Category: Books

Alaethia is finally taking her before-bed nap so I thought I’d update real quick. (She’s also finally better, thank you for your comments!)

I’ve been way too enthralled in my Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows book that I haven’t had the urge to get online. That, and I’m afraid I’ll go into a random site and the end will be ruined for me. That site I linked in one of my previous blogs — the one they mentioned on CNN — was the real thing, pictures and all (which is why they probably took them down. I went back the next day after I linked it and it wouldn’t show the pics, then the site wouldn’t load at all.). So…I know who’s going to die since I saw the very first line when the site loaded. I’m on pins and needles, anxious to know when this character will meet their untimely death. *sigh* It’s been great so far; very action-packed. I can’t wait to finish reading it.

I’m writing mainly to document Alaethia’s 6-month-birthday :). (I shall update about this weekend later.) I can’t believe this little lady’s already been with us this long, and at the same time it feels like she was never missing from our lives.

My poor girl’s already had her first virus and has had at least 3 different colds. I’ve learned that when she’s at her fussiest, when her bottle nor rocking her will put her to sleep, slipping a blanket or wash cloth over her eyes will put her right to sleep. She never took a pacifier, which is great since this is the month I would have weaned her off it anyway. She maneuvers her walker with ease now that her feet lay flat on the floor. Her crawling is getting much better, but it’s still not a true crawl — yet. She likes to “feed herself” when it’s time to eat. She gets food everywhere so it’s a good thing she loves her bath time.

And separation anxiety? I didn’t know they could suffer from that at this age; she screams as soon as she loses sight if me. Even if someone else has her and she’s being walked around (which she absolutely loves), she won’t stop crying until I get her. Then she’s all fine and dandy as if nothing ever happened.

She’s still taking 4 ounces of milk, loves water in sippy cups, and is going through an I-don’t-want-to-eat-anything-stage. Before that though, her favorite food was squash.

She’s my only child who’s slept in a crib and before catching the Roseola Virus, she’d been sleeping anywhere from 5-7 hours a night (if she’d fall asleep at 2am — her usual bedtime), would wake for a bottle and diaper change and would sleep another 4 hours. Now we’re back to her waking every 3-4 hours, but we’ll hopefully get that fixed along with getting her to sleep earlier (she’s been crashing at 1am now. Mama needs more sleep!).

Her temperament is just wonderful. She’s even more sweet and beautiful than I ever imagined she’d be.

I’ve got to start off with these stories I heard on CNN when I woke up this morning.

First, there’s one where a mother was driving recklessly and was way over the alcohol limit. When they stopped her they discovered that her children were surrounded by crap…and cockroaches!

Police said more than 100 roaches were crawling all over Nava’s Ford Mustang and that amid the trash, open food containers and alcohol bottles was a 1-year-old child and a 3-year-old child.

“They were soaked and covered in urine and their own feces, and there were cockroaches all over the car. The officer says when he reached in to unbuckle the child, three roaches ran across his hand — they were just everywhere,” said Jacksonville Beach police Sgt. Thomas Bingham.

Full story here.

I don’t understand how a CAR can become infested with roaches. And to have the children in that filth?! Ugh!

Another one was one John brought to my attention two days ago, before it even came out on CNN. He found it on one of the gaming websites he frequents. I thought it was a joke when he told me. A mom and dad neglected their 11 month and 22 month old babies because they were addicted to video games, namely Dungeons and Dragons. I didn’t even know people could be so…stupid, for lack of a better word.

Michael Straw, 25, and Iana Straw, 23, pleaded guilty Friday to two counts each of child neglect. Each faces a maximum 12-year prison sentence.

Viloria said the Reno couple was too distracted by online video games, mainly the fantasy role-playing “Dungeons & Dragons” series, to give their children proper care.

Police said hospital staff had to shave the head of the girl because her hair was matted with cat urine. The 10-pound girl also had a mouth infection, dry skin and severe dehydration.

Her brother had to be treated for starvation and a genital infection. His lack of muscle development caused him difficulty in walking, investigators said.

Full story here.

I can’t believe that. The little girl weighed 10 pounds and is 11 months old! Some babies are born at that weight! God I can’t even believe it. I hope they serve the full 12 year sentence. And that they’re never allowed to play video games or reproduce again!

And the last one…I still don’t know if it’s true or not, but CNN.com linked two websites that supposedly have Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows spoilers. One of them was shut down, but the other is alive and kicking and looks to be legit. My curiosity overcame me and I clicked on the link…and regretted it instantly! I only read the first line, but if it’s true then I figured that was going to happen. I hate it though :(. I scrolled down and supposedly the person’s scanned the chapter titles and chapter art. I browsed through a few of those because it was too tempting. I saved the link and AFTER I’m done with the book I’ll check out the site and see if this person was for real. It looks real, but you never know. John is dying to scream out all the “spoilers” he’s seen so far, but I threatened his life so he’s keeping his mouth shut.

[EDIT @ 12:07pm] I’d linked the wrong site…I only linked the CNN one, instead of the “ZOMG SPOILERS” one. Again, BE CAREFUL! I’m not posting this to ruin the book for any one, by any means. I’m posting it, so that, like me, you can check the “facts” of this site AFTER you read the book! [/EDIT]

If you’d like to view the site or save it for later like I did, here’s the link. I’m warning you though, BE CAREFUL WHEN OPENING THE PAGE! The very first line (okay, the whole thing) contains a major spoiler, so watch out!

I really can’t wait till Saturday! I won’t be waiting in line with everyone else in my family at 12:01am at Walmart, since I reserved mine from Target and I’m sure they’re not going to be open at that time. Poo. I wouldn’t want to be driving around at that time anyway (I keep repeating this to myself as consolation, kthx).

I had planned to spend at least two straight days reading. I was even going to have meals cooked and ready for microwaving so I wouldn’t waste any time and Mom had agreed to babysit since she’s here all day anyway, but all that went out the window when I remembered I’d agreed a few weeks ago to go with Mary to her company picnic at the lake. Damn! And on Sunday Noelia and I have to go to the Baptism class for Alaethia (which lasts for 3 hours). Double damn!

As for my little Alaethia…she’s the same. Her fever went only as low as 100 last night but at least she got to rest. I’ve been alternating Tylenol and Motrin to keep her comfortable but this has gone on too long. I’m taking her back tomorrow morning. I bathed her around 8pm tonight and when I was drying her up noticed a bumpy rash on her back. Now I’m thinking she’s got Strep Throat, or Scarletina, or both. She hasn’t thrown up or had diarrhea at all since yesterday and she’s been eating very well, thank goodness. But the darn fever won’t break. She hasn’t gone below 100 today either. My poor girl :(.

I’ve been alright. I guess it was just nerves making me feel that way yesterday. I didn’t want to have Aly around town feeling the way she did so Mom watched her while John and I went to Walmart (where John returned some stuff and bought a game) and then to Target. I’d been planning to go and get the boys a few more school supplies — since they’re really inexpensive right now — and some T-shirts they liked (which were $5) on Friday, but we went today instead before they ran out. They were in love with their shirts. John owed me $5 so he paid me back with FOOD! Some chocolate chip cookie dough Pop Tarts and Dreyer’s brownie chunk ice cream. I know I said I was going to start a diet…but I’m going to start PMS’ing soon and I’m not a happy camper during that awful time without chocolate…

It was another rainy afternoon today and it was cool, so we took full advantage and everyone was outside enjoying the breeze. Alaethia especially loved it. Later on we went over to Mary’s since Big Mario bar-b-q’d. Then Jorge, Mario, Mary and I discussed Harry Potter LOL.

Well, my Aly’s asleep and is feeling really cool (!) so I’m going to take her temperature and hopefully we’ll have a few good hours of sleep. I haven’t slept more than 4 hours the past two nights, and last night was even worse because I kept getting up to check on her. Tonight, she’s sleeping in my bed. I love it…last time I tried having her sleep in my bed she clawed at and kicked me, so I couldn’t cuddle her. But now that she’s already asleep she has no choice!

I had a morning of broken sleep yesterday, and it wasn’t because of Alaethia. It was because of that damn phone. I leave it on in case of emergencies but I’m seriously going to start disconnecting it until I’m ready to wake up. I gave up on sleeping after the third call and made Alaethia a bottle since I heard her stirring in her crib. I get a call 10 minutes later from Maggie. She’s in the area and stopping by. Mario was already up and gone by the time I got up. He arrived a few seconds before Maggie did with McDonald’s — lovely breakfast of cheeseburgers.

(Okay, I’m watching Scarred Trauma Live on MTV and they just showed this guy named Kenny Hughes trying to grind down a rail and ripped his butthole up and had to get stitches between his butt cheeks. Seriously. That’s just wrong. This show makes me PRAY that my sons never take up skateboarding. I actually had half of this whole entry written and I got so grossed out with this other guy who totally cracked his CALF BONES in two that I pressed something and it wiped my entry clean.)

Anyway, Maggie and I searched for jobs online and then we just chilled out. Mom got home from her doctor’s appointment in time to make it to the movie, so we got ready an extra hour early (not counting the other hour we were keeping open to get good seats) to get extra tickets for Maggie and John. And by “got ready” I mean getting everyone dressed, getting Alaethia’s diaper bag ready with her things plus stuffing two Hi-Cs for the boys inconspicuously under an extra onesie and her formula; and stuffing a few candies in my bag. The men left in the Equinox, the women (and Eenan) in Maggie’s car. We got the tickets and still had about an hour and a half to waste so we went to Home Depot since Mario needed to get some tools. Maggie and I oohed and ahhed over stuff and discussed painting. Mario got what he needed and we got a rug for the boys’ room, finally. Thank goodness for our HD credit card.

We went back to the theatre and bought popcorn and drinks for the adults. The boys play at the arcade for a while and when they start seating for Order of the Phoenix, we get in line to get our tickets checked. My worst theatre nightmare began to unfold in front of my eyes. Mom, Maggie and the kids get through, I pass, and then they hold John and Mario back. Mario’s holding the diaper bag. I’m assuming it looked suspicious (A MAN holding a diaper bag? What?) because they tell him they need to check the bag. He looks up at me, startled, and I stare back, wide-eyed. I’m thinking, I’m not going to get to watch Harry Potter because I sneaked Hi-Cs into the movies. NO…I’m not ever going to be allowed back into the theatre, ever!

I could hear my heart thumping in my ears. Maggie turns her back to us and says, “I can’t look!” They zipped open the bag, in slow motion, and gave Mario a nod to go ahead. WHEW! I asked him, — when we were a good distance away — “Did they see the drinks?” He looks totally in awe and said, “No. I guess they were really hidden!” He told me later during the movie that his heart sank when they stopped him LOL.

All in all, the movie was awesome. It’s Harry Potter, what can I say. Alaethia slept the entire time, except for the last 10 minutes. The boys were great — well, Jaylen fell asleep for a little bit. Eenan came to sit with Mario when the action started and he only got mildly teary-eyed. I won’t give my opinions out in the open because I don’t want to spoil it for anyone, but if you’d like to read what I thought scroll down to the “more” section.

(I think I might pee myself or vomit if I keep watching Scarred. This guy just tore open his NUTS. But I can’t turn away!)

We went to Mario’s work so he could pick something up and then we just chilled out at home. Mario left (or escaped, like John says) and I had break from the boys since they went over to Mary’s. They came back and we had a simple dinner of sandwiches. I fed Alaethia and bathed her. The boys ended up sleeping over at Mary’s and Mario and I had a lovely evening of surfing the web, playing with Alaethia and eating ice cream while watching Talladega Nights. Intimacy? What’s that?

As for today, I would have liked to stay home and thoroughly clean this place, but I wanted to go to Target to get the boys the Transformers bedding sets since it was the last day they’d be on sale. We got two sets of sheets and only one comforter at the first Target we went to, plus two tank tops for me (I only like the Mossimo ones from there and they were on clearance!), a cereal storage container, and a game that the kids bought with their combined money. Mom got Eenan his birthday gift, too. We ended up having to go to another Target in McAllen, since that was the only one that had comforters in twin-size. target is going to raise my credit limit on my card up to $10,000–we’re such good customers.

We got a bit lost on the way there since I took the “back road”, thanks to Mario’s shoddy directions. I eventually found the place. We got what we needed then had lunch at Chick-fil-A. Yum. I’d been wanting to eat there since forever. Mom’s treat :). Alaethia was such a good girl, even though she had me carrying her the whole time we were there. She’s been such a good girl in general lately, though. I love her to bits!

We visited Gramma for a while, where Alaethia was having a blast playing hide-and-seek with Gramma. Gramma was laying down and I was sitting at the foot of her bed with Aly on my lap and Jaylen next to me, shielding Aly’s view of Gramma. Aly kept leaning back to catch a glimpse of Gramma and when Gramma would talk to her Aly would hide in my neck and giggle. She did this about 20 times till she got bored and made me stand up. We came home, I made dinner, we chilled out at Mary’s, I got Jaylen’s bed ready with his new sheets (I didn’t do Eenan’s yet since he’s sleeping over at Mary’s, again, and Aly quickly got bored with her toys in her crib), and now I’m here updating with a sleeping Aly at my side. I’m hoping I’ve gotten her to start sleeping a bit earlier. That would make life even SWEETER.

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