Triplets - 5 Months Old

Where to begin?!

I feel like the boys are really growing up and time is going by so quickly. I was able to visit a good friend's newborn earlier this week, and I could barely remember my boys being that size (and smaller!)!

5 months old (Carter, Cooper, Tucker)


Tucker

Found his feet - he loves hanging on to them, too.
Sleeps in the latest in the morning - but is not the best napper.
Finally sticks out his tongue.

Carter

Still in love with his own two hands - loves chewing on them - pretty much constantly.
He's probably my best napper/sleeper overall.
He started this silly screeching/happy sound - did it for a while, but now has stopped.

Cooper

At this point he's still the easiest going overall - cries the least.
Is a Daddy's Boy (although Carter is a close second - and Tucker is a Mommy's boy)!
Always gives big smiles and loves smiling to get attention.

The li'l guys are really starting to interact with others. They are reaching for, holding, and studying toys. They all love when you look at them and say, "Boo!" They all are still infatuated with Madison and love watching her and hearing her voice.

(Cooper, Tucker, Carter)

Cooper and Carter eat a couple more ounces a day than Tucker. Tucker is still my slowest eater, and is least interested if food and more interested in looking around and smiling during feeding times. I am still pumping breast milk for them. Still not sure how much longer I will pump, but for now 6 months is my goal. They each get about 19 ounces of breast milk a day and 10 ounces of formula. I'm not planning on starting any 'solids' for another month. I just started letting them try and hold/balance their bottles (towards the end when they are almost empty).
(Tucker, Cooper, Carter)

They are all in 6 month clothing. And I just started them in size 2 diapers (should have started them earlier probably - been squeezing them in their size 1s for a while now...lol). They still nap twice a day, are down for the night around 8:30pm and are up for the day anytime between 7:45am and 8:30am.

We've decided to move forward with helmets for Cooper and Carter. I'm still concerned a bit about everything that goes with the helmets (care/cleaning them, how the boys will adjust, appointments, is this the right decision????), but for now, we are moving forward. They go for a scan in a couple weeks to determine their measurements and degrees of flatness. The scan is also what is used to make their helmets.

(Just realized this picture kind of shows Cooper's (in the middle) flatness - his is straight across the back of his head.)

All of the boys enjoy attention. :-) They love interacting with people and smiling. They all tend to cry occasionally if you leave their sight or put them down. But, they can now stay occupied for a bit in their boppy chairs, triplet table, and exersaucers.

(Tucker, Cooper, Carter)

Cooper and Carter definitely share a lot f the same traits. I often say to Tucker,  "Tucker - you are your own man!" He is more emotional than his brothers - we call him our Drama King because he is either overly happy or completely ANGRY. Cooper and Carter are both droolers and love to chew their fingers - Tucker is not. Cooper & Carter eat a bit more and are much faster than Tucker. Cooper & Carter are overall better sleepers during the day - Tucker is my cat-napper. Tucker is VERY ticklish and giggly - the other two, not so much. I often worry that Tucker will feel left out as they grow older. I also worry that Carter and Cooper will be treated as one (even I do that occasionally), and I worry about them all being confident individuals as well as being confident of their triplet identity. *sigh*

 (And, this picture kind of shows Carter's flatness (he's in the yellow stripes). His is on the left side of his head, his forehead is being pushed out a but on this side, too).

Up next on my list of things to prepare for is...MOVEMENT. They all can manage to scoot around on their bellies. We are in the process of deciding and purchasing our 'baby jail' and figuring out how we'll configure it as it will take over our living room. lol! I'm so scared for their actually mobile!!! LOL! Here's an example of Cooper and Carter moving - I left them on the blanket like the picture on the bottom, and when I returned from unloading the dishwasher, they had surrounded Tucker! Tucker is moving around like this, too...only when he's really motivated, though. Looks like he moved forward a bit in these pictures.

Anyways, we've made it 5 months. FIVE. I can't believe it. As crazy as it sounds - I'm still a bit emotional on a weekly basis about these boys being my last babies (more on this in another post someday). Raising triplets definitely has it's challenges, but we are also filled with so much love that we wouldn't change a thing. Watching Madison as a big sister melts my heart everyday and our love for her grows as well. We are so happy with our family and can't begin  to imagine our lives any other way!