The Results of Your Prayers :)

Hello My Good and Faithful Family,

Thank you very much for all the prayers! The retreat was just an all-round awesome experience for Nicolette and I. There were no big issues that came up for us, but we did learn some new ways to be loving and sacrificial in our marriage while in the midst of an argument or just in daily life. As a whole, it just really brought our focus back on to marriage instead of on the wedding day.

One of the highlights was definitely the priest, Fr. Bill Savengros. Nicolette and I really connected with him over the weekend and were blessed to go to him for Confession. Fr. Bill really seemed to take an interest in us and really spent a lot of individual and personal time with the two of us. He spoke to me about my career aspirations of defending the Church through Constitutional Law and he really lit up and told me to crap and get off the pot. He said this is really the growing issue of our times and also said that he fears for the Church in regards to this. So, he said I need to get to law school asap. We also spoke about serving the Church as a canon lawyer because Fr. Bill is one as well. Also, after the weekend was over, we spoke to Fr. Bill about our situation with Fr. Joseph and Msgr Higgins not being able to do our nuptial mass and asked if he would be willing/available to do it. After a really long pause which included him checking his schedule, he finally said: "You know this means I'm going to be part of your life now, right?" And we were like, "Oh yeah!" Fr. Bill also called me last night and said that he was really excited about celebrating our marriage. We also spoke about wanting to get together to go to lunch and "just hang". So, God-willing, nothing will come up on his schedule, and hopefully we will be able to have you all meet Fr. Bill Savegros when you come down. I think Marisa, Dave, Jack and Christina already met him on their retreat so I'm sure they'll be happy to see him again. Jack already mentioned how he really liked him.

Anyways, I'm submitting my application to Catholic University tonight and will be finishing my essay to AMU as well. Keep up the prayers whilst Nicolette and I continue our preparation and as I continue to discern law school. Thanks and I love you all!

Uncle Joey

Engaged Encounter

Hello Familia,

Pray for Nicolette and I as we go on the Engaged Encounter Retreat this weekend!!! Pray that the Lord's will be done and He allows us to grow individually and as a couple. Thanks and love you all!

I have finished the final essays for my law school apps and will be sending in the last two essays next week. I was accepted to Regent Law School in VA and offered a very small scholarship...nothing to hook me yet...I'll keep you updated.

Love you!

Joe

Vale!

Hola la familia!

We cannot tell you enough how much we, especially Sofia, love all the blog posts! And we are very glad to hear that both Isabella and Cecilia are doing well after their respective surgery and food poisoning.

I am sorry about the attempted video posting of Sofia praying, bouncing, and dancing ballet. I believe it would not work because it was too long.

The latest update on our travels: we are currently in Madrid and are rounding up the last of our time in Spain. We left Salamanca on March 16th and traveled to Sevilla for a few days. Sevilla es que bonita! Tropical and sunny - our favorite combination! We arrived in Madrid on the 21st and will be here until April 4th when we begin our return journey to the United States!

Anyways, here are the latest pictures of the Lantigua's (mostly Sofia) from February and some March. Contrary to reality, Sofia looks sad in some of these pictures. She is unlike her cousin Isabella when it comes to hamming it up for the camera. She, like Cecilia, just likes to look at the pictures and videos of herself. :) Also, St. Patrick's Day is not celebrated in Spain, unless by the Americans in Spain, so unfortunately we totally forgot and did not wear green.

We begin with the most recent pregnant lady pictures. Everything is going well with the pregnancy thus far. The baby moves alot and I am definitely growing! It has been difficult to put on weight since I have been walking so much (I was finally able to weigh myself in Madrid), but you would never know looking at the rate my belly is growing.I am very excited though to get home and have my 20 week ultrasound (really at 24 weeks) with my midwife! It is scheduled for April 6th. Any guesses? Boy or girl?

19 weeks in Fatima (the sun was so bright I could not open my eyes)

22 weeks in Sevilla

And now we continue with February through March pictures

Here David was flipping through the channels one evening and came across a beautiful concert with a full orchestra on TV. Sofia was immediately mesmerized by the various instruments and then the ballet company that accompanied it!

Sofia's first trip on a public bus in Spain. She was very excited! She thought that the handicap sign on the bus was a robot.

The beautiful rose David gave me for Valentine's Day

I don't like this picture but regardless I wanted to share it. One morning when I was cooking omeletes with spinanch and cheese I came across this three leaf clover in the spinanch bag!

Sofia sleeping in one of her many strange positions.

Sofia calls this time "working like Daddy". She is very interested in doing everything like Mommy and Daddy!

When we were in Fatima, one of the shop owners gave Sofia a rosary as a gift. She told Sofia she could wear it around her neck like a necklace. Now I typically object to this but being that the I did not want to insult this woman, the customs are different in Portugal and Spain, and I know that Sofia does not mean any harm by it, I only let her wear this rosary. Thankfully, she wears it with reverence and does not play with it like she does my necklaces. Nevertheless, I think she looks very pretty in this picture.

One of our last weekends in Salamanca, the sun came out and we took Sofia to a big park. There was a pond nearby with ducks (the first she has seen since we were in Florida for Christmas!) and she kept saying, "Pond, like Joe-Joe, pan, duckies, like Joe-Joe."

I think these next couple of pictures are so sad because she looks so lonely sitting at the end of the slide. She misses her family and friends.

Sofia's tunnel. It is "shippery" (slippery)

Driving the boat which she thought had a hammock attached to it. She kept telling me, "Fia hammock, like Bella and Nana (Christina)."

This picture definitely needs explanation since she looks like Tarzan. We could see the moon, "la luna", from our front balcony one evening and I wanted to take her to the window to see it but she was naked (as she sometimes likes to run around after I change her from her clothes to her pajamas). So I grabbed her blanket and wrapped it around her and then took her to the window. She must have really liked this because now she will take the blanket, wrap it around herself (or ask me to), run to the window, and say "la luna!".

Brushing her teeth like a big girl

Her last time at the playground near our apartment

Surprisingly, in Salamanca there is a 50's Rock burger restaurant! We joked the whole time we were in Salamanca that before we left we should eat there. And we did! It was decorated with pictures of the Beatles, Elvis Presley, and many other artists from the 50's. We felt like we were in America again, especially with the huge picture of New York City on the wall, except when we read the menu......todo en espanol! Of course the burger selection also had to include a burger made with eggs and ham (yuck).

I just had to enjoy a strawberry shake with my burger! If you are going to splurge, do it right! Sofia totally agrees as she tries to get her straw in it.

"Angels are singing up there!"

Sofia fell into the table (behind her in this picture)and got her first big "bo-bo". Pobrecita! We had to put a band-aid on it and she was not sure what to think of it.

Sofia is quite the character and has come up with new ways to entertain herself lately. One particular afternoon she decided to wrap her bib around her head. When we asked what she was doing she replied, "Fia hat, Fia silly."

Sofia playing with dominoes. She was so impressed with the video of Cecilia building blocks that whenever she plays with her own she says, "Fia build tower like YaYa! Uh-oh!"

My attempt to get her to smile for the camera. I told her, "Sofia, show me your teeth!"

Sofia tends to make a mess of her clothes whenever she eats and I cannot let her eat shirtless because it is too cold in the apartment. So one evening, I put one of my dirty shirts on her and rolled up the sleeves for her to eat in. She was very amused!

Finally, here are a couple of pictures of when we checked out of our apartment in Salamanca. Here David is with the owner of our apartment, Pilar. She was a very sweet woman.

Good-bye Salamanca!

(Note: my bangs are not really this short...they got brushed to the side.)

Well that wraps it up! We might not post again on this blog (except some videos I want to share) until we get back to the states since we have so many blog posts to catch up on on our Salamanca blog before we leave in less than two weeks. So until our next post or conversation, we love and miss all of you! We can't wait to see the Tompkins in Florida for Easter!

Hasta luego!

Since St. Patrick's Day

I'll add another post of our adventures since St. Patrick's Day, to give you guys an idea of what we have been up to lately. Ryan Jr. is growing deliciously fat (as you'll see in the naked baby pictures below), and starting to mature in many ways. He's beginning to discover that he has arms, and he sometimes succeeds in grabbing at his toys dangling from his play mat. He also has discovered that his fists taste delicious, and although he can't quite get his entire fist in his mouth at once, he tries to all the time.

He is super talkative, and especially loves to talk to Daddy:

We went to the outdoor outlets in Leesburg on Saturday, to catch some sales for kids clothes and shop for dress shoes for Ryan. Cecilia loves being outdoors!We had a lot of success! At the shoe store, we had the best luck: we bought Ryan 2 new pairs of work shoes, slippers, and 2 sweaters for myself all for just $70. We saved $400. I was a happy camper. :) Afterwards we ate lunch out at McDonalds and a baby consignment sale. All this shopping and no complaining from Ryan...it was a real act of love on his part. Cecilia enjoying some french fries:That night poor Cecilia woke up crying in her crib while Ryan and I were watching a movie. Ryan ran up to comfort her and discovered that she had thrown up (hence the crying) and she continued to do so for the next couple of hours. Since she didn't have a temperature, we assume it was food poisoning. We had all eaten the same foods during the day, except for one thing: we sprinkled some shredded mozzarella cheese on Cecilia's spaghetti dinner, and we think that may be the culprit. It was a very sad thing to see her so sick; but Ryan rose to the occasion and even kept it together as Cecilia got sick all over him. He insisted on sleeping with Cecilia in her bedroom so he could watch over her and I could sleep with Ryan Jr., who slept through the night for the first time in his life. By Sunday, Cecilia was back to her happy, healthy self. Here she is modeling one of her new clothing items: a cozy fleece nightgown.Another one of Ryan Jr.'s latest developments is that he loves being read to! Here is a picture of the kids' story time before bed:Here he is in all his chubby glory. He's much bigger than Cecilia was at three months!Not sure why the blog decided to flip this one. We love his smile:Whenever Ryan Jr. is on his mat, Cecilia suddenly HAS to have the toys that are dangling in front of him. She pulls them off and runs away with them...so it has begun!He's almost always incredibly happy when he wakes up from naps, as he was yesterday:
Just a quick story to go with this photo: shortly after it was taken my friend Liesl arrived to spend the afternoon with me at our place. She asked to hold Ryan Jr. and he sat on her lap and was adorably cute to her; he cooed and smiled and just really hammed it up. Since my friend is a beautiful blonde, I couldn't help but think that Ryan Jr. was acting that way because he had a little crush on her. My suspicion was confirmed a few minutes later when, after a pause in his talking and cooing, Ryan Jr. tried to impress Liesl in yet another way: by making an enormously loud, incredibly stinky, dirty diaper. Ryan Jr. is known far and wide for his very potent stinkies, so I quickly sprang up to take him off Liesl's lap but it was too late: she had foolishly breathed through her nose already and the damage was done. She got up and ran to our open window saying "I think I'm going to be sick!" Nice one, Ryan Jr. Way to impress the ladies!

Our St. Patrick's Day

Christina, thanks for your St. Patrick's Day recap! Isabella is adorable in green. :) Our St. Patrick's Day was very similar to yours; pretty low-key and we all wore green. The kids and I spent most of the day at my sister's house, which is always a treat for us. Cecilia loves to play with her cousins who are 10 and 12; she seems to think she is the same age as them! We didn't have a very Irish dinner (I kind of forgot about St. Patrick's Day during the grocery shopping for the week...oops), but maybe next year. :) Also, Cecilia and I pigged out on sweet potatoes after dinner...potatoes are an Irish food, right? Here is Cecilia going to town on our sweet potato casserole:

Which of these two green things is more delicious? I can't decide! Ryan and I continued our little St. Patrick's Day tradition of watching The Quiet Man at night once the kids were asleep. It is one of my favorite movies of all time, there's so much to love! John Wayne reminds me so much of my Grandpa Clavin, the Irish countryside is so beautiful and it makes me want to go there and live in the same little cottage and plant roses frolic in the fields. Also, there are so many great lines that just make us laugh "No patty fingers!" "Have the good manners not to hit the man until he's your husband and can hit you back" and of course "Impetuous! Homeric!" If you have the means, I highly recommend watching it. :) And finally, a bonus picture of Ryan in the only green item of clothing I could find in his drawer:

Now let's see everyone else's St. Patrick's Day recap!

St. Patrick's Day

Here are a few pictures from St. Patrick's Day. Considering it was the day after Isabella's surgery, it was pretty low key! Nothing special aside from wearing green. Isabella was a ham for the camera, as usual! I hope everyone had a nice day! I also put up my 32 week pregnant lady picture... and yes I was very tired when that pic was taken lol! So where are everyone else's posts?!?!

Per request - Isabella running into wall...

Isabella walking w/cast

Isabella's Surgery

Thank you for all of your prayers and support! It was a very smooth day and Isabella was fine throughout! The surgery took about 40-45 minutes, which included casting her foot! So it was a quick surgery. We were away from her for about an hour and a half. We prayed the rosary during this time which helped us get through it. The only complaint we have is we don't understand why they don't let the parents see their child right when they are in recovery! They called us back about 20 minutes after surgery (when the doc already told us she was cranky, but we still had to wait to see her) and when they finally called us back she was so upset and it took the longest time for her "hiccup" breathing to stop! We were so upset that it took them that long for us to see her. I don't know why they thought they could calm her down when she doesn't even know them! Other than that, we have no complaints. She didn't even cry when they took her back for surgery which was one of the things I was worried about. Again, thank you for your prayers!

Here are a few pictures of the day. I'll post more once her cast is off in two weeks. We have yet to see the outcome of the surgery, but I think it's better we see it once it's healed :). I'm also going to post a video of her walking, poor girl!

The night before her surgery - spaghetti face!

Playing in the waiting room. She loved having so many things to play with!

I think Daddy was having more fun with the toys!

Mommy and her little girl :)

Isabella is such a social butterfly! She was just roaming the halls and spending time with random nurses!

So happy - for now :(

Daddy and his little princess.

Back home! As you can see, she didn't want to stand up on her own. She's a pro now!

Not a fan of this picture, but I'm 32 weeks now!

I thought I would post the few pictures I had from March.

We are about to walk to my parents house to celebrate Lisette's birthday.

Cute little pigtails!

Isabella is now stripping. Here she is during the process.

This was a different method, so she was a little frustrated when her arms were stuck!

Ash Wednesday - you can barely see her ashes.