Hasta la Pasta and Lapsit

Santiago and I met up with a friend from work today for lunch at Hasta la Pasta and then we headed to the library for the baby group we go to on Mondays called Lapsit. It was so nice to see Angela and her son Christian. Christian is 2 weeks older than Santiago and he is a very adorable, big, active boy. Angela and I shared lots of pregnancy stories at work the first half of the school year and now it is wonderful to share our baby boy stories as well. She knew she was having a boy while she was pregnant and since I didn't find out, I always compared how our belly's looked. We had very similar pregnancy symptoms and belly shapes so whenever we saw each other I would think I was having a boy too. Sure enough I did! Christian and Santiago seemed to like each other. They smiled and talked and reached to touch each other. Holding Christian was a lot different than holding Santi. Christian is a little jumping bean! He literally jumped up and down in my lap! It was so cute! Maybe Santi will learn how to do that as well by playing in his jumper.

This picture has Mindy and her daughter Abby, Me and Santi, and Angela and Christian. I worked with Mindy at Kaiser Elementary and Angela at Frank Elementary.

When we walked into the library, it was nice to see and hear everyone's reaction to seeing Santi without his helmet on. Everyone couldn't believe he had so much hair and that it is curly on the top. They were very excited for him not having to wear the helmet anymore. We had a fun time singing songs and listening to a story at Lapsit and then playing with all the babies. It is so neat to see all the different ages and stages of babies! Here is a picture of all the babies playing after storytime. They dump a bunch of toys in the middle and its a free for all.

Sunny Sunday

Our family of three had a great day today. We went to church, ate at Olive Garden for lunch, made some returns, took an afternoon nap, grilled hamburgers for dinner and watched a movie. During mass, Santiago slept on his daddy for almost the entire time. He woke up extremely happy at the end and earned many compliments on his cute smile. After mass, we came home so I could feed Santiago and then got back in the car to have lunch and run some errands. Santiago and I waited in the car while Hector ran in to return something and when Hector came back he thought Santi was crying but he was doing the complete opposite. I had him laughing so hard. I was going through the alphabet saying the sound a letter makes and then an animal that starts with that letter. Not sure why Santiago thought that was so funny but I love hearing him laugh so I kept on doing it. I think I went through the alphabet 3 times! His laugh is really turning into a big belly laugh now. It's great!

When it was Santiago's bath time tonight, I decided to take a bath with him. I have been wanting to put him in the big bath tub with me for awhile but I wanted to make sure he had really good control of his head before I did it. He definitely has a strong neck and he lets us know it by holding his head up and looking all around now. Santiago loves being in the water and it was a lot of fun to be in the tub with him. He smiles so big in there! He also discovered his foot today while he was in the bathtub. He grabbed his toes and pulled his foot right into his mouth and sucked on it for awhile. He puts everything in his mouth now!

In a matter of a couple minutes every time we lay Santi on his back now he flips over to his tummy. As soon as he figures out how to flip back onto his back he is going to be rolling all over the house. I still can't believe how much more he moves around now without his helmet!

Hot Stuff

It has been SO stinkin' hot here in Spring. Here is the reversible hat I bought for Santiago to match his swim trunks that I forgot to bring with us swimming yesterday. Santiago wore his hat today when he went outside with me to water the plants in the backyard and he also wore it to go visit his grandparents today at their house.

Today we took out the doorway jumper for Santiago to try out. Dr. T advised us to keep him off his back as much as possible so this jumper will be a good way to keep him busy for a little of the day. We need an exersaucer too so that is the next thing on our list to get. Santiago is getting so strong. He can hold his head up very well with no bobbling around, he even holds it up right when he is in his stroller or carseat instead of laying his head back. It's like he really wants to hold his head high ever since he got his helmet off. He loves looking around. Santiago also can stand up really well with support and he enjoys standing. He smiles and talks to you if you let him stand in your lap so I thought the jumper would be fun. He liked it a lot! He can't quite jump yet but he enjoyed sitting in that position and turning around on his tippy toes. I think he will be jumping in no time!

Shopping, Spazmatics & Swimming

Yesterday Santiago and I went with Grandma Linda and cousin Sarah shopping at Carter's and Old Navy. Grandma and I bought Santiago a lot of new clothes because he has out grown just about everything we own. Carter's is the best place to shop - We got so many cute things for not too much money. We had to buy 9 months and some 12 months clothes for Santiago because he is just getting too long for all his clothes. After a morning of shopping, we ate lunch at Red Robin and then headed home. We had a lot of fun together. Today I tried to dress him in one of his new cute onsies that we bought and it was too small...I may have to exchange some or all of the clothes!

Last night, Hector and I went out to celebrate my brother Travis' 30th birthday. Grandma Linda and Grandpa Hector were kind enough to watch Santiago so we could go out and have a good time. We met up with Bianca and Matt, Jeremy and Alicia Garza and Travis at Candelari's Pizzeria for dinner and then went to Sammy's to watch an 80's cover band called the Spazmatics play. My cousin Erin and her fiance Shawn met us there and so did my friend Kristine Aleman who I have known since Kindergarten. We had a blast! The music and the act was great! We had a really fun night.

Then today Hector and I took Santiago and his cousin Sarah to swim at my dear friend Kathy's house. We had a great relaxing afternoon bobbing in the pool and talking. It was Santi's first time to swim and he really loved it. I tried to buy a floaty for him at Wal-Mart before we went there but they were out so we just held him in the water. He smiled a lot and really seemed to like the warm water. It has been in the 100s for at least a week here in Houston and it is VERY hot so the pool was warm but still refreshing. I bought Santiago a cute floppy hat yesterday and the UV protection shirt he is wearing when we went shopping but I forgot the hat at home so Hector had to stop and buy a hat for him on the way to Kathy's. The little hat he is wearing in the picture is too small for him but it was all that Hec could find. It did the job and kept the sun off of Santi's head but it sure looks funny. I also forgot my camera so we took the pictures using Hec's phone so they aren't great. I still haven't gotten the hang of loading up to go somewhere without forgetting something and this time I had 2 kids - Sarah and Santi.

Kathy and Norm served us yummy pot roast for dinner and then we headed home. After being in the sun for a few hours, Santiago was pooped! He slept the whole way home and napped for about an hour before waking up for his last feeding of the day. He stayed awake just long enough to nurse himself back to sleep.

Super Santi

Santiago's first day without his helmet proved to be an eventful day. It began with me laying him on the ground for a minute or so just so I could go to the restroom alone. We were going to be walking to our neighborhood park to meet Grandma Linda and cousin Sarah. When I was away, I began to hear him making his loud grunting sounds so I hurried and ran in his room to find him on his tummy holding his head up high. He had the biggest smile on his face and was grunting and talking away! I was so proud! He has done this before but it has been awhile and I suppose I will feel proud of every little or big thing that he does in his life from here on out. So as the day went on...he did his turnover at least 8 more times. I caught him on video but it won't upload it. Sorry...I think it's too big.

We had a good HOT time at the park. We only stayed for about 45 minutes because Santiago began to get fussy because it was his nap time and it was so hot outside. We walked home and he went right to sleep in his crib. Sarah enjoyed playing hide-and-go seek and going down the slides. She made friends with 2 cute boys there too and played a little while with them.

Helmet Free

These are the last two pictures you will see of Santiago wearing a helmet because today we got the great news from Dr. T that he doesn't have to wear it anymore. Hector and I took Santiago to two appointments today - one with Aaron at Dynamics and the other with Dr. Teichgraeber who did Santiago's operation. We met with Aaron first so we could have a scan done of his head in case we needed to have another helmet made. He also did a few adjustments on the current helmet to make it last a little while longer (he thought Santi may last another 2 weeks in it if necessary). After we left Dynamics, we went and picked Travis up from his work so we could go to lunch with him to celebrate his 30th birthday. We went to a fabulous restaurant called the Red Onion. It is a Latin Fusion restaurant and it was delicious.

After eating we went to see Dr. T. He wasn't out of surgery yet so he hadn't made it to his office yet. That made for a waiting room full of patients and an hour wait, which really wasn't that bad. I always enjoy talking to the other moms there and sharing stories or listening to or offering some comforting words. Santiago also enjoyed flirting with a 5 month old little girl who was sitting with her mom two chairs down from us. They enjoyed smiling at and talking to each other with their baby talk. It was very cute! When we were called back the first thing the nurse always does is weigh and measure Santiago. So we removed the helmet and weighed him. Guess how much he weighs now? 18 pounds and 9 ounces! He is growing like a weed! He measured 27.25 inches long and his head was 42.25 cm. Dr. T was very pleased with the progress Santi's head has made and said we are ready to go without a helmet. Hector and I are very pleased, excited, and overjoyed to see and hold our sweet boy without plastic on his head but we are both just a little apprehensive about not having it on. The plan was to wear a helmet for 2-3 months and we did just that - Santiago wore it for about 2 and half months. Dr. T said that we have accomplished everything we could with the helmet and now its time to let Santiago's head grow and do its job by itself. His head is way more symmetrical than before surgery and his forehead has rounded out a lot. His bones are still separated at the coronal suture where the surgery took place but they have begun to close. They are expected to close about 6 months post-op. Dr. T is very happy with the way the upper section of Santi's forehead looks but Santi still has a little flatness right above his right eyebrow bone and that bone still needs to come out a bit more. It is not very noticeable and if you didn't know that Santiago had to have surgery, you may not even notice this. So for now we are helmet free and we will go back in 4 weeks so Dr. T can check Santiago and make sure we don't need to go back in the helmet.

Dr. T also recommended for us not to let Santiago lay on his back alot because we need to avoid putting pressure on the back of his head. We are going to have to be extra cautious about how he sleeps at night and not allow him to play on his back on a play mat much. He needs lots of tummy time and I think we are going to buy an exersaucer so he can play in that too. The last thing we want is for Santiago to need another helmet for positional plagiocephaly (flatness in the head) after all we went through with surgery. We are very thankful to be on the other side of all this and feel very blessed to have a happy and healthy boy with NO HELMET!

Happy Father's Day

After spending the weekend in Midland, Santiago and I flew back to Spring to spend the remainder of Father's Day with Hector, his parents and sister. Hector was very anxious to see Santiago on his first Father's Day. He missed him so much while we were in Midland. I loved having the best of both worlds this father's day - I got to spend half of it with my dad and the other half with Hector and his dad.

We are so blessed to have wonderful families on both sides. Both sets of Santiago's grandparents have been married for 35 years - they are amazing role models for us. We love you all!

More Midland

We had a wonderful time in Midland and most of it was spent hanging out at my parents house or at Alli's house. Here is Pappaw playing with Santiago:

Here's Great Grandma Hazel with Santiago in her kitchen. He was happy as could be until she turned him around to see him. Then he began to cry because he wasn't sure who was holding him.

And here are the happy grandparents with their two precious grandbabies - Santiago and Blake. They took turns holding both of them while we were visiting in Midland. They have been amazing parents to me and they are wonderful grandparents as well. Today is their 35th wedding anniversary! Amazing!

Santiago and I went to Midland to celebrate Father's Day with my dad and to be at Blake's baptism on Saturday. Thanks to my aunt Pat for taking care of Santi during the ceremony. He wasn't very happy when the baptism began and she had to take him to the back of the church because he was crying.

Midland

Santiago and I arrived in Midland yesterday afternoon and have had a great relaxing time so far. He did great on the airplane - he fell asleep right when we were taking off and woke up as we were landing.  We were on a big Southwest Airlines plane but there were only 55 people on board so the plane was very empty so we rode in the back all by ourselves.  We hung out at my parent's house all day and just relaxed.   Allison, Tim and Miss Blake came over for dinner and we played dominos before we went to bed.   Grandma Karen and Pappaw Monty have both gotten Santiago laughing out loud and he has been really happy here. 

Today we went to Alli's house to hang out with her and Blake and to help her get ready for the company that she will be having after Blake's baptism tomorrow.  Blake took an extra long nap while we were there and Santiago played on the playmat and made loud happy screaming noises for us.  Alli thought he was quite funny!  

Santiago is beginning to get a little scared of people he doesn't know.  Last weekend I saw this a little at Shannon's baby shower.  Today my dad's friend Johnny came to over and he wanted to hold Santi so he took him from my dad and when Johnny lifted him up, Santiago immediately started crying.  Then we went to my Grandma Hazel's house this afternoon, he was real happy and smiling at my Grandma when I was holding him so after awhile of letting him get used to her I handed him over and she sat him in her lap.  He was fine until she turned him around so she could see him. When he looked at her, he started crying.  I think he is going to have to warm up a little to people for now on...at for awhile.  

Times Two

Today we did everything in doubles. Santiago wore two outfits, we went to Grandma Linda and Grandpa Hector's house twice and to Dynamics Orthotics for a helmet adjustment TWICE.

We had a good day but it was jammed packed. Santiago and I started with going shopping at Hobby Lobby for some frames to hang some beautiful pictures of Santi that we had taken when he was 3 weeks old. I have waited too long to get these great pictures on our wall and I am so excited to have half-price frames for them so I can finally hang them up. I love when Hobby Lobby has sales! I wore him in my Chicco backpack carrier to do my shopping and it was very convenient.

When we got home from shopping, I had to feed Santiago and myself and then head to Dynamics to get his helmet adjusted. When we walked in, the first thing that Aaron said to me was that Santiago is growing so fast and he isn't sure what else he can do to the helmet to make it do its job much longer. He has pretty much grown out of it. He made some changes to it and we went on our way. We picked Hector up at the house and headed to his parents house because his aunt and uncle and little cousin were there visiting and little Sarah wanted to see Santiago. We noticed that Santi's helmet was moving around way too much on his head and was not putting pressure on his head in any area which defeats the purpose of wearing the helmet. I called Dynamics and they told us to come back and Aaron would work with it again. So we visited for maybe 30 minutes tops, let Sarah hold Santiago and make him smile, and then we had to head back to the Woodlands to Dynamics. I also called Dr. T's office to see what he thought about the problems we were having and if we needed to come see him sooner than the end of the month.

When we were at Dynamics the first time, Aaron opened the helmet up as wide as possible from the screw in the back. I have been noticing that Santiago's head is growing upward and getting a little flat above his ears and on the sides in the back so I pointed that out to Aaron. That is what he meant when he said Santi was growing out of the helmet. Since we got the helmet when Santiago was about 2 months old, he said the sides of his head are the size of a 2 month old baby's head while the top is like a 4 month old baby's head. We have been putting pressure in those areas and restricting growth some to allow the right forehead area to catch up. It is what is expected to happen when you put a helmet on a growing head. So we had to go back for a second time because when Aaron opened the helmet up from the screw, it made the helmet slide around on his head too much. It was tight on the sides but we could almost take it off Santiago's head without undoing the velcro on the back. It's hard to explain but we knew it wasn't good. It wasn't putting any pressure on his head anywhere that it needed to be so Aaron added a big patch inside the back of the helmet to tighten it up. It is still not good, but it will have to do until next week. When we got back to Dynamics, Aaron also told us that he had just gotten off the phone with Dee at Dr. T's office to talk about the problems I had mentioned in my call to them. Dee also called us back and she suggested we bring Santiago in to see Dr. T soon. So we are going to see Dr. T next Tuesday and he will either tell us that we are finished wearing the helmet or tell us that we are going to have to get a new helmet made. I would love to hear that we don't have to wear a helmet anymore but I want it to be because Santiago's head is as perfect as it can be. So if we have to get another new helmet to keep working on the shape of his head - then that's ok too.

After we got back from the second visit at Dynamics, we went back to Hector's parents for a delicious Thanksgiving meal in June! I love turkey and everything that goes along with it so it was a nice treat! YUM!

Tomorrow Santiago and I will be flying to Midland for the weekend because my sweet niece Blake is getting baptized and I am honored to be her Godmother. I am so excited to see my family and spend some precious time with them. Packing for the weekend for myself and Santiago is an ordeal though. It's amazing how much you need when you travel with a baby!

2 Months of Helmet Wear

As of yesterday, Santiago has been wearing his helmet for two full months. It's amazing how fast it has gone by and it's amazing that Santi has had it on his head for half of his life now. We have seen drastic changes in his head shape but I think we still have a ways to go. I'm anxious to go see Dr. T at the end of the month to see what he says. We have been going for helmet adjustments twice a week for the last couple of weeks and Aaron, the orthotist, seems to think that we will only need to go once a week now. A baby's head growth starts to slow down after awhile and we may be coming up on that. He thinks Santiago was going through a growth spurt when we were having to go twice a week. He is always willing to see us before our next scheduled appointment if we need to come in before. We are lucky to have such a flexible orthotist to work with. Santiago's head is getting more and more symmetrical all the time and the main area that we are still working on is his right forehead right above the eyebrow. It is still a little flatter than the rest of his forehead and his brow bone still needs to come out a bit. I am hoping that the helmet can accomplish these two things and we won't have to have any more surgeries. Dr. T said another surgery was our worst case scenario last time we visited him. I will ask this again at our next appointment.

I am super glad that this helmet does not seem to be slowing Santiago's development in any way. He can now roll over back to front and when he is on his tummy he can hold him head up very high for a long period of time. The picture above was taken right before Santiago's bath time last night during our "hour off" of helmet time. The helmet weighs 10 ounces but Santi is definitely strong enough to hold it now. He also hits my face with it accidently sometimes! That doesn't feel very good. Hector and I are very anxious for the day that Santiago is free from his helmet because we love seeing him so much without it on. He looks cute with it but he looks even cuter without it on! We also love to feel his hair and head when we are holding him or snuggling with him. Santiago just recently started laying his head down on us when he is tired or when he is hiding from someone or something when he feels a little shy. It's such a nice feeling when he lays his head down. You know he feels safe and loved when he does it. It will be wonderful when we don't have the helmet on anymore for these loving times.

Last night when I was getting Santiago ready for his bath I looked at this diaper bag that my mom made and I thought Santiago looked like he would fit in it so I gave it a try. He loved laying on top of all his clothes inside and was smiling almost the whole time as I took his picture. All the smiley pictures I took though had his legs spread open wide so I chose one where he is all covered up to show you!

A Weekend in San Antonio

Hector, Santiago and I drove to San Antonio on Friday to spend the weekend with my friend/college roomie Shannon and her new hubby John. They are expecting a little boy in August named Cohen Ross and we can't wait to meet him. It was so fun to go hang out and to go to her baby shower on Saturday evening. It was a couple's shower with yummy food. It was great to see my girlfriends from college and to see Shannon's family and friends. It has been a couple years since I have seen the girls from college and I wish we would have had more time together this weekend. Shannon and I have had the opportunity to see each other a little more often than I have seen the rest of the girls. Here I am with Yvette, Shannon, Jacquelyn and Annie.

It was the first time for them to meet my sweet Santiago also. At Shannon's shower, he was a little intimidated by all the people and loud noise that goes with a party. He did really well granted he was off his normal schedule and routine a bit and he is fighting his first cold. He is very congested and is coughing and sneezing alot. Hector and I just had to hang out inside the house for the party where it wasn't as loud because Santiago would start to cry when we were in the more crowded rooms. He was a little scared of strangers too. He would bury his head in my neck and act shy around some people or start to cry. This was Santiago's first big party and I think it was a little too much for him at the beginning but overall he did well.

Rollin'

Yesterday Santiago finally accomplished a back-to-tummy roll! He has been working on this trick for awhile now and yesterday he finally was able to do it, pull out his arm from underneath him and then raise his body and head by pushing up on his little hands. He was so proud of himself too with a smile on his face. I quickly called Hector in the room and we decided to flip him back on his back to see if he would do it again but he was just too tired to even try. I guess it took all his energy to do it once!

Santiago and I had a "jammie day" yesterday. We stayed in our pajamas pretty much all day and just relaxed. I am not feeling the best - my throat and head have been hurting a little and I am hoping it is just allergies. I haven't really been sick since before I got pregnant with Santi. Santiago and I are both coughing a little so I pray that he doesn't get sick. I would rather be sick than him. Whenever Santiago coughs, he usually toots too! I think it is the funniest thing. I guess he just can't help it!

We did get dressed to go to Jason's Deli for dinner last night. It was nice to be out as a family of three for dinner. Santi was happy the entire time and just played with his toys and cooed and laughed while we ate. He has been getting fussy the last week or so about 6:50 in the evenings but then cheers up when we start his bath water. The bath always makes him happy. But last night, he didn't have that little fussy spell at all. I think its because we both took 2 great naps together during the day. The second one was 2 hours long.

Today we will be going for another helmet adjustment so I will probably write again later today. Ta ta for now : )

So Embarrassed

Today I went to run a few errands with Santiago. All I really needed to do was go to PetCo to buy Roxie her food but ended up going to Old Navy also. Santiago was awake and happy so I just carried him instead of lugging him in the carseat. Well we had a nice time walking through and admiring the nice clothes at Old Navy. I didn't buy anything... Then we went next door to PetCo and as I was waiting in the only open line to checkout - Santiago decided to embarrass me! There were 3 people in line in front of me and 1 behind me. A kind lady in front of me offered to set my bag of dog food on the counter for me since she could tell my hands were full with Santi and the bag. So I handed off the bag and thanked her and Santi let out a loud squeal so then everyone in the line turned to look at us. They smiled. (I'm sure because he is just the cutest boy in the world and he makes such sweet sounds all the time now.) Well then it happened. Santiago decided to have an explosion in his pants. Santiago is a very loud pooper normally but this was a very loud one! But that's not the embarrassing part. As he was finishing, I could feel some warmth on me so I looked down to see his bright yellow poop squirting out of his diaper and shorts onto my shirt, running down my shirt, down my shorts and leg and making a HUGE puddle on the floor! My eyes filled with tears because I was so embarrassed. I didn't know if I was going to laugh or cry. I looked at Santiago's face and he just had a huge smile for me so I started laughing! The lady behind me looked like she was going to throw up. I apologized to her as I bent down to get baby wipes out of my bag to clean up the floor. The guy working the cash register had no clue what happened so I just asked him if he could call for cleanup. Then he said, "Does the baby have an upset stomach?" and I just smiled and said yes. That was easier than trying to explain. I cleaned it up the best I could....I know they are used to dogs peeing or pooping on the floor...I wonder if this is the first time a baby did it?!? Luckily I had a change of clothes in my diaper bag for Santi so after changing him and checking out we headed home.

Jager and Santiago

We have taken Santiago outside in the backyard a few times but we are usually holding him. This past weekend I decided it was time to let Santiago get to know our big dog a little better. Really Jager needs to get to know Santi more than anything. I know it won't be long until little Santi is running around in the backyard playing with Jager and loving it. Well when I took Santiago out back one night, I laid a blanket on the grass and sat next to Santiago laying on the blanket. Jager was so excited that we were outside that he ran to get his ball but if you know our Jager - he doesn't play fetch very well. He will let you throw the ball once, maybe twice, but won't bring the ball back to you. He would rather run around with the ball in his mouth and then drop it to roll on top of it. He is 7 years old and still acts like a puppy sometimes. We didn't do a very good job teaching him how to fetch right. Anyways he was very excited to have Santi on the ground and he scared me a little bit coming close to Santiago. I had to push him away several times so we didn't stay out there long. He was just getting a little too close for comfort. The next evening Hector came out with us and this time he had Jager on a leash so he could teach him how to be calm around a baby on a blanket. Santiago was able to lay and admire the trees blowing overhead without his momma constantly shielding him because Jager listens to his daddy much better than me and he wasn't able to run around since he was on a leash. We will have to continue to do this so Jager learns to calm down around Santiago and other children.

Almost

Today it almost happened. Santiago ALMOST rolled from his back to his tummy. He is really good at lifting his legs in the air and then rolling to the side and today he decided that he wanted to reach for a toy that was laying beside him and he kept almost flipping over. We had to go to Dynamics again today for another helmet adjustment and I had him laying on the patient table and he rolled from his back to his side and then to his tummy but his arm was caught under him and I was scared that he may fall off the skinny table even though I was sitting right beside him so I quickly flipped him back over to his back. Then when we got back home, he did the same thing on the blanket on the floor where he was laying . So I guess we can say he flipped over twice today if you count having an arm stuck underneath! I guess he will figure out how to pull his arm out and then he will be laying completely on his tummy.

Lately Santiago has begun enjoying his tummy time more also. Before he would either start to fuss when you laid him on his tummy or he would just lay there all content and now he pushes up on his arms and holds his head high and smiles!

Another cool thing that Santiago has been doing pretty much every night in his crib this last week is turning his entire body around. I lay him with his head under his mobile and when he wakes up in the morning his feet are usually under the mobile and his head is pointing the other direction. He is like a little clock in his bed and it doesn't even wake him up. It amazes me to see him in a different place and different position every time he wakes up.