Freedom (in the form of a Stroller)
Have I mentioned lately how grateful I am for our hand-me-down Runabout Stroller? (Thanks again, Schleper Fam!)
It spells F-R-E-E-D-O-M for our family. Not only this July 4th Holiday, but all year round! =)
Especially now that we have the hitch for the back of the van to transport it!
Where has our Runabout taken us lately?
~The Zoo
~Chipotle (all in one day)
~Target
~Walk in the Park (by myself, whoohoo!)
I’m working on beating my time for loading the stroller on the hitch, strapping it down, carrying out kids, strapping them in their car seats, and pulling out of the driveway. I think I might be clearing the 10 minute mark.
I have to psych myself up for taking the boys out by myself, but it gives me a rush afterwards, like I can conquer anything that comes my way. Everest, here I come! Plus, I usually reward myself in some way after I’ve accomplished a successful outing. Yesterday it was a frozen lemonade from The ‘Bucks.
It also makes me feel a little bit more like a “normal” mom when I can do things that other SAHMs (Stay @ Home Moms) do.
Brad and I are really striving to have as normal of a family life as possible with our boys. Yes, we have quadruplets, but we aren’t letting it stop us from experiencing life to the fullest.
It just takes a little more effort, preparation, and definitely more patience. =) AND DIAPERS! =)
I see you got a new van?? Good for you guys!!! I dont remember seeing a post on that one??
Way to go “girlfriend!” said with love by Molly!
Your a stud Jen Jen.. you have me in the 10 min. dept!! I think it takes me at leas 10 for each of my kids to choose a car seat!
Love you all. Miss you so much!
xoxo
Gen
jen…next time you and the boys head to the park and “the ‘bucks” give us a call! we’d love to hang and stroll and chat…and did i hear a rumor from a certain melissa s???
Happy 4th to you and your four firecrackers! LOVE your posts. I love the look of one of the boys in the back seat…”mom, what are you taking a picture of now???” LOL.
I’ve had to “reward” myself many times…although, I do say, you deserve it much more than I do!
That is AWESOME!!!!! My upper arms were NEVER so toned as when I was taking our twins out in the double stroller everyday…think of how buff those arms are going to be with FOUR!
Love your attitude…you have fun excursions galore in store! Enjoy!
Kudos to you! So how much does that beast weigh!? (the stroller…not the boys!…although add the stroller and all 4 kiddos and that equals one serious workout!)
I just started taking the twins for a walk on a regular basis and I know that I get a better workout pushing the stroller than just walking by myself. It helps that I’ve got a good 50+ lbs to push! My kiddos are NOT petite! ha!
So Happy for you to have your freedom! It’ll be so nice for you to get out and take a stroll with the boys or run errands. Good job on doin’ it all by yourself! 10 minutes? That’s very good!
Jen,
I’m so glad to see you enjoying the summer. You are amazing to go under the 10 minute mark! Let us know if you ever want to do a playdate.
I loved every detail about the trip to Tahoe, too! Good for you guys!
God bless,
Amanda
Just curious, why do you have a handicap licence plate? And as you are drinking your drink, do you make sure to give your boys one as well or just drink in front of them?
Good for you! Freedom to roam is an awesome thing for moms of multiples 🙂
Your park looks amazing too…you will be so glad that they have the fence around it.
Enjoy your summer.
You are SO cute!! Love the pic of you sippin’ on your lemonade. Oh, and the boys are simply adorable as well. : )
What a great post! I do not have four all at once but I do have four children. I totally get what you said about the rush of getting out on your own. It is so hard to have to rely on every one else to just do a simple outing.
Good for you for rewarding yourself too! I think that is a very wise move!
Do you have a handicap plate? That would seem totally smart. Four babies certainly deserves a closer parking spot (in my opinion).
Jen,
I just wrote a similar post! I agree I have to psych myself up to take the girls out. I think you have me well beat with a 10minute mark! The RA and hitch definitely equals freedom and like you, I felt like a normal SAHM!!!
Have fun.
And I really enjoyed your Tahoe posts!
Misty
You ROCK!! I am so envious! i am far to chicken to try to get out myself. And i havent loaded up the runabout yet. But cant wait for the day to feel like a normal mom.
Hey Jen! Glad you found me! Your boys are ADORABLE! I am so happy for you! I love your new stroller and am so glad you can get around now! 🙂 We moved out of Zionsville so that is why we don’t see you anymore! Take care and keep in touch. 🙂
Good for you, Jen! You’re such a great mommy! No wonder our Lord blessed you with four at once. He knew!
And I’m so happy to hear that Starbucks has frozen lemonade. Yummy…my favorite!!
To Anonymous…you can clearly see the sippy cup in the little one’s (Clark or Brooks, not sure which) hand in the photo.
You are awesome and an encouragement to us mom’s that don’t have multiples! Being a mom is a challenging job even with two but you make it seem like it isn’t too bad! Way to go SUPER MOM!!! Yoru boys are lucky to have you
Good for you!! And I didn’t know Starbucks had frozen lemonade-YUM!
Time for some stroller drills! Gotta love the Runabout – definitely a great investment. I’ll alert Mari so she can lecture you too on picture taking etiquette:)
Chris
Jen, so happy for you to find that freedom. I saw a nurse I work with at the store while pusing a cart with two and pulling a cart with the third and the groceries and she said “I didn’t know you had triplets and I am stressing about shopping with a new born and 2 year old.” It is so great to feel like you can get out on your own. I love it! The more you do it the easier it gets! Enjoy!
Hi Jen, Love the boys in the stroller at the park, they are such cuties. Thank you once again for letting us all into your lives and the lives of the beautiful boys. I am really sad that some anonymous people can be so rude and unchristian. Your an awesome mummy and getting out of the house is a wonderful adventure for you. Enjoy the frozen lemonade. You deserve it.
Kym/Australia
To all the anonymous commenters who have nothing nice to say. don’t hide behind the annonymous name, if you’ve got something to say and you feel it warrants saying then be brave and leave your name or don’t be hurtful because someday it will come back to bite you.
Kym/Australia
Looking good Murray Crew!
I haven’t taken my crickets anywhere by myself yet…too chicken so good for you Jen!
Love yall,
Jac
FYI Our handicap plate was issued by our peditrican. If you have quads you will understand why it is a neccessity for safety reasons. We don’t always park in a HC spot, however IF the location presents a dangerous risk of leaving your children unattended at the back of the van (while you are loading the others)- sticking out onto a busy parking lot, we pick SAFETY! Quadruplets pose a unique challenge, different than that of a family of 4, because at this age none of them are able to respond to oncoming danger. It’s not a matter of convienience, laziness, or “arrogance”.
Jen!! hehe LOVE the video clip of ya’ll strollin in the park!!! his little laughter after he says “hi” HOW CUTE!!! -sioby ps. hey did you get my email?
Oh Jen Jen.. that was one heck of an adorable post. I’m so proud of you for finding energy and humor. You make having quads look so easy. I’m here to tell all your anon. people that it’s NOT! Jen is amazing. So, in short.. if you don’t have something nice to say.. just don’t say anything at all.
Gen McNulty
mom of 2 year old quads
It’s a struggle sometimes for me to just get out & about with Jackson to run errands, I couldn’t imagine doing it with 4!
And I’m not sure if this matters to you & it’s probably just my OCD, but the year on the pics show 2007. 🙂
And I might need to try that frozen lemonade. Never been to Starbucks since I’m not a coffee/cappucino/really anything other than milk & tea drinker, but that sounds GREAT!
Will the boys be seeing fireworks (or “boom booms” as Jackson calls them) this year???
It just takes a little more effort, preparation, and definitely more patience. =) AND DIAPERS! =)
But you DO GET 4 TIMES the baby love, hugs and kisses!! :o)
Glad the stroller has found you some new found freedom! Enjoy the summer with this freedom!!!
~Elyse~
Confused on annoymous’s comment on hope the kids got a drink–There’s no crime in drinking in front of your kids if it’s not their time/convenient/etc to give them one.
I often reward myself with a cherry coke from Steak n Shake on the way home from Wal-Mart with my 3 (6-4-1). If they ask, I just say, “It’s Mommy’s turn now!”
So you take big slurp, Jen, and enjoy!
MJ from IN
I can’t believe people are still posting rude comments! I didn’t read them before you deleted them, but I get the impression they were about your handicap parking. When I saw this post initially, that’s one of the first things I noticed, and I was like, “Oh good! I’m SOOOO glad she has that!” That must help so much…especially the spots that have the extra space on the side so you can load and unload the boys. If you check out my blog, you’ll see that I have a temporary handicap pass that my ob/gyn issues when I’m preggo because of my terrible sciatica. I LOVE IT!!
Just curious..how many kids fit in each row? looks like 3 across then 1 behind?
ok, how did you get the stroller to push itself??? lol..it looks like it is rolling on its own in the video..too funny! and they boys look sooo grown up!
They’re growing up so fast!
And they are so unbelievably cuuuutttteeeee!
And they have such a sweet mommy!
we just got a quad RA off of ebay. i can’t wait until it gets cooler here (like in november when it’s not 115 degrees out 😛 ) so that the girls, our son and i can go on walks. i hope i can muster the courage to do it 😉
-fellow quad mom of GGGG and 4yo boy
oh and i love how one of your little guys is tapping brother on the head in front of him and then turning around to say “hey” to another brother. how cute! i’ve been thinking that’s how it’s going to go down…one of our girls says “mom! she hit me in the head!” and another says “sissy whacked me in the head too!” and so on and so on. kids 😉
Your boys are getting so big. Sorry if i havent commented recently.. been busy this summer. but i still glance at your blog weekly 🙂
Alyssa says thanks for the new video of the boys! She is REALLY sick and seeing bo-bos makes her very happy.
Kimberly and the GA Guinn Triplets
http://www.guinnfamilyhome.com