updates

-Zachary has an ear infection. I am taking him to the doctor tomorrow while my sister watches the other 2.

-Alexis was breathing funny and really congested. I tried to suction her but nothing. I called the doctor and they said try a couple of things and then take her to urgent care if that doesn't work since babies don't breathe out of their mouths (or somethig like that). I gave her a vapor bath and suctioned her again. I ended up pulling out a booger the size of Rhode Island. I should have taken a picture because Brian would have been proud. She is breathing fine now.

-All three have been approved for their second Synagis, I can't even believe it. PINCH ME. They are way overdue so I am relieved but moving onward to getting next month's shots approved. This is quite a fight with the insurance company, btw. Since we are unsure if they will get future shots approved, we are still being extra cautious and keeping most people away. If you have been sick recently, have school age children, children in daycare, work with school age children, was once a school age child (just kidding), etc...we are keeping the babies away. In fact, they have only met their grandparents, our siblings and a couple of our friends who so graciously help us with stuff every week. My aunts and cousins have not even met my babies, so don't feel too bad. Although, I think I've ticked a couple of people off. I can't worry about that.

-As if I were not busy enough, we are moving. Yes, I know it is crazy. We are moving with three infants. We have a plan for the babies on moving day though, so it wont be that bad. And honestly, I can't think that far ahead. Its in few weeks. Thinking about it makes my head hurt. Thinking of packing my house - a house that has somehow become a chaotic crazy place - gives me heartburn. So one thing at a time. All stress aside, it will be great. When we found out there were 3 babies, Brian had just lost his job the day before and I was unemployed. There was no way we were moving anywhere. So we decided we had to make it work here in this 2 bedroom apartment. The office became a baby's room and so began the overcrowding. The five of us are living here and I have become overwhelmed by the lack of space and feeling of disorganization. There is a lot more space for the babies at the new place so they will no longer be taking up the entire living room. We will get an office again (instead of a dining room table like now - yuk) so I can get organized again. I know it will be better soon. I am looking forward to the change!

-We got antsy and frustrated on Saturday so at the last minute my mom happily agreed watch the babies for a few hours and we went to dinner. I had a gift card so we didn't have to worry about spending the money (tight budget with 3 kids and one income!). It took way longer than we had anticipated so my mom ended up doing 2 feedings by herself - she's a pro now! But, we got to eat a hot meal together. It was great!

-I wanted to answer Stacey's question (HI Stacey!) from last post. Good question, BTW. Yes, we do have some help. In fact, we've scaled back on some of the help because we decided it was stressful to always have people in and out of our house and that it interfered with the babies nap schedule during the day and sleep schedule at night. We re-assessed what kind of help we really needed and talked about what our perfect picture would look like. Although we have less scheduled help, we have more effective help - if that makes sense. Basically, when things were really stressful in the beginning we thought "OHMYGOSH WE NEED MORE HELP!!!" So we added more people and filled the schedule. People were coming and going. We found ourselves in a chaotic environment and were even more stressed. We had no time to ourselves to talk, laugh, ARGUE if we needed to (just being real, people). It was tense and we were more exhausted than before. So we talked to our primary helpers and re-established things including our boundaries. EVERYONE was relieved because, honestly, they were all over extended too. Especially my sister. She was living with us and sleeping on a foam futon thing on the floor. Hardly ideal. My sister now comes Wednesday afternoons and 3 additional nights a week to do the midnight feeding only and lets us sleep. Which is HEAVENLY and has been LIFE CHANGING for all of us. My mom comes most nights to do the 6pm feeding and washes ALL the bottles and dishes (we have no dishwasher) then goes home by the 9pm feeding (boundaries) so we have a quiet home for the evening and we can go right to bed. Anyhow, the only thing left is that dang 3am business. We have decided that having people come into our house at 3am is not ideal so I will try and manage it and see how it goes now with my being able to sleep through the midnight feeding 3 days a week. One step at a time. We will step back and re-assess in a couple of weeks (or sooner if needed) and make any necessary adjustments. So far, this is much better. Every day is a new opportunity to make adjustments and we are open to this.

Maybe I'll go more into our schedule in another post so you get a better idea of what our days look like. I sometimes joke with Brian that its easier to stay at work for him and that one day I know he just won't bother coming home. PLEASE COME HOME BRIAN. By 6pm my eyes are spinning and the thought of him walking through the door gives me a little spurt of energy.

There are more little random things, but I've got to go feed some babies!

Much love,
Cindy