Knee Deep In Diapers

Sleepless nights. They are a given when you have one child, when you have three it is a certainty. I talked some last about schedules and they are a constant work in progress for us, but progress does come.

Last night A and I were really ahead of the game. It was 10:00 PM and everyone was washed, fed and in the cribs. We had a little more time for ourselves....... what to do? Sleep of course! Get ready for bed just as quick as you can and rush, rush, rush to fall asleep. It was almost as if we knew we would "get caught". Just as I was about to head to the back room, Livi started to stir. It was as if to say, "Hey now wait a minute... I must have drifted off and in that time someone went and stuck me in my crib, but it isn't time... I have a few minutes yet. “Approaching her crib I saw her little head bob up in the air and slanting, tired eyes looked up and me in a whimper. I had been caught. I picked her up and she laid her head on my shoulder. We rocked a bit in the nursery while Benjamin took hold of the operations and discovered he too was prematurely to rest. Sammy?... ah yes - there you are just a few minutes later. There we all were. Still under the frustration and exhaustion, they were cute as buttons and I was.. well spotted with spit up and have seen better days. We were all exhausted, but only one of us wanted to sleep. “A” too had lost the opportunity and we now each worked on getting them all back down and to rest.

Sleep is something it seems every child fights. Our oldest comes up with half a dozen, Oh I forgot to's each night at bedtime. Suddenly her mind is a steel trap, remembering every detail of what she must accomplish before being in bed. If this one is getting old, the other trick is to play it cool. Distract. Don't let your parents know you know you that you are working towards an extra five minutes, but make them believe you are actually in the process of departing to bed. Go find the cat you haven't paid attention to all day and give him a long hug and goodnight wish, that kind of thing.

I too remember bedtime as the ultimate curse. I just never would have imagined that at six months of age, it already begins. Of course now there is nothing I could imagine as more enjoyable than a mandatory 10:30 AM nap time at work. I would pull out my blue mat and curl up under my desk with talk radio playing softly from my computer. How sweet it would be.

Posted by Jaycie at 03:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I don't watch this show, typically. In fact, if I do catch a preview of the show or see a portion thereof I am often very scared when I start to imagine how it is that one gets to such a dire place with their children. Last night I was feeding Sammy while Benjamin was in que to be fed. Livi was on the floor under her frog mat batting at the dangling toys and admittedly with myself and A both in the room, it was to capacity. Will we need to share the space with three "naughty seats" as well one day?

We watched with slight attention last night as the show featured triplets. It featured a family of five, two boys and a girl - so it particullary caught my attention. The father was gone 5-6 days a week in Kansas for work and scheduling seemed to be the main issue as the Mother is left outnumbered. Granted I didn't catch all of it, but certainly it appears the show has featured worse situations. It seems the main issue they were tackling in the program was routine and scheduling. I think this is a critical theme for all children. I know our eight year old lives for schedules - but I don't believe she would tell you so.

We have been in a constant battle with scheduling and each time we make headway we wonder why we didn't do that before. The answer is - strangely enough - time. Not only does that it takes a good amount of time and committment from us to start a new routine it also needs to come at good timing for the babies. As they change and develop so quickly these first few months, so do their needs.

At roughly 10 weeks we stopped the "on demand" nightime schedule they were practicing and started to get them into a routine which included a bath and bottle for each. One of us takes to the house turning down lights and noises while preparing bottles while attending to those two left in line (the fussiest always wins the top spot for bathtime). The other picks out fresh clothes and then starts bathing one by one. The routine generally lasts 90 minutes to 2 hours. Now several months later the routine remains.

A is now attempting to get them into a napping routine, which will allow for all of them to be on a simular schedule and provide her a little relief and time to herself during the day. Even 30 minutes can help you relax mentally enough to take on another handfull of hours. The time isn't usually for yourself, but A can take some of it to get things done and get collected. Originally this went pretty well. The babies each went down somewhere between 10:00 and 11:00 and slept anywhere from 1 to 2.5 hours. They all went down again for another nap in the late afternoon. Lately they are starting to wake up earlier and we are working to adjust their schedule to go down a bit earlier in the evening. Of course, it isnt' as if they all start to wake up earlier at the same time. Usually it is one who leads the way in new developments like this. Sometimes it isn't even a developmental thing at all but rather a personality trait that might make someone, such as Livi, the early bird. It takes a lot of work and commitment from parents to keep to a schedule, especially if they aren't as used to being on one themselves, but this scheduling is probably the single most important thing you can do for both yourself and your children.

Posted by Jaycie at 06:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Sammy, Livi, and Benjamin are 1/2 year old as of yesterday! We can't believe we have gotten half way through the first year. I remember a nurse in the NICU, who also had triplets, telling us the first 4 months are the hardest to get through. In many ways I think she was right; it is getting easier. They start to develop their interests in their surroundings and can entertain themselves. Now the three are starting to attempt to sit on their own. No one is scooting yet, but we can see that is coming. Benjamin is the most eager to do so. He lays on his chest and kicks his legs behind him vigorously, unfortunately not hitting anything from which to kick off. It is not for lack of trying. Livi seems fairly uninterested in this form of movement and seems to holding out for the walking. Sammy likes to stand too, so they may both skip this step.

What is really amazing is that a year ago we were just coming to terms with our life changing news. Now we have three little people to wake up to each morning who are becoming each their own little self each day. A made cupcakes for the event and we each ate one on their behalf. They celebrated with carrots. If only I celebrated more things with carrots - I might not be wearing glasses or an undisclosed pants size.

Posted by Jaycie at 08:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)