The Dummy-A-Thon

So a while ago I spoke about hating dummies. Yes, they are good to soothe an upset/tired baby. The trio pretty much only had them for sleeping (or putting a plug in Isaac). But literally overnight these guys decided that if they were sleeping, the dummy could not fall out. At all. Not once. Or they'd scream blue murder until you put it back in and shoved a rolled up wrap in front of it. Only to have them push it out 10 seconds later.....and the cycle starts again. 3 times over.

So I cracked it a few Saturday's ago. I'd had enough. So the next day we went no dummies while during the day. Cold turkey. Aren't I mean? Trust me, I've paid for my meanness. A lot. We are now on day 10. Prior to the no dummies rule they had really only been sleeping for 45 minutes to an hour at a time. And in my household - that's just NOT acceptable!
But now it's gotten worse. Sometimes it's only 10 minutes. Now, I'm a bit of a sleep nazi. I need my break, they need their sleep. Simple. They will self settle again sometimes, but the last 2 weeks have been pretty shit!

Funnily enough the one who seems to be coping the best is Isaac - the one who loved the dummy the most. Go figure.
Dylan has been probably the worst. He's always been the best sleeper so he's gone from one extreme to the other.
Ailah started off terrible, she refused to self settle (which she was doing prior to all this) and would just scream, unfortunately she has now found her thumb. Sigh. But she can cope with less sleep compared to the boys. Typical males!

I would not have been able to do this without my wonderful mum and fantastic Nanny She's amazing. It's so nice to have someone who can just take them off my hands and do everything for them Leaves me a bit of time! But I know it's been a bad day when I can see she's exhausted and stressed! Least I know it's not just me.

We'll get there.

In other triplet related news - they're all rolling!! Tummy to back for now. Ailah was first, then about a week later the boys followed suite, at the same time. I'm so lucky I had my phone on camera ready to snap the action.

Ailah and Isaac are also getting teeth. Ailah has 2 teeth buds appearing and Isaac one, all on the bottom. Yes, that is young, but Jordan got 6 teeth in 10 days at 16 weeks. These guys started at 14 weeks.

Ailah is also reaching out and touching faces and both her and Isaac give us loads of smiles, just by looking at them. Dylan has found his smile button and lives a goo-ey, coo-ey chat.

And the rest of us?
Jordan has finished prep! It was a sad day saying goodbye to his teacher, but she has 4 more of our kids to get through yet! He is very excited about grade 1, but in the mean time is over the moon that he finally lost his first tooth and has another wobbly one which I'm sure will be out by Christmas!

Amali is still my girl. She is an amazing help to me and just dotes on her younger brothers and sister. Both her and Jordan are super excited about their birthday party in mid January, it's ging to be a dance party in the evening, complete with disco ball....

Daniel in currently in Melbourne, eating oysters, prawns and enjoying the hotel chocolate fountain. I should me tion he's on a training course.... After the holidays he'll be doing 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off in Victoria. It's going to be tough, but it's that or no job up here.

And me - well, in doing pretty good. I've got great support and rarely get stressed. Some days are harder than others, but that's life. I got to go out to dinner with the girls last night - and no babies in tow! They all took their bottle while I was gone and went to bed beautifully. I had such a great night, then came hone and expressed over 300mL!
Thanks ladies xxxx

Just so you know, I had to take the birth video down after a staff member complained. They were polite, it's ok. I've had to blur out everyone's faces for now, that was the quick fix. I'll endeavor to get just the staffs faces blurred then get it back up properly. I've already had people from America say they're happy to do it for me. I was very proud that it had had 304,000+ views in the 5 weeks it was online for.

Lastly, if to have noticed lots of typos in this post it's because I'm doing it from my phone - which as of today has a smashed screen.....

3 months +

Hi there! It's been a while! Sorry about that.

I'm really not sure why it's taken me so long.......!

Honestly, the pure love I feel for these babies (and my big babies of course) is immense. I asked some other HOMmies (what triplets and more mums call each other) the other day 'when do you stop thinking - holy crap! I have 3 babies!' The answer - never.

I cannot imagine my life now without my amazing support circle of HOMmies. Daniel always tells me to get off Facebook. Yes, I am on there too much. But I'm not trawling Facebook mindlessly, I'm having wonderful, informative conversations with other HOMmies from around the world. I am also conversing with another group of women who are very special to me. These are my October Due Mummies Group ladies. We started the group through Bub Hub, and then transferred to Facebook. Most of us have been on there since the day we saw the positive test results. We've had ups and downs, loss of babies, family and friends, some have left, some have come back pregnant again (woohoo!), we've been through each other's births, both the negatives and positives, first smiles, weird looking poos, husbands who don't help, internet dating and much more!! These groups form my online support groups. Thank you all.

And then shifting to 'real' life. Of course there is my husband, who is pretty good. Like all husbands I think he forgets that we have 3 babies sometimes. And although people constantly call me a 'super mum', I'm not, and sometimes I can't manage - and with some less than subtle reminding - he helps out again. Then there is my mum and Kerry. I sometimes don't get along with her, she knows that, I think we're finally ok with that, but she has always gone above and beyond in helping our family in every way possible. Thank you. Kerry is mums partner and he is fantastic. He potters around the farm doing anything that needs to be done, and pops in and quietly sits with the babies chatting to them. I have a clear picture of three toddlers running after him in a few years while he waters the veges. I'm sure he'll be pleased as punch with that. Erin, Katy and Karen have been amazingly supportive with Jordan. Taking him to school or picking him up (sometimes both!) and having him in their houses until Daddy can pick him up. Ladies, you have no idea how easier you have made this year. Thank you. My amazing girlfriends - Taryn, Laurie, Mel, Skye, Berni - even if you feel like you haven't 'done' much, you have. Meals dropped off, Amali minded, chats on the phone, at get togethers or coffee shops, you have all helped me deal with the sometimes monotonous routine that is raising triplets!! I'm sure there are others, and to all of you who have cheered me on from the sidelines - thank you!

The babies are now 3 months old. They have great head control - especially Ailah, they are chatting away to me, and have just started chatting to another. They don't chat to each other, just one starts looking at the other while the other one has no idea they are being chatted to! It's very cute to watch. They are staying awake a little longer, enjoy watching their toys, they have all started trying to reach toys, and are getting better at tummy time. Dylan has finally found the smile button and gives me beautiful big smiles and chats away. I have been taking them to the chiropractor and have noticed some big changes after only 3 sessions. Isaac is a happier baby. Amazing. Thank gosh! Ailah is opening her mouth wider, so is becoming a more efficient feeder - yay! And I'm finding all of them, but mostly Dylan, have an easier time turning their heads when on their tummies to sleep or at tummy time.

They are still sleeping extremely well. Dylan and Ailah are sleeping through (She had a week of waking up at 3am for a feed) and Isaac still likes to wake at 3am for a feed. Normally I begin bathing them (usually have to wake them) at 8pm, then all are fed and off to bed at 10pm and I follow straight away too. However last night I really couldn't have been bothered (see, I'm not super mum!) so I didn't wake them, I just let them sleep. I went to bed around 9:30pm (don't ask why I stayed up - I have no idea) and dream fed Isaac in the hope he'd sleep through. Now bearing in mind that they were all put down to sleep between 5 and 6 pm......Ailah woke at 1am for a feed and Isaac at 3am. Dylan slept through until 4:30am. I couldn't believe it! So, tonight, I'm going to start putting them in bed much earlier, around 7pm. It will mean a chaotic time as that is when the others go to bed, and I'm not sure what will happen during the night.....but we'll see.

Update on their weights:
Isaac - birth 2.5kg, 3 months 4.1kg
Dylan - birth 2.8kg, 3 months 4.6kg
Ailah - birth 2.3kg, 3 months 3.6kg
Very happy with these weights! I think Ailah is NOT going to be like me, a bit of a chubba, she's so petite and fine, and always has been, even in utero.

We are very much looking forward to our first Christmas (even my ba humbug husband), we are hiring a house with a pool so hopefully the weather will allow us to fully enjoy that!

And on a final note - my birth video has had over 100,000 views in the last 4 weeks. I am amazed!

 Ailah

 Isaac

Dylan

Oh - and another super mum thing - I just decided not to send Jordan to school. Too hard!