It's the small things...

These are the things that make all the difference... So when Aven started to stand in her bath seat and then wouldn't sit down, we took it away and now all 4 kids can take a bath at the same time. Before we would bathe the girls and then take one out, plus the seat, and get Declan in. Now, all at once. If I calculated how much time this saves us, I'd be proud of this. But I don't anymore, I just know it's the small things that make all the difference... I hate to think about how dirty that water is, but hey - at least they are cleaner when they get out than when they go in :-) Recently there was a article where Tori Spelling was talking about how her family showers together and how it was normal for them. She said, when you have 4 kids, you have to get creative and it takes too long to bathe them all individually. I couldn't agree more, however the family shower thing seems a bit too slippery for us, especially with 3 the same age. Perhaps in the future - although we'd need to get a bigger shower, I won't count anything out :-)

L to R: Bria, Aven, Declan & Stevie

We also are now at two bottles a day for the girls, one when they wake up and one when they go to bed. We've taken out the late afternoon bottle and replaced it with a sippy cup (along with the other meals). They are all doing pretty good with their cups, but because we still need to make sure they get their fatty milk, I anticipate leaving these bottles in their day for a while longer. But one less bottle feeding is 3 less bottles we need to clean and store. Again, it's the small things.... A few months ago, I had a rare one on one with one of the girls (I think it was Bria, but can't exactly remember). We went to one of the local malls to get a few things. As we were walking through Barnes and Noble on our way out, I saw a couple who had a young baby, she was reading a book and rocking the baby to sleep in his/her stroller with her foot. She stopped, peered under the blanket to find a sleeping baby. She looked at her partner and they did a fist pound and kept on their reading. I loved this. Because it reminded me of Andy and I giving each other high fives when we do something like eliminate a bottle in a day, or when we were first able to get them all to nap at the same time. You've gotta celebrate these things, because no one else will :-)

Today was the first day that we could actually take the kids out to the park and let them play (without being so bundled up that they couldn't walk). It's the first time that the girls actually explore the park. After we scared off another family, we had the park to ourselves. The girls held true to their personalities. Aven was off, the minute we put her down. Climbing the stairs, walking all around, taking a face-plant by walking down a hill and going down the slide on her own (twice). She's fearless (most of the time). Stevie took a bit of time, but then she was off, crawling up the stairs and having a ball with her brother. Bria hung out in the swing or my arms :-) She was a little unusually crabby today, but she wasn't as exploratory as her other sisters. Declan of course had a blast and told us when we were leaving that "he had a really good day" - and it was only 1 pm :-)

Pictures from the park... Declan helping his sister Aven..

Fearless Aven going down the slide with big bro...

Best big bro ever... He loves his little sisters so much!

I'm sure we'll have another fun filled day outside again tomorrow as the weather is warming up!