I'm sure any of you parents out there know how little sleep you get with babies in the house. Now imagine three...let's just say there were nights where it felt like no one slept! Around the new year, Brian and I started to try to take shifts at night. Up until that point, we both usually had to get up as all three babies needed feeding and it was quicker to just have both of us there. So like I said, sometime in January we started breaking the night up and just feeding the babies when they woke up. Now I have no idea what happened in their little brains, but they decided that sleep wasn't going to happen anymore. Brian and I would both write down the times we woke up to go comfort one, feed one or change one and no joke, it got as bad as 25-30 times a night!!! Talk about sleep depravation! We finally decided to let them "cry it out" for a bit to see if they could comfort themselves back to sleep. I know some people think this is mean, but you can't judge us until you've walked in our shoes...babies who are up constantly all night cause cranky parents...we needed sleep! The first night they cried, so did I. I hated every minute of it but it took them less than 30 minutes...so I agreed to continue trying it. Unfortunately, Ava likes to cry until she throws up, so our plan kind of backfired. Things got a little bit better, but still not great, until now! On Easter Sunday, our nerves were shot, the babies were tired and things were getting out of hand. It was taking us close to two hours to put all three babies to bed at night and that's just not cool. We weren't trying to be unloving parents who don't have time to spend on their kids, but we literally had no time to do anything else...by the time we were done putting them to bed, it was 9:30 or so, we hadn't eaten dinner yet and all the bottle still had to be washed and made for the next day. At this point, I feel like I was mentally ready to let them cry and put themselves to sleep and let me tell you...it's been fantastic! They put themselves to sleep in about 5 minutes, and now, they hardly cry. Instead, they just kind of coo and play around with their glow worms and go to sleep. It's awesome! I feel like a whole new person during the day...I have more time to get things done that need to be done like laundry, dishes, cooking and cleaning! Lately, they have all been going to bed around 7:30 and sleeping until at least 6 in the morning! We can totally handle that! Even if one or two gets up at some point in the night, it's so much better!
Let's see what else they are on the verge of...well Bryce is on the verge of crawling. Honestly, I wasn't too worried about them crawling...I kind of thought it would make things easier since they could crawl to a toy they wanted and could just explore, but the other day, when Bryce started army crawling all around the house, I kinda started to panic. He's mobile and the other two aren't (at least not as much...they tend to get places by rolling), which makes it really hard to keep an eye on him. We are about to bust out the baby gates so we can barricade them to one side of the house!
In addition to crawling, we're also on the verge of eating lots of solid foods. This morning for breakfast, I made the babies some baby apple cinnamon breadsticks along with some cut up cooked carrots. They are doing really well with finger foods...Ava actually prefers to feed herself rather than me feed her with the spoon. Sippy cups are also starting the be used more often...if only they could figure out how to hold their bottles that would be great! All in all, they are doing really well though!
Speaking of feeding them, we have this great feeding table that my uncle made for us and we love it! I sit all three of them in there and they entertain each other. It's hilarious to watch them interact! I love it when one is fussy and throwing a fit, and the other two just look at the fussy one and crack a smile...it's hilarious! Just recently, Vida seems to have discovered that the babies are messy eaters so she has been hanging out around the feeding table like a hawk...conversely, the babies have discovered Vida and think it's fun to put their hands over the edge of the table for her to lick. Oh well...hopefully baby food is nutritious for dogs too because I'm pretty sure she's going to be getting a lot of it!
Overall, this crazy life has just become normal. I only can get out of the house when someone else is with me...taking all three anywhere is virtually impossible still...by the time we get all packed up and get to where we are going, it's time for them to eat or be asleep again so having an extra set of hands with me definitely helps. I am able to get out with just one or two of them sometimes when we have help in town or when I get a babysitter to come over so I can go to the grocery store. I'm pretty content with just being home though...I find all kinds of stuff to keep my busy. Sometimes, when they are sleeping, I just go sit outside and read a book while trying to catch some rays...I've even been brave enough to put on a bikini, but only in my backyard though...which leads me to my next quick blurb. Many people are curious how I'm doing physically. I feel great! My body will never be the same though...I have what's called a rectus diastasis which means my abdominal muscles are basically torn apart right down the middle. I can literally stick three fingers between my ab muscles when I flex them...this is really something that can only be fixed by surgery. Unfortunately, doing crunches and stuff can actually make it worse so I'm stuck with doing static exercises, like the plank. I've been able to lose most of the baby weight, just a few more pounds which is probably made up of lots of extra skin which sags from my belly too! I know this is too much info, but other people having multiples may be interested in hearing that! Oh well...it's all worth it though!
Here's a brief update on all three of them:
Ava
- She is now officially the smallest weighing in at 16lbs4oz
- Her head is big...we had to have an ultrasound done on her head to clinically diagnose it as big and not as something else. It's ok though, big heads mean big brains!
- She is bossy...if one of the other babies takes her toys, she lets me know! She screams at them and lets them have it!
- She pulls hair
- She is the least mobile of them all but she sat up first
- She got teeth first...she currently has 2!
Emma
- Her fussiness seems to be coming to an end...we think she had colic.
- She does this hilarious thing with her head...she bobs it around to the point where it looks like it might fall and and says "da da da da da"
- She is the tallest of the bunch...99th percentile for height.
- She's super skinny for how tall she is putting her in the zero percentile for height and weight.
- She weighs about 17 pounds
- She has a big head to...must be genetic!
- Last one to get teeth but has 2!
- Emma makes a hilarious "denture face" as Brian likes to call it...she looks like an old lady who forgot to put in her dentures!
- Prefers to roll everywhere for transportation
Bryce
- He's such a ham!
- He loves to rub his head when he eats and he just likes to rub his head on people in general...it's like an endearing thing for him...his sisters don't find it so endearing...they just scream when he heads their direction.
- He blows raspberries all the time!
- Loves to jump in his johnny jumper.
- Very mobile...army crawls everywhere.
- He tears his bed up at night and thinks his pacifiers are grenades...he throws them over the side constantly!
- He weighs 18lbs more or less
Finally, here are some more pictures from Christmas up until now!
