Category: Daily

I have loved today. Woke up “late” (at 8:30), which is much better than waking up at 6:30am. The kids were already awake and were watching TV quietly in the living room. Made breakfast (breakfast sandwich for Mario and French toast for the rest of us) and just sat in absolute quiet bliss while enjoying my warm toast.

And then the kids started screaming. But only for a little while :).

This, the not having to rush around and leave the house to pick up/drop off kids 3 times a day, makes me wish Summer vacation was already near. We’re about 6 1/2 months away but at least I have 3 weeks of Christmas vacation to look foward to. Yay!

I decided that this year I wanted to have Dad over for Thanksgiving. I’ve never invited him over before, mostly because I was afraid I’d be scoffed at by the family, namely by my dramatic mother. And I couldn’t stand the thought of him spending another Thanksgiving either alone, or with other family-less friends at the Salvation Army dinner.

I spoke to Mario about it and he thought it was a great idea. I asked Mary first if it was okay, whom I figured wouldn’t have a problem with it since Elda’s already having her whole family over. Sure enough, she said it was fine. I presented the idea to John and Mom simultaneously. John didn’t say anything, which meant he approved. Mother, on the other hand, threw a fit.

“Oh, now he’s your father?”

“Oh, since he’s always been around!”

I tell her he’s always been my father; she’s the one who’s always tried to turn me against him. I tell her I know what he did–I’m well aware that he was a horrible parent, but I’d like to make ammends since he’s been making the effort the past couple of years to actually be a part of our lives. And why, when he’d call, would she spent at least half an hour to an hour talking to him like they were good ol’ pals? Why couldn’t we have a relationship with him?

I never had a grandfather–I’d like my daughter (along with my boys) to know hers, all of them. I let her know this. After she huffed and puffed and stuck her nose up at us (because John expressed his opinion, which matched mine, too) I gave up and said, “You know what, FINE, I won’t invite him!” She says, “How can you have him over with Mary’s family? How ridiculous!” I tell her, “Um, Mom, you’re kind of going to be there too, with Mary’s family.” I know there’s a difference, because she’s known Mary for years now and contributes to most holiday dinners/get-togethers, but there’s a similarity in that she’s not Mary’s blood, and that’s what my Mom was trying to use as justification.

When I tell her again to just drop it, I wasn’t going to invite him, she softens up and says, “Just tell him to come then.” Grr. My frustration with this woman never ends!

Which is also something I’ve been thinking about lately. Since Mom lives right next door she’s always here. I had to plead with her not to come over before 11am, because she was at the door at 8am every day. She talks during my tv shows, talks while I’m reading, yells at John for whatever reason when he comes over, amongst other annoying things. I’m probably even more irritable considering the pregnancy, but lately she’s had me at my wit’s end. It’s like I have a 3rd child.

At the end of the day I start thinking about it: what if she wasn’t here? Like, really not here. What if something happens to her? I’d feel horrible and guilty for snapping at her all the time and wishing she’d just go home. The day she’s not here anymore to “bother” me, is the day I’m going to wish she was.

I’m learning this Thanksgiving holiday that I need to be grateful for every last thing I have. I need to learn to appreciate everyone, regardless of their quirks and vexes. You never know how life will change; who’ll be taken away from you at the drop of a dime.

I’m grateful for so many things: the roof over our heads, food, working cars, our health, being able to pay our bills, Mario’s job, this pregnancy, my husband and children, my whole family, friends: old and new and ones I’ve thankfully gotten back in touch with this year. For another day in this world! I’m just thankful for everything.

If I don’t get around to individually telling everyone, I hope you have a great Thanksgiving, full of love and family and friends!

Well, I finally published my October 20th entry. I’d been putting it off since I couldn’t get myself to write that last part about Wookie passing away. I figured I’d put it off long enough so I finally tackled that this afternoon.

I’ve spent a good chunk of today trying to upload old 2005 entries. I still need mid-March and a few 2006 months. Bleh. I hate it. It would be much easier if I didn’t have to read through them to categorize them, but I’m anal about that so I just *have* to do it. It’s so much easier having them on here when I need to “remember” something.

I spent some of yesterday annoyed, so I’m glad today was better. I hate having to do things I don’t want or need to do, and Elda just so happened to send a bill for me to pay with Brandon in the morning. I didn’t get a call asking me to do it or anything. I was just expected to do it. Pisses me off.

I picked up a few things at the Dollar General after I picked up Jaylen and paid Elda’s stupid bill. I desperately needed a new cookie sheet, so I got one and some Mega Man toys for the kids that were only $2! Pretty darn cool. I was supposed to save them for their stockings if I found them but there was no way I’d be able to hide them from Jaylen =\.

My stupid toilet tank was overflowing, so that pissed me off, too. It’s finally flushing correctly so I was thrilled, but oh no, something else always has to go wrong. After using about 5 huge towels to sop the mess up 3 times I lowered the faucet thing down a little and it didn’t overflow anymore. Stupid toilet.

I was supposed to be sewing curtains for Mary’s bedroom (blah) but she didn’t leave me the pattern (which is an old curtain) so I didn’t do them. I’m not going to do them tomorrow, no way. I fully expect to be left alone so I can enjoy these 5 days of no-school. Like Mario said, they figure I’m “not doing anything else” so everyone gives me little chores and errands to do. That’s the one thing I don’t like about living here =\. I don’t mind doing them for the in-laws, it’s everyone else that gets on my nerves.

Bitchyness aside, Jaylen got a dinosaur toy for behaving all six weeks. When I spoke with his teachers this morning they said only 3 boys and 1 girl didn’t give them trouble all six weeks, so they got to choose a prize. Jaylen was thrilled. I’m so proud of my little dude :).

Eenan placed 9 out of 30-some kids in UIL. He’ll be receiving a ribbon, which he’s just elated about. I’m so proud of him, too. His coach was gushing about him this morning. *beams*

John is humping the air while laying on my couch because he’s bitching that he wants to get online so I think I shall go now before I throw the monitor at him. Now he’s rolling around whining for me to remove this part of the blog, but I’m not. Neener, neener.

Okay, I’m going to read my Harry Potter book now (have you seen the teaser trailer?! AWESOME!) and kick the kids’ cousins out since they’re fighting over the Game Cube. What happened to their Game Cube, darnit?? They’re only here to play because once time is up and I tell them to turn it off, they leave. WTF?

Anyway, yay! 5 days of not waking up at the crack of dawn!!!

I never know what to title my entries anymore. Hmph.

I was reading my book (I’m polishing up on Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix because I’m already forgetting the details of the book since the last time I read it and I want to be prepared for the movie, which unfortunately doesn’t come out till next July :*(!). I’m in the middle of doing laundry too, but at least it’s sort of a low-key day. Mario went into work since he didn’t work on Monday and Mary treated us all to lunch at Peter Piper Pizza. The kids are playing Star Wars II on Game Cube with Brandon and the house isn’t completely in shambles (yet) so why not blog?

Eenan’s cold got much worse Thursday night when he went to bed. I gave him a nebulizer treatment, his medicine, rubbed his chest in Vapo-Rub, and propped him up a little so he wouldn’t feel so congested. After 2 hours straight of coughing and trembling because he was afraid he’d throw up, he finally got some rest.

I asked him if he was up to going to school the next day, but he didn’t want to ruin his perfect attendance (he’s determined to get another trophy this year) so we agreed that he’d go in half a day and I’d pick him up when I picked Jaylen up from school. He pocketed some of his cough suppresant lollipops and we were off to school.

I told his teacher about his bad night (to which she replied, “He’s got such a bad cough! He got us all sick!” Grr) and that I’d be picking him up before lunch. She said it was fine. He only got to do one test, his Spelling one, and has two to make up but he said he could do them on Monday.

When I dropped Jaylen off, I spoke with his teachers about my pregnancy and Mrs. S. said she remembered Mario from somewhere. After we switched details for a while we discovered she was in band with Noelia and they graduated the same year. She said Mario must have looked so familiar because they look so much alike LOL.

Mario and I napped till it was time to pick the kids up. It was the best nap I’d ever taken. Usually, any small noise wakes me up or I have things on my mind like, ‘Did I set the alarm for 11?’

‘What if I don’t wake up on time?’

‘Where are my phones? What if there’s an emergency and they call me about the kids?’

But on Friday morning, I slept like a log. Nothing woke me up until the alarm went off at 11.

I picked the kids up, brought them home and called Elda to let her know I wouldn’t be picking Brandon up since I’d already picked up my kiddos. We chilled out, had lunch, and then we left to some hardware stores so Mario could find some tools he’d lost (again) at work. That man spends about $300 a year on tools that he’s constantly losing or leaving in customers’ cars!

We stopped at Pet Smart for some crickets for our lizards and then we headed home. My dad-in-law was here when we got here, along with his friend Ricky and we agreed to bar-b-q for dinner. Mario and I went to buy meat at the meat market place. I’d been craving a brownie so I bought one of those 25 cent ones from Little Debbie, or whatever the brand is. I ate half, then Mario at the other half. He growls and makes a face and tries fishing something out of his mouth with his fingers. We get to a red light and he opens the car door and spits. He tells me there was a LONG hair in his mouth that he chewed out of the brownie. I felt so sick. Sure, this type of thing unfortunately happens when you eat at restaurants or at home (my mother used to be guilty of never picking her hair up when she cooks *gag*) but this was a brownie that gets made and packaged at a factory. Bleh!

Anyway, it was cold out so the kids played and ate inside where John was watching him since he was on the computer. Mom, Big Mario, Ricky, Mario and I ate burgers and ribs outside while the men played pool.

When it was time to put the kids to bed, Eenan’s cough started up again. I gave him his nightly ritual of meds and a rub down with Vapo-Rub and kissed him goodnight. Then Jaylen started with his cough, though not as bad. Eenan kept coughing every 5-10 minutes for about an hour and then got up because his heart was racing and he felt like he would throw up. I gave him a cough lolly, a spray of Cloraseptic then Mario and I got smart and got their humidifer down from the closet shelf and turned it on. I swear to you, neither of them coughed the rest of the night.

Thank God too, since Eenan had a UIL meet the next morning on Saturday. I’d already made up my mind that he wouldn’t go since his cough had been so bad, but I thought I’d ask him anyway at 6am. He leaped out of bed and said, “Yup! I’ll go!”

I took his chipper mood as a sign that he was doing much better and gave him breakfast then got him ready. He put some of his cough lollys in his pocket, I strapped his DS pack onto his belt loop so he wouldn’t lose it and gave him $2 for snacks (which I later found out was wholly used to buy 1 Nerds Rope!).

We got to the school right on time and I wished him goodluck as he boarded the bus. I said a little prayer for him as I drove the few blocks home and slipped back into bed with Mario for another half hour before I woke him up for work.

Mario left and I ate breakfast while checking my mail. I didn’t want to fall back to sleep, though I was really sleepy because I’d be dropping John off at work at 9:30. I noticed Mario left his new drill bits in the car and I knew he needed them so I called and told him I’d drop them off to him. I also planned on buying the Harry Potter book since I didn’t feel like borrowing it from the library then worrying that I was going to have fees because I forgot, once again, to return them on time.

Mom tagged along and Jaylen was in a semi-bad mood since he’d woken up really early. We dropped Mario’s stuff off first, then stopped by the nursing home to see Gramma for half an hour. We talked and caught up and she asked to see my belly. I stood up and she gasped, “Yajaira! Are you sure there aren’t two in there?!” I laugh and tell her no, that I’m sure there’s only one girl in there and she says, “You’re so small it makes your belly look really big!”

We said our ‘see you laters’ and went to Target. Mom wandered around while I picking out my book and made a mental note of others I want to go back for. I got some Nitetime Triaminic for the kids and ended up coming home with various foods like canned pears, sprinkle yogurts, smoothies and other stuff I can’t remember right now because Jaylen wanted everything in sight. At least he didn’t whine for candies =\.

Yadira picked Eenan up for me at the UIL meet so I went to pick him up at her house. I’m so proud of my little dude; he went all the way to the Finals! We’re not sure what he placed, but his coach told Yadira that he should definitely get a ribbon. He was beaming. I sat and talked with Yadira for a while and then brought Eenan and Angela home with me. All 3 kids were very well-behaved while I ate lunch (they’d all already eaten) and then cleaned up a little.

I made tacos for dinner and after Mario had gotten home and eaten, we watched Accepted. It was much better than I thought it’d be. The chunky guy with the glasses (don’t know his name!) made it so funny. And the biggest surprise? There were NO BOOBS! There might have been one set, I’m not sure, because that was the time Eenan ran into the living room, sat next to me and I cupped my hands over his eyes since it looked like a girl was going to take her top off. When I told John he said, “For real? Well, thanks for warning me. Now I don’t want to watch it.” Dumbass :P.

I can’t wait to be done with laundry. I didn’t hate it as much as I do now, and that’s because now I actually have closet space. I wonder how many loads of laundry it’s going to be when Alaethia arrives. When Jaylen was born, I remember having to wash every 3 days!

And speaking of Alaethia, I really can’t wait to meet her :). Mario and John find it hilarious how I sit on the couch with my shirt pulled over my huge belly while I watch her move her knees around. I’ve put my bottle of water or remote on my belly and she’s literally kicked it to the floor!

I’m also realizing that I need to hurry up and finish cleaning my room and organizing my closet. I just feel so tired all the time! Seriously, no matter how well I sleep at night (well, I really don’t sleep “well” anymore) I’m still falling alseep all over the place during the day. I still don’t know when I should nag ask Mario to assemble the crib. I should do it soon, that way I’ll know if there’s enough room for the bassinet next to the bed. I also need an area rug, a nice, thick cushion for my rocking chair and God knows what else. There’s about 10 weeks left till she’s born. I’m so excited and nervous. Nervous because I don’t know how the last month of this pregnancy will be. I’ve never actually had my water break on my own; both Eenan and Jaylen were induced for one reason or another and my bag with Eenan was broken at the hospital while Jaylen’s broke right before I got my epidural put in at 4 centimeters dilated!

John just asked me what I was thinking about since I was daydreaming. “My water breaking,” I responded. All he heard was “water breaking” because he jumped foward and said, “REALLY?” I say, “No, I’m thinking about it!”

“Oh, good,” he says, “I was about to leave.”

My mouth drops and I ask him, “You’d really do that? You’d just leave me here?!” and he says, “I already had to watch Bookas (Brushka, our cat) go through that. I wouldn’t know what to do if it happened to you. I’d ask Bookas to bring some floss and tie the umblical cord like you did for her and I wouldn’t let her put you on your rug since you’d get mad once you came-to and saw blood everywhere. Or maybe I’d call the vet. And Mom would probably pass out before you so I’d have to call the doctor for her first.”

Lord, please let someone else other than John be here when Alaethia decides to come into this world.