WE’RE QUINNING! GIRLS RULE
These super-parents haVe their hanDs Full with fiVe gorgeous quintuplets and an older sister to boot
With six daughters to look after, life for Danielle and Adam Busby is more than a little crazy. As well as six-year-old daughter Blayke, the Texan couple are parents to two-year-old Olivia Marie, Ava Lane, Hazel Grace, Parker Kate and Riley Paige – the first all-girl quintuplets born in the US.
Outdaughtered mum Danielle gives us a taste of her day.
7am I get up and turn the coffee machine on, stat! Then I have 40 minutes to make sure Blayke is dressed, fed and ready for school.
7.40am Blayke catches the school bus and I get the babies’ milk warmed up in the microwave. I’m not usually a morning person, but I love the interactions we have with the girls first thing because they’re so happy to see your face.
8am After milk comes diapers. It takes around 30 minutes to change them all – they can be very wiggly!
8.30am It’s time for breakfast, which is either scrambled eggs or oatmeal. Then I have to clean 10 little hands and five little faces, and dress the girls.
9.30am We like to break up the routine with a mix of indoor and outdoor activities. The girls need a variety of play spaces – they can’t just stay in one place all day. Their favourite thing to play is hide-and-seek.
11am I get the girls back in the highchairs for lunch, then change their diapers before their day nap. They usually sleep for about 1½ hours, which is when I speed clean the home.
2pm Blayke gets home, so we make her a snack and she often plays outside for the afternoon or entertains her sisters.
5pm It’s dinner time for the quins! I put them back in their highchairs and get them fed. After that we do bath-time. Adam and I tag team – one’s on bathing and the other’s on dressing.
6.30pm We give them a little bit of warm milk, read them a book and have quiet time before bed.
7pm We tuck all six girls into bed and sing them off to sleep, then make a start on dinner for Adam and I.
8.30pm Rest? I don’t think so! With all the kids in bed, we use the quiet time to load the dishwasher, get the milk ready for the morning and tidy up the toys.
9pm Sometimes we have my mum over to babysit and sneak out for a late dinner – we try to do this once a week.
10pm Lights out! We need all the energy we can muster to repeat the whole day all over again.