Browsing Category: Triplets

Routines in the White House :: Bedtime

The other day my grandfather was asking me about our bedtime routine, and I realized that most people probably have no clue what daily life entails with a 2 year old and triplets.

There are two ways for bedtime to go down:

1) I do it by myself (which sometimes happens when Matt is working late and my mom isn’t here helping)

2) Or I have help {My mom comes over on Tuesday nights, when Matt is busy loading the trucks for the week}

The process is pretty much the same both ways, it’s just that one way results in a slightly less exhausting and slightly more peaceful ending {and that result is not contingent on whether anyone else is here or not}.

Sleeping Babes copy[10]
6:30-7:00 Dinner time
: Ave and I (and whomever else is here) sit down and eat dinner. Sometimes there are babies playing or screaming (they then get bottles, propped, while we eat) and sometimes babies are sleeping.

7:00-7:30 Bath time: If I’m alone Ave showers by herself or takes a bath, depending on if the babies need baths too.

If I’m alone {or my mom is here} and they need baths, this is where I get my workout, because it’s in and out and up and down with 20lb babies in hand. Ave goes in the tub, and I bathe each individually with her. If babies don’t need baths, then they proceed to play or have bottles in the living room, while I do the necessary things with Ave in the bathroom.

If Matt is home, then one of us showers with Ave and if the babies need baths we hand the babies in one at a time to be showered {which is the preferred method of bathing}.

7:30-8:00 Bottles, Books and Prayers: After everyone who needs to be scrubbed is scrubbed we all head upstairs.

If I’m alone, I get Ave dressed and she runs around playing or doing whatever upstairs while I get the babies dressed, bottled {if needed}, and into their cribs. Once they’re down {and hopefully content} Ave and I go in her room, where we read a couple of books, say prayers, and then sing a few songs, before she climbs into her bed. Of course, just as we’re getting in to bed there is the usual “I need to go potty” request.

If my mom or Matt is here, then I deal with Ave while the other person takes care of the immediate needs of the babies’. If someone needs extra attention, I’ll help with the babies while Ave continues to play or run around crazy {which is the more likely thing — We say “stop jumping on the bed, you’re going to hurt your brother/sister” quite a bit}.

Usually, everyone is in bed by 8:15-8:30, then we/I come downstairs and get things cleaned up from the day and dinner OR we collapse on the couch and watch a movie.

And THAT is what an evening routine is like in the White House!

A Body Worth Loving {coming to terms with the postpartum body}

Coming to terms with the postpartum body doesn’t come as naturally as it should. Awhile ago, Lisa-Jo Baker posted about loving your post-baby body for the sake of your children, especially daughters. Lisa-Jo responded to my comment saying:

“TRIPLETS??? Girl, your body deserves a medal. You should break out into song every time you see it in the mirror. Your body is a HERO!!! Give it something delicious right now. For reals.”

And I do.

I think quite frequently about my body and what it accomplished. That my body was just the way God designed it to be, for these three precious babies to have been born as healthy and as big as they were, despite being 6 weeks early; to have been able to avoid having a c-section.

I look at my stretch marks that go well above my belly button and the skin that hangs below where it should definitely have stopped, and I’m in awe of it. That these three babies were cradled in there for months. That these babies were born with no health issues, despite having been sharing a womb with 2 others.

Then I look at my body the way the world does, the way we all judge ourselves: I see a flabby stomach, that still looks like there could be a baby in there when dressed; I see arms that are much too soft, particularly for lugging 4 kids around all day (at 14, 18, 19, and 30 lbs each); I see thighs that rub and have their own tributaries of stretch marks, without thinking that those legs are strong and able to run after these kids, up and down stairs countless times a day.

A Body worth loving coming to terms with the postpartum body

I think to myself, “You weigh the same now as you did just before these three kids were born” and I hang my head in shame. Knowing that an over abundance of cookie dough, avocados and cheese, and a lack of true exercise are the cause of it.

I waver, back and forth, between loving this body that has brought forth life 4 times in 2 pregnancies, and despising the “curves” that I have yet to figure out how to dress in a flattering way. When I figure out how to love this body 24/7 I’ll let you know, but I somehow think it’s going to involve a lot more time with God and a pair of sneakers.