Category: Books

I was all on my own that day and it went surprisingly well. Well, except for the internet already being excruciatingly slow on the actual first day back. I had to use my psuedo manual check out worksheet on Excel, which meant that later, before I could do anything else, I had to add them into the system manually. I shelved all the books that I’d checked in and started checking in the huge stacks of dictionaries and thesauruses they’d brought to me the day before. Mr. Murphy helped a bit, even though he left half the books I gave him to shelve because he likes to talk about world events (the depressing ones), but he did push the cart of dictionaries for me to the shelf so I could put up. He had to leave so I couldn’t get him to help with that.

We had a meeting in the library that lasted about an hour, so I had to enter some stuff manually again. One of the top things on my to-do list was getting another bulletin board up and ready. We I have a total of 4 that we’re I’m in charge of. During the meeting Robert, Juan and Rudy showed up. I put them to work after they got permission from their teacher. They helped me staple most of the star border, which I’m grateful for because everyone kept scolding me the day before when I’d been reaching up to staple the letters on the other board. I asked why, what would happen? And the response I got was that the baby would wrap her umbilical cord around her neck if I stretched. What? First time I’d ever heard of that one!

I couldn’t get my darn letter of resignation printed out because the version of Word I’d used to type it up was different from the one at work. All I had to do was install the compatibility patch but of course we don’t have authorization to install anything. I e-mailed and asked Mary if she could print it for me and she did one better: sent it as a .PDF file so I printed a few copies out right away.

I went to lunch and a sub was sent in right when I was coming back. She was a lot of help. I found it the perfect opportunity to turn in my resignation. I was so nervous. I had to control my shaking limbs before I got up to go to Vero’s office to borrow an envelope and turn it in. I spoke to Vero, who was sad that I’m actually going to leave and then I went in to talk to the principal.

He was walking out as I was walking in. I felt my face flushing as I handed him the letter. He looks down at me with a curious expression and asks, “What’s this?” I’m following him into his office as he’s unfolding the sheet and watch as his face turns from a smile into a look of shock. He said it was coming completely left field, which I found weird because I could have sworn I was present when Mrs. V. had mentioned it and I know she’d mentioned it other times. He shakes the letter and with a smile on his face says, “You don’t have to do this!”

He asked if she’d tried to convince me to stay and I said yes, she did since the beginning but eventually she conceded. I said something like, “I don’t want to, but I have to,” and he held the letter in both hands and said, “I can still tear this up!” I almost ran forward and said, “No, no! I’ve made my decision. And I thank you for allowing me to work with you and all the wonderful people here. It’s been a great experience.” That seemed to calm him down and we started walking out of the office. I shook his hand and he says, “You still have 10 days to change your mind.”

I was so proud of myself. I did it without crying!

I felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. And because I turned it in that day it was exactly a two-week notice. I picked the boys up and had them start working on their homework. I cuddled with Alaethia and as we were watching Noggin’ Sally called asking if Mario and I would like to join them for dinner to celebrate their anniversary since I was there for their very first date. How sweet of them to remember me :). I’m still so thrilled I got to be a part of the birth of their relationship. I quickly got ready, left the kiddos with Mom and the in-laws, who were already outside getting ready to bar-b-q, and picked Mario up (late-ish) from work. We were meeting Pete and Sally about an hour later so we went to Barnes and Noble to kill time. I wanted so many books, but I only walked away with the Lolcats one. Now I can look at it and feel happy instantly :P.

We had a great dinner. I ordered my usual spinach and artichoke dip and had the Shrimp Alfredo. Yum. As we were getting comfortable and had ordered our food, I told them, “You know what guys? It’s funny: I was pregnant exactly two years ago with Alaethia when you guys first got together and now on your 2nd anniversary I’m pregnant again!” Hilarious.

We had some laughs and I love our marriage talks LOL. We told them about Alaethia’s poop story and they couldn’t stop laughing. Sally says, “So that’s what we have to look forward to!”

I don’t remember what we were talking about—probably about how Mario’s out all night while I’m asleep—but Mario said he was thrilled when I called and asked if he wanted to go to Chili’s with Pete and Sally. He says that’s one thing he’s looking forward to when I stop working: spending more time together.

I can’t wait to get together with them again. I love our conversations!

Sat., Dec. 27th – I woke up, ate breakfast, and got to cleaning. I played with Aly and checked the movie times for Tale of Despereaux. We hadn’t been to the movies in a while and though we never finished reading the book, I really wanted to see the movie during the holidays. Plus, the kids wanted to go, too LOL.

We watched Wall-E while we waited for the time to pass. Mary brought in bag-fulls of stuff Yvonne sent for Aly, like Princess bags, Sesame Street toys, a helmet and pads. She had a blast looking through everything, like it was Christmas all over again.

We braved taking Alaethia with us, since she is getting a little older and can actually watch a movie now that she actually has somewhat of an attention span. I was sure to pack her diaper bag with her Gerber Stars, yogurt bites and other snacks.

When we got into the theatre, it was dark and they were already showing the previews. She kept saying—loudly—”Why’s it so dark? I can’t see!” It was funny, but everyone kept turning to stare.

Even though I tried fishing everything out of her bag to keep her busy before she started screaming, she was really talkative and wouldn’t sit still. Mario wanted to get up and leave, but I told him to watch the movie and be quiet; she was tired and just needed to be rocked to sleep. She talks a lot when she’s sleepy, like her Mama, heh. But sure enough, after some rocking she was fast asleep. I got to enjoy the rest of the movie. The kids and I didn’t get very far in the book, but from what I read and saw in the movie, they’re completely different from each other!

We went to Target then Walmart to cash Mario’s pay check after the movie. We bought some meat from T-Rey’s (gosh I hate how meat markets smell, especially when I’m pregnant) for yet another bar-b-q. We got home and I started cleaning. I still have a lot to go. I mainly organized things, in my room and Alaethia’s. When I got tired I went outside with everyone. Aly was moody so I went inside to Mary’s with most of the women. We ate and talked and then I came back to my house since Aly still felt warm. Since the last time she’d gotten a fever she’d only get them at night, and only for a while. This time she’d gotten it earlier though and she was hysterical. I couldn’t understand what was wrong with her. She’d kind of rub her ear, cheek and the side of her neck, but when I’d ask her if her ears, throat or teeth were bothering her she’d scream no. The little canker sore she’d had was totally gone, too, so it wasn’t that.

I was up all night with her. She’d fall asleep but then would wake up crying and screaming her head off. I felt like I was going insane. It didn’t help that she’d gotten ahold of a Lysol wipe earlier during the evening (Mario took them out and I forgot to put them back in the drawer =/) and I was afraid she’d gotten an upset tummy in case she’d put it in her mouth. Heck, I was afraid the chemicals were ripping up her insides! I asked her if she’d been sucking on it but she just smiled and said “no”. I called everywhere, including the number on the Lysol package and the Poison Control Center and nothing was open. I couldn’t believe it. I gave her a little bread and milk (the usual foods they tell you to give them when they ingest something they shouldn’t) and started doing research online. Every site I went to said there wasn’t any harm if ingested…but do call an ambulance if you get the liquid in your eyes!? How strange.

After another hour and half of Alaethia screaming her head off I called Mario and asked him to come in at 1:30. Why should I be the only parent worried sick? Hey, I want to be outside relaxing with everyone, too. So, reluctantly, he came in, complaining the whole time of course. She was so hysterical by the time Mario came in that she cried threw up from crying so much. We stayed up till around 2:15am and I woke up with her every hour after that. Tomorrow would definitely consist of a trip to her night/weekend doctor.

Sun., Dec. 28th – It was Grandpa D’s birthday. We woke up super late, around noon for being up with Aly all night. The tamales I was going to help Mary, Elda and Mom with were already done. We had some of the tamales, cake and sang happy birthday and excused ourselves to take Alaethia to the weekend pediatric clinic. I couldn’t remember what time they opened, but thankfully they’d been open an hour when we arrived. There weren’t a lot of people in the lobby, so that was good. The nurse told me I’d have to call her regular doctor and ask for an authorization. I found that a little strange since it’s usually the office that has to call. So I called and sure enough, the CSR that answered told me to ask the office to call and ask for the authorization themselves. So I did, even though the guy looked a little annoyed about it.

It took about 10 minutes, but he let me know that Dr. C. gave them the okay to see her. We entertained her with her Spongebob Magna Doodle and Gerber Stars while we waited.

Once we were in the room they let us know that she had an ear infection in both ears, the left one being severe. They prescribed cough/congestion medicine, Motrin for her fevers, some ear drops and an antibiotic. We had to go all the way back to McAllen to Lee’s Pharmacy because it was the only pharmacy that was open after 6pm. As soon as we got home, we gave her the meds. She wanted to go to her room to watch a movie (Terabithium or Wizard of Oz, one of them) so we made her all comfy and she relaxed. I was really behind on dishes and was about to start washing them when Mario told me to sit down; we had a movie date. We watched Journey to the Center of the Earth and then Baby Mama. I removed my acrylic nails while we watched Baby Mama. It took forever, but it felt so good to have them off. I can only have fake nails on for so long.

We paused the movies several times because Alaethia needed this or that so they felt like they were really long LOL. I started cleaning after the movies finished. I stayed up till 2:30 with Aly who refused to fall asleep and then passed out. She was still feverish, but she slept much better than the night before. You have no idea how glad I was to be on vacation; there’s no way I’d be able to stay up with her that late when it was a work night!

Christmas! I’d set the alarm for 8am, since this time we weren’t going to be up super early and hardly any of the family was going to come over till much, much later. The boys, however, were awake by 7 and Mary waited to call till 7:45, when they couldn’t contain themselves anymore. Mario wanted to take a quick shower and of course they were complaining ’cause they had to wait so long for Mario. Mary and I tried to stall by separating everyone’s presents (mainly theirs) into piles for easy opening. As I was getting ready to set up the baby monitors Alaethia woke up and Mario was finally ready. The boys opened their presents first and I’m so happy that they were happy with their Santa gifts and gifts from us and everyone else. They actually asked for “small” gifts from Santa this year (Jaylen – the whole Pixos set and Eenan the Nintendogs Chihuahua DS game), which Santa really appreciated because he was on a budget this year ;).

They mostly got DS games, movies (Wall-e and Kung-Fu Panda on Blu Ray!), art stuff, and lots of science lab stuff. They even got an awesome microscope/computer kit (that Jaylen became too over-eager opening and cut his finger with a tool). Mona out-did herself; she got the boys some really nice Transformers toys and a blanket and froggy (that really croaks!) for Alaethia. The boys finished with their gifts and went on their merry way to play with everything.

Next it was Alaethia’s turn. I was a little upset because Elda grabbed her and helped her open presents while Mario took video. It sounds whiny and childish, but I wanted to be the one to sit with her and open presents. That’s something I should have been doing with her. That, and I never have pictures of myself with the kids, ever, unless I ask someone to take them. But anyway.

Alaethia loved her My First Dollhouse from Santa she wanted to open all of her accessories right away and play. She also loved her Hello Kitty from John, the giant Care Bear from us and the stroller from us. She promptly stuffed the big Care Bear in there and gave her a ride in the stroller.

Andy and Noelia got there and she opened her treasure chest from them. It was almost like an actual treasure chest, filled with tons of girlie accessories and a super soft Tinkerbell blanket I wanted to steal for myself LOL.

I loved all of my gifts. Mario and I didn’t get each other anything big (he got me two DVDs I’d been wanting and I got him a knife). Mary went all out as usual. She got me the first 3 Twilight books, City of Angels on DVD (which I’d have to exchange since that’s one of the ones Mario bought me), slippers, boxers, Mrs. Doubtfire on DVD and a beautiful butterfly necklace. Grandpa surprised all of us by giving every single member of the family cash, including my mom and brother! I felt so emotional when I opened that envelope and then learned he’d included Mom and John. I totally signed into Ebay later and ordered Batteries Not Included for myself (and that was all I bought really, for $7.35).

Mario made some Mexican hot chocolate and it was delicious. I had like, 3 glass-fulls. I don’t think we had any breakfast just so we could make space for all the delicious turkey, gravy and the trimmings. It was like Thanksgiving all over again!

We chilled out the rest of the day enjoying the kids and each other and their new gifts. Alaethia was amazingly entertained by her stuff! I tried organizing her room as best as I could, to make room for all her new stuff. We still had some girl-ifying to do to her room, heh.

Will add pictures to this entry soon.