WE DID IT!!! We made it through our first year with all girl quintuplets!! It sure was an emotional week… we had Blayke’s 5th birthday and then three days later the quints turned one. I was so emotional about everything…just the smallest things could trigger my memories back to where we were just a year ago in the NICU praying for these little tiny miracles. We could not have asked for a better and healthier year for the quints.
The quints are such a blast right now. I remember when Blayke was this age, it was just so much fun. They all love to get into everything possible, go figure. Most days we are playing upstairs in their playroom but when we adventure downstairs…they love it!! They love being able to rome around and just crawl everywhere. We have a big octagon gate that we put up to keep them out of the kitchen, and boy oh boy…they hate when the gate comes out….hahaha. It is like we are not letting them play at all when it comes out, haha. They all love to go outside. Our normal evening routine is usually going for a walk while Blayke rides her bike, sometimes we go to the park, sometimes to my sisters, or sometimes just a walk around the lake. (Nothing like pushing a good ol 200 pounds lol). When it comes to bath time…they all love it..accept Hazel, lol. She only likes bath time when she isn’t in the tub with her 4 sisters…because it then comes a splash fest and Hazel hates water in her face. What is best about now???? The love they all have for Blayke…it is clear as day they all LOVE Blayke and it is the most sweetest thing in the world. Blayke is so good with each of them. She knows each of their personalities and what each baby likes, she also knows each of their cries too. It is so funny to hear her talk in the ‘mom voice’…you know … that high pitch baby talk voice, lol. she will say stuff like “hey my sweet baby girl” “sissy loves you so much”. Warms my heart so much to see all this love between them all. ♥
Ava Lane -20 lbs 11oz
Ava still holds title of big girl, biggest of all the quints. She probably has the most of the nick names: Tater tot, butter ball, big butt, squishy, tuber….hahaha. She is a pretty happy baby. Still loves to chuckle about everything, it’s so cute. Ava is very content playing alone or if she is playing with one of her sisters, she seems to play best with her twinsie Olivia. Ava and Olivia definitely have a different connection across the quints, and its so sweet. Don’t you dare take away a toy from her if she is playing with it because she will “so dramatically” lay on the floor and cry about it…her and Olivia are both dramatic about their emotions, especially if it a “heart broken” one. They are both very sensitive out of the bunch. Ava has become more of a Mama’s girl the last month or so. If there is ever a baby that needs to be rocked, it would be our Ava. And we have determined Ava will not sleep in a room without Olivia….its crazy how she is so connected to Olivia (can’t wait to see this connection grow as they get older). She is getting better everyday trying to stand up on her own and getting better at pushing walking toys. Ava loves to hit two toys together to make ‘music’ (noise)…and LOVES to play with the Little People figurines….she always carries the boy and the girl in each hand.
Ava has 8 teeth( 3 on bottom, 4 on top) and getting her first molar on bottom!!
Olivia Marie – 20 lbs 7oz
Our jolly little girl. This girl always has a smile, and will always make us smile. I call it now….when she grows up she will be some type of dancer or singer…she loves to put on a show already hahaha. The second a song comes on, she grabs a hold to something (for stability) and just shakes and drops it low hahaha. It’s pretty comical how much she does it. She is definitely the talker out of the girls. Already has her own language and always “telling stories”… a lot like Blayke was as a baby. She doesn’t sit for from Ava on the scale…both girls have rolls for days. Olivia is learning to walk with a walking toy and can do it pretty well….well when she isn’t dancing in the mean time, lol. Nicknames for her: Livie, Lou Lou, Livie Lou, butter ball. Olivia is most content with playing with Ava and they will swap toys back-n-forth without getting upset with one another…but if it were one of the other siblings, they both would get upset about it, lol.
Olivia has 8 teeth ( 3 on bottom, 4 on top) and getting her first molar on bottom too!!
Hazel Grace – 17 lbs 9 oz
Still our little bit. Hazel is so sweet and loves to cuddle. She doesn’t even have to be tired and she will fall asleep in your arms if you are just loving on her. She is a pretty happy baby until she is tired. She used to have a temper but she doesn’t seem to have it anymore. She is like Ava when it comes to being fine playing all alone. Hazel is always in her own world and its like she knows she is the little one so she wants to stay far away (lol) from the others. You have to love Hazels big cheese face, it’s always eyes close, squished nose, teeth and tongue out hahaha. She is loving to climb on everything, especially a pile of boppy pillows. Nicknames: Hazel poo, little bit, strawberry. Hazel still has congenital nystagmus (which causes her eyes to shift back in forth) but we have been staying on top of this issue with the Doctors and her next appointment with the eye doctor is later this month. She seems, at this point, to have clear good vision and plays with toys and eats just as well as the others. She is SO CUTE when you see her holding on to toys and walking around…she is so much smaller than the others and it just makes her so stinking adorable, hahaha.
Hazel has 9 teeth (4 bottom, 4 top) and just broke through her first molar.
Riley Paige – 19 lbs 9oz.
Let’s all say it “OH Riley!” Haha. She still is a hot mess. It’s Riley’s world and if you don’t think so you better go somewhere else, lol. She hears the word “No No”so much that if you say that to another baby she instantly gives her ‘most annoying sound in world’ (the chewbacca growl) “annnuuuhhhhh”!! Hahaha. She is so rotten. She loves to spit and talk back in her own language….we have our hands full with this little princess. She is probably the Daddy’s girl out of the bunch. She will pitch a F.I.T if Adam comes home and doesn’t tell Riley hi before the other babies, lol. She loves to play with Blayke’s play kitchen…well they all do, especially all the Melissa and Doug wood velcro food toys…but Riley loves to open and close the doors on the little kitchen ‘open…slam’ ‘open…slam’ (lol). Riley tries the most of the bunch to copy words we say. Oh! and she loves to eat…like shove however much she can in her mouth at one time. She is super close to walking. She tries to and wants to walk to bad but still pretty wobbly…she has taken a step and half by herself but thats it.
Riley has 2 teeth (bottom) and looks like a top one coming out soon.
Parker Kate – 20 lbs 2oz.
The “baby baby” as Blayke would say (since Parker is Blayke’s baby sister but also the official baby of the family she calls her ‘the baby baby’ lol). She has become the alpha quint for sure…its crazy how much her personality has changed over the last few months. She has always been sweet perfect Parker…and now she is the one who just wants to go go go. She will go up to any of her sisters and take what they have, throw it on the grown and then crawl off…just because, lol. She was the first to crawl and probably be the first to walk too. She stands up by herself and will cruise in the walker and pushing walking toys around….she is so fast!! Its a race between her and Riley for who will walk first. Parker is probably a Mama’s girl too 😉 The second she sees me walk out the room she is pretty aware of it and crawls as fast as she can to try and catch me. Sometimes we hear this clicking noise on the monitor….well its just Parker with her pacifier in her hand running it across the rails on her crib, lol. This girl L.O.V.E.S the water! Splash! Splash! Splash!!! She still loves to do her ‘yoga’ … downward dog all the time, lol.
Parker has 2 teeth (bottom) and is actually getting her first molar.
Thank you Lord for this year with the quints. You have blessed us beyond measures and we are proof that you can do miracles. I am so grateful for you choosing me to be these girl’s mother and though this journey is not easy, I believe you created me for this. I pray that you will continue to show us your plan and guide us down the next year to come. I pray that I be the Mom you have called me to be and give me strength on the days I feel like I am failing. Thank you for sacrificing the most precious gift of all, your Son, for me. Amen.
XOXO
~D~
