Category: Bitching

I spent the whole morning cleaning, filing and throwing away papers (what do other people do with their statements and kids art and stuff?!) and desperately looking for my truck’s new license plate stickers. I’d bought them the very last day of August, when they expired, and kept asking Mario to please stick them on my window for me. I’d of done it myself, except Mario makes it seem all difficult; he breaks out the Windex and a razor. Anyway, I was near tears when Mario runs into our bedroom waving the papers. I was so relieved. I felt so guilty thinking I’d lost $75. Mario said he found it in my center console. And guess who put it there? HE DID!! He says he remembers me telling him to put them on my window and when he couldn’t find his razor he left them in the console. I could have strangled him.

I watched the Alvin and the Chipmunks movie with Alaethia during loads of laundry. She was quiet, observing, and then grinned when she saw the chipmunks singing. It amazes me that she likes movies rather than cartoons. She has her favorites, like Little Bill and Blues Clues, but she can actually make it through a whole movie, too. I don’t think the boys had the attention span for movies till they were around 3.

I checked my e-mail pretty late, around 5pm, and when I was going through the Sunday ads I noticed they had the Playstation 3 for the same price, but with a $40 gift card. I told Mario about it and he said, “Let’s go, then!”

We went to the store and got a $3 refund for some reason and the $40 gift card. It took a while, because the girl didn’t know how to do the return, but we got it nonetheless. Mario bought himself Iron Man for $19 and he bought me this cute, pink polka-dotted robe I’d wanted, aww. I finally have a decent short robe! All my other ones have been down to my ankles and/or fleece!

We got home and I took a shower. Elda had Alaethia with her for a while, because Alaethia loves to visit (probably because Jose buys her love with candies), and she brought her back and I bathed her. She fell asleep at 9:30, which normally I’d love but I was waiting for laundry. I hate that. It always works that way. When she actually falls asleep early, I’ve got stuff to do.

She was so cute lying on the couch with her babies. Babies being her plushies like her white seal (which she calls “Fishie”), her brown furry bear (named “Bunny”), her Doggie and several of the same bunny plush in different colors. She swaddles her babies in dish towels she finds in the kitchen, pillowcases or whatever small rag she comes across. I remember the boys were into stuffed animals, but not like her. She seriously takes care of them and needs to have at least two with her when she’s napping, sleeping in her crib or out somewhere.

She also loves human babies. She points them out in stores and has a fit if I don’t let her pat their hand (with their mommy’s permission) or wave at them. She’ll say, “Look at the baby, Mom!” She doesn’t think she’s a baby at all. I’m hoping this’ll make it easier on her when her baby sister arrives. We’ve told her about the new baby (who’s still nameless!) and she seems pretty excited. I’m praying I can give them both the attention they need as baby and toddler, and my growing boys, too.

I watched “The 1000 Pound Mom” or something like that, on TLC while I was waiting for the laundry. It was about this morbidly obese woman and how she was going to go through the weight loss surgery as her last resort, to live for her two daughters. She had complications and died. How very sad. I was in tears at the end when her older girl was crying. She was so young. I noticed she was always on Myspace, so I looked her up and it was sad to see that she’d actually signed on March 4th, which is the day she passed.

When I finally got the last load of laundry into the dryer I got into bed. It felt SO GOOD to just lay there. Alaethia woke up as soon as I was about to drift into sleep and was energized and ready to play. This was around 11pm. She stayed up till 1am, flailing her arms and squealing. Finally, I could sleep.

Only to be woken up by Mario–bless him—snoring like a dying rhinoceros at 4am. I tried ignoring it, pushing my pillow as far into my ears as it would go and eventually I even shook him so he’d turn over to a more comfortable, less snore-inducing position and NOTHING.

Alaethia even woke up and told him, “Be quiet, Daddy-O!”

Yes: Daddy-O. The boys jokingly call him that so she picked it up. She rarely calls him Daddy; it’s either Daddy-O, or Babe LOL.

I looked at the clock and it glowed 4:50. There was no way I was going to make it through that day.

Mon., Oct. 20th – I can’t remember much from this Monday. It was probably one of those typical Mondays where I’m dragging and can’t wait till Friday’s here. I do remember that it wasn’t too hectic. We actually had substitutes showing up that whole week, so it was really nice getting some help. We were praised at least two more times about how neat and clean our library is; much neater than the others, they said.

Tues. Oct. 21st – Mrs. V. didn’t go to work, so she left me a list of things to do on her pin drive. I got every last thing done, even though it felt like it was never going to happen. I had to fax applications and documents for Model Classroom, e-mail people, get quotes for purchase orders and still do my regular every-day job. Then, after lunch, we had a …er, situation with a substitute teacher. Let’s just say we were in charge of babysitting this adult while proper authorities were reached. We seriously need to get an actual procedure in line in case another situation arises. We could be put in danger! This is the 3rd time this happens since I’ve worked there.

Wed. Oct. 22nd – Mrs. Ruiz and I approached Mrs. V. about the situation from the day before. We asked her what we should do, if we should be properly trained in case something worse happens one day. I find it kind of weird that when a bad situation like that arises they send the person to us to “babysit” till proper action is taken. What if one of us is alone one day and the person decides to attack us or something?

I’d been doing a good job keeping the house clean (well, at least the kitchen, bathroom and living room) but I’ve begun to feel so horribly tired. No matter how much I sleep, it doesn’t make a difference. I was a zombie that whole day.

It didn’t help that I had my prenatal appointment that afternoon. I’d rescheduled from 2pm to 4pm so I wouldn’t have to miss half a day of work. I’d pick Jaylen up from school after work and go straight to my appointment. I’d asked Mary to please pick up Eenan for me since he has UIL practice on Wednesdays. She said she’d be late but Sonia would pick him up for me.

I was sitting in the lobby during my appointment about 10 minutes before they called me in. That’s probably the fastest appointment I’ve ever had, aside from the time Jaylen had a horrible Strep infection and they were so concerned they let us straight in.

Dr. C. wasn’t in that day; he was delivering or something so I had to see the nurse practitioner, Elizabeth. I weighed 137, which *gulp* is 2 pounds more than what I weighed when I gave birth to Alaethia!! Before this, 135 was the most I weighed in my entire life. I’m freaked out that I’ve still got 4 months to go, which scares the hell out of me. I don’t want to gain too much weight! I got this mad thought in my head standing on that scale: how can I do it to only gain 3 pounds in the next 4 months—but I know that wouldn’t be possible.

Elizabeth asked me about my sugar and congratulated me when she flipped through my chart and saw that I haven’t had a problem with my sugar at all since July.

She did a quick ultrasound and I asked her to make sure Baby is still a girl. It was kind of hard to tell because of the way she was sitting (with her legs crossed) but she’s most likely still a girl, which is great! I’m probably going to be paranoid till the day she’s born, afraid that she’ll change sex on me LOL.

Elizabeth set another appointment for November 12th, which is the glucose screening. I already let Mrs. V. know that I’ll be out that morning. I also need to remember to schedule a new appointment for Alaethia with the cardiologist to check on her heart murmur.

Thurs., Oct. 23rd – It was such a stressful day at work. A cold front came in; maybe that’s why the kids were acting up. A girl who never really visits the library had a horrible attitude that morning and almost threw her books at Mrs. V. when she was asked to hand over her folder so she could escort her back to class for being rude. A boy who usually doesn’t give me trouble was being a smart ass. This other kid I’d never really seen before took an additional 10 minutes choosing a book after I told him to hurry and take a seat (and this is after the half hour he’d initially taken).

When I got home there was no difference. The kids were all wound up and loud. I did everything on my own, even though Mario was home super early. He was just chilling out on the couch playing Mobsters on Myspace and drinking a beer. When he got bored of that he went off to our bedroom to read. I’ve got three words: Must be nice. If I was just at home and this were my main job I wouldn’t mind that he wanted to relax and chill out, as much. But we both work the same amount of hours—it’s not like when he was at D-Tronics and he worked 12-13 hour days. I’d just like help once in a while is all I’m saying.

Fri., Oct. 24th – It was hectic all damn day. All the kids and teachers were on a rampage trying to reach their goals. It’s frustrating because they should be doing it all 9 weeks, not just the three days before, but that’s always the case.

My in-laws invited us to Red Lobster for dinner. Mario met us there. It was so nice to have a meal out with both my in-laws. The kids were wired and loud, but so was every other kid there, so I didn’t feel like I had to be shushing them all the time. It’s great to have Mario going places with us now that he’s at this job. I really do think it’s helped us a lot—seeing each other more often.

We went to Jorge and Maggie’s with Jaylen after we finished eating, but they weren’t home. Eenan and Alaethia had gone with Mary. We came home and surfed the web on our laptops with Aly. Adan came over around 10. Even though it was a Friday I was exhausted. Mario called me an old lady. Hmph.

Sat., Oct. 25th – We had our Dedication Ceremony at my school. I thought we’d gotten there late but we were actually around 10 minutes early. The whole thing was lovely: the kids from the Fine Arts department that were performing did an amazing job. My hormones were on the fritz and I was so proud I felt like bawling. Dr. S.–the man whom the school was named after—showed a video from the 80’s that came out on CBS with Dan Rather about his family. His parents had 6 boys and sent them all to college. They were very poor, but they did everything they could to become successful. It was such an inspirational story.

When the Dedication was over, we were starving, so we went to eat at Denny’s. I was ravenous for pancakes but after seeing Mario’s delicious looking plate I felt like having eggs and bacon but I was too full.

On the way out we ran into Aide and Adan. Adan had just picked up his paycheck so we went to pick up Mario’s. Our luck, the boss wasn’t there. Oh well. We went home. Mario left to Sonia’s to help his Nino chop fire wood for the bar-b-q the next day for Sonia’s birthday. I waited for Mary to get home to go to Venessa’s twins’ birthday party. It was cute. They had fun games for the kids and the parents too sometimes. The boys played and won a few games. They even ended up playing musical chairs against each other. Eenan won, but Jaylen was a good sport since the hostess said they’d be able to share Eenan’s prize anyway.

Jaylen and I won the toilet paper mummy game. I’m not sure if it was the adrenaline from trying to win the game or the fact that it was really hot, but I felt dizzy and started getting heart palpitations afterwards. I didn’t feel good. I grabbed a water bottle and took some deep breaths. I felt better after a while. We went home after that and watched TV. Aly fell asleep by 9:30. I was sleepy and went to bed but stayed up watching Family Matters till around 11pm. I crashed after that and woke up about twice during the night, once to pee, and to check on Alaethia since she didn’t wake up all night. She slept 12 hours straight!! First time she’d ever done that. If only I could go back and take notes!

Sun., Oct. 12th – We woke up and got ready to meet Pete and Sally at Le Peep for breakfast. I’d never heard of that restaurant but it quickly became a fave. Think Denny’s but much cuter, modern and much cleaner.

Mario and I had the Hawaiian Hazelnut Coffee and I had an omelet. It had cream cheese in the middle, along with everything else, but it was surprisingly good. Pete and Sally took lil’ Quentin with them He’s so cute! Next time we’ll brave it and take Alaethia along, too. We don’t take her to restaurants often because she likes to leave little piles of food on either side of her high chair on the floor, but we’ll try it again.

Not only was it great food, it was great conversation, too. It’s always great to hang out with another set of parents and talking about parenting and everything else. When it comes to parenting, I think Pete and Sally are most like us, so it’s easy to talk about everything. Plus they’ve been my friends forever so it’s awesome.

They treated us that morning which totally surprised me! I told them they didn’t have to but they insisted. Next time it’s our treat. After we’d gotten Alaethia’s bassinet back from them (Quentin doesn’t use it anymore), we said our see-you-laters. Mario and I went to Target and had a lil’ shopping spree; we got a toy each for the boys for having perfect attendance, good behavior and making the A Honor Roll. Eenan’s really into Lego’s right now and Jaylen’s into Bakuran. We got a book and clippies for Aly. She’s finally into books which is amazing and a relief to me. I thought she’d never like them. The boys loved stories by now but she’s still getting the hang of it.

We got a runner for the living room and some red fleece-like throw pillows. When we got home Noelia was over and later all the family came over for the game. I chilled out for a while and then Mom, Alaethia and I went to visit Gramma. By the time we got to McAllen it was pouring so only Mom got down to see Gramma. Alaethia was still sick and I didn’t want to make it worse. I read in the car (Family History by Dani Shapiro) and when Mom came back we went to H-E-B to pick up a few groceries. I wanted to stop at Walmart in Mission but it was still pouring. I got home and hung/folded laundry and clean up my bedroom a little. That place seriously needs some TLC. My desk top doesn’t have an inch of visible space and there are boxes of crap piled up everywhere. I remember the good ol’ days when we first remodeled back when I was pregnant with Alaethia, when everything was new and we actually had space!

Aide, Adan and Belle came over. I cleaned up while Aide and I talked. I stayed up so late cleaning and was so exhausted but I of course had to stay awake because Aly wasn’t feeling good again. I stayed up most of the night and then again from 3-4:45. I seriously contemplated just getting up and going to work when the alarm went off but I felt like total crap. So I called in. I figured it was a good time to spend time with Alaethia, get some extra Zzz’s and clean up some more. One good thing about being up all night was that I felt another two kicks!

Mon., Oct. 13th – Mario let me sleep in. I fully intended on waking up and making him a nice breakfast but I couldn’t peel myself off the bed. Aly and I woke up at 10:30. I was really, really craving eggs over easy, and although I probably shouldn’t be eating them, I figured one time was okay. I had them a few times (okay, often) while pregnant with Alaethia. I served her a chopped up one and she ate really well. I had some Hazelnut coffee and read my book. It was heaven.

I washed clothes, which I also hung/folded. We watched Noggin’ and played all afternoon. Well, until Mom showed up. We went to the post office to send Mario’s letter to Border Patrol…and I forgot it was closed for Columbus Day. Mom treated us to some El Pato, which took half an hour to be ready. We ate, chilled out and picked up the boys from school. I helped Jaylen with his homework. Eenan forgot his and so lost all privileges for that day. I’m trying to teach him responsibility at school and forgetting his homework just isn’t cool. I watched Oprah while washing dishes. Mario got home from work and we went straight to the optometrist to pick up his new glasses. We came straight home and I gave him and Big Mario haircuts and then I showered. I got everything ready for the next day (clothes, lunches), made dinner and got a few minutes to add to the collection of entries. I felt much more relaxed throughout the day (because I was home, of course) and got so much done. That’s what I need: a 3-day weekend every week!