First Steps in the midst of the pukey's (among other madness)

So, I was having a rather rough week with fussy babies this week. Hannah will not eat much of anything these days and is getting skinnier and skinnier and losing weight I am sure! Craig came up with the perfect nickname for her.... "riblet". We haven't started using too many, if any nicknames for our kids, but this is one I am sure will stick around for a while. So, anyway... for whatever reason, she pretty much refuses to eat just about everything except fruit, crackers and waffles. She has stopped eating chicken nuggets, ravioli, vienna sausages and even her vegetables and cheese. The girl is making me crazy! I look at her and see nothing but skin and bones - she is seriously skinny! The little "riblet"!!! So, we made the decision to put her back on formula. I figured since my pedi gave us the option of staying on it til 15 months or starting whole milk now, I figured that would be what she would tell us to do anyway. So, back on the formula we went. Hopefully she will get her appetite back soon and stop being so darn picky and we can go back to whole milk with her.

The other two picked up a little cold earlier last week from Craig or maybe from some time that we were out and about. I took Tyler and Whitney both out with me on separate occasions last week and now they are the ones to get sick. Anyway... they got a little cold - nothing major. So, their appetites haven't been too great this week either, but far better than "riblet's" appetite. The babies have been extra clingy and whiny because of this and it can be pretty frustrating for me (and them) because I don't have enough hands to comfort everybody at once.

I was SO looking forward to the weekend and having a little "break" and "help" because of my unusually rough week. Friday, Craig told me he was being forced to work Saturday which we had been expecting all week but didn't know for sure until Friday. Of course, I had something planned Saturday morning and couldn't go, but such is life... See, for those of you who don't know, my husband works A LOT of hours. He works so hard to provide for our family and I appreciate that, but the demands of the phone company can be very hard on family life for sure! He almost never feeds them a single meal during the week. I get them up, change their diapers, feed them, clean them up, clean up the mess from the meal, clothe them for the day and then do all that again for lunch and dinner. Sometimes he gets home in time to see them for a short time before bedtime so he can help me with putting them to bed, but let me tell you... it is UTTERLY exhausting to do that day in and day out with very little help! And mind you, I am also a part time student trying to keep up with 6 hours of school. But, sometimes I feel like a single mom I tell ya! And since it is so difficult for me to get out with the babies, I don't see too many people - I am pretty much at home by myself most of the time. It can get pretty old sometimes. Don't get me wrong, I love being home with my babies but sometimes it gets pretty lonely. I just wish it wasn't so difficult logistically and just physically exhausting to get out and about with three babies in tow. I look so forward to the weekend, it isn't funny. And when Craig has to work unexpectedly, sometimes I lose it, like Friday evening. Sometimes I feel like such a bad mom when my kids "need" me and I just don't feel like I have anything more to give and I can't wait for naptime/bedtime. Caring for 3 babies 24/7 is a very draining (but rewarding) job. So, Craig got home and "relieved" me so I could get a break. I decided we had to make some kind of change in order for me to remain sain. So we decided everybody would start getting up earlier to have family time in the morning before Craig goes to work (since as of right now, we NEVER sit down together to eat, not one meal) and so daddy could help with the kids (at least one meal) before heading off to work.

Then, some time in the middle of the night Friday night, we wake up to the sound of Tyler's cry. Craig went to check on him and he seemed fine by the time he got to their room so he came back to bed. We get up Saturday morning to start our day - Craig gets ready for work, and we get the kids up and ready for breakfast. We go in their room to find Tyler and Whitney both laying in a bed full of vomit! Now this made me feel just horrible. My poor babies had been laying in vomit through the whole night. Whitney's was only on a small portion of her bed but Tyler's was ALL over the bed and ALL over him. We got them changed, cleaned up, started with breakfast and the sheets changed then Craig headed off to work. I cried as Craig left for work because I knew just what my day would entail and I still hadn't yet re-charged my batteries from the week. Yes, I know, I sound so selfish crying about ME when my babies are sick, except they didn't seem to feel bad at all - they would play like normal, vomit, then go back to playing as usual. Anyway, I started cleaning them up from breakfast and not five minutes later, Tyler puked in the floor - GREAT! I couldn't figure out if they had a stomach virus or if they were vomiting because of the flim from their colds. So, I cleaned that up and him and proceed to clean up the other two from breakfast. All seemed fine after that - and everybody played as usual. They go down for their first nap and then after they woke up from that, I went in to get them and find Whitney with puke ALL over her and ALL over her bed. She never even cried during her nap. I felt SO bad for HER (not me). So, I had to get her an immediate bath in the kitchen sink before lunch while the other two were eating. Another load of laundry started... Then, we had play time. Whitney was playing just fine, when all the sudden she started crying out of no where. It was a different kind of cry - I can't explain it. So, I grabbed her up and just in time, leaned her over the gate and she proceeded to puke on the tile in the kitchen. Poor baby - it was so sad. So, I got her cleaned up as well as the big mess. Then, not too long after that, the same thing happened with Tyler - crying out of no where, I snatch him up, but I made it to the sink this time. Both times, I managed to save their outfits, so that was good. Luckily, Craig was able to swing by and bring me some pedialyte so I had them drinking that to help with dehydration. After that, we had no more episodes... thank God!

And no, this post isn't all about puke and my self-pitty - there is something positive and exciting to post! At some point during the afternoon, Tyler took his first step. He has been standing more and more unassisted and is able to stand for longer periods of time. He stood up and balanced himself and I called him to come to me with my hands out and I got him to take one step toward me. It was so cute - he was so proud of himself. Then, today, he did it again for me while Craig was home and he got to see it too. He won't take more than one step before dropping to the ground to crawl to me, but it won't be long before he is walking everywhere! He is also starting to point (with his hand, not one finger yet) for something he wants. He will talk his baby language as he points, trying to tell me something and it is so cute. He is also starting to wave, as is Hannah. I think I may have already said in a previous post, but if not, Whitney waves very well and knows how to say "bye bye". It sounds more like "ba ba". But she knows the two go hand in hand (bye bye and a wave) so if I do one or the other, she starts doing the opposite.

So, that was our weekend pretty uneventful. :):) Hope yours was as uneventful as ours was. ;)