15 hours at night, every night, and the thought of my kids waking up by 7am on a daily basis is unfathomable.  I hear parents talk about their littles being up at 6am ready to start their day and think I could never do it…everrr. If there’s one thing that’s gotten me through this journey of having quadruplets, it’s SLEEP. I’m lucky, I understand. Well, breathe a sigh of relief other moms, and silently laugh to yourself  as I tell you my perfect little sleepers are disappearing before my eyes.  Our 6:30pm bedtime has been more like 7:30 now days and our 9am wakings have been moved to 8am. We’re still not set on a specific schedule and may never be again. As a mom of preemies, and multiple preemies at that, our world has always revolved around a set schedule and it’s hard for me to let go and go with the flow as they get older.

Of course as they get older they need less sleep, that’s a given. I was just hoping a little older like the day before kindergarten ;) The toddler beds have given them a new found freedom that they enjoy far too much to sleep. I don’t mind the “stay up and play a while”  or “play until you crash” ideas but DUDE, mine don’t crash. It takes (especially the boys) hours. Talking turns into laughing, laughing turns into rough housing, rough housing turns into crying and before you know it it’s 11pm and I’ve got 2 year olds with more energy than I’ve had in the past 5 years combined. It’s gotten to the point where I’ve turned the boys beds back around, against the wall, so they’re basically in a crib again. After a few days we turned them back and the chaos continues. I cannot get them to stay in their beds for anything and I don’t have enough spare rooms to separate them (yet..heehee) which I think could do the trick.

Some people have mentioned that it may be time for them to give up naps altogether. I tried it and it was no bueno. I don’t mind if they stay in their rooms and jack around the entire time, not napping at all, IF their attitudes were fine the rest of the day. When I tried that method with the boys, pulling them out of their room after a few hours with no sleep, they went DOWN HILL by5pm. They were a mess and clearly couldn’t take an entire day with no down time. When they did hit their beds that night, they were out cold in a matter of minutes. 

One of the sweet moments…

One of the not so sweet moments… had a little talk with Korbin about “fairness” this particular night…

I assume they tried to barricade me out of their room on this night by placing every object they could get to in front of their bedroom door. I went to check on them and their silence and could barely push my way through!

   

The good part to all of this nap/night time chaos is that they are bonding. I mentioned that Korbin and Baxlyn are super close and this new craziness is bring the boys a little closer together as well as the girls.  For now it’s a transition we’ll continue to work on.

I guess they can’t all go so smoothly, ehh?!