R.I.P.

Today, I bow my head in grief. I bow my head in honour of a young woman who didn't deserve to die at so young age. So unexpectedly. My dear friend said good-bye to her sister, forever, yesterday. Nothing is the same for her since this moment.

Why is life often so fragile? Why is life often so unfair? Why are two small children left without their mom's love and care and intimacy? Why are no words enough to comfort?

Only the Wind knows the Answer. Sigh. I light the candle.

Playing is fun, sickness is not...

When our boys are healthy, then they are happy and every new toy is exciting. They love to play. They love to put everything in their mouth. They love to smile when a mom does something funny. They love to laugh when someone lifts them very high up. They are full of life, full of joy and our house is loud, in a good way.

When our boys are sick, then their mood is bad. No toys are interesting for them. They watch with their sad eyes and my heart gets worried. I know they feel bad, but I can't make it away... until they fight themselves to go the sickness away. They cry and our house is loud, in a sad way.

This week, both have happened. In the start of the week, the boys were sick. One day, in the morning, I found Ralf had temperature, 38 C, and he was very dizzy. After an hour, Sten and Fred were exactly the same - with temperature, sick, dizzy. Luckily it lasted only for a few days and the temperature didn't get very high (only up to 38.6 C), but I was home alone for 2 long days from morning till night, with 3 SICK babies, and it was exhausting. One point, I was just crying together with the crying boys. I felt my power is finished. But of course I had no choice than gather myself together and go on. Noone would do that for me, right? And from that moment, it got better for the boys, too. We don't know what was wrong with them, but it was definitely a virus, and they developed red spots, too. Kert had something similar. German measles (punetised)? Probably. These photos are taken before and after the boys' sickness. You see - normally, they are very happy and laughing!

Spring is in the air...

Today, it's the first Spring day outside. The temperature is +7 degrees, the sun is shining, the air smells really spring-like, the birds are singing and the snow is melting... Yes, all this HAS TO create a great mood! I took the boys' prams outside to the garden (I cannot walk with them, yet, as there's too much snow) and stayed outside myself for a while, too. It has been a long winter and now it's really time for Spring to arrive - I'm looking forward to the new gardening season and all the colours what nature brings. There are no Spring flowers in the garden, yet, but I have had lots of tulips inside the house - first, it was Women's Day, when I got tulips from Erik and my brother and then, it was Erik's birthday yesterday when he got some more tulips - so I can enjoy the Spring colour inside the house right now! :)
The tulips on our dining table on Women's Day:

The tulips on our dining table on Erik's birthday:

And some photos of the boys, too:

7 months old

Today, boys turned 7 months old. The past month has absolutely flied! I feel like it was just yesterday, when they had the 6-months-birthday and now already 1 month later! However, within this month, the boys have developed incredibely. Especially the mental development. They try to figure out how the toys work - for example, yesterday Ralf learnt how to push a button of a certain car which makes a noise. I showed to him how to do it and later he did it himself, many times, pushing the button very hard (because with a soft push, it doesn't work). So he learnt the point very quickly. Sten and Fred have figured out how a certain dolphin works when you pull it from a "tail". Then it starts to tremble. They are all geting smarter and smarter, each day brings something new and for me, it's so interesting to follow it.
Physically, the development is not as quick as a normal child has since they were so packed together in my belly and therefore, they need a little bit more time to make all their muscles going and strong. But Fred is the strongest - he can roll over both from belly to back and from back to belly and is so excited about it: the most, he loves to do it, when I tell him and then, he is happy when I say "Oh, how smart boy you are!".
Here I wrote about boys' characters. Now - 5 months later - I planned to do the same and write how they have changed. But I gave a thought about it, and right now, I can't really make huge differences in their characters. They change so quickly! One week, Fred is a "mommy's boy", another week Ralf acts like that and so on. All I can say, is that they all are very good boys. Ralf has been probably the easiest, usually, because he falls asleep the best; but then Fred can be a very good boy, too, playing on his own for several minutes; and Sten is the happiest boy - he always laughs when you look at him. Actually all of them are incredibely laughing joyful boys. The photos prove it - I did nothing special to make them laugh, it's how they are! Once again I have to admit: I cannot be happier... those boys are a blessing!

Change

After many weeks of thinking, considering, hesitating and finally deciding and cleaning - we moved the boys to their own room. Yes, from yesterday they live "next door". :)

The main reason for that was the nights... I know this is going to sound whiny, which isn't my intention at all (especially as I do not want to make an impression that I'm not happy about becoming a mom of triplets and all the incredible experience I'm going through), but some days ago Erik was reading some posts of my blog and commented that my post are mostly cheery and make the parenting of triplets look so easy, and in reality - it's not. So, without wanting to sound like a complainer, I write the truth here: I'm NOT looking forward to the nights anymore. It's crazy... most of the time.

It all went so well until the boys got the chicken-pox. Until that point, I had managed to train the boys to eat only around 3.30 a.m. and not before. It meant some very good hours of sleep to me. But during the chicken-pox weeks I fed the boys as often as they wanted since I thought they might be thirsty due to the fever. And after that, we never got the good routine back. The boys really fool me during the nights! It's not possible to sleep in the same room with them anymore.

Let me describe you a typical night:
At 8.45 p.m., the boys start to eat. Usually it goes well, as far as Ralf and Fred are concerned. They eat well and go to sleep with no problem. Sten refuses to eat, but we have got used to this as well - it's just NOT possible to feed a 6-month-old boy if he doesn't want to. He shuts his mouth and that's it. Finished. No way I can force him to open it! So we leave him hungry and put him to bed. He normally wakes up around 10 p.m. and eats his milk while sleeping. So I'm not worried of this anymore. From 10.15 until around 11.45 the boys sleep really well. But I do not go to sleep so early, because I need to pump out the milk + I want some "MY" time, too. Otherwise it feels like I'm a slave of the boys. So I normally go to sleep around 11.15 p.m. and manage to sleep around 30 minutes before the circus starts. First, Ralf usually wants to eat around 12. Or at least I think he wants. Sometimes he eats, sometimes he doesn't. Around 1, Sten eats and usually I wake up Fred to eat during that time, too, because otherwise, I cannot sleep during "the first part" at all. from 1.30 t0 3.30 it's usually quiet, well, good nights are. I try to sleep. But after that... it's just crazy! The boys try to wake up at every reason. A tummy is lost... they are bored... they think it's more interesting to look around (even when it's deadly dark)... If not before, then Ralf is surely awake at 4. During that time, at 4, the boys used to eat before, but now they just fool around. As Ralf and Sten are sleeping in the same bed, then they do anything to wake each other up. Ralf invented a way how to do it: he bounces. How does it work? He lifts his legs very high up and then, with free fall, he lets them down to make a nice bounce with a big sound. Oh how he enjoyes it. He doesn't do it once, twice or three times, he does it 30 times in a row. To make sure Sten is awake, too. Quickly Sten learnt to do the same thing, so they are now bouncing by turns.

If Ralf gets bored, he can also play with bed sticks - he hits them with fingers to hear how it sounds. I'm happy if they finally fall asleep before they are up again, sometimes at 6, sometimes at 7. And how many hours of sleep have I got? I guess I can count the minutes and not the hours...

Yes, I've had it enough. I wanted my bedroom back. Hoping that maybe, after moving the boys to their own room, they finally start to sleep. Like normal babies! :)

The first night in separate beds in their own room was yesterday. It was not more awful as a normal night. I only went to their room maybe 25 times at night. I do have a bed for myself in their room, too, but right now, I do not plan to move there. I think we might succeed and one day, they let me sleep, too.

We changed Kert's old bedroom to the triplets' room as it was the largest. Kert was happy to get a new room with new bed and TV. I'm quite happy with the result of the triplets' room, however, I'm going to make some decorations for the walls - to make the room more childish.

The boys' room:

The boys at Kert's new room and bed:

Addiction

I have to confess: our boys are addicted.... to singing!
Yes, at once you start singing to them, they do not allow you to stop anymore. You have to go on and on... at once you stop, the boys start to scream. At once you continue, they are quiet and happy again. We have SPOILT them with singing!
Therefore our evenings at home are very loud - if I'm with the boys, then I sing. If Erik is with the boys, then he sings. The boys don't mind which melody or words we use - it doesn't matter, as long as we sing! So we invents songs about anything. Sometimes I think that it's easier to play them recorded songs, but this doesn't work - they want alive performance!
On Sunday evenings, when we bath the boys, we need help. Kert is usually helping us - he looks after 2 boys who are not in the bath while we bath the 3rd boy. I have told to Kert, that he has to sing for the boys. Kert says back to me: "No. I won't do that. I can't sing". When we return to the room with the boy who has just bathed, I hear Kert singing!
So there's an option -
Not sing. The boys are angry and cry.
Sing. The boys are happy and quiet.
As simple as that!
Sten:
Ralf:

Fred:

Is it too cold?

Having babies in a Nordic country brings you to a dilemma sooner or later:

Is it too cold to bring the child out to sleep the day-nap?

How cold is too cold?

My boys have always slept 2.5-3 hours outside, or being precise, in our garden house which is not heated. No matter what the weather is. In February, we always have a cold period and this year, it's this week. My boys are sleeping outside right now and it's -17C.

It is said that there is no too cold weather, but the wrong clothing.

So, keeping that in mind, I have packed my boys in every possible way, when they go out.

First - woolen jumper and woolen pants, woolen socks, normal hat, woolen hat.

Second - warm winter overalls, warm blanket inside their cocoons.

Third - sheep skin inside the baby-pram.

Fourth - sheep skin oustide the baby-parm.

Every day, when I take the babies inside, after 3 hours, they are all warm and happy.

I think I should not worry, that it's too cold?

*****

Apart from the coldness, it's beautiful outside! I just love the first sunny winter days when the sun goes higher again: it shows that Spring is not far away....