It's been a while...

...but here is a Mary and Ryan picture update. It has been a very busy couple of months since we got to see everyone in Tampa for New Years, so I'll try just to hit some highlights :) We have enjoyed reading everyone's posts (that is, Marisa and Christina's) and are so happy that you all are doing well!

In January we were very excited to have the Ave gang in town for the March for Life. It was nice to have Ryan and Joe reunited for a few days here in VA:

And for me to be reunited with Teresa as well. Here we are with our niece Sheila and nephew Simon, both babies Teresa was meeting for the first time!
Since Luke was in town as well, and my brother Mario lives in Ashburn, VA we were able to get 8 out of 10 Suarez siblings together on the weekend. We were sure to grab a picture of us all:

Ryan and Joe, the Ave guys, my brothers, and my dad all got to play a football game that day as well; the weather was perfect, the guys had a blast, and it was a very entertaining game to watch. The whole thing reminded me of a Brett Favre Wrangler jeans commercial.

Another highlight was a Mardi Gras party that my school put on as a fundraiser. My sister convinced me to go, since she and her friends were going to get dressed up for it and make it a fun night out, and I ended up convincing Ryan to come with me too. It was a great act of love on his part; but we ended up dancing the night away and having a good time. Here I am with my sister, in our Mardi Gras outfits... does my dress look familiar, Marisa and Christina? :) At the end of January we found out the wonderful news that we are expecting another baby. We were so taken by surprise and so very happy! Ryan was gracious enough to take our first pregnant lady picture, at 5 weeks:

We decided to make a tradition of going out to dinner to celebrate the news of the new baby, just like we did with Bella. Here is a picture before we left, showing off the two tests from our two children:

In the Olive Garden (thanks to Steve and Krista's gift card from Christmas, haha):

The proud Daddy of 2:

The weekend of Feb. 8 we made a trip up to Rye Brooke, NY to attend my nephew Michael's baptism. My brother Michael and his wife Sarah asked me to be the Godmother, and Luke to be the Godfather. I was so honored and I fell in love with baby Michael that weekend; here he is taking a nap. There really is nothing better in the world than holding a sleeping baby!

Michael Jr. really liked Ryan, you could see he was trying to figure him out the whole weekend. When Ryan would hold him little Michael would look up at him just like this:

and this:

I think Ryan has gotten a good amount of practice with infants and is now ready for the real deal: his very own baby who, by the way, I believe is going to be a little Ryan Jr.! I am convinced that this baby is a boy, while Ryan thinks it will be another girl. We will just have to wait and see.

Here we are at the Baptism.

With Luke:

Ryan and I originally had very wild and crazy plans for this Valentine's Day weekend, until Friday came along and my morning sickness officially began. We couldn't do a lot of what we had planned since I was not feeling too well, and poor Ryan had to stay at home and beat Medal of Honor and make his own meals while I was passed out on the couch trying not to vomit. We did, however, manage to make it to Great Falls in McLean, VA. Here we are on our hike:

This part of the trail reminded me of our family Farm back in NY:

Here is Ryan at one of the Overlooks:

It was beautiful!

And now, for the pregnant lady picture you've all been dying for, haha. Here I am at 7 weeks:

Ta-daa! And that's all for this update; we will try to be better at keeping up with our blog posts in the future. I have my first sonogram on Feb. 27th so I will be sure to let you all know how that goes. In the meantime, please keep us and the baby in your prayers. I have been very anxious so far with this pregancy, and even though I am overjoyed that we have this new baby with us, I cannot help but get sad about baby Bella, who would be about 24 weeks right now. Whenever I tell Ryan this, he just reminds me that this new baby is here because baby Bella is already in Heaven, and not only that, but she is working as our very own personal intercessor. Ryan is definitely excited to be a Daddy again, and he continually comes up to me, rubs my belly and says "Can you believe that we are already the parents of 2??" It's pretty hard to believe! God is good. :)

Quick update

Let me begin by saying, Congratulations Ryan and Mary! You and Baby Tompkins are in our prayers. Now if I could be a bit demanding...let's see some pregnant lady pictures! :) Jack and Christina, I am so happy Baby Isabella is doing well!! You all have and will continue to be in our prayers. We can't wait to see you in a couple of weeks!!

Well I realize it has been a very long while since I last posted a Lantigua update. Needless to say, things have been quite busy around here. David has been very busy with his school work, working many hours every day and night. And I have been trying to keep up with the apartment, groceries, and working. David and I finally got our registering done. Wow, that definitely took a long time. It was very overwhelming and exhausting to say the least yet of course it was also very exciting. I still cannot believe that in more or less 12 weeks Sofia will enter the world!

Speaking of Sofia, she is growing very fast and bouncing around like crazy. The other day she decided to do a full body stretch - her foot was in my ribcage! Wow, that hurt. I think she even left me a little bruised. Besides this little temporary damage, she has been a complete joy! I love when she moves. I truly believe this is the most special part of pregnancy. I also love watching my belly when she moves. It sometimes feels/looks like "the wave" is happening inside me. My belly will also take different shapes. The other day I looked at my belly and it was in the shape of a rectangle!! What position she was in, I have no idea but it was really funny. Other times, I have a big bulge sticking out on one side. If I or David put our hands there, it feels super duper hard, so I am not sure if it is her bum or an elbow. Sometimes I wish I could look inside and see what she is doing. Maybe someday this will be possible but right now I am content just watching "the wave". I have learned based on her movement that she really loves classical, jazz, and folk music. When these genres of music are at an audible range for her, she moves around like crazy. She is already the little dancer! A couple weekends ago, David and I went to the folk choir Mass at the ND Basilica, and every time the choir started singing and playing the instruments she would not stop moving! She kept kicking, and not just a little tap, but a real kick! Like she was doing grand battement or grand jetes! The movement was so strong that you could see my belly move through my tights, pregnancy pants, undershirt, and thick sweater! It was incredible.

This is too funny...Sofia is not even born yet and I am already bragging about her. I will stop now but I must warn you, all the other news is related to pregnancy. Yes, with being 12 weeks away from my due date, there is not too much else that occupies my mind.

David and I have started taking our childbirth classes. They are great! So informative! I definitely recommend the Bradley method classes to Mary and Ryan. Also, I started swimming! It is a great work-out. It feels so much better being in water than walking around a track. Although I don't believe weightless is the right word, you definitely feel lighter. :)

I think that is all I can think of right now. Below are pregnant lady pictures from 24 weeks and 28 weeks. I also posted the 20 week picture of Sofia. Enjoy.

24 weeks

28 weeks!

Baby Sofia at 20 weeks. So beautiful. We can't wait to meet her!

I hope everyone is doing well. We love you and miss you very much!

Love, David, Marisa, and baby Sofia