Eight Months!

Oh my goodness. Eight months. That sounds really old, doesn't it? Lots of memories were made this month: Charlotte and Jensen's first meeting with Santa, Jensen beginning to crawl, our first time sending out a Christmas card with pictures of our family of five (yes, five...don't forget Bailey!). But this month will always hold one memory that stands out above the rest: As we know, Jensen has loved his sister Charlotte for quite some time. But his love was pretty much unrequited. However, Charlotte has recently come to a wonderful conclusion:

She loves her brother!

Take a look...

Smiling as he tackles her!

She has decided that he's hilarious and she laughs at him all the time!

"Okay, you can join me in my chair."

Sharing a laugh over their silly Christmas outfits.

Look at the look on her face! I love it!

She has started messing with him and giving him a taste of his own medicine. He usually loves it.

Of course, it's not all sunshine and roses around here...

We've still got hair-pulling...

And sometimes, he's still too much for little Peanut. Can't really blame her.

And the other day, we actually had our first case of Charlotte picking on Jensen...as he crawled by her, she grabbed his face and bit him in the leg. He seemed shocked, then started crying. It seems he can dish it out, but he can't take it!

Let's see...another first this month was Charlotte and Jensen's first time visiting the park and going on the swings! Jensen thought it was just fine, and little Peanut loved it...the higher, the better! Charlotte is a little daredevil! Who knew?

Charlotte Anne at 8 Months:

(Height? Weight?)

Yes, this is seriously the best picture I got of her yesterday. Between the teething and not napping well, she was not a happy camper on her 8-month birthday.

Another reason for her displeasure was that I decided to try a bow on her head. I have nothing against bows on baby girls, but I have decided that the big ones just don't fit her personality. To me, she doesn't look like herself with them on. She's smiling in this pic, but if you look closely you can see a tear under her left eye.

Bow-less, and definitely looking more like herself!

Little Peanut has had a great month! She has her two bottom front teeth and is working on getting her first tooth on top (ouch!). She is sitting up well on her own, and although she's not quite crawling yet, she's definitely working hard at it (she has the back-and-forth rocking thing going on). Peanut has been sleeping fairly well (knock on wood) and loves, loves, loves going to bed every night. At bedtime, Brian makes a big production out of getting out Charlotte's pajamas and holding them up to show her...she squeals with delight every time she sees her PJs. It's hilarious! She also loves to wake up in the morning and always greets us with big smiles...she is definitely a morning person. Charlotte continues to study everything and everybody...she can be a serious little thing, and it definitely takes some effort to get a laugh out of her. She still loves to read and has started pointing at things in her books with her little pointer finger...so cute! Charlotte continues to become more and more mellow and happy. The other day, someone asked us if Charlotte "was always so happy." I never would have thought, back in Peanut's first few weeks of life, that anyone would be asking that question about her!

This is the "I'm studying this very closely" face. And note the pointer finger.

So studious!

Loves her books! Just like her mom!

Even though she can sit up, she still prefers to lie on her tummy most of the time.

In her "studying" mode again.

Happy girl who loves to be outside.

Jensen Todd at 8 Months:

Height? Weight?

Mr. Jensen. Where do I start? He is wild and crazy and loud and rough-and-tumble and messy and constantly looking for trouble. But he is also sweet. And his laughter and smiles totally melt my heart. In short, he's everything you think of when you think of a little boy. Jensen has been crawling pretty much since he turned seven months old, so he's got almost a month of crawling under his belt. But he is also now pulling up on everything (and often letting go with one or both hands). He has also recently begun trying to climb up onto things...no success yet, fortunately for me. He is pretty impressed with all his moves, which has led to him not napping all that well (because who has time to nap when you can pull yourself up in your crib and squeal at your sister?). So he's had a few grumpy evenings (and so has Charlotte...because it's hard to nap when a certain someone is leaned over the edge of his crib squealing at you!). I have been climbing into bed every night just exhausted from keeping up with him all day. Jensen still has no teeth, but I figure they can't be too far away. He has gotten a lot more verbal in the past week or so and loves to say "dada." The other day when Brian got home, he crawled over to him and said, "Hiiiii, Dad." Now I realize he is only eight months old and it was just the way he happened to string his sounds together that sounded exactly like "Hi, Dad", but it was so cool nonetheless.

Here are a few pics of my wild man in action...

Seeing him standing up is seriously the cutest thing ever. He looks like a little man.

Sweet cheeks.

Comin' through, Sis!

His hair is usually in some state of disarray.

Not the proper way to sit in the chair, dude.

He is obsessed with electronics (like daddy).

And a few pics of the big eight-month-olds together...

A rare double smile.

I love this one.

Playing together.  I have no idea where his pants went, but would you look at those legs? Greatness! 

This was cracking me up. I never have the TV on when they're awake, but I've recently started putting the music stations on. They were enthralled!

One of his new favorite things to do is hang onto the jumperoo as Charlotte jumps. He thinks it's great fun to be tossed around.

Eight months down! So, I will be honest here...having twins had been getting easier and easier every month...until this one. Things have gotten a bit crazy around here with Jensen's new-found mobility. It is hard to try to follow him around and make sure he doesn't kill himself while simultaneously paying attention to Charlotte and making sure she's happy and content (and I can imagine it will only get harder once Charlotte gets the crawling down). It's honestly pretty exhausting, but still so much fun. And watching them laugh together, well, it's absolutely priceless. I am really looking forward to them continuing to develop their relationship and become little buddies.