Nichols and Nonsense: Parental Observations

This is what is going on in my brain today.

1. There should be a lock on Amazon when the following criteria are met: 1) it is the middle of the night 2) a baby (or two or three) is crying/refuses to sleep, and 3) you have a sleep deprived desperate mother. This is the perfect storm for impulse buying of baby gear that you are certain, at that moment, will solve all of your problems.

2. My house looks like babies-r-us gone wrong. There is more baby gear than you can imagine. There are a few items that we couldn't live without, and a few that are nice to have but not critical. Perhaps soon I'll bless you with a little tour of our gear with reviews of what works best. I could also save you some money and review the 95 swaddling devices I've tried (see #1 on how this happened).

3. There is one sure way of making you feel like taking care of three babies is easy. Have one of those babies get sick and require basically 24 hour care for a few days. For example....say one of your babies has reflux/formula issues, then gets an ear infection, then gets diarrhea, then gets a horrendous case of diaper rash as a result - resulting in on and off inconsolable screaming for a few days. Even with help, that plus taking care of two other babies is exhausting. So when you go back just taking care of three healthy babies it seems like a piece of cake! Okay, not a piece of cake....but easier than it was.

4. This is my favorite recent text from Jack: "Anna pooped. Dogs ate my sandwich". Apparently Jack made himself lunch and when sitting down to eat realized Anna needed to be changed quickly. While changing her he turns around to find both dogs finishing off his lunch. Highlight of their year I'm guessing.

5. Formula smells simply awful, but special formula for sensitive stomach babies smells like canned dog food. As does anything that comes out of the baby after ingesting said formula. So you've been warned. I, along with my house and belongings, will smell like canned dog food for the next year. I'm sure that makes my co-workers ready for my return.

6. Someone would make a fortune if they could invent an easy way to teach people to sleep in spurts. I don't easily nap nor do I go back to sleep easily once I wake up. So my typical day starts at 1:45 AM when I wake up for the 2 am feeding. Sometimes I'll be able to get an hour or two after that, but usually not. You would think that the fatigue would add up and force it to happen, right? Nope. This sounds like something I'll probably google next and end up buying more useless crap on Amazon.

7. I may be a bad mom...I laughed a little when the girls got shots. Don't get me wrong, it was sad; but, the sudden noise that came out first before the real cry was...just funny. I also have a bad habit of laughing in inappropriate situations, so perhaps it just falls in that category.

For the record, I have spent the last 2 hours (from 4-6 am) blogging and studying one "spirited" child closely on the video monitor to try and figure out her sleep problems. Does the swaddle calm her? Is the swaddle her worst nightmare? Why does she go to sleep for 45 minutes and then wake up like there is a loud alarm clock in her head? If you have made the connection between how I sleep and how she sleeps, you are not alone. If you have a magic solution for this sweet little spunky one, e-mail me.

Other than shots, we had a great checkup today. Anna is 6 lbs 13 oz, Brooks is 8 lbs 3 oz, and Irene is 9 lbs 10 oz. Crazy to think they were just 3 and 4 lbs when born. I can't even imagine them that small now.