The Silver Lining

MJ may have said "You don't have to worry about that" for this circumstance, but I honestly cannot remember. I will pat myself on the back for handling this well. It was just after midnight on Monday night (I really need to try to get to be earlier). MJ was having trouble falling asleep, but I hadn't heard him for at least an hour so I figured he was asleep. I was happy to have accomplished so much during the day, including giving MJ a haircut (see the shoe box equipped with baby powder in the laundry basket) as well as folded a mountain of laundry. I couldn't put the clothes away since the kids were supposedly asleep, and yet, they weren't. MJ emptied the cornstarch, I found out in the morning that he was pretending to play with snow.

So, I was a bit upset by this at the time, though I see now that it may have actually done us some good. See, a few weeks ago I made a brain-dead move. If you ever find yourself hurriedly making dinner and your kid breaks a snow globe, don't immediately vacuum it up just to get it out of the way so the kids can keep playing... I would suggest moving the children to another room to clean up the wet glass later. This would save you from potentially ruining a vacuum. For a week, Mario accused me of intentionally breaking our vacuum so we could go out and buy a Dyson (and keep it this time). I was able to clean the yucky smelling wet stuff out of most of the vacuum except for the hoses and other unreachable places. Well wouldn't you know, cornstarch is exactly what you might want to put on wet things to help get them really dry. I think after cleaning up MJs mess, our vacuum may be on the mend... hence, the silver lining. Maybe MJ is really a genious out there to save me from my insanity.

Joey's one tooth is taking it's time, but it looks as though several others are on their way. My goal is to take as many toothless grin pictures of Joey while I still can. And I know it's obvious that all kids are different, but I kind of assumed certain things would be similar. I see that Natalie and Maria are sporting nice slime lines... MJs seemed eternal. On the other hand, Joey doesn't seem to drool... weird...

Oh, and here is one of our baby fish. Back in November, I noticed one of our previous baby fish appeared pregnant. It's hard to catch these livebearers in action, though appearantly they give birth to a dozen or more baby fish. We came back from some trip and she now longer looked pregnant. So we waited. When we came home after Christmas I saw a tiny fish swimming around. Since then we've been keeping our fingers crossed for these guys. They hide out under rocks to keep safe. Finally, one of the two that I've seen in there has grown big and confident enough to swim more freely. Sorry it's not a good picture. Oh, and I could be wrong, but mommy is looking big again. :-)

Happy Birthday Mario!!!

Three years ago at 5:56pm, I lost a bet but gained a son. Mario and I picked 6 hour windows for when MJ would arrive. He let me pick first, I thought I was being generous and hopeful for myself when I picked 6pm to midnight (since my water broke that morning at 6am). Mario picked noon to 6pm... ummm...sure. MJ's first act in this world was to help his father win a bet

We didn't have a full birthday celebration since Mario is traveling in Arkansas. MJ woke up to some fun decorations and spent all day begging me for cake. He even took a picture of the cake in the refrigerator. We only opened one gift which was from Nana (my Grandma). And finally, we spent a lot of time getting our webcam set up on our new computer so that Mario could sing happy birthday with us while we cut the cake.

But I think the most memorable part of the day for me was just after bathtime when I was holding Mario. I reflected how three years ago I held him for the first time. I had him all swaddled in a big towel... he's a bigger now than he was then, but he still has the same eyes. In my little moment I started crying and I think the tears confused him. He told me he was sad too, and I tried to explain how I was just happy. Then MJ, who normally requests extra cuddles after his bath, told me he had to brush his teeth and pick out books. I guess his memories of January 16, 2005 aren't as vivid as mine.

Here's MJ for photo-shoot #1

And here in photo shoot #2, MJ was about to eat dinner and have cake and was not interested in taking a picture.

He perked up a little by now.

You don't have to worry about that

So, this is a post I started a few days ago. Here is MJ opening a Christmas present from Uncle Bobby's family. He really likes the Lightning McQueen blanket and pillow.

And here's MJ pretending to be Frosty the Snowman. Frosty has definitely been the highlight of this season for MJ. He has a hat (Dad's hat), corn cob pipe (wooden stick from Thailand frog), and broom (baster for an outdoor grill). Pretty creative, eh?

And in case there was any doubt, this fair-skinned, blond-haired, blue-eyed baby is definitely a Suarez. Here he is enjoying some Suarez beef stew. Pardon the next picture, but Joey could not contain his smile.

Now, for the title to this blog. One of MJ's new favorite phrases is "You don't have to worry about that." I'm not sure where this came from exactly, though it seems fitting for our slightly anxious son. I think we'd say that in circumstances such as leaving him with a babysitter or potty accidents. Now he likes to tell us this. It's actually kind of helpful and reassuring when he says it to me.

Joey update

Joey has yet to take his first steps solo, but is a very adventurous climber.

This Little People Train is very cool.

And on an amazing Virginia day in January, the boys and I went to play outside on the basketball court near us. Joey wore MJs old shoes for fun. You can see he is turning his right foot in even with shoes on (this metatarsis adductis thing seems to be holding him back from walking).

And, to commemorate our RSV sickness, we wanted at least one picture of Joey getting his nebulizer treatment, or "mask medicine" as we called it. MJ had to have it also, but he would sit down and hold the mask himself. 90% of the time, Joey was happy to sit still for the treatment, but some times he was just too excited to sit still.

Our late Christmas picture

I've written a dozen blogs in my head since the last post. Unfortunately, they haven't invented a USB cord that will attach to my head, so in order for the thougths to get here, I have to sit down and type.

We took a belated Christmas picture (on the 12th day of Christmas actually) since we never had all four of us healthy and dressed up on Christmas. We used the self-timer on our camera and took 5 quick pictures before we headed off to church (this was on the 6th). I think these will have to do.

So much has happened since I last posted. I don't know where to begin. Thankfully, pictures help me remember things. So, here is Joey eating a dorito (Daddy give them the good stuff to try).

And here is Joey taking the beautiful cross that Uncle Luke gave us to make a statue on top of the Golden Dome (wrapping paper roll) to be like Notre Dame. Since this event, we have safely placed this crucifix on MJs wall. Do they make plastic crucifix's that kids can play with, because Mario is very interseted in them. Speaking of holy interests, he's already playing communion. My siblings and I used to play this game, but I'm almost certain we were around the age that we received communion. Several times now, he's handed me something small, such as a cheerio, and said "The Body of Christ." Although, he likes to put it directly in my mouth, I guess that's what we do most weeks since we are holding a kid. I didn't think he was paying that close of attention during mass, although we try to keep him involved in what is going on (kneeling, bells, sign of peace...etc).