Random facts about having triplets...

A lot of people ask me how we do this. Not many people know someone who has triplets so they really don't know what all goes into having three babies at once. How many diapers do we go through? How do we feed three little mouths? Do we have three of everything?....and so on..... I'm going to give you a little glimpse into life with triplets.......

Diapers you ask? At first we were going through a pack of preemie or newborn diapers a day. That was around $70 a week in diapers! Now....we go through about 20 diapers a day. I've also switched to store brand diapers because I refuse to pay the Pampers price. I've used Pampers and to me, they are no better than the store brand ones I buy. My favorite are the Walgreens store brand and the new Up and Up Target brand. Both run about 15 cents per diaper which just totally rocks my world! People close to me say I am OBSESSED with diapers. I admit it. I really am!

Formula? A fellow triplet mom in my area put me in contact with a local Similac rep who has supplied us with some free formula. I get shipments once a month and this should last another 2-3 months. This free formula feeds the girls for about two weeks. Otherwise, I use the Costco store brand. I once heard that the Costco store brand was really Enfamil. However, the Similac rep told me that its actually Similac advance packaged as the Kirkland brand. She said they mix it and package it through a contract with Costco. I had no idea really. I knew Costco did that with most of their store brand products....but this is just perfect for me. I'm not the type that has to use brand name anything, but still. So our costs have been cut in this dept. Its still super expensive as we go through a can a day, but it's much less than what we were paying.

Baby food... No, I do not make our own baby food. I realize that this could save us money and blah blah blah. But the simple fact is...I HAVE TRIPLETS!! Who has time to make baby food? I don't even have time to shower most days. I smell like a trucker half the time! And speaking of baby food...... We've moved on to the Stage two Gerber foods (or sometimes the Target store brand depending on sales)... the girls are loving their food. We tried just about all the fruits and veggies. When they are 8 months old, I might have them try the stage two meals that have meat mixed in. Not sure yet...but WOW...I just realized they are almost 8 months old!

Moving on....

Assembly line... In our house, its all about the assembly line. I just do one baby at a time for everything from diaper changes to baths and getting dressed. Sometimes, after I'm done bathing and getting ONE baby dressed....I think those singleton moms have it so easy. They would be done. Not me...I have to do it two more times. But I know I'm blessed to do it two more times. I am, however, jealous of those little strollers you people get to use.

Speaking of strollers... I now have a collection. I have three (yes THREE) triple strollers. Its a sickness. It really is. I started out with a smaller triplet stroller.... meaning one that folds easily and isn't as spacious as it could be. Its a Norfolk triple. They only made these in 2006 and you can't buy them anymore. I got mine used from Craigslist. (Its kind of like the Baby Trend triple, but much better quality.) I also have a Peg Perego triple stroller. At first I loved that it is more spacious than my Norfolk. Also, it is much more comfortable for the girls. I'm not loving this stroller though. Its an older Peg... meaning no steering wheel like the new ones...also.. you have to remove the seats in order to fold the stroller. So I have the frame, and then three seats that I have to take apart and put back together every single time I use it. Its a pain in the behind! I'm going to keep using it though... because.. A. I got it for $150 which is a steal! and B. It really is the most comfy stroller I have for the kiddos! I also have my Q Series Triple Jogger which I LOVE!!!!! Best stroller ever. Can't be used in malls or stores, but its great for outside. I'm not done yet... I also have a single stroller.. and YES, we've used it..ONCE! haha... and then I have my coveted Step 2 Choo Choo Wagon. All of these strollers and my choo choo was a total of $575. Most people can't even buy a used Triple Peg stroller for $575 so I am quite proud of myself for how cheap I found all of this stuff!

So how many times do you run your dishwasher each day? Around here... we run ours TWICE! Once for bottles since they take up so much space. Those Dr. Brown's bottles have so many parts, but I LOVE these bottles. Then we run it another time to wash actual dishes. Its a pain, but it is what it is. Oh and I'm really starting to love our crock pot. I have been using it so much lately. Seems like its the only way to get a decent meal on the table.

Oh and do we have three of everything? Well, we have three cribs of course. We also started out with three bouncy seats, three Boppy pillows... Hmmm...I have two Bumbos...wish I had three, but since the girls are mostly sitting on their own, we don't need another one now. Two exersaucers and one jumperoo. Oh and two swings. We did also have three of the play/kicking gyms, but we've outgrown those. (Notice I say WE.... because yes... I've decided I'm one of the triplets. haha kidding... but I'm a part of it all so there..I say WE!)

Do NOT ask me if the triplets are natural. I will personally kick the rear of anyone asking that. Seriously... we have had the nicest comments in public as well as some rude ones. I actually had a woman in Target one day tell me to "admit it, you did IVF like that octomom didn't you?"I wanted to run her down with my giant stroller! Next time someone asks me if the babies are natural, I might ask them if their boobs are natural!!!!

And finally... How do I get through each day? Without our wonderful volunteers, I would be toast! Seriously. We are so thankful that even though our girls are 6 months old, we still have 5 volunteers (who I now call friends instead of volunteers) coming in two days a week to help me. Also, my mom and sister always come anytime I need a nap or just need the help! We are so blessed to have wonderful family and friends who are continuing to help us so much!

So that's my randomness for tonight. Rachel was a little fussy so I was up...but she has settled down so I am going to go get some shut eye myself while I can.

Also..not proof reading this so just a warning that I may look like an idiot in this entry!

Rollin, rollin, rollin......

Morgan is on the move. She's not crawling, but she is rolling. Rolling ALL OVER the place! Because she is the most mobile of the three, she is pretty much in control of the room. For instance, today she was playing with Sophia's paci. Well, Sophia wanted her paci so I took it from Morgan.....and that uh... kind of pissed her off. Anyway, I put the paci in Sophia's mouth and Morgan rolled right over to Sophia and took the paci...RIGHT OUT OF HER MOUTH! Later she rolled over to Rachel and took her toy. At least we don't have to worry about someone bullying her later on right?

Just a late night rant....

So Morgan woke up at 1:30. She never wakes up in the middle of the night. She's been running a fever for a couple of days so I thought maybe she had another one. Nope...no fever. Just fussy with a snotty nose. Poor baby. Of course her waking up...(she woke up screaming) woke Rachel up. And Rachel....well she has gone three nights in a row with no midnight bottle. I thought we were on to something. I tried comforting Morgan back to sleep, but Rachel was crying pretty loud too. I knew that if Rachel was awake, she wasn't going back to sleep without that bottle. So what does my genius butt do???... I gave them both a bottle thinking this would be the magic touch and they'd just go right back to sleep.

NOPE!

After I fed them, Rach went right back to sleep. But Morgan was fussy and had a stuffy nose. So I used that ball syringe thing and got her nose all clear of the snotties... by this time, it was about 2:30am...Morgan seemed to be settling down so I put her back in her crib hoping she'd go to sleep. Well as soon as I put her down she screamed bloody murder and that woke...SOPHIA up! NICE! So I quickly get Morgan out of the room and into the "pack n play" that we have set up in our room in case of such emergencies. Morgan continued crying, but I had to let her cry for a few because, otherwise, she won't go to sleep. That's just how she is.

Morgan finally gets back to sleep, but now Sophia is up. She's been up for over an hour now. Will NOT go back to sleep for anything. It's almost 4am.

I don't get this. My girls are over 7 months old and I'm still completely sleep deprived. We have our good nights where somehow.... by some miracle...they all sleep through the night. But then...there are the nights like this where I literally want to jump off of a bridge because I'm just so tired I can't take it.

You can bet your butt, I'm getting Bob up at the crack of dawn so he can take over and I can sleep! He originally said he'd be on baby duty one night this weekend. YEAH.... I guess he "forgot." That's right darling hubby....I'm calling you out on the blog!

I am sort of a believer that the whole.."crying it out" thing works in some cases. Of course not when a baby is sick or hungry.... but in cases where you know they are just overtired or something. However, crying it out...doesn't work in this house. Every single time I have tried it, they end up waking each other up and then I just have more to deal with. Yes, we do have a big house but bedroom space is very limited. The bedroom downstairs is being used as Bob's office and I don't want a baby downstairs at night anyway. That leaves their bedroom and ours upstairs. I do have the emergency pack n play so that is helping....but still!!! UGH!

The girls have been in their own room for a week now and I can honestly say.... it sucks walking down the hall all night instead of across the room. I'm not getting any more sleep than I was when they were right here next to me.

I AM GRUMPY!!!!

Update.... Just gave Sophia a bottle that I *gasp* heated up in the microwave!! She's almost back to sleep. It's 4:30AM... Now I know why God had me be the one taking care of the babies tonight. There is no way the hubby would have the patience to be up for three hours straight in the middle of the night! That bear needs his sleep! Needless to say.... I'm going to be sleeping until at least noon today!

First trip to the park

We decided we need to start getting the girls out of the house more often. We thought what better place than the park. We were so excited to try them out on the little baby swings. They loved it!!!!

Sophia was the first to try it out. She loved it!!! When Daddy started pushing her, she had the biggest smile. (Which I failed to capture on camera in time...but she's too cute anyway!)


Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!

We think Morgan liked it the best. She smiled the whole time. That's our big girl!

Push me faster Daddy!!!!!

Here is Rachel waiting her turn to ride.

She didn't like it as much as the other girls. But...I think that is because she is smaller and uh... Daddy didn't sit her up as much as maybe she should have. We talked about maybe bringing a towel or a blanket next time to take up some room for her!!!

We took a little break and sat at a picnic table for a while. Bob was playing peek-a-boo with the girls (with his hat) and they LOVED IT!!! Sophia and Rachel were giggling so hard. It was super cute! Morgan was smiling but not laughing.... She has her dad's personality for sure!

While Bob was entertaining Sophia and Rachel, I was playing with Morgan. Look at those beautiful eyes!!!

Just hanging out in their stroller. (Or one of their strollers....hehehehe....Since I admit I have a stroller addiction!!)

We had so much fun today that we're going to go again tomorrow. We drove around our area today looking for parks that had three baby/toddler swings instead of just two....but no such luck yet. We're going to keep looking!!! Don't they know that triplets need three swings? hahaha....Oh and we just recently realized that the big huge triple jogger FITS in the back of the van!!! It opens up so many possibilities for us!!!

In other news... Last night was the girls' first night in their own room. Needless to say, I didn't sleep the best. Morgan did great. I didn't hear a peep out of her. Sophia needed a little paci patrol around 3am. (However...just today, Sophia grabbed her paci on her exersaucer and just popped that sucker into her mouth. I was so proud!) Rachel....well she just needs me more than the other two at night. She was awake from 11pm until almost 1am. I fed her, but she just wouldn't go back to sleep. Ugh!!! I hope that doesn't happen again tonight. She has had nights where she sleeps all the way through, so here's to hoping!

Hope ya'll are enjoying your Labor Day weekend!!

The girls' room...

Today was a big day. We moved the girls into their own room. I think I'm going to cry when I go to bed tonight. I LOVED having them in our room. But...I know it's time for them to have their own space. Maybe we will all sleep better. I doubt it....but I'm just sayin!

We're not completely done with their room decor. It's painted. The wallpaper border is up. We still need to remove the blinds and get some sort of child proof window coverings. Also, since their room is upstairs, we need a window guard. I also need to get some cute pics or something on the walls. We had trouble fitting everything in there. We might need to make some adjustments once they are more mobile. I worry a lot about a crib being near a window, but we will have a window guard up soon. (Meaning bars on the window...they have safety bars that can be removed easily by an adult in the case of a fire) Anyway.... Here it is for now.

See... Its a tight squeeze! Ahh, life with triplets!

Here's a shot of the paint color and the super cute wall paper border.

Now I need to start looking for wall hangings. I'm not going to do their names over their cribs since there really isn't space for that. Plus, I think everyone does that anyway. I will figure something out. The room did turn out cuter than I thought it would with three cribs in it. We're turning the downstairs living room into a play room for the girls so their bedroom is just for sleeping.

Up next? Now that they are in their own space...........Nap boot camp! We are terrible nappers and I need for that to change. I tried nap boot camp last week but I gave in because we just didn't have the right space for them. Now...its ON!

She must be gifted

We've decided our little Morgan is gifted. She recently started putting her own paci into her mouth........which WOW..makes our life a lot easier. Also, she is getting really really close to holding her own bottle.

She surprised us a few days ago and started reaching for the spoon we feed her solids with. We decided to go ahead and hand it to her to see what she would do. She was so cute. She grabbed it and shoved it right into her mouth....then looked at us like.."yay, I can do it!"



So here she is.....Gimme that spoon Daddy!!!!

Don't worry..I can do it Mommy! (as Rachel looks on in awe!)



See....peas...I did it!!!!


And here she is sitting up all on her own! She's the only one right now who can sit alone for longer than one minute. Sophia's record is about 30 seconds. Little Rachel's record is about 10 seconds!! They are all getting so close though!

Hey Mommy, look...I am sitting all by myself!!!!! I'm so cute!

So yep, she's our little star for the moment! We think since she is the fraternal triplet, she feels the need to be a little more advanced than her sisters!!! hahahahahaha.......

Welcome to my world

Since I don't just write about all the "peaches and cream" stuff.... Here goes.

Welcome to my world. If you want to feel like I do right now, go to your kitchen. Now pull out some pots and pans and pound them together to make loud noises for about 20 minutes. Now...bang one of them on your head until your head is ringing and you are seeing stars!!!!! lol...

I'm a freak. I know this. You don't have to tell me.

So you can just guess how my afternoon went today. It all started at around 3pm when it was time for nap#3. (And yes, we are working on combining naps 2 and 3 into one.) Anyway... For the last two days Rachel has refused this nap and Morgan has slept for 20 minutes exactly. As you can guess, this makes for a very lovely afternoon of the girls being overtired and cranky....which is super fun for this mommy.

The nap part really isn't all that bad. I am working on changing the nap schedule so their new habits are just confirming that they are ready for a change. Its the fact that we are sort of in a transition phase that is making it hard around here lately.

I feed solids at 4pm. Today... they all pretty much had NO PATIENCE between bites. Because yes, I do feed from one bowl and one spoon and everyone gets a turn!!! I'm seriously considering feeding them one at a time...but...ugh...that just seems like a lot of work. I got through the feeding and then turned to my trusty friend...ELMO. (It was a long day of fussing and I needed a break.)

So 6pm rolls around and it was time to get them ready for bed and start the bedtime routine. I brought their Boppy pillows upstairs (to give bottles) and then grabbed three pairs of jammies to bring down and get them dressed and diapers changed and the whole bit. I get them ready on the floor... because they like to have me right next to them and so this was the easiest solution. I just do one after the other. I started with Morgan. She recently started rolling all over when I try to change her diaper and get her dressed so I basically have to wrestle with her. Got her changed, lotioned up and dressed. Then I put her in the Bumbo chair next to me and grabbed Rachel to start on her. By the time Rachel was ready, Morgan managed to barf all over the Bumbo and herself soaking her jammies. So I grabbed the jammies that were meant for Sophia and put them on Morgan.

When Rachel and Morgan were ready, I brought them upstairs....came back down to start warming bottles... then grabbed Sophia and the bottles and headed back upstairs. I changed Sophia on the dresser/changing table upstairs. We keep clean jammies in the top drawer. After I got my Fifi changed, I opened the drawer, grabbed some jammies and sort of pushed the drawer closed with my hip....NOT REALIZING THAT MY WITTLE BABY had her little hand near the drawer. And YEP...I almost smashed her wittle bitty fingers in the drawer. It just barely got her, but she screamed and I cried and felt like I should be awarded the world's worst mother award. Luckily, I didn't break her skin or any bones.....it just got her a little. I'm so thankful I didn't close the drawer all the way.

My poor little baby was so upset and so was I. While she was crying, Morgan was screaming because I was late with bottles since we had the unexpected jammie mess and then finger smashing. Rachel was fussing too so I had three loud screaming babies! It was awful.

So that was my night. Now you know why I joke about jumping off bridges!!!!

Okay..in better news...The girls all slept through the night last night. ON THE SAME NIGHT! Rachel hasn't had her midnight bottle two nights in a row. They have taken turns sleeping all night...JUST NEVER ON THE SAME NIGHT! So this was awesome! This is also new for Rachel so I really hope that this is the start of something great!

See...ending on a positive..always makes things better!

Playing catch up

Since I have been a blog-slacker lately..... I'm going to try and play a little catch up on what the girls are doing.

Morgan

I'll start with Morgan because she is quickly becoming our wildest little monkey. I mean, just look at that face. She's like.. "Hey mom, does it look like I'm going to take a nap right now?" NO!!!!!!!!!

Little Mo Mo is our most mobile baby. She flings her body toward anything she wants to see, grab, touch, or pull on. She can roll around like a little pro. Also, she is just starting to master a little scooting technique. Daddy....we REALLY need those baby gates! She is also very talkative. She makes the cutest sounds...just babbles, and yells, and will literally scream when she is excited about something. At the end of most days, my head is ringing.....not my ears...my entire HEAD! Oh and she is really getting good with the hand eye coordination. She can grab her paci now and put it in her mouth....This really is the day we have been dreaming of because Morgan required A LOT of paci patrol. Now...teeth!!! She was the first to get a tooth. She cut her first tooth and then just a couple of days later, cut the second one. Now they are about halfway in and she has the cutest smile with her wittle bitty baby teef!!!

Sophia

Our little Fi Fi is just the happiest baby....I know...she looks a little sleepy in this picture, but she is just so darn precious and lovable here, I had to post this one. She really is a mommy's girl. She doesn't like it when I leave the house without her. Apparently, she gets a massive case of mommy-itus. Anyway, she is rolling both ways like a little champion as well. She is also just learning to scoot to get what she wants. She is the closest, I think, to getting up on her hands and knees. She really pulls that chest up high with her arms when she is on her tummy. She's not putting her own paci in her mouth yet....but as a courtesy, she does open wide for it when she sees it coming. She smiles and giggles all day long. It doesn't take much to get her to laugh. She just cut her first tooth this past Friday....so we can just start to see it when she smiles.

Rachel

Rachel is still the little peanut. She doesn't weigh much less than Morgan, but for some reason she just looks a lot smaller. As you can see, she likes to sleep on her tummy. She was really fussy that day so I rubbed her back so she would sleep. She has trouble falling asleep for naps. Anyway... she isn't quite as mobile as her sisters, but when she really wants something, she'll surprise me and roll over to it and grab it. She doesn't do it often, but when she wants to......she will! She frequently gives us these wide open mouth smiles that crack us up. Funny thing.... she and Sophia both cut their tooth on the SAME day. I'll tell ya...that was a fun day for this Mama!

So that brings us to where we are now. The girls are really doing very well. None of them are sitting up on their own yet, but they are all VERY close to it. I can put them in the sitting position with a toy right in front of them and they can sit unsupported for about 5-10 seconds before falling over. They are just so cute to watch. I think this pretty much sums up anything you missed while I was the world's biggest blog neglector. I am going to TRY to update this more often....

Edited to say... I am NOT happy with the way this post came out. Blogger changed it's editing format and I am too tired to fix this right now...so this is how this one will look. I don't even have the energy to proof read so....oh wella wella! And where is the spell check?