50. Anglesey, teething, colds and the dreaded nap drop

We recently had a wonderful long weekend in Anglesey. My aunt lives in the most perfect location, with breathtaking views, a huge garden straight onto the headland, walking distance from a couple of lovely beaches and 2 miles to the nearest village and town. It's also a huge house with plenty of room for a whole bunch of kids to run free. 

My mum is one of 5, and all of them have 2 kids. We are incredibly lucky that we all absolutely adore each other and are very close as a family. We are spread accross the world, as far away as America, but we have the best times when we are reunited. 

Myself and my sister spent all school our holidays in Anglesey. Our cousins there are pretty much the same age as us, so we have grown up with them and their friends. I start pining to visit if I haven't been in a while. 

When James and I talk about fond childhood memories, most of mine are from my time in Anglesey. We spent our summers in the garden, on the beach, or running around on the headland. On rainy days we would make dens in the attic or generally run riot in the house. 

This weekend, I have been watching Jack play on the swing in the garden that I spent endless hours on. Running in and out of the waves at the beach I know like the back of my hand, and basically, reliving my childhood, with my cousins little girl who is just a few months younger than him. It's been magical, and brilliant for James to experience all the stories I have told him. 

In a way, it started the week before. Another cousin got married, so the family flocked together for the celebration. My sister finally got to meet the babies, and my aunt and uncle from America came by the house to see the boys and James. Because of my sisters visit, my dad and his wife, Sandra also came up to see us all. It really was a fun filled, family packed few days for me. I went to the wedding on my own and left James at home with the boys for a whole day and night!! I was really unsure about it because I was going to miss them all so much, but it was absolutely wonderful! 

The kids loved all the attention, and of course, everybody loved them all. Jack made everybody laugh, and the babies melted their hearts. 

As it happened, Jack's nursery closed for their 2 week summer break the week after the wedding, so I was able to extend my family fix for another week with our long weekend away! 

And it's been perfect. Jack has loved every second. He has been running on 100% since we arrived, so was getting pretty radged and annoying because his chill button had stopped working. But he was just so excited all the time! The babies have been a dream, loved all the attention and have continued with their brilliant routine and good long night sleep. 

Also, mum and Tinks helped out so much. Tinks cooked for all of us, and they both helped out with feeds a lot. They even gave us the chance to both take Jack out one morning without the babies, and babysat one night so we could go out for dinner with my cousin and her husband. It's been amazing! 

We were all absolutely exhausted and ready for home, but it couldn't have worked better for anyone!

Teething

We are well underway with teething. They don't stop dribbling and chewing. They seem to have flare ups at the same sort of time. 2 or 3 days where one or two of them are clearly in discomfort, then nothing for a week or more. The dribble is out of this world. I had forgotten just how much babies dribble at this age. Bibs, bibs, bibs!! We have also polished off our first box of teething powder. I think I only got through 2 in total with Jack. 

Snotty boys!

As well as teething, all 4 boys have a seriously snotty cold. James has a sore throat and is under the weather. The babies have been mostly fine with it but their stuffy nose kept waking them up for a couple of nights when we got back from Anglesey, they have each had days when they have been feeling sorry for themselves. Calpol plugs, saline spray, vapour rub and olbus oil galore! Just added them to my shopping list, again!

Checking in on brothers.

The babies were in bouncers in the living room. Sam was in one that's quite high off the floor, Will was down to his right, and on Wills right was Robin. William appeared to be rolling his head back and forth, but we soon realised that it looked like he was checking his brothers are close by. Looking from one to the other and back again. He was looking up to his left, looking right at Sam, then turning his head right around to his left and looking down at Robin. Then back up to Sam, and back down to Rob. It was so cute watching him. 

Interacting.

They are really starting to interact with each other now. They reach out for each other's hands, feet and heads. They are reaching for everything within reach, but hands and feet are their favourite. One of them was crying the other day, and the one next to him was reaching out to touch his head. It looked like he was trying to comfort him. 

Jack is starting to really enjoy them now too. He plays with them and makes them laugh and smile all the time. And when they cry, he runs in, says "shhhhhhh, I'm here baby, I'm here." Robin was crying yesterday and Jack ran in, gave him a hug and started singing "wind the bobbin up" to him. We call Robin 'bobbin' sometimes, so we thought this was really cute!

On the roll.

All 3 are rolling around now. Robin has been been getting quicker and stronger for a couple of weeks now and Sam is close behind him. William is able to roll onto his tummy, and when he does, he is head up and arms underneath quickly. He tends to stay on his back playing with his feet. However, he travels accross the floor unlike the other two, who seem to crawl on the spot and eventually run out of energy to hold their heads up and end up face down in their own dribble or puke. 

Life and me.

I'm exhausted. I have felt exhausted for the last couple of weeks. I have been putting it down to the fact that Jack has been off nursery while they are closed for their 2 week summer break, lots to prepare for with the holiday, loads of clothes to sort through here which keeps getting on top of me, and the fact that the babies naps are getting shorter and shorter, so my time to get stuff done is becoming less and less. My feet barely touch the ground at the moment. I probably haven't had chance to recover from all the family visiting and the holiday. 

Jack starts nursery 4 days a week next week, and I will be starting back at aerial this week at a mum and baby group. I'm hoping these give me the time I need to keep on top of things, and the energy to do it! 

I also haven't had my blood's checked since the babies arrived. My friend mentioned that she is low on iron so takes tablets and that helps with tiredness. So I have booked to get tested and see if there is something that might help. 

It could also be the fact that I have 5 month old triplets and a toddler? Maybe! 

Up until a couple of weeks ago, I felt pretty energised and felt like I was getting enough sleep. It really has been a very busy few weeks and every time the babies sleep, I fill that time with a job. Right now I am sitting down while they are sleeping for the first time in a long time. The piles of clothes can wait until another day. I have a busy couple of days to come so I am going to make the most of this rest time. 

Scarecrow family

Another thing I did to fill up my rest time last week was to make these. The village had a scarecrow festival with a folklore theme. Robin Hood and his merry men is what I chose to do. I made the bodies, heads and hair. Mum made the hats and Lynda and Annabel painted the faces. Annabel also helped to get the finishing touches finished for me. The festival ended last night so they are sitting in the utility drying out. Dismantling them is another job that can wait for now. 

Jack's naps.

Jack has been problematic at bed time over the past couple of weeks. It has been getting upsetting and stressful for all of us. We have decided to try dropping his nap. I have been dreading this transition as it gives me down time during the day. It has so far, gone well. It even made the weekend easier as we weren't working around Jack's nap time, just baby feeds, which can be done on the go.

Double buggy

We have been lent a double buggy, and I can't tell you how excited I am to try it. It just pops open in one click. It's super light weight and it has just 1 wheel at the front, so steering looks like a doddle! I hope to give it a try this week. Hopefully it will be goodbye to arriving at least 15 minutes early for everything so I have time to set the pram and carrier up. I might be able to cut it down to 10 minutes!! Fancy that!! 

Mum and dad. Us!

James and I are still like ships passing in the night. We laugh about it but we also talk a lot about how things are slowly starting to shift  and we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. The babies are pretty consistent with their long sleeps. They are starting to use their hands and they are rolling. When they are better coordinated, they will be able to find their own dummies in the night. Will looks like he might suck his thumb, he also regularly sleeps through without wanting his dummy at all. We have talked about dream feeds too which we might try. We did it with Jack at about this age and it worked well for a while. When we have cracked this, we will move them up to their room and James and I will share a bed again! It's been over a year we have been in separate beds due to my 7oclock bed times and tossing and turning all night, and now, babies. It'll take as long as it takes. 

I keep talking about how tricky it will be once they are on the move and how we will need a LOT of people with us when we want to go places, we also talk about all the things that will get easier soon. Eventually, everything will start to even out. We are having a rocky patch with Jack, but we know this time will pay off in the future. We are basically being very positive about the challenges we are facing and will face.