Oh Christmas Tree...We tried

We havn't had a real tree in maybe 15 years, or since I can remember. So this year Seth and I begged mom for a real one. A week later it was so dry, even after Seth watered it every day, and mom and I were very allergic. So we had to take it out about the same time most people were buying theirs. Good thing we had the old fake back up.


For awhile there we weren't sure it was going to fit out the door. When we broght it in it was tied up real tight with the netting.

Santi's first Christmas!

Christmas day was very special. We started with prayer and reading the Christmas stories in Matthew and Luke. When I say "started" I mean at 1pm. We were waiting for Glenda's family to come too to open presents. Sadly, Marcus wasn't with us. But we are happy for him that he got to spend time with some of his family up in WA state.





Santi's new outfit from Uncle ED.

Kissing fish!

On the way to Glory of Christmas.

Santi driving G.ma's rental car.

santi learning early the ropes of domestication.

NOT wanting his picture taken!


Dancing with "uncle" Seth.


His new truck from "Santa".


His parade wave.














Pinky's Up!



Hayden and Teresa came to visit for about an hour and Hayden showed off all of his cool new Star Wars stuff.









Santi opening his new outfit from Aunt Rhonda and Uncle TR. Thanks you!

Our family in Guatemala

Here are some photos of Beto's most recent trip to Guatemala with his family. He bought them a new washer/spin dryer which helps out their mom a lot! Yea!






I think Gretel, the little girl, looks most like Santi. They are about 3 months apart.

sANTi's surgery

Sunday after lunch santi started acting like he was in pain all of a sudden. At first I thought it may have been something he ate, and that he was extra tired. We got him to sleep but all of a sudden he'd wake up crying and writhing in pain. Then he fell asleep finally with my mom in bed but woke up throwing up. That's when we took him to the ER
We waited in the waiting room for about 8 hours. It was scary becuase Santi really wasn't himself. He went through a pattern of sleeping and waking up writhing in pain about every 15-every 30 minutes. Even at times when awake he'd seem perfectly fine: smiling, playing, but then all of a sudden crying out again and then sleeping.
He usually only takes two one hour naps a day on average.
Sometimes he would just fuss and other times he would scream in pain.
He was very yellow and I even went to the front desk after waiting 7 hours and told them he was getting worse. Of course, I felt like they were treating me like all the other parents who may think their kid is dying of a cold, so they just told me to wait. They were moving as fast as they could.
Finally we were called back and after a blood test and x rays he was told he was just dehydrated and given two IV's of fluids. We were sent home but didn't see any change at all.
All night Sunday night Santi slept in our bed with us and kept up the pattern of waking up every half hour of so crying.
On Monday morning we gave a little bit of water and pedialite. He threw up four times.
We called the ER and they told us to take him in but that there were already 7 people in front of us and they coulnd't tell us how long we'd have to wait. We only waited about 10 minutes till they called us to get his vitals and during that time he threw up his pedialite. As Seth said, "Perfect timing, Santi!" becuase they sent him to the back right away and got started on him. I must of had to repeat my story of his sympoms and what all had been happening about 10 times. They took blood and x rays but this time they also took an ultrasound.
Oh,that reminds me, I had told the first ER dr. on sun. nite about his ab pain and told him that i wondered if it could be a urinary tract infection. he said it probably wasn't becuase he'd be running a fever and that to check we'd have to insert a catheter which i didn't want to do. I wish he'd been more thorough! I felt like they just wanted us to get out of there asap so that his room could open up for someone else.

During the ultrasound I actually prayed that God would give him the pain so they could see what was happening inside, and He did! THat's how they found out . otherwise they wouldn't have found out.

He was diagnosed with Intesusseption (sp?) which you can look up but basically is like the intestine folding in on itself.
They tried a berium enema first which usually clears it up. Only one of us could go int with him during that so Beto went. I could hear Santi just screaming for the 30 minutes, "dadadadadad". They tried three times and it wouldn't release so they had to do surgery.
Beto was so scaredafter seeing Santi during the enemas.
They went int microscopicly and were able to pull out the blockage and took out his apendix which was inflamed.
The procedure only took about 45 min.
We were able to see him afterwards sleeping in recovery.
Last night Seth offered to stay at the hospital with him since we didn't sleep well the night before and let us go home to get a good night's sleep.
We were so grateful. Seth was so good with him! Santi knows him so well that he wouldn't let Seth let him go all night. He only slept in his arms and when he got fussy Seth would whisper "Santiago" in his magical accented voice and Santi would konk out again. Seth said he only got 30 min. sleep but he thanked US for letting HIM stay with him! He is so sweet!
This morning my mom arrived to relieve Seth at 6:30 and we arrived at around 9 after getting Bake n Broil breakfast to go for us and mom.
Until about noon he was kind of fussy and slept for about 90 min., then he was playing, drinking, eating and pooping normally so we got to come home around 4pm and he hs done great.
It's so amazing to have him home playing,talking, and about 90% back to normal. He is still recovering and is a little more mellow than usual. He's sleeping now.

My sister Glenda said that this Christmas we are just going to be happy that Santi is here and we are all together.
Another great friend also mentioned how in the light of something like this all the busyness,craziness,and materialism of this season suddenly all seems so ridiculous. I'm paraphrasing, but I agree with both of them

So may you all enjoy your loved ones in the love of the Lord and be mindful and grateful of all the blessings we have this season.
Thanks so much to all you out there who came to the hospital and were praying for us and Santi. We are so humbled and thankful for all of you, especially those in our wonderful Church family at Long Beach!
God bless you and Merry Christmas!

New Post

Well I see I've not blogged in awhile. At night when I'm tired I know I have a lot to say but not the mental energy to express it. But now's a good time. Beto's making pizza for dinner :), mom rocked Santi to sleep, and the house is quiet.

Last week we enjoyed a trip to seattle. We flew Beto back to Guatemala to visit his family. He was also able to take a bus over to Honduras where he picked up a lot of our items, like our laptop!, that we left there since we left Guatemala in June unexplectedly. Beto also made a trip up to La Esperanza and got to see all our friends there (i'm a little jealous). He said he is more excited now to go back in June after having such a great time there this trip.
We wanted Beto to fly to Seattle and go through customs there since my cousin works as an officer and could stamp his passport. Even though he has a 10 year visa, the act of living here for five months, leaving only 2.5 weeks and then coming back looks really bad to immigration.
The only planes straight to seattle from close to Guatemala was through Mexico. When we came in June we didn't have a problem flying through Mexico, although we did have to purchase a Mexican transit VISA just to have a layover. I guess the laws have changed and since I wasn't with Beto they said it was impossible for him to fly through Mexico, even though he had all the paperwork and we'd already purchased the tickets. Well, we lost those tickets completely. At the airport they told him to go to the Mexican embassy and at the embassy they said there wasn't anything they could do, that he had to go to the internet and research what he shoudl do. He did find out and had to open a Guatemalan bank account and have proof of having a job there. Of course he didn't have that.
So we had to buy him a new ticket which stopped in Dallas first which means he had to go through customs there, but there wasn't anything else he could do. All this means that he could've flown to LA all along. In Dallas they detained him, treated him bad, called him a liar, and said they were going to send him back to Guatemala. He told them he could call my cousin and that he was married to a citizen, but they didn't want to hear it, saying it didn't matter and it wasn't important. Finally while going through all his bags they found pictures of us when I was pregnant. Then they began to settle down and finally called my cousin and me and let him go. Beto was very mad but my cousin said they think most people like him are lying and treat everyone in his situation like that.
The good thing is that Beto was able to visit with his best friend who's from Guatemala but now lives in Dallas. He came to the airport and went out to lunch. It was a very short visit but high quality.
It was so cold in Seatlle that we all came back sick, except for Beto, and mom has Pneumonia. We are very glad to be back with Seth as well.
Mom still wanted to go out and run errands but we forced her to stay inside like mean people. We have to make sure she stays in and gets better.

Seth's Baptism

How could I not have written about this sooner? My oldest nephew Seth was baptized last Sunday. It was so special but my camera left her memory card at home! And my mom only took a video which is too long to download to blogger.
Seth moved back here from Boston and we are really enjoying having him here. He is very funny and a very good cousin to Santi, nephew, and grandson. I feel very blessed that we can all be together for the holidays this year.
Today was another great day. In Everything Give Thanks Day at or church was today. The service was mostly songs, scripture readings and a very special communion. Afterwards we all shared a good meal together. Then my sister and her family, the Heida's, and Uncle Joe with Pablo came over. Thanks Joe for the hot chocolate. He now knows the house rule: if you go to It's a Grind, Starbucks, etc. and don't bring home a treat for Laura, don't bother coming over at all.
He put up all our Christmas lights already like he has for my mom for the past 3 years. THis year his goal was to be able to see our house from space! He usually does it after Thanksgiving but he's going to be gone this weekend. The front yard looks really great.
Santi had a great time with all his cousins. They help out so much and really love being with him. He couldn't even take a nap until they all left. He doesn't want to miss a thing.
Now we're ready for bed...at 8pm. yes

Daddy's gone away!

Because beto only gets six months whenever he comes into the US he had to go back to Guatemala for a couple of weeks. He's happy to be able to visit his family but it is really hard without him. He helps a TON and Santi just adores and loves his dada so much. We've talked on the phone three times since he left two days ago and when we put dada on speaker phone, santi just lights up with the biggest smile. tonight when beto said "adios" santi waved good-bye to the phone.
last night santi didn't sleep very well. I think he's teething again and maybe having separation anxiety. hopefully he'll do better tonight.

i am going to try substitute teaching come January but there are a lot of forms to fill out, and unfortunately I let my preliminary credential expire in 2007 so i found out i have to take 30 post-bacc units to get it renewed, plus CPR. I don't know how I'm goin to do that from Honduras when we go back in June. But hopefully I can get a good start here in CA in January.

It's been really fun having Seth, my oldest nephew living with us since Oct. And my mom had the front bathroom remodeled. It looks really nice.

I am bummed Beto won't be here for Thanksgiving but very excited that we can spend Santi's first Christmas here in the States.

Beto's deck, laughter, and Santi's citizenship!

My mom ,aunt, and sister laughing at a really funny story Laura Heida told us. And there's Santi with his American flag he received for becoming OFFICIALLY an American Citizen, with papers and all! Hooray for Santi! In the last picture the lady behind Santi looks like she's playing "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes." And the pictures with Beto are outside in our backyard where he's building a deck for my mom. We can't wait till it's finished! Sorry the pics are kind of out of order with the text here but there's not as much time now for me as I had in the past. But please enjoy.
P.S. Santi loves reading Runner's World! And then he has to tear it up!