Miami Quintuplets Celebrate First Birthday
MIAMI (CBS4) - How does the Molina family do it?
Everyone who sees Jose and Diana with the quintuplets thinks that very question. They say it's with a military approach.
They have schedules and they have order, and they don't divert from it at all.
Jose works in a restaurant and mom stays home every day. In the past year they have gone out just one time alone to the movies when Diana's mother was in town.
It's tough, it's tiring, but overall, they say it's terrific.
Iker and Fabio are the only two who can crawl so far. Jorge Luis and Valentina, the only girl, are not far behind.
Then there is little Enzo. He's the smallest of the five and far behind in skills. He had serious heart complications that kept him in the hospital his first 10 months of life.
It was a complicated pregnancy and birth. Each baby born weighed less than two pounds.
"We're not only celebrating their birthday we're celebrating their life," said mother Diana Molina.
So what is life like for the Molina family? The family turned one of their two bedrooms into a playroom for the babies, where they spend most of their time. The other bedroom is where all five babies, plus mom and dad, sleep. Seven people sharing one room is tricky to say the least.
"It's complicated during the night," said Jose Molina.
Seven boxes of formula are stacked in one corner of the room, five hundred containers of fruits and veggies are in the kitchen, and the bathroom is packed with supplies they hope will last a week.
After all, the quints go through a total of 30 diapers a day!
"I haven't gotten to the state where I want to run out of the house they all behave very well," said Diana Molina.
"People think they keep crying all the time," said Jose Molina. "They don't cry at all unless they're hungry for their bottle."
The kids could mange their bottles very well at lunch time, except little Enzo, who still uses a feeding tube.
His dad said the doctors are shocked at how well Enzo is progressing so far.
"We got a routine, we keep it on the line and we know what to do," said Jose Molina.
CBS4's Cynthia Demos, along with Neighbors 4 Neighbors, organized a birthday drive for the quintuplets. The first to step up to the plate was the Early Learning Coalition. A group showed up with baskets of gifts and plenty for diapers. CBS4's Neighbors 4 Neighbors donated a $150 gift card from Walmart and invited the public to join in.
For more information on donating to the Molina quintuplets go to cbsmiami.com\neighbors.
