Visit from Nana & Grampa

My parents came to visit this weekend and the boys just loved hanging out with their Nana and Grampa Mac. It was so great to see them together. They both thought my Dad was hysterical, and he loved having a new audience (we thought he was funny when we were kids too - he's still using the same material). Robie especially cracked up at pretty much everything Grampa did, while Teddy was happy to have Nana-nana-nana in the house instead of on the phone or the computer.

The boys did their best to show off all their new talents. Teddy was walking everywhere with his arms up by his head for "balance" - he's like a little godzilla coming at you, usually with tongue sticking out and cackling like he just destroyed the Empire State Building. Robie is taking a few steps at a time, stringing together 5-6 quick steps every now when he thinks noone is watching. He's more focused on trying to talk, and loved to mimic the funny sounds Grampa would make. I may be crazy, but I think he said "Thank you" the other day when I was done changing him, and last night I handed him his toothbrush and said "It's time to brush your teeth". I swear to God he said "Brush my teeth" right back to me. Chris was sitting right there and we both heard it, so it wasn't just me.

They seem to picking up so many new things very quickly all of the sudden - it's so much fun to see. Teddy started stacking blocks this past week, where before his only interest was in banging them on the window or knocking them down. Last night he was adding to a stack that Chris had started and he had 2 different kinds of blocks. He started to put one that didn't match on top, then he paused, looked again and swapped it out for the matching block, putting the odd one on the top of the stack instead. I was amazed! They both ride their little truck/scooters by themselves now (yay - no more breaking my back pushing them up and down the hall!) and can climb on and off the rocking horse now that we removed the safety seat. They're both really trying hard to climb onto the couch by themselves, which has us terrified. We're trying to work on making sure they know how to get down feet first, but they love to try and dive head first onto the floor. I'm thinking we're going to have to stack pillows all around the couches for a while.

Anyway, my parents visit was too short as always, and it was even harder to watch them go this time. For the past 4 years having my brother and his family nearby made a huge difference and made me feel less alone out here in CA. But now they're moving back to MA in a month and it'll just be me out here again. I love Santa Barbara and we're close to Chris' family which is nice, but its just not the same as having my family nearby. Especially now that we have the boys - it's so hard knowing that they won't really be close with all their aunts and uncles and cousins on my side. There's not really anything I can do to change that, and I know with my Mom retiring this year she'll try to visit as often as she can - it's just hard. My family is very close and loving and loud and crazy and I want my boys to know and be a part of that as much as they can. For now we'll look forward to August and 2 weeks in Marblehead and hopefully that'll be something we can do every year.