Sienna Marie

I've been slacking on updating my blog due to a two-month summer vacation and the start of a new school year, but I'm back! Sienna's 10 month checkup was on June 11 and she continues to be very healthy. She weighed 21 pounds 4 ounces and was 30.5 inches tall (77.5 cm), which, if I remember correctly, put her in the 75th and 90th percentile respectively.

Sienna had her 9 month checkup on Thursday and all is still well. She has both of her lower central incisors, but no signs of any more teeth. She weighed in at 20 pounds 8 ounces, a gain of only 8 ounces in the last month, and she is 74 cm (29 inches). The biggest development is she started to crawl!! All of the time in her walker didn't have an affect on her ability to crawl, after all. We moved out of our zone 10 apartment into a zone 15 townhouse, just across the street from school and we love it! It's very secure; at the garita (gate), visitors have to exit their vehicle and give their ID to the guards behind what appears to be bullet-proof glass. The guards call the house to let you know your visitor has arrived and asks if they can let them in. The neighborhood has a little park with a playground that Sienna visits almost every day with Reina and with me after school and on weekends. We also live next door to a CAG teaching couple, Christine and Doug, and their almost ...

During Semana S anta (Holy Week), Sienna and I drove to Panajanchel to pick up a former co-worker from Mexico, Danna, and her daughter, Becky. We left around 6:30 am on Tuesday and arrived in Pana three hours later after a fairly nice, but foggy drive from the city. The highlight was when it started to rain up in the mountains and a man in a beat-up pickup truck had a wire attached to the only wiper on the truck to manually clear the windshield! In Pana, the weather was sunny and gorgeous. Danna and Becky checked out of their hotel and we headed back up the mountain to the highway and on to San Marcos, a village just west of Pana on Lake Atitlan. It took a good hour to get there and it would have been much easier to reach via boat, but I wasn't sure how that'd work with Sienna and all her stuf f. San Marcos is known as a hangout for those intere sted in yoga and meditation - this I did not know until after we had booked our accommodation at Hotel Aaculaax , an eco-friendly hote...

S ienna had her 8 month checkup today and she weighed in at exactly 20 pou nds (80th percentile) and is just over 23 inches long (90th percentile). Dr. Blanco said she's continuing to grow beautifully and we chatted a bit about what she's eating and what she should not eat until she's a year old due to prevention of future allergies (dairy, egg whites, wheat at 9 months, etc). Sienna has sta rted to love tummy time - finally! She crawled backwards for the first time yesterday, so it will be just a matter of time before she's cruising around forward. She's still a huge fan of her walker and loves playing pee k-a-boo with the curtains and being tickled. Another new development is she likes to play with stuffed animals and she loves the ones that talk to her or, the bear in the photo from the Broder family that laughs - so cute! Cori Frieler gave her an angel and when you squeeze it, it says a bedtime prayer. She gets a huge smile on her face when she hears it and st...

Happy baby Sienna is another month older. We didn't go to the doctor this mo nth, although here in Guatemala people normally go every month. Ironically, it's for the same reason people in the Stat es don't go every month - money. It's easier on the pocket book to spread out the vaccinations and, the more I read, easier on the baby's body, as well. The actual doctor's fee is cheap even without insurance (200Q = $25), but with my insurance, the charge is only 30Q or about $3.70. Sienna's favorite activities this month are cruising in her walker, smiling for photos, taking baths, being dipped upside-down, going for walks on the Av enida Las Americas and playing with her nanny Reina. We took a trip to Antigua, a colonial town just 30 minutes outside of Guatemala City, and walked aro und with the Connor family. Christine and Doug have a daughter, Zaya, who is almost exactly a year older than Sienna. We'll be moving at the end of April into a townhouse right n...

Sien na had her 6 month checkup and she weighed in at 18 lbs 9 ounces and was 27 inches (68.5 cm) long. She got the last of her three Hep B, DTP (Diphtheria, Tetanus and Pertussis), Haemophilus Influenzae B and Polio vaccinations as well as the last of her two Rotavirus vaccinations. The latter is oral, but the others were all included in one shot given in her upper thigh. She's always such a trooper; last time, she didn't make a sound and this time she cried lightly for a second until I picked her up and then she just made a sad face and recovered quickly. I had given her a squirt of Baby Tylenol 30 minutes before the shot and I'm guess ing this makes a big difference. I'm too afraid to skip it and see what happens because it's been such a dream that she doesn't seem to be in much pain at all! Everything checked out well. She falls in the 90th percentile for both height and length and the doctor was very happy with how she's growing, sleeping and eating. S...

Almost as soon as we arrived back in Guatemala from Minnesot a, Sienna was due for her 5 month appointment. We went in on January 15 and Sienna weighed in at 17 pounds 6 ounces (75th percentile) and 26.8 inches (100th percentile)! She only needed her rotavirus vaccination and it was given orally, so it was no problem. All else was perfect - she's a very happy and healthy baby girl! Sienna's back to sleeping like a princess - she goes down arou nd 9pm and sleeps until 7am, rarely waking up in the night. She takes naps around 9am, 12pm, 2pm and 5pm. Our nanny Reina has been a dream. I can't say enough good things about her. Sienna loves her and she loves Sienna. She works because she needs the money, obviously, but she often acts as if it's not just a job. It seems she truly enjoys spending time with Sienna. Normally Reina goes to her aunt's house on Saturdays around noon and returns on Sundays around 6pm, but this week she decided not to go. She spent Saturday mo...

I'm fina lly sitting down to update my blog! It's been awhile - Sienna has had two app ointm ents and we've made a trip to Minnesota for Christmas, but here goes... Sienna's 4 month appointment on Friday 12 December went really well. I had to skip out of a Christmas luncheon, courtesy of my school, Colegio Americano, becaus e my doctor h ad been in the States the week prior for a seminar and it was the only time we could get in before flying to Minnesota for Christmas. I knew she needed her vaccinations, so I gave her a squirt of Baby Tylenol while waiting for the elevator at the doctor's office and by the time Dr. Blanco stuck her in her cute chunky upper thigh, she made a face, but never cried! The doc was amazed and said around 95% of babies cry - she's my little trooper! She weighed in at 15 pounds 3 ounces (75th percentile) and is 25.6 inches long (90th percentile). Dr. Blanco is always commenting on how tall she is; I'm sure he's used to Guatemal...

Sienna and I headed to Panama on Thursday morning for the long Th anksgiving weekend with my friend Jaime. We fought super cheap tickets on Copa Airlines running only $150 total for a RT ticke t! Jaime's roommate Jen was there interviewing for a job next year because her Guatemalan boyfriend recently relocated there with Proctor & Gamble. Our flight left at 5:45 am, so we left for the airport, only minutes away, at 4 am. I fel t bad waking Sienna up from her sleep, but didn't have much choice. The flight was direct and everything went very smoothly. S ienna didn't sleep much, but she was really good on the plane. We rented a car from Thrifty - it didn't carry a very "thrifty" price tag, but it was more convenient than relying on Pablo to drive us around. We found Pablo's apartment in the Bella Vista area wit hout any problem, but were locked out because Jen hadn't returned from her interview yet, so we headed to Dunkin' Doughnuts on foot to w...

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 ...

Explaining the heart rate and contraction monitor Dr. Monzon Bonatti making us laugh. My parents thought he looked like Dudley Moore! After the epidural - I didn't feel drugged at the time, but I sound like it on this video! The epidural starts to wear off after one hour and my friend Michelle and Dr. Monzon arrive. The anesthesiologist gives me a second dose of the epidural, which lasts another hour and takes me through labor. Discussing Sienna's arrival time - we wanted it to be in the eight o'clock hour because it was August 8, 2008. Sienna arrives at 8:28 pm - ocho veintiocho!!!!! My mom cut the original cord and here my dad trims it up with my doctor teasing my friends Jen and Jaime that it's a Guatemalan custom for the friends to eat the placenta!! You'll get an idea of what a party it was in the delivery room! The pediatrician doing another checkup, grammy holding Sienna and talking about the pediatrician piercing her ears in the hospital, very common in Lati...

I'm at home, enjoying the maternity leave I didn't think I was getting!! I'll be returning to school on Oct 6, so they gave me a very nice 7 weeks of paid leave. I couldn't feel more fortunate! I thought I'd share these pics because I'm walking around the apartment with Sienna in a bag (courtesy of Mindy Morris-Totaro - thank you!!) around my shoulders and she's loving it! It's warm and dark, like being in the womb - I think she could sleep all day in here. The reason I have to have her attached to me is she's started to insist on being held...constantly. I may have created this monster, along with my nanny Reina, as we're almost constantly holding her. I even have her sleeping in my bed - there's plenty of room and it's so cute and cozy having her right next to me. Sienna was an EXCELLENT baby the first 3 weeks of life - eating, burping, pooping and sleeping just as she should. Then, she took a bit of a colicky road during week 3 and rea...

BATH TIME & NANNY ROUTINE I gave Sie nna Bean a bath today, so she's sporting her Zoolander hair-do! She's so good in the bath - not even a peep from her - and she actually seems to like it, if kept to a short period of time. I've also figured out a routine to make bathing and dressing afterward quick and easy and her little body as warm as possible at all times. After a bath, she's relaxed and likes to chill out in her swing. It was perfect because today Reina whipped up some lunch, which I ate while Sien na was swinging, and then went into the bathroom to clean it all up. What a HUGE help she is! We have a pretty good routine worked out. I sleep with Sienna and wake up with her in the night, typically every 2-4 hours. Around 6:30 am, Reina is up and ready to go and Sienna usually is, as well, so I hand her off and head back to sleep for two more hours of much needed zz's. When I get up at 8:30 am, the coffee's on and I have a chance to eat some oatmeal...