Here is a list of things I am pondering in regards to the arrival of NLS (new little sister) in October. I’ll be honest, some of them are weighing heavily on me because I have simply no idea what to do. So I’m going to write them down here to get them out of my head and to ask for any feedback or ideas you might have.
1. The car issue. The issue is that we need to fit 3 carseats (2 convertible, 1 infant) into some vehicle. Our Toyota…not an option. Our Jeep…possibly an option with smaller convertible seats. Pros to the Jeep: no car payments, decent cargo room. Cons to the Jeep: awkward maneuvering to get all kids in/out, probably will need to buy new seats for the twins. Pros to buying a new vehicle: more seats, potentially easier maneuvering. Cons: cost, potential for loss of cargo space.
2. The stroller issue. I have to move 3 kids at once, none of whom will be able to walk unattended yet. And I have no idea what to do about that. Just no idea. Do I stick with my double umbrella and just carry NLS somehow? Do I buy a triple stroller? Do I attach the twins to a single stroller (which we’d also have to buy) with those leash-things I see people use? See…no idea.
3. The crib issue. So this week’s recalls finally include our two cribs. I knew that was coming, though our cribs have had no issues. So now I have to decide what to do with two cribs that, by December, I probably won’t be able to sell to anyone. Do I just get the “repair kit” and keep using the cribs until the twins are done with them (however long that will be)? Do I move them to toddler beds and get rid of the recalled cribs? Do I move them to toddler beds and use one of the “repaired” cribs for NLS? Do I buy a new crib for NLS and let the twins continue as they are? Do I just pitch the two recalled cribs and buy three new cribs, two of which may be used for only months more?
4. The room issue. The issue is that I have no idea how to rearrange my house to accommodate another child. Do I make the guest room into the twins’ room so that NLS have the nursery and just do without any guest space? Do I leave the guest bed but set up half the room as a nursery for NLS and let the twins stay in the room they have now? If I get rid of guest bed, where to I sleep mothers who come to help with NLS arrives (typically our only real guests)? Do I put all three kids in the same room and make the current nursery into a guest room? And whatever I decide, how do I fit in another crib and dresser (which also needs to be found/bought) into either room (which are both currently maxed out in terms of space/furniture)?
So those are the top 4 issues frustrating me these days. I realize that we have 3 months or so to decide, but for some reason, not having any sort of good plans is stressing me out a bit. And reading all the crib recall notice stuff tonight just added to my annoyance and sense of being behind. So, feel free to offer opinions, advice, “here’s what we did” sort of responses, or just reminders not to get my panties in a wad about things that will take care of themselves eventually. Any/all of your responses will be helpful, I’m sure. And thanks for letting me vent…
June 24, 2010
for conundrum 2, I thought I’d offer what my friend uses..
She has a 4yr old, 2yr old and 11month old (so a year ago when the baby was born they were even smaller) They are very active boys, so she knew she needed more than a double stroller and a prayer that the oldest would stay near.
She got the “double sit & stand” and absolutely loves it. It accomodates infant car seats, too. So, you could have NLS in the infant seat, twin one in the front seat and twin two on the “sit” part of the sit and stand. (I’m sure you could view the pic online somewhere)
Con to this is the bulkinesss, of course, but I think any way you go you will have to have room for a hefty stroller or two strollers…
If I were you, I’d start grocery shopping online!
hahaha. Just kidding. I know you’ll make it!
June 25, 2010
I understand your conundrums completely. When I have this little one, my oldest will only be 2 1/2 and I cannot trust her to walk unattended most places. (She’s mature in some aspects, but a bit of a handful and will run off as she pleases.) My son (15 mos) can “walk” but definitely has to be actively guided where you want him to go. So effectively I need three arms.
On the stroller issue, I’d say wait and keep NLS in a sling or some other kind of carrier when you go out and keep using your double stroller…do you have a sling or Mei Tai? It gets to be too much once the baby gets bigger, but for the first 3 or 4 months it would really help out. I would nix the leash idea because they’d probably get themselves tangled up…I know mine would.
And on the room, I’d say you definitely need a separate space for the NLS unless you plan on co-sleeping. I tried the room-sharing thing for a while and it was soooo stressful because of naptimes. They never sleep at the same time, one is always waking the other up, or if you use the same room sometimes you’ll need in the room when one is sleeping. So we finally rearranged our house (cut the living room in half) to add a third bedroom and it made things SO much easier until Kirk was down to one nap a day! Now with #3 coming, he’ll get the third bedroom to himself and the other two will share the kids’ room.
Hope that helps a little!
June 25, 2010
OH, and we just bought ourselves a used Chrysler Town & Country with the Stow & Go feature to accomodate three carseats. We’ll put the two older kids in the back and the baby in one of the captain’s chairs with the other chair folded down into the car. That way it’ll be easy to climb into the car to unbuckle the older two. Seems MUCH easier than trying to reach around/over one car seat to get to another. Those minivans range in price from $7K to $10K for the 2005-2007 years, so it’s not too bad of a deal if you’re ready to drive a minivan!
June 25, 2010
Here’s my input- having had a 3.5, 1.5, and newborn at the same time (still not the same, but like averyswife, i can at least relate somewhat.
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we had been looking for a van for a long time, but were not ready to add a car payment to our life again yet (we couldnt afford to just pay cash for a new vehicle). so we made do with 3 in the back seat of our grand prix for nearly 6 months before we just got our van. it did take some figuring out with the car seats, which was especially a pain since some of the more narrow seats were not available in stores to see and would have had to be purchased online to even try out in our car. i ended up deciding to try the graco comfortsport on a whim before spending the couple hundred dollars on a sunshine seat, with our other 2 car seats that i knew i would need to use (the infant, and the graco nautilus) and it fit!! i was much happier with the $60 price tag than a $200 price tag for trying to make seats work. maybe you have family/friends around with different seats you could try putting in your car with your infant seat before spending the money on more expensive, skinnier seats if you decide to go that route.
i will say, it’s so nice having the van now (chrysler town and country with stow n go, also) because it was a pain putting ellee in over caiden’s seat, and trying to make sure cole’s infant seat clicked into the base properly (without squishing ellee’s fingers) each time. but it was doable, and we survived, and if that is what you guys end up doing at first, you will survive, too.
i also agree, using a carrier with the little one would be my vote, at least for the beginning. i also looked into the double stroller with sit/stand, but decided another stroller for us wasn’t the right option. our double stroller and carrier have worked to swap all 3 kids around as we’ve needed (cole/caid in stroller, ellee strapped to me; caid/ellee in stroller, cole strapped to me; cole/ellee in stroller, caid walking next to me). sometimes i think a triple stroller would be nice to have, but i enjoy wrapping my babies to me, so it’s not really a big deal.
rooms… we have a teeny tiny home with only 2 bedrooms. caid was in a twin sized bed when ellee was in the crib, before cole. when cole was in the picture, we knew we needed to make changes, so we made a toddler sized bunk bed. your little ones are probably too little to put up on a top bunk at this point, so i dont know if i would recommend that, but im thankful it worked for us. cole was in our room for 4 months, before i transitioned ellee to the bottom bunk, and caid to the top bunk. they all do really well together in the same room, and though i had fears about moving ellee in with caiden, and then eventually moving cole in with the both of them, they get used to sleeping together and it works just fine. (yes, they keep each other up at naptime or bedtime on occasion, but they know the rules, and it’s not really a big deal.)
oh yeah, and cribs. i would say send in for the replacement parts or whatever. if you aren’t too concerned because you havent had any problems, then just do whatever they suggest for you to do to get by with using those cribs until the twins are ready to move on. having them in cribs for as long as you can will definitely be helpful while you are running around caring for a newborn. it kinda buys you a little more time with their lack of freedom. i would suggest keeping your eyes open for another crib to use with the baby, or perhaps a bassinet/cradle to use in your room at first??
ok, there’s my input. i understand the feeling of “overwhelming” that comes with 3 kids close in age, but thankfully, looking back at it for me right now, those feelings have disappeared mostly from my memory. so, though trying at times, i know you will be able to make the best decisions for your family, and you will be able to work through it all, a day at a time.
June 25, 2010
I remember feeling all these things when we were expecting #3 a year ago! For the car, we had no choice – 3 seats would not fit in the Subaru we had. I prayed and prayed that God would give us the minivan we needed since we could in no way afford a car payment. While I didn’t win any of the free minivan contests I entered, we did end up getting a great deal on a minivan. It was at the bottom of my list (Ford), but we ended up making some money on the whole deal! While I never wanted a minivan, the space is awesome.
As far as a stroller, several others suggested slings/baby carriers, and I found mine to be great! Even with just one or two, I’d use that especially at the grocery store so I could still fit groceries in the cart. I also remember working with #1, training her at every opportunity to walk and understand how important it is to hold my hand and not run off. A friend made her kids always have a hand on the stroller. I may have scared #1 a little too much since now at 4 1/2, she still wants to be holding my hand or on to the stroller if we’re out and about.
We had #3 in a pack & play in our walk-in closet for several months! She still naps in there so the other 2 can be separate for naps. Our master is on the floor level and the other 2 bedrooms are upstairs, so it was nice to have her close, yet not in the same room when she still woke up multiple times a night. Neither baby nor parents slept well with baby in the room, so I was ecstatic to find that the p&p fit in our closet. It does make actually using the closet a royal pain, but I’ve adapted. When #2 was born, #1 was still in the crib, so when baby was ready to be in his room, he just slept in the p&p there until #1 graduated to a bed. (someone else said to keep the twins in cribs as long as you can, and I think I’d agree!) At that time, we gave #1 our double bed, and when we had company, she slept in her brother’s room. They now both sleep in her brother’s room on twin beds and the crib & double bed share a room. When we have company, baby sleeps in our closet :). If you have space in your guest room, you could add a crib in there (or maybe a bassinet?). Ours is tight, but doable. I also found a small dresser for the baby and put that in the closet of the guest room/nursery. I’ve gotten creative about using closets! I have a friend who had 4 babies within 5 years (no multiples!), and she put all of them in the same room as soon as they came home from the hospital. I don’t know if I could have done that, but she said they sleep through anything now!
I still feel like our house is way too small (especially now that #3 is mobile and there’s no floor space left for her to crawl and not get into the others’ toys), but everyone adapts. We just know that when we’re finally able to get the house ready to sell, we’ll probably have to put half the furniture in storage so the house doesn’t looked so cluttered!
Hope you get things figured out and have some peace – I remember just how unnerving it was to wonder how we’d make it work!
June 25, 2010
I don’t know that I can help. Even though we are almost in the same situation, my twins came second. And that seems to have its advantages in your issues. We just did the double stroller and Sierra had strict instructions to hold the stroller when we went out places (she was less than 2 and she learned quickly that letting go wasn’t acceptable). We already had a car that fit 3 car seats in a row. It might have been a little bit of a pain to buckle in the middle one, but I don’t remember ever thinking it was too bad. The hardest part was switching Sierra to the high back booster that uses the seatbelt. I had to figure out how to snap it in without being able to see the buckle!
And the rooms. All our children share a room. All the bedrooms in our house are a bit larger than the average room so it’s been nice. We moved Katelyn and Marissa in when they were 4 months old (had been sleeping through the night for awhile) and never had a problem. If anyone woke another one up (rarely happens – they adjusted to noise very quickly), they went right back to sleep. The cribs: we moved Sierra out when we moved the twins into the room. She was almost 2. The twins were right about 2 when we switched them also. However, I might keep them in cribs if I were in your situation. Having one get out and cause trouble is better than two. (Even though Sierra was much harder to get to stay in her bed than the twins.) That switch can be stressful though so I would wait until you get into more of a routine with the baby. I will say that we slept the twins in a pack n play for the first 4 months so you could always do that until you’re ready to move the twins out so then you don’t have 3 cribs at a time.
So there’s my two cents even though I’m not sure how much you can use!
June 25, 2010
On the car issue…remember that Michelle is a little taller than you! So that made putting her children into the middle car seat a little easier than it would be for you or me (I had trouble reaching when I tried it!). I would put my vote into another kind of vehicle that you could actually get into and secure the kids in place.
On the beds…I would use a pack’n play, too. It seems silly to buy another crib when you can move the twins in such a short time to other beds of some sort. And, I think keeping them in their cribs for a while longer is a smart idea as well.
On the room space, we had all the kids in the same bedroom once the baby slept throught the night… actually even before they slept through the night. It’s amazing what those kids can sleep through!! At one time Trisha’s “bedroom” was the living room. She didn’t seem to mind and it worked for us!
Taking kids out these days is a lot more involved than when my kids were little, so I’m not sure I can help much with that. I do know that, for a while, Michelle grocery shopped after Chris came home so she didn’t have to take them all to the store. But, that got old pretty fast! She figured out how to get it done with them all so she wasn’t house bound all the time!
You’ll figure it all out when you need to! Don’t fret about it!!
June 28, 2010
i totally missed this on friday! i’m glad you mentioned it in today’s post or i would have missed it altogether. And, almost all of what i would add, someone else has already said. But…i do want to say that i HIGHLY suggest keeping the twins in cribs as long as possible (for me, i’ve left my kids in for a longerish time than most (until right before age 3!) and it didn’t kill them. and i knew where they were at all times and they i didn’t have to “worry” about what they were possibly doing at naptime and bedtime…knowing they were stuck in one place was so HELPFUL when there was a newborn in the picture!))
i wanted to comment on something else, too…but now i forget! 🙂