Category: Alaethia

Wed., Oct. 1st – I took half a day off because I had my 18 week appointment and I had no idea how I was going to pick up Jaylen, make my appointment at 4 and still get out with enough time to pick Eenan up from his UIL practice. So I got out at half-day (10:30) and came home to drop off my lunch so it wouldn’t spoil and stink up my car and found Mom trying to put Alaethia to sleep. Grr. I left poor Alaethia crying and went to the doctor.

Since the baby didn’t let us see its gender at the last appointment, I was on pins and needles because I just knew I’d be finding out that day. I was still certain I was having a girl, regardless of my 50/50 chance the doctor had told me about at the previous appointment.

I read my book, The Tequila Worm by Viola Canales (an author who grew up in the city I grew up in, McAllen!) and waited patiently. Then they called me in.

They took my weight (I’d only gained a pound in two weeks, thank God. I expected the scale to say otherwise!) and my blood pressure and sugars were fine. When they took me into the Sono room my legs were shaking and my teeth were chattering. I felt silly being that nervous, but I was! I couldn’t help it. Dr. C. came in and went over my chart. He was going to do a sono first. Yay! I asked him if he’d be checking the baby’s gender and he said yes. He’s moving the wand back and forth, taking measurements of the head, tiny thigh bones and the spine. I’m filming the entire thing. He checks the gender and says, “Ah, a little girl.” It kind of didn’t register the first time. When I hear him say it again I say, “Really?” and he says, “Yup!”

I keep staring, kind of in shock and giddy at the same time. I ask him, “Like, for real, for real?” And he says, “Yup, see, there’s her vagina!” I couldn’t contain my happiness and said, “Oh, I’m so happy!” and he said, “Que bueno.”

I got my labs done for the AFP and told the girls up front about my happy news. They’re all thrilled for us. I love my nurses…two are my friends on Myspace even LOL.

I called Mario as soon as I got into the car. I asked him, “Guess what your baby is?” and he said, “What?” I practically screamed, “A girl!!!” He laughs and says, “I knew it!”

Meanwhile I can hear Jorge in the background yell, “Noooo!” LOL

I got home to find two sleeping ladies on the sofa. I expect it from Alaethia, but not the babysitter! When Mom heard me make noise I told her the happy news and she was elated. Mary was too (all the ladies she was having lunch with screamed), as were Mrs. V. and Mrs. Ruiz, and so were everyone else we told. Words can’t describe how happy I am! I can already imagine Alaethia and the little one playing together. Now we just need a name!!

Thurs., Oct. 2nd – Work was slow Wednesday afternoon after I left, so thankfully there wasn’t too much waiting for me when I got there. It was a really low-key day, thank God.

Fri., Oct. 3rd – I can’t even begin to describe to you how awful that day was. And I know it’s because I didn’t pray during the moment of silence. A teacher came in during the announcements and although I had my head bowed and really wasn’t replying to her she continued to talk. It was supposed to be a low-key day but we had all of band and guitar there because they were varnishing the dance hall and the smell was strong. Add to that anywhere from 8-15 loud kids that had passed their 6 weeks exams in their science class throughout the day—it was so loud. And their teachers really weren’t watching them. The library was in shambles by the end of the day. Mrs. V. was also in a mood since the morning—she kept giving me pointless tasks and actually picked on me a few times. I was so frustrated by the end of the day. All was made better when Mario texted me, “How about dinner, just the two of us?”

We got Happy Meals for the kids and a meal for Mom before we left. On the way to town we couldn’t decided where to go. At first I wanted to go to somewhere like Chili’s or Olive Garden, but then decided I really wanted some good pizza. Papa John’s was too far, so we went to Luca Pizza in Mission instead. They didn’t actually have the pizza I wanted, nor did they have jalapeno poppers, but I got a pretty tasty stuffed pizza and some mozzarella sticks. We sat and talked, just the two of us. I’m loving spending more time with Mario. I don’t even want to imagine the hormonal basket case I’d be if he were still working those long hours at D-Tronics. It’s great having the same days off now.

Since it was still early we stopped by Jorge and Maggie’s for a bit to say hello. The usuals were all there chilling in their garage. It was actually cold that night, now that I’m remembering. We got home early for the first time in a long time. I’m sure Mom was relieved, heh.

Sat., Oct. 4th – I made omelets for Mario and me that morning. Mary stayed with all three kiddos while Mario and I went to the bank, D-tronics, and Circuit City to pay our bill and buy some speakers for the improved back patio. We went to Home Depot to get some outlet covers and a new “removable” shower head and then to the new Best Buy to check it out and get speaker wire. We filled up my Equinox with gas at $2.99!! We had a quick lunch at Whataburger and then went home. Mario got to work installing the new speakers while I paid bills online—yes, that is my life, paying bills. When I was done I went outside to chill with everyone listening to music emitted from the new speakers, which sounded even better than we thought they would. I read my baby name book trying to get some sort of inspiration. This is the first baby we’ve conceived where we don’t already have some idea for a name. I liked Amilia and kept trying to convince Mario to like it but he was afraid they’d call her AmELIA instead of AmILIA. Right when the name had finally grown on him I decided that nope, I didn’t like it anymore. First, I could imagine kids calling her Amelia Bedilia and then I saw a woman whose name was Emilia on the news, which was my 2nd choice of spelling, and thought Nope, don’t like it.

Mom got here with a surprise for Alaethia while we were outside: a Dorothy costume!! I didn’t think we’d find one in her size, but she did! Alaethia literally squealed with happiness when she was showing Eenan. She even got her a Toto in a basket and some cute maroon shoes she wanted to spray with red glitter, but they’re too cute to ruin. I’d rather get her some red ballet flats.

We’d made plans with Pete and Sally to go out to eat. We were meeting them at 7:00 at the new Kumori at Palms Crossing. Although the service was kind of slow we gave them some slack since it was newly open. I love hanging out with Pete and Sally. We have great conversations and joke around with our other married/babied friends, but I feel like we relate more to them.

Sun., Oct. 5th – I got up early and showered and went over to Mary’s to make the deviled eggs I was contributing for the bar-b-q Mario and Jorge decided to plan. Mario went all out by taking our bedroom TV out and everything. It was a really nice, relaxing day. I love spending time with family. The burgers were delicious and so was everything else. We even did our Christmas gift exchange pickings that day. Since I was outside most of the day I, once again, didn’t get any of my housework done. I was in a frenzy trying to get everything ready for the next day, make sure kids are bathed and that I had lunch packed for myself. Mario was still outside drinking with Jorge and Adan and got mad when I asked him to install the new shower head. I hate when he gets like that. He did it so unwillingly that he broke one of the attachments. Grr.

It was hard getting to sleep as it is that night and then Aly woke up with leg cramps. I was so exhausted I was dreading going to work the next morning.

Mon, Oct. 6th – I prayed all the way to work that it would be a good day, and it was! We had a guest speaker so it was much quieter. I got all the books out of the book drop and sorted them out by section to get them ready for check-in. The system was slow, but I started checking in after advisory (8:45) and finished by 9:45. I got everything shelved by 11:30ish. Mrs. Ruiz helped, of course, and when we were done we just sat and talked, for once! We went to lunch and then came back and shelved some more then fixed the kids’ team numbers on their check-out accounts. I actually had time at the end of the day to organize and tidy up.

Although work wasn’t too stressful, I was sure stressed when I got home. As soon as I walked through the door Mom started complaining about wanting me to drive her to McAllen. I wanted to just get home and relax. I looked around and noticed all my laundry had been neatly hung and folded. I asked Mom, “You didn’t have to wash my clothes, but thank you so much.” She gets a funny look on her face and asks, “They weren’t washed yet?” I felt like screaming and laughing hysterically. There I am removing dirty clothes from hangers and unrolling dingy socks.

When I was finally done I unwillingly packed the kids up in the truck, homework and all. Eenan was throwing fits left and right about his homework and, even though Alaethia sits between the boys in her car seat, they kept bothering each other and yelling. Eventually Alaethia would join them.

I can laugh now about what I’m going to say next, but at the time it was terrifying. I had my bag on the arm rest between the two front seats and once when I braked hard my bag fell like a stone on the window controls, which are on the center console. Eenan’s window started rolling down—only I didn’t know this—and he started screaming his head off. All I hear is rustling of papers, the blowing wind and the worst thought floods over me: Eenan’s flown out the open door.

I’m freaking out, yelling, “What happened?! Why’s Eenan screaming?!” and Jaylen screams, “Eenan’s window’s down!”

I roll the window back up and ask Eenan, “WHY do you have to scream like that?”

“Because it scares me, that’s why!”

These kids are going to give me a heart attack.

Mom said she’d finish filling up my truck for taking her over there and who would turn down free gas? It took $15 to finish filling up my truck, for the cheap price of $2.84! Mom also treated us to dinner—botanas from El Pato—which took 30 minutes to wait for. We ate dinner when we got home and I got the boys into the shower as soon as we were done. I told them to do me the favor of NOT soaking the whole bathroom with the new shower head and it’s the first thing they did. I’d already had it for the day that I yelled at them and sent them to bed right after their showers at 7:46pm without the TV timer (which they absolutely need in order to get to sleep). They were asleep within half an hour. I hated myself for yelling at them, especially because I got a pain in my belly right afterwards, but what else can I do. I try breathing techniques to calm down. I hardly ever spank them (Mario says that’s the problem, but I don’t like spanking). I figured the next day would be better. I did laundry that night and decided to fold/hang everything the next day. I bathed myself and Aly and then we had a snack and went to bed.

Tues., Oct. 7th – This was another good day at work. Our system was still slow but I set a routine for myself and got everything done by 10:30. A few subs were actually sent to help for once so that helped immensely, too. Mary let me know she’d set up a consultation at Pena Eye Institute for Mario for the next day. He let me know that he and Jorge would still be working on that house in Rio Grande so he wouldn’t make it.

So, yeah—this has taken forever. I’m so tired of my entries being squished into one huge post. Not only is it inconvenient for me when I’m looking for something, but it must be boring as hell to read as a whole!

I’m taking a break from all house duties (since I did them over the weekend anyway), making something quick for dinner and watching Alaethia playing with her Magna Doodle while just so I can update for once. [edit: only got to finish up to October 7th…will update with more HOPEFULLY later.]

Sun., Sept. 28th – We woke up late, which we usually do on Sundays, and went over to Mary’s to eat Barbacoa that Mom had treated us all to. My dad-in-law added a few extra feet of cement under the new carport he made especially for me and the kids (I’m so spoiled :P), which is awesome ’cause now they have even more space to run around and play. He and Mary started talking about landscaping and she and Mario decided to go to the flea market and buy sod. Super last minute decision! They got home with Mario’s trunk bed piled high with sod. Big Mario and Mario quickly got to work and laid the sod down in about an hour and a half. Mario finished just in time to quickly shower and we left to the movies. Mary, the kiddos (except Aly—she stayed with Mom) and I watched Eagle Eye–OMG awesome movie! My hormonal self was crying at the end, of course.

Mary had a Rosary to attend so she took Mario’s truck and we took her car to Target and then Walmart. We got home and I only had enough time to put groceries away before Adan, Aide and Belle came over. I love having company but not when the house is a mess—and boy was it! I contemplated staying home from work the next day just to clean the house but thought better of it.

Mon., Sept. 29th – I put up posters at work that day. I was worried about being asked to glue the posters on the walls since I was afraid Mrs. V. would ask me to put some up that were to high, hence needed to stand on a ladder or something, but thankfully she didn’t. Things got really hectic that day; our stupid check-out system is super slow still. There’s no change since last year. I was having to do tons of things at once and didn’t really have much time to shelve the books that I’d checked in. Mrs. Ruiz got there around 11am and helped me, thank god. She’s my guardian angel, I’m telling you.

Mario was disappointed when he received a letter from Border Patrol letting him know that as of that moment, he was “not medically cleared” because he basically flunked his eye exam. It was so discouraging to know that he aced everything else, but his vision was holding him back. He was either going to have to try to get a new prescription for glasses…or get Lasik.

Tues., Sept. 30th – The kids were having their 1st 6 weeks reviews and tests beginning that day so it was much calmer. 2nd period was still crazy, but I had it under control for the most part.

Tues. 23rd — Mrs. V. was back at work, which meant I’d have lots of stuff to do. There’s really never any down time. I felt really overwhelmed and sad at the end of the day and I didn’t even know why. Mrs. V., Mrs. Ruiz and I stood by my desk and talked about the quinceanera, and life in general. We started talking about some students we know, which somehow led to talking about Eenan’s behavior and I got so emotional about it that I started bawling; for the 2nd time in front of Mrs. V., first time in front of Mrs. Ruiz. I was so embarrassed. I couldn’t stop! Mrs. V. assured me that I’m doing a great job with the kids and that I’m an excellent mom, which made me cry even more LOL. A sub walked in at that time so I forced myself to stop crying. As I’m shelving the last few books of the day I notice the books the sub’s been putting away are in the wrong place. He says, “Uh oh! I messed up,” –which is not what I wanted to hear! I found out later on that he’d been putting all the books he’d worked on since his conference period in the wrong place. Bleh. More work for me!

Mario got home early that night. He got ready for bed around 8:30 and I hadn’t even taken a shower. The only time he has to “watch” the kids really (and it’s usually just Alaethia because the boys are in bed already) is the 30 minutes or less I spend in the shower. He didn’t care. He just cacooned himself in our comforter and began to fall asleep, Alaethia crying at the foot of the bed. I scooped her up and muttered “worthless piece of crap”, but the meaner version, which I shouldn’t have, but I was so frustrated. Why does he get to just do as he pleases and I can’t? He goes on without a worry except for whatever happens at work and I have the brunt of everything! Which is usually the case; the mom being the backbone. I wish there was more teamwork!

Needles s to say, he got up and left. That’s another thing. I know I insulted him and hurt his feelings, but I can’t just up and leave when he hurts mine.

Well, I had to shower regardless of whether I had someone to watch Aly or not, so I tried bathing with her sitting on the foot stool in the bathroom. No can do. She kept opening the cabinets and drawers and ripping the shower curtain open, which wet the floor. I asked her if she wanted a bath and she quickly ripped off her diaper. She was so well behaved; didn’t try splashing water outside or anything! First time I’d ever bathed with one of the kids. Never the boys, because they were boys and I felt uncomfortable and although Alaethia’s a girl I just feel really weird because, hello? I’m naked.

Wed. 24th – I woke up feeling really guilty about my argument with Mario. It was raining—no, pouring–and I was nervous about driving in the rain, especially because it’s so dark down the road I take.

As I was driving west on the Expressway I see the flashes of ambulance and police lights. It looked like a huge accident; the whole right lane (going East) was closed. As I get closer and am about to turn I slow down to see what it is: a huge semi trailer on its side. My heart flipped. It was all very scary. I prayed all the way to work and gave thanks to God for another day with my family. I decided to text Mario an apology as soon as I got to work. It made me realize life’s too short to be angry/upset over petty things like a shower.

We had grade level meetings that day, which means I can’t scan any books in because of the “beep” the scanner emanates. The system was excruciatingly slow so we resorted to checking out by an Excel document, like last year, which meant I’d have to manually check out these books to the kids by entering every student’s ID plus their book barcodes into the system. Since I couldn’t scan or shelve books, I busied myself alphabetizing and filing agreement documents and when I had nothing else to do I scanned books in…by hand. I typed in all barcodes. And then I was volunteered to substitute for 1 hour! I was horrified, as I’d never substituted before and was expecting the worst. I was going to get a taste of what poor Noelia has to go through every day. And these were 6th graders!

It went much better than I thought it would. The first class was really well behaved. The second class had 3 rowdy boys, but once I wrote their names down and redirected their behavior all was well.

I went back and rearranged classes for the teachers in Reading Renaissance. I went to lunch with Mrs. Ruiz and had 10 lovely extra minutes because I clocked out late the day before.

Mario got home and we watched movies, or tried to anyway. We got to watch all of Made of Honor, which was really cute. Even he enjoyed it. We tried watching Definitely, Maybe but Alaethia was becoming moody because she was sleepy so I just got in the shower and then bathed her and went to bed.

Thurs. 25th – I can’t remember much from that day (I blame my Pregnancy Brain), but I know it was pretty normal: hectic in the morning at work, low-key in the afternoon. I got home and since it was payday for me, I started paying my bills and then working out my new bill-paying schedule since Mario’s getting paid every week at his new job. It was such a headache—I’ve been paying our bills and buying groceries every two weeks since we got married 9 ½ years ago, so it’s taking some getting used to.

Fri. – 26th – Friday!! The day I look forward to all week. It was jean and Spirit shirt day so I was in a good mood. It was another normal day (hectic) and we had an overload of books to shelve at the end of the day, but Mrs. Ruiz, my guardian angel, helped me out so much. I left work to pick up the kids in such a good mood. Mario texted me and told me he’d have to work the next day, which kind of bummed me out, but oh well, what can you do.

We didn’t go visit Gramma that day since I figured we’d just go Saturday since Mario was working anyway. We chilled out outside with the in-laws and got the kids some ice creams and elote. Mario got home and told me we were invited to his boss’s house again for another bar-b-q. I didn’t bother getting all prettied up this time; just changed my blouse and shoes and we left. We chilled out with Maggie and the boss’s wife and then we joined the men outside and ate and talked and joked around. There was a point where I got a little riled up when some stupid things were brought up, and then my hormonal pregnant self bawled on the way home, but Mario was being really nice about everything.

Sat. 27th – Mario got his stuff ready on his own the next morning. I was so exhausted I couldn’t get out of bed. Aly and I woke up at the same time and we had breakfast and just lazied around. Mom kept rushing me and the boys to get ready so we could leave to town, but I was just too tired. The boys ended up leaving to town with Mary, Natalie and Catharine instead. I finally took a shower and we left around noon. Mario had called just before I’d gotten into the shower to tell me he was on his way home from work already. I thought, “Yay, he’ll get to go with us!” But no. He said since I wasn’t expecting him to go in the first place, wouldn’t I rather he stay home and do laundry instead? I walked him through the sorting and gave him instructions and we took off.

My first stop was Conn’s, where I paid the last $74 on our 47″ TV!! Yay, one less bill to worry about ^_^. It felt SO GOOD to pay it off. I was starving so we stopped at Taco Bell to have lunch. It took forever; Alaethia was too busy smearing her taco meat on the window (I cleaned it up, don’t worry) and only wanted to drink Cherry Pepsi. She refused to go in a high chair, but I eventually put her in one anyway. She thankfully didn’t throw a fit and finished eating her food just fine. It took us about 45 minutes just to eat lunch.

I stopped for gas and on the way to Gramma’s I decided to stop by the thrift shop, just in case I found any books, since I won’t have them as easily accessible once I stop working. My plans went out the window when Alaethia kept screaming every time she saw a “baby” (stuffed animal) and would ask for a book and give it right back to me just to ask for another one again. They also did some inconvenient rearranging of furniture so I couldn’t get the shopping cart in the aisles. I decided we’d wasted enough time and went straight to Gramma’s.

She’s doing well, except for a slight cough she’s getting. I hope they keep an eye on her; she always ends up with pneumonia. She laughed at the silly things Alaethia was saying and Alaethia kept running into the hallway. It was hilarious when someone scared her and all you saw was a flash of pink run back into the room. Gramma couldn’t stop laughing.

I started feeling really ill while we were there. I called Mario right away and asked him if he was feeling ill, because we always get sick at the same time. He said no, he felt fine. I decided to skip Walmart and Target that day and go the next. I hate having to do grocery shopping on Sundays, but oh well.

We get home and I just collapse on the couch. It isn’t long before Mario says, “Uh oh. Now I’m feeling gross.” We narrowed it down and figured it might be the type of meat his boss buys for the bar-b-q’s, because the last time we got sick (we thought it was the 24-hour bug) we’d eaten at his boss’s house the night before, too. Weird.

Mary and the boys went straight to church, Mom went home and Mario and Alaethia fell asleep. I was all alone so I decided to finish up with laundry and clean up.

A few hours later, when we’re both feeling much better, Mario and I pick up some pizzas at Peter Piper for the whole family for dinner. I love to cook, don’t get me wrong, but sometimes it’s nice to just sit back and enjoy not being on my feet. When the boys went to sleep over at Mary’s, Mario and I (and Alaethia) watched Definitely, Maybe…and I bawled like a baby at the end. Mario kept laughing at me but I couldn’t help it. Darn hormones!