Greetings from Tripletville!

Remember my friend Amily, who guest blogged last fall about expecting triplets? And you all cheered her on when they arrived in February and again when I got to take their photos? So many of you have asked for updates, so here she is again, now as the mama of three beautiful, healthy triplet boys.

Hello from babyland!

Anna asked me to write an update on life with triplets, so I thought I would share a typical day. The three little guys are 4.5 months now and are growing like crazy. Every day they seem to discover something new (hands, tongues, mouths, hands in mouth) and they are becoming very interactive these days. They love to coo and smile (though the smiles seem hard to capture on camera!).

We are still living with my folks (now at the beach for the summer) and our plan is to be in our own home sometime this fall. It has been such a blessing to have my parents help. We are firm believers of the “it takes a village” approach to life with multiple babies. We are very lucky that we all get along so well and that all members of my family willingly help out when they can. I really don’t know how we would have survived this far without my mom’s help in particular — she is amazing!

Here is a typical day (if you can call any day with triplets “typical!”):

Our day begins between 5:00 – 5:30 a.m.for the first feeding. We rotate who gets up for this first feeding — my mom and I are usually the two who take turns, but my husband and dad also pitch in on weekends and get into the rotation. Around 7 a.m., all three go back to sleep and usually sleep until somewhere between 8:30 and 10:30 a.m. This is the most productive time of the day for the rest of us: we make up the bottles* (we mix about 100 oz of Earth’s Best organic formula for 12 bottles for the day), throw in the never ending piles of laundry, eat breakfast, shower, check email, and outline any tasks that need to get done (ex. pay bills, write thank you notes, plan my sister’s upcoming September wedding, etc.).

The next feeding is usually between 10 – 11 a.m. Then it is lunch time for the grown-ups! Sometimes, the boys will catch a quick cat nap from 11:00/11:30 until we go for our walk and sometimes they are awake until our walk. Usually, between 12:30 – 1 p.m., we leave for a walk. I love our walks. My mom and I take turns pushing the triple stroller (whoever did the early shift gets to push the babies, and whoever slept in gets to walk the dogs…trust me the preferred choice is the babies since the dogs like to sniff and bark at every leaf and bush we pass).

The next feeding is usually between 2 and 3 p.m. Then the boys go back down for a nap around 4 p.m. This is the shortest nap of the day — ranges from 45 minutes to two hours…but usually is closer to 45 -60 minutes. This is just enough time to get our dinner ready. Yes, 5 p.m. is cocktail time in our home! And dinner starts around 5:15-5:30 p.m. On weekends, sometimes we dine as late as 6:30 p.m…but then we all eat holding a baby (which we still often do no matter what time we eat).

The last feeding of the day starts around 7 or 7:30 p.m. and they are down for the night by 8:30 or 9 p.m. At the last feeding, the boys eat sweet potato and rice or carrots and rice.

So, that is a day in the life. On paper, it sort-of sounds smooth and easy, huh? Just kidding. It’s a lot of work. When all three boys are awake and want to play (or be held), it can get very exhausting, but it is so much fun! I love every minute with them and we’re having a great time.

I am finding that you have to be very organized with multiples and you must be a relatively savvy online shopper because we do not go anywhere with the boys, except the pediatrician’s office. I go days and weeks without getting into a car (I love it and maybe I am offsetting our diaper** footprint by conserving gas…), but it is a huge adjustment

My friends with one baby say that you still can go shopping and run errands and maybe even go out for dinner?! But with three? Why would I ever attempt to take three babies anywhere?! You need multiple adults to keep life running smoothly. I am lucky that we have easy access to farmer’s markets and that my mom, dad and husband shop for groceries (and champagne for cocktail hour!), since my primary focus is the babies.

The past year has been an unbelievably amazing journey from learning that we were expecting three, delivering three healthy and good sized babies at 35 weeks (6lbs, 5lbs, 4oz, and 5lbs), having all three come home with me from the hospital after four days (no extra hospital stay for any of the babies!), and to adjusting to life with three bouncing baby boys. It has been incredible and we thank our lucky stars for our three little ones. Each day brings more and more smiles to our faces and I just love being a mom!

Footnotes:

*We use Dr. Brown’s bottles for two of the boys and the third drinks out of Playtex drop-ins. I (naively) assumed that all bottles work the same (no, they do not — we started with Avent and Born Free and Dr. Brown’s really DO make a difference) and then I (naively) assumed that all babies would like the same bottle system (no, again…which is why one of our guys drinks out of Playtex drop-ins). [Note, we use glass and the “good” plastic Dr. Brown’s bottles, and the plastic of the drop-ins are also the “good plastic.”]

**I could tell you how many diapers we go through…but it is very depressing! We tried cloth diapers and earth-friendly diapers and we have discovered Huggies work the best!

P.S. I realized I did not mention ALL THE GEAR we own!! If anyone is interested, we are firm believers in buying used or using friend’s stuff (there is such a short shelf life for much of the gear, that it seems so wasteful NOT to use hand me down items!). Between my folks house, the beach house and our new house — we have more swings, bouncy seats, strollers, johnny jump ups, jumperoos and playmats than we can count. Let’s just say that both my younger sisters will be fully outfitted whenever they decide to have kids of their own!

Tags: bottles, Dr. Browns, multiples, triple stroller, triplet boys, triplets