Merry Christmas!!!

From Mary and Ryan. We love you guys! See you soon!

Thanksgiving and Preggers Update

Hello everyone!

I hope this post finds everyone well, and still in the Advent spirit, especially this third week as we are called to Rejoice! amongst the crazy traffic and Christmas shoppers. Our traffic has definitely increased here in South Bend because our mall is the only, or closest, one for some of those living in the northwestern and eastern parts of Indiana. Some people travel at least 45 minutes just to come to a mall! It's too funny because I remember Tampa having at least three malls to choose from, and they were all 10 minutes apart from each other!

Speaking of South Bend, Thanksgiving with the Tompkins and Lantigua's was full of so many wonderful memories!! Unfortunately, I did not take as many pictures as I hoped to, but my mom made up for it, and hopefully someone can teach her how to post them because there are some great pictures. The family was here for a whole week, and stayed in our apartment from Wednesday to Sunday! Thanks to the generosity of our friends in the area, we were able to collect blow-up mattresses, a banquet table, and lawn chairs; and everyone fit just perfectly! Thanksgiving Day was full of very delicious food, beautiful thanksgiving words, and lots of singing and dancing in typical Tompkins (and now of course Lantigua) fashion. It was a wonderful Thanksgiving that we will cherish forever!

I am not sure what Teresa is thinking here. lol

The banquet table.

The girls busy at work in the kitchen.....

.....while the boys rest in preparation for the big meal.

Our beautiful, delicious Turkey cooked perfectly by Dad.

Our 2nd Thanksgiving.

Other memories from the trip: We did not get any snow the few days after Thanksgiving as incorrectly predicted by the weather men, but we received plently to make up for it the following week. The kids were so excited to finally see and play in real snow!! Also, the boys were able to go out to one of the Notre Dame fields, and practice their field goal kicking skills. The girls each had one boy assigned to them to keep track of their score. Of course, I kept track of David's score, and as I remember correctly, he won by at least 10 points. lol. Just kidding. Actually, Robby was the winner! He beat my Wisconsin full scholarship kicker husband! (I still believe David let him win. lol). Here are some pictures of the kicking competition.

David kicks....

He scores!!

The score-keepers

One day while the boys went to the College Football Hall of Fame here in downtown South Bend, the girls stayed home and decorated our apartment for Christmas.Isn't it soo pretty??

Finally, here are some group pictures before Joe left for the airport to go back to Ave on Saturday.

Like I said, I didn't get many pictures, but I am hoping my mom will be able to post some soon. We had such a great time!

Now for the preggers update.....I am 20 weeks, and feeling the baby move in full action! When the baby moves, instead of popcorn popping or butterflies, it feels like a hardcore bump or kick! David can even feel it now when he puts his hand on my belly. It's so amazing! Also, I have my 20 weeks ultrasound this Wednesday, December 17th, and David and I are so excited to find out the sex of our baby! Any guesses or bets?

20 weeks!

And last but not least, as I promised, here is our Halloween picture. For Halloween, David and I went to a Murder Mystery party at our friends' apartment, for which we were assigned character roles . The theme was Roman Ruins, and David was Maximus Testerous, and I was Cleptopatra. I was very proud of myself because I figured out who the murderer was! Nope, it was not David or I; I mean, how could it be? Look at us....we could never hurt anyone! We are all beauty and riches; I am summarizing our character descriptions of course.

Besides the usual daily routine, David has been very busy trying to finish his term papers. Please keep him in your prayers! While he has been busy, I have been able to get some Christmas shopping done and spend time with some of my girlfriends. Tonight I am planning to bake chocolate chip cookies! Yummy.

Well I think that is all for now! I can't believe in 10 days we will be home in warm sunny Florida with all of you! We are so excited! Until then, we love you all very much and you are in our prayers!

What Jack and Christina's Baby will look like if the baby's a boy...watch....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBSYD0dQCAw

hilarious...lol

Ryan's 1st Suarez Thanksgiving and My 1st Thanksgiving as a Tompkins :)

While there are a lot of stories to tell about our Thanksgiving here in VA (like, say, my flat tire adventure, Ryan's wild Jenga tactics, or our sleepover with the kids) I'll just make this a picture post, since pictures speak louder than words. Besides, we will all be together in person in just a few weeks and then we can exchange stories then! So exciting.. we are looking forward to it. :) Here are some highlights: first, me with Raquel the day before Thanksgiving:

Here we are on Thanksgiving day together:
With my mom, who worked so hard to prepare the meal!
With Tabitha, the hostess:
The dessert table:

I finally captured one of Simon's adorable smiles on camera:

Showing off the 26 lb. turkey!

A group shot:

Now for the day after Thanksgiving; I think that holding a sleeping baby is perhaps one of my favorite things in the world :)
Ryan is a beloved uncle to these guys!

We had a sleepover of all the kids at our apartment...an event which was talked about weeks in advance. We definitely treated them to a good time! First, we watched Wall-E and, thanks to our handy dandy air mattress, it was a very cozy movie theater!

Ryan kept a fire going to roast marshmellows, for some s'mores!

In the morning Ryan and I made the kids a pancake breakfast... Ryan is really an expert pancake maker.

With the gang: Playing football with Raquel:

Luke stopped by our apartment before heading back to the seminary, since he hasn't seen it yet. Here we are:

Alright, that ought to do it :) We are anxiously awaiting some pictures from the Tompkins and Lantigua Thanksgiving in South Bend! We will see you all soon! Love, Mary and Ryan

Baby's heartbeat

Yay it was cooperating, so here's the video I tried to post the other day! Here's our baby's heartbeat! It was so amazing! We wanted to share with everyone. I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We love and miss you all!

Baby says hi!

Quick update! Jack and I had our first doctor's appointment on November 19th. We saw our little baby and heard his/her precious (fast) heartbeat! It was such an amazing and beautiful experience. I tried to post a video, but it wouldn't load. Our due date is June 27th. Please continue to keep the three of us in your prayers!

Here are a couple pictures; Baby Tompkins and me at 8 weeks (which I don't like... but since I'm not 8 weeks anymore I can't retake :) ). I am currently in my 10th week and praying for this morning sickness to pass!! Yuck!



I hope you guys are doing well. Can't wait for everyone to be together. We love you guys! And since I won't post anything before the day... Happy Thanksgiving! God bless!

The latest :)

Hi everyone! It seems like forever since we last posted an update...but we have been having a little trouble with our internet lately, so it's not entirely our fault. But here are some pictures to illustrate what we have been up to. Ryan, believe it or not, continues to enjoy playing Medal Gear Solid to unwind sometimes after work, and I find it very amusing. He assures me he loves me more than the game, but sometimes I do wonder. During the more intense moments, Ryan often stands upright when he plays, as you can see here...I think it helps with his vision and the aerodynamics. He makes me so proud. In my continual attempt to fatten Ryan up, I have been branching out with my cooking and trying new recipes. I had a craving for lemon chicken with capers one night, and found an easy recipe online. I made asparagus and garlic and herb rice to go with it, and it was a huge success. I just had to get a picture to remember the delicious meal. Unfortunately, I asked Ryan to model it for me.
Ryan and I went on a Scrabble kick for a couple of weeks, until he decided he had had enough since I won every time. We were a little weirded out when I noticed one night that the cover of the game had my initials on it: Mary Elaine Bernadette Suarez Tompkins. Pretty crazy, huh?
On another note, I am finally done getting my blood drawn each week in order to monitor the level of my pregnancy hormone, which is now down to zero. Unfortunately, I was told that I needed to get a Rhogam injection at the hospital, due to the different blood types that Ryan and I have. For propriety's sake, I won't mention where the shot is given because I don't want to become, ahem, the "butt" of jokes. It was a rather tramautic experience for me, as you can see by the pained look in my face here:

So much so that I just had to go to the mall near the hospital and buy myself something as a reward for my bravery. I ended up getting a great deal on a Nine West handbag from Macy's, and let me tell you it really helped with the pain.

Here is Ryan's reaction to my purchase.

On Thursday we went to my sister's house to celebrate Catherine's 2nd birthday, it was quite the party! Here is Ryan with Teresa and Mary:

And here is the birthday girl:

Here we are at the party:

This is a cute picture of my nephew Tommy being silly as usual. I continue to tutor him a few hours a week, and it has been very rewarding working with him.

Ryan and I spent today Christmas shopping, and Ryan was very excited to see the man himself, Santa Claus!

It was a very successful trip in terms of gift-getting, so you can all expect to get a little somethin' somethin' from us when the Christmas season comes around :) It's hard to believe that Advent starts in only a week! We really can't wait to see everyone and spend Christmas with you, it is going to be a blast. We love you guys and we'll see you soon!

Winter Update in South Bend

Just wanted to let you all know that by tomorrow we will have 12 inches of snow on the ground!!!

It is absolutely gorgeous outside right now. Soo beautiful! I will take pictures and post later. It's scandalous, I know, but I am already listening to Christmas music. The weather just puts me in the holiday mood. :)

I hope this lasts for all you in Florida when you come up for Thanksgiving!

Oh, and one last thing...I forgot to put a picture from David and I's Halloween. I will post that later.

Love you all!

Marisa and David

Fall in South Bend

It is only appropriate that as I begin this long overdue post revealing the beauty of fall in South Bend that I should look out my window to see the barren trees and snow-covered rooftops, the remains of our second snowfall this winter season. Yes, winter is a beautiful and romantic season, but here in South Bend, the beauty and romance are appreciated only so long. By April, when everyone else throughout the U.S. is enjoying Easter in their sun-dresses and running around merrily in the green grass searching for Easter eggs full of fresh candy, the people of South Bend are still in their long underwear and snow suits, and the children have to fight for the few thawed eggs that have not completely frozen to the snow covered ground.

Anyways, enough of my winter banterings!

I am sorry I have not posted anything in a while, but please know, especially Ryan and Mary, that all of you have been in our thoughts and prayers always! What a beautiful gift from God Baby Bella will always be in our lives.

While it was still warm enough to walk outside without coats, David and I went for a walk in the neighborhood next to our apartments. It was full of so many trees and bushes whose leaves had already turned from green to gorgeous shades of yellow, orange, and red. This is a little taste of the gorgeous colors we saw.



Playing in the leaves.

The burning bush.

In October, a priest from Africa that David had met here at Notre Dame came into town for a few weeks. We were thankful that he was able to enjoy dinner with us at our apartment and then bless it and our baby. It's funny beause he was the first man besides David to touch my belly. lol. I had no idea actually that he was going to bless our baby, but while he was blessing our home and saying the final prayers, he came to me and made the sign of the cross over my belly and said a special prayer for the baby. It was a beautiful experience. He was such a jolly, loving man; and although it was my first time meeting him and only David's second, we felt like we had known him for years. This is Father Stephen with David and I.


Because Fall here truly is a season, it is full of so many seasonal traditions such as hay rides, pumpkin farms, and corn mazes. Being so festive and lovers of tradition, a group of us from Notre Dame decided to partake in the annual festivites. We went to a pumpkin farm just outside of South Bend called Thistleberry Farm. We had a great time working our way through the "Lost in Space" Adventure Corn Maze which we conquered! We were the first people ever to find all the space-related pictures throughout the corn maze! We came across pictures of Marvin the Martian, Obi-wan, Darth Vader, Wall-e, and many others. Here are some pictures from our adventures!

David and his "other woman". Sorry, Ryan, you are not just competing with me anymore.

Don't I look like such a sweet scare-crow? It's okay, birds, you can play in the crops.....yay, that's right, nothing to be afraid of, just my pitchfork!! HAHA!

Our victory picture outside the exit of the maze!

The pumpkin patch. People come and pick their own pumpkins for carving.

David and I on the hay ride. It was actually pretty lameo-nameo. We were on a tractor will hay stacks on it, and the tractor only took us around in a circle around the farm. The man driving the tractor who I thought might be a tour guide of some sort said nothing, but then again there was not too much that he could tell us about besides, "Here are some pumpkins"......"These are the boundaries of our property." Oh well.

As you all know, another fall tradition is carving pumpkins! The week before Halloween my office went out and bought pumpkins for everyone to carve there at work. Spouses and children were invited so David and I carved our very first pumpkin! It was a very good lesson in team-work.

Can you tell what it is?

Yep, it is the man in the moon.

And last, but not least, more pregnant lady pictures! These are my most recent pictures at 16 weeks. The second picture is for all to see and believe that oh yes, my belly button has already popped!




I am feeling so much better now that I am well into the second trimester. My energy has come back, and I can actually eat normal foods. No more weird cravings like hot dogs and fried chicken! I can tell the baby is growing more and more each week because each week I try to put on an article of clothing that fit last week, but, nope, not fitting this week! Fortunately, I am still in my pants although they are now completely unbuttoned all the time and only stay up with the help of the Bella Band.

David is still as cute as ever with the baby, especially since he knows that the baby can now hear our voices. He regularly talks to the baby, identifying himself as "Daddy", and telling him or her how much he loves him or her. He especially loves to rub my belly when we are laying down in bed because we can feel the baby move! David describes the movement as "dancing". We have been able to feel the baby move for a few weeks now if we put our hands on my belly when I lie down on my left side, but I had not been able to feel anything from the inside until....

Today!! Today I have been feeling the baby move! It is ever so slight, and feels like little popcorn popping! I am actually feeling it now, so I believe that means Baby Lantigua would like me to tell all of you Hello! and he or she cannot wait to meet all of you!

Besides preparing to be a wonderful father, David has been very busy with his studies, and still excelling in all that he does. He actually told his teacher a couple of weeks ago what he was thinking of doing for his dissertation and she started jumping up and down clapping her hands. If you ever meet her, you will realize that this is very out of the ordinary for her. I guess she really liked it!

Well, I think that is all the fall news from the Lantigua's in South Bend for now. We are super excited for Thanksgiving and Christmas!!! We love you all so much and can't wait to hug all of you again! If being away has taught us anything, it's how precious family is. God bless all of you and you are always in our prayers.