Hi all! I realized how long it's been since I've updated this when I logged on the other day. We get busier and busier with each passing week. Everyone is healthy and all seem to be thriving. Not sure how much everyone weighs, but they're definitely growing. Everyone's pretty much out of their preemie and newborn clothes and into the 0-3 month stuff, so I know they're getting bigger. Next week is their 2-month check, where they'll get immunizations, weighed and generally looked over, so we'll know then.
So much to tell! First of all, we made a change to the person who helps us out during the day. The first lady was very nice, but turned out not to be the right person to be able to independently care for the kids and allow me to nap, run errands, exercise and so on. We were SO lucky that a woman from my triplet moms group, who has 6-year old girls that entered school full time this year, actually wanted to work part-time helping out with MY little ones! What a blessing. She just started this week but already my life is drastically improved. I obviously have total confidence that when I leave or nap, I won't return to total chaos. If anything, the kids are probably thinking, "can this woman stick around all the time???"
Life has returned to normal for Jeff work wise, which means back to traveling. It's hard on all of us, but a reality we all will learn to live with. A great opportunity came up for him to go to China this week, escorting a couple of his physicians while they speak at a conference there. These kinds of trips are especially challenging as it covers the weekend as well when he's usually home to spend time with us and help me out. But fortunately my mom is nearby and ready to answer the call when I need it! Between her and the other night and day help I have, we make it through.
The days are long, melt right into the night, and back into day again. Very slowly I'm starting to see the babies develop a day/night routine. Just this last week we had our first 5-hour stretch between feedings, which usually happens after the evening feeding and allows me about 2 1/2 to 3 hours of sleep if I'm disciplined and organized enough to crash immediately after the last one eats. It's not a given, but such a treat when it happens! For now life is what happens between feedings. I have to plan it out carefully to make sure everything gets done. After one feeding, make formula, after the next, laundry...after the next get the mail, pay bills, etc. That whole "sleep when the babies sleep" thing is a crock. If I did that, they wouldn't have anything to eat, wear, or have a house to live in!
The babies are still technically newborns (4 weeks adjusted) so we haven't reach the cute smiling, cooing stage yet, but they definitely have personalities! Sean continues to be the challenging one...fussy and demanding of the majority of our attention. When he's not crying, he's usually sleeping. But dang is he cute he's awake and not crying! He spends a large part of his time swaddled because when he gets going, his arms start flailing around make him even more upset! We joke that when he gets a hold of whoever is in charge of those arms, he's going to have a few choice words for them! Little does he know he'll be talking to himself. :-) Luke is our sweet, laid back one. Almost entirely non-demanding and agreeable. He pretty much only cries when he's hungry or wants his diaper changed. Every once in a while he'll fuss to be held, mostly because I think he gets jipped in this department the rest of the time. He generally eats second in the rotation and therefore gets very little lap time before or after eating. Charlotte seems to be a bit ahead of the others developmentally for now, and is awake and alert much more than the boys. I swear she smiled at us last week when my sister was visiting! For now she's also the "easy baby" when it comes to eating...takes her bottle quickly, burps well and doesn't keep mommy up in the middle of the night refusing to eat! I wonder if she will someday turn into the challenging one...stomping her feet in defiance during the terrible two's, or sassy at 13?
We've now entered RSV season and my radar is on high alert. For those of you not familiar, RSV is a serious respiratory virus that can be very serious or even fatal to young babies, especially those like our that were premature. For you and I it's just a cold or flu that we fight off pretty easily, but for them...bad. So contact with other children is pretty much off-limits (the most common carriers of all those germs!), trips out are limited to doctors' visits or things like their baptism coming up. Hand-washing is critical and my hands are already dry and cracked before winter even hits. We also make liberal use of the anti-bacterial gel, of which we have giant pump bottles all over the house. When you start looking around, everything is contaminated. Anything purchased or brought in from outside is suspect. That can of formula I just bought at Target? Anyone could have touched it before me! Ugh. I try not to drive myself crazy with it, but it's tough when you are trying to keep those fragile lungs healthy until the primary threat passes next April.
Enjoy the pictures, and I'll try to get a quick updated posted after their 2-month check next week. Take care!
Hi all! I realized how long it's been since I've updated this when I logged on the other day. We get busier and busier with each passing week. Everyone is healthy and all seem to be thriving. Not sure how much everyone weighs, but they're definitely growing. Everyone's pretty much out of their preemie and newborn clothes and into the 0-3 month stuff, so I know they're getting bigger. Next week is their 2-month check, where they'll get immunizations, weighed and generally looked over, so we'll know then.
So much to tell! First of all, we made a change to the person who helps us out during the day. The first lady was very nice, but turned out not to be the right person to be able to independently care for the kids and allow me to nap, run errands, exercise and so on. We were SO lucky that a woman from my triplet moms group, who has 6-year old girls that entered school full time this year, actually wanted to work part-time helping out with MY little ones! What a blessing. She just started this week but already my life is drastically improved. I obviously have total confidence that when I leave or nap, I won't return to total chaos. If anything, the kids are probably thinking, "can this woman stick around all the time???"
Life has returned to normal for Jeff work wise, which means back to traveling. It's hard on all of us, but a reality we all will learn to live with. A great opportunity came up for him to go to China this week, escorting a couple of his physicians while they speak at a conference there. These kinds of trips are especially challenging as it covers the weekend as well when he's usually home to spend time with us and help me out. But fortunately my mom is nearby and ready to answer the call when I need it! Between her and the other night and day help I have, we make it through.
The days are long, melt right into the night, and back into day again. Very slowly I'm starting to see the babies develop a day/night routine. Just this last week we had our first 5-hour stretch between feedings, which usually happens after the evening feeding and allows me about 2 1/2 to 3 hours of sleep if I'm disciplined and organized enough to crash immediately after the last one eats. It's not a given, but such a treat when it happens! For now life is what happens between feedings. I have to plan it out carefully to make sure everything gets done. After one feeding, make formula, after the next, laundry...after the next get the mail, pay bills, etc. That whole "sleep when the babies sleep" thing is a crock. If I did that, they wouldn't have anything to eat, wear, or have a house to live in!
The babies are still technically newborns (4 weeks adjusted) so we haven't reach the cute smiling, cooing stage yet, but they definitely have personalities! Sean continues to be the challenging one...fussy and demanding of the majority of our attention. When he's not crying, he's usually sleeping. But dang is he cute he's awake and not crying! He spends a large part of his time swaddled because when he gets going, his arms start flailing around make him even more upset! We joke that when he gets a hold of whoever is in charge of those arms, he's going to have a few choice words for them! Little does he know he'll be talking to himself. :-) Luke is our sweet, laid back one. Almost entirely non-demanding and agreeable. He pretty much only cries when he's hungry or wants his diaper changed. Every once in a while he'll fuss to be held, mostly because I think he gets jipped in this department the rest of the time. He generally eats second in the rotation and therefore gets very little lap time before or after eating. Charlotte seems to be a bit ahead of the others developmentally for now, and is awake and alert much more than the boys. I swear she smiled at us last week when my sister was visiting! For now she's also the "easy baby" when it comes to eating...takes her bottle quickly, burps well and doesn't keep mommy up in the middle of the night refusing to eat! I wonder if she will someday turn into the challenging one...stomping her feet in defiance during the terrible two's, or sassy at 13?
We've now entered RSV season and my radar is on high alert. For those of you not familiar, RSV is a serious respiratory virus that can be very serious or even fatal to young babies, especially those like our that were premature. For you and I it's just a cold or flu that we fight off pretty easily, but for them...bad. So contact with other children is pretty much off-limits (the most common carriers of all those germs!), trips out are limited to doctors' visits or things like their baptism coming up. Hand-washing is critical and my hands are already dry and cracked before winter even hits. We also make liberal use of the anti-bacterial gel, of which we have giant pump bottles all over the house. When you start looking around, everything is contaminated. Anything purchased or brought in from outside is suspect. That can of formula I just bought at Target? Anyone could have touched it before me! Ugh. I try not to drive myself crazy with it, but it's tough when you are trying to keep those fragile lungs healthy until the primary threat passes next April.
Enjoy the pictures, and I'll try to get a quick updated posted after their 2-month check next week. Take care!
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