Tripletville Adventures : Some positivity

Well I thought I'd make a post this week that speaks to the good parts of being a triplet mom. I felt like last week, and for many of my previous posts, I focused on the negatives so I thought I'd shift gear for a little while. While there are many difficult days when you're raising multiples, there are moments of pure joy. When I go get my sons in the morning, not only do I get one amazing smile, I get three little angels smiling up at me. That has to be the best moment of my everyday, no matter what kind of night I had or what kind of day yesterday was, those smiles erase all the negative and boost me up to do it all over again. Zachary is almost always awake when I walk in the room while one of his brothers has been crying because he wants to get up. He's just laying there in his crib, not saying a word, just looking around and then I go see him to ask if he had a good night's sleep and he just gives me the world's biggest smile. Coming from my most serious boy, that is one precious smile. Samuel, whether he has his thumb in his mouth or not, will smile at me before he even sees me. Jacob, with his big beautiful eyes, waits for me to flip him over on his back and gives me a huge gummy grin. Those smiles almost always bring a tear to my eyes. That's when I know I've been blessed... It also makes me happy to know that when it comes to soothing a non-soothable baby, I'm it. Mamma's got the touch. If you know me or anything about me, you know that I have a hard time believing people when they say they care about me and knowing that I have three beautiful sons who will always love me no matter what is the best feeling in the world. I am their mamma and will always be the first person who loved them and I will be one of the only who will love them unconditionally for the rest of their life.
Last week I mentioned how hard life can be when you have multiples and as I was talking to my chiropractor who also has three kids who were born not too far apart it got me thinking that I'm lucky... I'm lucky that the diaper stage for my three children will end almost all at the same time. I will only have to go through potty training hell once (hopefully they'll potty train at the same time!!). I only have to remember one birthday. (HA! As if I couldn't remember three...). My family is done in one shot, it's like we walked in to the fertility clinic with a Johnny two for one Coupon and got a bonus prize! I'll get the best cuddles when they're old enough to want to cuddle on the couch or bed with mommy (and for however long THAT lasts... 7, 8, 9, 10 years old?!?)... They can share clothes! Their developmental stages are all happening at the same time, so I don't have to worry about where my other children are supposed to be as they are all following one another. My boys will be (I hope) as close as brothers can be and I know that they will always have a friend. I won't have to worry about my child feeling lonely as they will always have at least two friends. I know that they may not have the same friends and may drift somewhat apart, but they will always be brothers and that means something. They will have a bond that can never be broken. On that same train of thought, very soon they will have each other to keep entertained. Mommy won't always have to be on the floor trying to make faces, singing ridiculous songs, etc. They will soon entertain each other... sure, that will one day include throwing stuff (including punches) at one another, or having some wrestling tournaments, but at least they'll have fun! They will learn to share and to be patient at a very early age and they should also develop a sense of independence from an early age which will make my job a lot easier! It'll be interesting to watch my boys, brothers certainly, but very different in their own right, grow up to be different people. I'm amazed everyday by how different they already are. I also think school will have it's positive sides as they'll be in the same class so hopefully they'll be able to help one another (and NOT COPY!!). It's a good thing they have a teacher as a mom as I'll always be a hawk making sure they follow the rules, but I'll also encourage them to help each other out to understand concepts that may be more difficult for one of them. Of course, some of you may be reading this and thinking to yourself: "she's dreaming!" but I prefer thinking about the positive things that my boys will be privy to and we'll deal with the negative IF they happen! Now I don't want anyone thinking that I'm taking away from having a singleton baby, I've never experienced it but I know by knowing my friends and how much they love their babies that a singleton is just as precious as anything, I just wanted to share MY thoughts about MY experience, so please don't get mad!!

Here are some quotes of my triplet momma Facebook group about why they think having triplets is a wonderful thing:

Kristin - Six little eyes looking up at me, six little hands stretched out and my heart explodes. Not many have the opportunity to feel so much love at one time or to feel three little bodies wiggling around in your tummy. I can't imagine it any other way, and now I'm crying because my heart is so full

Jennifer - When I check on them at night and they are cuddled together sleeping soundly.

Bonnie - I love having multiples because it's a built in play date everywhere we go. I love watching them interact with one another. How they make each other laugh, wrestle one another, and work together. They'll always have an extremely special bond.

Heather - I think I appreciate the quiet moments rocking each one more than I did my singleton. I savor those times because they don't come often enough in the chaos

Jen - I love all of the smiles when I go in to wake them up in the mornings and all of the extra love they give

Jillian - I love watching them interact, the way they reach for one another, smile when they see each other, it just melts my heart. I am an only child so that might have something to do with why I am so amazed by their bond.

Gabe also wanted to say his piece this week, so here's what he had to say about the joys of having our triplet boys:

So this week for the blog my wife wanted to write about the positive things about having triplets so I decided to do a little writing of my own without talking it over with her and writing out some of the positive things I think of when I think of having triplets.

For me it's the morning smiles you get from babies. We get that every morning X3 and I think it's great. Pick up a baby, get smiles anywhere from a couple minutes to ten minutes and then you get to do it over again with the other two. That's a lot of smiles to fill your heart first thing in the morning and I love it! No matter how groggy or tired I am it makes it really worth it.

I also love discovering with them x3. You know how much fun it is to discover what makes your baby smile and laugh but we get to do this with 3 babies. I know other people have more than one child at different intervals and get to experience this with all their children but at different time intervals. We get to do it in very small intervals. I am completely fascinated watching their little personalities develop. What makes which baby laugh and how the same thing doesn't make all the babies laugh. I love how Samuel is 95% smiles with us but is often teetering between laughing and crying. He's almost always content hanging out on his play mat grabbing at the bugs that dangle or looking at himself in the mirror or chilling in his swing. But then Zachary doesn't like the swing so much. Likes to hang out on the play mat for a limited amount of time and then starts to make a noise similar to a whiny cat which means I’m bored and on the verge of getting upset so please come pick me up so you can distract me. Now he's a very serious little boy but if you know the right combination you can get the cutest smiles from him and since last week some laughter, cooing, and some squeaks. And then there's Jacob who also gives great smiles and is not a big fan of the whole sitting thing. He prefers to have his legs straight most of the time so lying down is good as well as trying to stand up but he is very limited in his sitting time. He's usually pretty agreeable and easy to distract but lately when he decides he wants to eat (usually the 6:45pm feeding that we have slowly brought to an earlier time because of him) he screams inconsolably at the top of his lungs...until he gets a bottle in his mouth at which point he is content again...that is until you take said bottle out to burp him and he starts to scream again. Insert bottle after burp and we're good to go.
So as I said I just get fascinated watching them and learning everything about them and like I said parents with 1 or more babies also get that experience but we get it x3 which makes for an interesting combination of who likes what, when, and where.

People ask us all the time if we started noticing differences in their personalities and to be perfectly honest we could see the differences in their little personalities as soon as we started to pick them up and hold them in the NICU and spend time with them. When they where only between 3-4lbs and only about 6-8 inches from their little bum to the top of their head. I would say at about two weeks old we could already see that Jacob, despite being the smallest guy, was the strongest guy. We knew that Zachary was a very serious little man and had particular eating habits. And Samuel...well he was just an easy going, go with the flow happy go lucky little man. We are so lucky that life turned out the way it did...

Gabe

Now for news of the week...

This week was great, I had a lot going on but I like being busy so hopefully the boys will soon realize this and every slight change in routine won't bother them too much! On Monday I went to visit my school to talk to a class about my adventures but the moment I walked in the room, with 10 minutes left to class, there was no time for me to speak as all they wanted was to see the babies (who could blame them?!?). I got to see a lot of people I missed, including students who meant a lot to me. Being back in that place made me realize how much I miss the hustle and bustle of a high school. I wanted to know all the gossip!! The boys were great! They attracted lots of attention but it's ok, that's why I brought them, I wanted to show them off! Jacob started crying when it was time to leave. I think he realized he was in a high school and already knew that he would hate it! lol... He cried all the way through the halls and all the way home... poor little man! He really doesn't like his car seat!! The public health nurse came on Wednesday and is pretty impressed by their development. They are growing like weeds! Jacob is about 10.5lbs and Zach and Sam are both about 12.5lbs. They barely fit into their three month clothes! They will be 5 months old on the 21st and they measure at about the 4 months mark. They're catching up quick!! We also went to the chiropractor on Wednesday to make sure that all was right with the boys. Some people, I'm sure, would question my decision for bringing them there but I've heard many good things about what a chiropractor can do for your child. I was worried about Jacob being so stiff and hating being in his car seat so I thought that I brought Jacob, I better bring the other two just to make sure they were ok too. He quickly evaluated Jacob (which included holding him upside down...eeeeek!!!) and knew right away that he had discomfort in his pelvic area. He did a quick adjustment and when we put Jacob in his car seat, he didn't even make a squeek! Now I'm not saying it was a miracle because Jacob still isn't a fan of his car seat, but it's much better than it was before. He's going to go again in a few weeks just to do another round of adjustments and he should be good to go! Zachary decided to have the biggest poop of his life right there in the fancy chiro's office... Here I was, cleaning a HUGE poopy diaper right on the adjustment table with wipes... This was a poop where I would have normally said "F-THIS" to the wipes and plopped him right into the sink to clean him up but that wasn't going to happen in the super fancy "I shop at fancy places" sink in the room! Now this poop was so bad, it was all over his pants and shirt and the shirt was still stained the next day after I washed it... haha... It's a good thing I had a change of clothes for him!

Wednesday marked 4 years since Gabe and I had been together and we normally go to this amazing bed and breakfast to celebrate but this year, we decided that we'd at least like to go out for a nice dinner. Our friend Tracy had given us a gift card to Moxie's when we had the babies to make sure that we took time for us so we decided to go there. My mother and my step-father graciously offered to come babysit with a little help from my father in law. It was nice to get out and just be us again.

The boys had their 4 month shot on Thursday and as hurtful as it was for them, it didn't really affect them after they got over it. They may have been a tiny bit more irritated or we noticed that they spit up a bit more but whether it was a side effect of the shots or the chiro adjustments, we don't know. All we really noticed is that they seem to be a little bit more clingy this weekend. I hope this doesn't last because I can't have three clingy babies on my hands all by my lonesome!!

On Saturday, I got to go to my step-brother's girlfriend's baby shower in PEI. My in-laws were nice enough to come help Gabe hold down the fort for the day while I went away with my sister, my nieces and my mother. It was a really fun road trip, it had been a while since we spent time with just the girls. I missed the boys like crazy especially since the hall was filled with babies about the boys' age! We also had a real nice time at the baby shower where I ate way too much! How could I not with all the amazing goodies they were serving?!? They even had free booze!! I only had a glass of wine... but that was only because I didn't want to fill myself up in liquid calories when I could eat more!! haha.... I totally regretted it on the drive back, I was NOT feeling too good... haha. It's always worth it at the moment, but you almost always regret it after! Speaking of my addiction to food... I started a work out this week called Focus T25. It's only 25 minutes a day, so it's perfect! I do it while the boys are taking their morning nap. It gives me just enough time to do the workout, shower and relax a little while the boys are sleeping. I started Wednesday and I thought I would die during the first workout! I used to be in great shape, like I could've, at one point, have kept up with the high intensity person on the video... NOT NOW!!! I was barely able to keep up with the modified person... I even had a hard time doing jumping jacks.... JUMPING JACKS!!! C'MON!!!! Oh well, I gotta start somewhere! I hope to get better and better everyday... we'll see what happens next week. With the weather getting warmer, I'll also be able to go for more walks so hopefully soon I'll be able to slowly phase out my pregnancy clothes and start wearing real clothes again!!

Today Gabe and I dropped the boys off at my mother's (I know, I left my boys for two days in a row.... I'm awful!) and went to look for a rocker recliner chair as the chair I use to rock my boys in the living room is squeaking like crazy and if I can't change it, you may see a picture of a chair going through a window. Thankfully Gabe found a temporary solution because the chair we found that we both actually like is going to take 6 to 8 weeks to come in... BOOOOO!!!! My in-laws offered to lend us their rocker recliner until we get ours but hopefully we won't have to deprive them of it if Gabe's temporary solution lasts. So far so good...

As far as Roxy goes... the person who had offered to take her can't take her after all so that made our decision for us. She'll be staying with us! Hopefully I'll be able to take her for more walks and maybe once the babies grow up a bit she'll be more interested in them and them in her... Or maybe some other kind soul will offer to take her. It's a bittersweet feeling to know she's not going anywhere.. yet anyway.

WOW!! Long post!! Ok... I know this is what you really want... PICTURES TIME!!!

Uncle Eric with Zachary and Samuel

Samuel looking quite comfy in Matante Cindy's arms!

Pretty damn cute!

Gabrielle loving cousin Jacob

Visit from my aunt Diane and my uncle Marc

If you think she looks comfortable, you're right! My aunt is a foster mother who has raised more babies than I can count... Her biological children are in their twenties and along the way, she found in her heart to adopt a little girl and two little boys and is constantly looking after babies who have nowhere else to turn... She is definitely one of my heroes!