One messy baby

After an identical meal, these identical babies looked pretty different. Tessa's the one who got sweet potatoes everywhere.

Our Week in Numbers

I have so much to catch up on! We just spent a wonderful week with just half of our normal crew. Megan and Bridget spent the week with Mop and Pop, galavanting around Orange County. They went to Disneyland, Buckets of Fun (not even sure what that is, but apparently it was a lot of fun!), lot of parks and even attended "school" at Mop's kitchen counter. Needless to say, they did a lot more than they normally do in a week around this house!

Meanwhile, Matt and I stayed home with Tessa and Annie, who relished being our only kids. We even went out to dinner with the babies one night! It was refreshing and relaxing not to be outnumbered by our children. And, we took the opportunity to get some work done around the house that is nearly impossible with four kids underfoot (and still overwhelming with the twins, but much easier!!).

While they were gone, we had:

• One big girl room cleared, painted, painted again, touched up, organized, and decorated, complete with a newly assembled set of bunk beds, a newly painted bookcase, and lots of pink and green. Did I mention how spoiled our kids are??
• One nursery organized for Tessa and Annie to call home very soon. This involved the dreaded task of going through all of our little girl clothes, and taking out all of the twins' 6-12 month clothes. I think we could clothe quadruplets from birth-2T with what we have stashed in bins throughout the house.
• Zero sippy cups, princess plates or bottles to wash. The kitchen actually stayed clean. I didn't realize how much of my day was spent in the kitchen preparing and cleaning up after every meal!
• Three nice trips out shopping with just the babies. Weird to not be making little people conversation while driving in the van or pushing a shopping cart. I missed it.
• Two babies who missed their big sister entertainment. The best part about having a large family at this point is the constant distraction the girls can provide for the babies. They dance, sing, talk to, and grab toys for Tessa and Annie whenever necessary. With just me around during the day, I caught them yawning and looking around for something more interesting :)

And, since the girls have been home, we've been jerked back to reality, most notably with:

• One accident in the middle of the night that required the stripping of one of the afore-mentioned bunk beds. I don't want to embarrass anyone so I won't say who it was. But, I will say that it involved me climbing to the top bunk and stripping the sheet and waterproof mattress pad (thank god for that!!) in the dim light of a Disney Princess nightlight.
• One more load of laundry the next morning to get those sheets back on the bed before naptime.
• Three accidents on day one of potty-training Bridget.
• Eight pairs of Tinker Bell undies that will not be enough to last through this day.
• Two successful trips to the bathroom, each rewarded with a purple Pez from her Tinker Bell Pez dispenser.
• A grocery store excursion with all four girls (one on me, two in the stroller and one unhappy shopping cart rider). Yes, this involved the pushing of the stroller with one arm and the pulling of the overflowing shopping cart with the other, all while navigating my way through looks of pity and horror from fellow shoppers. Remind me to never do that again. Ever. I don't think I've been that stressed in a long time!
• Oh, and one big reveal when the girls saw their new room for the first time. We got it on video, HGTV style, but I'm not sure that video, or any other video, is going to land on this blog anytime soon. Unfortunately, I didn't spend any of my spare time last week figuring out how to edit or upload video. Let me paint the picture for you, though. Just imagine Bridget, mouth wide open, saying, "Oh my gosh, Oh my gosh." And, imagine Megan overly focused on the Princess hamper in the corner.

I took one last picture of the nursery while it was still Megan and Bridget's room. Snif sniff.

Shortly thereafter, the babies rolled in and claimed it as their own:

And Tessa met Sophie - it was love at first nibble.

Tessa and Annie are 6 months old!

It's crazy that 6 months have passed already! The twins had their 6 month check-up today - they're not quite as chunky as we thought they would be. They're in the 25th percentile for both height and weight, with Annie at 14 pounds, 8 ounces and Tessa at 15 pounds even. What a difference to bring them to the doctor today compared to their first appointments when they were so tiny and I was till getting used to everything x 2. Today they were playful little babies, rolling all over the table and giggling for the doctor. We've all come a long way!

Here's to another wonderful six months, full of more sleep for everyone, and a lot of big firsts! Crawling is coming very soon, incredibly, and we are not ready for it. Wish us luck!

Annie

Tessa

How cute are those little Baby Legs, by the way? I love those things. Thanks Sara!! Here's a closeup because I just can't resist those chunky legs right now:

Six Month Old Swingers

Tessa and Annie had their first taste of swinging in the fog today. They loved it! And, I got way more comments on the "little Giants fan" than I did on the fact the babies are twins. Go figure! Here they are loving the swing:

Tessa

Annie

Megan and Bridget explaining the intricacies of swinging to their little sisters

And, Bridget gave the big girl swing a whirl:

Lots of fun at the park, only minor meltdowns on the way home, and a solid three hour nap for everyone (except me!). A good day :)

Ch-ch-ch-changes

It's hard to believe Megan is in preschool now!! She started on Tuesday at Happy Times, and she'll go twice a week. So far she loves it, and almost seems like a different kid already. She's told us all of the rules, who she sat next to for snacktime, and that she couldn't paint on the first day. Hopefully the second day?? She's very curious about the teachers, too. Just tonight at bedtime she wanted to know what car her teacher drove and where she lived. Hmmm, can you say stalker??

Here, the girls before they got in the van. They took their bagels to go. Bridget insisted on wearing a backpack too. It's even labeled :)

And, me with our suddenly very big girl. Wait, that's just her kindergarten-size princess backpack!

And, although I can't say we really planned it this way, another big change happened for Megan right before school started. The pacifier fairy finally came to our house!! Yes, Megan is 3 1/2 years old and up until a week ago, she still used a pacifier, or a "pappy." A very specific, chewed up, newborn sized pappy with a little bear on it. The pacifier fairy eluded us for far too long - she circled our house many times, but didn't fly through the window with her princess loot until last week after Megan lost that pappy for about the thousandth time. We looked pretty hard, but Megan finally agreed that the pacifier fairy could come, find it, and bring it to her workshop to repair it before she flew it to the littlest Stecher, baby Brendan. It was a big moment :) She came for Bridget's pappy as well, but there wasn't nearly as much drama with that exchange. (Bridget's drama happened last month on the beach in Tahoe when Clara took matters into her own hands, er, teeth, and de-nippled Bridget's poor little duck pappy. This didn't help Bridget and Clara's already strained relationship!) We are officially a pappy-free house now, since the babies don't use pacifiers (for better or for worse!).

The biggest change of all is our new routine on Megan's school days. Suddenly, we have somewhere we have to be pretty early in the morning, with all of the girls fed and dressed, including me! Hopefully all future preschool mornings will go more smoothly than Megan's first day - good thing it's only twice a week!

Adventures in Dogsitting Continued

I think Davis must sense my impatience with all of the hair and all of the sweeping and all of the vacuuming. Or, he realizes that his hair loss and my massive hair loss of late are just too much for our little household to handle. Either way, he's decided to contribute to the clean-up. Last night I swept up a pile of his hair in the kitchen, turned around to get the dustpan, and spun back around to find him dutifully licking up the pile himself. Not sure if this is common - all you dog people, can you confirm?? It does explain how his own hair ends up in his water bowl.

Eewwww.

Yep, I'm THAT mom

So, Megan is starting preschool next week, and she is very excited! She's prepared, with her new backpack, new school shoes, and a list of everything she can't wait to do: painting, play-doh, reading, you name it.

This stands in stark contrast to my overall lack of preparedness for the "parent orientation" today at her school. I began by going to the orientation on the wrong day - I went with the MWF crowd when I should have gone with the Tues./Thurs. crowd. I realized the mix-up late last night, but decided to go anyway this morning. Then, it took me forever to get there. I totally underestimated how long it would take me drive there, but managed to find a parking spot and walk up to the school only a couple minutes late. I realized my third offense when I saw parents approaching the school with kids in tow. Oops. Out of a handful of parents who assumed that the "parent" orientation was for parents only, I was the only one who wasn't able to just call and have my child meet me there in a couple minutes. Since Megan was back at the house with Grandma and three younger kids, that wasn't really going to happen. So. I trudged through an orientation without my kid, meeting parents who I will never see since their kids are in a different class. Nice.

Megan's going to have to do a helluva job making up for the first impression I left there.

Day 1 of Davis Duty

So, we have a fifth little being to look after this week. And, on second thought, he's not really that little. He's over 100 pounds, and sheds almost that much hair daily. He's Davis, Sara and Tim's dog. Megan and Bridget (especially Bridget!) are super excited to take care of Davis, and we've already had some interesting conversations about him.

Bridget: "What happened to Davis' (bandaged up) foot?"
Me: "He got a little scratch on his foot."
Bridget: "Oh. Can I see?"
Me: "Not right now. He has a little band-aid on it right now."
Bridget: "Oh. But, Mommy, what happened to Davis' foot???"
Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

Megan: "Mommy, why is Davis sleeping again?"

Bridget: "Come here, Davis." Try to imagine a little girl flirting with a dog. I think that's what we have going on over here right now.

Bridget: (patting Davis on the back) "I know, I know, Davis. Aunt Sara's coming."

Not a moment too soon. Totally kidding ;)

"Cheese!"

I think I've mentioned how low my standards are now for getting good pictures of all four girls. My only criteria is that they are all physically in the picture. Here are some shots from our latest attempt.

Ponytails

One of the best parts about being the mom to girls: doing their hair. I might change my stance on this once they're all in school and we have hair issues every morning. For now, I'm enjoying doing their hair when they allow it. Megan has assured me that she'll need lots of different hairstyles once she starts preschool in a couple of weeks. Here, the girls show off their ponytails. Not the best shot of Megan's actual ponytail, but whatever.

"Mommy, what is in my hair???!!"

Pwaying in the pwaywoom

Translation from Bridgetese: playing in the playroom

Thanks in large part to my failure to get my act together and create the girls' "big girl room," we now have a very large room that currently just houses all of our toys. We can pretend that we live in a more normal, affordable part of the country where we might actually have a playroom. Ours will last for maybe another month until I decide on colors, sheets and curtains. We're enjoying this room in limbo while it lasts!

Check out Bridget's new double stroller for her dolls (thanks Aunt Sara and Uncle Tim!). It didn't come with twin dolls, but we hunted around the house and came up with something that would work:

The dolls wanted to get out and stretch their legs after their walk in the stroller.

Tessa


Tessa

Annie in her office, er, exersaucer

Bridget, our little ham, butting into Tessa's picture

And, our master player, Miss Megan

9 to 5

Since I'm not working (outside the home, that is!), 9 to 5 has taken on an entirely new meaning and signifigance. Annie slept from 9pm to 5am last night. Suffice to say, I'm thinking just a little clearer today than I have in months! Why, oh why did our first kid have to be the one who slept through the night at 3 weeks??!!

Happy 5 Months, Tessa and Annie!

It's officially been 5 months, and I can honestly say that these pictures were taken on their 5 month birthday. It just took a couple weeks to blog about it. And, we actually got 2 smiles ...

Annie (left) and Tessa (right)
and some sideways looks after a spit-up incident required a wardrobe change:

Tessa (left) and Annie (right)

These 5 months have proved to be the most stressful of our marriage, and exhausting in every way imaginable. But, it's all worth it to see Tessa and Annie developing their own little personalities, and to see how beautifully Megan and Bridget have adjusted to becoming big sisters. Admittedly, we're in survival mode around here most of the time, living for naps and bedtime, but there are great moments in between:

• Every time Bridget rushes in to kiss a baby and exclaims, every time like it's the first time, "She likes me! She likes me!"
• Megan reminding us repeatedly that there's room for one more car seat in the van. We can always go pick up another baby in the hospital, according to Megan. I guess life's not too rough for her right now if another baby seems like a good idea.
• Megan and Bridget getting along so well, and constantly giving me the space and breaks I need during the day when they play quietly together for long stretches of time. Long enough for me to actually get things done around the house or nurse a couple of babies. More often than not, Megan can be found leading Bridget from one activity to another. Bridget will tell me they're just "tending" to be princesses or "tending" they're on a train.
• Sweet hugs and kisses all day long from all four girls.

Defnitely a crazy five months, but so amazing!

Twenty little toes

I want to hold your hand

Without fail, when the babies are together on the playmat, they wiggle around and find each other, and each other's hands.

Oh, and here are the little faces that belong to those hands.

Tessa (above) and Annie (below)

Oswald and Dora and Little Bear, oh my!

On day 4 of rearranging our house (of sick toddlers and newborns who don't like to sleep) I wonder if there is such a thing as too much Noggin for our kids' little noggins. Nah.

Table for six

We officially have four little diners at our table now. Notice Annie is sitting across from Megan and Tessa is sitting across from Bridget. We're well-trained.

The babies had their first taste of solid food just shy of five months, and it was a success! Here's Annie with her first bite:
and Megan feeding her more.

Tessa works on her finger appetizer while she waits her turn:

and then she lets Bridget play Mommy, too.

I thought two kids were a lot to cook/feed/clean up after. Like a lot of other things, my perspective has changed on that point. Sometimes I think we need a dog to eat everything that drops on the floor, but then I remind myself that I would just be trading one mess inside for another mess outside.

Musical Rooms

This game is best described as a grown-up and even more cruel version of musical chairs, where someone (or in this case, something) is left without a room. The sad losers in our house are our living room couches that are making room for our newer sectional that used to be in our family room that is now our bedroom because the big girls will be in our room and the babies are moving into the nursery. (I won't make a habit of run-on sentences on this blog, don't worry!)The winners are Tessa and Annie!

So this is love

I guess love makes the seemingly unfathomable come true.

Recently, I've witnessed both Megan and Bridget offering the clothes off their back (literally!) to help their little sisters. Our girls, who ordinarily flip into freak out mode when their coveted dresses get even a teensy bit wet, now regularly wipe spit up from their babies' faces with the aprons of their dresses.

We're very lucky to have two little girls who so lovingly take care of their sisters. Let's hope this sisterly love lasts through the high school years.

They are...

Identical!

Maybe identical twins do run in the family after all :) We were pretty shocked to get the news from the DNA lab that the twins are indeed identical, or monozygotic, if you want to be all Fancy Nancy about it (if you don't know who this is, you don't have any little girls wanting to read "Fancy Fancy" all. of. the. time).

What was that I said about not blogging in Tahoe? Nonsense! I am on the slowest connection ever on an unsecure network on Matt's laptop, but I knew this was too important to wait a week to blog about :)

Now, I'm off to teach the twins everything I can about tricking their teachers, parents and boyfriends!