4 Month Checkup & Christmas!

I'm finally sitting down to update my blog! It's been awhile - Sienna has had two appointments 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, because my doctor had 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 Guatemalan babies who are much shorter than the Bean!

I'm glad Sienna doesn't have reactions to the vaccinations because we had to wake up at 4am and head to the airport for our long journey to Minnesota for our 3.5 week Christmas holiday. Several co-workers were there, which is always nice company and a few of them were on our same flight to Houston. The 8th grade Math teacher, Ruth, was a HUGE help, changing her seat so she could be next to us and help entertain the Bean during the flight.

Sienna slept the entire first flight and did a great job during our transfer and customs check in Houston, a fairly slick process, but a process nonetheless. We walked around our terminal for about an hour waiting to depart, but as long as we kept truckin', Sienna was feliz.

We were seated next to a pediatrician from Minneapolis on our next flight - que suerte! She was very helpful and even held Sienna for a bit during the flight, as the Bean was wide awake the whole time and not entirely thrilled to be confined to a seat for 3 hours.

I was so excited to land in Minneapolis and almost run down the long hall to baggage claim to see my mom, Madi and sister - my dad couldn't fit in the car and was told he'd have to stay home and patiently wait for us because my niece really wanted to be there to greet her new cousin Sienna! My sister and niece hadn't seen her yet, so they were given priority seats in the car.

Sienna was a little fussy after such a wild day, but crashed out in the car on the drive home. She spent the first few days getting adjusted, as she always does after a trip in an airplane, but got into her routine (for the most part) for the rest of our visit.

We had a great time visiting with friends and family and Sienna especially enjoyed the time she spent with her cousin Madi, Grammy, Papa and Auntie Jojene.


Here's a video of cousin Madi making Sienna laugh with the neighbor kids.

It was harder to leave this time and I'm sure that will just get increasingly worse as Sienna grows up, but we'll be back soon and make as many trips as possible to Minnesota, which will always be Sienna's "home."

We made it to Guate safe and sound and the Bean slept all night! She was still sleeping when I left for work the following morning at 7am. I fed her a bit when we got home from the airport and she was still awake, so I just laid her down in her crib and unpacked a few things. Within minutes, she was soundly sleeping! That has NEVER happened before.

The flights back to Guate went pretty well; the first flight gave me a workout because I had to bounce her around as she cried for about an hour of the flight - ugh. I was exhausted! The second flight was great because she slept after only crying a bit for about 20 minutes until we took off and she finally started sucking on her bottle! She slept and continued to sleep until we landed in Guate and stood up to get off the plane. Everybody was playing with her - of course, Guatemalans, guys and gals alike, were all ooing and ahhing over her and wanting to hold her. The little old lady next to us was saying, "Ahh, preciosa! Que linda!" Sienna was sucking it all up ;) When she was fussing, she kept saying "malestona" - I think that means a little botherer because molestar is to bother. It was pretty cute ;)

My bags were another story. Apparently, international flights to Guate are capped at 50 lbs, the same as in the US, even though it's int'l (they used to allow 70 lbs for int'l) so I had to buy a Continental Airlines duffle bag for $30 and pay $25 for an extra bag fee to send 20 lbs of stuff in that separate pack. You should have seen me pushing Sienna in her stroller with the car seat on top and wheeling the HUGE back behind me with the duffle on top! And to think 90% of the stuff is Sienna's! What a spoiled little girl she is ;)

It was nice to be back home with Sienna in her own bed, back to our routines and in this amazing climate! The weather has been in the 70s and 80s with the beautiful Guate sun shining everyday, but we're missing our friends and family in Minnesota tremendously!