What our week looks like

A lot of friends and family have asked me how I survive during the week. So I thought I'd write a little bit about what our week looks like because I think in 10 years I will wonder how I ever made it with 3 kids under 2. Also, I should let people know that we do more than survive, we have a lot of fun during the week. Monday is more detailed but many of the things mentioned for Monday are repeated throughout the week. Here is a rough idea of what a given week may look like for us. You can tell I was a teacher in my past life, we have a lot of book/story time  and craft time built into each week. One rule I have for myself is leave the house at least once a day, even if it's by myself.

Monday- Tim leaves around 8:30 for work. I try to pump and have all the kids fed and dressed by then so he can help me load them into the van. Tim leaves for work and the kids and I go the Y. I usually work out for an hour or hour and a half and then I check Sofia out of KidWatch so she can run around and play basketball with me or go swimming. When we get home things are a little crazy because Sofia needs her snack and is getting ready for nap time, both boys are hungry and need to be changed and I usually need to pump. Somehow it all works out but this whole process takes an hour or two and it can be a little stressful. After snack/early lunch Sofia naps and I get one on one time with the boys. If they nap I usually take a shower and eat lunch and wash the first round of bottles. In the afternoon I rotate between the boys' needs and coloring/art projects with Sofia and TONS of book reading. Sofia is obsessed with books and reads nonstop. Around 4 or 5 I start dinner and Tim is usually home by 5:30 or 6.

Some Mondays Tim's mom has a low census day and she spend the day with me helping me out. This past Monday she was with me and we went to the farm only to discover it was closed. Luckily we were able to make it to Cedarburg in time for their 1&2 year old story hour. In the afternoon she walked the twins to Lake Park and I rollerbladed with Sofia on the Ozaukee Interurban Trail for a few miles and then met her and the twins at Possibility Playground. Tim met us there after work because it was such a gorgeous day. On past Mondays Lorraine has helped me make a big dinner that will last us a few nights. I am very lucky because if Lorraine isn't able to stay with me on a Monday my Mom will come on Saturday or Sunday and make a meal that will last us a few days.

Tuesday- We have MOPS every other Tuesday and the Tuesdays in between we go to library time at the Port Washington library. (Afternoon routine is about the same, depending on the weather we either stay inside or walk to the park)

Wednesday- We either go to the YMCA in the morning or Saukville (5 minutes) for a Babies and Blocks program for 6-24 month olds.

Thursday- YMCA or story hour at the Grafton Public Library in the morning and a Target run in the afternoon. How do I manage Target with all three kids? I finally found a method that works well. I wear one baby in an Ergo baby carrier, I keep the other baby in their carseat in the front of the cart and Sofia sits in the main area of the cart. We get a lot of looks but it works! I haven't attempted grocery shopping with all three and I have no plans to. I usually wait until Tim is home or I go on the weekends. I go to Trader Joe's once or twice a month for all of the yummy organic goodies I need and can't get from a normal grocery store, especially meat, produce, coffee and dairy products. Sometimes I go by myself to get a little break but I enjoy taking one kid with me so I get one on one time with each child and Tim gets to spend quality time with our other two children.

Friday-Sunday is family time. Anyone who knows Tim and I well knows that we don't like to sit around. We are always finding different adventures to take the kids on or working on house projects.

I always thought life would move slow staying home but it moves faster than ever before. My hands are full but so is my heart.

Busy days...

Unfortunately I won't be able to post any pictures, but for good reason! This past weekend Tim and I ripped up the ugly, nasty flooring from our kitchen (can you tell we really couldn't stand it?) and tiled the floor. Our main computer is kept in the kitchen area so it's packed up until we can move everything back into the kitchen. I can't wait to share our before and after pictures. Tim and his Dad worked all weekend to lay a new sub floor and tile the kitchen, the last tile was placed Sunday at 10:00pm and then Tim's Dad had to drive all the way back to Baraboo. I am so thankful for such wonderful family. Monday night poor Tim stayed up until 2:30am grouting the tile, he will likely seal it tomorrow night and hopefully we can move our stove and fridge back into the kitchen by Saturday. It's been quite a challenge managing the little ones with the refrigerator and stove in the middle of the living room.

Once I'm able to have access to our computer again I will share some pictures from our most recent events. My Mom and sisters volunteered to watch the kids for a day so Tim and I could enjoy a Packer game with my Dad and soon to be brother in law. The game was two weeks ago and it was a blast!! I was a bit worried about how things would work out with pumping since I wouldn't be able to pump during the game but everything went great.

Our weekends start on Friday. It's not the most ideal schedule because although Tim has Friday off he works on Saturdays until 2pm. Right now it's not a big deal because the kids are so young but hopefully things will change. On Friday, Tim and I took all three kids to the library to check out new books and the farm last Friday to go on a hay ride, pet all the farm animals and pick pumpkins. We did all of this before Sofia's nap time, we were quite pleased with ourselves. Then we drove to Waukesha to drop the kids off at my parents so we could buy all the supplies needed for our kitchen project. We bought the tile with all three kids and it was a bit of a nightmare, the tile guy at Menards caught Sofia as she jumped out of the cart and I balanced feeding both boys in the middle of the store. It's a bit easier to shop without the crew.

Pictures will come soon!!

Sleep is so sweet!

I am happy to report that the boys started consistently sleeping through the night this week. I don't have a lot of time to write today because we are putting tile in our kitchen floor and entry way, yay! It's easy to forget waking up with babies through the night so here is a video of one of the last nights Everett woke up in the middle of the night. Excuse my voice, it's not the greatest at 3am.

And just for fun here are a few other videos of the gang...

For whatever reason I can't flip the video below...sorry about that.

3 months old!

Sully on the left and Ev on the right. I think they are pretty darn cute.

It's hard to believe but my sweet boys are already 3 months old! They are growing and changing every day. At about 6 weeks old we thought Everett was our Mr. Chill, boy were we wrong! From 6 weeks on Sully has proven to be our most relaxed child. He only really gets upset when he is hungry or has a dirty diaper, a wet diaper doesn't bother him at all. Sometimes he'll wake up soaked in the morning. Sully sleeps from 9 or 10pm until 5 or 5:30am and has been doing this for almost 2 weeks, it's amazing. He really loves his crib, he started taking his morning and afternoon nap in his crib this week. It's so cute to watch him snuggle in and raise his arms over his head. Sullivan loves to snuggle and loves his play gym time. He and Sofia have a very special relationship, he will track her movements around the room and when she faces him or talks to him or kisses him he responds with a huge, heart melting smile. Sullivan is a very determined little guy, when I hold him he coos and smiles a ton but then almost always moves his legs so he can practice standing. He is so strong! Sullivan also loves his bath time. He has never complained to get out, I let him stay in until the water starts to get cold. He loves to kick, splash and look at the bathroom toys on the tub.

Everett is an interesting little guy. He is a pretty easy going guy most of the day except for some afternoons and evenings. There are times when he is fussy with a clean diaper, freshly bathed and fed. I always try to nurse him and that helps him sometimes but not always. I think he really is just a very curious guy and sometimes ends up over tired and fights his body telling him to rest. I can't tell you when he sleeps because he is so irregular. Some nights he goes from 10-2 and then 3-5. He is very tough to get back to bed when he wakes up. He is the most amazing little guy in the morning. When he opens his eyes and looks at me he has the biggest smile I've ever seen and then he coos and giggles. This may sound vain but I swear the way he looks at me he's telling me, "I love you so much Mama, you are the most beautiful person I've ever seen". Again, that may sound silly but it's what exudes from him. Everett LOVES his swing. Motion is one of the only things that will help him get back to sleep when he's crabby and tired. The swing and glider work well for him. Everett is also very in tune with Sofia but she doesn't quite have the magic touch to calm him down when he's upset. Everett likes bath time and kicks and splashes but after about 10 minutes he has usually had enough. When we take our afternoon walks Everett usually rides in the Ergo on my chest, he loves to peak around at his surroundings.

The boys are more and more aware of each other and their sister. She regularly naps from 11-1 and the boys and I spend that block of time playing on the floor with different fine motor and gross motor activities. Right now they love to be on the floor next to each other with me above them. They both just smile and coo and wiggle around. They are both becoming less tolerant of tummy time.
Finally, I have to share one of the cutest stories I have from this week. My parents were nice enough to give us a 4 month membership to the local YMCA as an early Christmas present so I started our membership this week. Wednesday night was our first night to try it out as a family. Tim and I decided to drop the boys off in "Kid Watch" so we could have one on one time swimming with Sofia. The only childcare setting the boys have ever been in is MOPS and Sofia stays in the room with them. When we tried to leave the Kid Watch area Sofia ran over to her brothers and started babbling a mile a minute with a very concerned look on her face. She grabbed their stroller and actually cried when we picked her up to leave. Sofia ended up LOVING the Y. We knew she loved swimming but our YMCA has a walk in style kids area of the pool. When we brought her in she kept running around the water splashing and screaming at the top of her lungs with a big smile on her face, she only stopped screaming to breathe. She had a ton of fun and slept very well that night. Sofia is such a sweet big sister. It's amazing to see the relationships developing between our kids. It may be a ton of work to have 3 kids so close in age but I think it's really going to pay off. Sofia genuinely loves her brothers and doesn't seem to get sick of them. We kept waiting for a negative reaction from her after they were born but it never really happened. After she wakes up and gives Tim and I hugs and kisses she runs around the house looking for her brothers and promptly kisses them both. Here are some more pictures we took during the 3 month photo shoot.

A clean bill of health...times 2!

Everett and Sullivan were born at 35 weeks and 3 days because my water broke early. We think it broke because the boys decided to do a big flip and change positions. Anyways, we were lucky because even though they were born so early Everett was perfectly healthy and Sully only had a short stay in the NICU and we all went home together. Despite this we were warned that the boys may be a few weeks behind on milestones or may hit milestones at their "true" age based on their original due date of August 13th. This really hasn't been true so far, Everett has actually hit some milestones early and his brother is never far behind him. At the boys' first visit to their pediatrician in Madison she suggested having a hip ultrasound done on both boys because they had both spent time in the breech position during the pregnancy. If hip problems are caught early there are much easier techniques to treat the problems. This ultrasound had to be done around 2-3 months of age. A few weeks ago the boys had their ultrasounds done back to back. They didn't seem to mind it too much but they both peed on the radiologist. He was very understanding. The radiologist and our pediatrician determined that both boys have perfectly healthy hips. 

At the boys' 2 month check up the doctor heard a soft heart murmur in Sullivan. She wasn't overly concerned because he is hitting all of his developmental milestones and growing very well. Two weeks ago I took Sully to see a heart specialist at Children's Hospital in Wauwatosa. I love this hospital, they have phenomenal care for families all over the country. I was actually treated there as a young child for a kidney infection. Tim and I both wanted to be there but we didn't think it would be wise to drag the whole crew to the hospital (it's about 45 minutes away). So we decided to divide and conquer, I took Sully by myself. It was kind of exciting to spend the day with just one child. At night when I run errands I take turns taking either Ev or Sully with me so Tim only has to worry about two kids but this was a whole afternoon with my sweet boy. 

The first doctor who came in couldn't believe that Sullivan was growing so well, especially being a twin. This appointment was a few weeks after the 2 month appointment and this doctor said Sully had moved from the 50th percentile for growth up into the 90th. I can't wait for the 4 month exam to see where the boys are. The entire heart assessment and exam ended up taking about two hours, they ran several tests. During all of the tests Sullivan had to be in just a diaper. He is such a cute little guy and really loved all the attention he got from various doctors and nurses. In between each test we snuggled since it was a bit chilly in the room. Sullivan was awake and alert for every test and flashed lots of smiles at everyone. The doctors decided that Sully has what is called a "soft murmur". It could be a small whole in his heart but they wouldn't know that without a test that requires the child to be put under anesthesia. Since Sullivan is growing well and hitting all of his developmental milestones appropriately there is no need for us to put him through the test at this point. We will reassess at 6 months to see if the murmur has gone away. Thankfully this shouldn't affect him as a child or adult, he can play any sports and do anything he wants. Tim and I feel so blessed that both boys are so healthy.

Never say never...

When Tim and I were dating we would occasionally talk about our hopes and dreams for a family some day. We both agreed that we wanted a big family but we disagreed about how to transport that family around. I vividly remember telling Tim, "I will NEVER drive a minivan".  Not only are they bad on gas but I found them quite ugly. Tim actually really likes minivans, he finds them quite practical for hauling plywood and other gear around. He has tried for years to convince me that minivans are practical. I stood firm in my promise to never drive a minivan with Sofia. Tim and I assumed we would get a new Prius when he graduated from optometry school. Our boys had other ideas. We actually couldn't fit our entire family in one of our cars after the boys were born, their car seats take up too much space. We had been borrowing Tim's parents' minivan up until a few weeks ago. Then we were able to get an awesome price on a 2011 vehicle that a local dealer was trying to clear out to make room for the 2012 models.


Introducing......the "Mothership"! She is a 2011Toyota Sienna and she is one sweet ride!

After years of Tim and I wanting a sunroof we finally have it!

I actually really enjoy driving the mothership.

I must say I am an official convert, minivans rock, especially when you have three kids under the age of 2. I can't imagine climbing over seats in an SUV to get all of my kids in their car seats. This model even has automatic doors/trunk which has been quite helpful since my arms are usually quite full. So here I am, officially driving a minivan and loving it!

Campout at Devil's Lake State Park

Being back in Wisconsin is great for many reasons but especially because we get to attend so many more family events. A little over a week ago we took the family to their first Ruder camp out. The camp out has gotten smaller in the past couple of years as more cousins move away but we still had a fabulous time. Since the boys are so little and the weather got into the lower 40's at night we decided to stay in Tim's parents' house (only 10 minutes from the park) at night. Sofia will hold the record of the youngest person in the family to go camping, she was only 4 months old when she first camped in the Smoky Mountains.

Sofia loved the camp fire. It was a little nerve wrecking though.

Nothing better than napping in the great outdoors.

Not only can my husband fly, my daughter can too!

Almost the whole crew that attended the camp out this year.

One attempt at a family photo.

Sofia finds this all quite boring.

The boys with their uncles.

Everett and I enjoying a game of liar's dice.

Sofia loves hiking and all things outdoors.

Baby wearing extends to all members of our family.