Our Routine (Part One)

I am very fond of the book, Twelve Hours of Sleep by Twelve Weeks Old by Suzy Giordano. Suzy first started working with parents of triplets, so she is very familiar with preemies and multiples, and there are special sections throughout the book that focus on multiples, so this book really is working for us!

It is the basis of the schedule we are using in our house and what we are teaching the girls. Because the girls are just nine pounds (a requirement of the 12 hour sleep schedule, as is 12 weeks old for triplets), we haven't started training them with the overnight sleep part (starting Monday!!!), but there are many things a parent can teach their child while they are growing to nine pounds. Most people can start the schedule and teaching their child almost right away, but since our girls were preemies, we have had to wait. (BTW, I have seen this book in action when I was a nanny and it works; but you MUST not give in and stick to it...it's the key!) The book is broken down into steps, and is a very easy read. I read it in just a few hours, during pumping each time, while highlighting and taking notes. There are sooo many great ideas in this book and I highly, highly recommend it! So, I will give a more in-depth overview of the book in a post over the weekend for those that are interested. Basically, I wrote the key points up for myself and Tim so that we don't forget. (longest post ever written though)

Some of you may laugh at me, but this structured routine is very much needed with multiples. Any child thrives off of a routine, I firmly believe in routines and structure (and the literature that supports it), and with multiples it's even more necessary for happy babies, happy parents and a happy household. I am blessed to have very happy and easy going babies. Natalee is fussy, needs some extra attention and wantes to be held A LOT but she is just making up for lost time, but I sure do love my Moby wrap, which I live in for her. She is just a Momma's girl. They are all great sleepers and awake more and more these days, with lots of smiles and little coos and giggles. I couldn't ask for better babies!

So, here we go...

Right now the girls are eating every four hours. They eat at 2am, 6am, 10am, 2pm, 6pm and 10pm. Madelynn and Claire are eating 4-5 ounces and Natalee is eating 3-4 ounces. It takes them about 10-15 minutes to finish their bottles. (This schedule will change MONDAY, so that I can start teaching them the new one hour of sleep in the morning, two hours of sleep in the afternoon and 12 hours of sleep at night, since they just hit 9 pounds (not Natalee) and 12 weeks old!)

So a typical day the past few months in our house is:

We all wake up around 9:30am (they normally start stirring and wake me up, sometimes I wake before though and try to get some things done before they wake up, like getting a cup of coffee :) ). I get their bottles that are stored in our upstairs fridge, which I make each day and refresh for each night (more on this later) and start warming them up in water cups, which we keep on a nightstand for convinence. Everything is about convinence and easy access!

Normally, at 10am I start with whoever is stirring screaming the loudest and the longest. I pick them up, take them out of their swaddle me, change their diaper, give vitamins and gas drops and start feeding. Sometimes, depending on the others, one of them has to sit in a boppy and drink their bottle, or sometimes two of them do, while I hold one and feed. This isn't ideal but it's the reality when it's just me taking care of everything by myself. We basically sit in a circle, so that way I can keep my eye on everyone and talk to them, hold the bottles and they take turns burping. Sometimes, one of them just has to wait for their bottle, if someone else isn't behaving or just needs special attention that day. However, they are very impatient and do not like to wait for anything. We are working on that, haha, but itf they are anything like their Mommy, we might have some issues.

So the whole process takes about 45 minutes, give or take. Normally after were done, they either sit in a bouncy seat, boppy or swing for a while. Sometimes, depending on their moods, we have tummy time. This is when I take all the empty bottles downstairs, trash the liners and put all the nipples and Natalee's bottles in hot soapy water. If I haven't had coffee yet, this is when I make some and get some sort of breakfast; doughnuts or cereal or yougurt or oatmeal...just something in my tummy, because I don't know when I might eat again!

I try to get as many things done as I can, as quickly as I can. This includes letting the dog out, feeding her, taking the diaper trash bag out (we use a plastic grocrey bag each night for diapers, and it gets taken out each day), taking something out for dinner/planning the meal, putting laundry from the night in (I have to do at least one to two loads every day of bibs, burp cloths, blankets, bath towels and wash cloths, clothes),

....putting in my contacts, washing my face, brushing my teeth and straightning hair and maybe, just maybe, getting dressed. And getting dressed, I mean, stretchy pants and a tank top, which only happens sometimes. I seem to normally stay in my pj's most days, which is my "mommy outfit" and I sure love a job I can wear pj's all day.

I constantly check on the girl's as I'm running around the house, and sometimes have to switch them around if they are unhappy or carry someone as I continue to get things done around the house. Checking each station around the house and seeing if anything needs to be refilled with diapers, wipes, burp cloths, gas drops...ect.

Please don't mind the old comforter...I can't wash our King size one that matches everything in our washer and haven't had the chance to get it washed...so hence our old one on the bed.

I then start making bottles, which takes about 30 minutes at least. Everyone is finally drinking the same formula now, Simalic Sensitive. 

Madelynn has pink bottles and Claire has purple bottles (Claire has medium flow nipple, where Madelynn is still on slow flow (we just switched her to medium flow!)). Also, since writing this, Natalee has changed to different bottles since she is drinking more than the Medula bottles hold. One can of formula makes 87 ounces, so one can of formula barely feeds one day (this week). So, this month it's about 35 cans of formula for them....at 12 weeks old!!!!!!

I'll let you do the math on the expenses.

So anyway, once I wash and dry all the nipples and rings, put liners in each bottle, measure everything out, mix and fill bottles, I divide them up to upstairs bottles (for the 10pm, 2am, 6am and 10am feeds) and downstairs bottles (2pm and 6pm). I take the upstairs bottles upstairs to the fridge and then clean up everything downstairs.

Sometimes at this time, I go back upstairs and sneak in the shower, or watch Dr. Phil and blog or something else, because most of the time the girls have fallen asleep. I am then putting laundry in the dryer or getting some out to fold and put away. I normally straighten up the house and pick up things that have found places other than where they belong. Sometimes I have phone calls to make or bills to pay that I try to get done too.

At 2pm, the routine of changing diapers and feeding starts all over and normally we are done by the time Tim is walking in the door around 3pm. I am ALWAYS SOOOO HAPPY to see him walk through the door.

Normally, he comes and gets one of the girls, or all of them so that I can have a break for awhile. Sometimes we just sit on the couch and talk about the girls day and his day, what's for dinner, the weather...the normal stuff and watch the news. Other times, I go straight upstairs and lay down to "rest my eyes" and sometimes if I still haven't had a shower or eaten, I'll finally do that. Normally it's more like eating something while getting ready to shower. This is also when I am taking more laundry upstiars to put away, start dinner, or getting it ready to start, so that when I wake get up, I can start dinner right away. (I am still planning meals each week on the weekend and grocrey shopping for what's needed for the week so I don't have to constantly run out and get things. Of course sometimes I do forget things, after all I am not perfect! I love cooking and I take pride in my healthy and good meals that I make for Tim and I).

The girls have some Daddy time and are normally awake for awhile at this time. We rotate in boppys, bouncy seats, tummy time, holding them or swings...whatever we didn't have earlier. We just love playing and snuggling with them all on the couch, it's so fun.

We normally start the process of bath-time in early evening (around 5pm), which takes forever about an hour. I give the girls a bath in their tubby on the kichen counter, because it is too hard to bend over the tub in the bathroom. This works so much better and gives my back a break. We have a portable heater which we use so it stays extra warm in the kitchen for bath time. The girls LOVE bath time and do so well, but they hate to get out and get dressed. They are getting better on it though. It takes awhile because I start with one, get the water ready in the tub, get them undressed, wash them, give them some time to enjoy "spa time", get them out, dry-off, lotion them, clothes and wrapped up all warm. Empty out the tub water, fill again, and start with baby number two, and then again with the third. By the time I am done, I am exhausted.

Later on, Tim normally showers, while I finally start dinner and feed the cats and the dog. We feed the girls their 6pm feeding and then we eat and catch-up on shows that we DVR'd. We normally bring the girls upstairs by 7:45 pm, so that they can lay in their beds (or our bed for more snuggle time) and we can watch TV and relax. Around 9:15pm, they are normally "going crazy" and ready to eat, but we stick to our schedule and do whatever we have to do to make it to 10pm.

Once everyone is changed, had vitamins and gas drops, swaddled up and fed, it's quick to bed for Tim and I and normally, just as clock work, Natalee wakes us up at around 1:45 am, and the process begins again. Madelynn and Claire have had some stretches of 8 hours at night, which is amazing, so they sometimes skip the 2am feedins and don't wake up until around 5:30am. And then once I feed them, Natalee is ready again at 6am, which I am on my own for that one along with the 10am and 2pm.

Phew, I'm tired just reading this! And now do you see why I don't have much time to blog and any minute I do have, I just want to sleep?! But it's getting better and better each day due to our schedule and routine outlined for us by Suzy. The secret to my successful babies, is her and her book.....

...to be continued...