7 months

The girls are 7 months!

Reagan Faith Elmore

She is such a joy! Reagan is always happy and will go to anyone. She is very curious and grabs at everything. She can sit up pretty well and rolls all around the floor. We have to watch her because she will find a tiny piece of string on the carpet. Those fingers can pick up anything! She still has a heart murmur and will have an EKG on Feb. 19th.
Paige Anne Elmore
Paige is going to be the first to crawl. She is already getting up on all fours. Our lives are going to change when they become mobile! Paige enjoys sitting up and playing with her toys. She also enjoys laughing and hanging out with the family instead of sleeping. Paige sometimes ends up in the bed with mommy & daddy.

Kara Grace Elmore

Kara is our best sleeper. She can sit up great and loves playing close to the other girls. She likes to squeal and laugh, but both her and Paige have a bit of stranger anxiety. We sometimes have to say, "Don't look at them or talk to them." ha! It's getting much better though.

Identical Twins - it's still so crazy to me.
They act just alike. Paige is just more mobile than Kara.

Triplets!

Poor little Reagan is always in the middle of her big sisters. She is a good sport about it most of the time though.

All four girls, in matching outfits. So cute!

Brooke is such a great big sister. She folds their bibs and helps out with whatever we need. She doesn't even do anything and the babies just crack up at her, especially Paige. I always say, "Brooke, what did you do?" and she says, "Noth-sing, I am just looking at them." She is great entertainment.

Brooke & Reagan

My other set of twins.

All the girls have their own beds, but I think it's funny to see them all together. I can't imagine them sleeping together now because they would roll all over each other and pull Reagan's hair. We have to be on hair patrol for Reagan when the babies are all playing on the floor. They will also grab each others feet and try to eat them. Everything goes in their mouth, but no teeth yet.

Kara - Boo

Who is who? I bet you can tell who Reagan is.

Kara enjoys biting on Baby Mum Mums.

Reagan having her before dinner appetizer.

Paige broke hers in half.

Being able to sit up makes Kara so happy!

Paige sitting up (look at Reagan laughing in the background).

Reagan needs a bit of support sitting up. She can be a weeble wobble.

6 months

I can not believe my babies are six (6) months old!

They are eating quite well and Reagan seems to like food the most. You wouldn't know from their weights though.

Here are the latest stats from our six month appointment

Reagan: 13.1lbs (5%ile)

Paige: 15.10lbs (50%ile)

Kara: 16.9lbs (75%ile)

50 percentile is what is average for a babies weight their age. As you can see, Little Reagan is small and Kara is our big girl. The Dr. thinks that Kara is a bit bigger than Paige because she is not burning the same calories as Paige. Paige is rolling around. Brooke is 5 yrs old and only 5%ile in weight and 10%ile in height.

The girls got all their shots including a flu shot. They were out of the swine flu shot so we will have to go back. They actually did really well at the doctor's appointment.

As you can see the girls are teething Reagan just cracks me up!
Here's Reagan!
She is very good with her hands grabbing toys. She is still the most layed back and loves to smile and talk. She also loves to eat food. Dr. G still heard a heart murmur (level 2 out of 6), so we will have to see a cardiologist. Keep her in your prayers.
Kara!!!
Kara is our jolly ol' girl. She loves to laugh and smile. She is our "talker". She has been saying, "Dadadada".

Paige...

Paige is our athlete. As soon as you lay her on her back she rolls right to her belly. Once I turned my back and she rolled off the rug onto the tile. Things are about to get really interesting once they start moving.

Their hands are always in their mouth. We thought that Kara had a tooth. I know I felt something and saw a little speck, but now it is gone. I even let Brooke feel it. So weird!

THIS IS HOW WE TELL THE TWINS APART...

Kara has two tiny red marks on her neck. As you can see, it is difficult to see because she really doesn't have a neck. In the middle of the night, forget it. You can't see them at all. She also has a light birth mark under her chin, but that is even harder to see.

This is Paige and she has a tiny little red speck on her right arm. They mostly wear long sleeve right now, so we can never see Paige's mark. Paige's dimple is also a little bit deeper than Kara's when she smiles.

Now, here is the good (or bad) news. The little red marks are called hemangiomas. Hemangiomas are the most common benign tumor in infants. Between 4% and 10% of Caucasian infants have at least one hemangioma.
Hemangiomas are three to five times more common in females (especially fair-skinned girls) than in males, and occur more frequently in Caucasian.
The incidence of hemangiomas may be as high as 25% in premature infants of a low birth weight (fewer than 1,000 grams). They are also more common in twins. Paige & Kara's are very, very small and they will go away probably within a year and we will have to find a new way to tell them apart. There is no harm having them.

Here is Paige in action, rolling over.

EATING TIME!!!!

Troy got out Brooke's highchair so Reagan wouldn't have to eat in a bouncy seat anymore, but as you can see she is a bit too short for it. We are hoping that Santa Grandmom (Bubba) will get the twins highchairs for Christmas. I am tired of feeding the babies sitting on the floor. I think I have thrown out my back a few times.

Now we can see Reagan's whole face. We had to put a beach towel under her bottom like a booster seat.

The twins don't mind eating on the floor, but mama is so ready for three highchairs.

Yummy!

I think this is Kara.

This is where Reagan has been eating. Poor dear!

Paige fell asleep while eating. So cute!

Brooke fell asleep in her Santa hat and I couldn't resist taking a picture of her. She is getting so excited about Christmas and so am I. Christmas is going to be wonderful in the Elmore house with all of our girls.

Bubba "Bubbs" (Grandmom), Brooke and I went to see the Nutcracker.

Brooke and Bonnie (our nanny) baking Christmas cookies.

The making of a Christmas card with Triplets+1

Here is the final Christmas card and scroll down to see what it took to get it.

No, I did not design the card nor the blog. I am really not that creative. My dear friend and neighbor, Jamie Newman, gets all the credit. She is very talented and is now making shirts to add to her resume (she made the triplets shirts in their six month pictures). If you are intersted, see her blog Newman News or let me know. She is great!

2009 Elmore Christmas card

Brooke (5), Triplets (6 months)

This was a consideration for our Christmas card.
We had to get the babies outside the day it snowed for a picture. We just went to the backyard for a 5 minute shot and it took probably 30 minutes to bundle them all up.
The babies are in their color coded hats Reagan (red), Kara (purple), and Paige (pink).
Another family picture option...
Troy and I look okay, but the kids not so much. I am just too picky when it comes to pictures.

Update on Troy & I.
Troy is training for the Houston half-marathon in January and we are both running the Austin half-marathon Feb. 14th. I am both excited and nervous. I have been running, but am no where near where I was before the babies. I am teaching my 5am aerobics class at 24 Hour Fitness on Tuesdays. The babies are not sleeping consistent enough at night to do both Tues. & Thurs. I have really enjoyed getting back to teaching and I love the people in my class.
Update on the house - Still for sale
We decided to build our house because we couldn't find anything to fit our wants/needs in a resale or new. We have been working with Sterling Builders in Friendswood on the plan of our house. It has actually been a lot of fun to decide where all the rooms will go. Hopefully once the plans are finalized they can start building in January so we can be in by June. Brooke will be able to start kinder in Friendswood.
Okay, back to the Christmas pictures.

ALL FOUR GIRLS
This was my dream idea for a card, but poor Brooke had to keep smiling for 10 minutes while we jumped around clapping and singing trying to get the babies to smile and look at the camera. Brooke ended up with a plastered smile and Reagan looks like she is just chillin'.

Kara (on the left) is about to fall off the couch. We have decided in group shots that Kara will always be on the left so we can tell them apart. Reagan looks so dark skinned in between the two snow birds.

Kara is jolly, Reagan is stunned and Paige is not amused.

Kara is not happy, Reagan is blowing raspberries and Paige again thinks we are nuts.

Kara has a cute little smile, Reagan looks like she is doing a polka dance and finally Paige thinks something we are doing is amusing.

Finally, almost all of them smiling! I think we were really sweating by now.

Kara rolling her eyes at us now, Reagan is sick and tired of being in the middle and Paige is not liking her ears sticking out of her hat.

Not bad

A break in between photo shoots. Babies need food.

Bonnie is giving a pep talk and Reagan is saying, "I'm still over here."

We decided on a new backdrop for the couch and different clothes.

Reagan is easily amused. It really helps your self confidence.

Paige is such a cutie. Look at that big dimple.

Paige is more interested in her cheetah pants and toes.

A naked baby is so cute! I think the twins are the palest babies I have ever seen. They are blinding at times.

" This headband is cutting the circulation off my brain!"

Finally, happy baby!

You would think it would be easier to take a picture of a 5 year old, instead of triplets. Not when you have such a goofy one.

Brooke is sick of this already. This may be fake though.

Goofy Girl #1

Goofy Girl #2

Very goofy girl #3

pretty cute

Goofy, but cute.

Silly smooch, fish face

At this point, I am getting frustrated but Brooke also keeps making me laugh. This causes her to continue the goofiness. ugh!

Finally!

SANTA PICTURES

Kara, Reagan (watch as she slowly slips), Paige(not happy) and Brooke (with the "I'm tired of smiling" smile)

I am losing Reagan, Brooke is taking a nap, and Paige is even more upset.

"Reagan got hung by Santa, going to the mall on Christmas Eve..."

Brooke was so patient that we went to Build-A-Bear and she got Frosty. She also saw ANOTHER Santa, but we just told her that it was the same one and he moved. She didn't realize that the first one was in his pjs.

The best Christmas present ever!

Disney ornament from one of our multiple trips to Disney last year. I don't think we'll be going to Disney again anytime soon.