This time 2 years ago I was puking my guts out, barely pregnant for the first time, and still trying to wrap my head around the idea of having twins...
and here I am now, mommy of 3 babies under 2 years old. That's a little crazy haha
So how has life been with 3?
Honestly, I'm still in the honeymoon period. My mom has been here since Benny boy was 2 days old. She leaves on Sunday and even though Tom will be on paternity leave for the 2 weeks after she's gone, it's going to be quite a reality check to not have her around. While my wonderful husband is very helpful, he needs a bit more direction than my mom does when taking care of the kids...aka he is NOT allowed to pick out their clothes. Kids look cute in mismatched outfits...Tom somehow manages to take cute mismatched to terrible mismatched in a few seconds. It's a special talent I think ;) Either way, I will be laying out clothes and making sure they have the 1 and only pair of jeans that doesn't fall off their skinny booties washed. A few things like that, that seems to need a mother's eye, will fall back to my job, while I've been letting my mom take care of it for a few weeks.
The hardest part has just been keeping up with the newborn schedule while trying to squeeze in time for the twins. My mom has been great at keeping them entertained while I feed the baby, but I'm going to have to figure out how to juggle it all by myself soon. I know I'll figure it out, but it sure is nice to have her take the twins outside for a little while and I can sit in quiet feeding the little guy.
Speaking of feeding the little guy...whoa, does he like to eat! I was so worried because the first few days he wasn't waking up, he'd sleep 4 or 5 hours and when he did wake up and I fed him, he'd hardly eat. He lost 10oz by day 3 and we were stuck doing daily weigh-ins at the pediatrician until he put on some weight. Luckily day 4 he didn't lose anything, just stayed the same (my milk came in day 3) and by day 5 he had gained 3oz so we didn't have to go back after that.
And since day 5, he's never looked back. He eats every 2 hours now, day and night, and will NOT skip a meal. He'll eat for a solid 15 minutes on each side without coming up for air. Sometimes longer, but I try to cut him off around 20 and move him over since I doubt much milk is coming out after that point anyway....thanks to my advanced knowledge in milk flow from a year of pumping with the twins ;) I've given him a pacifier and we've had no issues with that. He just is a baby who needs to suck....great for eating...bad for mommy trying to get some rest ;)
He's starting to eat for longer periods of time, which I'm hoping means he can eat more in 1 sitting, so I'm hoping he'll start spreading his feedings out a bit more. If I can get him to 3-4 hours I think I'd be golden. I can feed him while the twins are eating a meal or snack. Put the twins to bed, then put him to bed, and hopefully get more than an hour of consecutive sleep for a change ;) I know it'll happen soon so I'm not TOO concerned, but it'll definitely be a lot easier to manage that schedule when I'm on my own than the every 2 hour schedule. I'm not too concerned about weight gain anymore. He looks bigger every time I look at him, I swear. He's easily over 8lbs now because he's comfortably in 0-3 month clothes and size 1 diapers. My little newborn is gone already :( so sad :(
The twins have really started to love their brother. They like to sit with me while I'm holding him and USUALLY are good about "nice touches" and not stepping on him. We're working on body parts and pointing to the parts on Ben has been a fun game for them. They do nose, mouth, tummy, and feet pretty well. They want to try eyes but we've been keeping that to a big kid game and not playing with the baby's eyes ;) They call him baby which is hilarious because I can hardly get them to call me mommy, but the concept of him being baby clicked really quick. Thanks guys. I feel so loved.
Other news...we've been staying pretty active. I had a great recovery from my c-section and feel almost back to normal. I still get a little sore if I'm bending a lot...not picking up the twins of course :-/ err...we'll tell my doctor that haha but overall, I'm walking and moving around really great. We try to get out of the house to keep the twins active with playdates, birthday parties, shopping, music class, therapy sessions, and all of our regular activities. It keeps them happy and wears them out. Hopefully I'll be able to keep it up and do as much even with my mom gone. It's a lot trickier getting out of the house with making sure Ben is fed and changed, the twins fed and changed, snacks and drinks, 2 sizes of diapers, and everything packed up, but I feel a lot more comfortable about toting the 3 of them around now so I'm hoping it'll become the new normal soon and I'll forget that it was easier with just 2 ;)
The 1 thing I've found that I think we DEFINITELY need though will be a triple stroller. Yikes!
The Valco tri-mode with toddler seat has been my front runner so far...
My requirements are that it has to be fairly light to push (like our jogging stroller right now), be able to collapse easily so I can get it in and out of the car easily, and fit through standard doors so I can take it shopping, to the grocery store, to get coffee, etc. We walk a ton! and I need some way to keep the 3 of them contained. Right now I'm carrying Ben and pushing the other 2 but I think those days will be limited and a day will come soon when I want to strap them all in and have a bit more freedom in moving around (going to the bathroom haha) while keeping them all safely in one place if we're out and about.
I'll take any tips from anyone who has a triple stroller though ;)
So that's our life so far! We'll see how it goes as Ben gets older. So far, no complaints though. I love seeing the twins interact so much these days and can't wait for the day when Ben can join in with their games. I think if I can survive a few more weeks, I'll be very glad I have 3 little ones so close together ;) I could use a LITTLE more sleep though...hint hint baby ;)
Here's a sneak peak of some pics of the cutest baby in the world, thanks to my lovely and talented next door neighbor,
Annie.
Birth announcements coming soon, so make sure I have your address if you want one! :)
