Today marks the 2 month anniversary of Liam's homecoming, with Graham and Brennen following shortly behind. Let me tell you, looking back, the few short days with just Liam seem like bliss. Even when we added Graham to the mix it seemed doable, but when Brennen came home, all bets were off...our house is now Crazytown. Followed by (as my friend Kim, mother of twins puts it) Zombieland!
I am so blessed to be surrounded by a wonderful support system of family, friends and people in the community who have volunteered to help. My parents and Brandon's parents have all been up to serve at least one a tour of duty. I keep joking that I am going to get shirts printed that say, "I survived a day (or week) with the Reddick triplets!" I also put out a call for help in our town of Rockford and was completely overwhelmed (in a good way) by the response. Most volunteers are from the Methodist Church down the street from us. A member of the church, Laura, is a total go-getter and just asked me what I needed and got it all lined up. Now we have people there to help at least in the mornings and in the evenings. Those seem to be the craziest times, especially the evenings because of trying to meet not only the boys needs, but Addie's as well.
Addie has been having a very hard time with this transition, as I'm sure anyone can imagine. Often times I pick up one of the boys to feed them, only to hear, "Hold me mommy" almost immediately. I am constantly filled with mother's guilt, either because I have to tell her "not right now" so many times, or because I have to hear the boys cry for a bit so I can give her the attention she needs. Dinner time and bedtime have become a thing of the past...it's more like survival of the fittest! Brandon walks in the door from work at night, I pass off the kiddos and frantically shove food in my face and make sure Addie gets fed, then it's back to the grind!
The boys are still eating every three hours throughout the day, but then they'll give us a break at night and go 6-9 hours so we can get A LITTLE sleep! I am dreaming of the days when they are going four hours between feedings or more...someday!
Me and the kiddos have been in Indiana for the past week and a half, staying at my parents house. It's a welcome relief to have the built-in help and I can be as cranky as I want to be and not have to worry about scaring off some volunteer! My dad is retired and he is truly super grandpa. He just swoops the little guys up when they are crying and soothes them, changes dirty diapers like no other and feeds them right along with me at every feeding (except the middle of the night or early morning, the guy has to have a break sometime). In fact a few times he has been so bold as to keep the boys by himself so Addie and I can get out of the house...even I am scared to do that most of the time! My mom cracks me up because she is constantly getting the boys confused! I give her a lot of grief, but tonight I had a serious moment of panic when I thought I had mixed up Graham and Liam (I hadn't, she had)! We get by with a lot of color coding...Brennen = Blue, Graham = Green and and Liam = Orange. This does not always work, especially with clothing, and often times it's easiest just to throw them in the same outfit, but we try! This really confuses Addie, but she is getting better at telling them apart now.
We have had a few outtings with the boys, a few times with my dad's help, a few times on my own, and a few times with Brandon. My moment of triumph was getting the boys loaded into the stroller and out the door by 10:30a.m. so we could walk down to the toy store in town. We got A LOT of attention and Addie got a little treat at the store for good behavior! The trip down to Indy was quite comical, as we had to stop twice for feedings (at an hour a pop), so a 4 hour trip took us over 6 hours. It is situations like that when you just have to laugh to avoid crying!
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| Brennen (I Think...) |
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| Addie and her buddy Graham |
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| Sweet Brennen with a paci as big as his face! |
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| First outing, a walk to the park! |
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| Smiles from Graham |
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| Trying to keep everyone happy |
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| Sleepyhead Graham |
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| Sleepyhead Brenen |
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| Down by the river with Papa |
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| Hmm, I think I'll nap (says Liam) |
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| Daddy with Liam and Brennen |
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| The Trifecta of Trouble |
