eight months

Big updates for this month: 

Gwen has started pulling herself up to stand with very little help from us.  She grabs onto her jumper or crib and lifts her butt off the ground.  She needs a little boost from us but she's just starting to learn to walk her hands up to support herself as she stands.  When she first started sitting, that's all she wanted to do, and now she's that way with standing.  She gets so excited and proud of herself after she has pulled herself up.

I love it when I hear my babe chatting away!  She's been saying mamamamama a lot, and has started saying dada more too.  Even though we realize that she probably has no idea what she's saying, I think she sees that we get excited when she says it so she keeps doing it.  As much as I love hearing her talk, sometimes she can be a little bit loud.  Usually, it's when she's around other babies, or (a bit more inconveniently) when we're at restaurants. When she gets excited, she expresses it by SCREECHING.  To the point where her face turns red and she starts coughing after a while.  Today, we caught her doing it in order to get Jackson's attention.  It's funny and cute, slash concerning - just because I have no idea how to get her to stop doing it when the timing is inappropriate.  In the beginning we thought it was hysterical, especially when she'd do it at home so we'd laugh and mimic her.  We realize now that that's probably not the best idea.  It's like when you invite your adorable new puppy in your bed, and then a year later it's not so cute anymore when he's all sprawled out and kicking you in the throat in the middle of the night.  Sooner or later, her screeching probably won't be as cute.  ;)

Seriously, how can you discourage this face?

This is brand new, like as in today: She just started feeding herself with a spoon!  See the big girl in action in the video below.

In other news: Gwen now weighs just under 18 lbs, and is officially heavier than Jackson!