You've Got Your Hands Full!

Want to know what I hear a lot?  "5 kids!?  Triplets?!  You sure have your hands full!"  Well, yes I do have my hands full ... it's full of babies, kids, piles of laundy, bottles and dishes to clean .... but even more than my hands being full, my BRAIN is full!  Full of schedules, to do lists, priorities to juggle ... you name it!  I've started writing so many different blog posts but my brain just starts clouding over with all my other responsibilities.  It feels a bit like pregnancy brain but worse.  The first year of raising triplets is like living in a bit of a fog.  I'm trying to be everything to my children but still keep a sense of myself.  It's an impossible juggling act.  Sometimes I just need to let my brain relax and zone out.  Thankfully our all our kids are usually asleep by 8:30 ... which gives me time to snuggle up in bed with my ipad and watch reruns of The Office or Parks and Recreation.... or go on Pinterest or my favorite interior design blogs, like I Heart Organizing and Little Green Notebook, and look at pretty things.  So it's time to close down my computer for the day and go relax ... until I start all over again around 5 or 6am tomorrow.  And I may have my hands full ... but so is my heart.

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Making time for ALL our kids

One of the biggest challenges of having triplets in addition to older children is ensuring that all our kids are getting enough mommy and daddy time.  The needs of our 3 and 5 year old are vastly different than the needs of the babies.  The older girls love playing with the babies and it would be convenient to stay inside and put a pause on life outside the home, but my husband and I have made it a priority to set aside time each week to spend quality time with them individually and together as a family.  This weekend we were lucky enough to be given 4 tickets to the Red Sox game for Friday night and Monday afternoon.  And even luckier that our babysitter and my mother can watch the babies so we are able to take advantage of the opportunity and treat our older girls to mommy daddy time at the ballpark.  Maybe, unlike in prior years, the girls won't be scared if they see Wally!


A more average weekend is spent balancing baby time with giving the girls one-on-one time either at the grocery store, at the playground, library, playing games or doing crafts while babies nap or even heading to the car wash.  They enjoy getting our undivided attention and we enjoy the break from the babycare.  (we love heading to Art for Kids Hub to help create origami with our 5 year old!).  I would say that building and creating a support network of family, friends and/or babysitters is one of the most important tasks when you find out you are having multiples.  Especially if you have older kids ... the amount of time I've saved by not having to drag the babies around for rides to school, sports or birthday parties has been crucial for our quality of life.  If you don't already have a network in place, actively try and find one.  My local multiples groups and my church have been a great resource for me (particularly through the Mom To Mom Ministry  but I'll go more in detail about that at another time).  Now that the babies are getting older and will soon be walking I hope to do more activities outside the home with all of my kids, like playing at the park, but that's all in due time.  I have only begun to imagine the chaos that comes with chasing around 3 little ones at a playground but I know my older girls will relish in their roles as Big Sister and help do the chasing, corralling and pushing of the baby swings.


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Thanks for visiting my blog!  I've recently started a new venture on Facebook, where I post amazing deals on kid and family resources, clothing and apparel.  Come check it out at Multiple Mama Bargains.  Life Multiplied is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

Art: My current bit of sanity

I love that I get to be a stay-at-mom during this time in my children's lives.  I get to see the babies all day long, put my 5 year on the bus, greet here when she comes home, take my 3 year old to preschool and, because I have found an amazing babysitter, I am able to get out of the house a little bit each week to run errands so our weekends aren't as hectic.  Yet being a stay at home mom to triplets can get a bit ... intense.  The monotony of a babies first year is amplified. The first three months were the toughest as it took an hour and a half to feed the babies then we had to start the feeding process all over again in an hour and a half.  That level of intensity has calmed down a bit as the babies now sleep mostly through the night and it doesn't take as long for them to down their bottles.  Now they eat three 'meals' a day, plus bottles, crawl all over the house, take 2 naps, play, annnnnd try to pull each others hair!  All that on top of the activities and needs of my rambunctious three year old and busy five year old.  Life is busy for sure, but it can be monotonous and does not challenge me in an intellectual way.  So as a way to provide myself with some visual stimulation - that's not an exersaucer, baby play mat or toys - I've decided to put more art up in our home.  I find myself getting lost online - in a good way - as I track down interesting and affordable pieces.  Here are a few of the items I've purchased:

Budding Fashionista - History in High Heels



Hazy California is a digital download and it's my second foray into purchasing this type of print.  It's a very inexpensive way to purchase art.  My first digital download was a few years ago after The Little Green Notebook (one of my FAVORITE blogs!) posted about this print: 


We printed this in a large format and framed it in an IKEA frame.  Looks great and didn't break the bank!  Once I complete my (very first) gallery wall I will post about it.  But, with 5 kids, projects like this take a bit longer to complete in our home.  But it's all about progress and even just a little dose of art during my day provides some intellectual stimulation for me and in turn a bit of sanity.


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Thanks for visiting my blog!  I've recently started a new venture on Facebook, where I post amazing deals on kid and family resources, clothing and apparel.  Come check it out at Multiple Mama Bargains.  Life Multiplied is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

My Life has Multiplied

Well ... looks like I'm back to blogging!  First a little introduction:  My name is Katy and I am a mom to 5, count 'em 5, beautiful kids.  My oldest sweetie pie is 5 years old, then my rambunctious 3 year old and completing the family are my 8 month old triplets!  Identical girls and a boy.  I live in New England in a small home (about 1400 sq. ft.) with my husband and our kids ... it's a busy house to say the least.


My first blog was about 7 years ago, after my husband and I had bought our first home.  It was called The Green Door and I had a lot of fun writing it and documenting our life as we updated our 1950's cape cod style home.  My bathroom makeover was even featured on Apartment Therapy and Design Sponge!


Then my first child was a born, a girl. It was a hard pregnancy.  I went into labor at 26 weeks pregnant and spent 6 weeks on home bed-rest.  My water broke and she arrived right at 37 weeks pregnant.  My blog slowly took a back seat to the rest of my life and by the time our second daughter was born 22 months later my blog was basically non-existent.  I had been working full time in Boston and when I was home I dedicated my time to my kids, my husband and our home.  We had always wanted 4 children ... then we had children and decided, well maybe 3 would be a good number.  If we wanted a 4th child we'd cross that bridge when the time came.  I became pregnant and got the surprise of a lifetime when, at our first ultrasound at 8 weeks, we found out that I was pregnant with triplets!  Identical girls and a boy (as we found out around 18 weeks).  I like to joke that we didn't cross that bridge ... we lit fire to it!  It was a very difficult pregnancy but I gave birth to three healthy (though premature) babies at 34 weeks and 4 days.  They spent 17 days in the hospital as feeders and growers.

(Photo credit: Jessie Clicks Photography)

So here I am now ... mother to 4 girls and 1 boy.  I'm a stay-at-home mom looking for a creative outlet.  Someplace where I can explore all the things I enjoy: interior design, home improvements, organization, art, jewelry, fashion, faith and, of course, my kids and all the beautiful chaos they bring to my life.  Never in a million years did I think I'd be a mother to five children and especially never a mother to multiples!  I try and take life one day at a time, keep my faith in God, and give love to my family as much as possible (do kids know how to test our patience, or what?!)  Life isn't always easy, but my life has multiplied in unimaginable ways and I'd say that's a good thing.