Abby, Izzy, Ally

Friday, August 28, 2009

Kami's song

My mom found this poem on the internet and it made me cry... thought I would share since it seems to fit so well!

It is the end of the day, three babies are sleeping
I sit in my chair, quietly weeping
I am not crying because I've had no sleep
Or three times the laundry is piled waist deep
I am not crying because I look three times the mess
Three times the spit up, part of my everyday stress
I am not crying because I've had no time at all
To soak in a bath or shop at the mall
Too tired to do dishes and forget even sweeping
I will sit in my chair and enjoy my weeping.

I am crying because it's the end of the day
Three babies are sleeping, it's quiet this way
It's time to look back on the way the day went
Three times the fun, look what heaven has sent
Sure it is hard, we knew from the start
But hard things get softened with extra love in our heart
Three little babies soft, cuddly and sweet
Six little hands, six little feet
Six little arms that hug me real tight
And three little mouths to kiss me goodnight
Three times the laughter and ten times the fun
I am so thankful for what Go has done
The joy that I feel as I watch my three sleep
Is what makes my heart ache, and makes my eyes weep.

r.j. koontz (with some minor changes by my mom, Paula)

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Baby Wise?

The girls are miraculously all laying down for a nap right now, so I have a little time to update the blog! I've been working hard to follow the Baby Wise method, which is all about getting your baby to sleep through the night and take naps. The major difference in this method is you do not rock the baby to sleep... simply lay her in her crip and she'll eventually know it's nap time and soothe herself to sleep. And yes, you are supposed to let the baby cry herself to sleep if necessary. Unfortunately, the book doesn't tell you what to do if they never stop crying! It's very stressful on the mom, I can tell you that! The major problem I have is they wake each other up with their crying. Izzy goes to sleep with no problems, but Abby and Ally lay there and it seems they're in competition with each other trying to see who can cry the hardest and longest. If one starts to fall asleep, the other wakes her up with her crying. The book does have a chapter on multiples and it says they will get use to each others' crying, so this is hell week as they get used to it. Up to this point, I've just been letting them fall asleep in their bouncy seats and boppy pillows, but they're old now that we need to get a sleep schedule down. They're still sleeping thru the night. Our last feeding is at 10:30, and they wake up again at 6:30 or 7. Eventually we will get rid of the late night feeding all together, but I'm afraid of what time they'll wake up if I do that. I don't want to go back to the 2 and 3 AM feedings! Ugh!

Babies are awake... guess I'll write more later!!!

Thursday, August 20, 2009

3 month pics

Daddy with OSU girls

Ally smiling and giggling!


Bumbo seat pow wow - Abby, Izzy, Ally

Abby smiling

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Short video of babies

All of the videos I'd like to post are too long... here's a short clip for the sake of posting a video.

Izzy, Papaw and Andie

Ally smiling!

Ally, Abby and Izzy

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Surviving Triplets!

Phew! We are almost 3 months into this crazy new life! If you haven't noticed, I've had a terrible time finding time to update the blog now that the girls have arrived. I lay in bed thinking of all of the things I need to do and this is just one of them!

The girls are doing so great! We took them for their 2 month check up a few weeks ago, and their weights were:
Ally- 9 lbs. 8 oz
Abby- 8 lbs. 14 oz
Izzy- 8 lbx. 12.5 oz

They've, of course, grown since then, so I'd say they're probably around 10+ pounds... especially little Ally... that little girls takes after her momma and loves to eat!!! I'm having a hard time keeping her satisfied! She consistenly takes more than her sisters and all my cute little matching outfits are not going to be so cute if I have to squeeze her into them! But, gotta feed a hungry baby... even if the dresses don't match! :)

I'm still keeping them on a strict eating schedule, but if it's time to eat, I give them as much as they'll take. Right now, they usually take 3-4 oz. Ally sometimes will take 6 oz until she feels full and happy. For a while, we had some bad tummy problems with Izzy and Abby (especially Abby), but we switched all the girls to soy formula and we have seen a HUGE improvement. Thank goodness! They still spit-up, but it's pretty normal now. In the first month and a half, Abby was spitting up very thick mucus that would choke her... very scary! So glad that issue is over.

The girls are actually sleeping through the night now! I guess you would call it sleeping through the night... we still feed them at 11 pm, put them down, then they sleep until 6 or 7. SOOOO much better than getting them up to eat at 2 and 5 am.

I still have people coming in to help with the feedings, but I can be alone with them in between. Granted, there have been times when all 4 of us were crying, but those times are few! I'm actually learning to use my feet a lot more. For example, right now, I am bouncing a baby in her bouncy seat with my foot while typing. I have been known to bounce 2 babies with my feet, pull their music tab with my toes, all while feeding a hungry baby! Sad, I know!

Izzy has had some bouts with collic in the evening, so poor Matt gets to come home to a night of crying pretty often, but we've learned a few tricks to keeping her happy. One thing I can say: Pacifiers are wonderful! All 3 babies take "pacies" and I spend much of my day plugging them in! We've watched a dvd that a friend gave me called "The Happiest Baby on the Block" and I would recommend to any new mom.

We take them to church every Sunday... that has become quite a feat! Matt's mom comes over and helps us get them ready and we load them all up to go... They go in the nursery because a: we have a brand new infant nursery with only one other baby in
it and b: I need a break and I don't enjoy the service at all if I have to worry about the babies interrupting. Think about how a mother feels with one baby interrupting the service... I have the possibility of creating 3 or more interruptions and all of the blame points to me! I get much more out of the service when I don't have to worry about that!

Last weekend, Matt and I went to a musical in Tulsa and out to dinner... very nice to get out. Mom and my grandparents stayed with the girls. It's so nice to be able to get out every now and again. I actually felt like our old selves for a change!

Overall, the girls are very good babies. They have their tummy aches and times they want to be held, but most of the time, they will sit in their boppies, bouncies or swings and wait their turn to be held.

As of now, my feeding schedule is 6:30/7 am, 10:30 am, 2 pm, 5pm, 8pm, 11pm. 6 feedings...I usually have someone here to help me with all of them. Though, it is possible to feed them alone...not desirable, but possible. I even have something called "The Extra Hand" which helps hold a bottle if I'm in a bind. I put the girls in boppies on the floor, hold one bottle and let the extra hand feed the other baby as I watch closely and burp her.

One thing that makes me a little sad: I wish I had more time to be able to slow down and enjoy things. For example, bathtime. I used to think I would slow down, talk to them, lotion them up and bath time would be a sweet little time together. With 3 babies, it ends up being assembly line bath time. Bring me a dirty naked baby and I'll give you back a clean naked baby... Next! Same with feeding, changing diapers, etc. It's always hurry hurry hurry, there's another baby waiting for her turn!

I'll try to post some pics and videos asap. Ally and Izzy are smiling now and holding their heads up good. Abby is on the verge... just a little behind. I also have a cute video of matt gagging his way thru a poopy diaper... so funny!!!