Diapers and Day Trips

I wanted to wait before I said too much about it. Sure, before the boys were here, we told everyone we were going to do it. I wanted to get several months of using them under our belts before I started bragging about how if we can do it with triplets, then anyone can. I'm talking about cloth diapers. When we found out we were having triplets, my second heart attack came from the thought of how much diapers would cost. I went on the Sam's Club website and found out that diapers are costly. That's when a friend of ours introduced us to Bum Genius Diapers. Now, we go through around 36 diapers in a 24 hour period. That's average. At that rate, we would be spending around $250 a month on diapers. Couple that with the fact that you are putting lots of diapers in the local landfill. I know I have talked about this before, but we would be looking at around 1080 diapers a month that we would be throwing away. For those of you with one baby, that's around 360 diapers a month. That's a lot. That's 4,320 diapers in a year. Fortunately, there is an alternative. Now, everyone you talk to will tell you that you are absolutely insane for trying it, but I'm telling you it's not only possible, it's not really that hard.

Check out this website:

BUM GENIUS DIAPERS

When you use these, you will not only save lots of money, you will be saving the environment. What do you need? Well, we had a big sink installed in our utility room right beside the washer. I would say the total cost on it was around $250. You will save that in your first month. What's next? Well, before you have your baby, register for diapers for your baby shower. That's right, while you are shaming all of your friends into buying you stuff for your baby, shame them into buying you diapers. It's not that big of deal. By the way, the baby shower system in this country is about as close to pure communism as you can get.

Okay, so I think each Bum Genius diaper costs around $20.00. Having 12 of them is a good number, so you are looking at around $240 for the diapers. That's no big deal at all. You are already seeing the savings. You may want to get more. Maybe get 20. Who cares? You're saving money, you're helping the environment. The sink and the diapers are going to cost you around $500. Sure you are going to use some water and electricity washing the diapers, but that cost won't touch the cost of disposables.

Now the big question.

How hard are they to wash? Not hard at all. Obviously some of the diapers are going to need to be rinsed out in the sink. I wear rubber gloves and try not to throw up when I'm doing this, and if I can do it, then ANYONE can. I have a very weak stomach. Washing them is pretty easy. Throw them into the washer and wash them on cold with no soap. Next, run them through the hot heavy duty cycle using this soap:

Rockin' Green Cloth Diaper Detergent

Throw them in the dryer, and then you are done. It's that simple. We even take these diapers with us when we head out of the house. Yes, we do have some disposable diapers on hand for emergencies, but we haven't gone through very many at all since the boys came home.

Now, Pampers and Huggies can go away.

In other news, I must say that the boys are really starting to be a lot of fun. The other day we went down to Town Lake here in Austin. The Colorado River runs through downtown, and it is absolutely beautiful down there. There is a place for dogs to run and Tess had a good time swimming in Town Lake.



She also had fun posing with the Austin Skyline in the background:


Stevie Ray Vaughan was one of the greatest guitar players that ever walked the earth. There is a statue of him beside Town Lake. We had to take pictures.


Oh, we have kids too:


Carrie wanted to get some pictures of the boys with the Austin Skyline in the background. Sometimes, triplets don't cooperate.

Actually, triplets rarely cooperate at this age. I can make the dog do pretty much anything.

That's right. She'll sit there forever. She is a very good dog. However, when it comes to triplets, Zane is the only one that would look at the camera.

Don't think for a second it was because I asked to him to look up at this precise moment. They will stare at you and smile until the camera comes out, then they are face down and usually crying. Sometimes in a really good moment at home you can get this:

This next picture is from this morning. Mornings are very nice around here. The babies seem to be morning people. It's from the hours of 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. that they scream bloody murder.


Carrie and I can handle the diapers, the laundry, the feedings, the mixing of the formula, the making of the baby food, the endless bottle washings, the dishes, the holding, the changing, and pretty much everything else that comes with triplets. The one thing we have trouble dealing with is the yelling. I swear that I'm going to have serious issues for the rest of my life with the blood curdling screams that these three can produce. It wears you down. They say water boarding is torture. It probably is. However, being locked in a room or a car with these three screaming at the top of their lungs is a different kind of torture. The screams work their way into your brain and drive you literally insane. Carrie and I will be riding in the car, staring straight ahead and doing our best to ignore the nightmare in the backseat. We try not to take it out on each other, but it is difficult. At this point you want to throw the ownership of the children onto your spouse. I might say something like, "Your kids are loud." This feeble attempt at humor is not met with the laughter you might expect. It's usually not met with anything. The volume of the screams seems to intensify. The boys feed off of each other and push themselves to higher and higher volumes. When they finally stop, it's the best sound on earth. The other night we had a much needed night out alone. For the first twenty minutes neither one of us said a word. We didn't listen to the stereo. We just drove in absolute beautiful silence. Silence is a beautiful gift here in the land of triplets.

Jump Jumps

I'm not sure what they are actually called, but in this house we call them jump jumps. I have heard them referred to as exersaucers, but I don't know if that's even right. I don't even think that exersaucer is even a word. Whatever. Anyhow, the jump jumps are the center of the triplet universe and without them, raising triplets would be virtually impossible. We use them all the time and pretty much for everything. When the boys get up, they go in the jump jumps. After they eat, they go in the jump jumps. Sure, we hold and play with each boy, but while you're holding one, the other two have to do something. Another awesome triplet family passed us down two jump jumps. Ryan, the other triplet Dad helped me load them up in the triplet mobile.

As we loaded up the Fisher Price Rain Forest Jumperoo, he said to me:

Ryan: This is the best one that they make. Your boys will love this one.

Me: Really. Oh.

I had no idea what these contraptions were or how vital they would become to our existence.
Here is a picture of what is really the Aston Martin of the Jump Jump World.

Here is an Aston Martin:


The key to these jump jump is the fact that the suspension starts from way up high. Note the dangling parrot and the dangling frog or whatever that is. There are also things that spin and make noise and drive you out of your mind. Not only are all those things annoying, but it plays music. When you add a loud baby to the jump jump, it looks like this:


This boy is very happy. Jump Jumps can also be used to take naps. Sometimes you just jump so hard you have to sleep for a while.


Up until yesterday we only had one Fisher Price Rain Forest Jumperoo. This was unfortunate. The boy who was lucky enough to get into this jump jump really owned the day. The other two jump jumps, while nice, just aren't the Jumperoo. It got to the point to where the other two boys would sit in their inferior jump jumps and scream bloody murder at the baby with the Jumperoo. Yesterday we got lucky and found a used one for cheap. Now we have two Jumperoos. This is awesome. However, I can feel that we are going to need a third.

Here is Cade in the third Jump Jump. The other two are in the Jumperoos, while Cade is here. This is a fine jump jump that someone is letting us use. We are grateful, but if you leave a boy in it too long, you are going to get what we call a meltdown. There is nothing worse than a triplet having a jump jump meltdown.



We have learned this lesson all too well. Now, we have discovered another thing about raising triplets. If one boy starts screaming, they all start screaming. One baby will prove to be the ringleader. If you can quiet the ringleader, the other two will automatically get quiet. I find that strange.

Here is Cash, who is often the ringleader. They take turns actually, but Cash is pretty loud and so is Cade. Zane will hang in there, but I'm starting to think he is a bit more reserved than his brothers. The jury is still out.

Sometimes at the end of a long day of jump jumping, watching jump jumping, and being a dog listening to all this, everyone needs a nap.

A New Year

The triplets passed from the year of their birth 2010, to 2011 with little fanfare. Their projects included the following:

Slobbering all over the place.

Yelling and laughing.

Jumping up and down in their "jump jumps".

Smacking things and yelling when they can't get things in their mouth.

This is pretty normal behavior for babies that turned 7 months old on January 2nd.

Unfortunately, the behavior of Mom and Dad has not been so normal.

Mom and Dad's behavior has been erratic and unfocused. During December Mom and Dad decided several things.

The conversation went something like this:

Carrie: Hey, don't you think we should strip all of the kitchen cabinets, repaint them, and basically remodel the whole kitchen in 10 days?

Mike: Sounds good to me! By the way, the band is going to record a new album starting in December.

Carrie: Great! Oh, and another thing, in 10 days we are going to have 6 members of my family here for Christmas. I think we should make some really complicated meals and really get stressed out about how they turn out.

Mike: I can stress with the best of them! I'm going to head outside and make the house look like Clark Griswold decorated it.

Carrie: I REALLY like the 7 foot Santa Claus we got.

Mike: Me too! I need to go borrow a ladder from the neighbor. If you hear a big thump, it means I must have fallen. Call 911 if that happens.

Carrie: Sounds good. I'll try and call if I hear you fall. I'll get started on making the house clean from top to bottom.

Mike: Oh! I almost forgot. We still have those three kids to take care of.

Carrie: I'm sure we can manage. They are only 6 months old! How hard can it be to remodel, clean, cook, record, and decorate?

Mike: Not hard at all!

At this point, the "Leave it to Beaver" theme miraculously started playing and we smiled and went about our business. Everything worked perfect and there were absolutely no problems. The kitchen drawers didn't break and send Dad into a fit of cursing. The cabinets were very easy to sand and paint and didn't need 3 or 4 coats. The pipes didn't explode under the sink and force us to cut off the water to the entire house. The entire house did not have a layer of dust on it from the sander. The pressure to complete everything didn't send us into episodes of sobbing uncontrollably.

We are thankful none of THAT happened.

The boys went to get the final installment of their RSV shot series last week. Since they have to be weighed to see how much medicine they get, we found out that the boys weigh the following:

Cash 18 pounds 3 ounces
Zane 17 pounds 9 ounces
Cade 17 pounds 15 ounces

As far as their development is concerned, the boys are changing everyday. They can do more and more things such as holding their own bottles.





Unfortunately, the kitchen re-modeling process was a little tough on Zane. His role was that of a supervisor, and unfortunately, he fell asleep on the job.


The boys are rolling over, sitting up, and seem on the verge of crawling. Often times, this is the view you get when you walk into their room to see what all the commotion is about.


Each boy is learning the guitar. Since they are advancing rapidly, I thought what can a few crazy expectations hurt? I say start living vicariously through them now.


Last night, for the first time ever, Carrie got a picture of them laughing all at the same time. Note that Zane's shirt is soaking wet. Not only do the boys slobber really well, they have also discovered spitting. We go through around 304 bibs per day.



Although they "rarely" also known as "never" sit in their Bumbo seats, the great Austin photographer Neely Brook got a good picture of them doing just that.


She also captured what may be my favorite photo of the boys so far.

Also, I would like to thank the fine folks who make the television show Yo Gabba Gabba. Without Yo Gabba Gabba, things wouldn't go as well as they do around here. Our boys LOVE Yo Gabba Gabba. All three of them can be having a serious meltdown, and BAM, put on an episode of Yo Gabba Gabba, and then everyone is happy. This allows Mom and Dad to actually get things done. We have set up the DVR to record every episode. Just play them over and over. They don't care. As long as they can see and hear the show, all is right with the world.

Finally, you have the Creasey side of the family that came and visited for Christmas. You could also say they rescued the kitchen remodel.