Maria's Baptism

This is just a random picture of Joey playing with the mirror. It was cute how he was "kissing the baby" in the mirror. This was from the last day of my mom's visit (Friday) when she and I were working on altering my costume. We thought we could turn the mirror down to entertain him when we weren't using it for altering purposes.

Friday night, Luke arrived with Teresa and Mary Kaza to spend the night for our trip early Saturday morning. We drove to Rye Brooke, NY for Maria's baptism. (For those keeping track, our neighbor Kristin dropped my mom off at the airport Saturday morning...Thanks Kristin!) The Baptism went very well. The priest tried to get the kids involved (which we were worried about MJ having been woken up early and not napping all morning, but things turned out fine). Maria was just great for the Baptism. She fell asleep before it started and even managed to stay sleepy after water was poured over her. We have many pictures from the event, so here are a few to start with.

Here we are, the happy godparents and proud parents (Sarah and Michael Suarez) with Maria. For those who don't know, Michael is Mario's 3rd younger brother.

After the Baptism, Grandmama and Grandpapa Suarez hosted a reception in their gorgeous house in New Rochelle. Grandma and Grandpa Suarez prepared the party...and of course, it was a lot of fun.

Grandma's visit!

Last week, my mom came to visit from St. Louis. She arrived Tuesday morning and left Saturday afternoon. Our first adventure was to find her luggage which was lost in Chicago. This has happened before when my parents came to visit, and they got a travel vouchure which almost covered the cost of their trip. So we jokingly said it should happen again...and it did! It wasn't really a big deal... we got $75 for making another trip back to the airport. And she was only without her luggage for a few hours.

I just realized I don't have many good pictures from her visit b/c we also used her camera...I'll have to get some from her soon. Anyway, Our biggest accomplishments for the week were finding new shoes for MJ for the fall/winter, and making my Halloween costume. It is so great! My mom's camera has pictures of it, so I'll get those later.
Wednesday, my mom watched MJ while I took Joey to his last appointment with the specialist for his foot. It's pretty much corrected itself, so we don't have to go back again. In the afternoon, we rode bikes to a park... way to go Mom!
Thursday my mom watched the boys while I went to volunteer at first choice and then I enlisted her to help mail out some invitations for first choice.
Friday we were sad our visit was almost over, but we did some shopping and a lot of work for the Halloween costumes. I'm so glad she was able to take off and visit. We may sound busy, but she's even busier!

7 months

Sunday, Joey was offically 7 months old. Sorry I haven't measured him yet. I was lucky to even get this picture of him.

Below are a few pictures of MJ at 7 months and 7 months 2 weeks. I think Joey's hair still looks a bit more strawberry blond, and his eyes are definitely lighter blue. They definitely look like brothers, but not as identical as before, in my oppinion.

Time for the baby gate

Last week (I guess it was Wednesday) I was a bit scared for a minute, because Joey was no longer in the place I put him last. With an immobile child, you can place them on the floor and kind of expect them to be in that relative area when you get back. Joey has scooted and flopped and rolled in the past, but never like this. I was eating dinner at Tara's house and looked in the livingroom where I left Joey...and I couldn't see him anymore. He had moved a couple of yards from where I left him. Since then, he has been quite happy to roll and scoot to just about anything he wants. I haven't seen a full out crawl yet, which is strange. In comparison with MJ, MJ crawled about 5 days before he was 7 months old. Mario headed off to Thailand for a month the day before MJ turned 7 months, so we wonder if he decided he'd like his daddy to see him crawl for the first time. MJ was such a chubby baby. It was great looking back and watching videos of him crawling. It kind of came out of nowhere too, b/c he really didn't like laying on his stomach, and wasn't a big roller, but just loved to sit up.

And then there is Joey. He did this rolling move thing a couple of days before he turned 7 months old (like MJ and crawling). He loves to sit up, but also is fine on his stomach or back. And he rolls and rocks more to get himself around. Both did the sitting up to lunge move. So, when will Joey officially "crawl"? Hard to say, but, I can no longer put him down and really expect him to be there when I come back.

Joey thinks standing is the coolest thing. Mario got him up in this position and he was just so happy for a few minutes.

Looking back at MJ pictures made me think I should show a comparison or two. Both are quite chubby babies, though I think Joey is a bit more stretched out than MJ. The picture above is Joey almost 7 months, and below is MJ 7 months +1 week. MJ actually crawled over and pulled himself up to this position. It is so funny seeing such a chubby baby move like that. He was very determined. It's quite perfect that they are wearing the same outfit, if only I had them posed the same way.

Zoo part 2 and Home

Here we are out by the polar bears. There was a sign that suggested this was Kodak moment.

This rhinoceros appeared to be posing for all of us. Some other women taking pictures near me commented how we could try to enter this into some photo competition (if there were such a thing).

We had so many cute pictures of MJ sleeping near us. I couldn't pass this up.

Tuesday morning we left Mario and headed back home. It took about 45 minutes longer than it should have because I was tired and took an extra stop. (I was happy to only take 2 stops on the way from VA to OH). But I figured making it home alive vs falling asleep while driving was the better choice.

Both boys seemed very happy to be home. Since we've been back, MJ has been very intersted in band and music. He found his drum and has been marching around the house and occastionally singing the ND fight song too. Sometimes I play with him (I'm so proud of me for teaching myself how to play the fight song on the 8 key play piano the boys have). He loves to watch videos of the band and drumline. See, we aren't just brainwashing him about football. We're just trying to provide him with enriching experiences. We hope to encourage him to be a well-rounded kid.

Cincinnati Zoo Part 1

So, here's a cute picture of Joey from last Sunday when we were driving from South Bend to Cincinnati. He's quite the road warrior.

Monday, Mario wanted to get work done. I was being tired and cranky, so he wisely suggested I do something fun like take the boys to the zoo. MJ liked the idea, but then asked his daddy if he could go to the zoo, too. So, Mario found enough time to come hang out with us for a few hours. We definitely had more fun with all of us there as a family.

First we went to see the elephants. Then MJ checked out the map to help us decide what we wanted to see next. Behind him is Joey taking a nap for the first half of our zoo trip.

Joey just woke up from his nap so I tried to get a quick picture of us.

Family and Sunday

Sadly, my camera was being annoying and fuzzy so this is the best picture I could get of Kathy and Joey. I didn't get any of the boys and my dad.

And despite the loss, I enjoyed getting to watch the game with my dad.

Saturday after the game, the boys crashed (MJ hadn't napped). Thankfully, we had adjoining rooms with Dad Suarez and were able to hang out there for awhile. My parents joined us before heading back to St. Louis in their amazing van/house on wheels. Adjoining hotel rooms are the best things when you have kids!

Sunday I got to try out my cute new matching outfits that I bought for the boys. I really wanted to get pictures of them because the weather was so amazing. Again, these are the best I could get because my camera is being silly.

And here is where our trip plans changed. Instead of leaving early to make the long drive back to Virginia, we stayed longer and drove back to Cincinnati again. Mario would be working there again and wanted to get a head start.