Other walking kids

I've recently taken a trip down memory lane in search of images and videos of all of my kids around 9 months old. It has been so fun to look at Joey and MJ when they were younger. So many parts of their personality were already evident back then (especially in hindsight).

So, for a little comparison (which means absolutely nothing, and no parent should compare their children). Perhaps comparison is the wrong word... for fun, here are some videos of the other kids when they started walking.

MJ walked at 9 months old just like Sheila. This was not the best video of it, but this video also very well captures his chubbiness.




Joey was also a pretty physical and atheletic kid, but didn't walk until right at his 1st birthday. I think some of it had to do with his toe which was a little special when he was a baby. I have a few other videos of Joey walking, but this one also captured our sweet MJ when he was 3.

9 month stats:

MJ - didn't have any b/c he was in Bangkok, but here are his 6 month

MJ (6 month) W:27lbs 2oz H:28 3/4 inches

Joey (9 month) W:27 lbs 10oz H: 31 tall inches head:18 1/2

Sheila (9 mth) W:20lbs 6 oz H: 28 1/4 tall inches head: 18 1/4

Sheila is in the 80% for height and weight and 95% for her head size (guess she's smart too)

MJ and Joey were both over 20lbs by the time they were 4 months old. So Sheila is still small to me!

She's Walking

We've been waiting for Sheila to really take some good steps on her own before we could say she was really walking. She seemed ready much earlier than her brothers. But while she is very physical and a tough girl, she seems cautious and balanced about walking. This video doesn't doesn't fully capture all of the steps she can take, but it was the best we got from today. Plus, she looks so cute in this dress, I just had to share.

Far too long...

It's been far too long since we have posted. Much has happened, and I don't think I have proper time to recap it all. But here are a few pictures from September.

Football season is here.... Go IRISH!

We have been working on remodeling the basement (just recessed lighting and paint).

I have many helpers.

Joey helps by keeping himself busy with other things. He did this pretty difficult puzzle all by himself.

Where to begin...

I get emails like this a lot, but felt this one was really worth sharing. I don't think it matters where you stand on health care reform or abortion, I don't see how it would ever be neccesary to have a Planned Parenthood clinic inside a highschool.
From the American Family Association:

Obama's plan will put Planned Parenthood clinics inside your child's school.
Yes, you read that right. Under an innocuous-sounding section titled "School-Based Health Clinics," H.R. 3200 will authorize Planned Parenthood, as a "sponsoring facility," to run a clinic during school hours on the grounds of public schools, with absolutely no accountability either to parents or school administrators.
All this will be done at taxpayer expense. And unlike the rest of the bill, which isn't slated to go into effect until 2013, these clinics are scheduled to go into schools next fall.

http://capwiz.com/afanet/utr/2/?a=14010941&i=75572208&c=

Florida is kinda nice

The kids and I rounded out our August vacations with a trip to Florida to visit with my parents. Being on vacation without Mario was a little sad, but we can't have everything I guess. As with any large trip, getting there is half the battle. My parents suggested I try to fly with the kids, and found tickets so we'd all arrive in Orlando at the same time. I went into the trip very positively and really, all the kids behaved even better than I imagined. I guess it depends on the ages of the kids and their tempermants. MJ helped roll a "daddy suitcase" through the airport, and I pushed Joey and Sheila in the double stroller. Security took me about 5 times longer than anyone else, and the agents paused and seemd the need to recount as I walked by with my little crew. I also had a largely empty plane both going and returning. So I had 2 rows to myself for the 4 of us. Sheila fell asleep during take off; the boys played a bit, read books, watched a movie, and then fell alseep during the movie. MJ woke up as we were landing and got to look out the window, and Joey stayed asleep until we got to the gate. The way back was also really great.

Oh, and we had a fun time there too! Sheila thought this table looked dangerous, so of course she liked to play under it.

I think the boys had fun, but were a bit apprehensive about the seaweed that was around the first day (no doubt it came in from all the storms...which did not affect us at all.) MJ turned impressively tan despite the 50 sunscreen I put on him.

This day turned out nicely as it was a beautiful Sunday, halfway through our trip, and we went to mass at a lovely church. And then while the little kids were napping, I was able to take MJ to the pool by myself. He is quite the fish now - he can almost swim the width of the pool, and dared to jump in the deep end. But since he's afraid of the drain, he did this weird spin move to catch the ledge as he was landing, and unfortunately cut his chin. It wasn't very deep, but enough that I worried about it. We didn't want a scar that would be annoying when this likely to be hairy kid starts shaving. We took him to an urgent care and the doctor put some Dermabond on it. And I beat myself up for a whole day because MJ couldn't go in the water anymore.

But the trip was more than just beaches and pools, and we enjoyed hanging out with the Keppel grandparents. We definitely had a fun time (and I think my parents had a good time too).

Lots of traveling

We've been all over the East coast the last few weeks, and I haven't been able to sort through all the pictures. Mario's mom has added a few slideshows of pictures from our recent vacation on their family blog, so you are welcome to check that out if you are curious as to what has been going on with us. Here are a few pictures I wanted to add to their collection.

These are from our visit with Christian and Michelle's family in North Carolina for little Christian's baptism. I am completely amazed at Michelle's energy for having just had a baby 2 1/2 weeks before the baptism and yet preparing for a major sacrament, party, and large group of family to stay. Also, their house is so neat and well kept. Michelle, you will have to share your secret with me, though I'm pretty sure even with the great tips I won't manage to keep my house as well-maintained as you have.

The baptism was quite lovely. Christian David was very well-behaved (he nearly slept through the entire ceremony). I enjoyed meeting Christian and Michelle's friends. Their baptism party afterwards was so much fun and I am impressed at how relaxed they were - this is another thing I will try to learn from them.

Sunday we went to mass, then off to the Dixie Grill for a delicious brunch, and a visit to the USS North Carolina battleship museum. I have so many more great pictures, but haven't sorted through them yet. So, here are four as an appetizer.

Mario's mom came down with another van-load of Suarezes on Sunday afternoon. Here we are at the end of Mom's birthday celebration on Monday.

My fun weekend

I have fully recovered from a crazy mid-July weekend, and feel I must post about it before it gets too overdue. I'll try to keep it brief.
First, Thursday July 16th, Mario and I went out to celebrate our 6 year anniversary (which was really on Sunday, but we were too busy to celebrate it then). We went to The Tuscarora Grill in Leesburg, which is known for it's fine dining. This particular night they were hosting a beer tasting event. It was actually really fun. Normally you are seated with other people at a table, but they set up a special table for us on our anniversary. We tried 8 beers and had 6 courses of excellent dishes paired with the beer. All of the beer came from Lagnoitas brewing co. in California. I should try to find the menu again because the food was awesome.

Friday, Mario's company had their annual Mexican Fiesta held at a partner's home. One of Mario's favorite parts of this party is the sports competitions. I've been pregnant on and off for this party, but he insisted I join him this year to play. We started off with a little 3 on 3 basketball, and our team won. I haven't played basketball in years! Then we played volleyball and our team won again. It was nice being able to play sports together again.

I went home to shower while the babysitter continued to take care of the kids and Mario stayed to enjoy the fiesta. I then went out to begin the celebration of Erin's bachelorette weekend. We made some very cute headbands that night (I had no idea those were still in!)

Saturday I left the kids again to go to two winery's for tastings. We also had a bridal shower for Erin at the second winery. I went back home to play with the family for a bit, and then Mario drove me to DC to join the rest of the bachelorrette party for dinner at Firefly and a night out on the town in DC. Mario was very sweet and picked me up that night (yes, he put all the sleeping children in the car, drove to get me, returned home, and got the sleeping kids back in bed). Our evening didn't end until 3am!

Bright and early at 7am, I was up again on Sunday to drive back to DC, this time to co-host a Baby shower for our friend Andrea (the very adorable pregnant one in the middle). Sheila came with me this time and I think had fun trying out all of the new baby gear.

Mario was incredibly generous the whole weekend and did a great job taking care of the kids. He even managed to finish the railing to the front porch of our home that weekend. I'm lucky to have such a great husband! And what a way to celebrate 6 years of marriage!