A Bundle of Baudinets

Thursday, September 14, 2017

A Beach Trip!

Yes, we took the quints to the beach. I know, you all think I'm nuts. I am, in a a lot of ways, but when your brother in law gets married to a lovely lady, you pack up the quints and head to see the hitching!

Michael's brother Thomas married Thea in early August in Virginia Beach. We've been planning all along to attend, and as the days grew near, I started to go into major planning mode. Jess, one of our au pairs and I, strategized about which supplies would provide us the most use. We brainstormed which toys would take up the least amount of space while providing the most entertainment. We trained the kids on sleeping in the Pack 'N' Play; we drew diagrams of the car and how we would fit all of the supplies in the limited space we had. Remember, we needed three Pack 'N' Plays, two swings, one Snoo, and two Rock 'N' Plays. And that was just to sleep! Then, we needed bottles, formula, solid food, lovies, clothes (play and dress), diapers, wipes, medicine, and the list goes on and on and on. Well, my project management skills served me well (thank goodness for that class in grad school!) and the trip went off without a glitch.

Thea made a beautiful bride and we were honored to be there with her and her family. We rented a house in Virginia Beach and welcomed any and all helping hands that could spare a few minutes from wedding festivities. Michael participated in the wedding itself; the quints, au pairs and I joined for the reception.

The kiddos had a marvelous time! I, on the other hand, desperately need a major nap. Maybe a month's worth?

Millie, Isabelle, and Luke

Daddy Bear and Clara Bear

Mama and her Millie Magnet (always attached to Mama!)

KK and Luke are ready to hit the beach!

Ava's ready for fun in the sun!

Ava and Grandma

Luke, Chris, Brian, and Isabelle

Love this photo of Ava holding onto Aunt Bridget

Grandpa and Clara

Clara wearing one of Mom's old church dresses

Millie wearing one of Mom's old church dresses

Ava wearing one of Mom's old church dresses

Izzy wearing one of Mom's old church dresses

Luke all of a sudden looks like a little boy!

Grandma, Luke, and Millie

Merle and Ava

One big happy family!

The extended Baudinet family with the bride and groom

Michael's brother Brian and his soon to be bride Janelle. Can't wait 'til next summer!

The five big Baudinet kids with the five little Baudinet kids (plus Grandma and Grandpa)

Mom and Millie Magnet

Luke is too cool for school

Our traveling circus--it's so nice to have big, strong uncles!

Chris and Isabelle are shocked that we have to go home!

Nothing like a floppy hat and friends

One of many family photos

Telling secrets

"Here, taste my finger. Do you think that's sweet potato? Or poop?"

Saturday, September 9, 2017

Scrumptious Solids

Long time no blog!

I apologize it's taken me so long to update you. As you can imagine, life flies by these days. Well, time flies, but the days are long. SOOOOOO long. I've started wearing a pedometer and I'm averaging 9 miles a day--and that's just taking care of babies! I can't imagine what my total will be when I actually have time to work out. When I do find some spare time, I'm usually cleaning the house, making dinner, loving on our dog Ellie, or catching up with one of my wonderful friends.

Overall, though, things have been going well in our little corner of the world. Four of the kiddos have teeth! Millie is leading the way with five (almost six) teeth. We used to joke that she would steal the other kids' teeth during the night. But then, Luke got two teeth, soon followed by Isabelle and Clara. Only the little peanut, Ava Louise, is still without a pearly white.

As most parents will tell you, with teething comes interrupted sleep. Cue the music of doom (DUN DUN DUNNNNNNNN). The kids had (past tense) thankfully started sleeping through the night, but with the appearance of teeth came the night wakings. It wouldn't be bad if just one child had this, but pretty much every child has this off and on, and it changes with the child (and frequency) each night. To say Michael and I are exhausted is the understatement of the century. We need a new word for exhausted.

In other news, solid food is such a treat for these little ones! Gerber has generously supplied us with delicious food to nurture our growing gaggle. We absolutely LOVE their products, especially the fruit and veggie mixes. We even eat their foods for breakfast. Luke will gobble up any Gerber food that comes mixed with their cereals. That's his favorite way to start the day!

Here are some food photos of our kiddos chowing down on their favorite Gerber yummies:

Ava is ready for more!

Millie and Luke hold hands during lunch time

Millie REALLY enjoyed her Gerber sweet potatoes!

Isabelle, Millie, Ava and Luke enjoy snack time

Clara, Izzy and Luke enjoy their Gerber biscuits--yum yum!!

Izzy says carrots taste better when you wear them!

We love our group meal times--thank you, Gerber!!

Monday, July 24, 2017

Baptism Blessings

Good Afternoon from QuintLand!

My gracious it's been a whirlwind summer. I don't think I even have words for how tired yet simultaneously exhilarated I feel. Exhausterated? That's exhausted and exhilarated--yep, that's me.

I'd love to tell you more about the baptism of Ava, Clara, Millie, Luke, and Isabelle. Michael and I always knew we would want it to be a small, private service in the church near our home. We aren't much for a spectacle and we realized that baptizing five kiddos in one church service would make for quite a long service for any churchgoer.

Michael's friend and college roommate for many years (Nick) decided to begin the process to study to become a priest in 2012. Nick has been a force of good in our lives. His kindness, generosity and general love of life have brought such joy to Michael and me. We have memories of bonfires at Nick's house....memories of playing with Nick's golden retriever George outside under the shade of his front yard oak tree. I even have a memory of going to dinner with Nick and Michael on the Downtown Mall in Charlottesville. We could barely walk down the mall without some of Nick's friends (or students) stopping to say hello and offer a hug. Nick taught Spanish before he became a priest and parents/students alike are attracted to his kindness and genuine care of others. When it came time to baptize the quints, we could think of no other man to welcome our children into the love of Jesus.

Having studied for several years now, Nick recently became a deacon in the Catholic church and gladly accepted our invitation to baptize the children. We realized then that this baptism was going to be one of the most special days of our lives.

Michael and Nick on our wedding day in 2011

Nick is even an excellent dancer!

So now that we had a very special man to baptize our kiddos, I started to think about what they would wear. You must remember that I'm from Alabama, so christening gowns are truly an art form (and an investment!). I'm pretty sure you can claim a southern christening gown on your taxes as an asset. It's that important!

Well, looking at my need for five christening ensembles and our meager family budget, I started to worry. I wondered about borrowing from friends. I wondered about renting (is there even a market for that? Rent the Runway baptism style?). I wondered about defying tradition and wearing something more casual (my mother would NEVER stand for this). I wondered about buying one outfit and baptizing them one weekend at a time (so five baptism weekends? No dice. My catering budget would be through the roof!) As I chatted with mom about this, she understood my worries. We wanted the children to look like the angels they are, but we simply didn't know how we would afford custom outfits for all of them.

Well, God sent us an angel. A very, very talented angel--a company by the name of Linens by Loraine in my hometown of Selma, Alabama. Linens by Loraine has done beautiful custom work for my sister's children and one day as Mom was chatting with the creative genius behind the company, something beautiful happened. Linens by Loraine offered to partner with our family to create baptism ensembles.

Without ever seeing the children in person, Linens by Loraine created five custom ensembles. All in the course of five weeks. I measured each of the children and sent metrics to who I called the Angels in Alabama. The Angels took these measurements and created five masterpieces. These masterpieces are French hand sewn, complete with French lace. All of the handwork was done by Sarah Catherine. If you are ever in the market for beautiful custom work for your children, please check out Linens by Loraine. They can be reached at 334-872-4467. They can obviously work with clients from any location!

Thanks to Linens by Loraine, each child looked absolutely perfect. We hosted Michael's and my family for a reception afterwards. It was truly a joyous gathering as we welcomed our children into the Christian faith.

When I was a child, my home church had a very special Easter service. They would build a cross out of wood and cover it with chicken wire (yes, I'm southern. I know). Then, all of the children of the church would bring flowers from their mother's yards and put them into the wire of the cross. The cross transformed from a cold, wooden monument into a blooming reminder of God's love and redeeming sacrifice for us. I wanted to recreate this for the quints' baptism. A good friend built the cross and mom and I covered it with flowers.