San Diego recap - Day 4

On the 4th day in San Diego, we decided to head to SeaWorld. It was another super hot day (close to 100 degrees) so we were prepared with our water and our spray bottle!







We got there right when the park opened so we were treated to seeing the flamingos being herded through the park!



Baby Beluga in the deep blue sea...



With the polar bear



In the arctic



We chose this polar bear to come home with us!



Dolphin show which I watched alone because it was too hot for Santi to sit in the sun



Pilot whales


After the dolphin show we headed over to see the Shamu show. By the time we got there there were no shaded areas available, so we ended up going into this covered walkway which is the handicap viewing area. We stood in front of a crack in the wall where there was a breeze coming through.



Santi with his spray fan - he loved it!





After the show - ok boys, give me confident!



It was so hot we stripped him down to his onesie. He finally fell asleep!



While Santi slept we went into the Living Ocean exhibit to soak up some air conditioning!



So hot and sweaty!



We also hit up the penguin exhibit because it had AC!



We managed to score seats in the shade for the Pets Rule show - Santi loved the birds that flew overhead!



Sharks!

As we were getting ready to leave for the day we got lost in the park trying to find the exit. I looked up at one point and saw Elmo and Big Bird sitting on a stage in a meet and greet. With no line. Since it was Monday the park wasn't super busy, and I pulled Santi out of the stroller and was up on the stage before Tito even knew what was happening. I tossed him the camera and told him to snap away!



After a couple of shots, the lady taking the official photos asked me if I wanted to have some shots of Santi alone with Elmo - a nice hint to "get out of the shot lady!" :)



Santi LOVED Elmo. We don't let him watch tv but occasionally I've put up a few Elmo videos on YouTube for him or on my Ipod. He always smiles when he sees Elmo. So when he saw a life size version, he started smiling and giggling and then grabbed onto Elmo's fur and wouldn't let go (as evidenced in the above photo!)



Back in the hotel with his own Elmo

San Diego recap - Day 3

On the third day, we switched hotels to one closer to downtown so we could do more things in San Diego.



Leaving the La Costa resort



The boys



Weather report on the phone - my favorite part was the chance of precipitation = 0%

We checked into our new hotel and then headed to the San Diego Zoo. It was hot that day - it said 84 as a prediction but it was in the 90's. Poor Santi in his stroller it was like a hot box. So we promptly bought one of those fan mist sprayers and used it on him.







Waiting in line for the bus around the zoo - someone's freckly!







Walking up one of the many hills in the zoo

After the zoo we headed back to hotel and had dinner at a local sports pub nearby. Santi had a TON of energy and was bouncing off the walls during the meal!







How our meals have changed!

San Diego recap - Day 2

Day 2 was all about the Kawasaki Disease Foundation and the gala event. We had a symposium to go to in the morning and then we had a little free time and then we had the gala event that evening.

We were fortunate that there was babysitting set up for the event in the morning, so we left Santi with the girls (all high school/college aged girls). There were two girls who were in love with the two babies who were there (Santi and another little little one) so they took over with them and we just checked in during breaks and for food and other than that he was fine which was a relief. And the girls were in love with him so that made it easy to leave him.



After the symposium


We had lunch on the campus (symposium took place at one of the UCSD campuses) and totally felt like we were back in college again at the Union (despite the different feel of having a baby there with us!) After the event, we had several hours to kill so we figured the only thing to do was to go back to the pool (had to take advantage of the sunshine while we could!)



Note the water on my face as Santi had discovered splashing!





Beach baby



Sleepy baby back in the room - I noted to Tito how Santi sleeps the same way I do

After a nap, we got dressed up and headed to a VIP reception for the gala. There was wine and appetizers on the terrace. We had Santi with us until the baby sitters were available.





Our guest speaker was Jimmy Garcia - he's the oldest KD kid - wasn't diagnosed with Kawasaki Disease when he was young and had it and didn't know he had it until about a year ago when he had a heart attack at 51 and they went in and discovered he had KD. He is an amazing individual and has the same mantra of "live your life and don't let anything hold you back" that I do. He is also a camera man on American Idol (he does all of the "home" stories and also when you see Ryan Seacrest waiting to greet people outside of the auditions, he is the camera man for those scenes.) So of course, Tito and I got the chance to pump him for AI insider info. :) We confirmed that Ryan Seacrest is short (about 5'8"), that they shoot the home stories before they even know who is going to go through (it'd been Tito's theory that they only shoot the home stories on those who go through), that all of the kids who have come through AI are really nice and humble, with the exception of Jennifer Hudson who was apparently pretty demanding even before she was a "star".



Dessert


Kimberly Caldwell from Season 4 of American Idol was our emcee. Justin Guarini was supposed to do it but had something come up at the last minute so he asked Kim to stand in for him. She did a great job and wasn't as tiny in real life as I'd imagined her to be (she's taller than I thought and looks normal, not super skinny.) She sang Melissa Ethridge's "Come to my Window" and was great!



With Dr. Burns - the doctor who tirelessly researches KD in the hopes of finding a diagnostic test for it. She recently discovered a genetic link in the disease. She's one of the most amazing people I know.



With Jimmy (he's short too as I'm wearing 3 inch heels here which makes me about 5'5"). He's such an amazing person and he introduced me to his whole family who was there as well and was telling them all about me and my KD story. His girlfriend was so sweet and said she thought I was 23 years old and I had to correct her and tell her I was 33!



With my "story" which was placed with others throughout the silent auction room

Santi spent some of the event with us at the table and then the rest in a back room being watched. I went in to check on him to find him crying as the girl was feeding him. I said I'd take him and the poor kid had a major blowout then and there. I had to change him (thank goodness for extra clothes!) and then we took him back to the table until he was tired so we brought him back to the room and put him to sleep in his stroller.

At one point during the dinner we'd discovered that the girl who had been watching Santi (he was the only kid being watched) had left him sleeping in the room alone. So we ran back there and stayed until we found another girl to watch him (thankfully only about 2 minutes had passed in the time she'd left until we saw her and ran back there.)

After the event was over, we headed back to our room and put Santi to bed officially while we enjoyed some wine and relaxed.

San Diego recap - Day 1

Finally I'm getting this down!

So we left the house at about 3am in order to make it to the airport and check in for our flight which was at 6am. We thought we were all prepared, and had put Santi to sleep in his clothes he was wearing the next day - well of course he peed all over himself so I had to change him! And then he pooped all over that outfit about 15 minutes after I'd put it on him! So the plan of keeping him "calm and quiet" and just moving him from his crib to the car didn't work out so well!

Got to the airport and all checked in and then got to the gate where we had enough time to get something for breakfast and then also get some food and milk into Santi. Boarded the plane and had a full flight. The poor guy sitting next to us (a 20 something) wasn't prepared for a grabby baby (who kept trying to grab his Kindle or would stroke his hand over the guy's arm if mom stopped watching for a second!) I ended up nursing Santi as the plane took off and he fell asleep and slept for about an hour of the 2 hour flight. The rest of the time we played with some new toys (a new car and Elmo doll) and then we were there!


Santi and I on the flight - someone's not looking so confident in the pilot's abilities!



We're here! And ready to go!

Once we got our rental car, we headed to the hotel which was in Carlsbad, CA. It was gorgeous weather and such a nice drive.





Arriving at the resort

We checked in to our room and then decided to go out and look around the resort and check out the pool since it was so nice!



Santi in the room



Our shower with the rain spout - making it difficult to bathe Santi while we were there since there was no tub! We ended up showering with him!



Lime trees on the property! I dared Tito to snag one but he wouldn't!

After exploring the resort, we headed to lunch and to grab some baby food at Target, and then decided to see if we could find the beach.



On our way to the beach - we almost didn't recognize this glowing ball in the sky!



Surfer dude!



Beach!



Santi was mesmerized by the waves



The family - California style!





Surfer dude in the making?

After the beach we headed back to the hotel and to the pool. They had three pools - one was a kiddie only pool which was shallow and had a beach area. The other was an adult and older kid pool and the final pool was the waterslide pool. It took everything in me not to want to jump on those waterslides! I love them!



At the pool - Santi did awesome! He is definitely a water baby. By the end of the trip we had him in up to his armpits and he was laughing and smiling the whole time!



After the pool, we went and helped with some set up for the gala the next evening and then had some dinner and went to bed.

New update - finally!

So what's been going on with us? Santi is now 7.5 months old! Eating solids like a champ, and moving onto more solid, non-pureed food. He had toast yesterday and loves puffs and these little Gerber Yogurt Melts.

He's still sleeping through the night and has learned to self soothe himself, which means we no longer have to rock him to sleep and can instead put him down in bed, give him his "lovie" (a tiny blanket my mom made him) and he will roll onto his side and put himself to sleep. It's so nice for naps and for in the evening.

He's rolling everywhere! He now pretty much hates being on his back unless he puts himself there. If we put him on his back he does everything in his power to roll onto his tummy. Which means we're strapping him into his changing pad, and watching him like a hawk when he's on the bed. He's already rolled off the bed and the couch but thankfully wasn't hurt, just a little stunned.

Since he's rolling, we need to start getting serious about childproofing - we're tackling that this weekend. It will involve some furniture rearrangement, and putting away of some of our nicer things that we don't want little hands touching. We're also looking for a soft ottoman to use as a coffee table since the one we currently have is rectangle with some sharp corners. We also have a fireplace to deal with covering up (and it's got no cover for the actual fireplace spot, so it'll need a baby gate around the whole thing.) We weren't actually planning on being here when he became mobile so we didn't think too much about these things but now we have to tackle them.

He loves anything that moves - he has a little car that we can roll up and across the floor to him which he loves. But he gets so frustrated when he can't pick it up because even though it's a toy for kids at 6+ months old the designers didn't think about that when they were making it because it's too big for little hands to pick up! He also has a snail that plays music and is on wheels so he loves to move that around too.

He also loves anything musical. I recently got him a toy drum kit that he can bang on and has a bunch of other instruments that are stored inside (a tambourine, bells, xylophone, and rattle) and he loves it. I picked it up at a consignment store for $10 so I was happy that something so cheap can make him so happy.

He is getting ready for his 2nd plane ride next month. We'll be heading to Peru for 3 weeks during the holidays. We're excited and anxious about the travel. We went to San Diego last month for an event and brought Santi along and it was actually pretty easy to travel with him. But that flight was only 2 hours. The flight to Peru is 5 hours from here to Atlanta and then 7 hours from Atlanta to Lima. And he's into grabbing everything now. And he's also starting to arch his back and whole body if he's not happy with things. (We know we're in store for some full body drop-to-the-floor tantrums when he hits 2 or before!) So we're hoping he'll sleep at least for the longer flight, since it leaves around his bedtime and we arrive at about 1am. We have two seats alone on this flight and he's sitting on our lap. For the flight from Seattle to Atlanta we have booked the aisle and the window seat in hopes that someone won't book the middle seat and we can put Santi there during the flight if needed.

We also picked him up this:

It's a piece that goes on the tray and has all sorts of exciting things for a 9 month old to play with - crinkly, velcro balls, mirrors, zippers, a photo album, etc.












We're going to get some new toys for him to open during the flight too in order to keep him entertained.

Now, for some videos - I've been taking a lot of videos of him lately since he's doing so many new things.

Santi and the cereal puff:

Santi and the cereal puff from Kate Davila on Vimeo.

Rolling all over the place (our nightly routine):

Rolling all over the place from Kate Davila on Vimeo.

Jumping with dad:

Jumping with dad 2 from Kate Davila on Vimeo.

Driving man:

Driving man... from Kate Davila on Vimeo.

7 months old:

7 months old! from Kate Davila on Vimeo

Santiago's 7 month letter

I can't believe our little guy is 7 months old already! He's changed so much and is now such a little "baby" as opposed to a newborn. So interactive, funny, happy and sometimes serious and concentrated. He definitely has a mix of both of our personalities!

Here's our monthly letter to him:

10/15/10

Dear Santiago:

You are now seven months old! Wow! We are amazed at how quickly our time with you has flown by so far.

You are so close to crawling. We can see it in your face – you sit up and will look at something in front of you and reach for it. If you can’t reach it, you get so frustrated and give a little scream or shout. Usually we’ll let you try a few times, and sometimes we’ll position you on your tummy to see if you will crawl – but you are smarter than we are and instead of crawling, you’ve taken to rolling everywhere! The problem is that you can only roll from left to right or vice versa, so if something is in front of you you can’t get to it! You are also pushing up on your arms all the way and we often find you this way in your crib. Now if you can just get the strength the hold that belly off the ground, we know you’ll be crawling in no time!

You love the cats – when you’re on the floor, they’ll come over and sniff you and Monet will often be seen “marking” you with her head. I guess they’ve finally realized you’re not going anywhere, so they are going to say you’re “theirs.”

You are eating like a champ! You love all foods that we put in front of you, although sometimes we have to mix them together to get a combination that you enjoy! You are such a happy, smiley baby, and always smile when we go in to pick you up from sleeping from the night before or for naps. Nothing makes us feel better than to see your little smiling face peering back at us from your crib.

You have also taken to being serious a lot more, and we can see the wheels turning as you examine things, be it a toy you’re passing back and forth between your hands, or watching one of us. You’re so observant and we think you get that quality from your dad.

Here are some of the things you’re doing this month:

• Pushing up on your arms all the way

• Passing toys back and forth between your hands

• Playing with your feet and getting them to your mouth after the bath

• Outgrowing your bath seat – we had to buy a new pad for the tub to sit you on to bathe you since you outgrew your baby tub

• Still working with the sippy cup. You can hold it in your hands, you just like to use the spout as a chew toy right now

• Working on another tooth – you now have three, all along the bottom but we think we can see a fourth on the bottom coming in

• Holding spit or something in your mouth and then smiling and laughing with your mouth closed

• Rolling everywhere! Not just while on the floor but at night when we try to change you after your bath we have to work around your constant rolling to dress you!

• Hating having shirts and jackets put on. For some reason you’re ok with all other clothing going on but if we have to put your arms through any sleeves, you will scream in protest

• Wearing Size 3 diapers

• Wearing size 6-9 month pants, 6-12 month shirts, 12 month onesies (although a little long in the sleeves)

• Wearing size 2 shoes

• Wearing size 6 month hats

• Eating about 6-8 oz per feeding in three bottles a day and one nursing session

• Having formula mixed in with mom’s milk

• Rarely spitting up anymore

• Putting your arms out to be picked up when you’re in your bouncer or on the floor or bed

• Trying to help us feed you when you have a bottle or we use a spoon

• Start out sleeping on your back, then your side and you always end up on your tummy. You sleep just like mom usually, with one leg bent up

• Have three teeth but almost a fourth one coming in. All along the bottom

We love every minute we spend with you. Daddy and I both race home to hold you and play with you before we give you dinner, bath, story and milk and put you to bed. And on the weekends, we love spending as much time as we can with you. You constantly amaze us and you are so smart – figuring things out for yourself that we haven’t even figured out. We can’t wait to see what you have in store for us next month!

Love,
Mommy and Daddy

Dragon

So we have decided what Santi is going to be for Halloween. After going back and forth (Tito wanting a cowboy or Superman, me wanting something "cute" and an animal, since I'll have years ahead of me when my little boy will want to be something superhero or whatnot) Santi decided for himself. Lately, he has truly found his voice - this includes babbling (babababa and mamamama and dadadada, etc.) screaming (something I'm not a fan of) and doing this sort of roar. It all came to a head this past weekend when we were in Costco and I was pushing him in his stroller and he would let out a "roooaar!" every aisle or so, which made Tito and I (and anyone around him lucky enough to hear) laugh. So when I saw this costume in the store, I knew it was for Santi...may I present the cutest little dragon you will ever see! (Of course we're biased!)

(Click on the links to see the videos!)

http://vimeo.com/15561451

http://vimeo.com/15553237

San Diego 2010, by Kate Davila

I'd like to share my Snapfish photos with you. Once you have checked out my photos you can order prints and upload your own photos to share.
Click here to view photos