They did it!

The kids did it! I'm so proud! They finally slept what we consider "through the night". WWWWWAAAAAAAHHHHHOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! They get their last bottle around 7:30-8:00 & normally wake back up somewhere between 1-3am for another mini bottle, only 3 oz. Well, last night I woke up at 3am b/c my boobs were killing me & I realized it was 3am already & the kids hadn't said a peep! Normally, when I think that, they don't let me down & start to squawk. I woke Todd up & asked if he fed the babies & he said no. I couldn't believe it! This was the longest they had gone. Well, I went upstairs to pump & I was just waiting & waiting for them to start saying that they wanted their bottles. Then Todd comes up & says he is awake. OOPS! He has problems going back to sleep so he said he would wait for them to wake up.

Well, I went back to bed after pumping. When I woke up again at 7:30am (oh boy, is it nice to sleep in), I went upstairs to ask Todd how long they lasted. He told me that they didn't have their bottles until 4:30am & I just about FELL OUT! No way! Someone snatched my babies & replaced them w/ other babies. HOLY SHMOLY! I sat their in awe. Am I the only parent that reacted this way or am I just crazy?

It was even better than I expected b/c at 7:30am they were still asleep from the 4:30 bottle which was only 3 oz. WOWSA! If they could just hold on to 8am, our schedule wouldn't have to change from what it has been during the week. Well, surprise, surprise...guess who didn't need to get their bottles until 8am? OUR BABIES! So, we are right on track. I can handle this 8pm to 8am schedule since Todd would be doing the 4:30am feeding. That would be AWESOME for mommy! I could get some REAL sleep minus the fact that I would HAVE to get up & pump. Sorry, the boobs would explode! Going 6 hrs is long enough! Even w/ that, I still would get 2 good chunks of sleep. I can handle that any day of the week. Shoot, I would have enough energy all day long, maybe even enough to cook dinner!

So, what is in store next? Well, we will see. Hopefully not too long from now, they will go ahead & sleep the 12 hrs between 8pm & 8am although I don't think that will happen for another month or so.

3rd time is a charm!

Can I catch a break? Seriously...I've got mastitis AGAIN for the 3rd time. I know how I got it this time. If you plan on exclusively pumping your babies, don't be surprised if your nipples blister. That is what happened to mine & the bacteria must have been introduced through the blister. I have been pumping for 12 1/2 weeks. I told myself if I get mastitis a 4th time, I will stop pumping. My goal is to make it to 6 mths but at the rate of getting mastitis every month, I don't know. Of course, I understand from reading about it that this is the body's way of making mommy slow down. That must be true b/c I have done nothing but pump, feed babies & sleep for the past 24 hrs. My fever finally went away today but I am still exhausted. Thankfully Todd stayed home & my mom came over this morning to help. Todd's parents will be coming this evening also.

On another note, I finally took the trips out & not to the dr's office. We went to Kroger's. What an experience! From the moment we walked in, we were surrounded w/ people. I had my mom w/ me so I had some support & someone to push the cart. I was so nervous before we got there. I don't understand why. Maybe b/c it was something that was completely out of the norm for us or maybe I was afraid everything would go bad very quickly but it didn't. The kids slept through most of the trip. I'm going to need to practice a bit more before venturing out on my own. Besides, w/ pumping, I have only about an hour to make a trip to somewhere & back.

From the trip, this was the funniest thing said, "Grandma, she has THREE babies!" Grandma responds, "Yeah, right. 3 babies. What ever." I guess the little boy saw us but she didn't. Well, we crossed them over on the next isle & you should have seen the lady's eyes pop out of her head. We also got the regular comments like...

Where is the camera when you need it.
Oh! You poor thing!
Wow, I bet you are tired.
You've got your hands full!

I know it will probably be a bit before we go back out. It is just too hard to get somewhere & back in time to pump. Believe me, when you pump, your life revolves around it. My 1st goal was to make it to 12 wks & now that I have passed that goal, am sitting here recovering from my 3rd bout of mastitis, I am questioning whether or not I can make it to my ultimate goal of 6 mths. Guilt is weighing heavy on me, like I am letting them down by no longer giving them breast milk. I know how good it is for them so it kills me to think that they won't get it anymore. I don't know what to do! I also know that we are saving quite a bit on money on formula. UGGGGG!!!! This last bout of infection has really eaten my supply & it will take at least 3 wks to build my supply again. I don't know how much longer I will be doing this.

Here are some pics of the family...

Todd & the trips on his birthday!

Sofi & Ian all cuddled up.

My favorite Ianchito look! He seems to always be cross-eyed!

Sofi holding her head up high!

Uncle Ian & Gabi together.

Where did the time go?????

HELP! I can't find time! Does anyone know where he went? I need more of it! Seriously...has it really been that long since I last posted? I can't believe it. Seems like I posted yesterday but it has actually been 9 days, ACK!

Well, besides feeding, changing diapers & pumping, not much has changed. My mom has been around for the past 2 wks b/c she decided not to teach summer school so she could come over during the day to help me. It has been great having her around not b/c she is helping me w/ the babies but more b/c we are getting to spend some quality time together. I'm sad that she is going to Colorado in a week & will be there until the end of July. Part of me wants to go b/c I know the weather is beautiful & b/c I want to spend that time w/ my parents. One day soon...maybe not next summer but the 1 after that.

Todd & I went out to dinner for the 1st time in almost 3 mths. The last time we went out was the night before the girls came home. WOW! It seems like so long ago. We went to a Mexican restaurant 2 minutes from the house. Yeah, we are 1st time parents & didn't want to go far. Todd's parents stayed w/ the babies. They all got baths while we were gone. I think we need to go out more often so we have some alone time b/c we just can't get much of that here at home. For those of you w/ trips, you understand what I mean as well as any other parents out there w/ 2 or more babies at home. It seems by the time I get in bed Todd is asleep & when he wakes up, I have just fallen back asleep after th 2am feeding/pumping session. Rarely do we have a moment together & alone. That is something I definitely didn't think about when we got pregnant. Time becomes something very sought after.

The kids are doing beautifully. We celebrated our 1st Father's Day w/ a picture session just for dad. I had the pictures printed & put in to a frame.






Developmentally speaking, they are all smiling responsively, cooing, & even laughing. Their neck strength is good enough to put them in to a Bumbo seat for a short amount of time. They are holding their heads up during tummy time. They have come alive & are really starting to notice so many things. Gabi loves to watch the TV, a habit that I hope is not becoming permanent. I think it is the flash of colors. They are also growing like weeds. I can't believe how chubby they are getting! Time has gotten away from us!

Sofia holding her head up during tummy time.

Gabi smiling while in her bouncy seat.

Ianchito taking a little nap on me.

Todd & I are holding up. We still have some rough days where both of us are tired but for the most part, we have gotten through what I think is the worst part of the whole triplet experience & that is the 1st 10-12 weeks. Seriously, I can honestly say that I hardly remember the month of April & have a vague recollection of the month of May. I don't know how we made it through those 2 mths. I'm not joking. I was way more than exhausted. We snapped at each other for the littlest things. Not so much anymore. The kids sleeping that 6-7 hr chunk of time has helped both of us w/ the whole sleep deprivation issue which can start a series of unfortunate events. For those of you about to have triplets, be strong for 1 another b/c it is stressful. No doubt about it. Don't get me wrong, we adore our babies, love them to pieces but there is an adjustment period & you ask yourself, "What have I gotten in to?" You may "think" you are prepared to care for 3 infants but trust me when I say that there is nothing that can prepare you for the roller coaster ride ahead.

We made it through the toughest part, now comes the rest.

Yet another schedule change...

The kids are getting close to 10 lbs. Well, actually the girls are probably at 10 lbs or over. Ian is still a little behind but not too far behind. From what I understand, after they hit 10 lbs, they start to go longer at night. That seems to be the case w/ us. As you know from previous posts, they have been shifting their nightly schedule quite a bit. We were eating at 8pm, midnight-ish, 4-5ish & again at 8am. Now they go from 8pm to about 2-3am. While it is good that they are stretching out their nights, the change is hard on me b/c my body has to readjust every time. Even when they do finally get to the point where they sleep until 4am or so, I am still going to have to get up to pump b/c let me tell you, waiting 7 hrs makes my boobs HURT! So, we have another schedule shift & I'm sure there are more to come.

I took Gabi to the specialist last week so they could do an ultrasound of her hips b/c she was breech. They were looking for hip displasia which means that the femur pops out of the hip joint. OUCHIE! The trip in itself went smoothly. My dad stayed w/ Sofi & Ian while I went w/ another mommy & her baby girl that had to have the same procedure done. Her daughter went first & did really well so I expected the same from Gabi BUT NOOOOOOO...Gabi didn't much like having to lay there & get an ultrasound b/c she had to stay still. She started screaming so the tech said we could have a 5 min break. I got her all calmed down & her crying fit caused her to be tired so it wasn't so bad while the 2nd hip was done. I was glad when it was all over. Needless to say, Gabi got lots of extra loving that evening from both Todd & I. We got the results on Monday & everything is normal. WOOT! Now we have 1 more appt for her to get her head measured to see if she will need a helmet to help reshape it. Poor dear!

Otherwise, life is going really well. The kids are more interactive, discovering their smile when we make them happy. They are growing so quickly. It is amazing how far we have come in such a short amount of time.

Ianchito during his tummy time.


I thought this picture was priceless! Gabi is holding Sofi's face right under the chin!


What is it w/ my girls & flicking me off? I just don't get it, lol!

Spitting Image!

Can they look any more alike? Seriously! Todd has always said that if we were to have a girl that they had to look like me. HA! Well, look what happened? Sofi looks EXACTLY like him! Now, if you put Gabi next to him, she resembles him BUT not anything like Sofi & they are IDENTICAL. I'm waiting to see how they will look in a few more months when their heads have had a chance to shape up.

I know I didn't include pics in the last post & was told this. Sorry! I'm including a bunch this time w/ captions to make up for it. As far as everything else, we are truckin' right along. We now have another new schedule. It took me about a week to adjust to it but now that I have, I am much better rested. This is our latest eating schedule, 8am, 11am, 2pm, 5pm, 8pm, midnight-ish, 4-5ish am. I may have also mentioned this before but they get expressed breast milk (pumped milk) during the 8, 11, 2, & 5 feedings during the day. At night they get formula. No particular reason except I only pump enough to give each of them 4 4 oz bottles a day & rather than go every other bottle, I thought it would be more consistent to go 4 EBM bottles then 3 formula bottles. Since formula is known to take longer to digest, we decided to go ahead & do those at night. I'm not too sure about all that b/c they were already stretching their night feedings before we went to strictly formula.

Other than that, my life seems to be a cycle of feeding & pumping, feeding & pumping. Seriously, by the time I finish feeding the kids, I go downstairs, get my pump parts & then pump for 30 min. By the time I am finsihed pumping, putting the milk up, I have about 45 minutes to do stuff. Quite a few times, I have to run back upstairs for Paci Patrol. Yep, that means going up to stick a paci in someone's mouth. For instance, Sofi HAS to have her paci & if she wakes up w/o it in her mouth, she lets me know. What have I done???? This makes it almost impossible to get any kind of project or chore started that doesn't take longer than 5 minutes to complete. Eh, it is ok though. I've resigned myself to this fact & realize that this is only temporary. We will be on to the next phase before you know it & I'll still not have enough time to do what I need to, lol!

This is Gabi having a blast under the playmat. She is obviously enjoying it!

Here we have sweet Ianchito right after a bath w/ his hair standing up straight. I love this picture!

Well, we can clearly see that when Sofi is formula fed, she is not a happy camper! I guess she wanted to tell me where to shove it, LOL!