Eight Months

Well my little love muffins are officially 8 months old today. Yes, that means only 4 more months until they are ONE! As always, I'm astonished, sad, excited, and insanely proud of these amazing little girls. They are at such a fun age. It seems like they are doing/discovering something new each day. They are for sure starting to notice each other more. The other day while I was trying to quickly get ready, I had put both of them in their jumpers, and 5 minutes later I heard both of them laughing at each other! I of course ran in the room to witness it, and sure enough, for no reason, they were just cackling at each other. Melted my heart. They continue to interact on a daily basis. Mostly in the form of our little pistol, Sophie, trying to steal a toy or grab at Campbell. She takes it like the little laid back smiley girl she is and ignores it most of the time, but I can tell we are going to have to start working with Sophie on being nice to her sister. This morning, Kyle asked if it was too early to start "time out" with her! Their personalities couldn't be more different, and it's so fun to watch them develop. Here's a few highlights:

Skills we have acquired:

-Sitting up on our own

-Babbling

-Able to hold themselves up on furniture for a few seconds

-Eating baby food/puffs

Still working on...:

-Hair

-Our first tooth

-Crawling

-Drinking out of a sippy cup

Sophie Kay:

As stated earlier, this girl loves anything and everything...that her sister is playing with. She also would eat just about anything put in front of her, and gets very upset if we don't feed her fast enough (screams and makes this motion with her hand that signals us to hurry up). I can tell she is going to have a temper and be the boss around here someday. I also currently think she is going to be the one that gets the two of them in trouble ("Come on, Campbell, Mom will never find out") She also looooves to talk to us. Her favorite musical artist is "Gaga" We know this because she tells us aaaallll day long. We think, a few times, the "G" has turned into a "D" making what we believe her first word to be: "Dada" (or at least Kyle thinks so). Still wondering when she will make it more official. She loves doing anything with her hands. Including mimic-ing me when I sing "Skin-a-marink-a-dinky-dink", waving, and attempting to clap her hands (which is hysterical). I'm thinking it may be time to start the baby sign language with her since she loves using those hands so much. She also can impressively clap her feet together really well! She still has the sweetest smile, and tons of little rolls that I could gobble up. She is also finally getting some hair! So far it appears to be strawberry blonde/red and potentially curly. We agree that her fiery redish hair matches her personality. Can't wait until this girl starts talking more. I think she's gonna have a lot to say!

Campbell Jane:

Aaah, my happy little CJ. Her smile continues to light up a room. While not as vocal as her sister, she still loves to be talked to and thinks anything and everything you say is hilarious. She loves to listen to my off-key voice sing songs and read books. She is also very accepting of her selfish sister stealing whatever she is playing with, and usually, shockingly, finds it funny when she takes something from her. She is super ticklish on just about any part of her body, especially her ribs and feet. She, too, is starting to get a little bit of hair. It's still very uneven and skullet-like. And she has a little bit on the crown of her head that is very tweety-birdish (don't I make that sound attractive?) I think she is going to have my texture/color of hair, which is very fine and light brown. Recently, more and more people are starting to say how much she looks like Kyle, and I'd have to agree. Her eye shape/color are 100% his. I still think she has my nose, but we aren't sure where that giant smile comes from! It is definitely uniquely hers, and it brightens my day every day. 

Here are a few more pics of my growing beauties:

Playing with Papa's cowboy hat

Tough cowgirl, Sophie

Memorial Day weekend

We would dominate a swimsuit contest.

Backyard inflatable pool time

Happy CJ

Yummy carrots

They look so big in their highchairs!

Playtime

We love summer!

Playdate with the Coy triplets. Oh what fun!

Mema

My two favorite Daddies on Father's Day at Mema's

Family pool pic

Just relaxing at Mema's after playing in the pool

Love you girls more than anything!

xoxo

Three Years: We made it!

Well, after not having a functioning computer for what seems like a year, we now have a new one-wooohoooo! While I have to say it was somewhat of a relief to not have one (I got a lot of house work done, projects completed, etc.), I'm thrilled to have one again. And boy is it fast! (just picture an old woman who is being introduced to technology for the first time saying this) I had started on this post right before our anniversary and had planned on posting it on our anniversary (June 7th for anyone who wants to put it in your calendar so you can send us a gift next year) :). Although it's a little belated, I wanted to share my old lady wisdom after an astounding 3 years of marriage. Or rather, just a good reflection of where we've been and where we're going. One thing I really try to do with not just my husband, but babies, friends, family, etc. is to always be mindful of the little reasons why I love them. I also want to be mindful of all the little reasons that make marriage wonderful and insanely challenging at the same time. One thing I feel like we were maybe "warned" of before babies is that it will put your marriage to the test. In case you were wondering, that is a very true statement. Kyle and I have had to make quite an extraordinary effort to make sure we not only maintain, but continue to have a marriage that thrives and grows while trying our best to meet the needs of 2 very demanding 8 month olds. I suppose it's in light of this that I thought I would sit down and make a list of my observations over the last 3 years.

1. Being married is hard in ways I never expected.
2. Being married is glorious in ways I never expected.
3. We realized after babies why people say "marriage is work."
4. Sometimes we are too tired to talk, and that's fine...as long as it doesn't happen everyday.
5. Two babies at once makes things interesting.
6. If it's not getting better, it's getting worse.
7. It's been incredible to see how much we have both grown and changed for the better over the last 3 years.
8. I'm glad I'm married to someone who puts his dirty socks in the clothes hamper (towels are a different story, but see how I'm looking at the positive?)
9. I'm also glad I married someone who pretends to think saggy skin and stretch marks are beautiful.
10. I realized about 8 months ago that I married a man who is also the greatest father in the world.
11. We both still make a lot of mistakes, but we have yet to make one that we haven't grown or learned from.
12. Men's emotional maturity happens at a much slower pace than women's (I'm just saying).
13. Twins cost a lot of money. I still like to online shop. And these two combined can sometimes make me see why finances are the number one cause of divorce. :)
14. Neither of us are perfect; but together, we are perfect for the 2 most amazing little girls I've ever met.

Several months before we got married, the pastor that married us told us that marriage should be a battle of who can serve the other the best. In other words, we should constantly be trying to "outdo" the other in going above and beyond to meet the other's needs. It sounded pretty good when he told us, but after three years, I can tell you it's the absolute truth. I wish I could say we do that all the time (we don't), but the times that we do, our marriage thrives.

I continue to be thankful for the amazing friends in my life that are honest, real, and encouraging when it comes to navigating this whole marriage/baby thing. I hope I am the same for them.

Cheers to us! :)

xoxo