baby triplets, family life, triplets

A One Day Triplet Babysitting Gig

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It was my sister’s birthday on Saturday. To celebrate went to Dreamworld, a theme park two hours away on the Gold Coast. We decided against bringing the triplets, and my mother-in-law kindly agreed to babysit them for the day. She decided to come around to our house to do this since all their stuff is here, she thought it would be easier. Because this was her first solo triplet babysitting gig, (although her husband did arrive later in the afternoon to help. Vital really, it makes it so much easier if there is a 2nd person around in the late afternoon.), I typed out some of their routine for her. After it was all done, I thought I’d share it with you, (plus photos!), since I thought it gave a good little glimpse of my days with the triplets. (Minus all the household chores and the three year old entertaining.)

The Triplet’s Routine
February, 2013

5:30 – Wake Up and play in cots.

6:00-6:30ish – Take out of cots, change nappies.

6:30ish – Breakfast. 4 Weet Bix soaked in milk. Drink Water. They (normally the boys) can get teary (as in possibly screaming!) and temperamental about eating breakfast sometimes. Normally they will come good with a bit of coaxing. 

After Breakfast until around 9:00 – Get dressed. Play. I put them to bed when they are grizzling or at 9:30 will normally be the latest I’ll let them stay up until. They normally play with their toys and with the big boys. They also like saying hello to Bronco in the morning. 

At the moment they like sitting on the dining room chairs. I will often give them an empty bowl or cup and a plastic spoon and they like stirring them as they sit there. They will climb onto the table and crawl all over it, sit on it and stand and walk on it! I just keep lifting them down and saying “No” very sternly to them. If you push all the chairs in under the table so they can’t climb onto the chairs they will most likely go under the table and get stuck on a chair underneath it. (Just so you know!) Oh, and they will probably dirty their nappies during the playtime. You’ll smell it. The boys might dirty them more than once.

9:00-10:30/11:00 – Morning Nap! Put them into bed with their bottles. 125ml. Toby and Jayden having soymilk, Immy: cows milk. If they are mucking around, after 15mins-30mins, go in and check. They have a habit of doing poos instead of sleeping. After their nappies are changed and dummies back in (They will chuck them around the room or under the bed) they will normally settle down.
Relax! Eat chocolate. It will help for the rest of the day. (Ha ha!)

11:00-12:00 –Playtime. They will still probably be obsessed with the table. I’ve been giving them little games to do at it. They love sorting things into muffin tins. Watch for when they start to get bored to take the things of them otherwise they will start pegging it all around the room. (Normally I’m not quick enough and they start throwing things!) 

They have also been having little scribbles in their scrapbooks and have just started putting stickers in. They will try to eat the pens, so I’m trying to teach them to keep it out of their mouths. It’s easier for only one to draw at a time, because that will require the most supervision. They will prefer to take the lids on and off the pens more than actually drawing. If it’s easier, pack them into the pram and take them for a walk. Bronco will want to come too. Only take him if you want to. 

 12:00 – Lunchtime. In their highchairs. I make three sandwiches with different spreads on, cut them up and feed them only two pieces at a time. Trying to encourage them not to throw their food. After their sandwich, they will normally have some cut up fruit. There is plenty in the fridge. (plums, peaches, nectarines, apples, pears and their favourite: grapes, they eat the grapes whole, just pulled off the stem.)

After lunch until somewhere in between 1:00-2:30, (depending on when they woke up in the morning.) Playtime. 
Same as before. Because the big boys aren’t in the playroom, they will enjoy going into there. They might like the Duplo. Help yourself to any toys in the toybox or baskets. You’ll need to watch out though. If you leave the room at all, keep an ear out because they will instantly try to pull all the books out of the bookshelf.

1:30-3:30 (Typically?) Afternoon Nap. Probably best putting them in the three separate port-a-cots because they have been mucking around a lot and not settling lately in the afternoons when they are together. 125ml just like before.

3:30-4:00(ish) They will wake up. They can have a snack. More fruit and/or biscuits or cereal bites (on stove top)
Playing Outside. – Suncream is on the kitchen bench. Hats hanging in the garage. Feel free to walk to the park if you’d prefer. You’ll need to put the dog water up. They will make a beeline for it. Just put it back down for Bronco after they go inside if you remember please.

5:15(ish), or when they start getting grumpy. Dinner. Chicken and mushroom Pasta. In the square Tupperware container. Heat it up, but they won’t have it very hot. Put it in bowls with a spoon. Shouldn’t be any trouble, they love it.


5:30 – Bathtime. You can go two ways. Either bath them individually. Maybe give the two who are waiting their turn some fruit in their high chairs if they have already finished eating. Or if you are feeling game, bathe all three at once. When they are finished, either dry them and release them out into the wild naked and when you are finished drying the last one, hunt them down and put nappies on. (They love a good streak.) Or you could be more civilised and bring nappies into the bathroom and lay them on the floor and change them each as you get them out. I’m starting to put them in long sleeves overnight again because it’s getting cooler in the early hours.

6:00 Bedtime. Although if they aren’t all ultra tired, I’ve been staggering them so they don’t muck around. (They will probably poo again if they are all together.) You could put them in the three separate cots again, they might settle better. Up to you. If they aren’t settling down if they are all in the bedroom, feel free to take him/her out and put in isolation!


And that’s it. As you can expect my mother-in-law looked pretty exhausted when we got home. I think she kept the triplets very busy and content though. The next day they were wiped out! It was obvious they had a great day with Nanny.

Next it’s my Mums turn at the end of the month! Alex and I are escaping for two nights. We promised ourselves a little break once the babies were weaned and man, are we ever looking forward to sleeping in! (Hope we can!)

We had a lovely time in the Dreamworld by the way. I think the big boys loved having undivided attention for the day. Jonty went on his first big kids roller coaster, although he by far preferred the ball pit that was complete with ball shooters. Trent’s favourite was the rapid ride and the log ride. He loved getting wet! We so appreciated the opportunity to do this. Thanks R!

Our group, except for the birthday girl who is actually taking the photo!
So, what do you think? Would you like to volunteer a days babysitting service for me? How brave do you think my mother-in-law is? Have you had any ‘escapes’ recently with reduced children or no kids?

Today I’m linking up with Essentially Jess

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baby triplets, family life, newborn triplets, triplets

Things That Once Terrified Me About Having Triplets

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Last year I wrote a post outlining some of the things that really frightened me about the prospect of mothering triplets. So, I have to say, I really had a pretty good realistic expectation of how it was going to be. I knew it was going to be hard. And it was. I knew there would be much joy. And there is.

Since the triplets are now one year old, I thought it would be good time to go back and re-cap on how it has been. If you want to see my original post, check out Part One and Part 2 (I’ll only address Part One today.)


1. Having 5 Children 5 and Under.

Oh man. It’s been tough. But wonderful. I just look at the five kids some days, and marvel that they are mine.  It just seems normal having them all around. I sometimes wonder why this is a big family. I just couldn’t imagine life without any of them, and having lots of kids around is our normal.


It did make it easier with the babies, as I had expected, having been there done that before. As with any mother who has 2+ children, you can just apply what has worked before and move on from there. My sister once made a comment that I seem more relaxed with five than I did with one. Perhaps it is true. Sometimes first time mother’s feel overwhelmed by me and they question why they find it so hard when they only have one and I have five. I try to explain, that I too found life difficult when there was only one child. 

Having said that, I’ve often thought how much simpler my life would be if I did not have to deal with the older two kids and could just work according to the triplet’s schedule. Dealing with the behaviour issues with the older two is a constant juggle. At the moment we are struggling with T-Star being rough with the babies. He throws things at them, hugs them too tight around the necks, picks them up and throws them and rolls around the floor holding them while they scream desperately trying to escape. People have chuckled as they have heard me say things such as, “Don’t stand on the baby please.” And I understand why it is a funny statement to listen to. (Once it has been verified that the baby has survived the ordeal.) But my goodness. It’s so frustrating trying to teach a two year old gentleness, especially when the lesson does not interest him in the slightest.

J Boy has own moments when he has had mammoth tantrums that have needed to be addressed. This will than put out the whole routine of the home, which will result in screaming babies which only escalates the tension in the home. Also, because this is J Boy’s first year of full time schooling, we have found homework a real challenge. This is such a disappointment to me. The teacher in me was so looking forward to doing homework with my kids. I’m afraid some days it can only be described as hell. It doesn’t matter how many fun ideas I try to implement, J Boy refuses to participate in the spirit of frivolity when learning. I have to push aside my own agenda often and just let him read the flashcards, because he would prefer to do homework in the ‘boring’ way rather than participate in the alternate games I have suggested. But even still, there is great wailing, moaning and gnashing of teeth from both of us before homework is accomplished. (For the record though, I still believe in it. The exercise of practising learned work really does help a child consolidate his/her learning and help increase achievement and confidence.)

Then there are other issues. The triplets get a lot of attention and the boys will often be ignored by some people. The triplets get things given like lots of baby food, milk, clothes, even today there were smash cakes for a photo shoot. (Can’t wait to share that one with you!) The boys don’t want the things like baby food or baby clothes, but they do notice that the triplet’s have been given something and they have not. Luckily they are very loved boys and do receive attention from many people, so they remain confident and (generally) well behaved boys.


2. Lack of Sleep

Horrendous. 

I have never experienced anything like the level of sleep deprivation I have endured throughout the last year. When they were newborn, it was common to only get four hours sleep, and that was interrupted sleep. I can remember wistfully thinking that all I wanted was to sleep more than two hours without being interrupted.
3 weeks. Sleeping newborns, so precious. Never through the night though.


I was right about it being hard to cat nap through the day also. When they were young, the same rule applied. They would need to be fed in three hour cycles. That normally only left one hour before the next feeding session began. And if you wanted to do anything for yourself like pee or eat, your time was reduced. And ther

e was also other children to consider also.


I didn’t like going to sleep during the day, and found it very uncomfortable to just say to whoever was in the house that was what I was going to do. I did do it. I probably should have done it more. I wanted to. I would often spend a feeding session pep talking myself that I needed to just get a power nap in, even if it were only 20 minutes. And then I didn’t. If I were to do it all over again. I don’t know if I would improve though. It’s just the way I felt and sometimes I would prefer to be tired rather than uncomfortable. That’s just the way it was.

Alex was an amazing help, and I truly don’t know how he functioned at work some days.

As for the books I read before I had the babies on rigid sleep routines which would help them to sleep through the night earlier. 

Rubbish.

It maybe works some people. But it didn’t work for me. One year on and we are very almost (fingers crossed) at the point where they are sleeping through. It has been a ridiculously long process. Much longer than the first two children. Which is the ultimate irony. If I was going to chose the worst sleepers of my five kids. Probably wouldn’t have chosen the triplets! Oh well, you deal with the hand you are dealt.

Update: Since writing this, at 12 1/2 months the babies started sleeping through. Hip hip hooray!

3. Housework

So this has been either as bad (I imagined it to be pretty bad!) as I thought it would be or surprisingly, quite often it’s heaps better than I imagined. 

I have been so embarrassed from time to time when people came to visit because there was (is) just stuff everywhere. But to be truthful, I can remember being embarrassed for the same reason before multiples as well. The biggest difference I’ve found in my current situation is that when I know people are coming, I do what my friend Belinda defines as a Panic Clean. (Go on read her post. It’s a brilliant little phrase she’s coined up, and she gives some helpful hints on how to Panic Clean well.) Most of the time I used to make my home fairly presentable before people came around. (So long they didn’t open closed doors.) These days, the Panic Clean, well …. often you wouldn’t really know it happened. It often still looks like chaos when people arrive. Or it really didn’t happen because the kids interrupted me so much. Or it happened too early and got messed up again before people arrived. Sigh. 


Normally I try to throw things out of the way when I take photos, to make it look a bit tidier than it really is. Or take the shot from another angle. Sometimes it doesn’t happen. Like this shot taken in the playroom on the weekend. The playroom is often such a mess it’s difficult to walk into it. Oh, and in case you are wondering what’s happening in this picture. Missy is mad at Joey for taking her chair so she is in the process of trying to reclaim it. (She eventually sat on him.)
In the early days, it was almost a hopeless cause getting housework done. I died a thousand deaths when people came into the house, (even if they were coming to help), especially after the weekend. So often I literally didn’t have time to do anything. The only way it got done was thanks to a lovely older lady who volunteered to come in once a week and clean my house, and the paid help that we had pitching in. According to In Home Care guidelines, the carer is only allowed to clean up after children. I justified this to the co-ordinators that it was to include things like sweeping, mopping and cleaning the toilet after the boys (Yuck. Boys make such a mess.) After all, it is the kids mess. We are also very lucky that Miss Rachael is a tidy person. My Dad always said it makes sense to staff your weaknesses. In my case, being a “messy”, I sometimes just marvel that Rachael walks into our house and half an hour later it is remarkably tidier. It makes everything instantly seem a bit calmer. Although I’m watching carefully, I kind of don’t know how she does it, because I just can’t seem to replicate it. It just illustrates that because of the extra help, it can certainly be better than I thought.

When I’m left to my own devices, things go pear shaped quickly. It also doesn’t help that when I’m on my own I often have five kids and often if the babies are asleep, the boys start demanding attention. This is justified. It’s only fair that children get as much as their mother’s time as possible. Throughout the year, T-Star in particular, has watched a lot of TV. Sometimes it’s the only way I can get anything done. It’s always my goal to counter-balance the screen time and give him other opportunities again. Alternatively sometimes if I’m on my own with sleeping babies, I choose to ignore the housework and do things (like blogging) that I feel guilty doing when other people are around. 

In many ways though, the triplets are helping me to be more organised, even in the cleaning department. I’m more aware of keeping on top of things. You just have to. Catching up is almost impossible.

4. Lack of Privacy

I’ve coped with this better than I thought I would. If I’m feeling frustrated, I just paint a picture in my head of what life would look like if I didn’t have the extra people around. It helps me get over any feelings of frustration pretty quickly. Like I said above, having people around has often made things better than I expected.

Miss Rachael when she first begun working with us.


Of course, I do really wish sometimes that it was just the kids and I. I think about all the fun things I did when it was only J Boy and I in the house. We played hard building block cities, roads all around the house, making hospitals, and doing grandiose box constructions of castles, crocodiles and space shuttles. Play got less extravagant when there was another baby in the picture, but with five kids, I really try to play as much as I can with them, but there’s always so much to do. And absurdly, even though I’m grateful there is someone with my kids and keeping them very happy so I can get much needed tasks done, sometimes I just can’t help but feel a little jealous. I would always prefer to be playing with my kids rather than doing jobs! I sometimes worry that they will love me less because maybe I’m ‘not as much fun’, or I ruin it all by having to discipline them, but then I have to kick myself out of self pity. I know I’m the Mummy, which includes the good the bad and the ugly. There’s always going to be a bond with my children and I, and because I work at strengthening that bond we’ll always be close, even if I am busy in the meantime. And because life is full of contradictions, I’m grateful that I have help around the place, because often it means that I am able to play with my kids more because someone else is doing that task for me.

Or sometimes, no kids, just myself. I have had many daydreams about being sent away to a day spa and receiving massages, facials and manicures. Heaven. Alex and I have decided that when the babies are all weaned and sleeping through the night we will have a little overnight getaway, leave the kids with Mum and Dad, (Mum has also conscripted my sister to come over too for re-inforcements!), and we will have some time to ourselves to dine elegantly and SLEEP UNINTERRUPTED! (Hopefully in a swanky hotel room.) You don’t know how often I have thought about this. Must anticipated overnight stay ever.

5. Being Stuck At Home

We do spend an awful lot of time at home. I don’t mind much. I’m a homebody at the best of time, (50% introvert) and because there has been so many people passing through the doors, the 50% extrovert in me stays satisfied.

I do feel sorry for the triplets sometimes. Like the time I took them to the park and they were acting like cats who are placed in a new situation. They were so cautious and wary of the grass and when they hit a new surface like sand or dirt they would freeze and cautiously assess the new situation. As they are now getting older and the weather is getting warmer, they are starting to get outdoors a bit more. Which has the disadvantage of three little bodies diving bombing and trying to rush out to fresh air and freedom when the door is opened.

Being stuck at home all the time means sometimes you have to get creative when finding new places to have fun.


They also are starting to need the extra stimulation of alternate activities. It’s very hard though because to go to playgroups, etc. They are always scheduled in the mornings. Right during their daytime sleep. It takes a day (sometimes two) to get over any outings. (For instance, Mondays are always a fall out day around here from having gone to church on Sunday.) Then there’s people coming and going at set times that we have to work around as well. It makes life very complex.

Me time is now often when I have been able to sneak to the grocery shops without T-Star. Having people around does mean that grocery shopping is easier for me than most mothers with five kids because I will often leave them with a carer and head to the shops by myself or with one or two kids. I do sometimes yearn for the days of old though where I could dilly dally around the shops with a child in a pram for half a day (or more). I miss browsing and being able to shop for myself. I now shop like a man. I go into somewhere, see it and buy it. No looking at another store. Speed shopping I call it. Surprisingly this type of shopping means that I can spend just as much money (if not more) as I did after all my carefully considered purchases of old, even though I’m shopping a lot less. 

I’ve never gone shopping by myself with the five kids or even with just the triplets. There’s two reasons. Firstly there’s almost always someone around the house, so I would be a glutton for punishment if I took all the kids with me when they could be looked after at home. Secondly the triplet stroller is so ridiculously heavy that The Accountant has advised against me using it. He probably doesn’t want to pay for extra sessions at the chiropractor. I’ve got scoliosis and sometimes get a bad back just pulling a double stroller in and out of the car. The few times I’ve attempted to fold it up, I’ve failed. It’s very sticky, rusted in a few spots (the one drawback of an awesome 2nd hand deal) and I can’t remember which lever to pull and fold out where.

Can you remember something that terrified you? How did it work out for you? As expected, better or worse?


Today I’m linking up with Essentially Jess for IBOT (I Blog On Tuesday)

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baby triplets, triplets

12 Month Old Triplets

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I am so thankful my triplets are 12 months old.  It is such a cute age. They are ADORABLE! Also, it is a route marker. I’ve survived the most difficult bits of higher order multiple babyhood challenges. Granted, I am about to embark on the challenging era of toddlerdom, but for now, I am basking in the bittersweet warmth coming from the glow as the sun sets on babyhood. Of course I do have a few sniffles as I contemplate that my children are growing up, but for now I am thankful that they smile those baby grins, give baby cuddles and wet baby kisses.

And as a sidenote, if you tell me they aren’t babies anymore, I cross my fingers at you and hiss as though you are an approaching vampire. I want to prolong their babyness for as long as possible. In my opinion, they really stay babyish until around the 18 month mark, where magically they lose their babyfaces and widen their scope of interest. Which will often include TV. See, I told you, it’s a magic age (and an excellent consolation prize for no longer having a baby). (Yes, yes, I supervise their viewing and limit it, but TV is great for diverting little people’s attention so Mummy can get something done. Let’s keep it real people!)

Anyway, here is an update on what my darling threesome is up to now that they are 12 months old.

Walking!!!
I’m so proud of them! They are starting to wak this week! Joey started the week before his birthday, Chook started the day after his birthday, and finally Missy joined the merry crew of walkers this week! You would not believe how unbelievably CUTE three little wobbly walkers are! I’d share a video clip here, but they never seem to work for me. It might be my incredibly slow internet connection? If you wish though, we were in the local newspaper this week, check out a video on their site here.

Joey is starting to favour walking over crawling, so you will often see him toddling for no reason of late. Chook will get up and have a little wander on occasion. Missy took two steps on Monday, was a complete show off when the reporter was here doing about four sets of six or seven steps, and hasn’t walked since.

Teething
On their birthday, Missy has six teeth, (four up top, two down the bottom) and the boys both only had their bottom two. In the last two weeks, the boys have had their four top teeth coming through. It hasn’t been easy for them, so there has been a bit of misery in the house lately.

Eating
We’ve started decreasing the purees and increase the finger food/real food. I hate it. Such.A.Mess. If you walk anywhere near the highchairs location, it will most likely be crunchy underfoot. The highchairs are such a mess to clean up afterwards, the babies always have food stuck and dried to their clothes and food stains. Plus, the babies often aren’t that impressed with eating by themselves, so we have a lot of wasted food. I am finding though they are starting to get the idea, and if you just give them the food and leave them be, they are more likely to eventually eat something. Their favourite foods they are corn on a cob and sausages. They loved macaroni and cheese, but pasta is normally a bit hit and miss, you never know they’ll like it. Last night they had rice, it was a slow start, but eventually they ate a bit, (I think. There was so much left in the highchairs and on the floor, perhaps not!) Of course they love junk food too. Plain biscuits are always a winner and they have had a little ice-cream now, which went down a treat!

Rice and mince chow mein. Chook’s bowl is empty because he has just dumped the contents on his lap.

Breastfeeding
I’m very proud that we made breastfeeding the triplet’s 12 month mark! They have been supplemented since 4 months, but generally they have all received breastmilk two out of their three feeds. In the last week Joey has refused breastmilk at all, so he is now weaned. I’m not entirely sure how I’m going to do the other two, but I’ve now had three children who have done this, so I’m hoping it will be that easy for Chook and Missy. If not, I don’t think it should be too big a drama since they are used to having bottles. I’ll probably be more upset than they will be! Sniff, sniff.

Playing

The babies most often play together and crawl around in a pack. They are starting to become even more away of each other and more affectionate. They will often give each other cuddles and kisses, (Altogether now, everyone saw, AWWWWW.) If they are tired one might lie their head on the other’s lap.

The still fight, and the boys quite physical at times and will push and hit. Missy can also push and hit with the best of them, but is more likely to cry and/or yell and look for intervention. Dummy stealing is still a popular activity, although as they develop an awareness of one another, they will often try to stick it back in the mouth (albeit the eye, nose of cheek) of the crying baby that it was stolen from. They may instantly steal it back, but hey, they are starting to get the idea that other’s have feelings too!

Favourite toys right now are walkers. They also love their wheely bugs that they received for their birthday, and mostly use them as walkers at this stage. Missy in particular charges around with her walker like a woman posessed. She has also discovered that if she rams her wheely bug into Daddy’s legs/feet it gets an instant reaction. She doesn’t mind that it’s a negative reaction and will delight in doing it repeatedly and then laugh. She has a wicked sense of humour.

They can now open doors, which means that T-Stars train set is no longer safe. Of course, because this is a forbidden activity it is now a favourite activity. It causes T-Star a lot of grief. And you can’t blame the little guy, it’s three against one.

Mess
There’s lots of it. All the Triplet Hot Spots are still strong favourites. Bookshelves have also gained popularity.


Talking
We are getting lots of words. Mum, bub, dad are favourites. “Hello” is probably the most said word by all three. The identical boys can say each others names which is very cute. (Admitedly, you do need to be listening to notice, but they certainly do it!

) Having only one girl and four boys, I’m constantly amazed that Missy will just garble away nonsense sounds for no reason at all. It seems that whenever the boys are talking, even if it’s only making sounds, it’s for a purpose. Missy will happily just babble just to make noise. It seems she already has more words to use in a day than her male counterparts.

Personalities
Seeing their little personalities develop is one of my delights in life right now.

Joey tends to be the trailblazer.

He is the most adventurous, so he will crawl off and explore first and the other two will so join him if it looks like fun! He is still the smallest, at 8.8kg, but he eats the most food and is the least fussy. He’s very quick to smile and gives lovely cuddles, grabbing you around the neck and holding on tight. Melts.My.Heart. Absolutely every time.

Chook is Mr. Social

He loves interacting with and being around people. He’s growing up and is 9.4kg. He’s very cuddly at the moment and will often crawl up and lie his head on people’s (siblings included) lap. Another thing he is doing at the moment is when he finishes breastfeeding, he’ll pull away, look up and eyeball me and give a beautiful time. Heartcrush.

Missy is so unique, cheeky and always makes us smile.

Another picture I discovered today of her in her beloved chair.

She is a girl who know what she wants and is resolute in her objective to obtain it. She is vocal and can be quite forceful. She’s a power to be reckoned with, my girl.

Today, with my heart full of 12 month wonder and gratitude, I’m linking up with Thankful Thursday over at Kate Says Stuff.

What are you thankful for today?

Thankful Thursday

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pregnancy, triplets

The Big Triplet Belly

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I wrote this post about my big triplet belly while still pregnant. I didn’t publish it at the time, because I didn’t want people feeling like I was pin pointing any individual (which I am not doing at all) and I didn’t want people thinking I was upset with anyone in particular.

Since being pregnant with my triplets, I’m so self conscious about my belly.

The day before the triplets were born.

As is a lot of my emotions with this pregnancy, it’s quite contrary to how I usually feel. My previous two pregnancies I loved my belly. I was proud of it, and was happy for it to be on display.

I still feel those emotions when I’m walking around and people don’t know I have triplets. I am one of those ladies who does not mind being pregnant. (Although, if I could cross out a few pregnancy symptoms like the need to pee every three minutes and heartburn. That would make it a whole heap better…)

I have some friends that get rather large in pregnancy and practically go into hiding during the last weeks. Up until now I’ve never been able to get it. I thought their bumps were still beautiful, but could understand their discomfort and anticipation to return to a normal size once the baby was born.

This time, I have to rest so much, and I have to admit, I’m kind of glad for my enforced seclusion from the public eye.

The thing is, I love my triplet belly. I love that it’s growing and is an outward testament of the miracle that is happening beneath the surface. I love running my hand across it and feeling my babies. When I lie on my back, (for like 10 seconds these days, before it starts to hurt!), I am amused by the little mini mountain that is my own skin in front of me. I love that I’ve been given the rare gift of carrying three lives at the one time.

Moments before giving birth.

I’m also quite proud to show it off to my close friends and family.

I just don’t like being gawked at. I don’t like that people look at my eyes for all of one second and than they stare at my stomach in fascination. I don’t like that people want to come and ‘see my belly’ as though it’s a tourist destination. Yes, some of these people probably still think that my belly is beautiful and marvel at the wonder of new life. But there are very few people that do it in a way that doesn’t make me feel like a freak show.

One Sunday I was deep in conversation with another woman at church, when a 2 females I didn’t know walked past. One whispered to the other and nodded in my direction. Before I knew it, they had literally walked backwards, and one bent over so her head was in line with my stomach and just stared. Of course this was annoying since it interrupted a very interesting conversation and was quite awkward. She finally asked if I was having triplets, which I replied in the affirmative, made some remark about how she doesn’t know how they fit there and continued on her merry way leaving my friend and I flabbergasted. (Brief defense of the location: it’s actually one of the only times I have felt uncomfortable about being pregnant at church.)

31 Weeks Pregnant

Here are some tips if you have an encounter with a belly full of multiples, or just a belly full of stuff that makes it larger than normal.

1. When you say hello, spend the first minute or so talking to your friend looking at their eyes. Then direct your attention to the belly, and talk about it rather than just looking. If you really can’t help it, have a quick glance, but re-establish eye contact before beginning the belly talk!
2.  Express delight at the belly, sympathise if it looks like the mother is having a hard time with pregnancy related symptoms. There is no need to commiserate someone for having a multiple pregnancy. Most of us cherish the lives that are within us. And since we have real little lives about to be born, we don’t begrudge any of them that opportunity.
3. Everyone wonders how three babies can fit in there. It is an amazing thing to contemplate. Just remember, they are not the size of a newborn baby until the last weeks. They are quite small, that’s how they fit in – naturally it’s a bit more squashy than a singleton’s uterine residence.
4. Don’t touch! If you are a good friend, you may ask first then touch only if permission is granted! (This applies to any pregnant woman.)
5. If you are a stranger, please don’t stop and stare at a big belly. It really makes the belly’s owner feel awkward. After you have finished staring, there is nothing you can say that will redeem yourself.
6. It doesn’t make the mother feel better if you say that you were that big with one baby. Chances are you weren’t, you just can’t remember what you size you were in that exact week. Also, if the woman is smaller, this is normally because she is a smaller person, so she will in fact be a lot bigger than what she would be if there is was only one inside. Also there is a significant increase of discomfort compared to a single pregnancy.
7. If you are a child under 8, you can get away with staring and making random comments. It’s part of the benefits of being really cute and little.

Once again, I know many times people aren’t trying to be rude. I’ve had requests for photos to be published on social media and this blog, which makes me feel like I’m an exhibition. I know the people are curious and some love to see pregnant bellies. There is a good chance that if I had not been having this experience, I may have done any one of the things above. I think I have asked to see pictures of friends or families bellies before. I love pregnant bellies.

I also feel fortunate. I’m not as big as I thought I would be. I had visions of my stomach reaching the end of my knees. (Someone said so on a blog…) Stretch marks everywhere. And being unable to walk because my stomach was so big. Thankfully this hasn’t happened.


So, that’s the way I think about the public’s perception of my belly. (Even if it’s my perception of the public’s perception..!) Feelings are feelings, blame it on the hormones or whatever. This is just the way I feel this time around. Just thought I’d share.


So … What do you think about pregnant bellies? Do you want to/or do stare/touch/feel? If you have had your own preggers belly are you proud and put it on display, or do you try to avoid the spotlight?

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breastfeeding, newborn triplets, triplets

Breastfeeding Triplets – Starting a Routine: Reality vs. Expectation

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This is a post that I have wanted to write for a long time. This morning I saw a “Mom to Mom”, (or Mum to Mum in my Aussie vernacular), blog hop about Feeding and Scheduling for Multiples. It’s the perfect motivation I need to finally write about the topic.

When I was pregnant with the triplets, I had some ideas of how I might breastfeed the babies. I was prepared to change should it be necessary, but I had to feel prepared within myself by having some sort of mental plan, even if it was to be broken. I’m flexible like that, and I changed my plans very quickly while the babies were in hospital after talking to the midwives and finding out what worked best for me. What I didn’t take into account, was that The Accountant was still wanting to carry out the original plan, and his mentality wasn’t as prone to change plans.  That was one hurdle we had to jump in the early days. I had The Accountant prepared that he was going to have to bottle feed all throughout the night and mentally, he was ready to do it. As it turned out, I was fine breastfeeding all three babies in one session, but if all were awake at the same time, I needed his arms to hold a waiting baby. The Accountant could see how tired I was and could feel how tired he was, and just wanted to give them a bottle. I wasn’t prepared to give them formula at the start, especially when I had enough milk. I knew that once I started feeding them formula, my production would decrease, so I didn’t want that to happen. It also seemed pointless expressing a feed before (like my original plan) because in reality it didn’t save any time. I could understand how it was frustrating for The Accountant getting up in the middle of the night and just holding a baby. He felt like he was doing nothing. Of course he wasn’t, I wouldn’t have been able to do it without him. It just took awhile for us snapping and fighting with one another before we worked out that it was our different mentality to following a plan. Generally, when Accountant’s follow a plan, there is seldom reason to deviate from the original plan. Once we had recognised this and had a discussion of what we needed from one another, it got a lot easier. Once again it was proof that communication is vital within a marriage.

The early days. A tired Accountant, on the home front job, holding babies.

I had thought, (and if you’ve been around this blog for awhile, you may remember me saying), that I planned to twin feed two babies then express a bottle for the third baby. I thought I would rotate the babies so that one baby would be getting an expressed bottle from the previous feed at the same time that the other two were breastfeeding every third time.

What I didn’t take into account, was that this would not be timesaving in any way, in fact it would be longer if I needed to express and feed the bottle by myself. And with multiples, as Finn McMissile says, “Time is of the essence.” I had been basing this on the fact that my first two boys took at least an hour to feed each session as newborns. In reality the triplets would take 30-20 minutes each. I find I don’t let the multiple babies muck around as much. It’s straight down to business when there is mass feedings! A midwife had advised me that the best way to go would be to feed two babies one side each and feed the third and last baby both sides. I was doing this in hospital and continued when I got home.

I had also expected that I would introduce a very tight schedule feeding at particular times in order to cope with feeding three babies. I was rather dreading this. I had trialled this when J Boy was a newborn and hated it. It just wasn’t my style.  I found that I tended to resume a similar pattern of feeding to what I had done with the first children. I would give them a full feed, and then try not to feed them again before they had made the three hour mark. Of course sometimes, they were desperately hungry and this didn’t work. If they were sleeping, I never woke them, but would feed them when they awoke, so if they chose how much longer they would go over three hours.

Before they were allowed to come home from hospital, the triplets had to have a four hour feeding schedule. They went from three to four hours quite easily in the special care nursery. I was pleased, and very keen to continue feeding four hourly when I got home. I had fed four hourly with the big boys, and had watched friends feeding three hourly and thought it was incredibly draining (and that was with one baby!) It just doesn’t take very much time for three hours to roll by, at least with four hours, you have a little bit of a chance to get something done in between feeds.

Within a couple of days, one by one, each triplet started sliding back into the three hourly routine. I tried to convince them otherwise, but they strongly disagreed. It was easy to give into their demands when you looked at how tiny they were. I figured extra milk, especially when it’s split three ways, would probably be helpful to the little darlings anyway.

In order to breastfeed triplets, you do need to mentally prepare yourself to exist on very little sleep. You need to mentally be committed to it, and continually think of how this is benefiting the babies, and to a large extent push your own feelings to one side. After all, it’s only for a time. The season will pass, and you must remind yourself that eventually them and you will be able to sleep throughout the night once again. (8 months later, and I’m still hanging onto this concept!!!) Even with the quicker feeds, breastfeeding was often taking 1 1/2-2 hours per session. That left me with 1 1/2-1 hours sleep. In the evenings the babies were very unsettled, reflux made sure of that. We were often not getting to bed until anywhere from 10pm-12am. Most evenings I was averaging a total of 4 hours interrupted sleep in the early days. (Sometimes more, sometimes less.) This still happens occasionally, but it’s more likely for another reason, such as currently the babies are sick, so they are waking more at night. Sometimes I would catch a nap in between feeds during the day if I were really exhausted. Most of the time I didn’t feel comfortable doing it with people in the house, even though they were there to make the burden easier. It’s a really weird feeling leaving someone in your house and just going to bed.

The early days. Even though I had a house full of people, my hair wasn’t done, no make up and trademark bags under the eyes.  People would always comment with a note of amazement that I was still smiling. It was a statement that I still find baffling. Take a look at that angelic face combined with the feeling of utter contentment having a tiny baby sleeping and snuggling into you and tell me that’s not worthy of smiling.

I’ve got plenty more to say on this topic, but I think this might do for now. If you are a mother, can you remember (or are you currently in) the newborn mother’s haze of sleep deprivation? What did you do to cope? Are you a rigid sched

ule feeder, or do you prefer to have a bit more flexibility?

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babyhood, triplets

"I Don't Know How You Cope" – Life with Baby Triplets – Getting Help

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One of the common things people say to me these days are “I don’t know how you cope.”, “How on earth do you look after three babies?” or “I could never do that.” I thought I would briefly answer this question, in case you too have been wondering.

Firstly, if you think that you could never look after three babies, I think given the opportunity, you would find that you would. Sure it’s hard, but I think anyone with the capacity to love your own children would grit their teeth and get on with the job. Sure, some people might be able to cope better than others according to the level of your emotional resilience. But in the end, I think most people would end up growing three healthy children into adulthood.

So when people say that they ‘never would be able to do this’ to me, I always feel a tad embarrassed, because there is nothing particular special about me. I’m just doing the best I can with the hand I have been dealt. I also think to myself, I’m sure you could do it…

The second reason why I feel embarrassed is, because I cheat. I really find it incredibly hard doing it by myself, so I don’t! I have made sure that there is pretty well always a 2nd adult in the house most of the time – 24/7. It may be someone we have hired or a volunteer, or my husband. But someone is normally ready to help when I’m stuck feeding one baby and the other two are crying.

I know some triplet Mum’s do it without assistance, and they are amazing. Like I said above, if you are in a situation you will cope. I would survive if I had to do without assistance, but I know I would be feeling a lot more stressed than I currently am. There would also be a lot more crying and misery abounding, for myself and kids! And although our house may often look like a shambles, it’s still running fairly efficiently. If I didn’t have help, it would be in meltdown because I would be in complete survival mode. I’m glad that I don’t need to do it alone.

We have a Nanny who helps out under the In Home Care Scheme. I am so grateful that living in Australia we have access to In Home Care. (If you are an Aussie multiple Mum, you really should check it out. In a nutshell, you are able to claim childcare rebates and benefits for having a Carer in your home if you have three or more children not in school.)  It has meant that we are able pay for someone who really helps alleviate the burdens that result living in a household with triplets and two other children. We have a little gem helping us out right now. (Different person to the lady I had previously mentioned that had originally filled the position.) All the five children absolutely adore Miss Rachael, and I have to say that this makes The Accountant and I are pretty smitten as well.

We’ve also made the decision to have a 2nd paid person helping in the home, especially while things are so busy. Mrs. T is also a gift from God and is helping the household run more smoothly.

In addition to this I have several selfless ladies who come in and help with the babies and the running of our household. To them I have overflowing gratitude and endless amounts of appreciation. Firstly there is my family. My mother is a consistent fixture in our family these days. (It’s kind of nice seeing her so often!) She comes around either early morning or afternoon and helps out before or after our helpers are around. She also takes T-Star for a few hours on a Thursday to have some Grandma time. The little tyke looks forward to this – big time, and just quietly, I think the triplets don’t mind a bit of breathing space where their big bro isn’t rolling over them or waking them up from comfortable naps.

My youngest sister and my brother (when he’s in town) often come around and just help out looking after the children. It’s so handy having another pair of hands, especially at the end of the day during twilight of ‘the crazy hours’. (From about 4:00 until the kids go to bed.) And the best bit of this is the babies are also bonding with their Aunties and Uncle. My other sister helps by letting the two big boys come over for regular playdates with their 5 cousins. Sometimes the big boys just need to get out of the house and be somewhere where everything doesn’t revolve around three tiny persons.

Then there are my angels. I have a lady who comes on Monday  for a few hours and whips around my house cleaning it. Another lady comes for most of Wednesday and helps with the bubs and irons. I’ll tell you the truth. My ironing pile has never looked so healthy since I’ve had triplets, and the ironing quality is even an improvement on my efforts. (Oh and for those who don’t iron. I just can’t do that entirely.. But that is for a whole new post.) And then on Thursday morning I have another lady who cuddles babies, giving me the opportunity to feed, play with T-Star, shower, or do whatever I need to. (Crazy Sister also used to be a Thursday cuddling angel, until I had a helper reschedule. She was rather brilliant at getting all mooshy over babies.)

I’ll always be appreciative of the selflessness of these grandmothers (and even one lady is a great-grandmother!) who give up their time to help our family.

And I haven’t even touched on the myriads of people who have dropped in to help or say hello for a little bit. Or all the ladies who have made life easier by cooking us meals.

People sometimes are surprised that I “am still smiling” (I find the whole statement a bit odd, but there you go), but it’s easy when there are so many helping share the burden.

There’s so much more I could say, trying to phrase “Thank You” and “I’m Grateful” in a million different ways, but I hope you’ve got my point. Plus, it’s taken me two weeks to write this much, so if I wish to ever publish this post. I think I’ll stop here.

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family, J Boy, T-Star, triplets

4 Month Old Triplets: Update

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Hi! *She says a little shamfaced, knowing just how truly appalling she has been at blogging of late*

I’ve been thinking I just need to get on and do a little update. At the moment I’m feeling so very motivated, as I’m feeling great – I’ve just had six hours uninterrupted sleep!!! Hooray! The triplets were very difficult to get to sleep last night, a fitting conclusion to the day which was also full on. However, they were all bathed, fed and asleep by 7:00pm and what do you know – they slept through until 5:00am! And again I say Hooray!

The triplets are now 4 months old. They are completely delightful, flashing big smiles liberally and starting to be quite the chatterboxes, gooing and gurgling away, kicking their little legs furiously to express the wild excitement to be living such a grand life.

Their colic and reflux is settling down, although it is far from over. We are now at the stage where they are constantly throwing up. We go through myriads of bibs during the day and several changes of clothes. However, they do not seem to be crying as much, a nice indication that it is not painful. They are still feeding around the three hour mark as a general rule. Sometimes more, (and on days like the last few), sometimes less. For the last two days they seem to be drinking continuously. However, since they have slept through the night, they are fully forgiven!

OK. So, proof that life is crazy busy at the moment. I started writing this post over a week ago. I’ve got 20 minutes in the house by myself now, (J Boy at school, T-Star is hanging out with Grandma and no helper for a little bit) so thought I’d try to finish it. Already, I can hear some movements indicating that one of the three sleeping triplets is waking. OK, heard a dummy drop on the floor. Life with triplets… Time is up.
(Turns out, Missy is stirring, but seems quite content, so I’ll motor on…)
I should firstly add that the communal sleeping through the night, most certainly didn’t take off. That night was a one off. And as it turns out, even the validity of all three sleeping through that night is contested. The Accountant maintains that Chook woke up at 3:45. I’m sure it was 5:00.  Suppose it doesn’t matter now, just hanging out for them to do it ‘again’. The Accountant recently bought an expensive bottle of red. He has pronounced that it will be consumed after all three babies sleep through five consecutive nights. He originally made it 7 consecutive nights, but in the desire to consume the bottle sooner, he adjusted the goal. Phew. I think the bottle may be a tad dusty before we pop the cork. Or rather, unscrew the cap…
 J Boy is continuing to enjoy school. He is super tired by the end of the week, and consequently his behaviour at home can get quite feral. I’m sure this will get better as his stamina improves and he gets more used to school.
T-Star is getting used to being ‘the man of the house’ once Daddy and Jonty leave for school. He is still a very doting big brother, and can be very helpful. The other day I had three screaming babies and only two adults. I ended up sitting next to T-Star as he nursed a baby and fed him a bottle. Turns out it was activity enjoyed by baby and toddler alike! He’s a very sweet and loving child. Until he starts chucking major two year old tantrums. Eeeek. Never fun, and I tell you, T-Star can chuck a doozy! 
T-Star continues to be mad about motorbikes. Here he is after hearing Daddy arrive home after his bath. He charged outside and was super thrilled to get a ride on the driveway decked in nothing but a towel!

 A Further update:
It is now the third week since I started this particular post. Last week I had a moment in time, but blogger was playing up and I wasn’t able to post, so I had some script saved in Word. It’s truly reflective of life at the moment. Busy, busy, busy. The triplets are now 5 months old, and despite my original joyous declaration, their sleep seems to be getting worse rather than better. For the last several nights I have been interrupted hourly most of the time. Hence I’m rather exhausted at the moment. I had my first episode of pure exhausted desperation yesterday morning when I just couldn’t settle Joey down in the early hours of the morning. I ended up howling. The Accountant came to the rescue and shipped Joey off to another room. But he had to swap Joey for Chook, so it was still another hour before I got to sleep, but at least Chook was content to feed, whereas Joey was just wriggling and crying, inconsolable.

We had our first weekend without Alex this weekend past. My youngest sister was so kind to come around and help out the entire weekend. I also shipped the two older boys over to my mother and other sister, so it all went smoothly, apart from the interrupted sleep. (Not helped by the fact that my sister and I got to bed late doing sisterly pursuits such as chick flicks and online window shopping.)

I think I’ll sign off for now, before the interruptions continue and I never get this posted. Has your life been full of interruptions also? Who or what normally interrupts your schedule?

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photography, triplets, triplets monthly photo project

Triplets Monthly Photo Project – Month 3

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The title of today’s January Photo Challenge is “Someone you love”. I thought I’d post again the trio of ‘someones’ that I love, because I haven’t yet shown you the 2nd and 3rd month of the triplet’s monthly photo project. I didn’t take the photos. The wonderful Linda did. Go and check out her newest photos at 100 Days of Living and Giving  as she’s also participating in the January Photo Challenge. I’m loving her perspectives.

The triplets hit the three month mark in the holiday season. This photograph was actually on New Years Day, however I thought it was close enough to Christmas to justify the Christmas fabric!

Do you know how incredibly hard it can be to get three babies photographed without crying? Not easy let me tell you. Chook is chucking a wobbly here in the tub chair. He cheered up after a bit, but someone else started crying…

And here they are hitting 2 months. Somehow I got the order mixed up compared to the first month. Don’t know how. I had the picture there, studied it, double checked, and then put the babies down in the wrong spots. I’ve decided to keep them in this order, so I can remember that the boys are in chronoligical age either side of Missy. So that’s Joey on the left and Chook on the right.

And as for the tub chair. It wasn’t a happy moment. They are actually all crying here – really loudly. You can’t really tell except for Joey. But hey. It reflects what month two was like for us. Lots and lots and lots of crying from the reflux and colic. (Did I say lots?)

And here’s a flashback to the first month. I don’t know if this fully reflects just how tiny they were…

And they were remarkably well behaved the first time in the tub. 

I’ll look forward to sharing more with you as the year progresses. Which pic is your fav thus far?

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newborn triplets, triplets

7 Week Old Triplets

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Seven weeks old and it feels like the reflux is getting worse, not better. In fact, we have identified that they do not have only reflux, but also colic. The most tell tale sign of this is that they have been waking up in the middle of a deep sleep, screaming in pain. Poor little vegemites. They find it very difficult to burp after feeds, which doesn’t help the situation. At the other end of the scale, they constantly let very smelly firecrackers go down in the nappies, and doing so can hurt their tummy. And they are still vomitting.

It feels that the medicine is doing nothing, however when I started cutting back on it, I found that it must be helping, because they started vomitting even more. They have now also started on a wind remedy we concocted by a local chemist. It’s rather famous around these parts in the parenting world of colicky babies. It has helped a little, but not solved the problem. The reflux meds need to be given twice a day and the colic med before each feed. I’m hopeless at keeping track of it all. I am really bad at remembering to give/take medication, plus I get even more confused trying to remember which child I have given what medicine too. All with a scrambled baby brain – Aaagh!

Also they have conjunkyvitis. (J Boy terminology!) So they are supposed to have eye ointment for that three times a day. Missy has it worst and has given it to the other two boys who have it a little, then it looks like it’s gone, but then it’s back again. T-Star also contracted the gunky eyes.. Now at the conclusion of the week I have it. Now I am really, really bleary and red eyed!

The weeks of sleeplessness are also taking their toll. Especially since the hours of sleeping has decreased this week.

See! I told you I am tired! Proof beyond doubt.

The triplets are wanting to be held more and more, because that is where they are most comfortable. The problem is that they almost always outnumber the adults in the house. Therefore, you settle a baby down after holding it for a good stretch of time, perhaps half an hour if they are lucky, and then put the baby down in order to pick up the next one who has inevitably started crying. No sooner than you put the baby down, it will wake out of a deep sleep insist it wants to be held still. If you could just pick it up and cuddle it straight away, it might settle. However most of the time you are still trying to settle another baby, who kicks around disturbing it’s sibling, and before you know it, you are holding two squirming babies. The other adult who probably has a quiet baby at this point will point the quiet baby down to take help out and take a squirming baby. A few minutes later the quiet baby is no longer quiet … Do you see the vicious pattern? When all three go to sleep it is a very, very happy moment for all concerned!

3am, and finally all three are asleep! To get them to that stage on this particular night I had to prop them on a corner pillow and let them all snuggle in together. They like doing that when they are really uncomfotable. Well I thought they did. In this picture it looks like Joey is distinctly trying to get away from Missy. Either that or he’s sick of her snoring. (She really does snore, so unladylike!)

The babies are often taking up until 11:00 or midnight before they settle down enough for all three to be in bed asleep. Then Alex and I stumble to bed. Sometimes we still need to shower because we haven’t had a chance to before then. Lately my single brother and single sister have been hanging with us during the evening and hold babies, it’s a big help having a third baby held rather than doing the juggling routine.

My brother and sister posing for the much sought after “Holding all three triplets” photo.

The babies will then have two more feeds normally at around 2 or 3 am and 4 or 5 am. I try to go back to bed after the early morning feed to maximise sleep. This will often mean I will get up as Alex is leaving, so by the time people arrive I’m still in my PJ’s and I quite often don’t get a chance to eat breakfast for several hours. I’m not very good at skipping meals, never have been – I get starving! Breastfeeding three babies only makes me more ravenous! On the positive, the triplets are getting quicker at feeding. It’s normally taking an hour to 1 1/2 hours instead of 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours.

Of course, this is all not half as bad as it reads. Because even if you are holding babies for hours, and not having any rest in between feeds, you still are holding a gorgeous little child. So I tend to push my tiredness aside as much as possible, and just enjoy holding my child. If a baby is crying, it becomes a challenge to try and work out what’s wrong and try to make it stop crying. If I can focus on this, I don’t get frustrated and worked up about thinking my child is in pain. That helps both of us stay calm and solve the problem/enjoy the solution sooner.

Also we try to enjoy the social encounters that come our way. Of course there is always people coming into the house to help out, so we get to have lots of nice conversations with them while nursing babies. Or sometimes I deal with babies while they do my ironing/housework. That’s always a bonus! I have still been so appreciative of people bringing meals. When I have spent the entire day holding babies there has often been no ‘free time’ to do simple things like cook for my family. So it’s been good that people are so kind to keep delivering meals for us 7 weeks on. The meals slow down next week, so we’ll start to devour the freezer contents that people have also often left us with. So grateful!

At the start of their 7th week, the triplets met my uncle, aunt and cousin.

Don’t you just love the triplet’s lairy duds? A friend bought the pairs for them in London. Th

e pants were still a little big for them. I just wanted them to be worn in case the weather got too hot! 

Can you tell that my uncle is my Dad’s brother? Dad was so ultra proud showing off his triple grand-babies.

We’ve also got out a bit this week. Firstly I took the triplets up to kindy for J Boy to show them off to the class. It was so special for the proud big brother. The kids all thought they were pretty great, as did his clucky teachers and not to mention the other Mummies!


Such a proud big brother!


On Sunday the triplet’s had their 3rd trip to church. It is a challenge getting to church, but our spiritual life and our relationship with God must always be first priority in our family, so wherever we can we try to honour God by worshipping him corporately as a family. Sometimes we don’t make it, and we know God is OK with that some weeks also.

Then it was my birthday! In the morning, we took the triplets for another show and tell session. The boys go with my sister’s Nanny to a storytelling session at a local church every Monday morning, so I brought them there so the boys could show off their new brothers and sister. There are a group of older ladies who help out on these mornings. At one point a whole gaggle of old ducks were crowded around Missy adoring her, so she decided to respond and flash them a dazzling first smile!

Luckily I looked up in time to see it. I had been telling the triplets that the race was on to see who smiled first. I had also instructed them that first smiles were for Mummy. Rebellious daughter.

After storytelling the big boys had a play with their cousins. I met my mother for a lunch at a local restaurant with the triplets. I just wanted to get out of the house and do something a little special. It was a bit ambitious. We had to eat holding a triplet and one the owners held the third prooving we made a wise choice going to a restaurant that we frequent often. She mustn’t have minded too much – she gave us a free garlic bread even so! A lady from a nearby shop rushed up to admire the triplets and brought up some cute money boxes as a gift for them – very kind!

We had our family around and our family friends around for a great evening of Indian food and fun! The positive of having people around is that there always is ample arms to hold babies!

There’s normally at least one baby awake at night. Here it’s Chook celebrating Mummy’s birthday with the big kids. 

We ended the week spending the day with Grandma and Grandad. We got pest control to come and spray our house. I know it’s safe, but I still didn’t want the babies to be around the chemicals until the fumes died down. So instead we hung out at my parents place. Turned out to be a good thing. The babies were really unsettled, so for the most of the day there was an adult around to hold one, two or often three babies at a time. We didn’t get home until late because it was my nephew’s first birthday so they ended up coming over as well for a swim and a family party and birthday dinner.

So, what has been the highlights of your week? Have you had/have a reflux/colic baby? Found any magic remedies? I’ve tried a gazillion things, I’ve got a few more alternatives to try before throwing my hands up in the air and admitting defeat. I’d be interested to hear if there’s any remedies I haven’t heard of!

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newborn triplets, triplets

Still 6 weeks On and In the Poo.

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Yesterday I was contemplating that life seems to be getting more difficult with the triplets. It’s like the first five weeks, we were pretty well cruising. Challenging yes, but manageable, and maybe not quite as difficult as I had imagined. (I had imagined some pretty horrifying scenario’s.)

 But once that 5/6 week mark hit. Yep. That’s more like what I was expecting…

This is when the reflux started and the snotty nosed little cherubs and their siblings started getting a bit more demanding. Not to mention the triplets decided to sleep less.

It seemed very wrong. I had been hoping that they would get better as they got older. Nope. They went from feeding 4 and even 5 hourly overnight to 2 or 3 hourly.

Me: Bleary Eyes and Foggy Brain. Tired. Yawn.

Then they decided to feed 2 or 3 hourly during the day as well. Talk about insane. I felt like I’m a mere milk machine. (But Yay me for managing to be a milk machine. In actual fact, there’s nothing ‘mere’ about exclusively breastfeeding 3 babies – an accomplishment worth celebrating!) There was absolutely no time for anything else in life. Everything is devoted to keeping these little ones alive and well.

We are working on returning to a four hour schedule. It’s much more civilised.

Yesterday I was feeding (you know, because that’s what I do) and contemplating the overwhelming feelings of overwhelment (That’s what life with triplets does to you. It makes you feel so overwhelmed at times that you have to make up new words.)

Missy was in her swing and started protesting. She does that often, so I ignored her. She increased her volume to make her point clear. She does that often. So I ignored her. She got hysterical. She does that often. I don’t like it. It’s awful. But Chook was really close to finishing, and if I took him off, he could quickly start vocalising his displeasure. So I ignored her. Chook needed to burp. Missy was in an hysterical rage. She does that often. I ignored her. I thumped Chook on his back as quickly as possible, then no longer ignored little Missy who by this stage was in major meltdown. I quickly picked her up in a clumsy one handed maneouver that I’m still perfecting. I replaced Chook where she had been sitting with the other hand.

I felt something very squishy and wet on my arm.



This is when you know you are addicted to blogging. You are covered in poo, yet stop for a photo op.

 There was a very real reason for her cries, as it turned out. And as for my ignoring her. Revenge was sweet.

Chook decided to stage a violent protest over being so coldly rejected. (Turns out he had good reason also, I had dumped him in poo when I had changed seats.)

Two screaming babies and not enough hands! On the way to the laundry, I took a precarious one handed photo, then grabbed the phone for an emergency call to my sister for urgent help. In the laundry I was wildly grabbing whatever I could see to wipe body parts and stripping my darling off and giving her an impromptu bath in the basin.

My saviour – as in the mortal kind.

My sister’s nanny soon arrived and helped restore order. It turned out she needed to rescue me again in the afternoon. I attempted a feeding session alone, when all of a sudden all three woke and started a mass protest. I was leaving messages on answering services with three angry, angry babies in the background voicing their opinion about my failings as a mother and the injustice of being a triplet.

So, have you had some atrocious poo moments with a newborn?

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