How many schedules can one family try?

I said I would post about schedules today...and I am! Woo ME!! :) Now, it needs to be known that I can make this blog post in more than a half awake state due to the new, yet another, schedule we are on. Lets start from the beginning...back in those easy-peasy NICU days.

When the littles were in the NICU for their 23 day respite they ate like clockwork. Initially because the food was being poured into their stomachs via their nose and esophagus, then because the nurse nazi's we (mostly) loved were avid schedulers. 9-12-3-6-9-12-3-6. Their last night in schedule lockdown we went out to dinner, a nice dinner, a dinner we have not seen the likes of since that night...but I digress...after the great Simon's dinner we visited our trio. The nurses were feeding them and were very pleased that all were now taking enough formula to be placed on a four hour schedule. Wow! we thought - it's that easy? Hahaha, silly, naive us.

I can honestly say I believe we tried the four hour schedule at first, but quickly reverted back to what we knew, which was the three hour. The four hour schedule was nothing we experienced since we were released the next day. However, I could be completely wrong. I would have to consult the baby books to know for sure. I can tell you when mom and Kim were here we were enforcing a four hour schedule. Like my choice of words? Enforcing...because that is what we were doing. Nobody but them, John, Helayne, and myself can understand the pure agony it was dealing with little man at that time. He simply could NOT handle a four hour schedule. At about hour three, three and a half he would lose it. We were just placating as long as we could possibly stay sane doing so.

During Helayne's stay with us she saw what we were doing and said..."he's hungry, why not just feed him?" Don't ask me why at 5am it seemed the most logical thing in the world to realize this was just not working. So we changed it. Then and there. We fed him, fed the girls, and fed everyone again three hours later. That was mid-September. We have been doing the same ever since. Don't get me wrong, Zach didn't become the happy fun-loving boy he is now overnight. His fussiness stuck for a bit longer still...but was continually getting better. We were also seeing three littles who were sleeping during the day. Naps! Something we were not getting consistently on the four hour schedule. Helayne and I had a few moments to ourselves. That was a new experience. In late October we visited Anchorage. We arrived at 11pm believing our trio would never sleep that night. How wrong we were...to our amazement! They went to sleep by maybe 1am and slept and slept and slept. For the first time (I believe) we did not wake them like clockwork. During that visit we realized if left to sleep on their own they would sleep from midnight until 5am and then again until 9am. I truly hate to say this, but the parent of a single child cannot understand the pure and simple joy that is for the parent of multiples.

From that weekend on we would feed every three hours until midnight, let them sleep as long as they could, and generally start the three hour cycle again around 6-7 am. As the weeks passed we were noticing the littles getting tired a bit earlier in the evening. We eventually moved the last feeding up to 10pm, then 9pm, etc. We also began having to adjust our last feeding to be two hours after instead of three. We eventually got to the point that our last feeding was at 7-7:30 and off to bed we went. Well, the girls anywho. Zach oftentimes stayed up later with mommy and daddy for some alone time. He usually would need an extra bottle as well. Remember in yesterday's post where I said I was noticing he needed more...this was the more.

Then we called the dr. asking to add solids.
Then we added solids.
Then we talked to the dr. again at their well baby checkup about our adding of solids.
Then we got confused... the day after talking to the dr. and feeling completely confident in our adding of solids.
Then we consulted BabyWise again.
Then we started over. On the four hour schedule. Again. At almost 7 months. Our schedule now looks something like this...7am bottle, 9am nap, 11am bottle, 12/1 nap, 3pm bottle, 4pm nap, 5pm solids, 7pm bottle then straight to bed. It took a couple days to get into this groove, but we did. Little man kept us company the first few nights again, demanding his fifth bottle...not ready to give it up yet. I even commented to John that we are gluttons for punishment. We finally got everyone on a good schedule, Zach was going to bed at a reasonable time...and we change it up! However, I will now say, after 6 days of this schedule it is HEAVEN!! We are finally, for the first time ever, beginning to see something of a nap schedule that includes actual naps. Hour long naps, not 20 minute catnaps. Naps that actually involve cribs, not bouncy chairs. ALL THREE littles are going to bed straight after the last bottle, even Zach. And last night he didn't even wake for his extra! We poured it down the drain (because it cannot be kept for more than 24 hours).

Looking back it seems every day was a new schedule. We are finally on a schedule with little wiggle room. Yes, if someone is starving at the three hour forty-five minute mark, we will feed them (really, let's be honest here...we will feed him). Yes, if Addie wakes up 30 minutes into her nap and really cries I will go get her. Yes, I'm still somewhat flexible. I'm also very, very happy that we are finally in a groove. Many parents don't understand my need for such a strict schedule, or really, a schedule at all. If you visited us for anything longer than a day, you would. I don't schedule out of punishment or a strong need for order. I schedule out of a need to make it through the day sane. I need to know what the next hour or two holds. Three littles are exhausting enough; in this area, I like my consistency.

Now if we could just figure out why Zach wakes at 5am and is unable to get himself back to sleep....


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Food!

Oh my gosh, we've started the food craziness. For a while now I've been thinking Zach isn't full enough. He's aways been a bigger eater, hence his hefty appearance. So, even though we had an appointment coming up, I called the dr. and asked about starting food for him. She gave the green light for all three! So, on a Friday night John brought home "supported-sitters" level oatmeal and rice cereal. We started with the rice.

Tangent...mom will call me out if I don't tell the whole truth about this night. John arrives home with food and we get to our normal me taking a few minutes to myself on the couch while he plays with the kiddos. Next thing you know it's 6:30 (time to feed) and we haven't thought out this food stuff really well. My butt should have been getting bowls and spoons, which the trio received in their stockings. Hmm, where did I put those again? In a box I remember..but which box? Where?? Oh boy. After searching literally high (nursery) and low (basement) I figure I'll just use my own bowl. So I read 1 Tbsp of rice to 4-5 Tbsp of formula. I then think, crap, the formula pitcher is dirty...what can I make 15 oz of formula in (notice the mistake yet?!), so I grab a juice pitcher and get to mixing. As I'm pouring the formula into the rice it really doesn't look right...wait...CRAP! Down the drain my way over-formula-ed cereal goes. As I'm saying a few choice words to myself I'm also yelling to John..."the box Jane sent us! All food stuff was together!!" so off to find that box we go. Good thing I remembered as I had just started thinking wait...we can't use a regular spoon! I remake three bowls of 1 Tbsp of rice to 4 TBSP (not ounces) of formula, we are set. Mind you it's much closer to 6:45-7 now, so the trio are getting a little upset at the slow service in our joint. It all worked out in the end, as it always does. But the chaos was certainly invigorating for a tired mommy and daddy.

In our first attempts it was food then bottle (we've since changed - but I'll talk schedule later). They were a bit skeptical at first, but grew to love it pretty quickly. My silly, mom-brained self probably mixed the rice and oatmeal together too quickly..but luckily no reactions to either. For those not in-the-know you are to wait 4 or so days between starting a new food to make sure there are no reactions to it. Following this method you will know to which food they are having the reaction. I have followed this method once I started introducing more than cereals.

I do have pics of the first night food all-overness, but they are on John's camera which I cannot hook up to the ipad. Tech stuff. I need to email them to myself...will do and post hopefully tomorrow. :)

The following weekend we entered the I-am-supermom-and-must-make-own-food mentality. Luckily over Christmas my friend Gina and Kim set me up! Gina sent me a baby bullet for pureeing food and Kim gave me two baby food cookbooks. Of course, these two items presented conflicting information right off the bat so I was instantly questioning my ability. Kim's cookbook says carrots are a great first puree, the baby bullet cookbook says its a second level food. Ugh! We went with it figuring we can't hurt them too much. We've since learned if you ask 10 people how to start babies on food you will get 10 different answers (trust me on this...we've asked more than 10!) =). I'm glad we went with our gut feeling. Our kiddos LOVE carrots. We have since added avocado. John feels for sure his mom never gave him avocado as a baby and that we are uber chic. I feel special being uber chic! I don't look it, so I can surely feel it right? Actually, avocado is a great baby puree because you just mash it and add some formula. It's also really healthy with good fats and such.

How much do our kids love starting foods? Tonight they ate 3 Tbsp of rice cereal, 1/2 an avocado
with an ounce of formula, and one container of Gerber carrots (i forgot to thaw some of mine) between them! Go littles!! It was a little funny tonight as the bowls are emptying and I'm thinking umm...they are still hungry...wow. Yes, we did pick up two variety packs of Gerber baby food at Sam's club. I know we will have days where I just need to peel open a container (like tonight!), but I also know I'd like to make as much of their food as possible.

So our venture into food has begun. We will be adding sweet potato in a few days and see how they like those. As for schedule...well... I'll post about that tomorrow. And I'll actually do it tomorrow! Until then...
loves from the littles!











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The playmat reinvented

Yep, it was time to do something new with the playmat. Really, they need more tummy time too...so this is what I came up with.




They seemed to enjoy it...




Zach...



I hung the toys up higher, had them on their tummies. All was going great. For about five minutes, and ya know I'm probably exaggerating, it was probably closer to two minutes before this happened...



Addie flipped over, Zach pushed himself over the boppy... and you cant tell, but katie actually did a full 360 complaining the whole way.
Katie...



Zach...


Addie...



Well, it was a good try. We've since worked on tummy time a lot. The boppy helped Zach quite a bit, he needed the extra support to help build his strength more than the girls did. Today he rolled from tummy to back, and later from back to tummy -on his own! John even noticed they are getting frustrated with their chairs more, bouncies, because they all just want to be on the floor. We now have to lock them in when we want them there.

John wants it noted that I'm writing this blog because our night has gone awesome! Therefore giving me the ability to write a new post. All kiddos went to bed fairly effortlessly. Love that!

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The times they are a changing

We are 6 months old!! CRA-ZY! With age comes change. Funny for six month olds, but still true. A few of the changes we've seen are the introduction of their high chairs. We are using the space saver chairs that attach to our own (old) dining room chairs. They are fabulous for feeding. We should have made that change a while ago for sure. We also received the other two bebe pod chairs so each has a chair/toy to help practice with sitting while keeping them entertained as well. An added bonus is that the bebe pod chairs fit under the dining chairs, so a great storage solution for our small space. I say this as John looks around to tonight and mentions that he'd love a room for all the play stuff we are acquiring.
More changes are that each kiddo is desperately trying to roll onto their belly, even Zach. Maybe contrary to the pics we post. Addie is pretty proficient at rolling belly to back, Katie can but can also just get frustrated. Zach still needs some help with that one. Katie and Zach LOVE sleeping on their sides, Katie almost on her belly. Kinda scary for me, but they are past the age of SIDS...not that I'm going to stop worrying and checking of course.
I don't have any six month stats until their dr appt at the end of the month. I'm hopeful we will be able to start solids at that time. They will be almost five months adjusted (had they been born 8-20) at that time, so close to the recommended six month wait. So, without those fun stats I'll keep this one short, especially since I have a fun photo filled post to make tomorrow. I will leave you with this fun photo from yesterday of Zach enjoying one of the girls' high chairs (I know, I know).



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party all the time

Do you remember that song? Party all the time, party all the time, party all the ti-i-ime...I don't recall at all what song it was but that was the chorus (heck, that's probably the name of it). Well, my Katie girl somehow discovered that song last night. All littles were in bed by 8:30, a great night for us. A few fusses that took John and I to calm down, but we are calming them in their cribs trying to create good habits as early as possible. Then my little K decided mom was having too much fun catching up on her tv (early to bed means mom get nighttime tv again! woohoo) and wanted to join the fun. She started screaming and would not settle, so I brought her down with me. Soon after Zach followed. Ugh. I was up until after 2am with both, John even joined me for a while about the 2am mark. Zach finally went into the pack-n-play and Katie squirmed in my arms until 3:45. Such a long night! Addie of course, declined the invite and slept all night so she started making noises about 6:30ish. They had a tired cranky momma today. I really tried to still play with them, but the 20-minutes-tops naps were not helping. One of the tough "mom of multiples" days. But, I have more cute pics to share. They are from the other day since pics were out of my energy range today, but this one is too cute...


This one is Zach man. I had piled him with a blankie, his little monkey that you can't even see, and his sock monkey then realized hey, do I have a little boy in there? hehe Addie's been having trouble napping, so she fell asleep on my chest and I laid her on the couch in front of me. Such a sweet girl when she sleeps huh? Yep, WHEN she sleeps, too bad she doesn't sleep much during the day.


and I leave you with the guy who has my heart, aside from John that is...


I love his giggles so much. They brighten my day no matter how tired. Please note, second blog post in two days, so far so good on the resolution. Now I need to start figuring out what to write about to start making this blog interesting. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Time

Time. Everyone complains about not having enough of it, but I think Moms of Multiples experience this to an extreme. On one hand my day resembles Groundhog Day. I do the same things over and over, every three hours in fact. Change, feed, entertain, try to coax into napping, entertain, change, feed, ...well I'm sure you get the picture. On the other hand there are the chores, both personal and household. By personal I mean hygiene. Yep, that is now on the chore list. Something I hope to get to, but honestly don't every day. Heck, in the beginning brushing my teeth was a luxury! Don't worry, that now happens on a daily basis again. Showering, not so much. well, time is also a mystery when I type away and the program suddenly closes on me, losing my work! Ugh! It was good too, it really was! Ok, enough with the exclamation points. I'll try to get back to this post after making formula. Until then, don't my kiddos have such cute little buttbutts? I think so, especially in cute butt pants.


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Feed Me!

There once was a boy named Zach
Who woke up with a hunger attack
So he woke up his mommy
And said "listen to my tummy,
It's hungry! It's hungry! It's hungry!"


That is my poetry this fine early am. I may be shooting myself in the foot, but I'm curious how long the girls will sleep so I haven't woke them yet. I can always adjust someone's feeding later in the day to get all back on the same schedule. I'm sure what this means is Zach will eat, we'll both fall back asleep and the girls will wake. Murphy's law there, but I kinda wanna know.
Other than that we've been chugging along. They are five months now. Kate is getting close to 13#, Addie is almost 12#, and our Zach man is a bit over 14#. Yep, 14! He's a bruiser.
They've all rolled from tummy to back but mostly on accident. Katie has it figured out the best. Addie spends her day legs in the air on her side. She rolled over a few times yesterday from back to front. I didn't see but my theory is she's hooking one foot on the other side of the play mat pole and flipping herself because she ends up with one foot on each side of a pole. My kiddos are such kickers we got them a play mat with big piano keys at the bottom. Their first "toy" they can annoy us with. :)
Signing off now, but I gotta say I think it should say "posted from...using" b/c it is posted from the phone, not blogpress from the phone. From the phone is modifying posted...oh well, my teacher brain in action.

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