Miss Personality x 3

Over these past 6 months, I've learned to distinguish my babies' cries from one another, to pick up on their tired and hungry cues before it reaches epic proportions, and to be in the moment with them.

They're acting more like little girls these days rather than fragile preemie infants and it's wonderful to see.

Ada has started cooing more frequently and with a larger repertoire of sounds. She laughs out loud more often and giggles in reaction to the games we play with her. She can go from frowning and looking very serious to the widest, happiest, beaming smile. She's such a joy and was first to laugh out loud. Ada is more content during the day than at night. Her fussy periods are thankfully shorter than they used to be. She still doesn't settle herself, though. When she gets overstimulated or overtired, it's really hard to calm her down. She has the saddest sob ever and it takes a long time to calm her down after she cried. Sometimes I can't soothe her at all regardless of trying all "The Happiest Baby on the Block" techniques and it just breaks my heart when she cries uncontrollably like that. I don't want to rush this precious stage she's in right now, but I can't wait for her to outgrow the GERD (reflux) and colic.

She loves eating solids and we have progressed from rice cereal to veggies and rice cereal with fruit. So far, she's tried carrots, peaches, green beans, pears and apples. She made the FUNNIEST "What are you doing to me?!" face when we offered her the carrots and peaches, but ate it anyway. She waves her arms and kicks her legs when I approach her with the bowl and spoon and then proceeds to smack her lips once she tastes the food. It's a riot watching her eat as she's now taken to blowing raspberries and "speaking" with her mouth full of food. I've also been sneezed upon with a mouth full of sticky cereal!

Ada is not that into her toys yet and struggles with gross motor movements. She is pretty sturdy in the sitting department, but movement? Not so much. She can hold her head up and push up, but is not interested in aeroplaning or rolling.

Julia is grasping toys with both hands and studying them. She coos and blows bubbles and makes lots of different sounds. Unlike most babies, she decided to make consonant sounds before attempting the vowels. She likes to say, "rrrr" like the Spanish would pronounce it. She had a few fussy days recently and the drooling has increased a million fold, so we figured teething was imminent. We were right. Two days ago, we noticed her first bottom tooth, and today she's sporting another. She's cutting them fast and furious.

Julia was the last to come home from the NICU, but first to roll over from stomach to back, and she's first in the teething department. She was first to push up when lying on her tummy. Now that she knows how to coo, giggle, push up and roll, it takes some effort on our part to get her to keep doing it. She seems to bore easily. As soon as she acquires a new skill, she wants to move on to the next big thing. Her latest maneuver is lying on her back and lifting both legs up. Once she realizes she can sway her body to the side by doing that, she'll be rolling to her tummy in no time.

She has a slightly more serious disposition than her sisters. She finds my games amusing and will laugh out loud when I persist, but I have to earn it. Tough crowd. Sometimes I'll only get half a smile. She does this almost teenager-like expression where just the corner of her mouth is turned upward, like she's throwing me a bone. "Here, mom, here's your consolation prize for trying so hard."

Julia has tasted all of the same foods as Ada, but isn't as keen on solids at this point.

Emma is our tiniest pixie (we call her "Pixel" sometimes because she's so small). She has struggled the most with reflux. Despite that, she is such a content baby. She soothes herself to sleep by sucking her thumb and is by far our champion sleeper.

Emma has such a sweet, calm disposition. She rarely cries and fusses and now that we have switched to Prevacid for GERD, she is eating much better. A few weeks ago, I struggled to get 22 oz in her per day, but now she is regularly eating 26oz+ and less symptomatic. She isn't into solids at all and gags easily, but we've been having her taste whatever Ada eats, just for practice.

Now that her cheeks are filling out, you can see her dimples!

Even though she's much smaller than her sisters, she is pretty darn strong. During tummy time she pushes herself up the farthest and was the first to figure out that she can extend an arm to reach toys when she pivots to one side. She stares at her hands, opens and closes them like they're the best thing since sliced bread, and has clearly figured out that they're useful appendages. Just yesterday she snagged a toy that her sisters were looking at and I thought, "Oh boy, here we go."

Nobody is aware of their feet yet. I'm sure it's just a matter of time before they realize they have feet and start chewing their toes. Tee hee.