The Princess

I was informed by my mom that Ruby is always getting the shaft on the blog while her brothers steal the limelight. Julia also has said that she doesn’t know Ruby as wells as the boys. I try so hard to keep things equal, so I don’t know how this happened! I better show you what she's been up to lately. 

  Dressing up like a ballerina. 

Practicing her tap dancing.  

Getting quite chubby (though still the most petite of the three).

And being looked after by her over-protective brothers.

They’re willing to take care of any wise guys that come her way.

Watch out. Bennett has a strong punch.

I think Ruby will be safe with these two around. Don’t you?

4 eventful years, 3 chubby kids, 2 thankful parents, 1 happy family.

Whoa. I have been married for four years. We modestly celebrated by going out to dinner and perusing the mall in Annapolis, with the help of Britney and our friends, the Drapers, to feed and take care of the littles while we were away. What a luxury! And it was so great to hear that the babies were happy little angles the whole time, and went to bed without a peep. It made the night even more relaxing.

How my life has changed in these four years. I could write for hours about all that I have learned, and how I have grown, and how much I love my husband, and how happy he makes me. But that would probably get boring to my readers out there. I’ll just say that I am completely happy with the decision I made to marry KC. We’ve been through a lot together, and he is one strong man. He’d have to be to put up with me and my craziness. We have a great life and we are so happy together. How could we not be with these these little bursts of happiness of look at all day?

Penny Lou

I am pleased to intoduce you to Penelope Louise Ribeira! My little sister Elise and her husband Jeff had their first baby and I am totally in love. With her, and her adorable name. I am so sad to not be there to snuggle her in person. She is gorgeous, as you can see. I can already tell she and Ruby are going to be best friends, as they are the closest girl cousins. Here are the details and more pics. We love you guys! We hope to see you as soon as we can!

Good thing babies are so forgiving.

I took this a few days ago, before we were making any headway on naptime. I thought I’d share.

A whole new world.

At least that's what if feels like when you have a real nap schedule. Can I just tell you what a difference a day makes. Yesterday, I felt the world was collapsing all around me. I couldn't think straight. I didn't know what was going to become of me. (That may sound dramatic, but three screaming babies can really do that to you.) They just cried every time we put them in their cribs to nap, and just cried for the whole two hours straight until it was time to eat and play again. It would just start over every time. UNTIL that magical moment at about 6:45 pm when all was quiet in the room down the hall. Could they really be. . .could they possibly be. . .sleeping??!! Yes, they were, those angel babies of mine. And they continued to sleep, with the exception of a few feedings until 6:30 am. They’d just go right back to sleep after feeding. Sometimes they wouldn’t even wake up, but would dream feed (if one wakes up to feed, they all get fed). We’re going to work on dropping a night feeding after naps are all squared away. I woke up rested! What a feeling!

I was a little nervous what today would bring with putting them back to sleep for their first nap in the morning and the day light. I thought for sure things would be crazy again and had my head phones ready. They got tired pretty quickly after some books and rattle time, so swaddles went on, and into their cribs they went. First there was a lot of screaming from Alex, a couple outbursts from Ruby, and I don’t think Bennett made a peep (must’ve caught him just at the right time). The crying went on for about 10 minutes from Alex, then I just heard him talking in there. Huh? He’d never done that before. I knew then today would be different. And you know what? Ten minutes later. . .silence. A real honest to goodness nap in which my babies all fell asleep without any rocking whatsoever! I'm not sure how long it will last, but their staying in there for two hours regardless, and some of that time was quiet! I can’t stop smiling. I don’t know what to do with myself. I know there will be some hiccups here and there, but today is a day to remember. The options are endless for me. Especially with Britney here. I can go grocery shopping, work out, pump, make dinner, go on a date with my husband, take a long shower, take a NAP! All without calling in extra reinforcement, or interruptions. Thank you, THANK YOU, everyone for you encouragement. You are right. It is amazing and so worth it.

And what’s funny is I really really miss my babies. I had to watch videos of them yesterday, I missed them so bad. But I know this will only make them more fun to be around and play with. When I have it all ironed out, I’ll post my schedule so you can see what the new and improved day in the life of the Robinson Triplets is like.

They couldn’t have given daddy and me better anniversary present.

You have to be a Nazi.

I’d like to elaborate more on nap training. Man, if this doesn’t kill me, nothing will. I don’t think any part of being a new mom to triplets has overwhelmed me as much as this. Probably because now it’s my responsibility to do something about it, rather than blame their behavior on their newborn status. Now that I’m in charge, I suddenly feel all helpless. The books to help  a little, but they still don’t know my babies, and what I can take. I knew the babies were changing, and I knew our routine had to also

Lately we have been in what I’d consider an age appropriate system. It worked alright, and semi-comfortably for me, knowing that this was just a stage and things would change soon. It probably just felt okay since it was better than before. They go to bed without crying, and that was quite an accomplishment to me. So I held off a little bit doing anything else so I could revel in a little success until I had to go to work again.

Enter nap training. Before today I felt completely incompetent for this job. It’s not as easy as nighttime to me, since they have to eat soon, and would surely cry until that time. I read, re-read, and re-read the chapters in the books on naps, and just felt overwhelmed with information, yet felt like nothing was answered. I’d start each day full of resolve and a new idea, feeling like what we tried the day before clearly didn’t work. And by about 9 am my nerves were always shot, and I felt like a failure all over again.  I know there are multiples groups out there, and blog after blog featuring triplets. But I don’t love support groups, and it just seemed like something else I don’t have time for. I remembered my sister Amber mentioning a friend that had triplets and had them trained to sleep through the night by 8 weeks. She said she would be happy to talk to me anytime. But she only intimidated me, and made me quite jealous to tell you the truth, so I put that on the back burner.

Well, it was moved to the front today when I got to a point where I just couldn’t take the high maintenance babies who need constant rocking/patting/holding, or the uncertainty of what I supposed to do any longer. So I called Amber, who gave me a number. But before I even had a chance to think about calling her, I got a call from Holly herself. What a wonder woman. She made me feel so empowered, and  gave me strict instructions on what to do, guaranteeing that in a few weeks I’ll have a different life. This is more my way 0f learning that reading books. Word of mouth instructions have always been more appealing to me that reading it on a piece of paper. I’ll have to post the schedule we are sticking to sometime. Maybe as soon as it’s up and running for sure. But Holly told me I have to be a Nazi and to not let anybody or anything get in my way.  And that I will do. Yes, the babies have been screaming as I write this, and it’s breaking my heart, but I know I am doing what is right in the long run. Here is a picture of their cute but sad splotchy faces after a long bout of crying, the poor dears.

I wish I could just always  know what to do. It’s hard to admit that you don’t know what you are doing. Something which I’ve had to do many times since becoming not only a first time parent, but one of triplets. Humility is being learned for sure. I know my great love for these babies will only grow as they learn to sleep and give me a break from the daily grind we’ve been living. It’s just time for some serious changes around here. I’ll probably be listening to my ipod, or vacuuming a lot more in the days to come, but hopefully soon the home will be silent for several hour everyday during which I can get back into some of my hobbies on hiatus. On enjoy a long shower, nap, or movie without interruptions. I’m going to stick to this plan and hope to report success in the near future.

So, since there isn’t too much time for lots of playing while we’re nap-training-minded, here are some recent picks to hold you over. 

And btw, KC’s sister Camille came to visit last weekend. We were all sad to see her go.

 

Today's thoughts.

Today is the day I decided to start sleep training for nap time-no turning back. I usually give up after a while, but not today. I wish I could tell you that everything going smoothly, but I can't. It's pure torture. Agony. The babies just cry. And cry. And cry. But I can't spoil them anymore. They don't nap well unless we hold them. And there are only two of us. They're just too heavy for that and they won't stay asleep anyway. This is ridiculous. I officially hate sleep training.

But I am happy to say that we finished the Rocky series today and I am in LOVE. How have I not seen all those movies?! Rocky is now one of my favorite movie characters. Number one is my favorite. I can't wait to see Rocky Balboa.

I have to retract something I said earlier. I once wrote that I wanted to stretch their feedings to 4 hours, hearing from some people that they only feed their kids every 4 hours. I never minded our 3 hour feeding schedule, but everyone just acted like stretching them was the way to go. But I have since learned that a 3 hour feeding schedule will help these littles sleep longer in the night. And I am all about that.

I wish I lived closer to my family.

How is it that even though I haven't been holding the babies most of the day due to sleep training, I still haven't gotten anything done? I have plenty of things to do, I'm sure. I just never keep a list going because I never think I'll have time to get anything done. Maybe I should get that list going.

Please stop crying babies.

Now listen here you children.

The fact of the matter is, if you don't sleep well all day and all night, I'm not going to be a very good mommy the next day. Is that really what you want?! Discuss this amongst yourselves.

I'm pretty sure I deserved that big peice of cake for breakfast.

I wonder what is going on in their little heads.

(Btw, their happiest time is always first thing in the morning, which is why they are still in their pajamas in most pictures and videos.)

Some other things the babies find amusing:

Reading stories. We do it every morning. I'm surprised at how well it keeps their attention. I'm going to love this new development. And this book was a personal favorite of mine while growing up.

Going to Target.

It was so nice to get out. We were prepared to leave at any moment if the babies told us to, but they were so delightful. Alex would smile and chat with anyone who wanted to say hi (and there were quite a few friendly strangers that wanted to meet them).

Sucking their thumbs. Especially Bennett. I can’t get enough of it.

And I couldn’t resist showing you some naked time fun.

And they started some physical therapy. They were evaluated by the county's infants and toddlers program to make sure they are on track because of their prematurity.Three great ladies came and were playing with the babies on the floor for about an hour, checking their progress. We are pleased to say that they are doing wonderfully. They are even ahead in some areas, speech being one of them. And after all their physical therapy they took great naps. Bonus! They’ll continue being seen for the next six months or so. It’s great to have professionals help me with this so I don’t have to keep track of it all on my own.

I can't tell you how happy it makes me when I see them behaving in a developmentally normal way. We’re so grateful. We get to work on more tummy time, side lying time to help their core muscles, more rolling over (though the boys have already been showing off in that area), keep reading simple books, and if it's okay with the pediatrician when we see her next week, starting spoon feeding. I'm so excited for that. I might even be able to feed all of them myself that way. The goal is to get them caught up to their real age, so we don’t always have to adjust. They are well on their way.

Now, I think we’ll take advantage if this great weather and take a walk.

Pick a question, any question.

This is a little out of character for me. I don't do much on Facebook, and I am totally anti-Twitter, but formspring (weird name, but whatever) seems like something I might actually be intersted in. It's a place where you can ask me, or anyone that has an account, questions. Anonymously or not, about anything you want. I occasionally get questions in my comments, and don't know whether to respond in my comments, their comments, or in my next blog post. So this might be a good solution for that. Send any questions my way though the link on the sidebar, or here. Should be fun. You should try it too. Thank for the reccomendation Hannah.

Baby Steps

So, I suppose that last post was a little pitty-partyish, which wasn't it’s intent at all. Life is generally good around here, and we do have moments of blissful free time (obviously, since I have time to write this-even if it did take two days and darling Ruby is sleeping on my lap as I type) to keep us sane. I guess it was in the wake of my mom leaving, so I was adjusting to have less hands around here. Some days are just better than others, you know? Don't worry, I usually can find time to go to the bathroom. Anyway, to lighten things up a bit, I'll tell you about some of the positive changes that are going on around here.

First of all that babies really do have good nights and naps times! Rarely, but the good ones do not go unnoticed. Like I said, baby steps (thank you Dr. Marvin). I really thought I could avoid a lot of trial and error with all the books I've been reading on sleep training, but I guess with each unique child comes a unique experience, no matter what the books say. And I have three unique children. Don't get me wrong, the books have been my constant companions, always out and ready to flip to the section that I need most that day. They have shed light on this sleep training subject that I'd have never known otherwise, and have really given me the reassurance that my babies are doing what's expected for their age, and that I'm doing what I'm supposed to. They've given me the courage to let them cry when everything in me wants to hold and comfort them. Though crying it out is actually kind of a relief for me since I can't hold and comfort them all at the same time, and learning to self-soothe is very important in our situation. Even though they sometimes cry ( though the past couple nights have been cry-free when they go down), I am doing what's best for them, and it works out for me too. These books usually leave me feeling in charge and empowered, instead of helpless and hopeless. Here’s my stash.

I'll admit though, sometimes I want to rip the books in half since they make sound so simple. For instance, when I read things about kids sleeping through the night after only three nights of crying it out, I get a little perturbed that mine won't do that same, especially after a night of rocking and feeding each baby at different times. Maybe I'm trying to rush them. As much as I like what the books say, I also think my intuition, and things I think might work for my babies are important too. I can see the changes occurring, and I'm sure things will get better in what seems like no time at all. I hope.

Other great things that have made my life easier lately, is that the babies love their play mat, their swings with mobiles, the doorway bouncer, their Bumbos, toys, kicking their legs like crazy, bath time, naked time (my favorite) and Baby Einstein. Only for a few minutes sometimes, but hey, I’ll take it.

One magical day, all three of them slept for a good 2 1/2 hours straight! I was able to get so much done, including make a carrot cake- a dessert that is quite high maintenance for my situation (seriously sometimes I contemplate not buying oranges because they take too long to peal). But I did it, and not even in a rushed manner. Wouldn’t you want carrot cake too if you had a huge Costco bag of carrots to use up? I thought it would take a week with all the pealing, grating (with a food processor of course-I’m not that crazy) mixing, baking, and frosting it required. But one day was all I needed. Ruby wanted to help with the assembly. She’s quite the little baker.

KC also used her help for something he was working on. What a good girl.

And with the snow slowly melting, we’ve been able to take a couple refreshing walks. One just with our little family of five. We wanted the house quiet for a few minutes of rest for hard working Britney. The babies loved it. (Pardon our shabbiness, it was a long day.) I can see Spring being a wonderful time for us.

We are enjoying this ride, as tired as we may be. Especially during moment like this when everyone was playing in our bed on Sunday morning. Something I envisioned during my whole pregnancy. Ahh, I love these babies. Have I mentioned that yet?

(Also, check out some hilarious pics of Bennett here.)

At any given moment.

I am a person who likes to get things done the moment I think of them. I like to clear them from my head so I don't have to be bothered by those things again. Procrastinate is like a four letter word to me. So when a lot of my time is used up by rocking and holding babies, and I'm sitting here thinking of all the things I should/want to do, it drives me a little crazy that I am stuck until I can do any of them. I try so hard to enjoy those quiet moments with my babies, but sometimes I feel like I am rocking all day long, and it's not always so quiet and relaxing when another one is crying and needs to be rocked, making me want to rush one so I can get to another. (And believe me, they don't like to share me on the rocking chair. I've tried. They are getting quite large.)

Anyway, it seems that at any given moment there are about 20 things on my mind, and I know most moms can probably relate. So as I was sitting here a minute ago rocking my babies to sleep for what I'm sure will be a short nap, I was thinking of all the things I want to do as soon as the little ones let me put them down, barring one of them doesn't start crying and need to be rocked yet again. Even the most mundane things have to be prioritized when I have so many things on my mind, and so little time to do them. Also, I've learned the importance of multitasking. So here's what I'm thinking about right now. I could:



Eat (am I the only nursing mother that wakes up completely starving? I'm doing this one as I blog.)

clean up the bottles from the night feedings

go to the bathroom

pump (which I'm also doing while blogging-gotta get creative.)

sleep (which sounds like the best choice after a night like last night, but seems pointless since I'll have to get up in a few minutes anyway.)

read Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child (more about this later.)

shower

start the laundry

fold some laundry

take out the garbage

put on some slippers

write some emails

write some thank you notes

tidy up the house

drink some water

finish a show I started yesterday morning and is still paused (hey-I have to fit in leisure activities somewhere.)

dust the living room

I'm sure I could think of a lot more. . . and here I am blogging.


Well, Alex's eyes popped open. And there goes Bennett. All those things are just going to have to wait. Good thing I really like these babies.

Wifely Pride

I can't sleep and it's making me really mad since the babies have all been sound asleep for 3 hours now. I hate lost hours of sleep, and really hate thinking about how tired I'll be in the morning. Serves me right for taking a precious hour long nap today. I guess I'm not used to being so rested. Geeze. But I might as well use this time to tell you something cool.

KC is a good husband and dad. But you already know that because I've said it many times before. Do you know what else he is good at? Passing the P.E. exam (that stands for Professional Engineering for those who may not know). This test has been long awaited and is extremely important for his career path. It's been weighing over our heads for a couple years now, so we were glad he was at least starting the process. He was fully expecting to take it again, given that he took it right after the babies were born. Lots of distractions, a wife recovering from surgery, not much sleep, and not much time to study. When I was coming home from Utah, he told me that he had a surprise waiting for me when I got there. Little did I know the surprise would be this grand. This means big things for our family, and I am one proud wife. This really is a great accomplishment. I'm happy for him, I'm happy for me, and I'm excited to see where this might take us. We'd have a big party to celebrate if we had the energy/time/space/willingness to do so. I guess the big hug and kiss(es) I gave him when I found out will have to suffice. Good work, honey.

I might be tired now. Good night.

Happy Valentines Day. Love, Alex, Bennett, and Ruby.

Some love from the babies to you.

Alex

(I know, dirty dishes in the background. Sorry, sometimes it happens with your hand are always full.)

Bennett


Ruby


The Trio



And check out Alex's latest trick. He's definitely our most ambitious one, always showing everyone up with his skills and weight gain. Ruby is cheering him on on the background. I don't think sibling rivalry has surfaced yet. The others will join the party soon enough.


Oh, the fools we make of ourselves on these videos. I'll just have to swallow my pride I suppose. It is really only about the babies, after all.

I feel like I should do a post highlighting each baby and their individual cuteness. Maybe that will be a celebration of their six month birthday. It's coming up believe it or not. Whoa.

I happen to love slippers.

You can never have too many, am I right?

Especially on days (and days) like this.

And it's still coming down. It's nice to have KC home from work, even if he has to shovel for a good portion of the day. What a good man.

Good thing we have these yummy smelling little ones to keep us warm.

It's a stay in your pajamas, watch Newsies really loud, make a good lunch kind of a day if you ask me.

(And Merinda, to answer your comment/question about how my mom got here, she was scheduled to fly on the only day southwest was flying from SLC to BWI for about a week. No flights for a couple days before, and a few days after. Lucky, huh? Her flight was delayed several times, but she made it, and we're so glad. )

I used fresh herbs for the Chicken Pot Pie tonight.

That's how I know my life is starting to get back in order (or that I just have more help around since my mom came in last night-yay!). I'm starting to see glimpses of my old self. It's very exciting.

Something else exciting? Ruby slept through the night last night. Eight hours people. The boys only woke up once, and that deserves some praise as well. I love these babies and their chubby legs.

Some accomplishments.

Yesterday I was determined to make the babies:
a) eat about 4 1/2 to 5 oz. or more at each feeding, which would hopefully
b) stretch them to eating from 3 hours to 3 1/2 or 4 hours between feedings, which would hopefully

c) Get them to sleep longer in the night like good little babies should.

And we were quite successful. I decided it was time to give the good old "cry it out" method a try for bedtime. We do it for naps here and there, but they don't seem to like that quite yet. I've read several books on the subject, and I know there are plenty of opinions out there, but we're just doing what we think is best. And do you know what? They cried in their cribs at bedtime for about 20 minutes and then it was quiet! I couldn't believe my ears. I seriously didn't know how to express my happiness. A whole new world opened up to me. Some time during the day with no babies to be responsible to pick up at any moment. I forgot what that was like, and didn't quite know what to do with myself. I know we will still have difficult sleep training days ahead, but we'll take any good day. One step at a time, right? I just like to stay in the kitchen with the dishwasher running while the crying is going on (resulting in a pretty clean kitchen). We are on the path to more restful nights folks, I can just feel it. Now that didn't mean that they didn't wake up a lot during the night, because they did, the sillies. But their first stretch of sleep was pretty good, about 5 1/2 hours. Like I said, one step at a time. It feels so good when something actually works.

You know, lately I've been feeling like life with these babies has consisted of more fun times than stressful ones. Britney and I just love hanging with them all day while we play with them, watch movies, or just chat. But we definitely love the nights and weekends when KC is home to play. It amazing how free you can feel with only one baby to look after. They are quite entertaining, and very cuddly. Even when I have to hold two at once, I try to take in the moment and love that my arms are overflowing, rather than overwhelmed. They have started giggling, and are definitely chatty little babies keeping our attention at all times. I still just can't believe this perfect trio is mine. My heart is so full.

So we had another trip to the Pediatrician for yet another set of vaccines. Wow, are these babies growing like weeds.

A: 14 lbs. 8 oz.

B: 13 lbs. 8 oz.

R: 12 lbs. 3 oz.

All are very healthy and right on track. They are about 11 weeks old adjusted, and about 5 months from their actual birth date. Time really flies with kids, doesn't it? I can't wait to see how they grow, though I'll desperately miss my little ones.

By the way. We're snowed in. Really. Did you hear about it on the news? It seems like it's all the weather people can talk about. The Blizzard of 2010! Quite cozy, actually.

May I suggest. . .

If you find yourself rocking, or feeding a baby (or two) all day, or even in the middle of the night, I highly recommend entertaining yourself with some great shows on PBS's Masterpeice Classic series. I get giddy when I start a new episode. Return to Cranford is so great, especially if you've seen the original Cranford. And I am extremely excited to watch more of Emma. It is so well done, and makes me love this story even more. It's as if they knew I needed something great to watch during these days of rocking, and rocking and rocking. . . I can't wait for this one to premiere.

Our current status.

With one less person (The babies already miss you Janice) in the house, we have:

Put Ruby to sleep in the crib, which she whimpered in for about 10 minutes and then was silent, that angel of mine.

Put Alex to sleep in the swing, after attempting the crib.

Bennett asleep in a carrier on me also after a crib attempt.

(More on sleep training later.)

Achieved a quiet house, even if only for a short time.

Make-up on and hair blow-dried hair. (Hey, sometimes you just need to do something for yourself, you know.)

Eaten lunch while only holding one baby in a carrier.

Perhaps propped some bottles, supervised of course.

So, our first morning with only two of us hasn't been so bad, though the house is definitely not in great shape, the babies have had moments of screaming at the same time, and I may have said things I shouldn't have. We're definitely getting more organized around here, and I am trying to keep my cool amidst all the stress that creeps us. Wish us luck.