Seven's the Charm

Chapter One

Chapter One

Four pairs of little socks. Four t-shirts -one blue, one red, one green and one yellow- with matching hoodies. Four pairs of cut off jeans. Four pairs of underwear. Four caps with letters embossed in white on the front -one 'J', one 'D', one 'F' and one 'AJ'. Four pairs of identical shoes in slightly different sizes. Thankfully, I'd remembered to initial the soles of each shoe so I didn't have to spend ages wrestling tiny feet into them to see which fit who. I glanced at the clock on the wall right next to the fridge; quarter to seven. Ok, so I've got about five minutes then. My eyes swung round the kitchen, making mental tallies of everything.

Sun block, check. Extra socks, check. Ten chilled water bottles, check. Two cool-bags, check. Sandwiches with four different fillings... I stood up and walked over to the cool-bag, making sure that I'd packed the sandwiches. Yep, there they are. Jam, peanut butter and jam, chocolate spread and banoffee pie spread. I'm all for jam myself. So, sandwiches, check. Big blanket, check. Plastic cutlery, plates and cups, check. Fold-up tent, check. I looked at the clock again; ten to seven.

As if on cue footsteps thundered down the stairs as a smile spread on my face and my feet turned me to face the half wall separating the kitchen from the dining room. Four scruffy hairdo’s whipped along the top of the wall before four scruffy boys stood in a line before me, grins on their faces. My eyes moved over them.

Danny and Jake's identical curly light brown hair was all over the shop, wild and completely unmanageable. They were shirtless, as they preferred to be, with their spaceman pyjama pants and tiger slippers on. Aiden's floppy dark blond hair was flat on one side and sticking up on the other, an indication of his odd sleeping habits as well as the indentations on his left cheek from the mattress. He sleeps with his cheek pressed into it and his little butt in the air, just like he has done for the past few years. Freddie's dark hair was pretty tame as he'd had it styled in a shorter way last time we went to the hairdresser's, but his footballer pyjamas that he'd dressed in last night were nowhere to be seen as he stood there in only his underwear and socks.

“Mornin' fellas. Do I get a hug, or what?” I eventually asked, raising an eyebrow at my sleep-rumpled boys.

“Hug!” I knelt down quickly and laughed as they slammed into me, hugging wherever they could reach with their little arms.

“Mama, I sleeped in my bed all night.” Freddie announced proudly. I smiled and kissed his cheek before following on with Aiden, Danny and Jake.

“That's great, buddy. D'you wanna put a star on your chart?” He nodded eagerly, tossing me the boys' lop-sided grin before clambering up the chair by the stairs and sticking a gold star onto his reward chart. The boys each had one. Freddie had taken to crawling into my bed at night, and as much as I loved having my boys close to cuddle with, it wasn't a habit I wanted him to depend on, therefore whenever he sleeps in his own bed he gets a gold star. Aiden has the propensity to flat out refuse to try new things, so every time he interacts with somebody new or involves himself in an activity he hasn't done before, every time he has a bite of something that isn't candy or ice cream, he gets to put a star on his chart. Jake and Danny are identical not just in appearance but nature too, and they're a troublesome twosome. Jake's particularly fond of trying to scare Aiden at the moment with scary stories his uncles tell him, whilst Danny eggs him on. When they do something kind or really helpful, they get a star each. It's a win-win situation for everybody, because if they each have earned ten gold stars in a week we go for ice cream at my friend's store. All of the boys have my sweet tooth, so the reward is usually the motivation they need to behave.

Once each of the boys have told me one good thing they did yesterday and stuck a gold star on their charts I take them upstairs to their room to get dressed. Freddie is the most resistant to my cause, but none of the boys seem overly annoyed about it. After all, today isn't a normal day. That's why they're all up at the same time and not in their usual pairs. Every year for one weekend in July a large group of Mum's who've had multiple babies meet together in a park somewhere. I've been going since the boys were six months old in July 2008, so I know a lot of the Mums there and their babies. In fact, some of my closest friends are Multiple Mamas, as we call each other. This year the meeting is in Hampden Park, a fifteen minute drive from our house in East Dean. The boys were a nightmare to get into bed and asleep last night because they're so excited to see all their friends again, but I finally managed it at half nine with bribes of ice cream at lunch time today if they're good. I'd grabbed the clothes from downstairs on my way up so I laid them out and let the boys choose. In the end Jake picked the red t-shirt with the yellow hoodie, Danny had the blue shirt with a red hoodie, Aiden had the green shirt and hoodie whilst Freddie had the yellow shirt and blue hoodie. They all yanked on their socks haphazardly, clearly frustrated with me when I halted them so I could straighten them. Then we all trooped back downstairs to the kitchen for breakfast. French Toast is our traditional Multiples Picnic day breakfast, so I quickly made up a batch and dished it out for the boys, rolling my eyes as they all but inhaled their first lot and begged for more with their matching pouts and pleading big, blue eyes. I'm a sucker for the little guys' eyes and they know it.