So, I am realizing on Saturday we will have three one-year-olds and one three-year-old...
We have been busy this week getting ready for the girls' big birthday on Saturday. I am still having a hard time believing they are going to be one in a few days. When I reflect on this past year, I am amazed at how smoothly it went. I know I had some rough days, but we are so blessed. God has given us so much to be thankful for in our lives. I wonder why he chose us as parents to raise these children and pray we do a good job. In the past year, I have met some exceptional mothers raising multiples and multiple multiples and have enjoyed play dates and dinner with these moms and triplets. People ask me all the time how we do it and I honestly respond by saying we have really good babies. They are. They sleep. They eat. They play. I made a 'Wall of Fame' for them to put up at the party with cutouts of each of their milestones and realized they were sleeping through the night (I'm talking 7p-7a) around 3.5 months. And there has been two nights since then I was up with Kate and Elizabeth when they had bad colds this winter. Really, most moms with only one child can't say that. Speaking of illnesses, these little girls are so healthy. In the past year, we have not been to the pediatrician for anything other than a check up. No sick visits! When asked if this past year was harder or easier than what I expected, I say it was easier. Sure, I was really busy in the beginning, but with each milestone and adjustment, things slowed down some. And we have such great people who surround us who have helped us shape these little girls' lives and given us so much! Words cannot even begin to express our gratitude. We are excited to celebrate their birthday with family, friends, neighbors and all our wonderful volunteers who have made this first year run a little more smoothly.
So, I am glad to celebrate making it to their first birthday, but at the same time...wow...an entire year has gone by so fast...I am a little sad, I have to admit, especially after I spent hours searching through and organizing pictures of the past year for collages and a slide show. They were so tiny! They grow so fast!
Other than planning their party, the girls had their twelve month pictures taken last Friday and I am excited to see how they turned out. It is a challenge to get them all to sit still!
So, here is what we are doing these days:
Their day starts around 6:30 or 7. I usually hear them in their cribs "talking" to each other. Jack will run in their room in the morning and make them smile and laugh! They don't cry in the morning! And, this might be the best part of the day; when I walk into their room and all three are standing in their cribs and they squeal and give me their biggest grins! After a bottle, they play in the playroom off the kitchen for a while. I can keep an eye on them while I get Jack his breakfast and make their bottles for the day. Their bottles are still a mixture of breast milk and formula. I just finished nursing them in the past few days and plan to stop pumping next week. I never imagined I would pump/nurse the girls for an entire year, but I am glad I was able to. They get breakfast and on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, they get baths. I still bathe them in the kitchen sink so I can keep an eye on the other two (and Jack is a big help playing with them during this time). Thank goodness they are still small enough to do this. They nap at 9:15-9:30 until 11 am. Jack and I tend to read, play games or play outside during this time. I also get the girls' lunch and dinner ready.
At 11 am, I wake the girls up if they are not up already. They get another 6 oz. bottle and it is back to the playroom to play for a while. Jack and I eat lunch and after cleaning up the kitchen, the girls eat lunch around noon. Around 1 pm, they go down for their second nap. This nap usually lasts until 4-4:30pm for Anna and Kate and 3-4 pm for Elizabeth. During this nap I get dinner made, make baby food, do laundry, play with Jack, clean or run errands on the days Madeleine is here. They take another bottle when they get up. Jack and I eat an early dinner between 4:30-5 pm and the girls eat at 5-5:30 pm. Once I finish cleaning the bottles and dinner dishes, I try to get the kids outside and we walk and usually end up at a neighbor's house, the Scudder house or the park. The girls have been loving the park swings lately. Jack, of course loves the park as well. Then, they get a bottle at 6:45 pm and are in bed around 7-7:15 pm. Then we put Jack to bed and we have the evening to get everything else done that needs to get done.
Madeleine is now coming four days a week for twenty hours. We love having her around and the girls and Jack get so excited to see her come in the door!
This summer has flown by and I am ready for some cooler days and more of a set schedule. Jack will be in preschool this fall Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings from 9-11:30 am. Jack finished up his first season of T-ball this summer and it was fun to see him improve each game he played. We are planning on signing him up for swimming lessons in the fall once school starts up again. The girls and I will do a playgroup Monday mornings while Jack is in school and I signed them up for the Mom and Tot library class on Wednesday morning since Madeleine will be with me on Wednesdays. I am excited to get them out and into a class! I did the library classes with Jack when he was younger and met some of my closest friends there.
Some major milestones for my three one-year-olds and other fun facts:
*Anna and Elizabeth both have their two bottom teeth, Kate doesn't have any yet.
*They all pull to a stand all the time and especially in their cribs
*They are starting to move/cruise some
*Kate now crawls more than she does the army scoot/crawl
*They love music. They like to play the toy piano and the real piano.
*They love the refrigerator Leap Frog magnets
*They like to splash in Carter's water bowl, which is why they are locked in the gate so frequently!
*Elizabeth is my water baby. She LOVES the water. And that includes drinking water. They all drink water from a straw sippie cup, but Elizabeth probably drinks the most.
*Changing diapers are a major challenges. They roll and crawl all over. Same goes with getting them dressed. It is such a struggle getting them ready for bed!
*They love their two lovies--one is a pink bunny and the other is a white lamb. I find them asleep holding them at night and during their naps.
*They sleep with pacifiers, but don't really use them during the day
*They all sleep in one room (three cribs) at night, but I separate them for naps (mostly because Elizabeth doesn't seem to require as much sleep)
*They love to interact with each other. They "talk" and squeal at each other and when one talks, another joins in. Watching them interact is such a neat thing. Again, I often think about how blessed I am that I am the mother of these girls and get to experience their infancy and childhood.
*They like to spit out baby food, and again, once one of them does it, they all start doing it. And they think it is funny!
*They take each other's toys and get mad when they are taken from them. They "yell" at the taker and look at me for help getting the toy back. Poor Kate, she is usually the one that gets her toys taken from her.
*They LOVE Cheerios. They eat them out of a snack trap. But they steal each other's snack traps too.
*Anna is my mama's child. She crawls all over me while I am sitting playing with them and loves to be held.
* Kate is my baby. She is soft spoken, laid back and happy all the time.
* Elizabeth is my go-getter. Always moving, she wants everything her sisters have and certainly doesn't want to be left behind.
Funny, after writing the last three, I think back to their NICU days and think their personalities haven't changed.
Finally, here are just a few pictures from the past week:
We have been busy this week getting ready for the girls' big birthday on Saturday. I am still having a hard time believing they are going to be one in a few days. When I reflect on this past year, I am amazed at how smoothly it went. I know I had some rough days, but we are so blessed. God has given us so much to be thankful for in our lives. I wonder why he chose us as parents to raise these children and pray we do a good job. In the past year, I have met some exceptional mothers raising multiples and multiple multiples and have enjoyed play dates and dinner with these moms and triplets. People ask me all the time how we do it and I honestly respond by saying we have really good babies. They are. They sleep. They eat. They play. I made a 'Wall of Fame' for them to put up at the party with cutouts of each of their milestones and realized they were sleeping through the night (I'm talking 7p-7a) around 3.5 months. And there has been two nights since then I was up with Kate and Elizabeth when they had bad colds this winter. Really, most moms with only one child can't say that. Speaking of illnesses, these little girls are so healthy. In the past year, we have not been to the pediatrician for anything other than a check up. No sick visits! When asked if this past year was harder or easier than what I expected, I say it was easier. Sure, I was really busy in the beginning, but with each milestone and adjustment, things slowed down some. And we have such great people who surround us who have helped us shape these little girls' lives and given us so much! Words cannot even begin to express our gratitude. We are excited to celebrate their birthday with family, friends, neighbors and all our wonderful volunteers who have made this first year run a little more smoothly.
So, I am glad to celebrate making it to their first birthday, but at the same time...wow...an entire year has gone by so fast...I am a little sad, I have to admit, especially after I spent hours searching through and organizing pictures of the past year for collages and a slide show. They were so tiny! They grow so fast!
Other than planning their party, the girls had their twelve month pictures taken last Friday and I am excited to see how they turned out. It is a challenge to get them all to sit still!
So, here is what we are doing these days:
Their day starts around 6:30 or 7. I usually hear them in their cribs "talking" to each other. Jack will run in their room in the morning and make them smile and laugh! They don't cry in the morning! And, this might be the best part of the day; when I walk into their room and all three are standing in their cribs and they squeal and give me their biggest grins! After a bottle, they play in the playroom off the kitchen for a while. I can keep an eye on them while I get Jack his breakfast and make their bottles for the day. Their bottles are still a mixture of breast milk and formula. I just finished nursing them in the past few days and plan to stop pumping next week. I never imagined I would pump/nurse the girls for an entire year, but I am glad I was able to. They get breakfast and on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, they get baths. I still bathe them in the kitchen sink so I can keep an eye on the other two (and Jack is a big help playing with them during this time). Thank goodness they are still small enough to do this. They nap at 9:15-9:30 until 11 am. Jack and I tend to read, play games or play outside during this time. I also get the girls' lunch and dinner ready.
At 11 am, I wake the girls up if they are not up already. They get another 6 oz. bottle and it is back to the playroom to play for a while. Jack and I eat lunch and after cleaning up the kitchen, the girls eat lunch around noon. Around 1 pm, they go down for their second nap. This nap usually lasts until 4-4:30pm for Anna and Kate and 3-4 pm for Elizabeth. During this nap I get dinner made, make baby food, do laundry, play with Jack, clean or run errands on the days Madeleine is here. They take another bottle when they get up. Jack and I eat an early dinner between 4:30-5 pm and the girls eat at 5-5:30 pm. Once I finish cleaning the bottles and dinner dishes, I try to get the kids outside and we walk and usually end up at a neighbor's house, the Scudder house or the park. The girls have been loving the park swings lately. Jack, of course loves the park as well. Then, they get a bottle at 6:45 pm and are in bed around 7-7:15 pm. Then we put Jack to bed and we have the evening to get everything else done that needs to get done.
Madeleine is now coming four days a week for twenty hours. We love having her around and the girls and Jack get so excited to see her come in the door!
This summer has flown by and I am ready for some cooler days and more of a set schedule. Jack will be in preschool this fall Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings from 9-11:30 am. Jack finished up his first season of T-ball this summer and it was fun to see him improve each game he played. We are planning on signing him up for swimming lessons in the fall once school starts up again. The girls and I will do a playgroup Monday mornings while Jack is in school and I signed them up for the Mom and Tot library class on Wednesday morning since Madeleine will be with me on Wednesdays. I am excited to get them out and into a class! I did the library classes with Jack when he was younger and met some of my closest friends there.
Some major milestones for my three one-year-olds and other fun facts:
*Anna and Elizabeth both have their two bottom teeth, Kate doesn't have any yet.
*They all pull to a stand all the time and especially in their cribs
*They are starting to move/cruise some
*Kate now crawls more than she does the army scoot/crawl
*They love music. They like to play the toy piano and the real piano.
*They love the refrigerator Leap Frog magnets
*They like to splash in Carter's water bowl, which is why they are locked in the gate so frequently!
*Elizabeth is my water baby. She LOVES the water. And that includes drinking water. They all drink water from a straw sippie cup, but Elizabeth probably drinks the most.
*Changing diapers are a major challenges. They roll and crawl all over. Same goes with getting them dressed. It is such a struggle getting them ready for bed!
*They love their two lovies--one is a pink bunny and the other is a white lamb. I find them asleep holding them at night and during their naps.
*They sleep with pacifiers, but don't really use them during the day
*They all sleep in one room (three cribs) at night, but I separate them for naps (mostly because Elizabeth doesn't seem to require as much sleep)
*They love to interact with each other. They "talk" and squeal at each other and when one talks, another joins in. Watching them interact is such a neat thing. Again, I often think about how blessed I am that I am the mother of these girls and get to experience their infancy and childhood.
*They like to spit out baby food, and again, once one of them does it, they all start doing it. And they think it is funny!
*They take each other's toys and get mad when they are taken from them. They "yell" at the taker and look at me for help getting the toy back. Poor Kate, she is usually the one that gets her toys taken from her.
*They LOVE Cheerios. They eat them out of a snack trap. But they steal each other's snack traps too.
*Anna is my mama's child. She crawls all over me while I am sitting playing with them and loves to be held.
* Kate is my baby. She is soft spoken, laid back and happy all the time.
* Elizabeth is my go-getter. Always moving, she wants everything her sisters have and certainly doesn't want to be left behind.
Funny, after writing the last three, I think back to their NICU days and think their personalities haven't changed.
Finally, here are just a few pictures from the past week:
No comments:
Post a Comment