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!!!

Lots to blog about...#1

Merry Christmas!! There has been and will be so much going on in our household to blog about. Look for upcoming posts about: babies turn 5 months, Christmas at home, New Year's, and Evie's first preschool Christmas program. Until then we hope you had a beautiful and blessed Christmas!

Meeting the "big guy!"

Last Sunday we had a chance to meet "Santa" at our first multiples Christmas party. He was delightful and answered the kids questions (FYI Santa sleeps with his beard ABOVE his covers and he's married to Krystal Kringle). He even had presents for the kids. Obviously Ella, Henry and Grant were oblivious to this momumental moment but Evie was excited, When told she could go meet him she first cut in line and then when it was officially her turn she backed her bottom right up to him so he could pull her onto his lap. He was great and even autographed her books. In 4 years he was the FIRST "Santa" to look happy to be visiting with kids AND it cost us $0 for photos with him!



Here is Evie awaiting her present. She was so quiet and just watched. I could tell she was hoping he wouldn't forget her and he didn't. Now all she talks about is "Santa" coming and baby Jesus being "born." We are planning to make Christmas cookies for the big guy and we've been practicing with playdough. She is thrilled!! We can hardly get her to sit still and she points out the presents under the tree to her brothers and sisters, often asking if this present is "mine?" It is really making Christmas even more special to have her "get" it. This week she is having her first Christmas program, we can't wait!!

4 months

To see how much they've grown, scroll down to their first picture with me at 5 days old.

I know, can you believe it? Shawn was telling me yesterday that the days in the NICU seem like a dream. For me it's still a very vivid memory. But any "problems" that put them in there are long gone. Grant has a set of VERY healthy lungs as evident to the anpa's and anma's that witnessed his angry hungry/tired cries. Henry DEFINITELY has no problems eating or gaining weight, see pictures below. And Ella ruddy cheeks are a testament to her ability to stay WARM. Their days are pretty scheduled as much as I being a non-scheduled person can handle. They eat every 3 hours still, except are now up to 5 oz and sleep about 1-2 hours after eating with a long nap in the afternoon. The last meal of the day is at 7:30-8pm and then it's bedtime. They usually get up once a night still and then up for the day around 6:30a when daddy is getting up for work. They've had a few firsts this month including their first trip and first time in another state (even if it's just Iowa) for their first Thanksgiving. Here's what's new with each of my little ones.

ELLA

Ella LOVES eating. She can be counted on to guzzle her 5oz and then be a happy little girl. She prefers her naps in the swing with the music playing. She would love a paci once in awhile but besides a few times a day when we are trying to stretch feedings or sleeps out she doesn't get one. She's never mastered keeping it in her mouth, though she does enjoy sucking on her hands. Lately we've noticed she loves to be under the play mat batting/talking at the purple hippo. She is also such a big kicker. She gets so excited and kicks and squeals. Yesterday she came pretty close to laughing. At their 4 month checkup on the 24th she weighed 10lb, 12oz. For the record that means she has gained: 6lb, 10oz since birth. She is no longer the skinny, scrawny little darling but instead has this adorable round head and plenty of body chub. She is 22.5 in long up 5 in. Once her hair grows in she will have dark hair, right now I can't tell if it will be a dark brown shade like her daddy or more light brown like me and Evie. She has beautiful blue eyes with eyelashes that curl naturally. One of the most adorable things about Ella is that when she talks she makes very delicate, girly noises. I love it, especially as she finishes every sentence with a raspberry/motorboat noise filled with bubbles. She has easily wrapped us around her long adorable fingers.

Despite Shawn being an old pro at dressing his children he managed to put this sleeper on wrong with an arm in a leg hole an vica versa.Trying to figure out those crazy things we call hands.

HENRY

Henry or as we've come to think of him, Shawn's mini-me, doesn't seem to be as big of an eater as Ella though his size belies this idea. He is not only chubby but a very solid little boy. His hands are one of my favorite features as they are round and poly, it's surprising that he can bend his fingers at all. Henry weighed in at 13lb 8oz. Not only is this a 4lb gain in 2 months but a whopping 8lb, 6oz gain since birth and a 1lb heavier then Evie at this age AND he is primarily breastfed. Normally these babies are supposed to be slimier and lighter, obviously Henry doesn't agree with this consensus. He is 23.75 in long, a gain of 5.25 in. Henry naps in the swing during the day but refuses to fall asleep this way at bedtime, preferring the bouncer instead. Henry appears to be shy in his interactions. When he smiles his eyes light up and when you smile back he will sometimes turn away with his shy smile, bringing his arms up. He continues to be very easy-going except when he's hungry, go figure! He loves to stand and gets excited whenever given the chance. So proud of his own achievement, almost as proud as we are. When he gets excited he breaths through his noise excitedly, almost in a snorting way. His uncle Brandon thought something was wrong with him and I had to tell him that Henry was just excited. He laughed at daddy a week ago. I've yet to witness it. Henry if you haven't figured it out looks JUST LIKE his daddy, especially his dimpled smile. We are so in love with that dimpled face.

GRANT

Grant is still the peanut. Although not far behind Ella in size he looks smaller and more delicate. He doesn't seem that way in personality as he can definitely demand your attention. He has become the easiest and biggest smiler. He smiles from ear to ear but also has an adorable "Elvis" smile. If you are in a bad mood in anyway his smiles while turn your day around. He loves to play under the mat and with the bouncer toys. Unlike his siblings he is especially skilled at really getting a hold of the animals in his little hands. Feedings with him have become a little difficult because of his insistence in "helping" with the bottles. He has become so strong he can push the bottle out of his mouth or off to the side. We've changed levels on the nipples for the other two but he has not tolerated the stronger flow as well. Grant favors my side, particularly my dad, in looks (right down to the bald head-hehe). Grant has the most adorable cry with snorting. It's hard to not laugh a little when he's crying. I can easily tell their cry's apart. Grant weighs 10lb, 2oz a gain of 6lb, 9oz. He is 22.5 in up 5.5in. He is more active then the others and we find joy in just watching him enjoy life.

His "Elvis" smile.

Not quite a full smile, imagine his mouth open an inch.

EVELYN

All she wants for Christmas is baby's. But she is definitely NOT getting any more. Anma and Anpa V are getting her a special baby toy but I will post pictures of it after Christmas. We are trying to get her interested is something NOT baby. She has enjoyed playing with a Littlest Pet Shop 90's edition, borrowed from Auntie Laura, during the Thanksgiving weekend. "Santa" may think about this as a gift for her. She also has enjoyed inviting her anpa, anma's auntie, great anma and family friends to play in her "oom" at anma and anpa's A's house. Beware this means come play nap, your sick and "let me boss you around." Other fun things she's enjoyed is attending a gymboree type event where she got to jump on trampolines, do somersaults, and jump into foam squares. She loved it and we will attempt to bring her again. She had a big first and a highlight for mama and dadee when we brought her to her first movie yesterday, Tangled. She loved it so much that when it was done and we had to leave she cried. She enjoyed popcorn and Twizzlers and sat so perfectly that an older lady commented to me how well she did. I thought, well of course she did she is after all MY daughter (said with tongue in cheek). We had a great date, I only wish I'd taken pictures or had a ticket stub as a souvenir. She has been a testament to me that the 2's are not terrible, but the 3's are with her tantrums. We've made great strides this week and last but they are not gone totally when she gets frustrated or mad when things aren't going her way. Still none can resist her sweet smile. We try but it's too hard.

For a time she wouldn't let us take pictures of her. But threaten to take picures of the babies and she smiles right away.

Our Sunday Best

We made it to our first outing as a family, church. It was nice to get out together again and it was only mildly stressful. But I really enjoyed worshiping again with our church family and enjoyed the message (at least that which I didn't miss). We had a feeding mid service and was thankful for the help of one of our friends. It was so nice that we will attempt it again next Sunday. Also, I managed to do a little shopping afterwords and get a jump on the kid's Christmas presents. I am looking forward to our first Christmas at home and Ella, Henry and Grant's first Christmas. Besides updating my blog, today has been a busy day as it is laundry day. It's a little more work today though as I am washing all of the 3-6 month clothes so they'll be ready for when they outgrow their size 0-3. Henry is getting close, probably another 1/4-1/2 inch and he will be there. I just can't believe that they are growing so fast! Grant is now out of newborn diapers and they all started reaching/grasping at objects. Evie is obsessed with reading in her room and I retrieved the Mega Blocks from storage and she's been busy building "robots." I love my life! Happy Monday!