One Baby, Two Baby, Three Baby, Four!

It's the blog post you've all been waiting for! The results of my trip to California to visit my little quaddie cousins!


It all began as I left the frozen tundra of Idaho one frigid January morn, and headed South to Salt Lake. I met up with my m"aw"ther, and we headed to the airport. We almost missed the plane due to our late arrival at the airport, and my mom's luggage being purged of a vicious Cabella multi-tooled potential weapon!


We arrived in California early and waited outside for our ride. We didn't mind the wait because it was as though we had walked right into paradise! The weather was a gorgeous 75 degrees with the sun gently setting in the west. We had no idea what we were in for!


We arrived at Amber's house and discovered a bustle of activity. Babies were everywhere and Amber was all alone! We immediately washed our hands and picked up crying babies. I don't think our arms were empty for the remainder of the time!


I asked if Amber would forgive us if we we unable to tell the babies apart or messed up their names. She said of course she wouldn't. Once I really looked at them, I found them to look very different. I can't believe that the boys are identical triplets! They are very easy to tell apart unless you can't see their faces, or it is midnight. The first baby I held was Michael. He is by far the chubbiest one. I immediately fell in love with him. It seems that everyone has their favorite, and I just knew that Michael would be mine. He was so cuddly and reminded me of my own chubby babies!


That first night was a blur. I helped Amber care for the babies throughout the night. Amber would hand me a baby to feed and sooth to sleep, and bleary eyed, I would hand it back to her and take another one. This continued until 5:30 am, which happened to be morning time in that household! By 11AM, I could swear it should have been 3! My arms were aching and I was covered in a crusty white mess. Bedtime came at 8 PM. We all dropped like flies!


That night was easier--as I knew more of what to expect.


The next day, people came with helping hands and left with promises to return.


As the days passed, I spent time with each baby and realized that I fell in love with every single one of them! I called my family to update them and find out if they were surviving without me. When I said hello to Emily, her response was sobbing. I miss you mommy! Hunter said "bring one of them home with you!" And Connor told me he wished I was home with him. When Amber asked which one I would take home, I seriously couldn't say. I love them all.


By the end of the trip, I gained: a lot of upper arm muscle; a lot of weight (due to eating the same things as a mother feeding 4 babies); an admiration of my amazing cousin and her hubby, Mike; and a heart that grew four sizes that week! What an amazing experience!


Compare my previous blog post to this one! What a difference a few hundred miles can make! Here I am with either a lemon or a lime tree with fruit in January!Taking the babies for a walk was no small feat! By our second outing we had reduced the prep time to about 10 minutes! The babies love to be outside in the fresh (but not windy) air.One of my close school buddies happens to live in the same town as Amber. She volunteered to help and discovered that they were very distant cousins and that they both knew me. What a small world! Julie Lewis Kessler took me out for a brief lunch one day. I was so worried about leaving Amber short-handed, that we hurried as fast as we could, only to find another volunteer with them and all of the babies slumbering peacefully when we returned. Me with Jaileigh and Anthony. Julie with Jakob and Michael.

I can't believe that this is the only shot of Amber that I got. Well, Amber, it is one of your nicest features! ;) Little Jaileigh is the princess. She is tiny and sweet as can be! Look at that little smile! Yummy!

Little Michael. You've just got to fall in love with those chubby cheeks and bright, blue eyes!

Sweet Anthony. I didn't think he liked me at first because when I tried to feed him, he'd pull away and arch his back. Then I realized that he's a very sensitive soul. If I spoke very softly to him, he would relax and eat and fall asleep. His little dark eyebrows are so endearing.

Now who couldn't love a face like that? I had so much fun playing with little Jakers! He has so much personality and is always smiling!

My mom is such a trooper! She was constantly doing dishes and laundry. She was an amazing helper and we had so much fun! By the last day, we were constantly laughing. We had a great monther-daughter bonding trip!

My Mom is Great Aunt to the quads, but I couldn't help myself, I referred to her as Grandma.
She hated how she looked this day, so I told her I'd Photoshop her! I'm not very good at it yet (she looks kind of weird)!


We almost lost Jakob for this shot! He slid between my mom's legs and landed on the couch. It gave us a start, but mom had in under control. They really are getting too big to hold all of them on one lap!

Me with sweet little Michael sleeping peacefully.

Michael and Jaileigh sleeping together. You can see the difference in their sizes by looking at their tiny feet.

Amber, thanks for letting us share in your amazing joy! We love you and your beautiful family!

This post is dedicated to my brother, Doug, who made our trip possible through his generous donation of frequent flier miles!

The End