Tripletville Adventures : Wishes

I love my sons, don't get me wrong, they are my world, their smiles are what bring me up when I am down, their faces are the last thing I think of before I fall asleep at night and holding them close to my heart is the greatest joy in my life... but sometimes I wish it was easier... I wish I could just grab a baby and go for a coffee, go shopping, or even just go visit a friend. With three it's not that simple. First of all, it takes me a minimum of 30 minutes just to get them ready and into their car seat and out the door so it's never as simple as grab and go. Secondly, carrying three babies around a store is quite challenging in itself. Trying to fit three car seats or my huge stroller in a change room to try on clothes?!? HA! Those are the times I envy my friends who have just one baby. The times when I look around at my three crying babies and know that there is only one of me and I can only comfort one of them... The times when I have to say no to join some mommy groups because I can't take care of my three babies without all the comforts of home around me. The times when I'd like to be able to leave the house in less than 30 minutes. Where going to a doctor's appointment would be a "breeze" and the thought of a fire going through my house wouldn't require planning to put my three babies in a laundry basket and hoping for the best... but then I look around at my babies and know that I wouldn't trade it for the world. I'll put up with all the difficulties that come with being a triplet mom to have them in my life. Things that would make my life (and I'm sure everyone's life) easier: a MAID!!!, a cook, a nanny (to have at least a second pair of hands), maybe a sister wife or two (haha) and magical super powers. I would like to be able to have a bottle ready in the blink of an eye (it now takes about 8 minutes to get a bottle ready and when you have a baby who wakes up thinking the world is going to end if he doesn't eat in the next 2 minutes, 8 minutes is an eternity). I would have a third arm to make feeding all three at the same time easier, and another two arms to burp the babies while I can still feed the other two. I currently prop two and manually feed one when I'm alone but the one who gets manually fed gets pretty upset when I have to burp his brothers. I always try to find a way to prop three of them, but having them on the floor makes my back ache and having all three on the couch always leaves one of them out of reach... anyways... just saying that if I could have 5 arms, that would be great. I would have three heads so that I could sing and talk to them individually as they quickly lose interest when I look at one of their brothers when we're playing. Oh well... I make it work. It's all worth it! All I gotta say is THANK GOD for evenings and weekends as my husband is one amazing dad and makes my job so much easier! One small thing that'll make life easier is the fact that I no longer need to sterilize!!! No more washing, rinsing, boiling nipples. We can even finally start using the dishwasher as it's meant to be used! We can mix our dishes with the bottles! WHAT?!? The paediatrician finally approved it. It'll save us some time, which is precious in a household with children!

Speaking of making things easier... we're starting to consider letting go of Roxy... I know I know...Tears have come to my eyes as it breaks my heart just even writing about it. She has been my baby for the last 5 years but the poor girl has been neglected ever since the babies have been in the world. She's constantly being reprimanded at for being in the way when all she wants is love and attention and she hardly ever gets out for walks. Even on walks she gets in the way of the huge stroller and I'm always scared that I'll roll over one of her paws. The people who have offered to take her live in the country and they are always out walking. She'd be so much happier there than here. I'm being really selfish in wanting to keep her here with us. She doesn't even care for the babies... If she was one of those dogs who'd love to be around the babies and would act as though she cared, it might be different but she couldn't give a rat's ass if the babies are around or not. She'll completely ignore them and if I try to get her near one of the boys, she'll smell him quickly and walk away. She spends the majority of her days on her bed looking at the door hoping someone, someday will come take her for a walk. The boys are just going to be more and more demanding of my time which will take more and more away from her. This is just an idea, I haven't even really talked to the people who initially offered to take her so it's not a done deal. I don't even know if I'd have the heart to do it...

I know you're all worried about Zachary... he's doing much better. He still has a few set backs but for the most part, he's really good! He's been sick this weekend, I think he caught what Samuel had (still has a bit of a cold himself). They have all been feeling a little bit under the weather this weekend. It's been quite a trying weekend with a lot of holding and rocking and babies sleeping in our arms. Right now as I write this, my MIL (mother in law) is walking around with a cranky Jacob, my FIL is entertaining Samuel and Gabe is trying to make my sickly sad Zachary smile even for just a second.... Thankfully, it hasn't changed their nightly habits. They still sleep really well at night. I just hope that this weekend was a fluke and that I won't be wishing for those magical powers tomorrow. At least my mother is back home now and I know that she's just a phone call away. I'm supposed to go to my school tomorrow to give a presentation to a child studies class... As much as I want my colleagues and my former students to meet the boys, I'm scared that they will still be feeling sickly tomorrow and I'll have three crying babies on my hands... We'll see... I would hate to cancel at the last minute but my boys, of course, will have to come first.

They are playing lots more on their play mats. They have even started grabbing at the various rings, play bugs and toys that hang above their heads. I've tried them in the bumbos... they're not quite sure what it's all about and not sure they like it! It's really cute to see their development day by day. They are just starting to show signs of laughter and giggling. The day they start giggling will be a good day, I'm sure :) I can't wait to be able to bring them outside to play... I'm so sick of old man winter!! Even this week, my friend Véro and I wanted to meet up to go for a walk as the weather was finally turning and there were no places to walk!! Everything was either too muddy, too slushy, or the sidewalks weren't cleared. Of course, we could have gone inside somewhere but what's the point of enjoying the nice weather if we're inside?!? We made our own path on random streets and around the Dieppe market parking lot, etc. as we are both getting cabin fever and we just needed out!! Why can't the city offer just ONE outdoor paved trail?? If that exists, please tell me where it is, or even if you know of a trail that would be clean enough for us to walk with a stroller without having to play mud hero just to go 2 feet??

So I dropped the nap routine... it just wasn't going to work... I know I know, it's about consistency and resilience but I truly believe the babies weren't ready. I talked to a bunch of mommas and the collective agreement is that, at their age, they are still too little to have a consistent nap routine. I've started letting them tell me when they are tired and that's when I put them in their cribs. Once in a while, they'll end up sleeping on their mat, in the swing, on the couch or in my arms, but I try really hard to get them to nap in their crib. Their morning nap is ALWAYS in their crib and it normally gives me at least 45 mins of solid "mommy time" to clean up bottles, load the dishwasher, do a load of laundry, shower every once in a while, drink a hot beverage of some sort and have breakfast. I don't try to keep them up, as they are normally all ready to go back down for a nap about one hour to one and a half hours after they got up so they normally nap from 8ish to 9ish. The 9 to 11 stretch is pretty long to try to entertain them but I'm getting better at it. After their 11 am feed, they are normally ready to go back for a little nap at around noon and then anytime after that in the afternoon is fair play for naps. We've discovered that they need a third nap sometime before their 7pm bottle or they become inconsolable. Jacob has developed this screeching type of crying that gets into the deep of you and when he's super tired or hungry, there's no soothing him!

So a fellow NICU mom had to take her daughter to the IWK this week, please keep her in your thoughts as they try to figure out how to help baby Emery. If you'd like to follow another amazing blog, here's the link: The Rugrats Chronicles. (http://therugratchronicles.wordpress.com) Not only does she have her beautiful daughter Emery at the IWK, she's got two boys at home who are cute as buttons. She's a super strong woman and my hat is off to her. Go Jill!!

Here are some pics of the week: