Ms.Cuddles

It's fun to see how each baby is developing differently - different personalities and different skills. Abby loves to sit in her bumbo seat and play with toys. She does not love tummy time but is growing more tolerant of it. She seems to be the one who likes the rice cereal the best and is most skilled at actually swallowing it. Here are a couple of videos to show you what she's been up to.

Abby is finally enjoying the jumperoo


Abby "talking"


Abby doing tummy time


Abby's best skill thus far is consistently sleeping 12 hours a night, but that's a little boring for a video. Here's a picture of how I found her this morning. Silly girl - doesn't she know those breathable bumpers are supposed to help keep her limbs inside the crib??

5 Months Old

The babies turned 5 months old on Wednesday. It seems like they are developing new skills every day. They are starting to find their feet...


Lucas is so close to rolling back to tummy. He gets really frustrated when he can't do it - when he's in his crib he even pulls on the rails to try to get himself all the way over. All he has to do is figure out what to do with his shoulder/arm and he'll be successful.


Zoey can also take her pacifier in and out of her mouth.





Abby enjoys playing with her toys, and is getting better at tummy time. Stay tuned for a separate post with videos of Abby...


We love watching them grow and can't wait to see what they do next!

Lucky

I usually keep my posts pretty lighthearted - after all, most people tell me they read the blog just to look at the pictures. But this one is a little more serious. Today I took the babies to our department picnic and got to show them off to everyone. One woman stopped by and commented "you are so lucky - triple blessings". And it is so true. I have healthy, happy babies who are thriving - not everyone is that lucky.

One year ago yesterday, a woman I know in an online community lost one of her triplet babies. She delivered them at 25 weeks, and one did not make it after 8 weeks in the NICU. Their blog is http://threecheersforbabies.blogspot.com/ [warning - the entries about Annaleigh are heartbreaking]. Annaleigh's death was right around the time I found out I was pregnant, but before I knew we were having triplets.

I think people often wondered why I was so nervous during my pregnancy, why I wouldn't even think about having a baby shower until at least 24 weeks, and why I couldn't really breathe a sigh of relief until they were safely here. Well, it was because of tragedies like Annaleigh's. We were so very very lucky to have few complications, deliver the babies at 35 weeks, and take them straight home with no NICU time. But at the beginning we didn't know that would be the outcome, and we just kept holding our breath as we reached each milestone.

So when people say "you seem to be doing so well - how do you manage with 3 babies??" I try to explain that I am just grateful that they are all here, and healthy, and happy - and that makes everything a little easier to handle. Sure, I'd love to get more sleep [I am writing this post at 1:30am], and I miss my spontaneous shopping trips to Target, but it's worth it to have these babies.

Ok, enough seriousness. Now time for some cute pictures.

Abby looking like a beautiful pink flower in her fluffy dress


Lucas in his favorite jungle


Zoey in her jumperoo



And a cute Lucas and Zoey video

Weekend pics

It was a pretty low-key weekend, mostly because the babies and I have colds (yes, I gave them my cold, and yes, I feel horrible about it) and because it's move-in weekend at UVA, which means all the stores and roads are crowded. Jason was up early with the babies on Saturday and took some cute videos and pics...

Ok, this one wasn't taken on the weekend, but I couldn't resist a diaper-only pic.


Sweet Zoey


This one really captures their personalities. :)


How ill/tired do I look here?!?


Lots of wiggling limbs

Babies' First Rice Cereal

In celebration of the babies' almost 5 month birthday, we decided to try rice cereal for the first time today. They were a bit perplexed, but they each seemed to swallow a little bit of it (this was proven when they spit it up later). It was probably more fun for us than it was for them.

No matter what we feed her, she's a messy eater!


You can see how Lucas felt about it


Abby ate the most


The less-than-satisfied and confused trio


Jason is learning lots of fun tricks with the video camera

Ms. Wiggles

Zoey's turn for videos! In addition to the jumperoo, Zoey is enjoying playing with toys, trying to stuff things in her mouth, and "talking".






She is also continuing to practice holding her own bottle. She just reaches out and grabs it. I think she is trying to develop this skill to make sure she can keep eating even when the person feeding her is interrupted by another baby.



It can get pretty exhausting to feed herself. She fell asleep holding the bottle once.





Finally, she is now trying really hard to get her pacifier in her mouth on her own. It's pretty cute to watch - we'll try to get a video of that soon. She is a very determined young lady!

Mr. Chuckles

Lucas has become quite the smiley, giggly little guy. Here he is getting some tickles:




Then, getting thrown around a bit by dad:



And, this is what he looks like after wearing himself out from a long morning of laughing: