RED DEER, Alta. — After three sets of fraternal twins, Pam and Taylor Armstrong are closing in on reality-TV territory but trying for a fourth set isn't in the cards for the couple from central Alberta.
"We are done. I said this is our grand finale. We'll call it quits here," laughed Pam Armstrong from the couple's new five-bedroom home in Red Deer on Monday.
The couple welcomed their first son Parker and daughter Emery nine years ago, girls Brynlee and Adileigh five years ago and the newest additions boy Maverick and girl Blakely three weeks ago.
It was a special Mother's Day for Pam Armstrong who said her four older children are thrilled.
"They all made me special cards and told me all the things they loved about me, which was great. Then we spent some time with my family — my grandma and grandpa, my mum and dad, and some of my siblings," she said.
"I didn't have to cook or do dishes or laundry, which was lovely. We avoided all of those things for one day anyway."
There had only been twins once in her family before when her grandmother gave birth to a set.
"I say it runs in our family now."
Armstrong believes her work as a labour and delivery nurse before having children of her own helped her cope. And after two sets of twins, news about a third wasn't a total shock.
"We were very aware that this could happen but you don't think that it actually would happen a third time," said Armstrong, who turned 34 two days before the latest births.
"It was kind of, OK, this is our reality. We're going to do this again. I have had much opportunity to perfect my ways in parenting and mothering two babies."
Her husband took a month's paternity leave from his teaching job in nearby Blackfalds, Alta. He said it's definitely easier to cope the third time around.
"I don't know if I'd call us a well-oiled machine, but we know what we need to achieve. We don't always achieve it in that well-oiled way. We run a few minutes late," he said.
"We'll keep doing just the same old thing. Just keep on trucking. We've got a few more critters in the bunch now."
Tyler Armstrong said he realizes that the pressure will be on to produce something more than just a card from the kids when the next Mother's Day rolls around.
"I might need to produce something of merit for a few years here yet. That's for sure."