7 months old - playing poker/eating pizza

Sammy has started to get extremely cute lately, which coincides with his 7 month birthday. He still cries a bit more than expected, but recently we're wondering about possible teething issues. But he is darn cute when he is calm...

This weekend we went to the lakehouse for a pizza cook off. It was a quieter weekend than usual with only 12 people instead of the usual 20 plus. Noah had a great time playing with "the girls" (Addie and Ella). I had a great time having so many helpers with the boys!

There was some poker playing too. I love these pictures, he looks like such a little boy. A boy with outlandish bangs, but a boy nonetheless!

"I'm all in!"

In the end, my mom won the pizza title, and there was a 3 way tie for 2nd (which included me) so all in all it was a fabulous weekend. Lots of time spent in jammies by all parties.

Here is the semi-official 7 month picture. He's sitting up pretty sturdily these days and wishing he could crawl (thank goodness he's nowhere near figuring it out yet!). He's eating 3 solid meals a day and the rolls on his legs are evidence that HE LIKES FOOD!

His favorite pastime is watching his crazy older brother...

Noah now likes to set up shots for me, "here mommy! I go behind him, now take the picture!"

I swear the kid is all hair and nose, but the smile is pretty adorable!

Forts, Clean up, and Fred

One of our favorite housebound activities is making forts. Lately we've been using a large cut up box as a roof. Noah likes to take all his stuffed friends in there. Occasionally his furry friend Ellie makes her way in there as well...
We finally managed to dig out from the blizzard. Mike was out there for 3 hours! I don't think the pictures quite do it justice. We ended up with about 22 inches that day (Feb 2) with drifts up to 6 feet. He was digging out our stairs, which were completely drifted over. Then he made his way to the end of the driveway which had been horrifically plowed in. I know it's a week later, but the snow is still pretty impressive around here.

The highlight of this week was Fred's 3rd birthday. We went to Rainforest Cafe and it was awesome (till the guy in the frog suit showed and scared the CR*P out of the bday boy). We cannot get them to pose properly for pictures. But it's pretty darn cute to watch them disobey directions together at least!

Happy Birthday Fred! We can't believe you are three! HOORAY! We love you lots :)

Look Out! It's a Lizard!

So what does one do during a blizzard (or Lizard as Noah calls it) when snowed in with 2 kids and a dog? Well here's what we do, first there is a lot of swordplay that goes on. Noah, "I have the power of Asgard!" a nod to both Heman and Thor...

Noah's other infamous quote: "Get seady, ret, go!"

Then early this morning we opened the garage to see just how bad it was...

I literally waded out in the snow to get some shots. Notice how our steps and all our shrubbery are completely drifted over.

The wind blew drifts in the windowsills so bad that Ellie could not see out. It was driving her nuts to hear people out shoveling, but not be able to see them.

There was an attempt at a tea party by mommy. But it eventually ended up with all the "guys" in a fort. Oh well, I tried!

Then there was a major injury. Noah was running around with two blankets (think like a matador). He tripped on one of them and took a header directly into the corner of the entryway to the kitchen. Thank goodness it wasn't worse or we would have been headed to the ER. Now he just looks like Harry Potter.

And then finally you attempt to dig out. Noah couldn't even get out of the garage really. The snow is higher than him! I think we ended up with about 20-24 inches of snow, with anywhere from 4-6 foot drifts! Yep, we'll be telling the boys about the Blizzard of 2011 when they are older!

6 months old!

Here are Sammy's 6 month pictures. We haven't had his dr appointment yet, so we don't know his stats. The hair continues to impress/amaze us. His personality is starting to come out. He is more active than Noah was, always arching and stretching around. He's also more vocal about things and lets us know when he's peeved. He is sleeping through the night consistently now 7:30pm-5:30am which is wonderful. Sometimes he loves the fafa (pacifier), sometimes not. (Noah was a fafa addict by this age). Sam is also doing 2-3 solid meals nowadays with cereal and some fruits and veggies, taking the solids well and bottles not so much (Noah was the opposite!). All in all, a great baby!

And just for kicks, here is a picture of Noah at 6 months. Yes, they are VERY different looking we think. Noah is more Rodriguez and Sam is more Hewes. Noah had the dark eyes and Sam has a ton more hair. Noah was bigger, Sam is goofier with the smiles. Both are pretty dang cute, though!

Snowflakes and playdates

I won't be posting any pictures from this week, as we all have colds and are not looking our best with stuffy noses and wearing jammies. So here are some shots from last week. Highlights included making some snowflakes, playing with Evie (we have her here every Thursday), and trying new foods with Sam. Noah and I made some snowflakes with paper and scissors. This kid LOVES to cut! I know, it's just a matter of time before I post "How Noah Cut his Hair" or something along those lines. But for now he's done a great job sticking to cutting paper.

Evie and Sam are growing and changing so quickly these days! Evie is trying desperately to get the hanging Elephant toy in her mouth. So cute!

Look, they are starting to look more like little baby people, not little old man squishy newborns!

Despite his continued reluctance towards taking bottles, Sam has proven to be a master with solids. He downs his cereal 2 times per day and often grunts/sqwaks for more. This week we started some veggies. So far he has been loving sweet potatoes and squash. He even got a bit of mashed bananas when I was making banana bread yesterday and loved it! Way to go Sammy! Oh, and he is officially 6 months old now, woohoo! We got some pictures taken at Penneys, I'll post those soon.

Monday Dinner

Here's a glimpse of dinner time in the Rodriguez house. It's gotten pretty loud around here, and our youngest is making sure his voice is heard! I know that when our house is quiet again (think in 18 years or so) I will miss all the ruckus! By the way, that is his "happy/excited noise" he is a very gutteral/grunty baby!

January is a LONG month...

Boy, January sure is a long month when you are trapped at home with a baby and a stir crazy almost 3 year old! So on Saturday we arranged a playdate/dinner with a family Mike knows from work up in Lake Zurich. We decided it made the most sense for us to drive Mike to work and then pick him up after work to go meet up with the other family. To make it even more fun, we picked up donuts on the way! So, how did you spend your Saturday at 7:30am?
... bet you weren't at a lab with a 2 year old? Don't worry, we didn't let him touch anything!

Sammy's got some new fun skills going on this week. He is rolling everywhere these days, so we have started to get a little more vigilant with all the action figures that typically Noah has strewn about. He's also starting to sit up. Or more accurately rest his upper body on his fat buddha belly...

He's also mastering the rasberry, here you see him doing 2 new skills at once. This of course resulted in a hilarious picture followed by a tumble. How else do you learn? Thank goodness for cute faces when we get a little tired of Noah whining/asking why and Sam crying/wanting to be held!