Bed-der late than never

Two months after the Fab Four climbed out of their cribs and turned bedtime upside down (literally, for Isaac), they finally have real beds! The plain white toddler cots are made by KidKraft, and Ted was able to put all four of them together by himself in one afternoon—well, a week and an afternoon, as three out of four had damaged parts when we received them and we had to wait for replacements (boo for poor craftsmanship, yay for great customer service!).

Here are the kids seeing their new sleeping arrangements for the first time right before bed last night:



Ted and I thought we might be in for a long night of the kids adjusting to being in beds, as opposed to being confined to a crib or laying on a mattress on the floor, but we needn't have worried. They went right to sleep (even sleeping through the horrible thunderstorms that rolled through in the middle of the night), and then slept in a little later than usual this morning; their first nap in their beds has also been a merciful success. I think they like having their own defined space—boundaries are hard to come by when you're a quadruplet!

Many thanks to our abuelitos and Grandma and Grandpa T, without whom the Fab Four might have been sleeping on the floor for many more months to come!

Cribless Christmas chaos

Scratch the PeaPods idea. When we walked in the nursery today after "nap" time, we found the girls on the loose and the room in disarray:



Seconds later, we discovered that Jude had actually managed to get out, too!



So it's back to mattresses on the floor for now. It took the kids an hour to fall asleep tonight (despite having skipped their nap again today), but I just went in to check on them, and everyone had found his or her own bed except for Lucy—she was sleeping by the door, poor baby!

Desperate measures

Today, on the Fab Four's second birthday, Isaac and Dahlia decided to show us how silly we were to think that yesterday's precautions would keep them in their cribs. Just minutes after putting them into their nap, in fact, we heard Dahlia scream and Ted opened the door to find her dazedly roaming the nursery. And then, not long after he put her back in bed, we heard the doorknob rattle and were greeted at the door by Isaac!

Worried that one of the kids would fall and get seriously hurt, we opted to pause nap time so that Ted could dismantle the cribs to make room for their four mattresses on the floor:

As you can imagine, the kids were way too excited by all the new freedom to get much sleep. In the end, Jude was the only one who was able to catch any shut-eye. This made for a very, very long afternoon with the other three. And by the time dinner rolled around, Isaac was really paying for the lack of sleep:



Since my last post, several of my friends who are moms of multiples have reminded me about crib tents, and the idea is sounding better to me all the time. For the time being, we have set up the PeaPods in the nursery so that we don't have to try to get the kids to fall asleep on open mattresses (and stay there). After today's shenanigans, I just don't think that any of us are ready for toddler beds yet!

Busting out

I almost never go into the nursery after the kids go to bed. Today, however, I thought I heard someone grunting, and—since nothing guarantees a bad nap like a poopy bottom—I decided to make an exception.

Turns out someone was probably grunting all right, but not for the reasons I thought! When I opened the door, I was shocked to see Isaac standing on the floor in front of me ...

Isaac demonstrates his escape method

... and Dahlia hanging out in Jude's crib!

Ted was sure that something like this was going to happen soon, and he was right. To buy us some time while we figure out what to do next, we've scooted their cribs farther away from each other (so that they can't use a neighbor's crib as leverage), removed from their beds anything that could be used as a step stool (including their CozyWedges and pillows), and (for good measure) taken down the glass frames that hung above each crib. Hopefully this arrangement is enough to keep everyone safe for the time being:

Anyone have advice on how to transition multiple 2-year-olds to toddler beds without losing one's sanity?

Party crasher

With pacifiers, the Fab Four used to go to sleep pretty much as soon as we put them to bed. Now that their pacifiers are gone, however, the kids like to kick off their nap in a slightly more boisterous fashion. I tried to join in the fun today, but apparently whooping, hollering, and jumping in your crib is not as much fun when Mommy is in the room:

2 weeks old ... and some big news!

Ever since we found out we were having quads, the doctors and just about everyone else told us not to expect the babies to come home until somewhere around their due date (February 9). Things have been going so well, however, that Ted and I knew they would be discharged earlier than that. Even so, we were somewhat unprepared for the choice the nurse practitioner gave us today: We can bring two home on Friday and two on Saturday, or we can bring them all home together on Saturday—a full month before their due date!

After much discussion, I think we're going to choose the latter option and give ourselves another day to get ready for the quads to come home. We have a lot to do, including finally biting the bullet and acquiring a minivan! Fortunately, the babies' room has been ready and waiting for months:

The nursery

The quads will be busy in the next couple of days, too. Hearing screens, car-seat tests, hepatitis B shots, and circumcisions (for the boys, of course) are all on order. Please pray for these little ones as they are subjected to these final tests and procedures, that they may pass with flying colors. Also pray that they will continue to keep up their temps and drink all their bottles so that they do not suffer any setbacks between now and Saturday.

Although we are nervous about what the next few weeks and months hold in store, we are thrilled that our little family will be living together under one roof after just 2 short weeks. We are so thankful for all of the ways in which the Lord has blessed us both throughout this pregnancy and since the babies were born, and we have faith that He will continue to provide for all of our needs. Yay for healthy babies!

Brothers (Jude and Isaac)

Sisters (Dahlia and Lucia)

Manpower and a baby shower

Bedrest is less than 2 weeks away, and the flurry of activity has begun! The busy-ness kicked off on Labor Day weekend, when my family (minus Dad) flew up from Texas to help us get some things in shape while I am still mobile. Although Johnny and Holly were only able to be here for a couple of days, they made a huge impact, helping Ted to transform the guest room into the babies' room within a matter of hours. It seriously would have taken ten times longer without their assistance! Here is the nursery in progress (notice how the cribs barely fit into one shot):

After Johnny and Holly left, my mom stayed on through the end of the week. Her most important accomplishment during this time was to keep me exceedingly well fed with her delicious cooking—not a small feat! Having a full belly definitely helped me sleep better and just feel better overall. Mom was also able to finish up a cross-stitch project to decorate the nursery with (I'll post pictures when we get around to hanging it), and on Wednesday she helped me celebrate the big 3-2 (thanks for sharing her on our birthday, Dad!).

At the tail end of Mom's visit, we attended my first baby shower, which was hosted by a group of my wonderful college friends: (left to right) Amy, Lisa, Becky, Andrea, and Kristen. The girls did an absolutely fantastic job, preparing a lovely spread, coming up with non-cheesy shower activities (thanks, guys!), playing Beatles lullabies, and even finding decorations with four baby faces on them! (The cake replicated the design; isn't it so cute?)

I can't tell you how blessed I felt by the girls' hard work and attention to detail (everything was perfect!), as well as by all the friends from different parts of my life who came together to celebrate the upcoming arrival of these four babies. All of your love and support, plus my family's visit during the past week, mean the world to us. Ted and I truly couldn't do this without you guys!

THANK YOU!!