Evolution of the Schedule

Snuggle bugs, a little tv never hurt anyone

Check out Thomas' cool slippers, he's all ready for basketball season!

Let's see if that ever happens : (

Why oh why do I have two safety gates up? Phil is busy chasing a squirrel out of our house back there. He'd already jumped over one safety gate so two should do the trick! Nice to say the kamakazi squirrel made it out alive.

Is it easier now then when they were little? I have a hard time answering this question. When they were little it was easy because all they did was eat and sleep. It was hard because they had to eat around the clock. It's easy now because they pretty much sleep through the night and we get 7-8hrs of sleep without really skipping a day anymore. It's hard now because I only have 12hrs to feed babies three square meals, two snacks, 5 milk feedings, read to them, play with them and do errands with them (yes I do errands with babies in tow now). It certainly feels easier now than it did before but maybe it's just that I'm better at it?

It's hard to believe that less than 9 months ago we were sleeping in shifts and getting up in the middle of the night to feed, change and put babies back to sleep. I sometimes kind of miss being up at some crazy hour feeding babies and watching John and Kate Plus Eight or some random documentary. I liked it much more when we stopped sleeping in shifts and Phil and I would wake up together once at night so we could quickly feed everyone while watching an episode of something. Good memories but glad it's done with : )

Life is really good now. It feels so good to put everyone down to bed at 7pm and know that no one is going to wake up while Phil and I eat dinner or try to relax.

I knew getting down to one nap a day would be awesome. Last week was jam packed and uneventful at the same time, but it made me feel a little bit like super mom. I did something productive each day of the week. Here is a run down:

Monday: went to Costco

Thank you Costco for your double seater shopping carts. I threw the third boy into basket to play with the merchandise I was buying. The boys did very well for about 30min so I just need to know what I need and keep it short.

Tuesday: Took the boys to the co-op play house, they so LOVE it there : )

Wednesday: Went to the grocery store for some items I forgot to get when I went grocery shopping. And stopped at the pharmacy to get my flu shot.

Thursday: gave the boys a bath

It would have gone a lot smoother if the bathroom had been baby proofed but at least I now know I can do it on my own and not completely exhaust myself. The boys are still in their bath seats and am wondering how much longer I can keep them in them? It is a much more controlled environment when they are in the bath seats and I can only imagine total chaos without them. Phil has since baby proofed the bathroom so we are good to go for now.

Oh yeah and I cooked and had company over : )

Friday: Loaded up the boys in the Joovy Caboose and walked to Rite Aid to pick up some items.

I felt great going there but on the way back I realized there is a slight grade so I was huffing and puffing all the way home. Good exercise though!

Of course my back was killing me by the time the weekend arrived from getting the babies in and out of the car by myself. I hope it's true, what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger. Got to build up those muscles to keep up the pace : )

So Before I forget! Here is how our schedule has evolved:

Newborn - 2mo

We kept the NICU schedule when we brought the babies home 8am, 11am, 2pm, 5pm, 8pm, 11pm, 2am, 5am eight Milk Feedings, around the clock. We brought them home only drinking 40ml or just over an ounce of milk, how cute!. Every three hours we'd make bottles, change diapers, feed, burp and put back to sleep. I'd then pump, after this I'd have about 1hr to do something productive like eat, shower, laundry, cuddle babies, etc.

2mo-4mo

We kept everything the same only this time, since we noticed babies could sleep longer at night, we began to feed them every 4hrs from 8pm-8am. At around 4 months I phased out pumping all together (thank God! seriously, nursing is sooo much more pleasant than being attached to an awkward piece of plastic).

4mo-5mo

Tried feeding on demand, it was awesome for about a month because babies would sometimes go really long stretches napping (like 4-5hrs during the day). Then they reverted back to their NICU schedule eating every three hours, so I started keeping a schedule again but following it loosely. We played around with feeding on demand or on a schedule at night then realized the schedule was a must at this point in order for us to get a decent amount of sleep but at this time we only fed once between 11pm and 6am. This was also about the time we stopped sleeping in shifts.

6mo-7mo

Started solids with one meal a day then increased to two meals a day, 3 naps a day. Started feeding on demand at night again, it was easier now since the babies would fall asleep right after nursing.

6am Milk feeding #1 (all nurse, no bottles)
9am Milk feeding #2 (last baby to nurse also gets a bottle) followed by nap#1
10:30/11am Solids
12pm Milk feeding #3 (last baby to nurse also gets a bottle) followed by nap #2
3pm Milk feeding #4 (last baby to nurse also gets a bottle) followed by nap #3
5pm Solids
8pm Milk feeding #5 (last baby to nurse also gets a bottle) followed by bedtime

8mo-11mo

5 milk feedings a day, 3 solids a day, and 2 naps a day. One baby started sleeping through the night at 8mo (this was Caleb, then flip flopped to Thomas).

7am Milk feeding #1 (all nurse no bottles)
8:30am Solids
10am Milk feeding #2 (last baby to nurse also gets a bottle) followed by nap time#1
1pm Milk feeding #3 (last baby to nurse also gets a bottle)
3pm Nap time
4pm Milk feeding #4 (last baby to nurse also gets a bottle)
5pm Solids
8pm Milk feeding #5 (last baby to nurse also gets a bottle) followed by bedtime

12mo+ (now)

5 milk feedings a day, 3 square meals a day, one nap. At 1year I stopped nursing all three at every milk feeding. Now I nurse two and give the third baby a bottle of whole milk. Two babies sleep through the night, Eli still wants to nurse once through the night (no big deal since he nurses for three minutes and goes back to sleep). And without any effort what so ever on our part, all boys go to bed fully awake and without any crying they fall asleep. Best of all, no long drawn out bedtime routine with baths, story time and all those shenanigans. Just diaper, milk, and goodnight, we're done in 15-20 minutes. Thomas and Caleb also do this for nap time but Eli still needs to be rocked to sleep, oh well it's still so awesome!

7am Upon waking up, Milk feeding #1 (no bottles everyone nurses)
8:30am Breakfast + story time
10:30/11am Milk feeding #2 (two nurse, one bottle) followed by nap time (I clean, shower or whatever needs to get done!)
1:30pm Upon waking up Milk feeding #3(two nurse, one bottle)
2:00pm Lunch + story time
3-5pm My window of opportunity: when I do errands, take a walk, give boys a bath, or whatever
5:00pm Milk feeding #4 (two nurse, one bottle)
6pm Dinner
7pm Milk feeding #5 (two nurse, one bottle) followed by bedtime