It’s been a little while since I have given an update, so here is what the triplets are up to, half way through their 10th month.
I remember talking to a twin mother of 10 month triplets while I was pregnant and she said that was life was getting easier as they got older. But I tell you, and Alex agrees with me, it doesn’t feel like it’s getting easier. Even though it probably is easier then those mad early days. We may be getting more sleep at night. But it’s still interrupted. Constantly. And we now have had 10 months of this. (Not to mention the pregnancy sleeplessness.) The accumulative effect of sleep deprivation can do your head in. And the crying. Sometimes they just all want something at once, and you just can’t give it. They cry. And cry. And cry. And when the big boys join in too. Head.Ache.
The thing is, life with triplets. It’s relentless. And that is why it doesn’t feel easier. There’s always something to do and when they are sleeping, there’s three million things to catch up on. Just as well I just love them more and more every day. And they are so darn cute. It means that even though it’s hard, it’s heartwarming, fun and rewarding. And should the little darlings sleep through, I’m sure it will start feeling easier too.
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| A common sight of mine these days. Someone crawling up onto my legs and complaining. |
So what exactly is keeping us busy?
The three babies are now crawling very confidently. The boys are still a lot more speedy than Imogen. But she can get everywhere, she just plods away. Unfortunately, she often puts her head down and concentrates on her crawling. Which results in her crawling straight into other living beings (like brother’s) and inanimate objects (like walls and cupboards). She’s scored a few bruises so hopefully she revises her crawling methodology soon.
She’s not the only one bruising herself though. At the moment traumeel is in constant use. Toby has an impressive bruise on his forehead at the moment. I’m not even sure how it happened. Of course it could have been the usual way, such as a sibling throwing him off balance while he was cruising around furniture or getting excited and bouncing up and down while watching the dog outside and banging his head on the door in the process. Or it could have been one of the less conventional ways such as slipping on the vomitting on the tiles and bumping his head. (Toby and Jayden have both resumed vomiting lately. It’s a flashback I don’t like re-experiencing.)
Other current discomforts include teething. They all now have two bottom teeth peeping through. Toby cut his first teeth last month, Imogen last week and Jayden this week. As the teeth cut through the gums, all three were very sore and irritable for a few days. In addition to that they all have teething signs like dribbling, red cheeks (facial and the other end), earaches and irritablity fairly regularly. Jayden and Toby have been particularly drooling all over the place. Unfortunately I’ve had to get the bibs out again. I hate bibs. They wore them almost constantly their first 6 months. I was so glad when the amount of vomitting lessened enough to not have to use them all day. They have so many nice clothes, and then we just cover them up with a daggy old bib.
For the most part, the little darlings are being completely darling. They love hanging out together, and will generally play in the same area.
Despite their devoted friendship, dummy stealing is still rampant. Quite often they will simultaneously steal dummies from each other’s mouth and then put the ‘new’ dummy straight into the mouth which had just lost a dummy. Chook also has his own unique (well mostly unique, Joey will occassionally do the same thing) way to suck a dummy.
But most of all at this age, I love it most when they giggle and laugh and play with one another. Completely adorable.
8 Comments
Missy almost seems to be smiling for the camera in the ‘crying’ shot!
She did Mum. But only for a few seconds.
What adorable pictures! Their little faces are just darling, but the wide-legged stance in the last one stole my heart!
The crying sounds really difficult though. You’re great to keep on going and keep your cool.
Yes, I love them and their stance in their little furry suits. Soooo cuuuuute. And, um, who said I was keeping my cool. *coughs awkwardly*
Hey Caitlin,
How beautiful are those shots of the triplets!! They are so absolutely gorgeous – and I can totally relate to that love that reaches so deep that gives you the perspective needed to push on despite the tears, wails, drool, mess, poo, vomit, bruises, sleep depravation……hmmmm…..the love goes very deep!!! However, looking back on all of this, I think its the tough stuff that builds our love for them even stronger – proves it – to them, ourselves and the whole world. How nice is it when they all play together. Sometimes I just force myself to stop whatever I am doing to just sit and watch them, and let myself enjoy them!!! I wonder if its similiar to the way God feels when He sees us ‘playing’ well together…? Anyway, I must get to bed – its pretty rare I get on line, but I should check up on this more often – it does my heart good. Love to you. God bless. xx Kylie Moody
Hello beautiful Kylie. So nice to hear from you. And yes, you are right. I am in a blessed position!
Hey Caitlyn sorry to be the bearer of bad news but in a sense it gets easier in that we went to the Pub the other day for a counter meal but in doing that I came home and was a day behind in my housework job. I have a futon covered in clothes waiting to be folded; the workload never eases up it just increases and like you I breastfed our triplets but they were never dwardlers on the boob as I would just take them off in they weren’t been efficient! I always have other stuff to do and if you didn’t need sleep I think you’d keep going. Ben and I realised that we had to be rather tough on their sleep habits from the get go so the girls were sleeping thru from early on but Chief took until 8mths and then I had to get tough and do it by myself as Dad always caved. When asked about sleep I always say you will know it as you will hit a brick wall then you will work with Robyn Barker’s method it worked with our eldest and then with the trio. I do think of you often and when I head to Toowoomba I often think I should grab you for a coffee but the kids and I are often in hurry one day!! You are both doing a great job keep strong together and you will get through it with love faith and teamwork xo Kim PS: Like you I really love my trio and the bear and wouldn’t trade it for all the tea in china even on the BBBAAAADDDDD days I just pray for guidance for the next day
Hey Kim! Just as well the bad news you bear is what I already have suspected! Life is always hard and it’s just different aspects that are ‘easier’ than others. And then there are experiences that just can’t be compared because in the moment that you are walking through it, it doesn’t matter whether it’s easier or not, it’s just hard. My first two boys were dawdlers on the boob, but like you, I have no time to allow the triplets to dawdle! I can vaguely remember reading Barker’s method with Jonty. What is it again? We have let them cry it out, etc. But there is often ‘a reason’ why they aren’t sleeping through. Like at the moment it’s blocked noses, fevers and colds. I suppose when there’s a reason, you can be a bit more forgiving. Even still they’ve had to do a lot of crying the last few nights, because they just won’t settle anyway. The other challenge we have is that when they cry, they wake each other up, sometimes even if one is crying from the other end of the house. Nothing worse than three crying babies in the early hours of the morning. So we often are quick to remove a crying baby from the room if we can’t settle them in there. I’ll look forward to catching up with you sometime when you are in Toowoomba. Email me at happyheart(@)y7mail(dot)com and we’ll exchange contact details. Love to swap stories about our blessed roles as triplet Mums!