Category: Movies

Grab a cup of coffee my loves. This is going to be incredibly long. I’ve been updating little by little, just never published it. I don’t remember much from the 7th to the 10th since I didn’t update at all at that time.

Sunday, 3-11-07 — We were home all morning. Mario didn’t want to go anywhere. He only wanted to stay home and watch TV. The boys didn’t want to go anywhere so Mom, Alaethia and I went to Big Lots on our own. I hadn’t been there in about a year so I was excited to see what crap I’d find. As soon as we walk in we’re bombarded by people who want to touch and see Alaethia. Then we’re on to the frames section where I found a great frame for 3 4×6 photos with hooks for sweaters and whatnot. Just what I’d been looking for. And it was only $12! Cheapest I’d seen anywhere.

We strolled onto the scrapbooking isle next and I was in love. I gave myself a budget–because, are you kidding? No budget = us broke. I would have bought so many more things, but I picked only my favorites.

Mario sent me to Sears next, where I had to get a raincheck for the multi-meter he wanted that was on sale for $10.

Monday, 3-12-07 — The first day of the boys’ Spring Break. Mary was off from work, so she, Noelia, Mom, all 3 kiddos and I went to eat breakfast at Denny’s. Noelia and I shared a meal (those things are huge). Best French Toast I’d had in a long time. The boys behaved so well and had Alien pancakes and colored on their placemats. They’ve been so artistic and creative lately. Makes my heart dance with joy that their only source of entertainment isn’t just video games and TV anymore.

We came back home to get jackets since it was drizzly and cool and was quickly getting worse. We were going to go to the outlets in Mercedes, but the rain just didn’t make it possible. Mary and Noelia went to Mexico for a few things (the rest of us stayed in the car). We went to watch Bridge to Terabithia and I bawled my eyes out. Alaethia was a little moody so I spent most of the movie at the foot of the theater in the staircase, walking around with her and rocking her. I tried my hardest not to cry since people could see me down there but once everyone was walking out when it was over, I couldn’t stop! Eenan was crying too and had his hoodie over his face. He get embarrassed sometimes because, like he says, he’s so sensitive LOL.

We did a few more things that day, like Mary had to go get plates at the sticker place (forget what it’s called), Alaethia screamed her head off because we ran out of water and the bitchy girl at Stripes wouldn’t bring me a warm water from the back, and I got Mario’s multi meter from Sears after spending half an hour on the phone with incompetent salespeople.

I finally popped in The Biggest Loser 2 Workout Video I purchased from Target the week before into the DVD player that night. I figured if I want to be in shape for Noelia’s wedding (which is a mere 3 months away — EEK!) then I better get on the ball. Which reminds me, I need an exercise ball. Can’t do the crunches or back exercises correctly without them! I felt so flexible and relaxed when I was done and I didn’t feel sore at all the next day!

Tuesday, 3-13-07 — The kiddos were still in bed and Mario was just walking out the door to leave to work when he gets a call on his cell phone. He closes the door, then quickly comes back in and has this look on his face that’s all too familiar: The Bad News Look. My heart sinks and, bracing myself for the worst, I ask, “What happened?”

He says, “My mom just called to tell us Tia Alma passed away this morning.”

My heart sinks even more and, thinking I heard wrong, say, “WHAT? Tia Alma? No…”

He says yes, that she died from a heart attack. All I could think about was Jason, Adan and Jennifer. They’re all too young to lose their mother. Especially Jennifer. She’s only 19 and needs her mom.

He tells me he’ll get more info later and he leaves.

Mary calls and fills me in on what happened. Apparently she’d felt bad all night. She thought she had heartburn or air in her chest, so she kept sending everyone to get her mineral water and Tums. Her husband insisted on taking her to the ER but she refused and said she’d feel better; that it would pass. Finally, at 5:30, she listened to her husbands pleas and went to the hospital. She was fine at first and then she said she couldn’t breathe after they hooked her to the oxygen so they got ready to transport her to the Heart Hospital. After half an hour, she was pronounced dead :(.

I’m still in shock that this happened. It was so sudden. She was fine one day and gone the next. It’s sort of a reality check, for everyone. Tia Alicia, her sister, barely passed away 2 weeks before she did and now her. It’s unreal. I pleaded to Mario to stop smoking, but he won’t listen. I fear for his health; for his whole family’s health on his Mom’s side. First Tio Saul, then Tia Alicia and now Tia Alma. I can’t believe it. She was only 53; 4 years older than Mary and 5 younger than Mom.

We, Noelia and I, spent the rest of the day with Jason and Mireya. Mom watched my kiddos for me. First we were at their (Tia Alma’s) house, then at the funeral home, at their house again where we met with more family who came to give their condolences and just to talk about what a shock it was, and then later we went to Chilli’s to have lunch since Jason hadn’t eaten since the night before because of everything that was going on. It was so sad. Everything. Watching Jason make all the arrangements, at the age of 23, picking his mom’s casket…just everything. And he was so strong, too.

We had a Rosario that night for Tia Alma. The whole family came over and we prayed. I had a lump in my throat the whole time hearing the Tias crying and just seeing the sadness in Jennifer’s face. It’s always great to see everyone, just unfortunate that it had to be under these circumstances :(.

Wednesday, 3-14-07 – We (Mom, the kiddos and I) spent most of the morning at home, then, when John got home, we decided to go thrift store shopping. It took a while for us to remember where it was, but we eventually got there. The boys had a great time playing with the toys and picked out 5 things each. John sat with them at the toys and watched them while I looked around with Alaethia in my arms (she didn’t want to stay in her stroller).

I went over to their huge library and immediately found three brand-new books: Like Water for Chocolate, Always the Bridesmaid, and A Million Little Pieces. On the other side I found The Wedding and The Divine Secrets of the Ya-ya Sisterhood. All for $3! I wanted to look around more but I would have been there forever.

We made sandwiches that evening since we had another Rosario that night and this time Mario got out of work early and made it on time.

Thursday, 3-15-07 — One of these nights was when Alaethia slept in her crib the whole night! From 11:30 to almost 7am. It was absolute bliss. Well, almost. I woke up at around 5am expecting her to wake up for a bottle, but she didn’t. It would have been so awesome to sleep the whole night but I’m just so used to waking up that I can’t! The two nights after that I was woken by Jaylen’s screams from his room around 2am, so I didn’t sleep the whole night those times either.

I tried taking a nap with her after Mario’d left to work, but it was a no-go. Alaethia wanted a bottle so I stumbled through the hallway and was surprised to see Mom and John already here. The boys had just woken up about half an hour before and had let them in. I laugh and make a joke about how they should just have their own key already and John says, “Hello?? Free Starbucks?” and I remember that, duh, it’s Thursday the 15th! Free coffees at Starbucks. I’d only been bitching for two whole weeks since I’d read about it in a Parenting magazine and I totally forgot. I fed Alaethia, washed up and got dressed, and since I was going to buy a top for the funeral the next day Mom gave me some money to get her something and she stayed with the kiddos.

We stopped at the Starbucks in the Target first and got our drinks. I’d never really had coffee from Starbucks, just lattes and Frappuccinos, so I was pretty darn surprised when I put about a pound of sugar and half a cup of milk in my coffee and it still tasted super strong. John had never had a coffee in his life and ended up putting some honey in it. When I yelled at him not to do that, I was a second too late and he says, “Then why do they put it here if it’s not for coffee?!” I tell him, “This is Starbucks, Dork. They sell tea, too!” He supposedly made it taste “really good” and offered me some but I took his word for it.

We took our coffees and left to McAllen. I stopped by Mario’s work and asked if he wanted some and he said, “Sure!” so off John and I were to the Starbucks on 10th st. — with the coffees we already had hidden of course.

We kept making jokes and, my God, I don’t remember the last time I was that hyper. We kept giggling about how they were going to ban us for trying to get two more coffees and I tried my hardest to have a straight face while the girl handed us the coffees through the drive-thru window. We took them to Mario and Manny and later on when I spoke to him he said they had a bitch of a time trying to get them to taste good LOL.

We stopped by Ross, where it took forever for me to find something for Mom. We were there for a good hour. I wanted to get a cute white hoodie with red and black skulls on it but of course, they had a shitload of them and non were in my size.

We went to the mall next, where we went to Hot Topic and John got Alaethia this cute little doll:

Next stop was Target. I found a cute black blouse with hearts on it and got a grayish/blue tank that matched the hearts. We got a few things John needed and I found some scrapbooking stuff that was on clearance and headed home.

The Rosario that night was at the Funeral home. I walked around with a lump in my throat again and finally let it out a little after a while. I had to go to the lobby with Alaethia for a little while since she was fighting sleep. Once she was asleep we went back and then she was passed around by relatives LOL. Tia Amelia scared everyone. She passes out when she gets really emotional and she usually comes-to quickly. This time, it took her much longer so everyone was panicking. She was fine though, but my gosh, it was a huge scare.

Friday, 3-16-07 — We woke up early to get everyone ready. Mario was moody so he kept snapping at me and quickly put me in a bad mood, which just made me feel even more horrible than I already felt considering the funeral was in a few minutes. I didn’t know what to expect when we got to the church. I found Mario (he’d left early with Jorge, who was a Pall Bearer) and we sat together. The reality of everything finally hit me and I couldn’t stop bawling. Then Anabel, the youngest of the sisters, started crying loudly so that made me cry more. I just still can’t believe this happened.

We followed the procession to the cemetary and found places to stand in the shade since Alaethia and the boys were with us. It was so sad seeing the kids, Jason, Adan and Jennifer watching their mom be buried. It’s always so hard to go up to them, even if we’d already seen them before, and pay our respects to them one last time before they bury her.

We all came home and then, after Mario and I’d had yet another little tiff, left to eat at Golden Corral. The boys didn’t want to go anywhere, as always, so they stayed with Mom and John at our house.

I hadn’t been to Golden Corral in so long. The food was really good. I had popcorn shrimp, bourbon chicken, macaroni, mashed potatoes and broccoli with cheese and ate almost everything! I hadn’t eaten breakfast so I was starving, as was everyone else. I hid some cookies in my bag for the boys (buahaha) and we were off to Wal-mart.

We got a few things we actually needed and then I found these little blouses for Alaethia in the baby department:

So adorable! I couldn’t find tiny jean shorts for her, but I’m having her wear them as a dress with bloomers under until she fully grows into them :).

We had the Rosario at home that night. There was lots of food that everyone brought and later on, crazy things went down. Crazy things that involved Yazmin poking all the women in the boob and everyone poking each other back O_o.

Saturday, 3-17-07 — Mom and I’d made plans to go to the flea market Saturday morning. We actually left on time for once. The only kiddos we had with us were Jaylen and Alaethia; Eenan was going to town with Mary. We get there, find parking quickly and put both kiddos in their strollers. Mom finds a glass punch bowl with cups right away so we take them to the car. Jaylen finds a plush R2D2, I find lots of new-release DVDs and have to stop myself before I spend all my money, Mom finds plants and some parakeets she’s been wanting forever, I find Pokemon plushies for the boys and a cell phone case for Mario’s new phone. Pretty successful flea market day. We saw Lisa there and she said the family had been there, too, but were already leaving. We didn’t even get to see at least a fourth of the flea market — it’s huge! Next time we go, we’re starting from the side we didn’t get to see.

Mary called and said she, Noelia, Eenan, Jose, Elda and their boys were at Luby’s and if we’d like to meet them there. We said sure, and went. I had marinara chicken, or something like that, and mashed potatoes and macaroni. LOVE Luby’s macaroni. The kids ate well and when we were done, we switched kiddos. Eenan came with us to drop the cell phone case off to Mario and then we went to Big Lots, where I found some more awesome (and cheap!) scrapbooking supplies. I’m becoming obsessed, I think! I have so much stuff that I can’t wait to use.

We went to see Gramma next. She’s fine, except that she has yet another cough. I get so worried about those darn coughs. I’m always afraid she’s going to develop pnuemonia.

Our last stop was Target, where we ran into Mary, Noelia and Jaylen. He came with me and since they’d behaved we promised to get them a game. They had to decide which one they wanted to share, since they were only getting one. They decided on one of the Final Fantasy ones.

I also got Alaethia the Fisher Price Rainforest Swing. It entertains her for a while, enough time to do a few dishes, but she always ends up screaming her head off LOL.

I went to the scrapbooking isle, just to see what they had on clearance again (obsession I tell you) and found a corner shelf for $12.50. I plan on asking for the rest of the cubes for my birthday if anyone asks what I want :). I just hope the rest go on clearance. $24.99 regular price seems like too much for me.

We got home and it was one hour till we had to go to church for the Rosario. I got into the shower really quick since I felt gross from walking around at the flea market in the humidity and when I was done we left. Mom went with me and Alaethia, John, who was desperate to use the internet since I hadn’t been home all day, stayed with the boys.

Alaethia was a very good girl the entire time. She even slept through Matthew’s squeals LOL.

Sunday, 3-18-07 — Matthew turned 1 year old on Sunday. I didn’t go to the Rosario that morning since I was exhausted. At least Alaethia’d slept through the night again.

Mary and I went to Target really quick to get Matthew a gift. I’d totally forgotten to get him something when we were at Target the day before. I got him a t-shirt that says ‘Ladies Man’ on it, since he’s such a flirt, and some khaki cargo shorts.

We went to Matthew’s party, which was being held at Chelito’s house. It was nice sitting around with everyone and talking. Tia Tala was having a garage sale, which made me want to go through my stuff and have one even more. I need to do that soon. For some extra bucks and just to get rid of all the clutter.

The food was great, I got a break from Alaethia since everyone was holding her and passing her around. Matthew opened his gifts and then we had cake and came home.

Monday, 3-19-07 — It was back to school for the boys on Monday. It was hard putting them to sleep the night before and a little more difficult to wake them up that mroning. Mom and I went to Target yet again ’cause she wanted to buy who knows what, and I ended up finding another corner shelf like the one I’d bought on Saturday and the desktop shelves. Now I only (ha, only!) need two of the 4-shelf cubes, 1 3-drawer cube, and the 4-drawer cube to create my scrapbooking space!

Mario called and asked me to check out prices at a car dealership. He was tired of the Sentra and he’d told me the night before that he needed a new car, but it was just a casual sort of thing. After I picked Eenan up from school, I left the kiddos with Mom. John accompanied me to the dealership. Mario was a little pessimistic about it, as always, but I promised him I’d be dropping off a car to him in a few hours.

We got a really cool salesguy. He asked what I was looking for, I told him and he delivered. We went out to look at the cars. We had a choice of a red 2005 Cavalier, but it had dents on it. A silver 2006 Chevy Cobalt, but it had horrible cigarrette burns and reeked of smoke. No thanks. Another 2005 silver car that I can’t recall at the moment but it was really used looking. A 2006 Scion, but Mario doesn’t like those. A 2005 or 2006 PT Cruiser, but Mario doesn’t like those either. Then he showed me a metallic silver (like the Equinox) 2005 Dodge Neon. It looked great from the inside, the engine, and only had 34,000 miles. Not bad. Mario wanted to see it, and I mentioned this and the salesguy, Carlos, said, “Let’s take it to him so he can look at it.” He was awesome. We drove two cities so Mario could take a look at it and he loved it. We go back and finish up the paperwork. It took about 4 hours total but when we were done they’d dropped the price from $12,000 to $10,000, I’d left $159 down and got the price we wanted of $218 a month. Awesome. When John’s ready to get his car we’re going with the same guy :).

But this also means I must stop spending recklessly. Must start being frugal, like I was those many months ago :(. Still, I’m glad Mario got a new car. He needed one. It just sucks that we barely paid off the Sentra last year and now we have two new car payments LOL. That’s how it goes I guess.

I got home just in time for the Rosario. It was supposed to be held at church that night but something happened and they moved it over to Mary’s.

Tuesday, 3-20-07 — I went grocery shopping after dropping the kids off at school and stayed within my $120 budget (I spent $111). I took them to the book fair, where Jaylen got two coloring books and a book-making pack (it’s like scrapbooking basically) and Eenan got a The Cat book, a Pokemon book and the same scrapbooking pack. Then I notice that I missed the kids’ Open House the previous day. That sucks! It’s the only one I’ve ever missed of Eenan’s and it was the first one for Jaylen. I felt like a bad parent, but it’s not like I would have been able to go if I’d remembered since I was at the dealership anyway :(.

Since Big Mario needed a new vehicle, too, Mary went over to where Dalia works and got him a truck. It’s nice. A white Ford F-150. He was sort of in shock and kept saying, “I told you to get a car, not one for me!”

We had another Rosario that night with finger foods for a snack afterwards. Mario actually got out early enough to make it. The kids all played and it was nice and breezy outside. We’d had Monday’s and Tuesday’s Rosarios outside and the wind felt awesome. Mario left to Adan’s afterwards (and then ended up at Isaac’s) and so I didn’t get to take a shower that night. I LOATHE going to bed without showering!

Wednesday, 3-21-07 — Alaethia didn’t fall asleep till 1am the night/morning before. She let me sleep a full 5 hours, but I was exhausted in the morning and she had her two-month checkup. Since Mario was out being a darn bachelor and didn’t come home from his cousin’s house till God knows what time, I had to take a quick shower in the morning and ate breakfast really quick before we left.

Mom went with us. We wait a whole hour before they call us just for them to tell me that she’s not “old enough” to get her vaccines. They should have given her an appointment for exactly 2 months or a few days later, not a few days earlier. She was 3 days too early. Grr.

I checked my weight on their scale, since it’s the one that’s most accurate and the one I’ve been weighing myself since I was pregnant. I gained a pound! I haven’t been working out like I wanted to because of all the Rosarios and, of course, because of caring for Alaethia. I need to work out more. And stop eating so much junk food!

They gave me another appointment and we left to pick up Jaylen.

Jaylen had a note taped to his wrist. Picture Day’s Tomorrow! it said. Bastards. I hate when they do that; when they send last-minute notices. It would have been nice if they’d reminded me about the Open House!

The boys didn’t have any decent clothes so I had to rush to JC Penny to get them some. (But not before stopping at Michael’s really quick to buy some scrap paper that was on sale!)

It took FOREVER at JC Penny since there were tons of people from Mexico shopping. One had about 100 items of clothing and wanted a sale price on each one or else she didn’t want it. The other 3 (that cut in front of me no less!) were arguing about a coupon they had that didn’t work and were insisting that they try everything in their power to make it work. I had the same one and it didn’t work either, but I just left it at that. Grr. I was almost late to pick up Eenan!

The last Rosario was last night and it was held outside. We had Pan Dulce as a snack and talked with everyone. Since Alaethia’s nap was ruined in the morning due to her stupid appointment, she was super moody by nighttime. She cried during the entire Rosario, which is not like her at all. Everyone was surprised. It took me forever to put her to sleep, but it gave me some time to order some prints from Winkflash. I can’t wait to get them and start scrapbooking again! It’s been too long!

While looking through the pictures I realized how fast Alaethia’s growing! Sometimes I wish I could just clutch Time in my hands and bring it to a screeching halt — it just goes by way too fast! At 6 weeks Alaethia looked so much older. Cradling her in the crook of my arm for too long makes my arm sore. Her legs stretch out beyond my arms when I’m carrying her when just a week ago she was the length of one of my arms to the other. Now, at 8 weeks, she almost sleeps through the night (goes to sleep anywhere from 11pm to 12:30am and doesn’t wake up till 6:45-7:30am. She’s learning to focus on things and even reaches out her hand to try and grab things. She holds her legs stiff for a good while and has been holding her neck up since she was 4 days old. She smiles and softly coos when I do my Crazy Mom Baby Talk and she’s even laughed a few times when I Raspberry in her neck. She’s significantly heavier and her legs are so cute and chubby!

And the boys! Jaylen’s almost Eenan’s height. They’re already talking about what they want to be when they grow up (at the moment, Jaylen wants to be a soldier in the army and Eenan wants to be in the Navy — which, considering our current wordly position, scares the hell out of me). I was looking through their baby albums to see how much they resemble Alaethia (she’s a carbon copy of newborn Jaylen) and I almost cried remembering how tiny they were and wishing, like I’ve been with Alaethia, that they’d stayed that little, where I could hold them all day long, love them and protect them from all the horrible things in the world.

*sigh* This was long. I finally don’t have anything to do (well, that I know of. You never know if there’ll be a pesky surprise!) so I finally got to finish this post. It’s only taken me several days of spurts of typing to finish this up. My appologies to those who are subscribed to receive e-mails when I update: I accidently pressed ‘Publish’ last night when I was updating instead of pressing on ‘Save and Continue Editing’. You recieved a blank e-mail when I pressed Publish, so I’m sorry about that.

I need to make it a point to blog, especially since Alaethia’s litle. I’ll so regret it if I don’t keep updates on her. I want to remember everything. Good and bad.

Just finished adding pictures to my previous post. Took me long enough, right? There’s a new Pixydust first: I posted a pic of myself after bawling my eyes out. Not too attractive, so be nice, okay? 😛

I guess I can say I jinxed myself after that post. I wished that Alaethia would let me sleep that night and nope, she didn’t. She cried her little eyes out till 3:30am and I needed to be up at 6:30 to get the boys ready for school. It was awful. I bawled right along with her; I was that exhausted. I’m more than positive her insomnia was brought on by colic. At first I thought it was because she slept a lot during the day but I figured it was a tummy ache since she’d ball her little legs up to her torso whenever she’d pass gas. Poor thing.

Mario couldn’t sleep through her cries after a while, so around 1:30 or 2 he woke up and stayed up with us trying to console Alaethia. We both sort of just sat there, half-awake taking turns trying to make her relax. Finally, after 3 bottles, lots of burping and back and tummy massages, she fells asleep with the aid of a pacifier at 3:30. Hallelujah. I seriously thought I was going to be awake all night.

I was so tired I contemplated keeping the boys home from school, but I thought better of it and forced myself awake and got them ready. The last time they stayed home they fought all day long and I couldn’t get sleep anyway (not that I kept them home to get sleep; it was the time they tricked Mario into believing they were sick!).

It would have been great to come back home and sleep till I had to pick Jaylen up, but Mario and I’d decided the night before that I’d drop him off to make running our errands easier in the afternoon since he had to work and didn’t want to drive all the way back home. I made myself some coffee and he drove over there and I drove myself back home. I had the music blaring and the windows down so I could feel cold and awake.

I got to sleep for an hour and a half with Alaethia when I got back. Mom had watched her for me while I’d been gone. I woke up feeling much better but I was still much more tired than usual. I picked Jaylen up and when we got back Big Mario was here so I asked him to do me the favor of getting Eenan’s bunk mattress down for me. I was going to return the crappy thing since it was rock hard and I was more than positive they’d given me a box spring instead of an actual mattress. I’d called the store before and spoke to a woman who told me they’d exchange it with no problem. I told her it didn’t have the plastic blue packaging it came in and if that was fine and she said yes, to go ahead and take it in and to ask for Andres. Cool.

Mario calls me to drive to his work and deposit his paycheck. Mom, Jaylen, Alaethia and I all drive over there. He comes over to the car and he says he hasn’t been doing any work for the past hour and would love to go home already. He goes up to Albert and I see Albert give Mario a hug, which I’m assuming is because, yay! He’s letting him come home. They both come up to the car and open the door on Alaethia’s side. Albert says, “I’m just congratulating him on the baby again.” ‘Crap’, I think. I totally thought he was going to let him go. I see Mario go back into the store so we drive away.

He calls me when I reach the stop sign and says, “Where are you?”

I reply, “Here at the stop sign.”

“Well, can you come back for me?”

I couldn’t stop laughing. Turns out Albert did let him leave and he was clocking out when he’d gone back into the store LOL.

We go deposit at the bank and then to pick up my glasses at EyeEar. I’ve developed astigmatism in my left eye, which really sucks. My glasses are all funky now and it felt like my left eye was swimming around in my socket while the right one was nice and focused. I kept taking huge steps because it felt like I was about to land on my face whenever I moved. Mario, who’s suffered from astigmatism in both eyes since childhood, says it takes about a week to get used to them. Great. At least my Transitions lenses are sexy.

Next we went to a cell phone store Mario’d been talking about. My Valentine’s Day present to him was going to be a new Boost phone, since all the guys at work have one and they all decided to get one. I still don’t think it’s a great gift, but that’s what he wanted.

He’s satisfied with how much it cost and was like a kid with a new toy; he couldn’t stop talking about how awesome it was and was so excited to start getting all his co-workers’/friends’ numbers.

I hadn’t eaten breakfast, just drank coffee, so we decided to have lunch at Taqueria El Molcajete, which is a Mexican restaurant off the Frontage road in Mission that makes their food just like they make it in Mexico. It’s genuine Mexican food and it’s delicious. I have some Frijoles a la Charra, half a baked potato with the works that I shared with Mario and half an order (3 small tacos) of fajita tacos, with cilantro, onions, avocado and lime. To drink, I had an aqua de Jamaica. I’m drooling just thinking about it!

We rushed home to pick up Eenan and after we’d gotten the kids home we stuffed the mattress in the truck, left the kiddos with Mom and hurried to the Furniture Factory Warehouse to exchange the mattress.

We get there and look for the manager, which is who we’re directed to. I get a call from John, so I go outside to answer. The boys are wreaking havoc and Mother can’t control them. John puts them on the phone and I get a headache hearing them try and explain through tears and screams what one did to the other. Pillows. Throw pillows on the couch are what caused the problem. I tell them to stay away from eachother and designate each of them into separate rooms. Just as I’m hanging up, Mario’s storming out of the store with a business card in one hand and his cell phone in the other. I ask him what’s wrong and he says the guy’s being a ‘dick’.

Apparently he’s not allowing Mario to make the exchange, even though he explained to him that I spoke to one of the female employees the night before and she said to bring everything in. I’m so fired up from just dealing with screaming children that I yell, “OH HELL NO,” and march back in to the store.

I tell the guy how I spoke to the woman and we went all the way over there to make the exchange and it was going to happen. I let him know how shitty the so-called mattress is and how could they sell something so crappy and uncomfortable?! He says, “That’s why I showed them to you that day. It’s the same thing as the ones you saw in the showroom.” I tell him, “Oh, no they’re not. The ones out there are NOT as rock-hard as the one you sold me. All we want to do is exchange it. We’ll pay the difference on a new mattress. I was told it could be done and that’s what I expect.” His face is flushed and probably humiliated because all the people in the store are staring at us by now. He agrees to ‘help us out this one time’ and we pick a mattress and voila, problem solved. I hate arrogant asswipes like that. Mario was pretty pissed that he was giving him such a hard time.

When they’re putting the old, nasty mattress into the warehouse, the nice guy who was helping us out, Andres, says that the mattress has a hole. A what? We don’t know how it got there since Eenan didn’t even sleep on the damn, hard thing. He tells Mario it’s fine, but that if the boss had seen it he definitely wouldn’t exchange it. He gives us the OK to go and we go. Mario gets into the car and he’s like, “Drive! Get out of here before they change their minds!” LOL It’s safe to say I’ll never buy anything from there again. I only went there in the first place because Willie’s Appliance and Furniture never answered when I was calling around for prices.

We rush home, get the mattress down and stuff everyone in the truck. We finally, after God knows how long, made plans to go to a movie. Mario wanted to watch Ghost Rider and although I wasn’t too keen on watching it, agreed and so did the boys. We met Mary there and got all our junk food. I had Alaethia in my lap and I’m so glad to say she’s a great baby even at the movies. She didn’t fuss once and when she got hungry she didn’t even scream; she just made her little lip-smacking noises to cue that she’s hungry. (I haven’t mentioned how ADORABLE it sounds when she does that. First she smacks her little lips together and if I haven’t gotten the point by then she starts to eat her hands LOL.)

Jaylen was so cute. He loved the movie. He was on the edge of his seat during the suspenseful parts and when something exciting happened, he’d clap :P. He kept saying things like, “Oh, yeah!” and “That was awesome!” At the end of the movie he said, “Mom, can you buy me this movie?” and then, “That part (which sounds like ‘paht’) almost made me cwy,” during the happy ending (or, sort-of happy ending O_o).

Eenan was a little jumpy but enjoyed the movie anyway. When the movie was over the boys went to the bathroom first, then Mario held Alaethia while I went. When I came out of the restroom Eenan’s wearing Alaethia’s diaper bag around his neck and says, “Look, Mom, I’ve got an udder!” then he points to the bottle on each side of the bag and says, “And two teats!” Where he gets that stuff from, I have no idea. The whole hallway was laughing LOL.

I feared that last night would be a repetition of the night before, but thankfully Alaethia was only up till 1:30 (even though it felt like it was much later). I gave her some of her gas drops in her bottle that Dr. C. had prescribed for her and it worked like a charm! She slept from 1:30 to 5:30 and then from 6 to 9! Needless to say, I felt much more refreshed this morning than I did Friday morning.

She spent a lot of time awake this morning and this evening, so hopefully I’ll get some rest tonight (I won’t count my chickens, though!)

I finally did what I’d been wanting to do for at least a month: I went through my closet and got rid of at least 20 screen print tees that I don’t wear anymore, sorted through my PJs and sleep shirts and moved everything into the chest of drawers where Mario’s clothes are to eliminate the huge one that my clothes used to be in. I still have the last drawer to go through; that one has some of Mario’s button-up shirts and slacks. Once I have those hung up we can get rid of the huge drawers, move the one with our clothes in front of the bed and put the TV on it and then get Alaethia this cute chest of drawers I saw at K-Mart for her clothes. I also put all my maternity clothes away, which I’m highly considering selling through here, my website. I was going to put them away, but I don’t know when or if I’ll ever use them again, so I figured I could sell them to someone who’d need them soon.

John helped me load all the bags and the huge box that was taking up space into the truck, we got Alaethia’s stuff ready and Mom stayed with the boys while we went to the storage unit to drop all the stuff off. I had to feed Alaethia while we were there, so it took a little longer than we expected.

Next stop was Target, where I decided to cave and buy the car bottle warmer since Alaethia refuses to drink a bottle even if it’s room temperature. Can’t blame her, I’d want warm milk, too.

I had John scold me each time I wanted to buy something I didn’t need and he did a good job of it. I treated myself to some Starbucks, which I didn’t actually spend anything on since Mary’d given me a $5 gift card. Yay!

We went to the mall next, where John was gong to buy Alaethia the Dead Animals blanket he’d been wanting to get her. It’s much more adorable than it sounds, trust me! Too bad they completely sold out within two days and they have no idea when they’ll receive more. Grr.

We looked around a bit more and left to Circle K to pick up some snacks to drop off for Mario, just because. It was nice seeing him for those few minutes, even though he poked at my belly roll and kept smushing my arm fat, which for some reason he loves to do. *hiss*

We were starving so we stopped at Taco Bell to get some food. John treated me and when we got to Wal-Mart I bought him toilet paper LOL. Fair trade.

It took much longer there than we’d anticipated since we had to eat first, then Alaethia needed to be fed and changed. Then she decided to poop mid-diaper change and then peed all over herself when I was about to swap out the dirty diaper for the new one. Thank God I always carry a change of clothes for her. I wrapped her up in her blanket and we went into the store.

Took forever to get everything we needed since I was shopping for myself, John was shopping for himself and we had to buy stuff for Mom, too. At around 7pm, we were done, finally. Mario called as we were getting in line at the register that he was on his way home. We’re finally on the road at 7:45 and when we’re leaving Mission and getting into Palmview, we notice that traffic’s suddenly come to a halt and there’s a person running across the expressway. I had about 2 seconds to come to a complete stop from 65 MPH; thank God the truck in front of me swerved towards the shoulder or else I would have slammed right into him. I kept praying that the people behind us would stop on time, too. I was so worried about Alaethia, who would feel the impact first if, God forbid, we got hit. We were fine and so was everyone else, even though there were two crashed cars on one side of us and two more in the ditch in the median. Traffic started up again about a minute later.

I think I panicked and tensed up, because as soon as I started driving again my back got this throbbing, shooting pain. I was shaking so hard I couldn’t even hold the wheel correctly. John was getting a bit worried and kept telling me to park on the side of the road to calm down, but I got a grip on myself after a while and kept driving. I was so terrified though, that I couldn’t get my feet to press the gas to go any faster than 60 MPH, which is not normal for me LOL. My back still sort of hurts, especially around the spot where I got the epidural, but I’m just so glad we’re alive. That’s one of the main reasons I try my hardest not to drive at night.

Ok. It’s bed time. Wish me luck. Mario’s out somewhere because he threw a fit for some reason or another but I’m going to bed whether I’ve seen him or not. Hopefully he’ll get home around the time Alaethia wakes up for a bottle and I’ll make him prepare it for her, buahaha.

Life as a family of five (OMG) has been pretty darn sweet. I’m not even sure where to begin, since I’ve gone so many days without updating and I can only remember so much, but I’ll try and recall things as best as I can.

Let’s see…going back to Thursday, the 25th, we were released from the hospital around 2:30, which was great because Jaylen would already be home and Eenan would be arriving from school around the time we would. They kept threatening to keep Alaethia at the hospital, which was the exact same thing that happened with Jaylen, because she refused to take more than an ounce of formula during her feedings. All she wanted to do was breastfeed, which we were thrilled with, but the nurses weren’t for some weird reason (I really didn’t like that hospital–well, the postpartum part of it anyway). We ended up getting our way though, thank God.

Mario drove under the speed limit all the way home, and even flipped a guy off who was tailgating us and then cut us off when Mario refused to go 80 MPH. He was trying to be as careful as possible with our precious cargo.

We had a quick stop to make at Dollar General, since it hadn’t occured to me that I’d need a pack of extra large pads (ah, yes, the FUN part *sarcasm*). Mario offered to get them for me, willingly, all by himself. NEVER, in our almost 10 years together, has he offered to go buy me pads. They didn’t have the brand I use, but he found another brand and guess what? They were even better than the ones I used to use, I kid you not. Extra points for Mario.

We got home and Jaylen ran to the car, with ‘Welcome home, Alaethia!’ written on his Magna Doodle (with help from Mom, of course). He was so anxious to see what she looked like; he was almost in disbelief that this new little person was “his” and was real. I can’t even count how many times he said, “Aww, Mama, Alaethia Wohse (Rose) is so cute!”

Mario and I were exhausted, so we headed straight to our bedroom while Mom and Mary organized our bags and put them out of the way. Eenan got home and jumped on the bed to see his new sister. I’d been breastfeeding her and if I remember correctly I think he said something like, “So that’s what they’re for!” LOL

Brandon and Noelia came over to see Alaethia, and after everyone was gone, Mario took a nap and Alaethia and I tried taking one, too, but it didn’t last too long. I’d been getting horrible cramps since the night I had her and they weren’t getting any better. The more I breastfed, the more it hurt. I don’t remember ever having that kind of pain with the boys. I don’t remember them hurting even more than actual labor pains, either. I kept getting up to warm up my Rice Sock to get a little relief from all the pain I was feeling.

Yadira and the girls and Matthew came over later that evening to meet Alaethia. It was nice sitting and talking to everyone and relaying our experience. We got the boys ready for bed and everything went without a hitch, thank goodness.

That night, Mario took the first shift with Alaethia and let me rest. I’m telling you, this man is an angel. He said he was more than happy to take care of her since he got to sleep in the afternoon and I didn’t. When it was my turn to feed her that night she did so well and let me sleep about 6 1/2 hours (woke up twice during the night). Mario got up and got the boys ready and took them to school. I was already up making Alaethia a bottle at that time, so I helped him out a little but he did so good on his own. Model father, he is :).

Mario was home from work that Friday, the last day :(. He helped me as much as he could; picked Jaylen up from school and Eenan and Brandon, too. Mary made dinner for us that night, which was such a huge weight off my shoulders. She’d also done laundry for us while we were gone. She wanted to help out more with Alaethia, but couldn’t since she had pneumonia (and Noelia had bronchitis, Mom had a cold and so did Elda and my boys!)

We watched TV that night after we’d gotten into bed. At around 11pm, I started getting sleepy and Mario told me to go ahead and sleep, he’d watch Alaethia if she woke up. I could hear her crying around 1am so I got up to get her. Mario quietly told me not to worry about, he’d take care of her. I felt so bad since I knew he was going back to work the next day and needed his rest but he told me he was fine. He fed her and I drifted off into sleep again. A few moments later I could hear her crying so I opened my eyes and saw the most wonderful thing ever: Mario was changing her diaper–something he said he’d never do! I thought it was so sweet and wished I had my camera with me to capture the moment. I fell in love with him all over again :).

I stayed quiet and watched him fumble with the diaper and wipees and I hear him whisper something to her like, “I don’t know what I’m doing, Baby…” and he caught me looking at him. I asked, “Do you want help?” and he said, “Yes! I don’t know how to clean her!” I finished changing her and then went to sleep. She did pretty good that night, too.

I woke up Saturday morning to engorged breasts. I thought my milk was never going to come in and boy did it, with a vengance even. I was in absolute pain by night time. Mario’d told me to buy a breast pump and I didn’t listen. I was counting on WIC giving me one because Alaethia’s eligible for it but the woman who supposedly called and said she’d even make house calls never answered or returned my calls when I tried getting ahold of her. I was so desperate I called Mary and asked if she’d take me to Target that night to get one and a few other things I needed.

I got ready and to my horror realized I still needed to lose a few inches before I could fit into my jeans. I put on a pair of before/after maternity cargo pants I had and looked pretty decent. Mary even commented as we entered Target, “You look so skinny already!”

I got the pump, a First Years one, and some bassinet covers and I can’t remember what else. As soon as we got home I washed the pump and pumped away. I immediately felt better, but the darn pump didn’t work too well. After using it a few more times it definitely wasn’t working right. $25 down the drain. And since I’d begain pumping, the cramps I’d been having got worse once again.

Aunt Nora came over to visit on Sunday morning. My hair was a frazzled mess and I was still in my PJs and pumping my boob when she arrived, but she didn’t mind. We (Mom, Aunt Nora and I) stood around the bassinet where Alaethia was sleeping and oohed and ahhed at her cuteness and talked about our experiences with each of our labors. Aunt Nora even brought us Christmas presents. Mine was a gorgeous red/pink set of gloves, hat and scarf and an even more gorgeous silver jewelry set. Aunt Nora was here a good hour and a half or so and after she left, Grandma Ofelia stopped by.

She kept saying how pretty and alert Alaethia was. She said she looked really good for being 4 days old; not wrinkly and asleep like most newborns LOL. She gave me some advice about taking care of myself and we talked more about the baby and then she left to the church where she’d be meeting some friends for bingo :).

Sally was going to stop by and visit next, so after putting Alaethia in her bassinet once she started to get sleepy I took the opportunity to put some clothes on, brush my teeth, wash my face and for the love of God, brushed my hair.

Sally arrived and she told me how cute Alaethia was. We talked about Thursday, the day after she and Pete had visited us, and then had fun looking people up on Myspace and freaking out over how much some people have changed. We had great conversation, as always, and after an hour or so Annie, Cat and their kiddos came over. Annie kept saying how much she looks like Jaylen, and even resembled John, which is what a lot of people say about Jaylen, too.

Everyone asked about her sleeping patterns and if she was a good baby and I had nothing but good things to say. I must have jinxed myself because that night we had lots of broken sleep and I was up with her from 1am to 5:30am. I’m not sure if it was that night or not, but one night she had terrible constipation and the next she had HORRIBLE diarreah, probably due to the high-fiber diet I have to be on according to my doctor. It didn’t get any better, so I stopped breastfeeding :(. I gave it a two-day break, just pumped and threw the milk out, and she got better. When I resumed breastfeeding she got diarreah all over again so I stopped again. I haven’t breastfed her and she’s fine. I feel kind of disappointed and just really bummed that my milk could do that to her :(. I was so thrilled that I finally had a baby that latched on right and everything and this goes and happens.

I was freaking out the next day over how I was going to make it to my appointments but thankfully John got out of work early and picked Jaylen up for me, picked Eenan and Brandon up and took me to both appointments. At the doctor’s office I ran into a girl, Fabiola, that I’d met there and become friends with during my pregnancy. Her little girl is 3 months old now and is adorable (she was 9 months pregnant with her when we’d met). We talked about our babies for a good while until they called me in.

I weighed 122.5 lbs., which is 2 lbs. more than my scale at home (but the one at the doctor’s is correct since that’s the one I went by the whole pregnancy.) My iron was great; it was at 15 and I think 11’s usually the average. Alaethia still weighed the same as she did at birth, 6 lbs. 10 oz., but Dr. C. said that’s fine since they usually lose weight after birth (so not the case with her brothers, the eldest of which DOUBLED in weight at 2 weeks!). He said she looks great and I pointed out the little white “dots” she had on the roof of her mouth and he said those were calcium deposits, which are normal in some babies. I also pointed out the funny way her bootie “starts”, but he said we’d wait it out for a few months before getting X-rays or anything done. He says he thinks she’s just fine though. Thank goodness :).

The next couple of days are sort of a blur now, but I remember the boys got dropped off by Mario each morning, Jaylen was picked up by either Vito or John and Brandon and Eenan were picked up by John, too. I also got into the swing of my evening routine, which is helping Eenan with his homework, cleaning up a bit, tending to Alaethia, bathing the boys around 6pm and starting dinner around 6:30. I feed the boys, hopefully feed myself if Alaethia permits, get the boys ready for bed, serve Mario food when he gets home from work, bathe while Mario watches Alaethia and then get ready for bed myself. It’s been pretty easy; not as stressful as I thought it would be.

John got out of work early again on Thursday and our income tax refund check had come in so he took me to pick up and cash that and to get Alaethia some formula. Later after we picked the kids up from school and dropped them off with Mom, we dropped money off to Mario, who wanted to get some headrest TVs for the Equinox. John was supposedly going to get an Xbox 360 but changed his mind at the last minute as always, so we went to buy groceries instead.

Mario stayed at work a little late that night installing the TVs with his co-worker, Mario Z’s, help. He got home and asked me to go out to see the TVs and they looked fabulous! He even installed wireless headphones so the kids can watch TV while we listen to the radio or the iPod!

Friday was the first day I woke up at 6:30 to get the kids ready for school. Mario needed to be up to drive them at 7:45 and then had to drop Noelia off at work since she’s car-less at the moment and I knew he wouldn’t get much time to catch up on sleep since he had to pick Jaylen up at noon. So, I got up. I don’t remember how much sleep Alaethia let me get that night, but I did get sleep and I didn’t feel tired so I got up while I could and got them ready and then woke Mario up to drop them off. I came back to bed with Alaethia, who needed to be fed and then we slept.

After Mario picked Jaylen up from school, we went to pick up his paycheck and he drove around all over the place looking for a good, inexpensive magazine for his new gun (still so creeped out about having a gun in the house, but he’s got locks and stuff all over it and has it in a safe place. But still…guns…ew). We stopped by Mary’s office to show off Alaethia and spent a good amount of time there. Everyone was gushing about how cute she is and I got complimented on how nice I looked for having her a little over a week ago. That makes me feel so good about myself :).

We picked Eenan up from school that day and John went with us so he could buy some stuff from Target (which he didn’t end up doing, again!). We wanted to take Mom with us, but we had no room in the truck now that we have Alaethia’s huge carseat. We bought some movies at Target (The Guardian, Open Season, Talladega Nights) and then met Mary at Applebee’s for dinner. I was so disappointed to find out that the Friday’s in McAllen was CLOSED. I loved that place :(.

I ordered the Shrimp and Steak something-or-other from the 3-course Menu and Mario had the Chicken Fiesta one. He HATED it. Threw a fit about it and everything and I felt really bad, especially since we spent a huge amount of money. I enjoyed my plate at least–it was delicous. I even had the brownie dessert, yum. Alaethia was a total doll and behaved wonderfully. The boys were so well-behaved, too. Well, until they both suddenly needed to go poop and made Mary take them each to the bathroom for about 10 minutes, but other than that, they were great.

When we were walking out, an elderly lady reaches out and gently grabs my arm and says, “You’re a great mother.” I felt so good that someone, a stranger, noticed that I’m a decent parent and was on cloud 9 the rest of the night, even if Mario was in a crappy mood. He appologized before bed that night though, so all was forgiven.

Eenan needed to be at the school by 6:45am Saturday morning for their last UIL meet. He was one of 3 chosen to go. I’m not sure if it was 3 for Storytelling or 3 out of the whole school, but he was thrilled to be going. We found out later last night that he placed 2nd DISTRICT-WIDE!! I’m so proud of my little dude. He’s going to get the trophy he’d been desiring all year!

Elda and Jose got married for the 3rd time yesterday, only this time it was through the church. After Eenan got home from the UIL meet, I made him change his clothes and the rest of us got ready. Since Alaethia’s little umbilical cord stump fell off but it’s still not fully healed I can’t bathe her yet, but I did give her a washcloth bath. I was in such a hurry, but I managed to get all three kiddos ready, plus myself. I managed to fit into my pre-pregnancy nice black slacks and nice shirt. Shoot, I think I look better in them now that I did when I was working (when I bought them). I even wore the beautiful, expensive BCBG Max Azria sweater Mario bought me off of Eddie :). According to my scale, I now weigh 116, which is really 118. Yay!

Although the ceremony was sort of all over the place (they didn’t even let them rehearse or anything) and we all forgot our cameras it was nice. We got home and had Pozole that Elda had made and later had wedding cake that Annie had bought for them. We spent a good long time together just talking and laughing. Love days like that.

We woke up sort of early today and Mario picked up Burger King for us for breakfast. Mom watched Jaylen and Eenan went to CFF and church with Mary while Alaethia, Mario and I went to town to pay bills and buy things. We paid off most of our Home Depot credit card, since our interest goes up in March and it’s super high. We also went to Best Buy to get a $499 Toshiba laptop but of course, the whole 5 they had in stock had been sold in like 5 minutes, to the people who come from Mexico. Thankfully, Circuit City had the exact same one on sale, but with a mail-in rebate so we went and got it. Mario got down by himself at the store, since I was feeding Alaethia, and once he took half an hour I knew we’d gotten one. I’m updating from my bed at this very moment. The only reason I’m updating at all LOL.

We got the wireless router from Target, some curtains, a nice curtain rod and some toys for Alaethia. Not that she can actually play with them or anything; when I showed her one of the little toys that hangs from her carseat handle her eyes immediately crossed :P.

We went to Kmart next, where Mario wanted to show me some nice bunk beds he’d seen. We wanted new beds for the boys, but the ones we liked were huge and probably wouldn’t have fit in their bedroom. I loved the bunk beds so we got them. Now we only have to buy Jaylen a twin mattress.

We got home and started messing around with the laptop then went to Yadira’s where Elda and Jose were having a little get together in memory of Anthony’s 20th birthday. I still can’t believe he’s been gone for so long :(. I can’t believe he’d be 20 already.

We spent a few hours there and then went to Jorge and Maggie’s, where they were having a Superbowl bar-b-q. Maggie presented us with a huge colorful basket full of gifts for Alaethia. She bought the whole Fisher Price line with pink butterflies on it! I told her she didn’t have to–she seriously went all out but she insisted that she wanted to get her something nice. She really wants a little girl. I hope Jorge gives in ;).

We talked and I had a great time. Manny, their neighbor and Jorge’s good friend, kept saying that it didn’t even look like I had a baby. I’m hoping I can stay looking that way. The last time I got compliments like that, with Jaylen, I let it get to my head and I stopped watching what I ate. If I can help it, which I can, I’m not going to let that happen this time.

Okay, so now that it’s 12:25 and Alaethia’s been asleep for about half an hour I should get going before I’m up till 2am like yesterday. I’ve got so much to do tomorrow now that I’m going to start driving around again (well, I didn’t get the O-K till Wednesday, but what’s 2 days going to do? Now watch my uterus fall out *knocks on wood*). I’ve got bills to pay, appointments to make, things to return and a Gramma to show a new granddaughter to. I still can’t believe it. I gave my Gramma a granddaughter!