Unedited--logistics

When we would tell people we were expecting another set of twins the reactions were not varied. They mostly fell along a narrow arc of "WTF?! Oh my. . ." and things like that. Then people would almost immediately jump to the questions of "How are you going to take them anywhere? Four carseats. . .strollers. . .cribs" My husband and I would look vaguely at the well-meaning person and not even listen. Didn't they know we weren't thinking about logistics yet? Yes, we were wondering how we were going to do it but more in the sense of no really, how are we going to do this. Not how are we going to take them places or how are we going to do whatever you're asking but HOW are we going to DO this?

Now that we're doing it, here are some notes on the logistics:

Gear:

Strollers
We have five strollers--one we purchased while I was still pregnant with our older twins, the others have all been gifts or hand-me-downs. One stroller is a quad. Yes, a stroller that fits all four kids. It is a beast and I pretty much hate it but I must admit that it makes life possible. There is no good reason to hate it other than the fact that it's heavy when it gets folded up so getting it in and out of the minivan is challenging. I have a few gashes on my shins from the quad. You also have to hold down the break while you push it--similar to pushing a lawn mower. I mostly hate it because it represents how hard the reality of four little kids is. There is no "Hey! Let's mosy down to the farmers' market!" Getting ready to leave the house takes lots of trips back and forth, lots of loading, and then once you get somewhere. . .you have four little kids. So the quad is a great tool that enables us to live this life and I appreciate it for that. But I curse it a lot.

We can either fit the quad or two double stollers in the van. Never did I imagine that an understanding of angles would be so necessary for packing up the darn car. And it's the little things, like trying to close the back door and having it slam into a part of the stroller and bounce back open, that show me how often I am barely holding it together with all this babies. Stupid door! Why won't you close?!

Carseats
We have four car seats. My husband's car doesn't have car seats or bases so the minivan is the only vehicle that can transport the kids. The two big twins sit in the way back, facing out the rear window. Their seats will eventually turn into boosters so we hopefully will not have to buy them anymore. The little girls sit in the bucket car seats that we originally purchased for the Bigs. They sit in the middle row of the van, facing backwards.

Pack-N-Plays
We have three pack-n-plays, though we almost never use them. One of them has been in the backyard for almost a year so it is dusty and full of spider webs. I think I brought it out there because I had some crazy idea that I needed it when I brought Lily and Cyrus, a.k.a. the Bigs, outside to play. Mostly ended up putting them on a blanket and occasionally pulling twigs and grass out of Lily's mouth. (Cyrus has never been one to put random stuff in his mouth whereas his twin sister will put any and everything in her mouth if given the chance.) When we went away for the weekend to celebrate my 38th birthday a few weeks ago we brought two and rented one from Pajaro Dunes, the condo where we stayed. The little girls shared a pack-n-play and it was like WWF in there. Daphne, the younger and bigger twin, was constantly climbing onto her sister and body slamming her so it's amazing either of them got any sleep.

Highchairs
We have four. Well, two of the type of chairs that hook onto a table. We used those for Lily and Cyrus in our old house where we had them hooked onto the counter that looked into the kitchen. It was like being on stage for them--I could dance and sing as I cooked or washed dinner and they could wash me. We had to buy a new table for the kitchen in the new house because those chairs didn't hook onto the dining room table we have. We also bought two plastic high chairs from Ikea. Initially we bought those because we didn't have a table for the hook chairs but they then became the chairs for the Bigs so the Littles could take over the hook chairs. The best configuration around the round table is to have the Littles sit side-by-side so you can reach both of their mouths with whatever tiny spoon you're using to feed them. Although at nine months (today!) they've moved into baby bird mode where we give them bites of whatever we happen to be eating, rather than purely purees.

Schedule
I am not a highly scheduled person. Sleep has been the main area of our child rearing that has adhered to a schedule. As early as possible the Littles were put down to nap at the same time as the Bigs (can't remember when that was. Four months or so? Before that they napped in swings and baby recliners and on the couch) Nap times were 9am and 1pm, with a 5pm nap for the Littles. Each set of twins shares a room and each room has a white noise machine (life savers!) The Bigs are mostly transitioning away from their morning nap now that they're 21 months old, but we still put them down to have quiet time. Also known as "save the sanity of the adults' time". Bedtime is 7pm and has been for most of their lives. It took many months for Cyrus to go to sleep that early--if given the choice he and Cleo would probably stay up all night partying. But they have no choice! We did sleep training with the boy (sleep training a.k.a. "Cry it Out"). Never thought I would get behind that but it worked for us and felt necessary.

Now the babies are crying and I have to go get dressed so we can head down to toddler class. More later.