Sienna Marie

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...