Finally, more like normal babies, just you know, three of ’em.

Yeppers. The headline gives a lot away. The girls are getting older and, as a result, aren’t quite as riddled with preemie challenges. In fact, a couple of them are such raging chunks that they’re hanging just fine on the growth charts for their age. What age, by the way? They’re almost 8 months, which feels like an eternity, honestly. Let’s take a look at some of the key improvements.

Recent quality of life improvements thanks to advancing age:

Gone are the feeds every three hours. They’re spaced out!
They can almost self-feed. Hand them a bottle, and they’ll make awkward attempts at drinking from them. Hitting their target as often as once a day.
They’re all about playing, grabbing, and babbling at each other. This means you can plop them in some bouncers or on a mat, and they’ll entertain themselves. Kind of. It’s short-lived, but it’s something.
They’re napping consistently every afternoon, which means a nice long chunk of quiet.
Speaking of sleep, here comes the big one. Sleeping through the freaking night. Yep, it finally happened. Is it reliable? No. But more often than not, when you put them to bed, you’re done.

Oh, man. Sunshine and roses, right? Not quite. It’s better but still pretty intense. A certain baby named Hannah likes to get up just before five, very interested in being held and looking at things. Still, it’s an upgrade from three am. Other fun changes are things like the shocking amount of drool they all produce at all times. I seriously don’t know how they don’t get dehydrated drooling that much. I keep hearing it’s a precursor to teething, which I also hear is both easy and by no means stressful.

Since it’s been like four months since I posted anything, we might as well look at some baby pictures.

Baby pictures.

The daily chaos.

Ah yes, baby pictures. The currency of all baby-related talk. I haven’t been the best at taking them since keeping them alive is already a full-time job. You know, on top of the other full-time job that’s bankrolling this operation. I say that to say these are both heavy on the seven to eight-month side and probably not in any order. Deal with it. Let’s start by taking a look at each of them.

Mallory

Mallory in her favorite place. Around Toys.

Originally “Baby A,” Mallory is now super fat and derpy. She’s also by far the most chill. Which, unfortunately, means she gets the least attention—more on that in Taylor’s section.

Taylor

Doing her best.

No longer living up to her old “Baby B” title, Taylor is both the biggest of the girls and off the rails. She wants all of the attention at all times. This can be problematic considering there are two other infants that require care. Luckily, she can also be quite fun. She’s my sister’s favorite, mainly because she’s so extra.

Tiny Hannah

She doesn’t smile as much as hold her mouth open in excitement.

“Baby C” is still little bitty. I mean, really, she’s just a few pounds behind her sisters, but when you’re not even 20 pounds, a few is a lot.

Annnnd more pictures:

They’re way more with it now, typically in the morning. Also, all toys are potential meals.

As you can see they’re way better at grabbing at things. Unfortunately, sometimes those “things” are their sister’s face. Many a baby has been kicked by her sister resulting in meltdowns.

This is how almost all “play time” nets out.

Yeah, they suck at staying awake. I often find myself marveling at the ways they’ll fall asleep. Enjoy it while it lasts, nerds!

Pretty solid illustration of their eating skills.

Self-feeding is a game-changer. You can reliably feed Mallory and Taylor at the same time with limited intervention. Hannah remains a hot mess.

Since we’re on the topic of pictures…

We may have gone ahead and done the Christmas card thing, even though I’m strongly opposed to anything cute or cute adjacent. Don’t you worry. I’m fully aware that there’s likely to be an overabundance of cute in my world having three little girls. Reminding me is not necessary. Anyway, behind the scenes making the card was a bit of a mess, mega shocker, I know. Let’s look at some failed shots!

Here’s the shot we dubbed “a winner.”

Most shots were messed up by Hannah not participating.

However, both Taylor and Mallory refused to hold still. Hannah just sat there, mouth agape, not helping.

This is about where we completely lost Taylor.

I was getting worried I’d have to photoshop in a better face for Hannah. But luckily, she kind of smiled while the other two looked in the right direction, and we got to call it a day.

Wrapping it up.

We’ll close with some odds, ends, and updates that I didn’t feel like working in.

They’re starting to figure out what things are. Such as bottles. Recently I was feeding a pissed Hannah to chill her out. Mallory decided to be hungry too. Then saw Hannah’s bottle and came undone. I made the mistake of trying to hold Mallory to calm her; instead, she just tried to take Hannah’s bottle from her.
They make guest appearances in my work meetings and love looking at all the faces on Zoom.
They pretty much only crap their pants in the morning when I’m on solo duty. Typically, just as my workday is starting. Super fun times.
My hair might be so long that I’m rocking a man bun.

Ok, that’s all I’ve got. See you in like, several months, knowing how much I love to procrastinate.