A Day in the Life (SAHM to 8 Month Old Triplets and an Almost 3 Year Old)

Midnight: Pump. Go to sleep.

2:00 a.m. Wake up to Maddie fussing. Give her a pacifier repeatedly.  Eventually give her a 5 oz bottle of breastmilk. Go back to sleep.

5:00 a.m. Jesse wakes up for the day as usual and begins exercising.

5:30 a.m. I wake up and pump for 45 minutes.

6:15 a.m. I give Maddie her bottle and go back to bed.

6:30 a.m. Jackson wakes up.  Jesse gives him breakfast downstairs and gives James & Amelia their bottles in their crib.

7:00 a.m. Jesse leaves for work.  Jackson watches TV downstairs.  I sleep.

7:45 a.m. Maddie and Amelia wake up.  I ignore their babbles until 8.  (It was a late night last night.)

8:00 a.m. I take the girls downstairs to play.

8:15 a.m. I eat breakfast and stuff cloth diapers.



8:30 a.m. Make bottles. Puree strawberry and banana in food processor.

8:45 a.m. Give babies their bottles. Snuggle with Jackson on the couch.

9:00 a.m. Change babies' diapers. Wash bottles.

9:15 a.m. Feed trio strawberry banana. Make up silly songs.

9:45 a.m. Play with babies and Jack on the floor.  Encourage Maddie during tummy time.  Support Amelia while she sits.  Discourage Jackson from sitting on top of James.  Repeat. Finish stuffing and putting away diapers.

(Okay, I took this picture last week, but this is how tummy time always starts.)

10:30 a.m. Put babies in cribs for nap.

10:40 a.m. Call Maddie's case manager to check on PT services.  Ask if he received papers from neurologist. Check e-mail/Facebook.

11:00 a.m. Make Jackson lunch. (PB&J and strawberries) Heat up leftovers for myself.

11:15 a.m. Load the dishwasher.  Clean counters.

11:20 a.m. Pump for 40 minutes. Blog while Jackson watches TV.

12:00 p.m. Realize the TV has been on all morning.  Turn it off and do story time and crafts with Jack. 

1:15 p.m. Give Amelia, Maddie, and James a bottle as they wake up.  Each kid eats a graham cracker.  Jackson also eats a banana.

1:30 p.m. Change babies' diapers. Load everyone into the van and drive to rec center.

1:45 p.m. Unload van, load stroller, and take kids into gym for open play. Babies have tummy time or sit on blanket with toys.  Jackson and I play with gigantic blocks and bouncy balls and befriend another family.

3:20 p.m. Leave rec center.  Drive home.

3:30 p.m. Unload kids. Put babies in cribs for afternoon nap.  Play outside with Jackson. Fix popcorn for a snack.

3:45 p.m. Go inside to begin dinner preparations, unload dishwasher, sweep floors, clean counters/tables, etc. James refuses to nap.

4:30 p.m. Jesse comes home. I finish cooking dinner (shepherd's pie) while he plays with the kids.

5:00 p.m. Make bottles (5 oz formula) and give them to babies. Set the table. 

5:30 p.m. Eat dinner. Talk about our day.

6:00 p.m. Clean up. Do dishes. Sweep.

6:15 p.m. Unwind.  Zone out in front of TV/computer.  Eat ice cream. Cuddle with kids.

7:30 p.m. All six of us go upstairs to begin bedtime routine. Change babies' diapers and clothes. Jackson puts on pajamas and brushes teeth.

7:45 p.m. Jesse reads Jackson three stories in his bed while I pump.  I upload pictures from the day and blog.

8:00 p.m. Give babies final bottle of the day (5 oz breastmilk). Talk to/kiss babies. 

8:15 p.m. Put them in their cribs awake but sleepy. Jesse and I watch America's Test Kitchen/Cook's Country. Jesse inevitably falls asleep while I finish watching the show.

8:45 p.m. I use the computer or read until I eventually fall asleep (between 10-11 p.m.)

Middle of the night-Wake up to give pacifiers, bottles, use the bathroom, etc.

7 Months Old

sleeping habits:
All three are asleep by 9 p.m. (Maddie still sleeps in the pack-n-play in our bedroom for no reason other than I like her nearby.  James and Amelia sleep in their cribs in the nursery.)  All three wake up around 5 a.m. for a morning snack, then fall back asleep until 8-8:30.  James always wakes up first.  Amelia could sleep all morning if I let her.

By 10:30 a.m. all three are back in their cribs or pack-in-play for a morning nap.  They typically nap until 12/12:30.  Their afternoon nap is 3/3:30 until 5.

eating habits: 
9 am- 6 oz bottle (breastmilk)
10 a.m.--split 12 oz of baby food

1 p.m.--6 oz bottle (breastmilk/formula)
1:30 p.m.-bites of cheerios, yogurt melts, diced fruit, etc

5 p.m.--6 oz bottle (breastmilk/formula)
6 p.m.--split 8 oz of food

9 p.m.--6 oz bottle (breastmilk/formula)

5 a.m.--5 oz bottle (breastmilk)

*We just introduced sippy cups of water and small bites of food (rather than purees) at exactly 7 months old.

milestones:
James-holds his own bottle
Amelia-so close to sitting up unassisted
Maddie-keeps her food down!

challenges:
-They all still lack coordination to put finger foods in their mouth.
-Vaccines seem to cause fevers and serious fussing.
-Where are the teeth??? The drooling and teething is chronic, but still no teeth.

victories:
-Maddie is gaining weight at the same rate as James and Amelia.
-All three have a great appetite and love eating.
-Maddie had an uneventful cardiologist appointment with no major concerns.
-We go everywhere using the quad stroller with relative ease.

special notes:
-The babies had a few more firsts this month: swinging at the park, snowfall, Valentine's Day, and playing at Discovery Place.

Feeding Schedule-6 Months Old

9 am- 6 oz bottle (breastmilk)
10 a.m.--split 8 oz of baby food

1 p.m.--6 oz bottle (breastmilk/formula)
1:30 p.m.-split 4 oz of baby food

5 p.m.--6 oz bottle (breastmilk/formula)
6 p.m.--split 4-8 oz of food

9 p.m.--6 oz bottle (breastmilk/formula)

5 a.m.--5 oz bottle (breastmilk)

Solids We Introduced (in order)

• rice cereal
• oatmeal
• banana
• apple
• sweet potato
• avocado
• peas
• carrots
• pears
• squash
• any "Stage 2" jars

Why It's Not Easier

I don't know how many people told me, "Just get through the newborn phase; then it gets easier."  I loved the newborn phase.  I exceeded my own expectations and life was more than manageable.  We had great routines, lots of help, and an overall peace of mind.

Four months old?  Not so much.  It feels like everything has gotten so much harder over the past few months.  Here's why:
These things are very specific to our family and not general to having three 4.5 month olds. 

Schedules-All three babies were so synchronized.  You could have set a clock to their schedule.  Now the alert time has significantly increased, but their schedules don't always correlate.  James needs a longer morning nap, whereas Amelia takes a longer afternoon nap.  Maddie cat naps all day with alert times in between more frequent feedings.  The last two weeks have been a real struggle finding a schedule that works for all three and keeps me sane.

Feeding-I miss the days where 6-9 oz of breastmilk was enough for an entire feeding for all three.  I had an oversupply, but now that the babies are eating 32 oz each, I am having a harder time meeting their needs.  It's also more difficult to find time to pump.

Sleeping-Even though I woke up more frequently at night to feed, I slept significantly more during the first few weeks.  Our whole family took naps every single day together.  Now, it's a rare treat when all three babies take a long nap at the same time.  And Jackson almost never naps anymore.  I'm lucky if he has "quiet time" upstairs for an hour. 

Cooking-We had hot, home cooked meals delivered at least three days a week for the first six weeks. There were always enough for leftovers, so I literally cooked dinner twice in six weeks.  Adding menu planning and cooking dinner is just one more thing I have to find time to do.

School-I love being able to take Jackson to preschool, but it's not the grand solution I thought it would be.  Getting everyone dressed, fed, and out the door on time continues to be stressful.  I feel like I'm sprinting against the clock.  I then try to cram all errands (aka waiting in line at doctor's offices or DSS) into a short window of time.  Most Tuesdays and Thursdays I don't even eat lunch until after 1:30.

Diapers-I hesitate to include this because I love cloth diapering.  However, it's undeniable that my laundry loads have increased significantly after using all the disposable diapers we received.

Cleaning-The babies slept so much in the early weeks that I always had time to sweep, mop, and do dishes and laundry each day.  That's no longer the case. 

Healthcare-When the babies were newborns, we took them to the pediatrician for well checks and weight checks and had prescriptions called in.  No big deal.  Now that the whole Medicaid issues have snowballed, we don't even have a pediatrician.  Maddie has been out of Prevacid for two weeks now and we just found out today (from the pharmacist, not the pediatrician) that they won't refill it "because we haven't been in since August".  Everything to do with medical treatment has been a huge stress these past few months.

I still wouldn't say raising triplets and a toddler is hard or unmanageable, but there seems to be a lot more challenges than there used to be.  In isolation, nothing is particularly difficult.  It's the combination of making sure dinner is ready, bottles are always full of freshly pumped milk, Jackson is dropped off and picked up on time, the house is clean, the babies are entertained, etc that make it exhausting.