Life with three under three the first month can only be described as pure survival mode and pure chaos. While Samantha and Amelia loved upon their baby sis constantly, they were not always the sweetest humans to be around. I had to physically remove myself from their presence on more than one occasion just to keep my sanity.
One of the classic moments that pretty much sums up the first few weeks was when I was upstairs nursing Meredith while reading an article on my phone about how to deal with toddlers acting up when the new baby arrives. At the same time I was gleaning some valuable tips, I could hear Jake yelling at Amelia downstairs:
“DID YOU JUST THROW MY WEDDING RING IN THE TOILET?!!!!”
Yep, so that happened. Whining, screaming, tantrums, and upping their game when it came to mischief- making were also part of the new normal.
On a positive note, while the sweet moments didn’t outweigh the crazy ones in number, they sure kept us going:
On the upside, from the get-go, Meredith was a dreamboat! She was generally happy, slept most of the time, seemed to have her days and nights figured out pretty early on, and was a piece of cake compared to the way the girls were acting. Jake and I figured Heavenly Father wanted us to have an easy baby after our baptism by fire with the twins!
At her 4-day appointment, she had only lost 5% of her body weight, and was back to birth weight by her one week birthday. At her one-week appointment, I told our pediatrician (who also has twins) that I had freaked out one night when I woke up and realized she had slept for four hours straight. He just looked at me like I was crazy and said, “If I were you, I would be thanking God!”
My only complaint with our Mer Bear was that she was a snacker when nursing, so I pretty much felt like a cow constantly for the first few weeks.
Princess Meredith ready to meet her adoring public.
Besides Grandma, Great Auntie Lynn, Great Uncle Steve and Great Grandpa were the first family members to meet Meredith.
Always so calm for Great Uncle Steve.
We tried to keep the girls’ routine as normal as possible so that they could get out of the house, get their energy out and let me relax a little with the baby back at home.
Getting ready for gym class at Cal Elite.
Unfortunately, some of the craziness they starting exhibiting at home transferred over to their dance class. I ended up pulling them out of dance for the foreseeable future after two consecutive classes of them being deliberately devilish and not listening to their teacher. Sigh.
At home, Jake and Grandma thought of creative ways to keep the girls occupied.
The best kind of entertainment– one person’s trash is another’s treasure.
Bubble Wrap UFC
While Grandma had booked an emergency flight out from Utah when Meredith was born, she could only stay a few days and then left that weekend. She came back out on the flight she had originally booked for the birth five days later, but boy, were those some long days!
Please don’t go!
With Grandma gone and Jake and I flying solo, it was a week full of crankiness from everyone… except for the newborn. Jake was in and out of work and those first days taking care of all three tested my patience and endurance like nothing else. Thankfully, we had lots of help from friends bringing in meals and gifts to keep the girls occupied; thank you, mess-free markers and coloring books.
All dressed up in their cute Disney Princess outfits from Sheela!
Counting fingers and toes over and over.
Sister time.
Meredith seemed dazed with all the noise and chaos going on constantly. I’m sure she was regretting exiting the womb where all the noise was at least dulled a little! Her favorite spot was in our arms or being carried around in the wrap, safely away from the tornado of activity. We joked that she slept so much as a coping mechanism for dealing with the chaos.
These two. Creators of said chaos. But the sweetest big sisters you ever did see.
Lots of love,
