Thanksgiving = Family Pics X 3

Thanksgiving weekend kind of passed us by in a blur of camera flashes...this is due to the fact that (much to Brian's dismay) we took not one, not two, but three sets of family pictures. The first set of pics was of the Shelton side of the family (including Brian's parents, their three kids and spouses, and a combined six grandkids all age five and under). Brian's dad is about to turn 60, and rather than a party, he wanted family pictures of us all (isn't that sweet?). So we gathered at a photography studio in Fort Worth at 10:00 on Saturday morning. As you can imagine, chaos ensued.

Charlotte and Jensen were doing great until it came time to take a pic of just the grandkids. Everyone was posed (Jensen was being supported by cousin Laird) and ready to go...all that was left to do was to place Charlotte on her tummy in the middle of the group. Aaaaaand...cue Charlotte-style meltdown! We sang, we danced, we blew bubbles, we made idiots of ourselves in general...nothing would snap her out of meltdown mode. She was lying in the middle of the grandkids just sobbing as the photographer took pictures. It wasn't pretty (but it was slightly funny). So we took her out of the picture and calmed her down while the photographer snapped a few pics of the five non-melting-down grandkids. Once she was calm, everyone left the room except the photographer, Brian, Charlotte and me. We put her down by herself on the white backdrop and she worked it like a supermodel. Perhaps our little diva just wanted the spotlight all to herself! So the photographer's plan is to edit little Charlotte into the picture of the other grandkids...which I think is hilarious. I can't wait to see the finished product...Charlotte sitting front-and-center, surrounded by her cousins, looking as peaceful as can be. But we will always remember that things aren't always as they seem!

The next day, my mom decided she wanted to take family pictures to use for Christmas cards. So we gathered at my parent's house and smiled pretty for the camera. Well, at least Brian did...

I love this because we are all clearly discussing how to fine-tune our posing, and Brian is ignoring us all and smiling at the camera as if to say, "OMG-can-we-please-just-get-this-over-with-NOW."

Then we had some fun with the menagerie of golden retrievers that always results from the entire family being together:

Yes, that would be Jensen going for a Bear ride. Yes, the blurry gold thing in the front of the picture is poor Mr. Bear. Yes, my dad and my brother have way too much fun with these things. And also? Check out Jensen's hair...I spiked it up for the pics! Doesn't he look like a big boy?

Kisses from Mr. Bear. I love how much my babies love dogs. They are definitely related to me!

Charlie-Bug having a deep conversation with Grandpa.

How Charlotte really feels about all this picture-taking.

After all that fun, we had our third photo shoot yesterday. We took pictures of just Brian, me, Charlotte and Jensen (and of course, Bailey!). We met the photographer out in a rural area complete with a field and barn. She took a ton of pics and was really sweet (I'd wanted her to take Charlotte and Jensen's newborn pics, but she had recently had a baby herself and wasn't working at the time). Taking pics of seven-month-old twins plus their parents and dog is no easy feat, but I can't wait to see the pics and hopefully make one into a Christmas card.

So, all the picture-taking is complete and we are left with one sick Jensen and one tired Mommy. Poor Mr. Man picked up a cold somewhere over the weekend and he is now snotty, pitiful and not sleeping too well. Not much we can do except hope that somehow we get lucky and little Charlotte doesn't catch it...not likely considering that Jensen's main goal in life is to get as close to his sister as possible!

We Heart New York(ers)

Thanksgiving weekend brought a few very special visitors to our house all the way from NYC...Robin, Jake and baby Drew! Robin flew home to Texas from New York with 19-month-old Jake and eight-week-old Drew and no adult helpers...brave girl, but her kiddos did great. They came to visit us on Tuesday and Charlotte and Jensen had a great time with their new friends...Jensen seemed to love having another boy around to play with, and Charlotte seemed to have a bit of a crush on Jake. But, I mean, can you blame her??

Yes, he knows he's hot stuff.

All four kiddos together (can you spot baby Drew down there in the play yard?)

This kind of sums up the day...Jensen thrilled to be playing rough with another boy (see him grabbing Jake's face?) and Charlotte thrilled to be watching from a safe distance. And also thrilled that Jensen was grabbing someone's face besides hers.

"Jake, you are hilarious!"

Charlotte trying to act all shy and demure as Jake kissed her good-bye.

It was so much fun, and slightly crazy as well (I found a raisin in the master bathroom later that day!). The funny thing is, 19 months ago Robin and I had zero kids between us. Now, just a short time later, we have four. Life sure changes quickly sometimes, doesn't it?

Seven Months!

Month Seven! I think this month shall always be remembered as the month when I began asking Jensen and Charlotte the big question: "Am I going to have to separate you two?!?" Let's see...what have Charlotte and Jensen been up to during their seventh month (besides fighting, that is)?

They experienced their first Halloween!

 

They started eating solids! So far, they have eaten avocado, peas, pears, apples, sweet potato, rice, and turkey...all homemade by me (yes, even the rice cereal). The baby-food-making is not so bad! I make batches (usually on the weekends when Brian is home) and freeze them in cubes so that when mealtime comes, I just have to pop a cube or two in the microwave. Whenever I feel like it's a huge pain, I make my way to the baby food aisle of the grocery store and check out the prices for a jar of food...yep, making their food myself is definitely worth it! They are not huge fans of peas, and Charlotte pretty much hates the turkey. Up next...prunes! Yummy!

"We want prunes...we want prunes!"

"Yeah! What she said!"

They finally experienced a bit of cold weather!

Err, okay...it wasn't really cold enough to necessitate these hoodies. But they are super-cute all bundled up!

They attended their first story time at the library!

Unfortunately, story time is during naptime...but I woke them up early one day and took them to see Miss Annette at the library. I think they were the youngest ones there, but they really did enjoy it! I am looking forward to the day when their naps don't coincide with story time.

Charlotte Anne at 7 Months:

(No idea how much she weighs!)

 

My Charlotte Anne. How can one little Peanut bring so much drama? I swear, the girl can switch from huge smiles to all-out sobbing in less than a second. This month, we have discovered that Charlotte seems to be a morning person. She greets us every morning with smiles, laughs, shrieks of joy, and lots of stories about her night. However, afternoons are another story. She just seems to be done with the day at around 4:30 or so...it's like nothing makes her happy at this time of day. It's frustrating, but I can't be too mad because I think she gets this little trait from me. Another trait Charlotte shares with her mom is a love of books and reading. She has picked her favorite books and characters (the mouse from If You Give a Mouse a Cookie and the pig from If You Give a Pig a Pancake are particular favorites) and will squeal with delight when you show her the cover of her favorite stories. She still enjoys shopping and anything to do with clothes (watching me fold them, watching me get dressed, etc.). Charlotte's hair has grown a lot this month, and it appears as though it's going to be wavy like her dad's (which means that she officially has NONE of my physical characteristics...she is 100% her dad!). Charlotte is still not sitting up very well on her own...she just has no interest in it and prefers to spend most of her time on her tummy. She does, however, have one milestone to share with you...

Her first chomper! Can you see it down there? This sucker is taking its sweet time coming in...and is probably a contributing factor to at least some of her grumpy times.

Here are a few more pics of little Charlie-Bug's seventh month:

Jensen Todd at Seven Months:
(No idea how much he weighs!)

 

Jensen Todd--as you can see, my little stinker is sitting up on his own these days! He is also working hard on his crawl...he is definitely able to get where he wants to go, but he hasn't quite perfected it just yet. This boy is full of life and adventure. He loves to laugh...I have a couple of really funny videos of him cracking up, but you know how I have issues with posting videos. Jensen is absolutely into everything. He wants to go, go, go and explore! All this activity makes him a great sleeper, though...he naps great and sleeps like a log at night. He continues to be easygoing most of the time, but he occasionally gets frustrated (like when he can't quite crawl fast enough or reach something he wants). This month, he has had a touch of "stranger danger"...sometimes, when he is approached by someone he doesn't know, he will stick his bottom lip out and start to cry. It's very sad but so stinkin' cute at the same time. He continues to have two modes: relaxed, chill baby and wild man! It cracks me up, because I have friends who have met him only once during chill mode and they don't believe me when I describe him as wild. Jensen has recently discovered what all little boys know: Daddy = FUN! Whenever Brian is on the floor with him, Jensen knows that it's time to play! Here are a few pics of my wild man in action:

"Let me just check out this wasp situation."

"And I'd better check out these electronics, too..."

Aaaaannd....CRASH. On Grandpa.

"Who, me?"

A little (forced) snuggle time with Mommy.

And that brings us to Charlotte and Jensen together.  Little man still loves his sister...a lot. Too much, actually. We can't put them beside each other without him grabbing her, pulling her hair, poking her in the eye, biting her butt, etc. He is smiling when he does it, so I don't think he's being mean. Maybe he's just being a boy? Either way, she doesn't appreciate it (not that I blame her). It is just so interesting to note the differences between them...when Jensen wants to investigate my hair, he yanks on it as hard as he can. When Charlotte wants to investigate my hair, she reaches up and gently touches it. And when Jensen wants to pet Bailey, he usually comes away with a fistful of dog hair. Charlotte, on the other hand, pets Bailey very sweetly and gently (hmmm...I wonder which twin will be Bailey's favorite?).

Sharing a book. A brief moment of sweetness.

CHOMP.

Seven Month Pics Take One: Together on the Chair...

Before Jensen notices his sister...

"Oh, it's you...and you have something on your head!"

"I'll go ahead and take that..."

 

 

Take Two...Separated by Boppies (as you can see, Charlotte's eyes are red from crying due to her brother's prodding in the chair):

"Charlotte...why are you sad?"

"I'd better come over there and cheer you up..."

"Don't worry, I'm almost there!"

"But Charlotte, I loooove you!"

"What'd I say?"

So there you have it...the seventh month. It's been fun but really exhausting...maybe because more awake time for the babies = less time for me to get things done. The minute their little heads hit their cribs for nap time, I feel like I am racing against the clock, basically running through the house as fast as I can, trying to do everything that needs to be done...laundry, cleaning, washing and making bottles, showering, organizing pictures/working on the blog...I cannot even think about the upcoming holiday season and everything extra that will need to be done or I go into panic mode.

One thing I have really enjoyed about this month is watching Charlotte and Jensen reach milestones like crawling and getting teeth. Since they are definitely hitting their milestones at different times from one another, it has helped remind me that I have two completely different babies who just happened to be born at the same time...so I am going to get to experience everything twice. I've seen Charlotte's first tiny tooth, but I still don't know which tooth Jensen will get first. I have watched as Jensen figured out how to crawl, but I still look forward to seeing the wheels turn in Charlotte's mind as she realizes that she can pull up on all fours and get to where she wants to go. They continue to amaze me on a daily basis, and I know that being their mom will just keep getting better and better.

Wordless Wednesday

(A picture kinda loses its "worth a thousand words" quality when BLOGGER UPLOADS IT SIDEWAYS!)

Aristide, Peas, and Almost-Milestones.

Yep, that just about sums up our weekend. Random, yes, but a great weekend nonetheless. First we'll start with the Aristide part of the title. Aristide is a lovely building in Mansfield that was built by some friends of ours. They are always having fun stuff there, and this weekend we actually found ourselves there for three separate events. The first was a 30th birthday party (complete with live music, casino tables and Mexican food) on Friday night (I stole these pics from Hil. Thanks, HD!):

Me, Hilari, Tiffany and Aunt Biff. If you're wondering what's up with my hair, I'll tell you: I was pleased with myself because I had washed it, blown it dry, etc. earlier that day to be ready for the party that night. Then, at about four minutes to departure time, Mr. Jensen spit up all in my hair. Definitely no time to re-wash. Solution? Ponytail. Sticky, smelly ponytail. If you happened to be near me at the party and smell something funky, it wasn't your imagination. It was just my spit-up hair. Sorry.

Jonathan, Nick, Uncle Dot, Brian and Tommy

Saturday was one of those hang-around-the-house days. I just had to stop and think if I actually ever left the house, and it turns out I did...I went to the in-laws house to borrow their blender to make pureed peas for the babies. Which brings us to the "peas" part of the title...Charlotte and Jensen's first taste of peas was hilarious. Uncle Dot and Aunt Biff happened to have come over to hang out for a bit, so they got to witness it (and take pics for me).

It's worth noting that I don't like peas. At all. (Charlotte and Jensen, if you are reading this someday (and I certainly hope you are, because you READING this is the entire point of me WRITING it), you're probably saying something along the lines of, "But why did you make us eat peas if you don't even like them yourself? Not fair!" And you're right...it's not fair. But I gave you the peas because I love you two so much and I want you to be healthy. You'll understand someday. My mom (your Grandma) used to tell me the exact same thing. I didn't believe her. But she was right. And someday, you'll see that I'm right, too.) So I was busting out all my theatrical skills and saying things like "Mmmmmm...yummy peas!" to the point where Brian accused me of "overselling the peas." Jensen took his first bite and gave us the most pitiful look as if to ask why we were torturing him (we didn't have the camera at this point because we didn't know it would be so photo-worthy). He seemed to eventually resign himself to the fact that the peas were his food of the day, and I actually don't think he minded them...

I love this pic. The cheeks, the eyelashes, the chubby little hand.

Then Charlotte started chowing down, and she was all into the peas...at first. Then she started doing this...

And this...

So I'm not so sure what her deal is with the peas...she did the same thing the next couple of times she tried them. She starts out all happy and loving the peas, then all of a sudden she decides they're gross. Hey, maybe she believes my pea-overselling at first! And it takes her awhile to realize that the peas aren't really as "Mmmmmm, delicious!" as my acting skills are leading her to believe!

Our other noteworthy Saturday event was Mr. Jensen working on his crawling. He's not quite there yet, but the guy is seriously, seriously trying. He gets up on all fours and rocks back and forth (a move I like to call "The Angry Gorilla") and every once in a while he will propel himself forward, but forget to move his arms and wind up face-planting on the carpet. Todd and Tiff got to see his moves for the first time on Saturday, and they were cracking up at him. The four of us were holding our breath thinking we were about to witness his crawling milestone, but he just hasn't quite gotten it yet. He gets closer every day, and I am definitely having mixed feelings about it.

Check out my moves, Uncle Dot!

Moving onto Sunday...my mom came over in the morning to babysit so that Brian and I could go with Cristi to visit a new church that is currently meeting at Aristide. It was strange...I think we were among the oldest people there! Definitely not your usual church crowd...the service also lasted for an hour and a half, which seemed a bit long, but maybe not? Brian and I agreed that we really enjoyed the message though, so we are definitely going to visit again. After church we hung out at home for awhile, then we got the kiddos all dressed and headed out to attend a cook-off/concert at, you guessed it, Aristide! They had bounce houses and stuff for the kids, live music, and tons of teams (including my brother, Johnny and Tommy) participating in a cook-off with food like chili and ribs.

Jensen was very chill the entire time we were there (I've decided that the kid has two modes: chill and wild man!). Charlotte threatened to have a meltdown when we first arrived (I think she was overwhelmed) but she soon perked up, and she actually wound up being the life of the party! She loved the music and was squealing and kicking her legs the entire time. And she looked darn cute, if I do say so myself...

While there, little Charlotte had the weekend's other almost-milestone: When we first arrived, Cristi asked me if Charlotte was teething. I think I said something along the lines of, "I don't know." (Because really, I didn't know. She's been showing signs of teething for literally months now, so I had kind of started writing off the drooling, hand-chewing, etc.) Then Cristi said she saw a tooth...and sure enough, there it was...not quite poking through her gum yet, but close. I hadn't noticed it, and my mom swears it wasn't there that morning when she babysat. So we will always remember that Cristi was the first one to spot Charlotte's first tooth. :) I think it'll probably poke through any day now. This makes me sad...I'm going to miss their big, gummy smiles!

So, that was our weekend. A nice mix of friends, fun stuff, and hanging out at home. I just realized that we have something planned every weekend from now until Christmas...busy times ahead!

Spheksophobia.

You don't know what that means, do you? Chances are, you know that it means a fear of something. But what?

Here's your first clue: the insect fun continues here at the Shelton House of Horrors!

Here's your second clue: Do you like our lovely new fireplace decor?

(That would be duct tape surrounding the fireplace doors.)

And here's your answer: Wasps. A lot of them. In our fireplace.

Our little wasp problem first happened when I was pregnant and I started noticing the little buggers flying around the house. I tell you, it was quite an inconvenience to have to put down my Taco Bueno, pause my rerun of Gray's Anatomy, get up off the couch, swat them with a magazine, and finish them off with bug spray. We had an exterminator come and take care of the problem...but it seems that now, almost a year later, our little problem has returned. I noticed them one afternoon while playing with the babies. I killed a couple, then gave up and retreated into the bedroom with the babies and the dog, shut the door, and called Brian with a pitiful, "Can you please come home now?" (It was already 4:30 by this point, so I didn't feel too guilty being a damsel in distress.)

The wasps come down through the chimney and escape through the cracks in the fireplace doors...so Brian's (temporary, and I'd go so far as to say genius) solution was to just eliminate the cracks in the fireplace doors with duct tape. I am somewhat obsessed with watching the wasps crawl around in there...as is Bailey. Every once in awhile she tries to bite one of them through the glass. I think she fancies herself quite the guard dog...

 

Of course, I don't have the heart to tell her that she would probably be on the losing end of a Bailey vs. wasps battle. Especially since I often find her like this...

Sleeping on the job!

These wasps are stressing me out a little bit. Every once in awhile, they will all group together on one side of the fireplace doors and I will think, They're organizing! They are putting their little wasp minds (and stingers) together and plotting a way outta the fireplace and into my living room! And I watch for a stinger to poke through the duct tape and listen for the telltale "bzzzzzz" of a wasp on the loose. But so far the duct tape has held. The exterminator comes on Wednesday. I do believe I will be taking the babies and the dog somewhere far, far away when the exterminating takes place.