We have The Schedule and we don't deviate from it!
Monday-Friday. I wake up around 7:30 am, wash my face, brush my teeth, put my contacts on, get dressed (sometimes), get the cloth diapers out of the dryer and stuff them, empty the dishwasher, fill bottles with water so that all we have to do is scoop formula into them throughout the day, then drink a cup of coffee. My grandma (or step dad or sister this past week) gets here around 8. We wake the babies up at 8:30, give Tripp Zantac for his reflux, then sit them all next to each other on the chair in the living room. They are so happy when they wake up, so we talk to them and they smile and laugh.
We change their clothes one at a time, then at 9:00, 2 babies are fed and the other is in a bouncer. Whoever is feeding the baby that finishes first feeds the 3rd baby. We feed, burp, and then see what the babies want to do. Most days they are drowsy after that first feeding and sleep for about an hour or so before they wake up and want to play. We follow their lead. If one wants to nap and 2 want to play, we let the one sleep and play with the other 2. Then at 11:50 we start changing diapers again before the 12 o'clock feeding. We feed the 2 babies that are either crying or seem the most hungry (chewing on their hands or making a sucking movement with their mouths). Then whoever finishes first feeds the 3rd baby. We do the same thing, follow their lead until 2:50 when we start changing diapers again. We feed at 3:00 and follow the same routine, except at this feeding we watch Ellen, which the babies love. Seriously, they turn their heads to watch it. It cracks me up. Then at 5:50, same thing. Mark usually gets home from work around 6 o'clock or so and the person that was here during the day goes home and Mark and I handle the 9:00 pm feeding. Between the 6:00 and 9:00 feedings we try to keep them all awake so they're tired at 9:00. We have "playtime" when we play music and dance and sing. It tires them out most nights. Some nights Mark's parents come over to help with playtime and the 9:00 feeding. If we are bathing them that night we start baths at 8:15 and bathe them one at a time. It takes about 20 minutes total. Then we put them in their pajamas and start to prepare for bedtime. We fill up the humidifier and turn most lights off in the house so that they know its night time. We turn the tv off or at least turn the volume down and at 9:00 we start feeding them. As they are done eating, we swaddle them and put them in their cribs. There is a sound machine in their room that plays white noise and we have this little projector that plays lullabies and projects either a starfish or dolphins onto the ceiling. Most nights they fall asleep staring at the projection. After they're asleep, or at least all in bed going to sleep, I assemble bottles, start the dishwasher, and throw the day's cloth diapers in the washing machine before I get ready for bed. I watch them on the monitor until they fall asleep, usually around 10:00, and then I go to sleep after they're all asleep. They have been sleeping through the night for about 3 weeks now. Occasionally we have an off night when one wakes up so I feed that one and put them back to sleep, but that hasn't happened in over a week. Then we start it all over the next day!
Weekends are a little different because it's just me and Mark here. We usually have family stop by a few times every weekend, but for the most part it's just the 5 of us. We have lots of fun!
We have a baby station in the kitchen. It's the extra cabinet and counter that Mark and his dad built and it's totally devoted to the babies.
Starting on the left we have Ella's bottles and formula, then Tripp's bottles (with the blue band on them), and Emily's bottles (with the purple bands on them) with their soy formula. Then we have the drying mat where all of their bottles go after they come out of the dishwasher, and then 3 bottle warmers, any medicine they might need, purell and a lamp for when we did night time feedings.
On the other side of the counter we have the sheets of which we document everything. Each baby has a clipboard and all feedings and dirty diapers are recorded here. Emily is purple, Tripp is blue, and Ella is pink (shout out to Aunt Rachel for making these sheets for them!). Having 3 babies requires a lot of organization. I don't know how we'd do it if we didn't have these sheets to document everything and this whole counter just for them! I imagine that this is how a day care must be operated. A lot of times, I feel like I run a daycare!
I'm really looking forward to the 4 month mark. Everything I've read says that at 4 months I can start setting their sleep schedule. I can start nap times and have them all sleep at the same time instead of staggered throughout the day! Also, I can start giving them a few solid foods. I'm so excited about that! I'm planning on making their food, so I already have instructions on how to make rice cereal so I can make that on January 23, their 4 month birthday. I plan on giving them some that night before bed, but it'll depend on how they're feeling after they get their vaccines that day. I've started practicing putting them in the little seats in our table. They aren't sitting up on their own yet so it'll be awhile before I can put them all in the table to feed them. Until then, they are starting to like the table!
I have a lot more time during the days now that I'm not pumping anymore. It was a VERY hard decision. I realized there just weren't enough hours in the day. I was pumping for 4 hours total everyday and while I was pumping I couldn't hold or comfort a baby, so I decided to throw in the towel. I pumped for 12 straight weeks. That's 84 days of pumping every 3 hours, so around 500 pumps, give or take. As upset as I was to stop, I am very proud of myself for making it that far! It's still a touchy subject, but I'm starting to come to peace with it.
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