Suzy, Warrior Princess

So, Suzy has some new tricks. The first one is that she is rolling all over the place (stomach to back and back to stomach) and she's able to pick her head up after rolling onto her stomach. I couldn't keep her on her back now if I tried to! She's a wiggle worm for sure. Every morning I find her asleep on her belly even though she went to sleep on her back.
Her other new trick is squealing and making crazy noises like she is Xena Warrior Princess. It's fun that she can finally verbally communicate her excitement to us!

Here is a video of her rolling over...she had just woken up recently and i guess was too sleepy to get her arm out from under her, leading to some major head banging.

And this one is of her crazy noises...

new wheels!

Ahhh...I'm on vacation!! Unfortunately, Elvis's vacation doesn't start until Thursday, but we are soo looking forward to the long weekend coming up! It will be the first time since before Suzy was born that we will have 4 whole days together as a family!

This week has been hectic but rewarding...I was preparing all week to share at our monthly women's group on Saturday, Elvis was preparing to preach tonight, and we got a new car (well, new to us)!! It was time to sell ol' Cecilia the Sentra and get something a little newer and more reliable. You see, we started saving up 5 years ago, when we were still dating, with an account where the bank automatically sets aside our money for us. I decided to ask about that money a few weeks ago, and it turns out that they closed all of those accounts last MAY when our local bank was bought out by Citibank. However, they failed to mention to us that they had closed it, so if I hadn't asked about it, who knows where that money would be now!!

After wrestling with bank a bit, we finally got our own money in our possession and therefore had a bit to invest in a newer car. I spent 2.5 hours in the bank yesterday trying to do some other transactions, and again had to rely on persistence (had to talk to the bank manager) and tearfilled blue eyes to get through some sticky red tape. But finally it all worked out, and we now have a 2003 Honda Civic, midnight blue (not to be confused with Duke blue). We are still looking for names for him (Elvis seems to think it is a boy), so please let us know your suggestions. Here he is with Suzy, who turned 4 months yesterday! Not a bad gift, eh?

We have a couple of new Sunday traditions which we really enjoy....the first is going to our favorite park here in the city. You've already seen lots of pictures from this park, but I just had to share these new ones as well!

Another Sunday tradition is that since it is the only day that Elvis is here in the mornings to give Suzy a bath, he puts on his swimming trunks and bathes her in the shower instead of her little bathtub, and she loves it! The hard part is keeping her from sucking on her hands since she can't drink the water here, but as you can tell from the picture, it's tough to do that!

with cuteness like this...

...how can I not post pictures everyday??

So, yesterday's video showed Suzy trying to roll over but not quite making it all the way, but today she totally did it like a pro and stayed on her belly after rolling over!! I'm so proud of her!!

I haven't gotten a video of that new breakthrough yet, but this video is of me making funny noises last night and Suzy cracking up at it. Sorry the filming is so uncentered...I was looking at Suzy instead of looking through the viewfinder in the camera. Oops! But you can see her cutiepie dimple and hear the cutest squeal you'll ever hear.

happy st. patty's day!

Suzy is working really hard on rolling completely over! Check out the video...

Apparently suzy likes Bob Marley...

I love this video! Whenever Elvis sings to Suzy, she sings right along. This video shows a little bit of one of their Bob Marley duets. Elvis even provoked Suzy's first out-loud giggle this weekend by singing to her! Too bad we didn't catch that on video!

And here are some pictures from Elvis's graduation dinner at the Gourmet Burger Company. I got a portobello mushroom burger with bacon, grilled cajun avocado and blue cheese sauce. YUM. And of course, some new Suzy pics. =)We went to the doctor last night, and she's up to 11 pounds 6 ounces!

this week in pictures

graduation!

anniversary! we went to a cute little italian place where i got the best gorgonzola/spinach ravioli and hazelnut gelato. yum!new suzy pics!

Big news!

No, I'm not pregnant again already! Ha! But we do have lots of big news this week, first of all, we have a precious little niece, Anna Dawn!! Well, she's not soo little, she weighed 9 lbs 7 oz at birth! But she is beautiful and such a special gift to our whole family! Here she is...I think she resembles Suzy, especially sleeping like this with her arms over her head!
This week is also very special because tomorrow is our 4 year anniversary. We have so much that has happened in this past year of marriage for us to be thankful for... Elvis finished school and got his first big job, and we have been able to see a new, amazing side of each other as we became parents this year and have seen ourselves and our love reflected in the most amazing little girl ever.

Speaking of Elvis finishing school, the other big news is that his long-awaited graduation is this Friday!! I am so proud of him for being persistent and playing along with all the bureaucracy and graduating...something that is not very easy at all in this country. Today I went to go pick up his graduation tickets (oh, other big news is that I'm driving by myself everyday now!) and first of all, I got there at 1:30 and the university office was closed. Apparently they take a 2.5 hour lunch break. Cool. So, I venture through town to a mall to kill some time and get Elvis's graduation/anniversary present, then go back around 3pm. The lady tells me that i can't pick up the tickets, even though I have Elvis's school ID card and El Salvador ID card, because I don't have a written letter from Elvis saying he gives me permission. I mean, I'm not picking up $1000, just a couple of tickets! Anyways, I've learned that most bureaucracy here can be gotten around if you keep persisting and talk to someone else who may happen to be having a better day. So, I go see this lady's boss, who is super nice either because of my blue eyes or my sob story, and gives me permission to get the tickets. So, Elvis is graduating, we finally got tickets, and I got the day off of work to go! Thankful for lots of great things happening this week =)