From the beginning til now

Initially, I had my picture taken with Grant, Henry and Ella for a couple of reasons. First because I wanted a picture with all three of them together. And second, on the day of that first picture they were 5 days old and had regained most of the weight they'd lost after birth and thus holding them you and I can/could be astonished that only a few short days before they had fit in my belly. Not only fit, but able to move an astonishing amount (Grant flipped from day to day. One day his head was on my left, the next day it was on my right-up to the c-section). In total they weighed 12lbs, 13ozs. I wanted this picture to commemorate this. In reality, Ella and Grant should switch places based on where they were in-utero but because of the I.V's and monitors we had to place the babies in this order.

Third, I once saw a scrapbook page where the child had had a picture taken with a stuffed bunny at birth and then every month thereafter. Thus, recording the child's growth in a unique, visual way. Since we didn't do that but had pictures taken with me, I decided I would have to be their "bunny". Here's how they've grown in the last six months. Amazing how much they've changed!!

First Food

Here are some of my favorite pictures of Henry, Grant and Ella enjoying their first taste of food of cereal and breast milk on the 15th. Despite a rocky start (ie silly faces which we interpreted as "what is THIS??") they all really enjoyed their first meal. Grant was the most adept at the skill of opening his mouth and using the tongue to push food to the back of his throat and swallowing. Ella was really good at opening her mouth, but had a little problem with the last part and Henry's tongue just wasn't cooperating. All followed the spoonfuls with their hands as if trying to get it all in. It makes for VERY messy feedings.

The feedings go like this: I line up the kiddos in a semi-circle, bibs on and ready. I am in a swivel chair and go from one to another offering a few spoonfuls each and also catching what comes back out. Usually they enjoy their cereal/pears/green beans combo. Mostly because the original introduction of green beans did not go over well. You'd have thought that I was giving them lemon juice for the VERY sour expressions. And it wasn't just the first spoonful, the faces and accompanying quiver continued even into the 4th or 5th spoonful, especially for Henry. Applesauce wasn't much better.

On the 26th Henry finally started getting the hang of it keeping more in then out. Ella, however, has become harder to feed because she wants to lick it instead. Though she does produce the best faces looking cross-eyed and talking. These are some of the funnest and funniest parts of my day. Up next: peas or bananas. Yummy!!!!

Henry, 6 months

Smiling with his hand in his mouth.

Playing with his hand in his mouth.

Looking at the camera with his hand in his mouth...see a pattern??

Taking a nap with Anpa Jeff.

Henry with his Christmas stocking filled with gifts from "Santa."

Henry. Isn't that a beautiful name?

Henry is 6 months old, 5 months adjusted.
According to his pediatrician he is right on according to his technical age and is only behind in the area of problem solving. Who needs that skill anyway??
Henry is German and means "home ruler." He is never going to know this;o)
Henry's middle name is Carl and is named after his daddy. We had debated between Carl or Charles, which Carl is a form of. It seems appropriate since he is nearly a spitting image of Shawn.

Henry is Shawn's mini-me right down to his adorable and gorgeous smile.
Henry might have my eyes, though this is hard to tell at this point because you can't see past the Shawn.
Henry's favorite toy is his fingers, especially his right thumb and pointer. Nearly every picture of him during his sixth month includes fingers in his mouth.
He rarely plays with toys you put in front of him, except for under the bouncer and play mat, because then he'd have to remove his fingers from his mouth.

Henry loves eating solids but of the three he has the most difficulty with his tongue pushing food out.
He had his first solid of cereal with breast milk on January 15th.
He has liked pears but makes the silliest sour face whenever he gets a spoon-full of green beans.
He is the middle triplet.
He weighs a whopping 16lbs, 8oz up 11lbs, 6oz from birth.
He is in the 33% for weight.
He's already 2 lbs heavier then Evie was at his age.
Henry is our "talker" and grunter. He spends most of his time telling stories.
He not only talks and grunts but delights us with so many other adorable noises. LOVE it!
Henry loves when I sing to him (he must be tone deaf). His favorite is the Do-Ra-Mi-Fa-So-La-Ti-Do song from The Sound of Music.

He can roll back to front but does so slowly and with much noise.
He uses this to maneuver off of the play mat and around it.
He is not in the bouncer as much because he usually ends up on his tummy using his mad rolling skills.

Henry is the most difficult night sleeper.
He wakes the most often and has to rock in the swing if he is going to make it til 3 or 4.
He is currently being weaned from this but we are finding it difficult.
Henry snores, usually this is not a good thing but with him it is adorable.

Henry is easygoing and laid back. He rarely cries unless really tired or hungry.
He makes the most adorable sad face with a face scrunch, it makes me smile and my heart melt.
Henry is my only breast feeder. He also takes bottles at night and though much bigger doesn't require more formula/breast milk in his bottles then Ella OR Grant.
He must have a slower metabolism.

Henry was the first to laugh.
He is the hardest to get to laugh. Evelyn has no difficulty in getting him going. This is totally unfair! Doesn't he know I carried him for 8 months and how much I do for him!?! ;0)
He ADORES Evie. They all do. The looks that they constantly give her are so amazing.
He and they alone know what she seems to be telling them! She shares stories and involves them in almost everything she does.

His nicknames are: Chubba Bubba, Chubbas, Big Boy, Sweetie, Baby boy.
He brings such joy to our lives.

Grant, 6 months

"Vroom, goes the fire truck!!" Grant loves his first cars.

Meeting Great-Anma and Great-Anpa B for the first time. Great-anma's comment was that he "sure is chunky!" This was of course before she held Henry.

Another favorite activity...hand sucking. No pacifiers for these guys!

His inquisitive face...completely, heart-melting adorable!

Exploring on the bouncer! Notice the belt. He also gets bored easily and then starts working his way down til half of his body is hanging off. Most times I forget the belt so luckily he hasn't fallen to the floor...yet!

The sing-a-ma-jig "Santa" gave him for Christmas. He thinks it's so fun!

I love this picture. He is so adorable and handsome!!!

He often falls asleep on the bottle before bedtime. Poor, tired little man!!!

Grant. Isn't that a beautiful name?

Grant James is the "baby" of the triplets and the family.
He is the smallest.
He weighs a whopping 12lbs, 9ozs. Up 9lbs even since birth.
He is in the 1% for weight. He is a peanut.
Grant looks petite but he is only 1lb lighter in weight to Ella who looks bigger and sturdier. Size is deceiving.
He wears size 3-6 month clothing and recently switched to size 2 diapers.

Grant is 6 months old technically, 5 months old adjusted.
He is on track for his technical age except for problem solving. But who needs that skill anyways? Though he is the smallest, Grant is ahead of his siblings in most activities.
Grant loves reaching and grabbing for things. He has shown the most interest in food. He nearly stole our friend Kyle's garlic bread when they were over. It was adorable.
Grant loves faces. He loves to touch your nose, mouth, eyes etc. The way he touches your face is as if he is blind and using his hands to "look" at you.
He is inquisitive and always trying to figure out his toys and anything within his reach. He's bee
He has "held" his bottle for feedings, which Ella is unconcerned about.

Grant took to eating solids the best. Opened his mouth wide and enjoyed the rice cereal with breast milk on January 15th. His look said "more please."
He wasn't thrilled with green beans and gave us quite the sour face. Yet he has no trouble with the cereal/pears/green bean combo. It's actually tastier then it sounds. Obviously not a cheesecake but for a baby...YUM!
He does not have any teeth, and there are none on the horizon.

Grant's name was the hardest to pick. Others considered were: Kingston (mine) and Isaiah (Shawn's). Our only criteria was to find an "older" name that went well with his siblings. When Shawn suggested it I immediately agreed. We love it.
His name is French and means "great; tall."
James is another favorite name and though we didn't name him after anyone, it is my maternal grandfather's middle name. There were 6 other friends that used James as a middle name in 2010.

Grant has a deep, silly laugh. He is the easiest to get to chuckling. Common laugh inducers are rubbing your nose in his armpits and on his belly, holding his arms over his head and Evie.
Grant smiles the biggest and easiest. He wakes up smiling.
Grant loves to sit in his bouncer and stick his feet straight in the air to stare at his feet.


He loves to put things in his mouth. His coordination isn't the best yet which is extremely frustrating.
He loves to sleep on his tummy and was the first to roll from front to back. He has been working hard at rolling the other way but was finding it also frustrating. On the 20th he finally succeeded and it has been difficult to keep him on his back. He can roll to his stomach in a matter of seconds.
His next skill to conquer...sitting!!

Mad bottle holding skills.

Grant does not look much like his siblings. The other three predominantly look like their father in their coloring, hair, face shape etc. It's usually the first thing people see. Grant looks like me, particularly my father.
He is likely to have blond hair, which is likely to cause "is he adopted?" questions. Unbeknown to them my mother, sister and nephew were/are blonds as children. Don't let the "bald" head fool you, he has a nice amount of peach fuzz all over his head.
He is not as dark as his siblings.

He is currently battling his first cold. Lots of congestion and coughing. Poor little man, BUT he has slept great despite it.
His nicknames are: Grantster (from our friend Rachel), Peanut, Baby boy and Sweetheart.
He has definitely wrapped me around his teeny-tiny fingers! All 10 of them!

Ella, 6 months

Gorgeous!!!

Her first laugh!!

Surprise!!

Her baby blues are SO gorgeous!! I am hoping they are the "V" eye color inherited from me, my dad and my grandpa.

One of her favorite toys. She loves to sit and explore toys. She is very content here.

Her Christmas toy. It "roars", which I imagine she will love.

Her first stocking filled with gifts from Santa.

Long eyelashes, she is a doll!!

Ella. Isn't it a beautiful name?

She is the "eldest" of the triplets.
Ella Rae shares my middle name, which means "ewe."
Ella is Greek and means "torch light".
She enjoys listening to her name put in the tune of Buddy Holly's "Peggy Sue."

Ella is technically six months old. She is 5 months adjusted. She is a little behind for her "technical" age but up to speed for where she needs to be.
According to her pediatrician she is developmentally on track for her age except for problem solving. Who needs that skill anyway??
Ella loves to move. Kick, kick, kick. Wave, wave wave. Bounce, bounce, bounce.
Ella has the funnest time in the bouncer when she scoots low and then kicks both legs up and down in sync. This movement REALLY sets her bouncing, which causes lots of shrieks and squeals. Changing her can be difficult because she gets kicking so fast and hard. Buttoning is a marathon task.

Meeting Great-Ampa and Great-Amma Burt for the first time.

She loves splashing in the bath. She literally kicks out half of her bath water. I have video to prove it. She manages to get me, the window, the floor and anything in a 3 foot radius wet. She splashed so much she soaked (ie it was dripping and had to be rung out) a kitchen towel.

Ella is a whopping 13lbs, 9ozs. Up 9lbs, 7ozs in six months.
She is in the 9% for weight.
Ella loves to blow air out of her mouth with her lower lip tucked in. It's very slobbery but she loves it when you "talk" back.
Ella is an urper. The worst. She could care less but I do use a lot of pre-soak on her clothing.

Ella is 24" long. Up 6.5" in 6 months.
She loves to open her mouth for eating but if you're not there with food waiting she will "yell" at you. "AAAAAHHHHHHHHH." Once food hits her mouth she tells you how delicious it is.
She can roll her tongue back into her mouth, a skill we noticed while she was trying to lick cereal/pears/green beans off of her spoon. Yes, this is a combo of food we serve them and they eat it up!
Ella is battling her first cold. It's wrecked havoc on mom and dad's previously fairly full nights sleep. The bouncer is her new best friend for night sleeping to keep the snotty's at bay.

Ella has her daddy's eyes and skin tone. Her mommy's shoulder dimples. Evie's smile. Otherwise she is a good combination of Shawn and I.
She loves her fingers. She has two in her mouth all the time.
Ella has the most beautiful blue eyes with gorgeous long eyelashes. Her head is perfectly round.
Ella loves raspberries on her inner thighs. Odd spot but causes giggles every time, especially for daddy. She laughed for the first time on January 1st. Happy New Year!

Ella is NOT a patient baby. She is VERY demanding especially when it comes to eating.
Ella can finish a 140 ml bottle (4.5oz) in less then 5 minutes. This is the truth...we timed her.
And she was falling asleep while we were doing it.
Ella wears 3-6 month clothing and size 2 diapers.
Ella is a jumper. First, she prefers to stand and once standing she jumps like crazy. Shawn thought I was exaggerating and then Ella proved me right. She is too funny!

She would be sleeping through the night (ie 8pm-7am) if it weren't for her ravenous brothers.
Ella had her first food January 15th. Rice cereal with breast milk. She looked at us like, "why are you putting this weird stuff in my mouth?"
Ella has no teeth yet. We can't see any on the horizon either.

Ella looks like a little girl. Sometimes it's hard to tell with babies but she definitely has a femininity to her looks. God knew she wouldn't want to be confused with her brothers.
The only "un-feminine" characteristic is her "Andy Rooney" (her daddy's term) eyebrows which literally stick out from her face 1/4". They are hilarious!

Ella prefers napping in the swing on 3rd speed. She prefers to sleep with her head turned to the left with her face pressed into the side of the seat. In-utero she was situated with her head in my pelvic crest (I could literally feel her head, and can/could point out exactly where it was). When we see her sleeping like these we believe it's because of this and having her face pressed up against my bone for so many months.
Ella's nicknames are Sweet Pea, Sweetheart and Ella Bella.
She has been a huge blessing which we cannot imagine our lives without!!!