Papi & Nana

Nana & Papi are here! They arrived last night, and there has been no end to the fun since they arrived (well, a little non-fun...Allie - who had about 4 beautiful nights of perfect pre-teething sleep - reverted back to the sleep of one who is giddy with newly discovered mobility and is hurting with another tooth poking through. Mama is sad...and sleepy). However, the babies are still trying to figure how Nana & Papi (who they recognize from regular skypes) got out of the computer!

It was fairly warm (for December), so we walked to the playground to have some fun on the swings!

But shortly after we got there it started to sprinkle, and then heavily sprinkle, and we ended the walk practically sprinting home in the rain (we had no rain cover with us so Nana and I were trying to hold her jacket over the babies while Papi pushed the stroller - a kodak moment...if anyone had a free hand to take a picture!)

One highlight was another Christmas celebration! I hope the babies know how spoiled they are. They have received gifts from many generous friends and family. While we are so thankful for all of the people in their lives who love them and have so generously made this first Christmas very special, I'm thankful that the babies won't remember this first Christmas and think this is the standard to be met every year! Papi & Nana brought some wonderful new toys that the babies have enjoyed playing with all day!

Allie LOVES her duck finger puppet book she received in the Dunsmore family gift exchange from Great Grandma!


Ryan is a big fan of the hammer he received from his Nana in the Dunsmore family gift exchange...just a little confused about how he is supposed to use it.

Ryan enjoying their new music table. A BIG hit with both babies.

Allie works on her dunk - I see many basketball games in our future!

A few BIG happenings:

Allie is standing. She has been working on this for a while, and now pulls herself up swiftly and easily (much to mommy's terror). This is part of the non-sleeping...she has figured out how to stand in her crib...getting back down to fall asleep is a little more difficult though!

Not only did I turn around to find her suddenly standing, but even with all of the new toys she managed to sniff out her old favorite - her car!

AND (drumroll please!) Ryan is crawling! He has crawled some before. We've seen him crawl a few short distances. Once or twice I turned around to see a lot of distance covered, and no other way for him to have covered it. And once Lucas witnessed him crawl across the room. But for the most part he chose to feign ignorance and simply have someone move him wherever he wanted to go (or just stand him up so he could jump). However, he seems to have suddenly discovered the freedom of crawling wherever he wants, and today he took off. I'm SO excited because he was getting more and more grumpy during independent play times because he was stuck with whatever was near him. BUT, as I watched two babies go in two different directions I began to wonder how I am going to survive two mobile babies (especially on the small ration of sleep Allie is allotting me...). Regardless, enjoy the video!