Night and day

With a title like that... as I hold a sleeping little on my chest one would think this is going to be about babies, but it's not. Not really.

Earlier today I was filling a soapy sink with bottle parts thinking about my sisters next trip for work. She is traveling to Charleston and taking my mom with her. First, let me say I think it's awesome she is taking mom. But as I was standing there it occurred to me our lives are night and day, yet we are both very happy. How do two sisters, better yet, three siblings grow up to be so very different. My sister is pretty much a world traveler, my brother works his tail off creating the light rail systems in Seattle, and I was a middle school teacher and now mom. Don't get me wrong, I don't think siblings have to do the same thing, but yowza we are so different. It makes me wonder if my girls are going to be night and day too.

This night and day reference is not new to us. Growing up I was an ice skater, my sister a dancer; I fly by the seat of my pants, my sister plans and organizes like no other (for those that remember - South Carolina vacation anyone? lol); I have dad's sarcasm, she has mom's annoyance of it [:)]; it took me 10 years to figure out college and career, she knew at the age if 16; and possibly the biggest difference - she lives in trendy downtown Portland, I live in central, 2 hours from Fairbanks, Alaska. Night and day like no other we are.

Now the part that makes mom happy, even though we are night and day we have each others back. Especially with the trio now a part of our family, we are closer than ever. All of us are. This is what I wish for my girls and my family. No matter how different you are, you are family and family is everything. Now if Zach could just remember that the next time Katie bops him on the head while sharing the play mat....
The life of a mom. :)


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Location:The couch

Awesome Auntie Helayne!

Aunt Helayne arrived the night Kim left and went home when Carol arrived.  She is the absolute best bridge I have ever seen!  :)
As the mother of two, she was able to jump right in, literally.  We went to grab a quick bite and do a smidge of shopping (yep, I said smidge) at Fred's before dropping Kim off at the airport.  As we head into Fred's, awesome auntie wisks Katie off to the bathroom to change her diaper.  I had Katie with me and dad was at home with Zach, Addie, and a co-worker and his wife helping him.  They did a great job since when we arrived home he had two in-crib sleepers.  Of course, yet again, after the semi-long trip Katie didn't sleep much that night.  I think Helayne was welcomed into our home with an hours worth of sleep.

Auntie Helayne is just as energetic as Auntie Kim.  I would wake up from a nap to all the laundry being done, the dishes done, bottles washed, formula made...I think if she knew where the broom/mop were the floors would have shined!  Ok, maybe not just because I don't picture Helayne doing floors - but that is the energy she had.  I knew the whole time she was here that there was an open pair of arms for whichever little needed them.  Multiple times she hung out for hours at night cuddling someone.  Now mind you, both benefited from those cuddle sessions for sure.  Here's the proof:

Auntie Helayne, you are awesome!  We all love and miss you!  I still hope we will see you soon, late October is still my goal...but with triples, the best laid plans...  
(can I just say - writing about having fam that has never been here before visit me to help brings tears to my eyes.  You are the best sister-in-law!  You know I can't thank you enough for all of the support you have shown during this whole venture.  Public shoutout so all know.  :) 

We are now enjoying a visit from Carol, our latest sleep deprived victim!

We love our Auntie Kim!

Auntie Kim leaves today and I wonder how we are going to survive.  I truly have never seen so much energy in one person.  During her stay she helped with all but one feeding and she was often up in the middle of the night comforting somebody.  She has lived on short bursts of 2 hours of sleep (on a good day) the whole time she has been here.  She has done endless loads of laundry, washed endless loads of bottles, patted endless backs, changed endless bottoms - and all while singing, playing, dancing, and loving on our littles.  It's that added feature of loving every moment of it that we will miss.  I know she has fallen head over heels for our littles (sorry Ken), and I'm so thankful for it. 

I will admit, although I love caring for our littles, it is also frustrating for me... or maybe just overly tiring.  Maybe the difference is that I add the emotion of worry (would I really be me if I wasn't worrying??).  I worry they are not eating enough, pooping enough, sleeping enough...take your pick I can always find something to worry about.  I can say worrying does not keep me awake like it used to, I'm to flat out exhausted.  Insomnia no more!

Having my mom and sister here make me feel even more like we need to move closer to family soon.  These littles deserve to be around family that love them so completely.  Add to that all of the family "stuff" I've missed over the past few years, and the being too far away when my dad was ill means it's time for me to be closer to my family.  As I type this I lament not being able to attend my cousins wedding this weekend.  All the Christmas get-togethers, weddings, wedding/baby showers I've missed...makes me sad I'm not there. 

Well, this blog post took a turn off the path it started down.  Auntie Kim, you know we can never tell you how important your visit was.  We will love you forever, please bring your awesome supply of energy (and your camera) back soon!  Until then...

Some days are just hard

I think even Auntie Kim would agree if she were to guest post.  Today was one of those days I think.  We bought some sleep sacks earlier this week as our littles are getting a bit big to be swaddled in receiving blankets.  Really, the only blankets big enough are by Carter's and they are bigger than normal.  I'd have to think of their name, but mom and I spent a bit of time at BRUs looking at the measurements of the different receiving blankets - these are bigger than normal and actually fit the mattress of the co-sleeper we have set up in the room.  I discovered this bigger than normal size right out of the hospital as I used them for that purpose, an extra layer on the co-sleeper mattress.  Ok, enough of that tangent...  the meaning being that we are not swaddeling as much anymore.  Katie LOVES her sleep sack.  She was one who woke up when she got cold, and the fleece keeps her from getting cold at all.  That girl sleeps like a rock at night now.  Zach is just starting to use them too since he was moving his blankets around in his sleep.  Addie, we haven't used on yet, and with the receiving blankets not working as well anymore Addie was not swaddled and therefore woke up every time I put her down last night.  From the 10pm to 2am feeding we went through a vicious cycle of rock until asleep, put in "crib", flail around waking oneself up, begin process over again.  EXHAUSTING and frustrating for us both I'm sure.  Kim, feeling bad for me, kept her in the pack and play downstairs from the 2am to 6am feeding, which I pleaded John to get up for so I could sleep. 

With the help of my loving husband, I was able to "sleep" until 8:30 I believe.  Some of that was rock hard, dead to the world sleep and some was vaguely listening to an upset little hoping someone else could calm them soon enough I didn't feel I had to get up.  From the moment I got up until about 11pm tonight I would say there was a total of 1 to 1.5 hours I didn't have someone in my arms.  For some reasons all the littles were extra needy.  For most of the day Zach needed to sleep in someone's arms (reminiscent of Addie last night).  Add to that Katie and Addie feeling the same off and on - Kim and I earned our pay today... oh... wait....  drat!  Well, good thing we love getting paid in smiles, lulls in crying, funny faces, and fart noises that make us laugh.  Yes, fart noises make me laugh.  Especially when I'm changing the diaper, bottom hanging out and someone farts then smiles at you.

Proof that today was hard:
- both Kim and John took the dogs for a walk at some point.  the most exercise they have had since us getting home
- everyone indulged in a guilty pleasure once the littles went to sleep tonight.  for me, cookie dough; for kim, wine; for john, ice cream and scotch (weird combo!)
- Kim brushed her hair today... and was proud she had time to do that
- me, not so much on the hair brushing (lol)
- john gave himself a time out!  (it is very hard for him to cry uncle)

*sigh* the first of many more difficult days to come I'm sure.  For those that have stuck with this rambling post, thank you.  I am headed to bed now since hubby just implied he may get up at 2am.  If Kim does the same I may get about 5 hours of sleep straight and that would be a godsend!

To my littles:  We love you dearly, but please nap tomorrow!

Sleep, ah who needs that?

Well, going to try text posting again. It's easier to use my phone than the computer when a refuse to sleep-er is in my arms, so we'll try the blogpress app. At the moment it's little miss Addie. This am you could have had your pick. At one point we had all three babies and both dogs going. Good times!!

This is all a reflection of yesterday's awesomeness. We had our big travel to Fbx day for two dr appts. They did awesome on our long trek(in their car seats, hence the need to stretch/scream it out today). Hip ultrasounds were great. They were requested due to multiples birth and the fact that all were breech. The tech said sometimes the hip muscle isn't strong enough, but not our kiddos.

Our second appt was a blood check up. They are having a dip in their red blood cells so have been on iron supplements. Our pedi said this is common in all kiddos at about two months, but is again a bit worse with multiples. I'm not even going to get into worst case scenario here because I just know we won't get there. If I'm wrong then denial for now is ok too. Don't worry it's not horrible, just not great.

Our little piggies are gaining weight just fine. Addie is almost 8 lbs, Zach is just over and Kate is about 8 and a half. Our little chunk a chunk is too adorable though. Have to rat out auntie Kim though. After seeing her weight and referring to it in a not so nice way Kate frowned her whole face up and burst into tears. She did the same again when retelling the story to dad last night. So, she may be on the "softer" side but beware she's also sensitive. Our little princess she is and I love her all the more for it.

Ah! Finally! Three sleeping kiddos. Two sleeping dogs. And us. :)
















Sophers is sleeping in her crate, so no pic of her.
Next blog post: the miracle of the recline-a-bed!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Happy 2 months my littles

My littles are two months old as of Friday, Sept. 9  They are only 3 weeks adjusted.  It's hard to remember back to when they were three weeks old.  At that age they were a rooming-in stay away from coming home (rooming in was when dad and I had to stay overnight in the hospital in total charge of their care).  3 weeks 2 days is when they came home.  They have grown so much since then, literally and figuratively.

Zach has become our slightly more needy child.  He seems to have some reflux issues that are the main cause of fussiness.  That and his stubbornness that makes him think he will miss out on the greatest thing ever if he falls asleep.  Poor kid gets the heaviest eyelids at time, but boy oh boy is he strong enough to still keep them open.  He has gorgeous eyes though, so staring into them isn't really too bad of a deal; the problem comes when he is screaming his face into a nice shade of purple at the same time.  That's the Zach that gets difficult to deal with because you feel so sorry for him, but can't help him at all.  Then there is the sweetest boy in the world Zach.  When he is awake and alert he is absolutely gorgeous, funny, sweet, and an amazing baby.  He makes you laugh and cry our little Zach man.  I'm hoping as we start progressing through this next month and beyond some of his reflux issues dissipate making him happier. 

Kate is technically our oldest and she seems to know that.  Her and Zach have stayed toe to toe in regard to weight and growth.  In the past few weeks she has become more demanding at feeding time, much like Zach does as well.  If their bottles are not ready when they think it is time let the voicing of discontent begin.  Unfortunately for Miss Katie-bug every time she starts crying it makes me laugh.  She gets the biggest frowny faces and just shows you her gums and cries.  Her cry often sounds like a whine, and like I mentioned before the oy oy oy starts coming out.  She also still sings some when eating, but not as much which is a little sad.  It makes the times she does sing all the more special.  As I type this I think how much rhythm our girl has, she is melodic both when crying and singing!  Such talent at such a young age, she is sure to be a special one!

Addie is still little Miss Addie.  Her calm, cool, collected personality sets her apart from her brother and sister.  She's still the smallest of the bunch, but I love that about her.  Of course, I keep telling her I want her to grow taller than me, but if she doesn't that's ok too.  The absolute best thing about our Adders are her eyes.  All of our babes have gorgeous big eyes, but Addie's eyes seem to be filled with so much knowledge, patience, and love it is amazing.  She just looks at you, forms the precious little "oh" of a mouth and how can you resist melting?  This girl is going to be a heart breaker some day.  As much as I think Kate will be our little princess, I think Addie will be our little tomboy.  As sweet and innocent as she looks, you just know there is some trouble brewing.  I can't wait to see how she works that out. 

All of our children are gorgeous, amazing, loving, stubborn little blends of ourselves.  They are all so unique, yet so similar at the same time.  I am truly amazed at them every day.  As difficult as these weeks and months have been because of sleep deprivation, worry, change, and all of the newness that comes with being first time parents - John and I wouldn't change a thing.  We are in love more and more each day.  We are both filled with pride and joy as we say to our littles Happy 2 month birthday!

Oh to schedule

Ok, first let me say I KNOW we need to read Baby Wise.  I have it in the bag I took to the hospital, heck, I've had it all summer when I was on bed rest and still have yet to read the book.  The book is with the baby shower thank you's that I'm still working on.  ugh!

Back to the book, I'm starting it today.  We have struggled so much with a schedule it's not even funny.  Everyone and everything says to stick to the NICU schedule.  We tried so hard to do that, but somehow it just keeps getting messed up.  How you ask?  Because Zach is a fussy baby and we tend to give in and feed him early to get him to stop crying.  Not the way to deal with a fussy baby I don't think, but it's what we have done.  Well that results in him starting to think he wants a 3-hour schedule.  We can't have him on a 3 hour schedule and the girls on a totally different schedule.  Today we are headed for everyone eating at a different time which will create 24-7 feeding pretty much.  NOT A GOOD IDEA for mom's sanity!  So, instead we have chosen to get them back on a 6-10-2 schedule.  The hope is that John can help with the 10 pm feeding. 


hours later the update continues....


well, things were going ok for the 2pm feeding and we got them all down for a while before the 6pm feeding...then we encounter another story.  They were up until about 8pm after that feeding and I don't think Kate has gone to sleep yet.  Oh the joys of a full moon approaching.  ;)  We are fast approaching another feeding so I'm going to wrap this up.  Need to start reading that book!!

To ponder in the next few days... how to get to the drive in one last time????

Sad day in Slette land

Today is a sad day for the Slette littles and their momma.  Grammy left this morning.  :'(
Grandma arrived a month ago and has been more of a help then she can ever imagine.  I know the littles will never remember her being here, but without her I may not have made it this far.  Ok, well I probably would have made it this far, but I would be a LOT more insane than I am now.  Grammy has helped with countless middle of the night feeds and fusses, millions of diaper changes, including the really bad blow outs (come on, how many people will see poop leaking out of a diaper and say "let me get it for you"?), gallons of formula making, and hours of bottle washing.  In return she received the best smiles (no, it's NOT gas!), silly faces, crazy body sounds, and ador-da-ble outfits.  We will miss her greatly and canNOT wait until we see her again.  


To mark Grammy's departure all three littles decided to mourn between the 9am and 1pm feeding.  Mourning to a little generally consists of fussing, refusing to sleep, crying because they are tired, and then finally crashing 15 minutes before they should be awake.  This mourning period is accompanied by tears, stress, frustration, and a lot of trying to keep paci's in mouths by mom and dad.  Lucky for all of us Auntie Kim arrives on Monday! 

Sorry for the short post, but Addie is telling me I've spent enough time on the computer this afternoon.