Knee Deep In Diapers

When I found out we were having triplets, panic set in. Panic and honest deep down fear. Now bare with me on this one, but here is your advice if you just found out you were expecting triplets.

I had my sales class today and we discussed our financial and professional goals. Mine now revolve around the kids and gone are the trips to Europe, etc. Well, at least on the serious back burner. But it occurs to me this. All of those things I can choose to obtain. We ultimately decide what we want in life, even if life throws us curves. How we react to those curve balls is up to us.

So I thought about my response to having triplets and I am going to equate it to this. If someone came up to me and said, you are now going to be a player on a professional basketball team and you start in one week. I would think, no I am not. I can't. I am not ready to play on a professional basketball team. I am not good enough. In fact, I never even remotely considered that I would ever be a professional basketball player.

But what if I really was given the opportunity and had to play. How good could I be? How many people get an opportunity like that? Think of how many people would love to have someone offer them such an opportunity. What an amazing experience.

So guess what. You are going to be parents of triplets. You can do it. You should and will feel extremely gratefull that you get this opportunity. It will be hard. It will stretch you to perform on levels both professionally and at home that you never imagine you would do. Perhaps never even thought of doing. Somedays it won't feel like you should be there and lots of days you are going to be dog tired. But you remember, you have been selected. It is amazing what you can do once you are selected.

Posted by Jaycie at 09:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Well today was our full-time Nanny's first day. She was at our house at 7:15 AM. A had just walked out the door to start her job (for real this time) and I was juggling the three babies and our 9 year old and her friend from the neighborhood. It was her first sleep over at our house and perhaps not the best night to do so, but we haven't had any friends for her in the neighborhood so when we found one, we gladly accomidated.

The boys never have many issues with new faces. Benjamin is more hesitant once he is outside of our home, but Sammy is Mr. Social. Now Livi, that is a different subject. She needs a little warming time. Our oldest was home from school and

Posted by Jaycie at 03:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Last night A had to take our nine year old to her performance for an afterschool theater program. I was home with the babies and we ate dinner, took our bath and played around in our sleepers. Well they were in their sleepers, not me. Come to think of it, I didn't get the luxery of changing from the clothes I wore to work. Anyway, they went down pretty quickly last night and Benjamin, the last man standing,was in bed by 9:00 PM.

We went to bed an hour or so later, quickly trying to take advantage of the early to bed opportunity only to settle in and hear Benjamin. I pulled myself out of bed with hesitation and went to his crib. He was still laying down and crying out. Now Sammy, he will cry out before even thinking about opening his lids, but Benjamin... he is usually standing in the crib and has taken a good look around before expressing his disappointment in the current situation. I had a hunch this might not be good.

I picked him up and went to the living room where he fell back to sleep within five minutes on my chest. I then carefully placed him back into the crib and walked back to our room feeling sleep already set in. I hadn't even found the warm space I had made for my feet under the covers when I heard Benjamin cry out again.....

This began an up and down process of gas pains, unhappy babies waking each other up, three bottles administered, and finally one awake happy baby with no immediate need for sleep. At 4:00 AM I gave in and stopped struggling with getting Livi comfortable and down. The boys were finally settled in.

So off to the playroom we went. Livi wasn't a bit fussy, she just sat down and started to play while I settled into my pillow on the floor with a blanket. I watched her pull toys out of the bins. The next think I knew I woke up and Livi was stretched horizonally across my throat, sleeping soundly. After a slight panic from me for the welfare of both of us, I moved her slightly and closed my eyes again. I am sure we were a sight to be seen, calapsed in a tiny dog pile in the middle of all those toys.

The alarm clock went off and A came to find us just a couple hours later. She didn't ask any questions. I didn't offer an explanation. I just walked past her to our room where I layed down on the bed with newly awoken Benjamin while she recovered Livi to her crib.

On to another day!

Posted by Jaycie at 07:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Well after a few long discussions, a budget review that came out for daycare, a pro and con list that came out pro-nanny, and a exhausted discussion on the future we have decided to hire a full time nanny.

It isn't an easy decision. In fact, we kind of feel we just drove off the lot with a Porshe when our budget originally indicated a Ford. But here it is, at least for us. I am working and making now, just enough to cover our expenses and we need to dip into savings monthly to cover extras. The birth of the babies transformed us from a family that didn't need to think about money, but was fairly careful in our investments and expenses. We had a nice savings and were able to do what we wanted when we wanted, although we were careful in exercising this. When we purchased our last home we did so not by what we were able to comfortably borrow, but by what we knew we could support with a single income, just in case.

A is going back to work and her income will translate into the cost of our Nanny. She will truely be working for childcare. Our decision will make us take nearly twice from savings than daycare and will have us do so at a fairly fast pace. So why do it? Well for us at least, it was a tradeoff. Daycare would be more cost effective, but we weren't sure it was worth the race. The tradeoff list included an increased occurance for them to be sick, less one-on-one attention for the kids, and much more management from us.

Some days are still very long and tiresome. What used to be occassional laundry has become daily. The dishwasher is run twice a day, the kitchen floor swept 3-4 times a day and the garbage is taken out daily. This is on top of the care and attention that one nine year old and three one years olds need.

So we have purchased ourselves some peace of mind. Instead of coming home from work and carrying in three kids and unloading their stuff, then jumping into a quick snack for all, homework detail for the older, and dinner prep..... and so on and so forth. We have instead decided to come home to three babies that have been fed their snack and are ready for dinner and an evening just a bit less ciaotic.

We have, for the first time in our lives together, purchased a luxery for ourselves and now have to work to afford that choice. We will. We know it will be hard and of course, it is scary. But we believe that things will work out and that people tend to rise to the occasion, as will we. I don't know that it will work out just as we plan, because so many things in life are out of our control. I do know that we understand what it will take and want to make it work. I also know that we are very happy with our choice. We feel a little more pressure financially, but a lot less stress and worry in our lives.

Posted by Jaycie at 08:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Alright, we have taken our first walk through a Day Care. I have to admit, a small tear came to my eye as we were leaving. The center was fine. It was actually in the buildling A will be working in and only two blocks from me. We will be able to drop in during our lunch, etc to see how they are doing and it seems like a pretty nice center. I guess it just seems that idea of leaving your child somewhere is hard.

As anyone who reads this blog, you know up until now we have had a nanny in our home and when A found a job and made arrangements to go back to work, we planned on a nanny as well. To be honest, we just didn't even consider that Day Care facilities would be that much less and therefore we hadn't thought of the option. Granted, it wasn't our preferred option either, but I also don't drive the car I would like to. Of course, when it comes to your kids you do not compromise.

It will cost us $800 more a month to have a nanny in our home. We are going to have to spend the weekend looking at additional facilities and putting together a plan. Stay tuned....

Posted by Jaycie at 09:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)