Snapshot of a KC Quad Mom's Life

5:45 a.m. - I turn off my alarm clock in my sleep and roll over. I’m still exhausted from yesterday.

6:07 a.m. - Sean wakes me as he is taking the boys downstairs to eat. He always manages to get up first and warm the bottles so that we can feed the babies together before he leaves for work. When the boys finish, we put them back to bed, feed the girls, and then put them back to bed.

7:25 a.m. - Sean gets ready and leaves for work while I exercise or clean the house. At the last minute, I jump in the shower before needing to get the kids up again.

9:10 a.m. - Debbie, our occupational therapist, arrives to work with the kids. Because they were preemies, they need extra help learning how to do simple things like sit, crawl and eat. Today is Elijah’s turn. He hates therapy. Lots of screaming ensues.

9:50 a.m. - We start our morning cereal. Debbie works one-on-one with Abby as she has eating difficulties, and I shovel food in the mouths of the other three as fast as I can. One bowl, one spoon, going right down the line. When the bowl is empty, we clean up the kids, and Debbie leaves.

10:15 a.m. - Bottle time! Thank goodness they eat faster than they did when they first came home!

11:20 a.m. - The babies have independent playtime while I try to get a few things done around the house. This is punctuated with the occasional, “Ellie, get off of Caleb” or “Eli, you can’t take toys away from your siblings.” There is also a foul stench filling the air. I mentally guess the number of poopy babies before I start sniffing backsides.

12:15 p.m. - Playtime with Mommy! I try to make sure that I read to them every day. Caleb especially enjoys looking at the pictures as I read.

12:50 p.m. - A glance at the clock tells me that I need to grab some quick lunch. The morning always speeds by.

1:05 p.m. – “Cita,” my mom, comes to help me today, and the babies excitedly grin at her. I love having visiting time with my mom while she helps me feed!

2:20 p.m. - Each baby gets a kiss, as we lay them in their cribs for naptime. After helping me fold the basket of laundry sitting on the couch, my mom heads out the door.

2:45 p.m. - I finally sit down to take a break for the first time today. I’m beat. This is the part of the day when I always have the same debate with myself:  To nap or not to nap? Pretty sure “no nap” is going to win today. There is too much to do.

3:00 p.m. - I spend the next two hours working around the house. The kids are quiet the whole time, and I’m grateful for the mental space.

5:15 p.m. - Sean arrives home from work, and we get the babies up for their dinner bottles. Sean is an awesome partner in our marriage. I’m beyond grateful for him!

6:35 p.m. - I head back to the kitchen to finish putting dinner on the table while Sean lies on the floor with the kids. Lots of giggles can be heard drifting through the house. The babies are always excited when Daddy comes home to play!

7:10 p.m. - Sean and I sit down to eat dinner while the babies play in the living room. We can see them from where we sit, but there is also enough distance that we can hear each other talk…for the most part. Fifteen minutes later, the noise level has outpaced us, and we need to tend to the babies.

7:25 p.m. - We clean up dinner and head back to the living room. I start writing a blog post and he grabs a book. We flip on “Baby Einstein” for a few minutes of quiet.

7:40 p.m. - All six of us lie on the floor together, and the kids keep playing while Sean reads a chapter from the Bible. Then we goof off with the kids for a couple more minutes before we start our last bottle feeding of the day.

8:00 p.m.- This bottle feeding either goes very quickly if they are more hungry than tired, or very slowly if they are more tired than hungry. Thankfully, they are hungry tonight.

9:00 p.m. - All of the kids are in their cribs. We have a bedtime prayer, kiss each of them, and head out the door. Our kids are great sleepers, and after a few minutes of babbling, we don’t hear anything else from their bedroom.

9:05 p.m. - Sean and I take a little time to relax while reading, blogging and watching TV.

10:30 p.m. - We head to bed. Sleep comes in less than three minutes. That’s a good thing. Because tomorrow we get up and do it all again.

Rebecca Ishum lives with her husband and 1-year- old quadruplets in south KC where she rarely experiences a “normal day.” She prefers to consider what makes a successful day: the babies are fed, clean, happy and have survived to see tomorrow!