Escapee Alert!

The escaping from the cribs has begun in earnest. Yesterday nap time was full of little footsteps running across the floor, the boys' bedroom door opening and closing and ultimately, I caught Isaac in Sam's crib--twice!

I finally had to sit in the boys' room and police the nap time so they'd stay in their cribs. Fortunately, they didn't repeat the hijinks at bedtime.

We've been pretty lucky that it's taken the boys this long to start climbing out of their cribs since they've been climbing since they were 11 months old. Isaac was the first to climb out of his crib, but he fell doing it and it scared him and Alex badly enough to keep them in place for quite a while. Alex made the next attempt, and he belly flopped to the floor. That only left Sam, and every time he'd try to climb out, Alex would sound the alarm by screaming at him, "Only Mommy and Daddy get us out!"

Sam climbed out last week when he was in time out, and now they've all figured out how to do it without getting hurt, so the glory days of trapping them in their cribs are pretty much over.

Since one of my mantras when it comes to parenting multiples is "Containment is key," this is tough news to take!

We've been talking about moving the boys to big kid beds, but there's a big difference between talking and doing.

Sure, it makes sense to move them and get them adjusted to big boy beds before we travel this summer. Just think, no pack and plays to lug along!

But actually moving the boys? Taking down the cribs and replacing them with beds that they can jump on, climb in and out of, and generally do anything but sleep in?

*shudder*

I figure that things are so bad right now when it comes to partying at nap time that we may as well make the change and just plan to police them for a while until they settle in. At least we'll minimize the risk of them getting hurt as they carry on with each other. I'm already playing nap police, and I can police big boy beds as well as cribs.

They'll have to move to big boy beds at sometime, so I'm relying on another of my mantras to get through this: "Be brave."

© Trippin' Mama 2011

The End of An Era

After nearly two years of living with a crib in our family room, the time finally came to take it down.

It's been time for a while, but our motivation came in the form of two boys climbing out of the crib, onto the changing table, and nearly up the built-in bookshelves. It was another one of those moments that makes me ask Jeff how much money we have in the budget for hair color.

In the early, early days, we actually had TWO cribs in the family room. We used one for all three boys to sleep in, and the other was a feeding and holding area.

Bottom to top: Isaac, Sam and Alex ~ 6 days old, October 2008

Feeding time!

Once the boys started sleeping in their own cribs and sleeping better at night, we moved one of the cribs to the nursery, giving us three there. But, we kept the fourth crib in the family room. We dubbed it "Exile Island" and used it for those nights when someone couldn't settle down in the nursery and was disturbing his brothers.

I also used it during the day for time outs and to give boys a chance to play with a toy uninterrupted by siblings. Sometimes I used it as a jail while I cleaned up a mess or two. Remember the baby powder incident during Thankgiving last year?

Sam, Alex and Isaac: Jailed!

The boys liked to go in the crib to bounce and play. It held up pretty well against 75+ pounds of boy (and often another 30 of girl!) jumping up and down.

I let them all have a good bounce the other day because I knew the crib was coming down.

They sure fill it up differently than they did in the early days!

Of course, as soon as we got rid of the crib, we needed Exile Island. We'll have to keep a pack-and-play handy for those nights in the future.

Oh, and do you see that large framed painting hanging above the crib in the background above? It took the boys less than 24 hours to knock it off the wall once the crib was removed. Fortunately there was no injury to the children or the artwork.

Who said this gets easier as you go? Some days I long for those three little babies snuggled up together in the crib. They were a lot quieter and got into less trouble!

© Trippin' Mama 2010

Triplet Sleepover

All the boys decided to play together in one crib the other day, so we snapped this picture.

Triplet sleepover, anyone?

Jeff and I had an actual date night tonight, so that's it for the post.
If you don't like it, you can complain to management.

© Trippin' Mama 2010

Big Changes for the Big Girl

Today, we took the crib out of Amelia's room.

Amelia and her "old" bed.

She's been sleeping in the big girl bed for three months now, only occasionally asking to go back into her crib -- usually when she's having trouble falling asleep at night. Amelia will be three at the end of the month, so it's time.

Amelia was in an exceptionally good mood this morning, so I decided to strike while the iron was hot. Once she decided it was a great idea to take the crib out of her room, she was all smiles about it. Mom, on the other hand, was a little sad, even though I have three other little ones in cribs right now. I'm allowed! She's my first baby, after all.

Amelia's room, sans crib.

We immediately co-opted Amelia's crib for the boys, as one of the cribs we bought secondhand needs a little repair.

After all the enthusiasm about not needing a crib, and the disassembly, moving and reassembly of her crib in the boys' room, I'm afraid that Amelia isn't sleeping in her big girl bed tonight. Tonight she's sleeping...

...make that "camping," in the basement with Daddy. Just a little something fun for the weekend!

Hope your weekend is turning out to be as much fun as ours. Tomorrow afternoon we'll be having s'mores. (Can't do them at night. The child's sugar high outlasts Mom & Dad's energy levels by hours.)