Toad Discipline

What is a dad to do when he's by himself during the witching hour (approximately from 7-9pm) or as someone recently called it, "baby PMS?" They get a good talkin' to from Mr. Toad.

Toad Discipline from Janet Pittsenbarger on Vimeo.

You are a M.O.M. if... (4 Months!)

When I first saw this pic I said "OMG it's like I'm looking in the mirror!"

Uncle Garrett doing a triple hold


You Know you are a M.O.M (mom of multiples) when...

-you haven't looked in the mirror in weeks

-you sleep in 2hr increments

-you don't want your family to leave when they come to visit

-a tummy tuck is reconstructive surgery and not cosmetic

-your laundry consists of only underwear and pajamas

-taking a shower involves major preparation and planning and an extra adult

-your kids are over stimulated by simple outings like going to the grocery store because they rarely leave the house

-you can feed two babies at once and send a text message while doing it

-your idea of going "out" to eat is take out or delivery

-you can finally relax when only one baby is awake

-your babies milestones aren't just exciting but are life style changes (such as sleeping through the night or walking...you can guess which one I'm looking forward to the most!)

-taking 1 baby to the store is a relaxing get away

-your once necessary "morning bathroom time" goes from 30min to 3min

-your stroller is almost worth more than your car and you need a garage for it

-your living room looks like a carnival for infants

-you practice carrying all your babies at once in case of a fire

Big Boys

Third time ever rolling over!

Today Caleb rolled over! It had been at least two weeks since we last tried tummy time since they seem to really hate it. I was burping Caleb on his boppy while I fed one of his brothers. I noticed he was holding himself really well so I thought I'd put him in his beloved baby einstein, only this time on his tummy. I looked away for maybe a minute and when I looked again he was on his back! This proves what I already knew, they hate tummy time, so much so it took Caleb only a minute to figure out how to roll over. I don't know if they'll ever learn to crawl.

In their big boy clothes


Swing Swing Swings!



The first month home the boys slept most of the day in their pack n play. The next month and a half was their boppies and bouncy chair. Now it's swings! We had two to begin with, a travel swing and a big swing (this is the much preferred swing). It started to become apparent we needed another swing when the boy that was out of the swing would not sleep very well and wake frequently. Then Thomas became a swing hog and would only sleep in the swing. "WE NEED ANOTHER SWING," I told Phil. I checked craigslist for a week and a half looking for a good deal (we are on a tight budget). I finally found one and it was the best $30 we ever spent! Although we are going through batteries like crazy, this might put us in the poor house. Swings are a must have for triplets, it's the only other thing besides a human that makes them happy for hours on end. They must be swaddled though otherwise they won't fall asleep on their own.

Cheese Hands

Caleb talking to Mr Octopus on the baby einstein


The boys being really bad for dad while mom takes a nap


On our way out to Costco


Lets just say bath time is not a priority in this house. It's recommended babies be bathed once a week but not more than twice since they have sensitive skin. These guys are lucky if they get a bath every two weeks! I've found out that the stinkiest part of a baby is not in their diapers but their hands. Their hands are always clenched and a little moist, perfect conditions to create a finely aged cheese smell. I try picking out the lint and wiping them with a baby wipe but that just takes the edge off and doesn't last very long. What they need is a good lather every three days but who has time for that.

So we made a trip to Costco with the boys this weekend just so I could get out of the house and enjoy a delicious hotdog. I pushed Caleb and Eli in the double stroller and Phil carried Thomas in a carrier. I wish I had counted the times I heard "TRIPLETS!!" I figured if they weren't in their triplet stroller maybe people wouldn't noticed as much but I was wrong. The matching hats probably didn't help either. I feel like a celebrity without the fame and fortune.

Thomas slept the entire time but Caleb and Eli had a great view from their stroller so they stayed up the entire time allowing themselves to become over stimulated. Caleb and Eli lost it as I waited for Phil to get our hotdogs. Caleb was ok as long as I kept moving so I went outside and pushed the stroller in circles. Eli was not having it so he had to be held. So there I was pushing the stroller with one hand while I held Eli in the other. I don't think we are ready for Costco.

New Year Post (3months)

I noticed my fellow bloggers have all done a "new year" post so I'm playing copy cat. I write this as I hold a baby that refuses to go to sleep and as I eat my sad little microwave pizza. It's been a wild year, a complete emotional roller coaster.

In January we decided to try and get pregnant again after a miscarriage a few months prior. In February we found out we were pregnant and in March that we were having triplets. In May I started my lumberjack diet. In June I gained a ton of weight, by the end I gained 60 pounds and so far have lost 50. In July we got our minivan, which was given to us by a generous friend. In August I quit my job to go on bed rest. In September after a very LONG pregnancy (7.5months preg with triplets is like 2years with a singleton, believe me!) the single most monumental thing in Phil and I's life took place. We were blessed with three beautiful healthy boys. In October the boys came home after 16 days in the NICU with virtually no issues besides the whole "eating" thing. In November I finally get to see what it's like to be on my own with all three and I realized it can be done and not go crazy. Finally in December, after working so hard on this, the boys can breastfeed like pro's making my life easier with less pumping.

The health of the boys had been my main objective and now that I don't have to worry about that I sit here and think "but what about me?" I ended up with so many battle wounds I don't know where to begin. Anemia, muscle loss, stretch marks all over, a busted up knee from carrying so much weight, my wedding ring doesn't fit anymore, I think my hands got bigger (no I'm not kidding), a huge scar from my c-section, major abdominal muscle separation that anything short of surgery can't fix (too bad you can't register for a tummy tuck...I'm saving my pennies), even the IV left a nasty little scar on my arm. In the end I wouldn't trade what I have now for my old self or anything else life can offer.

Ok I'm done with the touchy feely for now.

RSV

A Few New "Triple Holds"
Cousin Temo and Mary

mama Elda

Uncle Chance


What's harder than taking care of triplets? Triplets with colds! To most of us RSV is just another regular cold, but to anyone under two it can be really dangerous. Thomas and I started at about the same time and were quickly joined by Eli and later on by Caleb. It started out as a stuffy nose which then progressed to heavy breathing and wheezing, some diarrhea and a nasty cough. The rapid breathing made it hard for them to eat like normal so they were only taking in about half of what they normally eat. At first I wasn't worried at all since a few weeks back I got a cold and the boys only got stuffy noses but once the labored breathing started it made us panic so we rushed to the ER where they checked out Eli and Thomas. The doctor said babies could keep that up and be ok and that it was only a problem if they couldn't eat at all. So back home we went after quite a scare. Eli and Thomas are on the recovery but Caleb probably has a day or two to go, although it didn't seem to affect him as bad as the other boys.

Breast Feeding Update

Mr. T



Caleb





The Team


Pump it UP!



The boys had a traumatic day yesterday, they went in for their two month check up and vaccines. I've never seen them cry so hard and get so red in the face, this was way worse than their circumcision. It took a long time to console them and all day long they had lots of emotions like crying spontaneously while eating or sleeping. Thankfully all are very healthy, Caleb and Thomas are in the 50th percentile and Eli in the 30th (this is age corrected since they were born premature). Thomas is already 10 pounds and the others are close by.

There has been much progress since my last two posts. In a nutshell the boys nursing really well now and my milk production is up as well. This is probably enough info for most readers but if you want the details read on.


I was really trying to brainstorm on what to do differently since what I was doing was not working. The first thing I tried was saying "no more bottle for Thomas today." It failed miserably, he wouldn't nurse for more than 5min, I kept the same feeding schedule and it caught up to him bad. By the end of the day he was cranky and starving. Poor baby must have lost some weight doing that. The next thing I tried was taking two boys and nursing them all night long as much as they wanted. And for whatever reason it worked! Don't ask me why but it worked. The next day we went in for a lactation appointment and Caleb took in 90cc's, Eli 116cc's, and Thomas 55cc's (he was last so there was not much left for him). This told me that they were all capable of taking in full feeds since they generally eat 80-110cc's. This was the BEST feeling ever, way bigger accomplishment than even graduating from college in my perspective. So what was the problem? Only thing I could come up with was that I wasn't letting them get hungry enough. We were waking them up before they got hungry just to "stay on schedule" and nursing was way too cozy for them to stay awake. Although this doesn't explain why my first experiment didn't work.

So I threw out the schedule and fed them on demand. I found out that they were sleeping anywhere from 3-5hours at a time and Eli surprised me and slept 6hrs one night! However the "non-schedule" wasn't working too well with pumping since I couldn't predict when they'd wake up. Also the boys again weren't nursing all that great either. Something still needed to be tweaked. Then someone made the simplest of suggestions that made a light turn on in my head. Why not strip them down to their diapers so they'd be cool enough to stay awake? And it dawned on me that they nursed so well at the lactation appointment because they were only in their diapers since that's the way they are weighed! WHY didn't anyone suggest this sooner! And WHY didn't I think of it on my own seeing as how logical this solution is.

So with advice from many and another mom of trips I have a new system and it's working pretty well. This is what works for us, during the day I nurse two boys and bottle feed the other and pump right after. I rotate one boy out to the bottle at each feeding so they all get equal turns at the breast. I don't keep a strict feeding schedule but I don't let anyone sleep more than 4hrs because it will slow down my milk production. I'm pumping 6 times a day now instead of 7 so as to keep stimulating my body to produce more milk and I'm getting very close to 100%. At night I take two boys and Phil takes one and we found out that we can both get more sleep! At night we let the boys sleep as long as they want and they have been semi regularly getting in 5 hour chunks of sleep.

I still struggle to keep the boys awake while nursing but I can almost always manage to get them full. This is still a work in progress though, but it's PROGRESS non the less. I'm so happy we are moving forward!