What a difference two years can make! Kansas City's own Brooks quints recently celebrated their second birthdays--an amazing celebration for an amazing family.
I was fortunate to spend some time with Mom, Kate, and Dad, David, recently as they brought me up-to-date on what life with quints is like. My 4-year-old accompanied me on my visit, and she was in heaven. Their family room and living area are a child's dream--toys as far as the eye can see. Kate joked that her home was more like a toy store or preschool these days!
The quints, Emily born first, followed by Owen, Jesse, Ruth and Helen are your typical 2-year-olds, so busy and full of life and love. As I visited with Mom and Dad I got a chance to meet each one of these neat kiddos. Kate shared what a typical (as if there is really any such thing as typical when dealing with five 2-year olds!) day was like in the Brooks household. The quints sleep through the night (yea!) but will soon be transitioning from cribs to big girl and boy beds, which may interrupt sleep patterns. The two boys share a room, the three girls are in another room, and big sister Mallory, 4, has her own room.
Up around 7:30, they start their day with diapers, breakfast and play time. After a morning snack, some more play time and lunch, everyone is ready for a nap around 1:00. Good sleepers, they awake around 3:00 refreshed and ready for more play time. David gets home from work in time for dinner and to help with baths.
He feels fortunate that his company allows him to work four 10-hour days so he can be home an extra day and lend a hand to Kate. According to David, she has the harder job between the two by far. When Dad bathes the kids, it takes about an hour. If mom is in charge, she's got them in, out and dried in thirty minutes. Both agreed that bathing the boys together wasn't a good idea--too much water out of the tub and all over the floor. After baths it's time for bed and time for Mom and Dad to take a quick breather!
Volunteers still come in to help on most days. The same core group has been helping for the past year, and Kate and David consider them family. A couple of nights a week they have evening help and two to three times a month Mom and Dad get a night out together, alone. Kate and David really appreciate their nights out together and are grateful for all of the volunteers and babysitters (at least two at a time) that lend a helping hand.
The family enjoys getting out together, too, and are looking forward to the warmer weather spring will bring. Taking walks in the neighborhood and to a local park is preferable to loading the crew into the car. Pulling all the kids in the wagon train provides a great work out for Mom and Dad, and even Mallory likes to help.
As all siblings do, the Brooks youngsters have their skirmishes from time to time but for the most part get along very well. Kate describes the boys as being more laid-back than the girls and says that Ruth and Mallory enjoy being "little mommies" to the rest of the children.
Along with the transition from cribs to beds, potty training is just around the corner! Still using over 25 diapers a day, Kate joked that they will be getting a huge raise when all of the kids are potty trained and they no longer need to head to Sam's to stock up on diapers.
Perhaps the biggest surprise over the past two years has been how blessed they have been with the health of their children, Kate shared. With all the incredible challenges they have faced, she considers them so lucky and is so thankful that everyone is doing as well as they are. Helen has faced the biggest obstacles and is making remarkable progress. She no longer needs oxygen treatments and was able to have her tracheostomy removed several months ago. A button feeding tube still assists her, but she is making progress eating on her own. Emily, with cerebral palsy, is learning to walk and gets stronger every day.
David remarked that they really couldn't have made it the past two years if it weren't for all of the help and support they have received. The community really came together to help in so many different ways. From a diaper drive sponsored by Curves, to all formula being donated by Similac and Enfamil to Olympic Cabinets donating a pantry for their kitchen, many have helped the Brooks settle in to life with six children ages four and under. Parenting one child can be stressful and overwhelming, but Kate and David Brooks are enjoying all the joy and surprises life with quintuplets can bring.