Our schedule

Since the babies came home from the NICU, we've had a few shifts and adjustments in our daily routine. The thing that hasn't changed is the fact that we're on a schedule...at all times...no exceptions! I'm sure some of the people that come over to visit or help think I'm crazy to be so rigid and scheduled, but honestly, it keeps me sane in a crazy triplet world.

At six and a half months old, here's what our current schedule looks like.

7:00 AM - Thomas gets up and gets the first bottles of the day out of the fridge and puts the babies' vitamins (Poly-Vi-Sol with iron) in the bottles. He will bring the bottles upstairs and then he'll start getting ready for work.
7:20 - I get up and brush my teeth and shake off any cobwebs from sleep.
7:30 - I go into the nursery to wake the babies and start the first feeding of the day. Sometimes the triplets are still sleeping, but sometimes they're awake and just hanging out in their cribs. When they are awake, they are typically just looking around and kicking their legs. They don't usually cry. :) I will feed 2 babies at one time and then I'll get the third out of his crib and feed him.*
8:30 - When I finish feeding the babies, it's time to get them ready for the day. One by one I'll get a warm wash cloth and wipe off their faces, ears and necks. I'll change their diapers, put lotion on them and put them in their clothes for the day.
9:15 - Once everyone is changed and clean and I put them on their blankets on the floor to kick around or do some tummy time. During this time I'll go downstairs and eat breakfast and wash a few sets of bottles. If I have time, I might try to squeeze in a shower.
10:00 - I give reflux medicine to all the babies and I'll pull the next set of bottles out of the fridge.
10:30 - Feeding #2 begins. Sometimes I try to feed all three at the same time for this feeding. In this case, I will use a blanket to prop William's bottle and put Stokes and Ryan on Boppy pillows and use each hand to feed them their bottles. The last few days this method hasn't worked because William keeps raising his arms, which knocks his bottle out of his mouth and it falls on the floor behind him. When that happens I stop propping and feed 2 then finish with the third. After the feeding, I change diapers for all 3.
11:15 (or whenever feeding #2 is over) - Naptime. All the babies get put in their cribs for their nap. I turn off the light and put some lullaby music on in their room. When they're napping I have some free time to do whatever I need to do. This may include showering (if I haven't already), eating lunch, doing laundry, unloading the dishwasher, taking out diaper pail trash, general housework, making phone calls, writing notes, prepping for dinner, going through the never-ending pile of mail on my counter, etc. It's quiet and peaceful in my house during naptime!
1:20 pm - I get the babies up from their naps and bring them downstairs one by one for the afternoon.
1:30 - Feeding #3 begins. When we're downstairs I put one baby on the Boppy lounger pillow on the couch and I will sit next to him and put another baby in the crook of my arm. Baby #3 will lay on his play mat on the floor until I'm finished with the first two. After the feeding, all babies get their diapers changed and go back on their play mat to kick around and play. Eventually they fall asleep for an afternoon snooze.
2:30 - If it's nice outside I will try to load the babies up and go for a walk around the neighborhood! If not, we just hang out inside.
4:00 - Stokes gets reflux medicine and I pull out the bottles for the next feeding from the fridge.
4:30 - Feeding #4 begins and is followed by another diaper change. I appreciate this feeding because I know it's the last one I have to do by myself for the day. Afterwards I will wash some more bottles from the day.
6:00 - Thomas gets home from work! Yay!!!!!
6:30 - Thomas and I usually try to eat dinner around this time, which also happens to be the "witching hour" for the boys. It's a lovely chorus of two or three babies crying. We take turns holding babies and eating dinner as necessary.
7:00 - All three get reflux medicine and we'll pull bottles out of the fridge for the next feeding.
7:30 - Feeding #5 starts. Thomas and I take turns for who feeds 2 babies and who gets 1.
8:15 - After the feeding, we take all 3 babies upstairs and change their diapers and put on their pajamas. Then it's storytime followed by bed. We put them in sleep sacks, or in Stokes' case a swaddle, lay them in their cribs and leave the room. The exception is when it's Wednesday or Sunday, which are bath nights. If it's a bath night, we do triplet bath time, then read them a book and put them to bed. They rarely cry or fuss. They will just go to sleep. They're such good boys! I'll grab the monitor to take downstairs with me and we go back downstairs.
9:00 - I wash the rest of the bottles from the day and clean up from dinner while  Thomas works on making all the bottles for the next day. The boys are still on high calorie formula so there is a crazy recipe we have to follow to get the calorie content correct in their formula. In case you're wondering, we use approximately 1 can of formula per day!!! After all bottles are made and the kitchen is relatively clean, we can finally relax and watch some TV.
10:30 - We take the monitor and 3 bottles and go back upstairs and get ready for bed. At this point, we're pretty tired and just barely have our eyes open
11:00 - Feeding #6 starts. We wake the boys up for the last feeding of the day. They are in deep sleep and so groggy. William dream feeds, meaning he will keep his eyes closed and just sleep as he's taking his bottle. We keep the lights off for this feeding and just have a lamp on so that we don't allow them to think it's time to party. After the feeding, we change their diapers again and put them back to bed. We've gotten really good at this feeding and we're normally able to get all three babies fed, burped, changed and back to bed in 30-35 minutes. At that point, Thomas and I can call it quits and crawl into bed for a nice sleep. Then it starts all over again the next morning. I am actually getting pretty good sleep and I definitely cannot complain because the boys are sleeping so well for us, but I am still always so tired at 7:30 the next morning. I was just talking about this with some girlfriends and we think there just comes a point in a mom's life that she realizes that she will never get as much sleep as she actually wants...for the next 18 years or so!

I got clearance from the pediatrician to start feeding the babies real food so I will start that soon. I feel like our schedule is working so well right now, I am a little hesitant to change, even though it will just start as a minor addition to what we're currently doing. That said, I will start slow and just try to spoon feed them something once a day and see how it goes. I will probably fit that in sometime during the afternoon between the 1:30 and 4:30 feedings or maybe right after one of those feedings. I just need to get some baby food when I get out to the store, which will probably be this weekend.

Everything in the schedule gets turned upside down when we have an appointment. I do my best to incorporate the appointment and adjust the remainder of the schedule as little as possible. It's hardest when we are supposed to be somewhere at a feeding time. In that case, I will either start feeding them earlier than usual or I will try to feed them at the doctor's office during the appointment, like while we're in the waiting room or waiting on the doctor to come into our room, or right after the appointment is finished and I'll just stay in the room and feed. It varies each appointment based on the time of the appointment, where the office is and how long our drive will be, what the office is like and how hungry I think the boys will be. So far it's worked out pretty well and the number of appointments we have to go to has slowed down quite a bit.

The days are pretty long, but I can't say enough about what good babies we have. They really aren't very fussy at all and generally have a happy, laidback demeanor. You would think it would be totally chaotic at our house at all times, but it's really not...at least in my opinion. The only time it can get a little stressful is at a feeding if one or more aren't taking their bottles very well or fighting me on it. If their reflux is kicking in, they don't want to eat and will get fussy. That can get a little worrisome for me, but if they're eating well, the day goes very smoothly.

Our day in pictures, Friday, 3/14/14

After our first feeding, still in pjs

William

Stokes

Ryan

Nursery playtime after getting ready for the day

Tummy time & looking in the mirror

Stokes

Ryan

William

Feeding William his 10:30 bottle. I love how he holds my hands while I'm feeding him!

Goofing around

Nap time (they're all in their cribs)

Lots of bottles to wash - from last night's feeding at 11 pm, the 7:30 am bottles & 10:30 bottles.

Clean bottles in drying rack

This is my feeding set up downstairs for 2 babies - one on Boppy lounger, one in crook of arm 

Sunny afternoon = neighborhood walk. 2 in double stroller and 1 in my Ergo carrier.

Afternoon hanging out on the play mat

7:30 pm feeding

In pajamas and ready for story time, then bed

Thomas making bottles for the next 24 hours. He makes 18 bottles each and every night.

*I try to alternate which 2 I feed together and who gets fed separately. I want each of them to get some one-on-one feeding time.