Laundry goddess

When the kids were really little, they loved to line up at the gate and watch me fold laundry on the other side. Lucy, in particular, was fascinated by the process, and as soon as she learned how to say everyone's name, she participated by calling out the owner of each article of clothing as I pulled it out of the laundry basket.

More than a year later, she still knows exactly which piece of clothing belongs to whom. But now she is more than just a laundry onlooker: Two weeks ago, she surprised me by independently folding a pair of socks and placing them in my hand:

Lucy's first attempt at folding socks

Not having ever instructed her in the art of folding, I was astounded by her precision. Today, however, she went even further. While I folded the big towels, she found all of the washcloths, carefully folded them one by one, and neatly stacked them in the laundry basket (all without being asked!):

Lucy's first attempt at folding washcloths

Here is our little laundry goddess in action:



Hm, now that Lucy has shown me what she can do, I'm thinking I may never have to fold a washcloth again!

Follow the leader

Jude has a little shadow. His name is Isaac, and although he may be a little bigger than his younger (by a minute) brother, he thinks his hermanito is the bomb. Watch how he tries to mimic everything Jude does here, from the way he goes down the slide to the way he falls at the bottom, and more:



Yeah, Jude is loving every minute of this right now. But I can just hear him a year or two down the road: "Mo-oom! Isaac is copying me!"

Daddy knows best

Ted claims that he doesn't remember anything about the babies' first year ... but I know better.

A few days ago, he saw Lucy trying to give her doll a bottle and promptly sat down to demonstrate how he used to feed her when she was a tiny baby:

Minutes later, I found him showing both girls the correct technique for burping a baby as little as they used to be:

It almost made me think that he might be feeling a bit nostalgic for those early days of endless bottles, marathon burping sessions, and a whole lot of spit up ... but I know better.

He's just a daddy who loves his girls.

New song on the block

It's taken a while, but the Fab Four are finally starting to really sing—and loudly. Naturally, they all love the standards, such as "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" and the alphabet song, but they are quickly adding to their repertoire. Dahlia can often be heard heartily belting out "Tomorrow," and Isaac enjoys singing along to "And I Love Her" or "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds." Lucy likes to tweak the lyrics when she sings (Barney's "I love you / you love me" becomes "I love you / I love me"), while Jude immediately picks up on the chorus of any song (the theme to "Elmo's World" being a particular favorite).

Recently, one of our DVDs inspired the Fab Four to start singing "oh, oh, oh, oh-oh / oh-oh, oh-oh," to the tune of "The Blue Danube." Last night I determined that the kids were ready to apply their "oh-oh" skills to something a little more contemporary:



For the record, Ted is appalled.

A time for everything

My last day in the office before what turned out to be 3 months of bed rest was on September 19, 2008. Today, almost exactly 3 years later, I stumbled come across the container into which I stashed some of the objects that surrounded me there, in the little cubicle that I occupied for more than 7 years. That brown box, a time capsule of sorts, contained the few items that I considered worth saving at the time:

1. A photo of me and Ted taken on a trip to Buenos Aires 
2. A couple of Beatles magnets
3. A little box of daily Scripture promises
4. A tiny salt/pepper shaker
5. A bunch of notepads that I made out of paper destined for the trash
6. The 1-gallon pin that I earned for regularly donating blood 
7. A key chain from Peru
8. A never-used sewing kit
9. A bracelet that says "Confía en Dios" (Trust in God), made by a friend in Uruguay
10. A desk decoration bearing the text of Jeremiah 29:11, given to me by my mom when I went to college

As I reviewed the contents of the box, I was struck by what they say about who I was before I became a "quad mom." And then I started comparing that to what my life is like after quads. Some things are the same (I love the Beatles, I avoid sewing), and some things are different (let's just say the 2-gallon donation pin is a long way off). Some things seem nearer (never before have I needed to cling to God's promises the way I do now), and some seem much, much farther away (will Ted and I ever get to travel to South America again?).

Of course, if I were to pack up my "office" now, the box would contain only representations of these four precious souls, to whom I am currently devoting all of my time and energy:

Perhaps one day I will find a way to bring together "Suzy-then" and "Suzy-now." But it's not time for that yet.

There is a time for everything,

and a season for every activity under the heavens.

—Ecclesiastes 3:1

Special delivery

When I was cleaning out the guest room closet yesterday, I found some old USPS boxes that I bought who knows when for who knows what:

The boxes are about the size of a cassette tape, and seeing as how I don't plan on mailing any of those any time soon, I decided to set them aside to recycle. Jude, however, immediately noticed the postal service logo and declared that we needed to give them to the mailman.

"Who will the mailman take them to?" I asked him. "To Abuelita!" he replied. After all, Jude knows exactly how the mail works—as he likes to tell you, "Abuelita buys cookies at the store, Abuelito puts them in the mailbox, and the mailman brings them to our house!"

So with the help of four little thumbs and just a few other supplies that I had laying around the house:

We created this masterpiece to tuck into said box:

Abuelitos, keep your eyes peeled for a special delivery sometime next week!

Synchronized divers

Jude just got brave enough to jump into the pool by himself last week, and Isaac couldn't be more excited about it! Check out the new jumping buddies:

On your marks:

Get set:

Go!

Go!

GO!

Here's a short clip of my little synchronized divers in action:



Although the timing on their actual dives may be a little inconsistent, you have to admit that the way they get out of the pool together is picture perfect! Think they could be contenders for the 2024 games?

Girl talk

For some reason, tonight I got the urge to see if I had taken any videos on this date in 2009, during the babies' first year. And, sure enough, I had! Check out this little gem I found of Dahlia (on the left) and Lucy chatting it up in the playard:



I'd forgotten what all those coos sounded like! Don't you wonder what they were trying to say?

Puddle of fun

Ah, jumping in puddles. A pleasure that most kids take for granted, but something that mine had only seen on television ... until yesterday, when an overnight rainstorm left a tantalizing puddle on the walking trail behind our house. As soon as Jude saw it, he knew exactly what to do with it—and the rest of the crew soon followed:



Puddles of the world, you are no longer safe: If the Fab Four see you, they will jump in you!

Sprinkle, sprinkle

What do you do when it's too hot to go to the playground and there's no one to go to the pool with? You make Daddy set up the sprinkler in the backyard—for the first time ever, believe it or not! Happily, we just happened to have a round stationary sprinkler stashed away in the garage, perfect for four little people to share:

First time in the sprinkler 
(l to r: Jude, Dahlia, Lucy, and Isaac)

As I expected, Jude and Isaac dove right in and stayed under the spray almost the entire time we were outside. Dahlia and Lucy were more cautious, watching from a distance while the boys got soaked. Eventually, however, neither girl could resist the siren call of the "waterfall" (as Jude likes to call it), and soon everyone was enjoying the refreshingly cool water. We stood under it, drank from it, pretended to wash our hands in it, and, of course, ran through it:



I'm pretty sure we'll be doing this again!

Growing up

Almost exactly two years ago our Bisabuelo brought us these beautiful handmade dresses from Peru:

Lucy and Dahlia at 8 months old

Today we wore the same dresses to church—this time as shirts:

Dahlia and Lucy at 2.5 years old

My, how we've grown!

Outside, outside, outside!

We love to be outside! We take walks outside:

Collect rocks outside:

Pretend to fall down and break our crowns outside:

We eat outside:

Laugh and squeal outside:

We even practice holding hands outside:

Mostly, though, we just like plain old having fun outside:



Summer, we sure are going to miss you when it's cold outside!

An extra-special extra

Several months ago my cousin Glenda transferred our wedding video onto a DVD. I decided to pop it in for the first time on our 11th anniversary last month, and was utterly shocked when the Fab Four asked to see it again the next day—and again the next! Nearly a month later, we are still watching parts of our wedding DVD daily. The kids love seeing Mommy dressed like a "princess" (the royal wedding made a big impression on them), and they get a big kick out of naming everyone they recognize on TV.

Their favorite part of the video, though, has to be the extra clip that Glenda included of my dad's youngest brother and his band performing at my grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary party, shortly before his death. The kids like the clip so much that they ask for Tío Arturo (aka "Dee-o Doodle") to sing to them almost every day before nap. Recently a couple of his littlest sobrinitos have begun to accompany the band:



I can't tell you how happy it makes me to know that, even in death, my Tío Arturo is teaching my children to love music. Thanks for adding such a special extra to our DVD, Tía Glenda!

Inca quads

In honor of Peruvian independence day—and by special request from Tía Harriet—I give you the Fab Four's first sips of Inca Kola (the national soft drink of Peru):









Too bad the kids long ago outgrew their Inca Kola shirts from Bisabuelo (I guess we know what the abuelitos need to bring back from their next trip to the motherland). Thanks for the 2-liter, Harriet!

I wanna hold your hand

We like holding hands around here. We link up when we're ready to go out the door:

June 2011

And sometimes we join hands when we're just running around the house en masse:

July 2011

This week a couple of us even got caught holding hands in the van:



Our mommy hopes that we're always there to hold one another's hands—literally and figuratively.

... and when I touch you, I feel happy inside ...

—The Beatles, "I Want to Hold Your Hand"