Daily Schedule

6:30 am - Wake up to one or more boy(s) crying, go try to put in pacies, crawl back in bed and try to gather thoughts to wake up

6:34 am - Realize pacies didn't work, go grab bottles out of fridge and put in crock pot to heat up. Give medicine(prevacid for reflux) to Crews, maybe to Warner and Maverick (if it is their day to take their meds...we alternate every other day with them). Give them pacies. This usually helps them calm down and hold off eating a few more minutes for their medicine to start working.

6:36am - Get bottles out of crock pot and let cool. Set up feeding station. Go down stairs and start coffee pot.

6:50/7:00 - Change any poopy diapers. Leave 'em be if only wet... they are bound to poop if they haven't yet! :-) Start feeding. Once done with bottles, burp, clean up throw up...oh, I mean spit up, and play play play. Lots of tummy time, activity mat time, rocking, singing, smiling, and sucking on pacies!

8:15/8:30 - When getting fussy and beginning to yawn, swaddle 'em up & put 'em down. Turn on sound machines, walk around to make sure everyone has paci in mouth, gather up dirty burp clothes & bottles.

8:30 - start laundry, empty clean dishes, load dishwasher with bottles, make breakfast, drink more coffee. Harper wakes up between 8:30 and 9. Feed her breakfast.

10:00 - Same as 7am.

11:30 - Switch laundry, fold & put away, play with Harps.

12:15 ish - lunch with Harper. Sometimes she eats really slow and it will take her about an hour, but at least she can feed herself. She wants me to sit with her though. If I get up she will call after me and say, "Mama, sit!" and point to the chair. Sheesh...

1:00- Nap time for Harps and feeding time for the boys; however, I think that I may start putting Harper down at 2 because she knows we are up and having a grand ol' time in the nursery so she DOES NOT want to be asleep!

2:15 - boys down for nap. clean up, make bottles, laundry, dinner prep. Naptime for me (usually 30 minutes- hour) or reading/ emails.

3:30- Harpie wakes up, get snack

4:00 - back at feeding babies! Harper will watch a dvd during this feeding. In other feedings she will play with her toys. Most of the time boobie-trapping the nursery with sharp blocks & other objects that you have to watch out for. This is just the tired part of the day and everyone is switching into evening mode... not always pleasantly.

5:30 -dinner ready

6- Dinner time!

6:30 - Harper bathtime. Clean bathroom while she is in tub.

7:00 - Give boys bath every other night.

7:15/7:30 - Feed boys & put down. We feed them with the lights down low and Praise Baby cd Sleepytime Lullabies playing. It is so sweet b/c they are clean and cozy. We cuddle and sing.

8:00/8:15 - boys are night night. Harper goes night night.

8:30 -Clean the kitchen if hasn't been done at dinner time. Me Time/Relax/shower/check tomorrow's plans/ 5 minute room pick ups

9:30/10 - in bed & night night!!!

Mount Formula & Bottle Making

So, I posted some pictures on facebook and got hysterical comments about all of our formula behind some pictures of me making bottles. Well, the formula we use is Nestle Good Start in the purple can. Chris went to Kroger and found out they were closing out this formula there, so the price was reduced about 40%!!! We sent out an email to several of our friends to go to their nearest Kroger and buy them out! We ended up saving around $700 by doing this! Right now we are going through about a can & a half of formula a day. The boys are taking about 6 oz. and will eventually be up to 8/9 oz. Here is what most people see when they walk into our kitchen...


Chris building the masterpiece :-)
Bottle Making 101:

So, instead of mixing up 3 bottles every time we feed babies, I spend some time each day mixing up bottles for 24 hours. Here is my procedure and some pictures...

1. Line up all bottles with matching nipples and insert liners. We have just about everything color coded for the boys... Crews is blue, Warner is yellow, and Maverick is green.
2. Fill formula pitcher (a requirement for making mass quantities!) to 32 oz. with purified water and put in microwave for 2 minutes. (It makes it much easier to mix the formula when the water is warmed).
3. Add 16 scoops of formula and mix well. (Harper likes to help with this part)
4. Pour 6 oz into bottles, cap, and put in basket to be taken upstairs.
5. Put in fridge in nursery. (we have a mini fridge in there to keep bottles)

When feeding the boys:
1. Take bottles out of fridge.
2. Put bottles in crock pot filled with water (another essential for heating up bottles quickly!)
3. Leave in for about a minute.
4. During that minute (you have to count out load so you don't forget the bottles are in the crock pot!), lay out boppys, burp clothes, and bottle props on floor so that you are ready to go.
5. Get bottles out of crock pot & put on floor
6. Wake up babies, prop up in boppys, and have fun feeding!! Don't forget your sense of humor... it is a must! :-)

Sunday

I have a new goal! To sit and blog every Sunday :-) I will try to do several posts so then I can publish them through out the week. Hopefully, this will be a way I can record all that is going on in our lives!!

For now, it is Sunday morning and I have enjoyed being here by myself. I got up at 6:30 and fed the boys with Chris. They had some good play time until 8:15 when I put them down for their morning nap. I also went back to sleep for a bit. It was wonderful! I fed them at 10 by myself and enjoyed one on three time with them. I got to snuggle and sing to each one of them, and received lots of smiles in return!

Nancy, Will, and my Mom came to visit us last week. They took Harper with them to visit Boone, Raleigh, and Clinton for the week. She has had so much fun at my Mom's new house (Mama Dot's house, the house my mom grew up in). She has been playing with Shakie (my old cat) a lot. She also went to visit my Aunt Susan - who lives in walking distance of my mom. Everytime I talk to her on video chat, she has been running around like crazy. She has so much energy and is a full blown toddler - into EVERYTHING! I think tonight she is going to be visiting my Dad, Leslie, Ryan, and Reba. I know they will have fun with her. She is getting good and spoiled. I'm glad she is getting some love all by herself. I miss her so much!!!!! I can't wait for her to get home!

The boys are doing well...getting sooo big! They turned 3 months on Friday! The big news is that they are beginning to sleep through the night! Last night Maverick and Warner slept from 8pm - 6:30am, and Crews woke up at 2am for a little snack. He spit up most of his bottle at the 7pm feeding, so I was prepared that he would wake up. All three have yet to sleep through at the same time, but we know it is around the corner! They are such good babies and are smiling all the time now!


Warner, Crews, and Maverick (below)...my little duckies
and their big sister Harper laughing with me :-)
PS... go check out the identicals? update... I put who is who :-)