Ahhh.... the joys of getting to sleep in a little! Janelle, my dear friend who also happens to be a NICU nurse, came over and spent Friday night here at the house with us. She handled the boys' middle of the night feeding so that Jason and I could sleep. I know that Jason and I are both pretty sleep-deprived on a regular basis now, but I don't think I realized just how much until I woke up feeling very refreshed that morning after getting to sleep over 7 hours straight!!
And then Saturday and Sunday happened... another two nights that will go down in infamy. The boys all slept from 8pm to AT LEAST 4:30 am without waking up once!! We were absolutely amazed. Usually we put the boys to bed at 8 and then give them a second bottle right before Jason and I are going to bed, which would guarantee that we'd get another 4-5 hours of sleep before they'd wake up to be fed again (sometime between 2:30-4am). On Saturday night, Jason was super exhausted when we were going to bed, so we thought we'd experiment (scary!!) and skip that second bottle. Imagine our shock when the boys slept 9 1/2 hours straight!!!!!!!!! I know that most kids start to sleep through the night at some point, but that day just seemed like a little bit of a pipe dream in my mind. And then even with daylight savings time, they didn't make it past 8:15pm before they all fell asleep and slept almost 8 1/2 hours. These boys are spoiling us! We'll see if it's just a fluke or a new schedule for us. It figures- just when I feel like we're totally adjusted to the boys' schedule, they throw us a new curveball and change it up...
We've been so blessed to have both friends and family helping out here and there in all sorts of ways since the boys arrived. Between family flying in to visit and help out (my mom totally wins in this category- she's been here three times since the munchkins arrived!)... to friends stopping in to help out with a feeding here or there... we've been totally surrounded with love and support. Jason and I still do most of the care for the boys by ourselves, but we're able to do that because we do have such wonderful family, friends, coworkers, and neighbors who jump in when they can.
Jason has had to really adjust his thinking in this regard. If left to go feral, he is a total homebody and doesn't easily accept help from others. He's also mentioned that he was never big on playing the role of host in the house in the past. But the boys have forced him to realize that we need the occasional help around the house and the days of it being "just us" here at home are over. My girlfriends stop over pretty frequently just to say hi and see the babies, help with a feeding, listen to me vent about any perceived drama, laugh at whatever goofy thing the boys are doing... and I don't think I would have kept what sanity I'm gripping to without them. Having them here at the house seems as natural as if it was just Jason and me. I joke with Jason that he now has a couple more wives around the home! They've seen us at our worst/crankiest, and because I am still pumping milk for the boys, they've come to be quite familiar with seeing me in various sorts of undress. What's that saying about finding out who your true friends are when you're going through tough times? I'm pretty sure that my friends never anticipated having to see me change into a human dairy farm. If you run into one of my dear friends, please give them a hug for me.
The boys just turned four months old! And in the most cliche of sayings, they're getting so big!! I wanted to give them a little gift to mark the occasion, so we pulled out the jumperoos for the first time ever to see how they'd like them. My sister's boys both absolutely loved their jumperoo, so I've been looking forward to this day for quite a while, hoping that they'd get the same level of enjoyment from it as their cousins. And well... the reviews are mixed. They didn't scream in agony, but they weren't "jumping for joy" yet. We'll give it a few weeks and see. Happy Four Months, my little munchkins. Momma is so proud of you and how hard you work everyday to grow big and strong. I love you three too much!
I beg your indulgence with the excess of photos that I like to post. These little munchkins have grandparents and other family all over the United States, so I want to make sure they miss as little as possible...
Another walk in the triple stroller! The stuffed animals work well
as pillows if one of the munchkins can't keep his eyes open.
Napping in his sun hat
(Jenson)
Playtime in the Bumbo chairs.
Not to worry- the chairs are safely on the floor!
(Elliott and Sidney)
Jenson's demonstrating our new thing-
arching our backs! We'll be rolling from our
backs to our fronts in no time.
Elliott's doing the back arch too!
Beautiful Elliott!
Brother tummy time
(Sidney, Elliott, Jenson)
Elliott, Sidney, Jenson
These next two pictures perfectly demonstrate the challenge
with taking pictures of triplets- it's rare when I can get a pic
of all three of them smiling at the same time! And when two
of them are smiling, the third usually has a questionable expression
on his face. Thank God for digital cameras and an iPhone- otherwise
I'd be wasting SO MUCH film trying to get good pictures of the boys!
(Jenson, Sidney, Elliott)
Jenson, Sidney, Elliott
Sidney
Elliott
Jenson
First time in the Jumperoos!
(Elliott)
Sidney
Jenson
Ladies- eat your hearts out.
(Jenson)
Sidney LOVES that thumb!
Elliott's watching golf with Daddy
Earning their keep by starting to help out with laundry
(Elliott, Jenson, and an unhappy Sidney)
I swear Elliott plays too hard sometimes
Sitting in the midst of the chaos. I had Jason snap a picture
of this so I could show you just what our evenings are like
sometimes. Playing with babies, folding four loads of laundry,
someone fusses, someone falls asleep, etc, etc. I just noticed that my
sunglasses are still on my head, hours after the sun went down- must
have been a little distracted by something!
I joke that it looks like Babies R Us blew up in my living room, and
judging by this picture, that's not too far off the mark.
We have lots of "stuff" to engage in playtime with the boys and
provide stimuli for them- swings, tummy time & play mats, activity
gyms, jumperoos, big bin of toys, Bumbo chairs, and vibrating chairs.
