Category: Pets

I’d been doing a little better at updating and there I went and let tons of days pass by again. Grr.

So Mario ended up working on Friday, since he had Christmas Day off and was going to have Monday off, too. It was a pretty darn boring day; I spent most of it freaking out over how fast January’s going to go by.

Saturday – Woke up with a sore throat because I brilliantly had the fan on when it was in the 40’s during the night. (My hot flashes could care less how cold it really is outside.) We spent the day chilling out and I felt great until around 2pm. Out of nowhere I started getting horrible pains in my lower abdomen that were coming every 3-5 minutes apart. John was freaking out; he could tell just how uncomfortable I was. He told me to call Mario but I told him no, I didn’t want to bother him when it was probably just Braxton Hicks contractions and I need to drink more water since I was probably dehydrated. John said the baby was probably thinking, “This place is getting really small…the water’s getting really low…I’m starting to see a light…” and that maybe I REALLY SHOULD call Mario.

Mary invited us to the movies. I almost didn’t want to go, but I took a shower hoping I’d feel better. I still felt uncomfortable, but went to movies anyway.

We watched Night at the Museum. It was really cute; totally going to buy it on DVD when it comes out. Eenan said it was “Hilarious!” and both boys laughed the whole time. Halfway through the movie, my belly didn’t hurt anymore, even after eating pickle, dipping popcorn into nacho cheese and drinking a small Coke.

Almost immediately after I got up from my seat when the movie was over, I got a horrible, stabbing pain in my back. It felt like a pinched nerve and felt terrible with every step I took. I could barely walk to the car.

Mary decided to pick up pizzas for dinner from Pizza hut. Since Jose and Elda were picking up pizzas from the same place and were already done when we got there, Mary suggested I come home with them, Jorge, Sammy, Brandon and Angela to rest for a little bit. Jaylen and Eenan stayed with Mary, Noelia and Yazmin. (Mary later told me Jaylen said, “Take care of yourself and Alaethia, Mom!” Aww!)

After laying on the couch for a while (and feeling insanely bored and alone), I went to Mary’s to eat some pizza. I didn’t have much of an appetite. Mario got here a little later and we all sat around and talked since everyone was here for dinner.

Eenan had four loose teeth. The bottom adult teeth already came in behind his baby ones and the top ones started doing the same thing. Their dentist told me the bottom ones were fine; they’d eventually be pushed out, but if the top ones did that they’d have to remove them. Of course I was praying his teeth would fall out soon.

I got my wish that night. The kids were all playing in the living room and Eenan somehow got a tooth knocked out by accident. After cleaning him up and lecturing him about how they all shouldn’t be so rough, he went back to play and got the other one loosened, too! I got his little “Tooth Fairy Pillow”, which you can hang from a doorknob or bed post and has a pocket just for the tooth out of my closet. Noelia bought him that little pillow when he was around 1 or 2 :). He was sleeping over at Mary’s so he was a little nervous that the Tooth Fairy wouldn’t find him, but we reassured him that all teeth have little invisible tracking devices and the Tooth Fairy would certainly find him ;). I also told him that I was going to leave a note for the Tooth Fairy asking to leave me a “copy” of his tooth, since I wanted to keep a memory of it :).

He was really happy that the Tooth Fairy gave him $5. I think it would have been $10, except the Tooth Fairy didn’t have any change, heh.

Mario and I stayed up watching The Devil Wears Prada. It was 1am by the time we went to sleep.

Sunday – The boys stayed with mom the next afternoon while Noelia, Mary and I went to get ribbon, candles and stuff for my babyshower and some stuff for Noelia’s wedding. We came home, worked on invitations, then went back to Wal-Mart a few hours later for ribbon and shrimp cocktail stuff, since that’s what we were having for dinner. We made a stop at H-E-B for Clamato, one of the ingredients, since Wal-Mart was completely out. We picked up Bonnie and got home around 6. Mario was already here when we arrived since he was let out 15 minutes early. His tummy was upset so he chilled out at our house for a while.

Jose, Elda and Mary made shrimp cocktail and I made cheese dip (ground beef, Rotel, Velveeta all melted and delicious together). Everything was yummy. We went out at 9pm to pop fireworks. Mario and Jose popped the big, dangerous ones and Brandon, Sammy, Eenan and Jaylen watched and enjoyed sparklers and poppers. Mary came out for a few moments since she was watching Bonnie but Elda, Mom and I stayed out the whole time and took pictures. I won’t even bother posting them to Flickr since they suck ’cause it was dark.

It was freezing outside. My nose started running and I got worse by the hour. Everyone cleaned up (except me. I can’t bend anymore!) and we came back inside to chill for a while. We went back out at 11:55 to see all the huge fireworks the neighbors like to get and hug eachother and call people (which didn’t work out for most of us since the phone lines were backed up). We had to quickly go back inside since crazy people started shooting their guns. We do live in the boonies, afterall.

Monday – I had a horrible night’s sleep. Peed like, 5 times, and the other times I woke up I was coughing because of my itchy throat. Since Mario wasn’t working, we thought, “Yes, at least we can sleep in!” but that didn’t happen. We woke up at 9am to Big Mario blasting rancheras and Tejano music from his radio in his carport/workshop, which just so happens to be a few feet away from our bedroom. We laid there, wide-eyed and annoyed. Mario kept talking about how he couldn’t wait to start building a house–he was in a terrible mood. He told the boys and me to have breakfast and get ready so we could leave somewhere, anywhere. He got impatient and left on a drive somewhere. We were ready by 11:30, which is when he got back and says, “You know, I don’t feel like going anywhere anymore.” Grr. I hate when he does that.

We chilled out at Mary’s with everyone. Mario pissed me off during lunchtime because he didn’t give me shrimp cocktail. He had a HUGE bowl that I new he wasn’t going to finish (and didn’t) and drowned it in hotsauce after I told him I couldn’t eat it that way. He insisted I could and said he’d get me a bowl, but I told him no thanks. Later on I found out there was more and he knew about it, but he still didn’t give me any. I decided to suck it up and just ate deer soup my dad-in-law had made. It was pretty good anyway. *hiss*

We’d made plans to go to the movies at 4:55, but since nobody else never confirmed plans and my mom-in-law got busy we decided to go for the 7:15 showing instead.

Since nobody was sure they were going to even go, we decided to go to a taqueria called “El Primito” we like to go to. Eenan didn’t want to go, which kind of upset me but, fine, we let him stay. Jaylen went with us. We get there, and they’re closed. Talk about nothing going our way. We quickly start getting annoyed.

We can’t decide where to eat; Mario doesn’t like my suggestions but won’t make any suggestions himself. Everyone decided to go to the movies after all, so as a last resort we decided we’d go, too. Finally, something would go right. We went to check out the movies but Mario had a fit since they didn’t have a poster for The Marine and he didn’t want to watch anything else. He starts driving back home.

On the way, he makes me even more upset about something stupid like not thinking of a restaurant to go to, so I bawl my eyes out since I’m so darn emotional after all the little things that go to me throughout the day. We get home and I sit here, trying to stop feeling like crap. After 20 minutes he asks Jaylen if he wants something from Star’s. Jaylen says yes, corndogs. He asks me if I want anything. I hate Star’s right now since everything they make gives me heartburn, but I decide on a burrito supreme and some munchers. He gets back and we’re quiet, but peaceful. We eventually started making small talk and then he started playing around with me, which is his usually way of appologizing.

I got a text message from Sally and called her right back. My phone’s a PDA and does almost everything but the damn thing doesn’t allow me to text message, piece of crap. We decide to get together the next day for lunch. It would totally do me some good to chat with a friend and I’m super excited to get out of the house since Mario usually has the truck now that the kids are at home and John borrows the Sentra for work.

I was too emotionally and physically tired to clean that night, or even take a shower, so I leave it for the next morning.

Tuesday – I get Mario up and ready for work then haul ass cleaning like never before. Where I got all that energy from is beyond me. I washed the pile of dishes that had shamefully accumulated since Friday since we’re always at Mary’s since family’s over almost every night. It took half an hour to wash a sink-ful of dishes, and that’s a record. I’m a total snail when it comes to washing dishes.

I thought Sally would get here at 10am, but she was running late and would get here at 12 instead. I was sort of relieved that she’d get here a little later–it would give me time to finish up and shower!

Eenan vacummed and Jaylen took toys they’d left in the living room to their bedroom. I cleaned the turtle tank while Mom swept for me. I got the tank clean and turtles fed and mom refilled the tank with water while I quickly took a shower. Didn’t have a chance to blowdry or flat-iron my hair, but at least I was clean :). Thank God for the extra help!

Sally gets here and she talks and catches up a bit with my mom and the boys. Mom watches them while we go to Chilli’s. We spoke about every single subject we could think of.

That’s what I’ve always loved about that girl: we can be apart for years but when we meet up again it’s like we’d been talking the whole time. We had some great food (which she refused to let me help pay for!) and even better talk. Our old friend Magda married another childhood friend of ours, Steve, which I find totally adorable and just…wow! I love to hear about stuff like that. Like when I heard about Johanna and Ralph? Totally unexpected! They knew eachother since they were little and ended up married. That’s just so awesome!

Sally vented to me about her current situation and then she listened to me vent about ours; my thoughts of the future and so on. Something that’s been on my mind a lot lately. We talked about Vero, too. I wish I could see her and catch up. And with everyone else, too!

I’m hoping, hoping, hoping we can meet up again next week. It was great catching up. I’m definitely going to need my friends after I have Alaethia, especially if it’s going to be like the last two times when I had mild Post Partum Depression. Only it was really crappy after having Jaylen since I really didn’t talk to any of my friends anymore. That’s one of my New Years Resolutions for this year: make more time for my friends!

Later in the evening, Mom, Jaylen and I stopped by Stripes (formerly Circle K) and got Mario an orange juice (his throat’s botherin him now, too) and some donuts and a Yoohoo, Kool-aide drink and donuts for Jaylen and I. We dropped them off to Mario and then went to Target, where Mom wanted to get Alaethia some things off of my Registry.

Not only was traffic total hell, but just about every-single-thing I put on my Registry is on clearance! It totally sucks. I’m probably not even going to get her the Womb Sounds Bear since they totally ran out at that Target. It’s listed at $4.98!! It used to be $19.99. I’d LOVE IT if I could find it for that price at another Target. Too bad Mario has the truck :(.

It took about an hour or so to find everything she wanted to get, plus marking everything on the list so the cashier could “remove” them from the Registry. Since they added that stupid median on McColl and there’s no way to easily get to the other shopping center, I had to go all around the damn block to get to Pet Smart. I had a horrible, throbbing pain in my back when we got in the truck, probably for standing and walking so long. I could barely move!

Jaylen remembered we promised him a Beta but I told him we’d wait till Friday, so we could get everything his fish would need since we were in a hurry. Mom offered to buy him the fish, so he got a blue Beta. They were sold out of Beta tanks completely since Christmas but the girl said we could keep him in the little cup we bought him in for a while since it’s all the space he needs. The girl cleaned out his little “tank” and told us which food and water conditioner to get him and we were set. We got baby crickets, since they were sold out of large ones if you can believe that, and finally came home.

Jaylen was infatuated with his fish and was showing him off to everyone. He was so happy and proud he quickly came to find the perfect spot for him. He decided Blastoise would be his name and he would reside on his desk. Aww :).

We ate lasagna at Mary’s and Mario got home a while after. We chilled out with everyone and then came home to bathe the boys. Eenan wanted to sleep over at Mary’s and was excited that the Tooth Fairy would be visiting him again. Earlier during the day before Sally came over, he somehow turned the loose tooth backwards. I told him to let me gently pull it, but he said he’d rather the doctor do it. After telling him the doctor would charge us $200 just to pull the tooth away from the tiny bit of gum that was stuck to it, he let me do it. It came off right away and he started making plans to buy a game, or a toy LOL.

Mario and I stayed up watching The Family Stone, which could easily be one of the most depressing movies I’ve ever seen. Both of us got teary-eyed near the end and just sat there with my head on his shoulder and his head on mine. We went to sleep when the movie was done and I told him how lucky I was to have him and he said the same about me. I told him my concerns about the future; what I want and how maybe I shouldn’t be in such a hurry for Alaethia to grow up so I can work since I’ll definitely regret it once she does start growing up, just like I mourn the kids’ babyhood.

This will be a good year, I just know it. It will be if we make it one.

(Alaethia’s got hiccups again :).)

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.

I can’t even find a place to begin–I’ve taken way too long to update.

I was too busy from the 12th to the 14th uploading old entries from 2004 & 2005 whenever I had the chance to get online, so I never updated my blog. Manually, one by one, I added the old entries. Which sucks. But anyway, I got a few months done (September 2004 to January 2005) and plan to get the rest of 2005 to 2006 done in the next few weeks. I’m even considering adding 2002-2004, but we’ll see. Sounds like a bit of a stretch LOL.

Wed. night, 11th – Mario was at Jorge’s and I was in a horrible mood. I felt better when I heard a knock on the door and my dad-in-law presented me with a squirmy, terrified Blue Spiny Lizard. He was at Ricky’s ranch and he found him in the sink outside. The boys named him Dragon :). He’s a beautiful shade of blue-ish/brown.

Anyway, the while stripe on Dragon’s collar and the white spots on his upper neck aren’t always there. He’s usually dark, but his spots/stripe turn white when he’s alarmed or frightened. Liz has definitely enjoyed his company. I thought she’d be territorial and kill him or something, but she’s actually very friendly with him and is even learning new things from him!

He loves to dig himself up in the sand and sleep that way. The first time I caught him doing that, my heart sank because I thought Liz killed him (and had the courtesy to bury him) or he died on me.

And here’s Liz learning the craft of obscuring oneself:

Pay no attention to the cricket carcasses and droppings…they had a feast that day.

So far Liz has learned to bury herself and jump on the ceiling of the tank. Dragon does that; jumps on the ceiling and sleeps there. Well, one day I found her hanging on the side of the tank. She didn’t quite make it on all fours up there, but her two front legs were clawed to the top. I took a picture, but it’s blurry so I won’t add it here. I think it’s really cute that Liz usually sleeps on top of Dragon :).

Thurs. Oct. 12th – I didn’t have to watch Matthew the next day, since Tommy’s taking care of him now. After I picked Jaylen & Brianna up from school I came to drop Brianna off with Mom and took Jaylen to his WIC appointment. We actually get WIC for him. I’m surprised, as it’s the only thing he qualifies for.

We get there, take a number and after 10 minutes of Jaylen playing with the (germ-infested) toys, they called us in. I found it strange from the beginning that they were asking to take my weight and height. I kept asking, “Isn’t this for my son, Jaylen?” and she kept assuring me that no, it wasn’t. She pricked my finger to check “my” iron and upon scanning my chart says, “You lost a lot of weight, right?” Stunned I tell her, “No? How much does it say I weigh?” She says, “186 pounds.” I laugh and say, “No. Are you sure that’s my chart? I’ve never weighed 186 lbs. in my life!” Again, she assures me that it is, and sends me to the next room.

The lady tells me, “Hi, Jaylen.” I nudge him and tell him to say hello. She gets a weird look on her face and asks me what I had to eat the day before. I had a bad feeling, so I tell her, “Are you sure this appointment’s for me? I thought this was for Jaylen?” She says, “It is. Aren’t you Jaylen?” I say, “No. I’m Yajaira, Jaylen’s MOM.” She gets really embarrassed and appologizes profusely and says she’ll get his chart. Apparently, they had mixed my number up (2) with another lady’s (21) and the only reason the second lady believed me was because she had Jaylen’s info on her desk for the appointment.

I look at my poor, throbbing finger and the lady notices and says, “Miss, I am SO sorry they poked you.” LOL The rest of the appointment went without a hitch, especially since Jaylen saved himself from a finger prick!

Kinda scary that something like that could happen. I kept thinking about how horrible it would have been had we been at the hospital or something. John and I were joking around saying I’d go in for something like a bad cold and come out with my leg amputated. Terrible joke, I know, but it’s a very possible scenario!

I think it was that afternoon that we got home and found Gerby-gerb (our Gerbil) dead :(. He was a little old man already, in gerbil years anyway, and had passed away. He’d already been with us for about 2 years, and they don’t have a very long lifespan so we figured it was old age. Jaylen cried of course and we all felt really bad (including my dad-in-law) since we had him for so long and he was the last rodent we had left :(.

Since it was during lunchtime and my dad-in-law was home, he helped us give him a little burial and even made him a little cross. I played basketball with Jaylen for a while to take his mind off Gerby and then we came in to do his homework.

Grimm, John’s cat, went missing two-or-so days before and we couldn’t find him anywhere. We all thought the worst and after not seeing him for two weeks now I can’t shake the feeling that something happened to him :(.

Fri. Oct. 13th – I dropped the kids off at school that morning, came back home, snuggled up with Mario and took a nap till around 11am. We needed to go to Weslaco to the radio station to pick up the Scream Factor X tickets I’d won, so Mario, John and I climbed in the truck and we picked up Jaylen and Brianna.

The drive was fine halfway over there and then it started pouring. We couldn’t see anything in front of us and everyone slowed down from 65 mph to around 40–it was that scary. We finally found the exit and found the station just as quickly. Thankfully we had an umbrella in the car so Mario and I got down. Got the tickets and ran (as carefully as possible) to the car.

The drive back home was just as terrifying. We counted 5 accidents on the way back, including one where a tan truck had spun around and was facing the wrong way–scary.

We stopped at Wal-Mart really quick before going back home, where Mario bought John a pre-paid Cingular cell phone as a surprise.

We had lunch at home, then picked up Eenan afterschool and went back to town. We came to JC Penny first to pay our bills, and I finally caved in and bought some much-needed bras. Granny bras. I made the mistake of checking my size online and ended up with a huge (and I mean huge) size. I felt so bad about myself. I unhappily grabbed four bras and we paid for them. $60. Bleh.

We got a few things we needed from Wal-Mart and then headed home. I’d gotten paid for my last week of babysitting and stored away $60 for Mario’s birthday. Woo!

While on the drive back home I started freaking out because I knew there was a reason we should have deposited money in the bank that afternoon. Mario said it was okay, I could do it in the morning. Still I had a nagging feeling, and after scrolling through my mental bill-checklist, I realized I needed to deposit to pay for our Capital One credit card. I didn’t get to deposit and send the payment out till the next day of course, so we got charged a whopping $60 extra! I hate credit cards! I hate how “in the hole” we are right now. We never even wanted credit cards and look what happens…we can’t even get that darn Capital One card paid off because of all their ridiculous fees (and I’m not just talking about how I screwed up, either).

Sat. Oct. 14th I spent the next morning paying two more bills: Home Depot and Target. We went home and I can’t remember much now, but I think I just cleaned and we just chilled out the rest of the day.

Sun. Oct. 15th The next evening we left home about 3 hours before we needed to be in line at the Scream Factor X Haunted House. We’d never been there, but from what I’d read and heard, we needed to be there pretty early if we didn’t feel like waiting in line for hours.

We took the kids to Burger King for some dinner. After we all ate, they played in the Play Park or whatever it’s called, for about 10 minutes and then we left. We gave the kids a pep talk about how it was Family Night at the haunted house, but if they felt scared by any characters at any time, then they could yell, “Monster Be Good!” and the monster would behave itself. They loved this idea.

We get to the haunted house in McAllen, which used to be a hotel called the Rio Hotel. There were already 20 people in line. The kids were antsy and thirsty and hell, I was thristy, but I never better than to drink an ounce of water because there were no bathrooms in sight. We stood in line for about an hour; it was hell only because of the three loud and hyper little teenage girls behind us. Then I hear the Scream Factor guys telling a woman there were 7 to a group. I counted and it just so happened we’d go in with the girls. Grr. I thought, ‘Great, they’re going to scream so much they’re going to scare my boys!’

Another annoyance was a lady who was from Mexico and said she just had to have her daughters cut in line with their friends because they needed to leave back home soon. Everyone in line was livid, so the guy didn’t let them go through. It’s clearly stated in the rules that no cutting is allowed or you’d go to the very end of the line. They just waited on the sidelines. I was pissed to find out though, that they somehow slithered their way through and got in because we were leaving right after they were!

Thankfully, by the time we went in something happened at the front and there were 3 kids, two girls and a guy, waiting. They let us through with them, but they were still a little loud. We went in to the dark, smokey room while they told us the rules. I went first, with Jaylen pressed up in front of me and Mario was behind us with Eenan pressed up against him. We round the corner and one of the girls, the last of her bunch, yells and steps on Jaylen’s foot. I yell, “Hey, watch it!” and push her (along with her friends) a few feet, where they thankfully stayed the rest of the tour.

The kids did so much better than I thought they would. There were no tears, and minimal screaming. They loved that they could tell the monsters to behave, and used it to their advatage–they wouldn’t even let the monsters growl or anything before yelling, “Monster, be good!” At one point Eenan yelled, “Monsterbegood!” over and over again because it was so dark. We went down these creaky old stairs that led us outside, where girls that were working there complimented the kids. She said they were the youngest they’d seen all year that had actually made it that far.

We went in through another door where they led us to a creaky, old elevator. It wasn’t a smooth ride at all! It kind of jerked from side to side as it went down. The kids loved it, though.

We went through a few more dark, cobwebby isles, down some with strobe lights, and finally, at the end, we went through a long, cylindrical tunnel with tiny light bulbs and black light that spun around while the ladder we walked on moved in the opposite direction. Same one they have at Ripley’s Believe it or Not in San Antonio! It feels totally weird; like you can’t keep your balance and are falling right off of it. The guy noticed I was pregnant when I was halfway through the tunnel with Jaylen and asked, “Ma’am? Do you need help? I can help!” But we were good. It was a fun night :). Mario went to Jorge’s after he dropped us off at home. I could have cared less since they Desperate Housewives was on and my feet were killing me!

Wed. Oct. 18th I don’t remember much from Monday and Tuesday, but on Wednesday I went to the groceries with Mom and Jaylen, before we picked Eenan up from school. This was also the day that Jaylen decided to dress himself in this lovely number:

I actually let him stay in it before he threw a fit. Thankfully, he at least agreed to remove his beanie before we entered the store LOL.

When we’re back at home and I’m putting groceries away, John knocks frantically on the door and barges in. He’s got a look of terror on his face and he says, “Something’s wrong with Wookie!” I’m confused, since we hadn’t seen Wookie in days but I follow him anyway. Sure enough, there’s his beloved Wookie, and she looks in really bad shape. It pains me to remember the details; she looked so ill.

If you have a weak stomach, please skip this paragraph.
She couldn’t walk. One of her legs was literally dangling as she tried to take steps. There was a horrible smell coming from her belly and when John checked to see why, he said she had green stuff, green gooey stuff spewing out of her and there were little while worms slithering all over her belly. I worked up all the courage to check for myself; I thought he was seeing things. But no, he was right. The worms weren’t exactly maggots; they were too small. But they were clearly there and we didn’t know why. Part of her tail was missing, too. Her breathing was labored and we just decided that she was suffering. Who knew where she was the few days she was missing and just what the hell happened to her? We decided she needed to be euthanized, but we had no idea how to go about it. John was in tears and could barely look at her. With Mary’s and Elda’s suggestions, we decided to give her some sleeping pills, to at least help her die a bit peacefully, albeit slowly. She passed away the next morning when John had already left to work and I was out (can’t remember where at the moment…grr). My dad-in-law was home, thankfully, and did us the favor of burying her by the time we got home. He was really upset about it, too, since he knew we’d been looking for her and her brother, Grimm. I’m afraid to know what happened to him. I don’t even want to say it but…I think the same thing may have happened to him, but he didn’t find his way home :*(.

I think this is all that happened throughout those days. I’ve taken way too long to publish this. It was collecting dust in my drafts =X. (Finally posted on Nov. 21st, 2006)