Sienna Marie

The day after Halloween, we woke up early to hit the road to Sacatepéquez, a small village about 30 minutes outside of Guatemala City, fo r the Day of the Dead kite festival. Sienna and I picked up Jen a few blocks away and went to Colegio Americano, the school where I work, to meet up with a bunch of people who had rented vans. Our plan was to follow the vans, instead we ended up chasing them! I've never seen anything like it. There were two vans being followed by three cars and, in order to keep up with them, we were changing lanes and zooming around corners like we were Nascar drivers! We eventually stopped, ironically because the drivers were thinking ahead and wanted to explain that they'd look for a spot where we could all park together and easily get out after the event. I had a chance to talk to the two other "followers" and we were laughing about the ridiculousness of the driving. Julian, an 8th grade teacher from Colombia, said he'd ask the drivers to s...

My friend Jaime spent a weekend in Miami in early October and bought Sienna her very first Halloween costume - a chile pepper! At 10 weeks old, I stuffed her into her pepper suit and took a few photos in my living room. On October 31, it was Famous Person Day at school, so I chose the easy way out and went as Jane Goodall, wearing safari-style pants, a lab coat and and a large gorilla (instead of a chimp) around my neck. Sienna smiled when she saw the big chimp - it's bigger than her! I went out with a few friends and we got ready over at Jen and Jaime's house. I borrowed a Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz costume from Jaime and the boys, who hadn't planned on dressing up, were able to create costumes out of the items they found at the girls' house.

Sienna will be 3 months old in a week and is doing great! She's been sleeping through the night since she was 2 months old - last night she slept for 13 hours straight! She eats well and takes cat naps during the da y, spending a lot of time babbling and smiling. She loves Reina, the nanny, and I felt great about returning to work when she was 10 weeks old. Two weekends ago we packed up the car and headed 4 hours south to the beaches of El Salvador. My nanny, as well as my friend and co-worker Kelly, joined us which made the trip much more fun and relaxing. We had monday off of work, so we headed out on Saturday morning and stayed two nights at the Roca Sunzal Hotel , a relaxing little place situated right on the water with a pool and small restaurant. It was Sienna's first trip to the beach and her first opportunity to wear some of the adorable 0-3 month outfits in her closet. We had fun taking pictures of her and laughing at how cute she looked in her swim suits and sunglasse...

About a month ago, I applied for and picked up Sienna's passport at the American Embassy in Guatemala City. It was a very slick process, as is customary in the US, but not always in Guatemala. It was like entering a different country in many ways when I walked into the embassy - everything was done in an orderly and efficient fashion. The Guatemalans waiting in long lines for visas may disagree, but from my perspective, everything cruised along just as they said it would on the embassy website. Sienna is now officially a naturalized US citizen with a Certificate of Birth Abroad from the United States. As she's only a week away from being 3 months old and has not only visited El Salvador, but already has boarding passes for flights to Panama over Thanksgiving and the United States over Christmas, I thought it was about time we started a Travel Log of her very own. Sienna's Travel Log 19. Mexico   🇲🇽   – June 2024 18. Jamaica   🇯🇲  – March 2024 17. United Kingdom ...