Texas Trip Days 1 and 2

Most sincere apologies about the fact that the first three days are posted together. Videos and pictures will come up in a later blog.

For those who don't know, I had the oppurtunity to go meet the Wilkinson Quintuplets in Texas this week.You can check out their story at http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd3d3LndpbGtpbnNvbnF1aW50cy5ibG9nc3BvdC5jb20=.

Day 1:
I got on the plane and left Redding at 9:45 AM by the time I got to Texas it was 5:25 their time (3:25 Cali Time). I didn't sit next to anyone terribly exciting. I think that girls only sit next to good looking guys in movies.

Anyways, it took me about 20 minutes to find Virginia (the lady I'm staying with) in the little tiny, 6 round baggage claim. Virginia is one of the sweetest people ever. She is this tiny typical Southern woman, drawl and all. She is so nice though, really friendly and outgoing.

We ended up going to meet the Wilkinsons that night which was suprising to me since I figured that since it was already like 6 o'clock they probably wouldn't want people around, and maybe they didn't, but they let us come anyways. The babies were absolutely adorable. Rustin (the bigger of the 2 boys) came up to me right away, and by the end of the evening, most of the babies were actually okay with me.

I got to help with mass bath time, which is basically stripping down 5 babies, washing 5 babies, and then drying, dressing, and diapering 5 babies. They also weigh them to keep track of their progress. The biggest baby is 19 pounds while the smallest baby is only 15. After bath they do jammies after changing everyone and rubbing them with lavender lotion. They also read to the babies 3 times a day, and they all seem to enjoy it. The whole time I was there, I did not hear a peep out of their older to kids (Riley and Kaiya).

At 7:30, the older 2 went to bed and I chatted with Rachelle (the mom) for a little while. She is an amazing woman. She is so organized and smart and very, very nice for letting me come. I also met her husband Jayson breifly, but he seemed really exahusted. He is a really involved dad though, which is great, because with that many babies, you really need all the hands you can get.

I was actually a little worried after this first meeting because it was kind of akward being in a house where I didn't know anyone, but I knew it would get better. Afterwards, I went to Virginias house.

Day 2:I woke up at 7 AM (5 AM Cali Time) to shower and eat breakfast and then went over to the Wilkinsons about 8. We did breakfast which consisted of myself feeding Rustin, Rachelle feeding Kassidy and Kyndall, and Virginia feeding Ryder and Kaydence.

Afterwards we cleaned up the babies and put them down for a nap. Each baby sleeps in a different room for nap time (as opposed to bedtime where they all sleep in the same room). They each slept for 2+ hours, and I slept for a little while too! I was tired and my schedule is all messed up.

After nap they each have a bottle. I fed Kaydence her bottle, Ryder part of his bottle, and Kyndall her bottle. Kaydence is quite the little charmer with her chubby face and happy little smile. She and I played pass toys back and forth for about 25 minutes. Ryder is not too sure of me yet. He is the fussiest of all the babies but he has his really sweet and adorable moments too. Kyndall is just a teeny-weeny ball of energy. She is running all around constantly. Rustin is my little buddy. He has a deep voice for a baby and he likes to follow me arond. Kassidy is a big time mama's girl and so she isn't too interested in me. She is very sweet and cuddly with both her mother and Virginia though.

Then they played for a few hours. I was amazed at how often they got into little fights, I mean, they are only a year old! They snatch at eachothers toys whenever they get a chance.

After playtime they had lunch. They each eat some baby food and some solid food. The solid food is finger foods, which they all feed themselves. After that was clean up and another nap.

The three girls (Kassidy, Kyndall, and Kaydence) didn't nap. They laid in bed either singing to themselves or crying until 3 o'clock. Then they got up and had another bottle. Their big brother and big sister came home. Riley is 8 and seems like a very tenderhearted little boy. He was showing me the things he can do with his keyboard while he practiced the piano. Kaiya is 5 and is going through a faze where she only wants to talk like a baby. This doesn't really hide the fact that she is very articulate and wants to play with everyone. She is rough with the babies from time to time, but she does obey when you tell her to be soft. We had play time and then came dinner.

Rachelle fed Rustin, Ryder, and Kyndall while I fed Kassidy and Kaydence. After dinner there was more playtime, then jammies, books and bed.

These kids are very routined and stay on a pretty strict schedule. Of course, with 7 kids, what other options do their parents have? Today was much better as far as my feeling comfortable. Rachelle and Jayson like me I think, 3/5 babies will willing hang around me, and I think the older two pretty much like everyone. Right now I'm waiting for Virginia to come and get me, and then we'll go back to her house and hit the hay. At least, I will. Because its like 10:00 Cali time.