Daily Struggle

Every day I spend my time struggling with whether or not to let the girls play by themselves and cry or if I should stay with them and make sure they are fine (crying still ensues). When all three are crying at my leg, do I leave them and walk away or do I pick one up at a time? Or two at a time? But then I leave one or two out and they are still screaming and I am out of hands. At what point do I really start disciplining?

Having just one at a time meant that one could get all my attention and I could pick them up as needed. Of course, I discipline and they still cried it out at times but not at this age - at least I don't remember that!!

At dinner we have this issue where we must feed the girls to get them to stop screaming while we make dinner but by the time we are ready to sit down and eat they are done and begin screaming in their highchairs. So, we can listen to them scream in their chairs or let them down to scream at our feet. Kirk got video of this one night but I seriously doubt anyone would like to see it! So, of course I struggle with this too.

As I ponder what to do I am also considering all the things that I was not told before I had triplets. I know there are books on the subject of things that you need to know before having a child but so far I have not come across a book on what to expect when having triplets.

A few things you probably wouldn't find in a book about having triplets but probably should:

- the biggest shock by far is that you must know how to blog. If you are unfamiliar with this form of technology then how will you keep your friends and family informed? How will you remember your children's growing up years since obviously you won't have enough time to write it down anywhere else?

- you have to be able to understand a number of strange acronyms - quick what's a MOM? No, not a mom but a MOM (Mother of Multiples). What's an HOM? High order multiples of course. VHOM - well, you get the idea.

- if you find yourself pregnant with multiples you should quickly begin pasting a smile on your face and nodding. "You're having triplets?" Smile and nod. "You have your hands full!" Smile and nod. You will find yourself doing this more often then most other things pregnancy books will have you concerned with.

- you must remember basic biology even if you failed it in high school. What are fraternal twins? What are identical twins? Are triplets actually twins? (no) Can you have triplets "naturally"? (yes) You must also understand what "natural" is.

- none of your appliances will ever be big enough, set money aside to replace all these things - water heater, washer/dryer, dishwasher, fridge, add an extra freezer.

- you will be tripping over kids stuff for the rest of your life - organize in advance - I mean like now even before you have one kid let alone three!! If I could go back I would certainly have started with a better organizational system but alas, I am left struggling to keep up with everything on a daily basis. Fortunately, my husband is forgiving - you should find a forgiving husband too :)

- free time is extremely hard to come by - take advantage of bed rest (if I could go back and tell myself one thing - it would've been this - that hospital stay does eventually end!!) - so, with all my free time I will go write a book and let all the triplet moms in on my vast knowledge!!

Hey, at least I can laugh even when I'm struggling!! It's a gift :)