Contributor

Well, I'm back to being behind on this blog- but I have a good reason (really a few but only ready to share one).  I was chosen as one of the new contributors for Houston Moms Blog!  I did a guest post for them back in November (read it here) and now I get to write for them regularly for the next 6 months.  I'm super excited to be apart of the team!  They are some awesome moms who are much better at blogging than me, so hopefully I can learn a thing or two.  :)  So, I've been busy figuring the moms blog thing out, but no worries, I will maintain this blog for all things Perkins Pack!

Without further ado...  check out my debut post!!     ABC's of Me

Unstoppable Mom

I'm writing this post on behalf of my Aunt Betty who threatened to literally hijack my blog if I didn't post her letter.  So, I'm doing it!  Here it is....

Dear Friends of the Perkins Pack,

I am Lauren’s Aunt Betty, and I am hijacking her blog.  I know Lauren is too humble to post this information on her own, but I know you will be interested.

The television show Live with Kelly and Michael is teaming up with Children’s Motrin to find the Unstoppable Mom of 2014.  The winner of the national contest will receive $100,000!  I don’t know anyone who fits that title more than Lauren, so I decided she should be nominated!  With help from the people who know her best, the things that Lauren does all the time were listed.  There were too many great things to include, so the challenge was limiting the letter to ONLY ONE PAGE!  Whew!  With the help of Lauren’s cousin, Heather, the letter was composed using carefully weighed words to deliver the greatest impact.  The letter was submitted earlier this week… and now we just wait. 

Here is the contest link if you are interested in finding out more.  www.unstoppablemoms.com

Whether Lauren is acknowledged nationally as the winner or not, I know that she is definitely a winner in our eyes!  (I’d like to meet the woman who outdoes her!) Rest assured, we will keep you informed if there is good news to share!  A copy of the letter we submitted is shown below.

In October 2011, Lauren Perkins was a school psychologist, busily caring for the kids at her school and running marathons in her down time. In April 2012, she became a first time, stay-at-home mother           –- to sextuplets! How can we even begin to tell you how unstoppable she really is?

Lauren and her husband tried to start a family for years, without success. Eventually, after receiving fertility treatments, Lauren learned that she was pregnant with multiple babies – not one, not two, but six! Like most women would be, she was overwhelmed at the news. From the beginning, though, she understood the blessing as well as the challenge. Lauren knew that God would provide for her and her family, and she has loved each of her six children unconditionally since before their sensational birth. The babies were delivered at 30 weeks, followed by several months in the NICU. The family drew large amounts of media attention, but elected to walk away from the spotlight and the associated financial benefits so that they could maintain as normal a routine as possible.

To make “normal” happen, Lauren works from the dark pre-dawn hours until long after the sun sets. She usually gets only 5 hours of sleep per night, and even that is frequently interrupted by her six little ones. They are nearly 2 years old now, and Lauren always has something to do! She is constantly feeding, changing, playing, encouraging, helping, and loving them. Each child is treated as an individual, with unique interests and his or her own personality. Lauren is applying her training as a school psychologist in her own home, introducing a new sight word each week, reading stories every day after lunch, and taking all of the kids for educational outings. Lauren and her children attend play dates and birthday parties, and frequently visit fun spots like the swimming pool, the park, and the zoo. The kids have even been in a parade and a fashion show! With all that they do on their highly regulated schedule, it’s understandable that the whole family feels stressed sometimes. As a fun stress reliever, Lauren and the kids have “freak out” time each day to let it all out!

Lauren has the additional challenge of raising a child with special needs. One of the sextuplets requires extensive care to overcome GI complications and neurologic, motor, and visual impairments. She still requires overnight feedings, as well as additional medical and therapy appointments. Lauren has also learned to handle all of the specialized equipment so that she can help her daughter on non-therapy days – all in her “free time” while the other 5 kids are napping.

  

Since the birth of her children, Lauren has made her physical health a priority so that she is able to keep up with and care for her family. She regularly attends fitness boot camps before dawn, works out with exercise tapes at home, and takes the kids (and the dog) for an hour long walk in their 6-seat stroller every day. Lauren has also returned to competition in multiple 5k runs!

Lauren recognizes the importance of her mental health, as well. She still makes time to be in friend’s weddings, host events, and participate in phone conferences with medical professionals and other parents to stay abreast of the latest options for helping her children. Lauren also maintains a family blog and contributes to 2 groups for ‘Moms of Multiples’ so that she can share her insights with others facing similar challenges. She even finds time to complete the required continuing education hours to maintain her license as a school psychologist so that she can return to her career in the future.

Despite all that life requires of her, Lauren is grace under fire. She always wears a smile, always listens to her loved ones, and always finds a way to balance the often opposing needs of her children, her husband, her friends, and herself. Lauren Perkins is the very definition of “unstoppable.”

Ok, I'm back.  I cannot begin to tell you how honored I am that they would even think to nominate me, much less actually do it- and believe I can win.  I did not see what everyone submitted to her for the letter, but I did see a few snippets from a couple of friends and I was literally moved to tears by their heartfelt words.  I am extremely blessed to have the amazing support system I have and I would be nothing without them.  As I believe, God may give you more than you can handle, but He'll provide you with what you need to persevere. "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength" Phil 4:13

PS- If I do happen to make it to the final round for public voting, I will be sure to spread the word!  Who wants to be in last place?!

21 months?! And in a rut...

1. I can't believe my kiddos are getting close enough to 2 that I need to start party planning. And already have.

2. I blame the crazy weather for the rut-like feeling.  We're still busy busy around the house, but we've been stuck inside more days than not and it's getting old.  They are missing playing in the backyard and let me know it every time I block them from escaping when I let the dog out.  They really couldn't care less about my explanations of the wet and coldness outside.  So, we've been busy doing indoor things like reading on the couch, drawing with AquaDoodles, being pushed in the Cozy Coupes, stacking stuff, playing chase, singing and dancing, and all their typical stuff.  I even broke down this week and took the play food out of the package!  As I suspected, play food can be found anywhere and everywhere around the house.

Couch reading- nothing better.

AquaDoodles- new fav activity

When taking turns fails

3. We've had some big changes going on!  The pacifiers have been gone now for about a month and they never missed them.  Now, sadly (for me), the 2 naps a day are gone.  They weren't consistent and now it's been over a week since they've had a 2 a day.  I am grateful they went to 21 months before dropping a nap and that their 1 nap is a long one- 3-3 1/2 hours.  Sleep training is a wonderful thing!  We've recently changed up the nighttime routine by letting them walk to their cribs.  It's funny to see them walking in a line to their rooms and being silly by going in the wrong room or trying to get away from us.

4.  New skills are coming... we've been working on learning to share, taking turns, and clean up.  These skills are slowly coming along.  They'll now help me pick up things by stacking them and bringing items to me I've asked for.  Sharing and taking turns is hit or miss.  We do have plenty of teachable moments between the Cozy Coupe and the slide.  With individual toys, stealing is rampant.  However, it is typically obvious who the victim and thief are because one is crying (usually Levi) and the other is running away giggling (usually Andrew).  We're also trying to encourage expressive language as that's the biggest area of delay.  They are slowly picking up more words and sometimes I can't really tell if they're saying a real word or not.  On walks they love to point out ducks, dogs, cars, trucks, and fountains and they'll say their version of these words.  

Sharing?

5. The boys!  Andrew is into cars, trucks, and ducks lately.  Especially ducks.  He even found a book with a duck on every page and he loves to point out every single duck.  Ben loves his play food, particularly his fake spaghetti and fake fried egg.  He has also started savoring his last bite of real food; he scarfs it down until the last bite which he'll nibble on until everyone else is done.  One time he held on to a cheerio for 45 minutes!    Levi is probably the most vocal.  He says "bye bye" and "uh oh" all the time and can almost "moo".  He is definitely the most musical with his dancing and guitar playing.  I use the term playing very loosely.

6. The girls! Caroline is my Maggie lover.  I often find her under a table with the dog giving her kisses, petting her, and giggling.  She is the only one who likes Maggie's kisses.  She's also the cautious one and is wary of new people.  Allison stole Dave's heart the other night when he walked in from work and she yelled "DaDa" and blew him kisses.  She also likes to pretend hand sanitize by touching the container and rubbing her hands together.  Miss Leah has just been doing awesome lately!  We've added tasting and smelling trials into her therapies and she's actually been handling these without gagging most of the time.  She really likes peppermint stuff.  We have learned she loves Larry the Cucumber from VeggieTales and cannot contain her smile when she hears his voice.  We've had her LightAide for a few weeks now and she's really starting to get the hang of it and enjoy it.  The others all like it too.  And her hair is finally starting to grow- but only on the top of her head.  

Caroline and Maggie

That's us at 21 months!  We do have some fun and exciting things planned for February and March, so me may just get out of this rut. :)

A Day in the Life

I haven't posted in a few months on what my basic day-to-day life schedule looks like.  I should do these more often, because, sadly, when people ask me when I started something with them or what the schedule was at certain ages, I really can't remember.  I mean, bottles and dream feeds seem like a lifetime ago.

We're still transitioning from 2 naps to 1, so the overall schedule depends on that.  Also, my personal schedule depends on if I'm running in the morning or not- that also affects how early I start drinking the caffeine.  :)  Of course, a few times a running day turns into a non-running day when the alarm goes off and I just have no interest in getting up yet.  So here goes...

4:45 am- groggily (that's a word, right?) get out of bed and quickly put on running clothes before I change my mind and head out the door as soon as I motivate myself to do so (usually 5-515)

6:15 am- finish up work out and get breakfast ready for the munchkins then quick shower.  On non-running days I get up about 6 and start on breakfast.  I pre-make breakfasts for running days- casseroles, muffins, crock pot oatmeal, etc.

6:45-7am- Kiddos awaken and eat breakfast- usually Dave gets started on the diaper changes while I finish showering.  Kiddos wake time is still based on Dave helping with breakfast before heading to work.

7:45- Leah eats breakfast and so do I and so does Maggie (phew- everyone fed for one meal)

8-9am- Kids play in the pen and watch the Today show (or maybe that's me) while I dress them/play/rest a little while they climb on me and poke my eyeballs and nose saying "Dat!"

9-9:30am- Decision time- 1 nap or 2?  How tired and cranky is Caroline acting- can she make it all morning?  How energetic do I feel?  If 2 naps, all kids have books in their cribs to read if they don't want to sleep (except Caroline- she needs the sleep).

9am-12pm- Busy busy time!  If no morning nap I turn on Sesame Street and they're free to watch or play in my bathroom while I finish any getting ready that didn't happen earlier.  I also try to fit in some quality mommy/kid time reading, singing, or silly dancing before the traffic starts.  By 10am if there are therapists and volunteers coming, they've started arriving.  While the in-and-out traffic is going on, I'm trying to get some Leah time in, feed morning snacks, do any chores (i.e. laundry), a round of diaper changes, prepare lunch, and do any dinner prep that needs doing- oh yeah, and play!  If there is a morning nap I can fit any morning chores and Leah time in then.

12-1pm- Depending on 1 or 2 naps, they'll go down for an afternoon nap sometime in this hour.

12 or 1- 315 or 330- NAP TIME!!  Glorious nap time.  I am grateful my kids take long afternoon naps and have no issues staying in their rooms if they wake up (and I have no issue ignoring them a little bit if they wake up early).  I use nap time to get my quality 1 on 1 with Leah, make phone calls, dinner cooking, cleaning, laundry, emails- basically tackle as much of the to do list as I can!  Of course, some days are more efficient than others.  Every now and then a friend will bring me lunch and we sit and eat and visit the whole time.  It's the best!

330ish- Back on duty!  If anyone's coming over for the afternoon (volunteer or playmates) they've arrived and my kids get an afternoon snack.  Then we all play!  Playing is anything from coloring and puzzles at the table to running around outside to reading books on the couch to fighting over the slide.

430- Start the prep for going on a walk.  I make their dinner plates and put on their jackets or sunscreen or whatever's needed for the current weather.

5-545- Walking the kiddos and dog around the neighborhood.  Sanity time for sure- for all of us (even Maggie).

545-715- Evening routine (have a helper 95% of the time): dinner, baths, pjs, kids watch Blues Clues or Mickey Mouse Clubhouse while adults clean up dinner, prep Leah's evening feed, pick up toys and such outside of pen.  The 5 go to bed at 715!

715-745- Final round of picking up toys.  Then some Mommy, Daddy, Leah time before she eats and goes to bed.

8pm-??- Free time!!  I get to do whatever I've decided I'm going to do until I go to bed.  My current bedtime goal is midnight.  I'm still working on it.  Bedtime has never been my strong suit- just ask my mom.

There you have it!  A day in the life of Lauren.  Unless we have an outing of some sort, then things get changed a bit.  Pretty exciting, huh?

Breakfast Casserole

I've thought about doing recipe posts for awhile now, but I'm usually in such a hurry cooking I forget to take pictures of the process.  This recipe is an absolute go-to.  I make it every couple of weeks and I make it the night before, so one time I was leisurely and took pictures :)  This casserole is great because it's easy, delicious, the whole family gobbles it up, and it makes enough to feed the kiddos for 3 breakfasts!  Perfect for mornings I run when I don't have time to really cook a breakfast- portion it out and microwave.  

Breakfast Egg Casserole

1 can crescent rolls

1 lb breakfast sausage (can sub bacon or ham or leave meat out)

10 eggs

 2 cups cheese

3/4 c milk

1 tsp italian seasonings

Veggies (optional)

Preheat oven to 375.  While it's preheating, spray or grease 13x9 pan and roll out the crescent rolls.  I usually bake this layer for about 8 min, but sometimes I don't and the dish still comes out fine.

While the rolls are baking, cook the sausage in a skillet and drain the grease.

On this particular occasion I had fresh spinach around, so I added a layer of spinach on top of the crescent rolls.  You could really add any veggies you want at this point, or leave them out entirely- up to you!

Then add the meat...

Whisk together the eggs, cheese, milk, and italian seasoning

Pour mixture on top of the meat and spread evenly

Bake at 375 for 30 min.  In my oven it takes 30 min, but my oven usually cooks a little fast.  End result looks like this...

Yum!  Hard part is waiting until the next morning to eat some!

Perkins Pack Pickins

Just some random stuff they're doing lately that didn't fit into any particular post category...

• hand motions to songs- I love this one!  I've been waiting and waiting for them to copy me while singing "Wheels on the Bus", "Happy and You Know It", and "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and they're catching on!  Caroline, Allison, and Andrew are pretty consistent and Levi jumps in from time to time.  Ben doesn't seem to care much about hand motions.

• communication- I love this one too!  They're only using a few words (yeah, more, mama -when they're upset or need something, dada, duck, done, bye, what's that) but they're starting to show much more understanding and interest in words and using gestures to communicate.  Allison is queen of the head shake- yes and no, but mostly no; she also does the 'I don't know' shoulder shrug quite well.  Caroline only shakes no.  Levi does thumbs up and thumbs down, luckily most things earn a thumbs up (I think because he knows it's so cute).  Ben, Andrew, and Allison spend most of their time asking "What's that?" and Caroline does her fair share too.  I spend a. lot. of. time. labeling things, but it's all for the betterment of their language development, right?  Receptively they can point to all sorts of things and follow simple commands when they so choose.  

• stacking- Andrew is super stacker.  He's my little helper, at the end of each meal he starts stacking plates and bowls when he's done eating.  He can stack up to 5 blocks by himself!  He'll also help me clean up if it involves stacking cups.  Allison has starting showing interest in stacking.  Ben and Caroline only want to stack if they get to knock it down.  Levi likes to come behind everyone and destroy their work.  But Andrew is still the biggest toy snatcher!

• dancing- We love to dance!  Most of the time if they hear any sort of music, you'll see at least 2 kids swaying or demonstrating their own moves.  Levi's are by far the most unique :)  By doing many a dance party, I have also learned that the best way to get Andrew dancing is Beyonce's Single Ladies- he can't resist it!

• fountains- We continue to do evening stroller walks everyday.  Recently I realized they loved seeing the fountains in the fake lakes around the neighborhood and found a route with optimal fountain viewing.  Little did I know that they would learn this route and get upset if I ever try to veer from it!  I'm serious- if I pass up the entrance to the greenbelt they'll start wailing.  So, fountains it is.  

• eating- They're still good eaters and I can't really complain, but they are still toddlers.  From one day to the next I really don't know what they'll really eat.  I do continue to make one meal or snack for the group and they eat it or they don't.  No short order cooks in this house!  What they have figured out though, is that they can put disliked foods on each others' plates and try to take desired foods from someone else's plate.  It's kind of funny to watch, but I really don't want them to think that's ok to do- especially when eating with non-siblings!  So, we're trying to teach them sharing and trading food.  We'll see how it goes.

• tv- Andrew has learned to turn the tv on.  He's the only one tall enough to reach.  Once he does they all turn and scream at us to put a show on or they point at the remote to let us know what to do.

• big tub- They LOVE bathing in the big tub!  It took a few weeks of slowly getting over the crying of a new activity, but it was worth it.  Bath time is so fun now!  The boys scream while the girls are in the bathroom and take off running when I say it's their turn- race to get in first!  They all just play the whole time and think being rinsed off is hilarious.

• naps- we're transitioning to 1 nap.  It's about at a 50/50 whether they have 2 naps or 1 nap.  I make a judgment call about 9 am every morning, usually based on Caroline's behavior (she gets tired and cranky easiest)

• pacis- New Year meant No Pacis!  I took away the boys pacis and within 2 days they were good.  The only times they tend to get upset is when they wake up from a nap, but I've put books in their cribs for naps and that's helped a lot.

• favorite activities- playing outside, sliding, running in the hall, being on the couch, riding in cozy coupes, play kitchens and food, puzzles, Elmo, Mickey Mouse, Blue's Clues, books, songs and dance, balls, and blocks.  Trucks and cars are just beginning

• discipline- Oh terrible twos, I know you're coming.  The amount of dramatic fits has definitely increased lately.  Not to mention testing limits.  These days when they hear no it's either a throw myself on the floor or giggle type of reaction.  We're trying to stay consistent and follow through and mostly ignore unacceptable behavior, but boy is it hard sometimes!  I think I'll need individual timers once we start time out.

Levi and Allison sharing a cozy coupe

Caroline emptying the kid cabinet- again.

Levi and his guitar

Sweet Leah fell asleep while listening to her music

Caroline reading at her "desk"

Christmas Time

This year Christmas really seemed to sneak up on me.  I've never been doing Christmas prep so close to the wire before.  I have a feeling it won't be my last time.  I didn't even get Christmas cards out until December 20th!  I personally didn't get very many cards until right before Christmas either which, to me, meant I wasn't the only one behind this year.

Our family's Christmas card picture this year- decided to just go with the crazy instead of fighting it

Our house was decorated inside and out thanks to some wonderful friends!  Honestly, I did VERY LITTLE decorating- we're talking hanging up stockings and Christmas cards and that's it.  A twin mom friend decorated the inside for me (she volunteered!) and the outside was a huge surprise donation from Home Depot and Gulf Coast Lawn Enforcement (we have some awesome friends who arranged this for us).  I was shocked when I saw a group of men hanging lights on our house.  Luckily, my mom let me in on the surprise before I ran outside to tell them "Wrong house!  I'm not paying you!"  That could've been embarrassing.

With a bunch of 1 1/2 year olds running around, we really couldn't participate in too many Christmas activities.  We did go looking at Christmas lights, but they fell asleep soon after we left home.  I may have fallen asleep too, so I guess Dave and my parents saw lots of lights.

We also took the kids to see Santa this year.  I did have an adult per child and that was definitely the way to go!  Bass Pro Shop by our house has a great Santa's Wonderland and gives you one free picture.  We called ahead to let them know we were coming and showed up at opening time on a Monday morning- good call.  They were very accommodating and let me do individuals and a group shot.  Andrew and Allison cried through it, Ben and Levi completely hammed it up, and Caroline and Leah were quite indifferent to the whole thing.  The event coordinator for the store was very nice and gave us lots of free pictures and invited us back for next year!  Free pictures = you will see us next year.

A group of friends wanted to get the kids something, but knowing we have plenty of toys, books, and clothes decided to go a more practical route.  A few days before Christmas they delivered a car load of wrapped gifts.  So thoughtful and sweet!  The kids had a blast climbing all over them and sometimes pulling paper.  Us adults got some laughs as we unwrapped paper towels, diapers, canned fruit, toothpaste, shampoo, soap, and cookies.  It was great!

Cookies!

Why open when you can climb?

I intended to bake, but with our 15 containers/platters of cookies and candies received from friends, family, and neighbors there was no need and we all ate way too many sweets this Christmas!  The kids definitely learned the word "cookie" this season.

Christmas Eve we opened our family gifts.  Again, the kids were mostly interested in climbing all over them- even the tiny ones.  They pulled some of the paper and liked taking bows off and they were somewhat interested in the gifts.  Gifts were more appreciated the next day when they were set out in play areas.  We really lucked out that they got so many birthday gifts.  I had lots of stuff still in storage and we just wrapped up the birthday gifts in Christmas paper.  Worked out fabulously!  All the big birthday gifts/hand-me-downs were delivered by Santa overnight.  These included play kitchens, Cozy Coupes, and toddler couches.  Dave wasn't thrilled with staying up late to play Santa, but the kids really love all the things he brought, so it was worth it.  And I reminded Dave that we're just getting started with the whole Santa thing :)

It's a big one!

Hi Maggie

Sisterly Love

Sticker nose

Christmas Day we headed to my brother's house.  Festivities were scheduled for the afternoon when they usually nap, so I made sure they got a longer morning nap and pre-ate lunch.  Only problem with that was Caroline got car sick on the way there and had to celebrate Christmas in pants and shoes only. Oops.  Honestly, they did pretty well for having to skip a nap.  They explored and played until they just couldn't take it anymore and slowly all started melting down and we had to leave.  We were able to eat and very quickly rip open our gifts from extended family.  Then it was all over!  Christmas done for another year.  Well, besides the clean up which is about as much work as the setting up!

Levi testing out the new couch

Leah modeling her Christmas outfit on the new couch

I know there are cookies up there!