17 months!

Unbelievable! They are growing at such a rapid pace and I really wish that there was a way to slow everything down. Aubrey is catching up to the boys it seems, she always loked so much smaller than the boys but now when they are standing together there doesn't seem to be all that much of a size difference, except when she stands next to Brady! Cameron always looks so short but when standing next to Matthew you could see there wasn't much of a hieght difference however they have very different body builds. Matthew is long legged and skinny whereas Cameron is more stocky with short legs and a longer upperbody. We weighed and measured them at home so their stats are unofficial but I was courious to see just how much they had grown in the past 2 months.

Matthew-
23.2 lbs
33.25"
size 4 diapers
size 5 shoes
size 18 month clothes

Brady-
28.8 lbs
35"
size 5 diapers
size 6 shoes
size 24 month clothes

Aubrey-
21.6 lbs
31.5"
size 3 diapers
size 4 shoes
size 18 months clothes

Cameron-
24.2 lbs
33"
size 4 diapers
size 5 shoes
size 24 months clothes

Last but not least...

Miss Aubrey has decided to join the boys walking around. She has been toying with the idea of walking for a couple weeks now, taking steps from one place to the next when she thought no one was watching her then all of a sudden she started walking everywhere over the weekend. She has even perfected the art of bending over and picking up something she wants and carrying on her little journey. Way to go baby girl!

They boys have decided walking is for wimps and think that climbing and running are more fun. What one doesn't think of doing the others teach them! The little monkeys are into everything all the time!

Happy Valentine's Day!

We had a fun weekend! Saturday we took the kids grocery shopping and to Burger King to play in the play area and have some lunch. Sadly, I forgot my camera at home so I have nothing to document them climbing through all the tunnels and sliding down the big slide. Even sadder is that I don't have anything to show Ben climbing through them either!

After that we went to their cousin Makenna's first birthday party. They were so good and didn't even try to open any of her gifts! We discovered that they love cats as much as dogs...seriously??? I am wondering if they were switched at birth!

Sunday Grammie came over to play for awhile with the babies and I while Ben was ice fishing then after nap time we played some more. They completely trashed the whole house more than once. I am thinking that they are tiny tornadoes instead of toddlers! After Ben got home Jackie and Kyle came over and watched the quaddlers while Ben and I went out for an early Valentine's dinner at the Rainbow Grill. It was awesome and the kids had a great time with Jackie and Kyle.

This morning the babies got dressed in their Valentine's outfits from Grammie and Grandpa Brann and opened up the little gifts we got our four sweet Valentines, some jammies and I Love U peeps. The babies were trying to bite them open, they must know there is something yummy in there! We had our little Valentine's party this morning with the day care kids and they had a great time giving and receiving Valentines. Here are a couple pictures, not the greatest quality because someone was always on my lap grabbing for the camera.

Blowing kisses!


Opening a gift from Mommy and Daddy

Where has the time gone?

Although I am able to be home with the quaddlers everyday with the I never feel like I get enough time to focus on them. With all the day care kids, paperwork, housework, etc the day just flies by. After a lot of thought and consideration I made the decision to give up my licenced day care and focus on our family. They are only young once and the past 16 months have passed far too fast. I am planning on babysitting a couple of kids around the same age as the babies to bring in some income yet be able to be far less stressed and do more fun toddler focused activities.

This past weekend we decided to venture out to Walmart and take the babies to Applebee's for the first time since they have been able to eat table food. We were pretty leery about them actually behaving well enough not to cause a commotion at the restaurant. We went shortly before they typically eat dinner and they were PERFECT! All four of them sat and colored while they were waiting for their meal then when it got there they ate fantastic in their booster seats. They even held our hands and walked to the van. What big kids!

In Walmart Matthew was insistent that he wanted a pink hat that said "camo princess". Ben of course was not happy about that! Matthew screamed bloody murder when Ben put it back but after a quick trip to the fishies all was well. We picked up our two weeks supply of diapers and headed home. Thank goodness for Parent's Choice redesigning their diapers. When we had used them when the babies were smaller they caused a horrible rash on Brady and the other babies got diaper rash as well. We are able to save $70 each month compared to when we were using Pampers and Huggies!

Sunday they had their cousin Zachary here to play with and we had a playdate with the Hamilton twins as well. Matthew drove them nuts with his constant kissing and hugging but they all seemed to have fun and played well. The babies were worn right out come nap time and slept well.

Ben and I got to go to the Sanel's customer appreciation dinner the other night and Grammie and Grandpa Brann came to put the babies to bed for us. It was nice to get out, have a great free meal and spend some time together but it was hard not being the ones to put them to bed.

The past week and a half Matthew and Brady have decided that 3:30 is the new 6:00 and they think that it is ok to wake up and not go back to sleep. This is making for 2 crabby kids and 1 especially crabby momma! I need to get them to start sleeping...any ideas?

Less than half the diapers and wipes for the month!


Four caged monkeys!


Can these kids BE any cuter???

You asked...we answered

I was hoping to get several more questions to answer to have as some great memories for the babies memory books but we got three that I am happy to answer!

#1 When keeping twins I always found it difficult to transport two babies/toddlers to and from the house (by myself) and into their car seats, or from the car seats back into the house, when going on outings. How do you do it with the quaddlers.

As infants it was so easy to just carry two infant seats up, leaving them in the living room, return to the van to get the other two. Now with the mobile monsters it is a little more difficult because no one wants to be left in the house for just a couple seconds! Now if I go out on my own I bring two down, leaving the other two in the living room, and put them in their seats, come grab the other two then buckle them all in. I am hoping in another couple months we will all be able to walk out together and back in the house together.

#2 How do you and your husband find time to be a couple? We have only two toddlers and I am finding it much harder than when I had singletons-and you have four to entertain and chase.

Honestly for the first year we really didn't have any couple time. I think it was mostly my fault because I feel a tremendous guilt for every moment that I am not with the babies and it is so much worse when Ben and I both leave them. Now we have finally started doing Date Nights/Days at least once every couple of weeks and having a close friend or family member watch them. It is still hard to leave them but I know we have to find ways to still be a couple while being parents. It has been a very rough adjustment for us.

#3 How do you get anything done (chore wise) my kids are 3 yrs (daughter)and 8 mo. (son) and I find I struggle to get my normal household tasks accomplished every day?

I am very lucky to have all four babies be able to put themselves to sleep at 7 pm every night. We read them stories while they drink a milk cup, brush their teeth, give them kisses and walk out the door. I am then able to do any housework that I didn't get done during the day. Nap time is typically 1.5-2 hours per day as well and I am home with them all day. My day care kids sleep at the same time as my kids so it is really some free time to accomplish whatever might need to be done. Having four of them the same age they do entertain each other for short periods during the day so I can sweep the floor, load the dishwasher, etc. I definitely have not been able to do my bi-yearly "spring cleaning" like I used to but finally at 16 months old I got my first one done!

#4 How do you handle all the attention that you and the quads get when you are out in public? Also do you get much negative attention?

Most of the time I am ok with the attention we get except for when people are outright rude. We can hardly go anywhere without someone snapping pictures, asking questions and or giving their two cents of advice. In general we will answer the questions we are asked politely, smile, and then move along however when we get rude comments or totally uncalled for questions it makes my blood boil. The "better you than me" comment irritates me the most. Yes it is better that they are mine because I appreciate the gift I was given when clearly the commentor would not. The obvious "you have your hands full" is annoying but I just answer "better full than empty" or "not as full as my heart". Interestingly it is when we are closest to home that we get people making snide comments or rude remarks whereas when we are in Southern NH, MA, ME or CT people are more polite and usually tell us how blessed we are or how amazing it is to have such miracles.

Snowy day fun!

I decided to take the babies out and let them play with the day care kids outside yesterday and let me tell you I cannot wait for spring so they can just throw on some sneakers and maybe a light jacket and go. Do you know how long it takes to get hats, mittens, ski pants, boots and jackets on four 16 month olds??? Well, it took me 22 minutes! Which is 8 minutes more than we actually ended up playing outside for. They had fun while it lasted though...most of them anyways!

These kids crack me up!

Oh the things that these kids do and say crack me up on a regular basis. It is so fun to see them developing their personalities and see them making each other laugh. All four of them love when you sing Itsy Bitsy Spider and attempt to do the hand motions that go along with the song. It is so funny to hear them try to sing. God I hope they have more singing talent than both of their parents or we are going to be investing in some high quality ear plugs!

For Christmas they got the Fisher Price FP3 player and they all love it! I put all their favorite music on it and they find the song of choice and play it. Of course they like to skip the songs if their brothers or sister are enjoying it. Little turkeys! Brady has become quite a dancer, he will spin around with his hands up in the air then dive to the ground, do some break dancing and back up again. Aubrey tries to follow Brady's moves but since she is not walking yet she does it all either on her knees or all fours. She looks like a little puppy chasing her tail. Matthew and Cameron prefer to just sit there and bop their heads. I have been trying so hard to get a video of this but they immediately stop dancing when they see me take that thing out. I keep telling Ben we should be saving for four kids to take dance lessons but he is insistant that Aubrey will be the only one attending dance classes...stay tuned a couple years to see how that all plays out!

The all love to tease us! We ask them if they love mommy/daddy and they shake their head and say "NO!" and just laugh! We will tickle them or say "WHAT?!?!" and they laugh even louder. Hide and seek is a fun game to play for them right now. They will hide behind anything and peek out with a "BOO!" and laugh at us. Cameron especially cracks me up because when he plays he will cover his mouth and nose but leave his eyes uncovered. So funny!

We always color code their cups so we know which one belongs to each of them. The babies even have picked up on this and know who's cup they have. We just say "Is that your cup?" and they will take another sip then give it to whomever it belongs to. Cameron is the best one at doing this. He will find something randomly hanging around and brings it to whomever was playing with it last. Just the other day Brady was playing with a play spoon and Aubrey wanted it soooo bad but he wouldn't give it to her. Cameron watched this for a few minutes and toddled off only to return with a spoon for Aubrey. He loves his sister so much even though she screeches at him every time he tries to kiss her.

Somedays I wonder where these kids came from...I HATE condiments! I eat salad with no dressing, chips with no dip, bagels with no cream cheese and most of all NO KETCHUP! This week we were having french fries with lunch and the day care kids asked for some ketchup. Aubrey saw this and immediately pointed at her plate and said "ME!" So I gave her a little and the boys as well. Imagine my surprise when Aubrey, who has been battling me with veggies on a daily basis dunked all her green beans in it and ate every single one of them! Matthew and Brady dunked away as well and I think Cameron would have too if it wasn't for the fact that it would have gotten his fingers dirty.

The boys are very intrigued with their private parts lately. Brady always sticks his hand down my shirt and says boobies and now he finds any DVD's with a cute girl on it and kiss it and say boobies. What a little pervert! Bath time consists on one hand on a toy and the other on their pee pee. Aubrey is a little confused as to where hers is! She reaches for it and gives dirty looks to the boys.

The other day Matthew had us laughing and Ben swore he didn't teach him so I am not sure where he came up with it but I was changing his diaper and he grabbed himself and said "Ball" so I said "no, that is your pee pee". Matthew looked at me and said "no!" reached down further and said "Ball!" I think we are in trouble with that kid!

Their father did teach them how to head butt though. Brady will come running from across the room and yell "Heybutt" and smash his head into his victim of choice. The others have now picked up on it too so it is super fun to get 4 heads coming at you all at once. When we end up in the ER for a broken nose or fractured skull you know who to blame that one on!

As I am walking around in nice warm clothes the babies are obsessed with being naked at night except for diapers and of course their "sliiiiippers". Aubrey and I have daily arguments over her needing to keep clothes on during the day. Ben has been drying them off when they finish bathing and then they run around the bathroom completely naked until I get them dressed. The other night, as I was dressing Cameron, Brady was waiting patiently for his turn when he shocked himself by peeing on the wall. You should have seen his face...he was thinking WTF???

They all are little copy cats, if they see us laughing at one baby for doing something they all do it to get our attention. Our lives must have been so boring before the quads! It feels like that life never existed, the life that is here and now so crazy but absolutely rewarding when you get a random kiss or hug from one of the little munchkins!

Warning to viewer: Videographer needs some lessons on how to keep the camera steady!

Dancing fools


Aubrey's dancing skills


Newest sport in the Hickey home