This being my first official week alone, I felt rushed a lot where I needed to do everything before Gabe came home so that he'd see that I was able to handle it all on my own and that things would be as they had been when my mother was here to help me full time... well, I had to take a step back and realize that I can't do it alone and that's ok, I have a partner and he doesn't need to think I'm superwoman and neither do my kids. I was rocking Jacob one day in the nursery and all I kept thinking was: "Go to sleep my little man, momma's got things to do!". That's when it hit me that all those other things could wait; I had my son in my arms and he would never be this little again. Right now, these boys need their momma and this is the time I'm going to miss in five, ten, twenty years... They'll never need me as they need me now. I read a blog entry the next day that somebody shared on Facebook this week talking about just that, about the fact that when I'm 80, not only will I no longer be needed but I'll probably start being a burden to my boys. The fact that I fed them, wiped their bums, gave them a thousand kisses a day and held them against my heart for hours on end some days won't matter anymore. THIS is the time they need me, and THIS is the time that I need to spend every moment I can loving them as much as I can. I've shared that blog entry below if anyone wants to read it. It's crazy how it showed up on my Facebook the day after I had come to some of the same realizations and spoke to exactly how I was feeling this week.
Somebody Needs You
Somebody Needs You
As far as being alone this week, it's not all that bad. It's really not as bad as I thought it was going to be. Zachary is still having a hard time with cramps so I think I might try some bio drops that some people have suggested to me. They seem to like the afternoon as a fussy time... they start at around 3 and last until about 5:30 when we feed them next so I have about one hour alone with them in their fussy time before Gabe comes home to rescue me! The worst part about being alone is that I can no longer nap in the morning. After their 6AM bottle, they normally go back in their cribs for a short morning nap. There is always at least one who doesn't want to nap. When my mother was here, she'd take care of the one who wouldn't nap, and I could stay in bed and have my own nap but now I have to stay up with the little bugger who won't shut his eyes. The worst part is that I think they just don't want to be in their cribs because I take them in the living room, put them in the swing and they swing away super happy. I guess I could nap while they are swinging but I would feel foolish napping on the couch while one or two of the boys are wide awake swinging away! So now I take more naps at night between their 5:30PM and their 10PM bottles. I fell asleep on the couch one night this week and slept for 2 and 1/2 hours while Gabe went about his business... I never heard a thing! I'll be taking one of those naps as soon as I'm done writing this blog! My eyes are closing as I'm writing... it might also be the wonderful glass of wine I'm drinking too so forgive any spelling mistakes!
We went to the hospital on Monday for another RSV shot and for the paediatrician to have a look at the boys. He is quite pleased with their development! Zachary weighed in at 10lbs 9oz, Samuel was 10lbs 8oz and Jacob was 8lbs 12oz! They're growing like weeds!! I asked him about night training knowing that it was most likely way too early to start thinking about that but he said that they were probably ready to do some sort of night training. He told us to start feeding them a little earlier and keep them up with us for a while before their "bed time" so that they go to sleep without a full tummy that way if they wake up and their tummies are empty, they won't freak out because they've gotten used to going to sleep on a semi-empty stomach. He also told us to start reducing their middle of the night feed to see how they fare. We started this on Tuesday night, deciding to do the middle of the night feeding as a dream feed. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's when you feed the baby directly in their cribs while they are still sleeping (or just barely awake), you don't talk to them, you don't change their diaper and you don't even need to burp them. Since we were only going to be feeding the boys 2oz, we decided not to burp them. We wait until the first one starts to whine and we dream feed the three. Zach wasn't feeling it the first night waking up at 4 (we had fed them the 2oz at 2) and just not having it! I gave him a little more just to satiate him and he went back to sleep but not for long. Jacob wasn't feeling it night two, also waking up early not happy with this hunger he was feeling. However, it's been going pretty good since. We are able to get in and out of bed within 20 - 25 minutes! I did it alone all week (except for Tuesday as my mother was still here) and on Friday & Saturday night Gabe got up to do it. We decided that Gabe would get up with me this week to do the dream feed as he says he's awake anyway so he might as well help me. He's able to fall asleep very quickly and what's 20 minutes in the middle of the night? The worst part of it is that it takes about 10 minutes to get the bottles ready (we have them pre-made so they're cold and we have to warm them up to room temp) so by the time the bottles are ready, at least one baby is wide awake and crying so there goes the whole dream feeding idea for that baby! We will try something different this week so that it doesn't take so long to get the bottles ready! One night they slept until 3AM... was I a happy camper or what? I got to sleep for 4 straight hours!!! WINNING!!!!!! It was only a one time deal so I shouldn't do a happy dance yet! haha... The doctor told us to keep reducing the feeding little by little until we have nothing but a soother to give them but I don't think they're ready to reduce yet so we will keep it at 2oz this week. People keep telling me that it's way too early to sleep train but my boys are taking to it so far so we'll see! They are really good at knowing the difference between night and day and go down pretty easy, never crying/fussing for more than 10 minutes.
So speaking of my being tired... I must have been in a dream state myself on Tuesday night as I was changing Jacob's diaper because when I changed his diaper on Tuesday morning, I found a used wipe in his diaper... yep, a dirty poopy wipe!!! Poor little guy... no wonder he didn't have a good night! HA!
This week I got to go enjoy a night with my book club ladies, it was really good to have some social conversation. Of course, we talk about the book we read (this month it was "The Rosie Project", it's pretty good) but most of us being mothers, we talk a lot about our babies. It's funny because when we started book club about 5 years ago, there were a small number of us with babies so the talk was much different than it is now. We are still a group of girls who would do anything for one another and they are the reason for my sanity. I also got to enjoy a glass and half of wine (I stopped at the half as I had to drive...BOO!!! MORE WINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!). I probably should have stopped at the one as I think the half is the bit that made me want to throw up on my babies while I was dream feeding them that night! Come to think of it, that was the same night I forgot the wipe in Jacob's diaper... woops!! I just looked at the glass of wine beside me and reconsidered drinking it.... HAHA... as if!
Gabe's parents came to help him while I was out. He didn't really need the help (if I can do it alone, he can too right?) but they never say no to seeing their little babies. They're pretty great at helping out when we need a hand. They came today and helped for two feedings. Gabe's dad spent about an hour walking around with our little fussy Zachary as that's about all that works when he's not his best self. This helps us out a lot as it frees us to do the dishes, eat, shower, etc.
We got another chock full of pre-made meals from my friend Alicia's mom Linda (THANKS LINDA!!!). It's nice because they are all individualized portions so that it won't go to waste. I just have set the meal to defrost the night before and have a great lunch the next day (well whenever I deem lunch to be...who knows when that happens).
My fellow multiples mom friend Julie (whom I've known for a very long time and our mutual multiple pregnancy brought us back together again...funny how life works...) came to visit on Friday and brought me to yummy St-Hubert lunch. She's 34 weeks pregnant with a boy girl set of twins and she's starting to feel it! She looks pretty good! Jacob had a fun time dancing on her belly!!
My sister and her husband kindly offered to babysit the boys yesterday so that Gabe and I could go out and have some time together. We went to lunch and ran some errands. It was nice to be able to leave and know that the boys were in great hands. As my sister had helped me for two weeks, she knew the boys' particularities and how I liked things to run so I wasn't worried about their schedule being disrupted. Of course my nieces were here too so the boys weren't going to lack love! When I got home my aunt and her boyfriend were here. They had come down from Campbellton to give us a hand and of course meet the boys. My aunt even made sure I didn't get out of bed on Saturday night and helped Gabe with the overnight feeding. I was awake the whole time so I could have gotten up to help but it was nice to stay cuddled up in my blankets. They brought us a spaghetti dinner so that was nice and when the boys went to bed we set up the table and had a nice dinner, some wine (well Gabe and I did... man, I sound like a wino don't I?!? I promise I am not, this is like the third time I've had wine since the boys came home!!), and a nice dessert. We even played a few games of Sequence after dinner. Francis, my aunt's pretty awesome boyfriend, looked at me at one point and said: "Well I guess it's pretty easy raising triplets, we even have time to play cards!!". I guess I'm just blessed that my babies like to sleep at night... for now... (knocking on virtual wood here...)
Samuel smiled at me this week... it was amazing! For as long as I can remember, well it started in elementary school really, I've had a really hard time trusting that people actually cared. Trust me, that shit stays with you so don't assume that your 7, 8 or 9 year old will just get over it... I always assume that the moment I leave a room, people start talking behind my back about how annoying I am, etc. I even used to think my family was truly a family of green aliens that changed into their true self as soon as I went to bed at night (this is my sister's fault by the way). I used to sneak back into the living room to make sure they were still human but then I'd think that they heard me and had time to put their human costumes back on. Yep... issues here... Samuel seemed to only "talk" and smile when he was with my mother, I stupidly started thinking that even my own children wouldn't like me so when he looked at me and gave me a huge smile on Tuesday night, I started crying like an imbecile. Gabe walked in the room and asked me what was wrong with me... I said: "He likes me baby, he really likes me..." to which he replied, of course: "of course he likes you, what's wrong with you?" ... haha... yep, my issues run deep my friends...
Just a few things to finish of this week... kind of a downer way to end I guess but it's all important to me...
A fellow triplet mom lost her three babies yesterday. She got to hold them before they took their last breath but they were too little to make it into the world. I kindly ask you to say a little prayer for them if you're the praying type. If not, please just close your eyes and give those three little angels a thought and their poor parents some positive vibes...
Secondly, Gabe and I decided to give to a cause this week. We have been so blessed with all that we have been given that we give what we can when we can. This little boy got into a horrible accident (one which his own dad came upon on his way home from work...can you imagine?!?) and they need help making the house work for his needs. The dad is a single military dad with three other kids so please, if you can, think about giving to this family. Here is the link to donate. (http://www.gofundme.com/606ivs) or click on the link below.
We went to the hospital on Monday for another RSV shot and for the paediatrician to have a look at the boys. He is quite pleased with their development! Zachary weighed in at 10lbs 9oz, Samuel was 10lbs 8oz and Jacob was 8lbs 12oz! They're growing like weeds!! I asked him about night training knowing that it was most likely way too early to start thinking about that but he said that they were probably ready to do some sort of night training. He told us to start feeding them a little earlier and keep them up with us for a while before their "bed time" so that they go to sleep without a full tummy that way if they wake up and their tummies are empty, they won't freak out because they've gotten used to going to sleep on a semi-empty stomach. He also told us to start reducing their middle of the night feed to see how they fare. We started this on Tuesday night, deciding to do the middle of the night feeding as a dream feed. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's when you feed the baby directly in their cribs while they are still sleeping (or just barely awake), you don't talk to them, you don't change their diaper and you don't even need to burp them. Since we were only going to be feeding the boys 2oz, we decided not to burp them. We wait until the first one starts to whine and we dream feed the three. Zach wasn't feeling it the first night waking up at 4 (we had fed them the 2oz at 2) and just not having it! I gave him a little more just to satiate him and he went back to sleep but not for long. Jacob wasn't feeling it night two, also waking up early not happy with this hunger he was feeling. However, it's been going pretty good since. We are able to get in and out of bed within 20 - 25 minutes! I did it alone all week (except for Tuesday as my mother was still here) and on Friday & Saturday night Gabe got up to do it. We decided that Gabe would get up with me this week to do the dream feed as he says he's awake anyway so he might as well help me. He's able to fall asleep very quickly and what's 20 minutes in the middle of the night? The worst part of it is that it takes about 10 minutes to get the bottles ready (we have them pre-made so they're cold and we have to warm them up to room temp) so by the time the bottles are ready, at least one baby is wide awake and crying so there goes the whole dream feeding idea for that baby! We will try something different this week so that it doesn't take so long to get the bottles ready! One night they slept until 3AM... was I a happy camper or what? I got to sleep for 4 straight hours!!! WINNING!!!!!! It was only a one time deal so I shouldn't do a happy dance yet! haha... The doctor told us to keep reducing the feeding little by little until we have nothing but a soother to give them but I don't think they're ready to reduce yet so we will keep it at 2oz this week. People keep telling me that it's way too early to sleep train but my boys are taking to it so far so we'll see! They are really good at knowing the difference between night and day and go down pretty easy, never crying/fussing for more than 10 minutes.
Of course as I write this, my little Jacob is proving me wrong as he's waking up and not being a happy camper!
Virtual interlude as I go soothe my baby... of course you won't notice this at all but you can take a bathroom break and come back if you so desire...
... I so wish I could have taken a picture of my little angel as I gave him his monkey soother, such a face I could just kiss all night!!
So speaking of my being tired... I must have been in a dream state myself on Tuesday night as I was changing Jacob's diaper because when I changed his diaper on Tuesday morning, I found a used wipe in his diaper... yep, a dirty poopy wipe!!! Poor little guy... no wonder he didn't have a good night! HA!
This week I got to go enjoy a night with my book club ladies, it was really good to have some social conversation. Of course, we talk about the book we read (this month it was "The Rosie Project", it's pretty good) but most of us being mothers, we talk a lot about our babies. It's funny because when we started book club about 5 years ago, there were a small number of us with babies so the talk was much different than it is now. We are still a group of girls who would do anything for one another and they are the reason for my sanity. I also got to enjoy a glass and half of wine (I stopped at the half as I had to drive...BOO!!! MORE WINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!). I probably should have stopped at the one as I think the half is the bit that made me want to throw up on my babies while I was dream feeding them that night! Come to think of it, that was the same night I forgot the wipe in Jacob's diaper... woops!! I just looked at the glass of wine beside me and reconsidered drinking it.... HAHA... as if!
Gabe's parents came to help him while I was out. He didn't really need the help (if I can do it alone, he can too right?) but they never say no to seeing their little babies. They're pretty great at helping out when we need a hand. They came today and helped for two feedings. Gabe's dad spent about an hour walking around with our little fussy Zachary as that's about all that works when he's not his best self. This helps us out a lot as it frees us to do the dishes, eat, shower, etc.
We got another chock full of pre-made meals from my friend Alicia's mom Linda (THANKS LINDA!!!). It's nice because they are all individualized portions so that it won't go to waste. I just have set the meal to defrost the night before and have a great lunch the next day (well whenever I deem lunch to be...who knows when that happens).
My fellow multiples mom friend Julie (whom I've known for a very long time and our mutual multiple pregnancy brought us back together again...funny how life works...) came to visit on Friday and brought me to yummy St-Hubert lunch. She's 34 weeks pregnant with a boy girl set of twins and she's starting to feel it! She looks pretty good! Jacob had a fun time dancing on her belly!!
My sister and her husband kindly offered to babysit the boys yesterday so that Gabe and I could go out and have some time together. We went to lunch and ran some errands. It was nice to be able to leave and know that the boys were in great hands. As my sister had helped me for two weeks, she knew the boys' particularities and how I liked things to run so I wasn't worried about their schedule being disrupted. Of course my nieces were here too so the boys weren't going to lack love! When I got home my aunt and her boyfriend were here. They had come down from Campbellton to give us a hand and of course meet the boys. My aunt even made sure I didn't get out of bed on Saturday night and helped Gabe with the overnight feeding. I was awake the whole time so I could have gotten up to help but it was nice to stay cuddled up in my blankets. They brought us a spaghetti dinner so that was nice and when the boys went to bed we set up the table and had a nice dinner, some wine (well Gabe and I did... man, I sound like a wino don't I?!? I promise I am not, this is like the third time I've had wine since the boys came home!!), and a nice dessert. We even played a few games of Sequence after dinner. Francis, my aunt's pretty awesome boyfriend, looked at me at one point and said: "Well I guess it's pretty easy raising triplets, we even have time to play cards!!". I guess I'm just blessed that my babies like to sleep at night... for now... (knocking on virtual wood here...)
Samuel smiled at me this week... it was amazing! For as long as I can remember, well it started in elementary school really, I've had a really hard time trusting that people actually cared. Trust me, that shit stays with you so don't assume that your 7, 8 or 9 year old will just get over it... I always assume that the moment I leave a room, people start talking behind my back about how annoying I am, etc. I even used to think my family was truly a family of green aliens that changed into their true self as soon as I went to bed at night (this is my sister's fault by the way). I used to sneak back into the living room to make sure they were still human but then I'd think that they heard me and had time to put their human costumes back on. Yep... issues here... Samuel seemed to only "talk" and smile when he was with my mother, I stupidly started thinking that even my own children wouldn't like me so when he looked at me and gave me a huge smile on Tuesday night, I started crying like an imbecile. Gabe walked in the room and asked me what was wrong with me... I said: "He likes me baby, he really likes me..." to which he replied, of course: "of course he likes you, what's wrong with you?" ... haha... yep, my issues run deep my friends...
Just a few things to finish of this week... kind of a downer way to end I guess but it's all important to me...
A fellow triplet mom lost her three babies yesterday. She got to hold them before they took their last breath but they were too little to make it into the world. I kindly ask you to say a little prayer for them if you're the praying type. If not, please just close your eyes and give those three little angels a thought and their poor parents some positive vibes...
Secondly, Gabe and I decided to give to a cause this week. We have been so blessed with all that we have been given that we give what we can when we can. This little boy got into a horrible accident (one which his own dad came upon on his way home from work...can you imagine?!?) and they need help making the house work for his needs. The dad is a single military dad with three other kids so please, if you can, think about giving to this family. Here is the link to donate. (http://www.gofundme.com/606ivs) or click on the link below.
Finally, some pics of the week, to bring our mood back up again by seeing my precious boys grow up! They are 14 weeks!!!
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| Zachary not too sure about this whole vibrating thing... |
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| Yes... as you can see in the laptop's reflection, momma's watching "The Bachelor"! |
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| I'm done Momma - Zachary |
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| My Samuel loving tummy time... for about 3 minutes |
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| ...this was 5 minutes later... tummy time takes a lot out of me momma! |
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| When all three babies are screeching of hunger, this is how you make feeding time happen! |
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| Daddy hanging out with Zachary (between his legs) and Jacob (in his arms). |
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| You can't really see their faces but this is Zach and Sam with their collars popped, waiting to go pick up some chicks! |
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| My angel Zachary sleeping |
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| Samuel passed out (notice his mullet... PARTY IN THE BACK!!!) |
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| Jacob...not sleeping...he's probably watching TV, he seems to love it. |
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| My little big guy Jacob sucking on his thumb waiting for his bottle |
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| My aunt Mona, her bf Francis and the boys. |
LIVE, LAUGH, LOVE
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