Triple-Teamed

The last few days, we've both been triple-teamed by the kids. It's like they know when either the mother or father is alone. We'll be trying to feed one and the other two will start crying or screaming. You can stop feeding the one to work with the other two, but then the one you left will start crying because they want to eat.

Photos Added

Twenty things that change when you have a baby

The list should be longer than twenty. Everything changes, but in a good way.

The Times, They Are A Changin'

We realized this weekend just how much things have changed over the past few weeks. The amount of time between feedings has increased. Most of the time, the babies cry less. They're sleeping through the night (except for Little Man's nightly outburst). We've been able to sit down and have more meals together. We were even able to get the Christmas tree (without decorations) up this weekend. Yes, things are definitely changing.

Christmas Photo Preview

We've been working on a Christmas photo. As you can see from these photos, the kids didn't seem too excited about it.

Holiday Plans for 5

We're scaling back this year on all the holiday activities. It's more of a challenge to travel with 5. We also have to plan to get back home in time to put the babies to sleep.

Father Friday - Things You Never Seem To Have Enough Of With Multiples

There are lots of things you never seem to have enough of with multiples -

• diapers
• baby wipes
• clean clothes for everyone
• bottles filled and ready
• ways to amuse the kids
• clean dishes
• sleep
• patience
• time

Hmmm, if only there was a way to combine some of these...

Where Can We Get A Helper Like This?

He's In The Jailhouse Now

Well, not really, but we did discover that Little Man enjoys sitting in a laundry basket. He didn't want to be in his playpen one night and the father was in the kitchen trying to load the dishwasher. He popped Little Man in a laundry basket and he was happy to sit there while the father talked to him and loaded the dishwasher.

RSV

It was back to the doctor today for the second round of RSV injections. The pediatrician recommended everyone take the injections because they were born premature and would be less than 6 months old at the start of the RSV season. The injections are given monthly until the RSV season is over.

The amount of medicine given in each injection is based on the weight of the baby. We were a bit surprised today when we learned everyone's latest weights.
Little Man - 13 lbs 10 oz
Squeaky - 13 lbs 8 oz
Blondie - 11 lbs 10 oz

What's In My Mouth???

Based on the pediatrician's suggestion, we started rice cereal this weekend. It seemed to go well with Little Man and Squeaky, but Blondie wasn't crazy about it.

They're Back

Runny nose. Coughing. Take your pick. They're back and we're sharing.

Something For Their Scrapbooks

This week, the kids received their "congratulations on your birth" cards from the President. Regardless of your political affiliation, what parent wouldn't like their kid to receive a card from the President? If you're interested in getting one, you can send a letter to the White House.

White House
Greetings Office
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Just send a copy of your baby's birth announcement or write a note with the birth date and name.

Talking to Each Other

The babies have started "talking" to each other. When they face each other, they just sit, smile and chatter. Squeaky is the most vocal, followed by Little Man and then Blondie.

Distractions That Help Calm The Kids

When it comes to calming the triplets, we've tried lots of things. We ran across this posting on daddytypes.com. He talks about how badgerbadgerbadger had a mesmerizing effect on his son. We decided to give it a try. It worked. It seemed to distract the babies enough to calm them. We've also used the visualizations in Windows Media Player as a distraction. That seemed to work as well.

Photos Added

Walk A Mile In Our Shoes (The Weekend of Baby Meltdowns)

It all started like a normal weekend. We went Saturday morning to get a photo made for Christmas. The rest of the day was calm. It was only around early evening when things started getting ugly.

Little Man was napping and his pacifier fell out. Instead of just continuing to sleep, he started crying. I don't mean a small cry or whimper. I mean a full scale, bust your eardrums cry. We both took turns trying to calm him. There wasn't much we could do to console him. He cried so hard he made himself throw-up. He calmed down some after this. About this time, Squeaky started crying. Each of us had one of them and we did our best to get them to stop crying. We thought things would get better. How wrong we were.

It was Little Man's bath night, so we decided to go ahead with one because he seemed calmer and he needed it now. Big mistake. He started crying near the end of the bath. He didn't want to eat. He didn't want to stop crying. What did he want??? We were finally able to get him calm enough to eat some and he went to sleep and so did we suddenly realizing that we hadn't been able to eat dinner because of all the crying and baby calming.

Sunday started off like a good day too. Nothing much to say about it until we started the final feeding. Little Man drank his full bottle and was happy. This was not going to be the case for Squeaky and Blondie. Little Man had done most of the crying the night before and now it was their turn. I don't remember who started first, but eventually both of them were crying and spitting up. We went round and round with them trying to calm them. We took turns with each them and did our best to calm them. They eventually stopped crying and went to sleep.

What a weekend. We haven't had two bad nights like that in a long time.

Father Friday - Washing Clothes

It's amazing how much laundry you wash with multiples. We wash at least one load of clothes every day during the week just to keep the laundry baskets (yes, one for the parents and one for the kids) at a reasonable level. It's two or three loads each day on the weekends to get the baskets empty. You have lots of bibs and burb clothes, outfits that get spit-up on them, day clothes and night clothes, blankets and more. People told us we should keep a count of how many diapers we use for all of them. I wish we were keeping a count of the loads of laundry.

Talk, Talk, Talk

Everybody is "talking" more lately and becoming more vocal. We spend a lot of time talking to them and reading to them, so that must be the reason. Of course, we have no idea what they're saying, but it's fun to sit and have a "conversation" with them.

A Lip-Smacking Good Time

Squeaky has started smacking her lips a lot. It's really funny to watch and hear her do it. It doesn't always mean she is hungry. She just seems to enjoy it. I guess it's like whistling to her.