Then and Now

Do you remember the first time you realized your baby would one day grow up and leave? I do. I will never forget the day. Santi was 2 months old and we were shopping at Target. Here I was just minding my own business. Adoring my little angel as he cooed and kicked around his little arms and legs. When I happened to notice a Mom and her son. And I realized that she was helping him decide what he would need when he left for college in a few weeks. I turned and looked back to my little angel and had to fight back the tears. It struck me like a ton of rocks: one day he would (God willing) grow up and become a man and leave. I was seriously disturbed by the realization. All the pain of the c-section, the sleepless nights and the moments of dispair because I just could not figure out why he was STILL crying! And now this! In my post partum hormonal state I imagined myself holding on to his ankle, being dragged across the floor, begging, pleading and threatening to show the c-section scar if he continued his ungratefullness.If he kept insisting he "needed" higher education, he would leave me no other choice than secretly throwing out any college applications and or acceptance letters. What else was a selfless and loving mother to do. Luckily, no one else realized I was insane so I continued shopping, confident in my new plan of action to keep Santi my "baby".

I never would have guessed it then but I think I am having a change of heart. Now that I am a year wiser I am realizing why most parents are not institutionalized when their children go away to college. It's so much ding dang FUN watching them grow up that you forget to be sad! When he was a tiny infant, those little quiet moments of precious baby cooeing and kicking arms and legs was the reward for around the clock care. How was I to know that I would one day be okay with those baby memories being replaced by new memories of a running naked butt, big teethy smiles and my new favorite Santi sound, "mommy". All this and eight hours sleep a night! Wow! Maybe it won't be so bad after all.

And who knows, maybe I won't have to be physically escorted off the elementary school campus on his first day of kindergarten. Maybe I won't insist on escorting him to his middle school prom. Maybe I won't have to be locked up in the looney bin when he does go off to college. Just heavily medicated for a few years!

Nature Walk at Ft. Desoto

We took Santi and big brother Conan for a walk at Ft. Desoto. Santi is some what of a naturalist, so he insisted! The weather was not perfect but the sun poked through a couple of times. We stopped by the dog park where Santi thoroughly enjoyed fussing at all the dogs. Yelling "no no no" and "top dat" (Santi speak for stop that) while shaking that little finger at those rowdy dogs. Watch out Cesar Milan - there is a new dog whisperer in town!
Also, notice Santi's disapproval as he hands Ryan some of a Brazilian Pepper plant. It's like he intuitively knows that the Brazilian Pepper is a non-native, invasive species that the state of Florida spends a lot of money each year trying to eradicate. He is definetly headed for a career that involves Florida preservation! (not that his mother would push him in that direction)

We're Back!!

What up faithful bloggers!! The Suarez crew is back and ready to blog. This holiday season was very eventful to say the least and we are more grateful than ever for all the small stuff. As usual we did alot of traveling around the state of Florida to visit our families. Santi enjoyed chillin' with all his cousins and being spoiled completely rotten by all the grandparents. He was showered with more gifts than any 1 1/2 year old needs. Santiago is really into anything with wheels. Anything. It is his great obsession in life. He lays on the floor so he can get an up close view of those wheels turning. Too cute! He is also slightly obsessed with air planes in the air. He can hear 'em coming way before I can. I know when one must be near when I see his little head tilt, he starts searching the skies, looking and then he get his visual!! He starts with pointing and smiling and yelling "ane, ane ane" (that is Santi speak for air plane of course) Here are just a couple of pictures of Santi inspecting some wheels. I will do my best to get a montage of all our recent travels posted soon!

Before He Could Crawl Away

As Santi has grown I have said over and over, "This is my favorite age!" But there really was something so sweet about 2 - 6 months. He couldn't crawl away, he didn't just want to get down, his personality started to really shine and he started to slept through the night!!!! I love this slide show because these are some of my favorite photos of Santiago. Oh how I miss those fat rolls!!!!

First Black Eyed Cutie Pie!

Well, Santi got his first black eye this past weekend. Poor guy took a nasty spill off an ottoman - right onto our tile floor! Thank God he was OK - just a little cosmetic damage. Now that we know he is fine, I couldn't resist taking some shots. I especially love the ones of him reading in his crib. He is a man of ritual and his ritual at night is bath, bottle, teeth brush, Mom or Dad read book and then he must take the book and go over it to make sure we didn't skip any of the good parts. Every night I am amazed at how sweet he is as we leave him babbling (or it could be fluent Japanese) and turning the pages to his book. Precious Precious Precious!!!

Here is a little slide show to remember the earliest times if not the best of times!

Hope this blog helps keep up with all of our family and friends! But more importantly, Santi wanted a platform to share and discuss his views and theories on politics, the ecomony, the election, history of Colonial America and it's impact on today's popular culture - you know typical one year old stuff. Enjoy