A stranger walks in, and three identical sets of baby blue eyes grow wide.

Scarlett is the first to smile.

As if on cue, her sisters, Karma and Nova, follow suit.

And soon the year-old triplets are back to crawling single file after their big sister, 2-year-old Fianna, in a baby train down the hall, through the living room and back again, where they all climb on mom.

"Sometimes I feel like a dog with a litter of pups," 22-year-old Misty Roots jokes, giving a round of hugs and snuggles.

A lot has happened since we first introduced you to Misty and Logan Roots and their identical triplets on June 29, 2008.

One year ago, Misty, once a size 00, watched her flat belly expand to the size of a giant beach ball - measuring 21 inches from top to bottom - her waist stretching to 43 inches around.

"I didn't think it was humanly possible to stretch that much," Misty says.

Today, her body is back to normal.

"Except for my pooch," she says grasping the skin and jiggling it.

And life for Logan, 29, and Misty Roots has settled into a new kind of normal - one the young couple never imagined in their wildest dreams.

The pregnancy was not planned.

Misty and Logan still were adjusting to parenthood with 10-month-old Fianna when Misty discovered she was pregnant again.

An ultrasound revealed twins.

Then, one long month later, another ultrasound revealed the source of Misty's discomfort - a third baby tucked high behind her ribs.

Triplets.

Identical triplets - judging from the single placenta.

A one in 200 million occurrence, according to at least one national vital statistics keeper.

No one really knows for sure the odds of identical triplets - they happen so rarely that statistics are hard to calculate. They occur when a single fertilized egg divides into three - or, as Misty puts it, "Baby A exploded into three babies."

Hence the names:

Nova Emily - as in super nova.

Scarlett Jean - "I just like that name. It sounds like it is from the 1920s."

Karma Isabella - "She was the last one to be found. She will bring us good karma."

Dr. Sean Kenney delivered the babies by Caesarean section in 2 minutes and 2 seconds on June 20, 2008.

Each weighed a little more than 3 1/2 pounds.

Five weeks early, they stayed in the Neo-natal Intensive Care Unit at Saint Elizabeth Regional Medical Center for one month.

They came home wearing heart monitors, as a precaution.

But, aside from common baby ailments like colds and teething-related fevers, all three babies have enjoyed great health.

A recent developmental screening put all three right on target with full-term babies their age.

Misty counts her blessings.

The first six months were a blur, Misty says.

"We weren't ready," she says. "We weren't grown up yet."

Before kids, she and Logan didn't know what they wanted. They didn't always make good choices. They liked to party and stay out all hours of the night. They didn't worry about things like jobs, finances and the future.

"It was exciting.

"Our lives are still exciting," Misty adds. "But it's more important stuff now. We're getting more grown up about things. We want to be there for our kids."

Logan works full time at his father's Haymarket art studio.

Misty stays home with the girls and sometimes babysits for her new neighbors in the Tierra Park neighborhood where they moved in March.

She enjoys being a mom.

Her great desire is to be a good one.

That's something she didn't always have growing up in Arizona.

Misty's relationship with her own mom is strained - she has yet to see the triplets. Misty's father is dead. Her parents never married.

They had wild lives, Misty says. They were in and out of trouble with the law.

Misty was primarily raised by her grandmother.

As a young teen, Misty lived like her parents - drugs, alcohol, sporadic homelessness. She hung out with a rough crowd. She says she was raped twice - the first time stole her virginity. She was 14.

Tattoos and piercings embellish her petite body.

People often judge her and Logan by their body art, Misty says. As well as their youth.

They know they're young.

But they also are loving and devoted parents.

"Our life is our kids," Misty says.

In the beginning, Misty was terrified of being home alone with the three babies.

It was impossible to hold and console all three at the same time -let alone deal with a suddenly displaced Fianna who couldn't understand how the world had shifted from revolving around her.

"And I never thought I would be able to tell them apart," Misty said.

They color-coded the girls with polished toenails. Red for Scarlett. Blue for Karma. Au naturel for Nova. Other times they'd identify them by hair ties on their ankles.

At 12 months, they still are carbon copies. A small scar beneath Karma's eye (from a fingernail encounter with a sister) and a pale birthmark on her behind make her the easiest to pick out. A vein in Scarlett's head - where an IV was attached in the NICU - makes her a bit more identifiable from the crowd.

But Misty still has to stop and double check every once in awhile.

"Who are you?" she coos, peering over a tiny head and into sparkling blue eyes. Then she pulls back the diaper. No birthmark. It must be Scarlett.

Misty wonders what it's like to feel as if you are always looking into a mirror.

Because the babies looked alike, Misty assumed they would be alike.

"I didn't realize they would have three separate personalities … different needs, different likes, different dislikes, different laughs. They are each very different. It's fascinating."

Scarlett is the daredevil. The first to crawl, the first to talk. The first to stand and take a step. "She's very rambunctious."

Karma is like Fianna. She likes things her way, and lets you know if you're not meeting her expectations.

Nova is the quiet one. "She's daddy's girl," Misty said.

There is a unique bond between the girls.

At times they seem to speak their own language. Where one goes, the others must follow.

"If you take one away, the other two start freaking out," Misty said.

They are perfectly content to do their own thing, as long as they can see the others, Misty says.

It's been a quick and long year, Misty says. Baby times three makes every task longer, every effort more exhausting.

Please tell people thank you for their help and gifts, Misty said. She started to write thank you cards, but babies and life got in the way.

At night, when everyone is finally asleep - usually around 11 p.m. - Misty and Logan creep off to bed, where they log on to their X-Boxes and blast away.

"I take my frustrations out by killing zombies," Misty says.

She laughs and glances down at the drooling threesome circling their big sister in the living room.

"They've been fun," Misty says of her triplets. "They do test your patience. And they test your intelligence - a lot."

"I can't wait until they're two."

Reach Erin Andersen at 473-7217 or eandersen@journalstar.com.