Law of Multiples

This update is going to be short and sweet...I had about 35 minutes to do laundry, dishes, pay bills and brush my teeth before the babies started to wake up from their wayyyyy too short of a nap:(  Two are already up and playing on the floor but they're a ticking time bomb because it's almost lunch time!  Speaking of, naps have been a struggle lately...I'm ready to transition them to one nap a day but apparently they can't handle that yet.  Right now, I put them all down around 9:30, and by the time they all fall asleep, I have about 30 minutes before someone is waking up already.  And that second nap?!  For the most part it's an epic fail...one baby sleeps while the other two decide they don't need it until about 5:30 when they all fall apart!  Oh well!  For now, that's all I'm going to update about but I wanted to share an article I wrote for a national triplet magazine...kinda silly but it was fun to write!

Where do I begin?  Being a mom of multiples, I guess the better question is which topic should I tackle first…there’s so many to choose from.  I could talk about sleeping problems, eating issues, NICU stays, routines, which product works best…but as I sit here today, I think I’m just going to do my best to cover them all!  Yep, you heard me…I’m going to talk about all of them.  Not in the typical way though, I’m going to wrap it up in a neat little package we like to call the “Law of Multiples.” 

Let me begin with the fact that the “Law of Multiples” has been playing a prominent role in my life since the babies were born 10 months ago.  You see, writing this article has been on my to do list for literally weeks, I just haven’t had the time to sit down and actually organize my thoughts enough to do it!  I’m sure you understand.  This lack of free time is an effect of this “law” I keep referring to.  In my previous life (before multiples that is) I was a teacher.  I taught math and Spanish (at different times of course…it would have been really crazy to teach math in Spanish!), so naturally I came up with a “law” that defines my new life.  This law is a mixture between the Chaos Theory and Murphy’s Law.  The Chaos Theory states that chaotic systems appear to be disorderly but they are not…beneath all the random behavior is a sense of order, while Murphy’s Law, on the other hand, states anything that can go wrong will go wrong.  Combining the two theories, we created our own that basically says our life looks crazy, but there is a sense of order…except when things don’t go as plan, which happens quite frequently.  Does any of this sound familiar?  Whether you like it or not, if you are the parents of multiples, you more than likely follow this law religiously on accident and it can pertain to almost every aspect of your life…from pregnancy through when the kids go to college!

Just like any other parents of multiples out there, we purposefully try to make things orderly, yet we accidentally somehow manage to make it look crazy.  The “Law of Multiples” allows for all kinds of out of this world situations to arise, such as the simultaneous poop…you know, the one that happens when all three kids are packed up and sitting in their car seats when you’re already running 10 minutes late…oh and to top it all off, at least one is explosive which means a wardrobe change.  Now if that doesn’t scream “Law of Multiples” I don’t know what does! 

There are a million different situations I could give you that fit perfectly into the law, but I’ll spare you the time since I’m sure you can think of tons of your own scenarios right off the top of your head…you may be in the middle of one right now!  In all reality though, we wouldn’t have it (nor could we imagine it!) any other way!  We think back to our DINKY days (Double Income No Kids Yet days) and wonder what we did without our little free-time vacuums around to occupy us all the time?!  I mean seriously…what did we do with ourselves?  Having triplets has taught us so much…one of the most important skills we’ve mastered is multitasking.  There were days where I would be hooked up to the breast pump while feeding two babies and somewhat tending to the third.  I look back now and wonder how we did it but we did…just like everyone else would if they were in our shoes! 

The happy, yet sad, part about all of this craziness is that it goes by way too fast!  By far, raising children is the most rewarding, yet most difficult and frustrating thing we’ve ever been through, and it’s during those frustrating moments where you feel like you’re stuck forever and that things will never get better.  In reality, those moments quickly pass us by and all we’re left with is a fuzzy memory, blurred by all the sleepless nights, baby spit up and poopy diapers.  It’s possible that this may be our only shot at this baby thing which means, we are a one stop shop for baby training and we’ve slowly started to realize we better enjoy these crazy times because they are going to be gone before we know it!  We may never have the opportunity again to snuggle a baby in the middle of the night, or listen to those sweet little newborn sounds…this could be it!  Which got me thinking… we so often keep track of all the babies’ first…the first time they smile, the first time they laugh, the first tooth, the first time they sit up on their own…what about all those lasts?  It’s hard to pick a definite point in time when the baby stopped cooing, or stopped being swaddled, but as the parents of multiples we have to try to enjoy every moment! 

As a stay at home mom, I’m really trying to just engulf myself in these little nuggets as much as I can…the rest can wait!  I’ve just come to accept that my house will never be as clean as it use to be, my to-do list will be never-ending, and getting out just won’t happen as often as it use to!  Instead, we’re diving head first into days filled with bottles, poopy diapers, drool, giggles, smiles, screams, temper tantrums and everything else that comes wrapped up in that cute little baby package.  I’ve mentioned this before, but I feel that parenting is an evolving art…we continuously have to change and adapt to what each day has in store for us.  Everyday is different and we just have to be encouraged that if we have a bad day, there’s always tomorrow. 

At the end of the day, when the kids are finally in bed and you feel like you can sit down for a minute (before you have to fold laundry or do dishes), take a deep breath and know that all of this chaos will…well, never really end.  Instead, it will just change and morph into a different type of crazy which can all be attributed to the one and only “Law of Multiples.”  I once asked a mother of grown triplets if it ever gets any easier and she just looked at me and laughed….I’ll take that for exactly what it is…a laugh; a gentle reminder that we have to keep a light heart and remember to just laugh at the messes, at the choir of crying, and at ourselves, because in the end, who really wants to break the “law” anyway?