The first year

The first year of their lives is a blur. It was hold a baby, change a baby, feed a baby, repeat. When we finally got all 4 of them home, it was such an amazing thing. We were so happy. I actually miss those first few weeks with them home. My mother (she stayed with us for a while to help out) and I used to sleep on the recliners at night and we would each have 2 babies on our chests, it was so sweet. We all got peaceful sleep when we did that. The babies slept better and even though we were only getting a couple hours of sleep at a time, we were actually feeling rested. I loved watching them sleep. It was so peaceful, it actually still is. I still love to go into their room at night and just watch them sleep.

When they were 3 months old, we moved into our first house. It was perfect for us. This house was worth every penny and every stress involved, because the first night we were in the house, the babies slept for 6 1/2 hours. OMG... I woke up, completely startled ran into their room convinced they were all dead. They weren't!!! It was so wonderful. By the time they were 8 1/2 months old, they were sleeping for 12 hours a night with 2 naps in the day.

The first summer we were in this house was complete torture for us. The A/C wasn't working and it was so hot. Our house was almost always over 85 degrees. I kept the babies in just diapers or onesies. They cried all the time because they were so miserable. We finally got it fixed (kind of) in August, and that helped a little. We went to Massachusetts in June for about 3 weeks to visit family and just have a good time. Life was good with all those extra hands to help out!!! Summer ended and fall began. We started taking the babies outside to crawl around in the grass. That was always so funny because they really didn't like to be out there. We would put a blanket down, and they were happy until they would crawl off the blanket, and then get the funniest look on their faces. They didn't understand what this prickly stuff was under their hands.

They continued to grow and thrive. It was wonderful to watch them learn to sit up, roll over, crawl, pull themselves up, and finally learn to cruise. The looks on their faces were precious. I liked seeing them so proud of themselves. Fall turned into winter, and their first birthday was upon us. I cried the whole day. I felt like my babies were gone. I was so happy to have them, yet, I felt like I was already losing them. We had a small party for them with cake and balloons and presents. It was really great.

Happy Birthday to my precious babies...

Samantha thought the cake was great, she dug into it with flourish.

Jeremy was hysterical to watch, and I wish we had gotten it on video. He just started tearing into it like a dog trying to dig through the earth to get his bone.

Paige didn't really understand. She tasted it, but didn't really do much more than sit there and stare at it.

Christian had the strangest reaction to the cake that I have ever seen. He put his hand in the icing, and then cried until we washed it off. I don't think he ever actually put any in his mouth. He didn't eat cake for a long time, and he still doesn't like to try new foods!