The Tiger

Before the procedure, a relatively happy Santi.

Back in his "room" after waking up from the anesthesia.

Fell asleep after drinking his juice.

Showing where his IV had been.

Another nerve wracking experience to check off!! Santi's procedure went well, as far as I can tell, and he's now on the recovery bend. As you all know him well, it's not a surprise that the nurses in the pediatric ward nicknamed him, "The Tiger". He fought every single procedure - starting from putting on the wrist bands, to taking his blood pressure - so the anesthesiologist decided it was going to be easier for Santi if he was sedated. So they did and that allowed me to change him into his gown and walk with him to the operating ward where I had to kiss him goodbye. I'm glad he was sedated because even though his fiery self was still there, he didn't realize that mommy was crying and that she wasn't coming along.

The procedure lasted about an hour and the doctor came to let me know that all had gone well and that the hernia is a pretty good size. About 10 minutes later, a nurse came looking for me. It seems the Tiger had woken up and was fighting. When I arrived, the nurse was having a hard time keeping him down and keeping him from ripping the IV line from his hand. Thing is that he wasn't awake. He was in a complete state of delirium, his eyes were closed but all the strength that little body has was manifesting itself!! (In fact, the nurse was so impressed with his strength, that when I mentioned that he has to have his tooth fixed next week, she looked at me and asked how the dentist was going to manage that??? I need to call the dentist today and warn him!) I took him in my arms and calmed him down. He slept wrapped in my arms for the next three hours with periods of "waking" up and trying to remove the IV line. When he finally woke up, he was much calmer but still not all there. We arrived home at around 5pm. Since he hadn't eaten all day, I offered him some crackers, but he fell asleep eating. He slept the rest of the evening and the night, waking up this morning at 7am. He slept with me - I was concerned about the effects of the anesthesia, so I wanted to make sure that he was fine. He would wake up and reach out for me and say "Mommy" and then fall back asleep. He had a good breakfast, but he is in pain where the hernia was repaired.

But as I'm writing this, he's playing pirates with Mateo and Tio Cucu. I think he's clearly doing better!

Thank you all for your well-wishes and thoughts. It made the whole process easier on me knowing that he's loved!

Santi

Santi will be operated tomorrow at 12:30pm, California time. Please keep him in your thoughts and send him loads of love. It's an out-patient procedure, but still, general anesthesia, freaks me out and I can't imagine what HE will feel.

I'll be in touch soon to let everyone know how the procedure went.

Much love,

Paty & Santi

Santi Goes Grocery Shopping

Back in the days when Santi still attended school, his class took a field trip to the supermarket. Their mission was to buy fruits with Bs. 20 ($5 at the official rate or $2.5 at the black market rate). All the students would then share their fruit and make a fruit salad in the classroom. (They had just finished a fruit tasting module, so the fruit salad was the "cherry on top".)

We rode the bus (Santi's FAVORITE part), shopped (Santi picked all his fruit, with a bit of mommy's guidance) and then went back to school.

Good Morning Caracas!

Quick Update

The rain continues to fall and havoc is spread everywhere. There is no denying that the country is in a state of emergency, but still, the government took its time to issue a decree canceling all schools until January 2011. It wasn't until 10:30pm last night that we found out - luckily for us, I stay home with the boys, but what about all those millions of working parents that have to scramble to find care for their children???

It has been reported in the foreign press that Chavez is paying some of these homeless families hotel rooms so they have a roof over their heads. Wouldn't that be lovely? No, what he's doing is TAKING over hotels and placing people there until the government builds them their nice little house again ... sometime in the near future.

Meanwhile, food prices have shot up. Inflation is at 26%!!!! The only thing cheap here is gasoline and electricity. I can only imagine the pain these families are going through.

We are doing well despite the mess. However, I do admit to feelings of insecurity every time it rains hard. The land is so wet and saturated and overdeveloped that who knows what piece of land will slide down next? Just a couple more days and we'll (HOPEFULLY) be on our way to California!

Cookies with Santa

Christmas time is here!!! We kicked started the season with Cookies with Santa on Saturday. A Chevron colleague of Nico's organized a Santa visit for all believers. Mateo and Santi were sooo excited all morning and even more when they actually saw Santa come into the room. The beauty of innocence and of belief is reflected in this pictures - why do we have to grow up????

Last weekend while this cat was away in Bogota having some R&R, my mice put up our (ugly) Christmas tree. The boys were very excited to decorate it but complained that there weren't enough decorations. So on Monday, Nico had a mission to fulfill: buy more Christmas decorations.
At the party this Saturday, they made some Xmas tree decorations. Mateo is very much into the whole decoration theme, so he was very proud at his creation and according to him, "The tree is now even more beautiful!"

Their eyes shine like little stars every night when we turn the tree on. So to add some more magic, we also put some presents under the tree. And since we are going away for Christmas (and to minimize our luggage both ways!!!), we allowed the boys to open them. We gave them some dress-up outfits, a police and a fireman set. They were sooo happy playing this evening, putting out fires, giving us fines and warnings ... I loved every minute of it!

Otherwise, we are trying to cope with all the rain here in Venezuela. The Ministry of Education has closed all schools since last Wednesday. The rains have caused major landslides and flooding everywhere! Buildings and houses have collapsed and not just in the poor areas! Santi still doesn't have school until Wednesday, which is heartbreaking for me, because he was scheduled to have his Christmas presentation on Tuesday. But at this rate, it's much better to stay safe and off the roads!

Enjoy the pics!

Christmas Letter

Mateo has (sort of) turned the page on Cars and Toys and entered the world of Star Wars. My reflections on the issue of Star Wars will come later because I realize that the beauty of this post is the innocence with which Mateo dictated this letter to me. I hope Santa is reading our blog so he knows what he needs to get for the Bossut-Ugarte brothers!

Our Little Man is 5!!!

How wonderful to be young enough to be counting down the days until one's birthday ... to have three birthday celebrations ... and to feel proud to be 5.

Mati welcomed his fifth year with a (mostly) all boy party with a Spiderman theme. Despite the rain that lingered on all morning and two nervous parents (what are we going to do with 15 kids if it rains???????), everyone had a wonderful time. The pictures tell it all.

What I love about living in Caracas is the diversity of kids. This is Martin: Colombian.

Eeshan: Indian AND vegetarian (yeah!!!!)

Soccer game: Mateo B. vs Mateo S.

Venezuelan birthdays are always big elaborate productions. Mateo's was VERY scaled down, but nonetheless, here are the fireworks ...

... that captured the boys' attention ...

... because Spiderman had arrived ...

Mateo, the superhero, ran to join Spiderman in the "Salon de Fiestas".

Mateo doing the Spiderman hand gestures.

Andres: "Soy un poquito Colombiano, un poquito Chileno, un poquito Indiano y un poquito Brasileno." Mateo S.: Argentinean

Behind Mate, is Gabo: from Venezuela. And then Henrique, from Brasil.

Lucas and Santi

Anna Maria: Argentinean-American

Sofia, from Brasil, is one of Mateo's best friends. Sofia now wants to learn French. And Mateo hangs out so much at her house, that he's understanding Portuguese quiet well!

A shy Mateo

Spiderman cupcakes made by yours truly.

SCHOOL CELEBRATION - Nov. 16th

Another batch of white chocolate cupcakes made again by me. By the end of that week, I was more than exhausted!

Mateo and Fernando

The blondie is Fisher, Mateo's other best friend. He's from California, but born in China.

At home - Santi stuffing it all in ...

Yup, it's all in!!!

And by contrast, the Birthday Boy ... so delicate and clean when eating.