It's so hard to believe that we've gone from this:
the first time I got to hold all three
To this:
The day Victor came home (107 days old), our family all under one roof!
To this:
This totally captures their personalities at 6 months!
To this:
1st birthday!
2nd Christmas (14 months), 1st one at home!
To this:
Our 18 month olds on the move!
I think back to that day that we were told was going to be their birthday and thinking there is no way this is going to be ok. It's just too early! Then they arrived and one by one each of them entered the world with a good loud cry and I realized those were their "It's ok mom" screams. It would be a few days before I could hear any of them again because of their intubation, but their was something in hearing those little lungs work in the first seconds after arrival that told me I would be chasing 18 month olds before I knew it and sure enough, we are on the run and loving every minute of it!
So lately I've been in a few situations where cloth diapering has come up and people are in awe that we do it times 3. I have also been in some conversations with soon to be multiple mamas that are interested in cloth diapering so I thought a little blog post about our experience with cloth might be interesting and a good reference for those who are considering cloth. First of all, please note that the average savings for cloth diapering one baby is $3000 so cloth diapering X3 is about a $9000! So easy or hard, it was what we were going to do. We have used a variety of systems and hand me downs, used and purchased diapers and our mish mash of stuff has served us well and even Marty will say it's really easy. He was totally against the idea (minus the cost savings) but I was firm on this so it's what we do and I've heard him profess how easy it is on more than one occasion and he's often the launderer in the scenario.
As for everyone that looks at us that can't believe we would cloth diaper triplets here are the facts. The "extra work" involves 2 trips to the basement a day with the wet bag from upstairs into our hamper for diapers in the laundry room. I've looked at the size of that diaper champ in our boys' bedroom that we use to collect dirty wipes and all I can think of is that we would fill that thing up 2 or 3 times a day if we were using disposables! That would mean 2 or 3 trips to our detached garage a day to deliver the dirty diapers to our outdoor garbage bin so that work would be a wash if not a little easier with cloth since the place we deliver the dirties too is in our house not across our back yard. Poopy diapers do have to be sprayed out and we do 3 additional loads of laundry a week to launder diapers. I don't know about you but in the grand scheme of parenting triplets it really isn't that much work and it means I don't ever have to fit in a target/costco run because we are running low on diapers.
We have cloth diapered since we came home from the hospital so we haven't really known any different but we keep it very simple. I think cloth diapering being hard comes in preparing to do it, not actually doing it. The trendiness of cloth means there are a bazillion styles and brands to choose from and a whole host of different systems you could use. This means just navigating cloth diaper speak can be challenging. The long and short of it is keep your kid leak free and comfortable and you're golden, right? We cloth diaper to save money (as well as all the other eco and chemical free reasons) so I'm not a fashionista diaperer. We used the old school prefolds when they were little with a simple plain white cover (real nappies brand were what we used) or some covers we hand made our selves and Marty's grandma helped with. I got a ton of the prefolds on craigs list and a few that we registered for and we fasten with snappis which are a great system to keep us out of diaper pins! We chose to stick with having a full three day supply of diapers for all so that we be able to wash every 2-2 1/2 days without having to stress about running out before the drier was done.
boys at 6 months clad in real nappies covers over prefolds!
As the boys neared that time when the prefolds were not going to stretch around them anymore and the bum genius all in ones we were using a night started to leak because they were simply to small to pull off a whole night anymore it was time to look at our second half of our system which meant buying some more diapers. We had a bunch of bigger fitteds that we purchased used and have come to love them with covers and to round out the stash I just gradually bought a handful of pockets at a time whenever they were on zulilly for under $10. These are by far my favorite for ease of use and flexibility. During the day we use them just with their microfiber insert so they aren't bulky and by night we stuff them with that plus a prefold folded in thirds. This combo works great to keep them dry by having a lot of material to soak up the whole night's worth and the wicking material keeps them feeling comfortable. It's amazing that the inserts can be totally saturated soaked, but the part that touches their skin doesn't feel that wet at all! At this point we have all that we need and shouldn't have to buy anymore between now and potty training and I believe we've spent 6-700 on diapers total. That's how much we'd spend in 5 or 6 months on disposables so I'd say we're doing all right!
Since surgery is over and we're all settled in with our new eyes, I figured it was time for a lighthearted post! First, these boys have the best giggles in the world:
Victor
Mylo
After giggling and relaxing for the day after surgery, we got to take a family road trip to visit my home town!
I grew up near Madison, WI and the 4 1/2 hour drive was a bit daunting with three and then the times we had planned to make a go of it, we ended up with sick kiddos or bad weather so none of my extended family had met the boys, including their cousins (my sister's kids) We hit the road at bedtime and they did pretty good, there were a couple of stretches with sad kiddos, but not too bad on the road. Transitioning from car seat to sleeping in the pack n plays at Grandma's was a bit more of a challenge. I do not have those kids that you can pull out of their car seats like rag dolls and drop them still sleeping into their cribs. It took about 2 1/2 hours to get them all sleeping in their pack n plays-Victor is the star and was in and slept through the night 1/2 hour after we got their, the other boys were pretty sure they were up for the day when we arrived and it took a long time to settle in and neither of them ended up in their beds, but instead one each and seperate beds with Marty and I.
Day 1 of the adventure:
Discovering mommy's (and before that grandma's) old chair!
Visiting the Curves ladies
Hanging with grandma at Curves
Eating dinner at Cousin Rye's
More pics at dinner out! We love Rye!
Day 2 adventures:
Happy boys on Saturday morning!
Everybody slept all night so we were very happy!
breakfast with Grandpa
the piano is still a hit!
and so is the chair...
and we found a really fun cave...
Lots of friends and family came to visit and we just played and played!
We met and LOVED cousin Jori!
Jori even liked our cave...
and gives great box rides
and knows how great it is to hang out with Grandma!
We did a great job on our first road trip and got home just in time for the Easter bunny. The Easter Bunny was very tired after a long drive the night before, so decided it was best to arrive during nap time. It was fun to see them each discover their baskets and have fun with the contents inside. Cadbury eggs were there by daddy's request and they had fun making a chocolaty mess!
