Category: Photos

Yes, I realize I’m posting this 3 weeks later. I give up on trying to be on top of my blogs. I never have time to blog, understandably!

Fri., Apr. 4th – I woke up around noonish, as I usually do and fed the girls, put Emily to sleep and had my breakfast. Mario sent me a text about going to Cheddar’s that night. I had completely forgotten about our double-date of sorts with Jorge and Maggie that we’d planned since the week before. I was excited. Cheddar’s is a fairly new restaurant and I hadn’t been there yet.

I got on Yahoo and chatted with Maggie almost the whole day. She asked me who was staying with the kids and I told her the boys would stay with Mary and the girls with Mom. She told me Mario said there was no way we’d go anywhere if Mom was staying with Emily, because Mom’s not really good with small babies. She panics and I guess the baby can sense it so Emily starts screaming her head off. Then Mom can’t get her to stop. So he calls me and confirms that we’re not going if we haven’t found someone else to babysit. Grr.

So there I am, searching, calling everyone I know that I thought was available and nothing. So I tell Maggie, “I guess we’re not going anywhere after all.” I spent the rest of the day moping.

I picked Eenan up from school only. Jaylen had gone home with Aaron since they had a playdate set for that afternoon. I’d told him I’d pick him up around 6, since I wasn’t going anywhere anyway.

Mario texts me around 5:50, that he’s on his way to get his hair cut and to pick out some nice clothes, but nothing too fancy for our outing that night. I was completely confused. I thought he’d decided for us that we weren’t going ’cause we didn’t have a more “suitable” sitter for Emily?

I text back and ask, “I thought you said we weren’t going? I didn’t find any one else!” He says we have no choice. I was so annoyed. I spent the whole day feeling crappy for nothing.

I go pick Jaylen up and start flat-ironing my hair. It’s already 6:30, since I spent some time talking to Aaron’s grandma. We’re supposed to be meeting at 7:30 or 8. Good thing I’d already taken a shower earlier.

I knew Mario was on the verge of asking me to hurry up a number of times, but he knew better. Had he let me know earlier I could have spent all day getting ready. Plus, Jorge and Maggie were running errands and had barely gotten home at 7, so I wasn’t rushing. He busied himself outside while I finished getting ready. He comes in a while later and tells me Elda offered to watch Emily for us while we’re out. Oh, thank goodness.

I went over to Elda’s next door to check if Mario was there since Jorge G., Adan, Aide and Belle were over there for a bar-b-q. I look down the driveway and become even more annoyed when I see that Mario’s checking the system in some guy’s truck. Perfect timing!

Aide says she’s going to help mom babysit Emily till Elda’s ready to watch her, so we come over here. Mario’s done with the guy’s truck around 9:20, so we take off.

Maggie and Jorge had arrived at Cheddar’s 10 minutes before we did and found a great table. We ordered our drinks: a Michelob Ultra for Mario and a Maui Margarita for me. OMG. That had to be THE BEST Margarita I’ve ever had in my LIFE! Jorge had recommended it, saying I only needed 2 or 3 and that was it. Mario cleared his throat and ran his hand under his neck to gesture, “Shut up, dude!” It’s hilarious that after 10 years of marriage, he’s still trying to get me drunk to get frisky LOL.

It was a full house at Cheddar’s so everything was taking really long to get to the table. Jorge had invited the bosses, so they arrived about an hour or so later. I was told I looked beautiful, which creeped me out and brought up my deficient self-esteem simultaneously.

Our food arrived about half an hour after that and even though it took forever I have to admit the food was delicious and really cheap!

We toasted and then it hit me that after all these years of knowing Jorge and Maggie (about 11 for me), it was the first time we’d ever gone out in public as group! We’ve always hung out–even moreso now than in years past–but we’ve never gone out to have drinks or eat together or anything. I’m glad we’re still friends after all these years :).

The bosses left and we chilled out a bit more until it was getting close to closing. We moved the party to Fanatics, a bar. I had a Piña Colada and we sat around chatting with Maggie’s friends till Mario and I both started getting sleepy around 1am. We’re elderly already, at the ages of 26 and 27.

I drove home, of course, and we collected our children. Emily had been asleep since 12am with Elda and Alaethia was asleep as well with Mom. We managed to sneak into bed and get some sleep before Emily woke up at 4am. That was one of the best nights, ever.

Sat., Apr. 5th – I didn’t feel like doing anything that day, but I had to get Eenan’s eyes checked at the optometrist’s office and I was going to have my appointment too, since I was already there. I was taking Eenan with me only. Mario was supposed to stay with the other three kiddos.

I get a text from Mario when I’m barely getting to the signal light at the corner saying, “I can’t watch this little girl,” meaning Emily. I deposited at the bank and went back to get her. So much for a quick trip.

I dropped Mom off at Gramma’s nursing home (we really need to move her to a closer one!). We get to the optometrist and…they didn’t take Eenan’s insurance. LOVELY. I got my exam done anyway because I didn’t drive all the way over there for nothing. My left eye is “significantly worse” and the doctor said it may have something to do with either my sugar levels or that I was recently pregnant. Great.

We visited with Gramma for a bit when we went to pick Mom up. While I was looking at the photos on her wall she patted me on the butt and said I was chubby. I sighed and said, “I know, Gramma. That’s what happens when I have my babies.” And she started laughing.

We went to Walmart after that. OMG, it was the longest shopping trip, ever! We had to keep stopping at almost every aisle because Emily needed something. She’s never like that when we’re shopping, so it surprised me. Halfway through the trip she spit-up all over my blouse, and she never spits up!!

Mom had gone off shopping on her own, because she usually takes long, so Eenan was helping me shop. He did such a great job. It’s much easier when only one of the boys helps me grocery shop. If both of them go, they fight the entire time or fight about what food to take or who’s going to help me.

We were already frustrated, tired and hungry so he wasn’t too happy when we were already at the front of the store–so close to the registers–when I realized I’d gotten the wrong diapers. We went all the way to the back of the store where the diapers are, and as we’re walking I smell something. I (stupidly) run my hand along the edge of Emily’s diaper…and smear a lovely shade of yellow poop all over my hand. She’d filled her diaper up to the brim.

I yelled, “OH MY GOD!!” And Eenan runs to my side. He’s as horrified as I am. Suddenly I remember thinking “Oh, I won’t need the wipees,” and leaving the travel case on the center console of the truck. I tell him, “Eenan! I forgot the wipes!” as a nice employee overhears me. Her jaw drops open as she sees my yellow hand and says, “Well, you’re gonna have to use some! There’s some over here, c’mon on!”

She points me in the direction of the wipees and I locate the travel sized ones, tear the wrapping open and tell Eenan to hold the piece with the barcode so I can pay for it, and proceed to get all of Emily’s things out to change her. Thank God I’d brought the changing pad and a change of clothes with me!

I wrapped up all her dirty clothes in her blanket and found a trash bin to dispose of the diaper and pile of wipees, which I wrapped in a whole bunch of paper towels I found above the trash bin. I was too happy to pay for everything and get home.

I put everything away when I got home. Mario was already home and the men were bar-b-q’ing again. I went outside with everyone and tried to fix the new carrying pouch I’d bought for Emily at Walmart. I’m going to have to return it. The “easy release” clips are huge and hurt her little thighs. It would be a good sling if she were larger.

Mario brought me some Bacardi Silvers in strawberry but I didn’t like them too much since they kept making me burp and I eventually became bloated. I don’t know if it had anything to do with that or if I really did look chubby like Gramma said but when Jorge (Mario’s Nino) saw me he said, “Are you pregnant again? Because it looks like it.”

I didn’t know what to say!! He didn’t say it to be mean, and tried to take it back immediately after, but I felt awful! That’s what I get for squeezing myself into my old jeans. When I was wearing my during/post-maternity pants, everyone kept saying how “good” I looked!!

When everyone left the bar-b-q, we went to Jorge and Maggie’s with the girls. Maggie and I chilled out with her nieces and the babies and had some drinks. I shouldn’t have eaten, but Maggie had made food so I served myself a little tiny bit of everything. I really wanted more of the guacamole, but I resisted.

Mario started falling asleep around 2pm and the guys found it to be the perfect opportunity to “tea bag” him LOL. I tried to warn him–Maggie and her nieces are my witnesses! He says I didn’t. Jorge got him. We all took pictures LOL.

Since everyone started calling him an old man for falling asleep he made us stay till 5am! Before we left, though, he was flipping through pictures in Jorge and Maggie’s camera and said something to piss me off. We will be having a “talk” later.

Sun., Mar. 5th – We woke up super late, of course. Mario actually got up earlier than I did and he and his dad worked on the new living room. My Dad-in-law had already done a lot of the insulation and then Mario did the rest of it and helped with the drywall.

It was so nice seeing that drywall go up! It gives me a sense of completion, like it’s the light at the end of the tunnel. Mind you, we still need to get the cement to level out the floors. And that darn stump is still there…

Anyway, Mario and I went to get a few more things at Home Depot that he and his dad needed, not before stopping for some frappuccinos. I collected as many paint samples and (free) idea booklets as I could. I can’t WAIT to get this room painted! I also got some cute ideas for the girls’ color scheme.

I made Enchiladas Swisas for dinner and after that we went to Jorge and Maggie’s again. They’d invited us to go over but at first he didn’t want to go over. He said he didn’t want to get in trouble again (he was referring to what he’d said/done to piss me off). We eventually went but Mario didn’t drink. It was a little hard to joke around there was even a little altercation between Maggie and Javi. Like Jorge said, I believe, the atmosphere was a little “hostile” LOL. We eventually went inside to watch videos on YouTube. We (only LOL) stayed till 1am that night.

I picked the boys up from school yesterday and went straight to my appointment. Jaylen really wanted to go to the Scholastic Book Fair they’re having at school, but I couldn’t take him so I promised I’d take him today. I’d completely forgotten that Eenan has percussion practice on Wednesdays, but thankfully Jose picked him up for me.

I talked and joked around with Elisa when I got there. She asked if I was ready to get it removed and I said sure, we’ll see what Dr. C. said when he saw me.

I read a chapter or two of Eclipse and after what seemed like forever was called in to the vitals room. I had a whole slew of questions I wanted to ask Dr. C., now that I had a chance and had actually made a list. When the girl taking my vitals asked me what I came in for I told her it was mainly so that Dr. C. could assess the ganglion cyst I needed removed. I figured he needed to give me an order for the hospital or something.

I get sent into a room and I’m in there another hour or so. I was completely bored and remembered that it was April Fool’s Day, so I thought of the perfect joke to play on Mario. I was giddy with anticipation. I texted him that they did a urine test (which they didn’t) and that he’d never guess what…I was pregnant! How could that be?!

He takes a while to respond and when he does, texts You better stfu! LOL I didn’t want him to be mad, or die of a coronary, so I texted back ROFL! April Fool’s!

Again it takes him a few minutes to respond and says That’s impossible…

My response: I’m bored. I bet you panicked a lil’, tho! 😉

He says: F u. Don’t talk to me for the rest of the day. U’re the devil.

OMG I couldn’t stop laughing.

We keep chatting and 45 minutes later I text Lord Jeebus. I reckon they forgot about me…

He says U’re little 🙁 Stand up. How rude LOL.

Right when he sent that Dr. C. comes in and we exchange some small talk and takes my hand in his. He turns my wrist from side to side and says he’s going to get everything ready. I laugh, thinking it’s some kind of April Fool’s gag and he’s completely serious. I almost puked. I was so not ready! I didn’t even know what he was going to do!

Laura comes in and we chit-chat and she leaves then comes back with a rolling cart full of stuff. My heart immediately starts pounding.

But not as much as when I saw these and heard Dr. C. telling Laura he needed the biggest gauge needle she could find. Then he said to forget it, he’d just use a scalpel. Again I thought he was playing a prank on me…but he wasn’t.

First of all, I HATE needles. I’m a total wuss when it comes to having IVs inserted into my hands and arms. These needles were MUCH bigger than those. I started feeling really sweaty and nervous when Laura rubbed that brown, sterilizing stuff on my wrist.

She walked out and left my door open. I could hear them talking outside, Dr. C. making jokes about ex-girlfriends and talking about work. Laura gasped and said be quiet, then peeked in and said, “Oh it’s Yajaira anyway. She’s family!” That made me feel so happy :).

Dr. C. took a seat opposite me and started tapping the syringe to numb the bump. I really started panicking, even though I was laughing to brush it off, and I seriously almost started hyperventilating. I took a deep breath and told him, “Wait, wait, wait! I’m not ready!” Laura ran to my side when she saw me freaking out and held my hand.

Dr. C. told me I’d be fine and I just stared, waiting for the pain I knew was about to come. Laura told me, “You don’t have to look!” So she pulled my face over to her chest and covered my eyes. I braced myself and winced when I felt the needle break the skin and then the sharp pain when the liquid started making its way in. I slowly pulled Laura’s hand off of my eyes and peeked to see what happened. The cyst was double the size it originally was and Dr. C. playfully says, “You did say you wanted it double the size it was, right?”

I nervously laugh and start panicking again when Dr. C. reaches for the scalpel. I quickly place Laura’s hand over my eyes and ask her, “Laura, Laura! Is it gonna hurt?!”

Dr. C. chuckles and says, “It’s okay, I’m already cutting. You don’t feel anything, right?”

I exhale, because I’d been holding my breath the whole time and remove Laura’s hand from my face. Sure enough, Dr. C.’s already gently piercing a little hole in the cyst and I don’t feel a thing. Next thing I know, clear goop is bubbling out of the tiny incision.

Of course I was going to get a picture of it! Mario requested this one in particular LOL.

Dr. C. gently squeezed out all the gel, covered it with a thick wad of gauze and tightly rolled some medical tape around it. He said I should keep a bandaid on it and then wrap it in something tight, like an ACE bandage. He gave me some literature on ganglion cysts and told me that unfortunately they come back in 50% of people once they have them aspirated like I did. I hope I’m not one of those people :(.

We joked around as he was cleaning up and Laura said she was going to miss seeing me as often as she got to during my pregnancies. I told her I should just go work with them when I was ready. Her eyes lit up and she said I totally should and started explaining benefits to me right away! I really, truly would consider working there; I love all the girls and Dr. C. Once I was ready, of course.

I waited in the pharmacy area for my antibiotics prescription and helped Laura measure a window. I get a text from Mario telling me that he just missed a call from Border Patrol. I automatically think, “He’s totally getting back at me for the pregnancy joke,” but then I start wondering what if it’s for real?

He goes into this whole spiel about how he was talking on the phone with his boss and he called back and they explained to him what the next step would be, which was picking up his ticket. He would be leaving on Monday. My heart sank when he told me this, but again, I just had a feeling he was joking. I kept telling him he was lying LOL.

I went to Target and then Home Depot. Mario talked to me during my drive and was going on and on about how sad he was; how he wasn’t even going to get to finish our new living room. When I hung up with him I texted Maggie and asked her if Mario had mentioned anything about the call from Border Patrol, because he’d just told me he was leaving on Monday. She said no, that he didn’t. I told her not to say anything about it. She asked if I could do her a favor and text Jorge. She wanted to trick him, too.

So I text him What happened today? Mario got home from work and said he wasn’t going back tomorrow!

I know Mario did have a crappy day, so it was jiving with what I said. Jorge texted back that he didn’t blame Mario for feeling that way and so on.

I had just gotten home and Mario was already here. I try getting it out of him for about 15 minutes that he’s joking, but he’s playing the part really well. I finally tell him to break the news to his Mom and the boys and he can’t help but break a smile. I then get a great idea…supposedly he got the call around 5:30, so I check his call log on his cell and there isn’t anything about Border Patrol or Homeland Security or any number I don’t recognize. He has no choice but to confess LOL.

I tell him about the whole Jorge thing. Maggie texts me and says, Jorge is walking around all sad and mad LOL. I feel bad, so I text Jorge back April Fool! Don’t hate me! Heh.

Jorge texts back, I already told the boss he quit!

I KNOW he’s trying to trick me, so, using Mario’s prank to my advantage, I text back, Well, I guess that’s good because Border Patrol just called Mario. He leaves on Monday!

Jorge doesn’t waste time in calling Mario to confirm LOL. Of course Mario tells him it’s all a joke and we’re going over.

Mom offered to watch Alaethia and Mary had the boys, so we only took Emily with us. We ended up having an impromptu movie night, watching Monsters vs. Aliens first (which was really cute!) and then Last House on the Left (which was really effed up).

We got home around 12:30 and were in bed by 1am. Emily didn’t let me fall asleep till around 1:30 or so, which I was grateful for because she slept the whole time we’d been at Jorge and Maggie’s.

She woke up at 6 for a bottle and of course, was wide awake and didn’t let me go back to sleep till 8am, when Mario needed to get up to go to work. I feel awful when I don’t can’t get up to make him breakfast. The good thing was, she let me sleep till 10:45 and then all of us girls came to the kitchen to have breakfast.

It was a lazy day, for the most part. John came over and I told him about my cyst, which he called his “Cyst-er”, because he says it was so big it could be another person LOL. I went to deposit at the bank, paid bills online and did some housework, like laundry and tidying up. I can’t get much done with Emily. Even when Mom holds her she howls for me. As soon as I get her, she’s completely fine. Her wails turn into whimpers and dissolve into content sighs once she’s in my arms. As hard as it is to get things done around the house, I have to admit that it makes me feel super special inside knowing she’s happiest being with her Mama :).

I picked the boys up from school while Mom watched the girls and took the boys to the Book Fair. I spoke to a few of the kids’ teachers and then we were on our way. Jaylen had been making a big fuss about it yesterday and almost didn’t buy anything today. He just got one book. Eenan did, too, although if he had his way, he would have bought a whole bunch of expensive ones LOL.

I spent the rest of the day with Emily and then Mom watched her while I made dinner (artichoke lasagna). Adan, Aide and Belle came over and us girls sat around talking while the guys were outside doing guy things, like installing a radio and drinking. We found out Kilala had her puppies sometime today! Mario discovered her under our storage shed and declared, “I’m a grandpa!” LOL

I bathed Alaethia and then sorted through her clothes in the closet. There were tons of things she outgrew, so I weeded them out and put them in storage bins for Emily.

I took off my bandage and replaced my bandaid earlier and realized I still have a bit of the bump on my wrist. I’m not sure if there’s liquid in there still or if it’s swollen from the procedure but I stupidly tried to squeeze out whatever was in there. Now it’s throbbing more than it had been, but thankfully it hurts a lot less than I thought it would.

And now I’m waiting for Emily to wake up for her first bottle of the night. Her bath will wait till the morning. I have a few dishes in the sink and that’s where I bathe her. My wrist hurts so I’m trying to take it easy and not move things around. Believe it or not, typing doesn’t bother me. I’m supposed to keep my fingers busy, and what better way than a gajillion-word blog entry?

So I guess it’s safe to say that it’s going to take me forever to “catch up” on my backed-up entries. I update almost daily, believe it or not, but I update to a super-long Word document since I’m trying to keep the entry numbers in order. Screw that, I say. I’m just going to update again starting from today and worry about adding the backed-up ones when I have a chance (which isn’t too often because of Emily and Alaethia LOL).

I guess I feel like I *have* to remember everything 1) because Emily’s my last baby and 2) because I was so caught up with work and life in general when Alaethia was a baby and I feel like I missed out on a lot, entry-wise and milestone-wise. I don’t even think I ever got to add the entry about her first birthday party! 🙁

So far, things are going really well. The boys are wonderful with Emily, especially Jaylen, who’s a really confident big brother. If she starts crying while she’s in her bassinet or swing and Jaylen notices that I’m busy, he’ll gladly unfasten her from the swing and carry her or pick her up out of the bassinet. It’s amazing watching him with her. Eenan’s good with her too, but he gets a little more nervous when she cries.

Alaethia’s also very good with her. She has her moments when she gets over-excited and starts patting her a little too enthusiastically on her head (ack, the soft spot!) but for the most part she’s great. I think she’s finally realized that Emily’s a real baby and not a dolly.

Emily’s pretty awesome at night. She has these little bouts of complete awakeness sometimes for about 2-3 hours straight, but she’s getting better. She’s my first baby to actually have a pattern. I know exactly when she’s going to be awake and asleep at night and during the day. She’s really happy and easy to care for for the most part.

The only problem we’ve been having is that, yes, a week after I stopped breastfeeding she started having trouble pooping. She’s 5 weeks old this week, as of yesterday, and she’s finally doing much better in that department.

Speaking of, she turned a month old on the 24th!

Isn’t she a beauty?? So far, everyone says she looks like me, but I don’t really see it except for maybe our noses LOL. And maybe the skin color, but she’s still lighter than me. She’s light like Mom and Gramma.

My dad-in-law was going to surprise us with a new addition to the house, a bigger living room! He decided to tell us about it because he thought we’d get a bit suspicious when new walls started going up LOL.

I’m so excited! Big Mario designed the room (it’s part of the old party porch, heh) and Mario’s designing the whole entertainment part of the room. That corner where Mario and his dad are standing in the photo is where the built-in entertainment shelf will be and there’ll be another on the opposite side (the south wall) for books and picture frames and whatnot. I really can’t wait to see it done, though there’s a lot to do, like leveling the floors, removing that darn tree stump:

and sanding the hardwood floors and varnishing them before the insulation and drywall goes up.

Mario and I celebrated our 10th Wedding Anniversary on the 27th. We didn’t get to do much because he was working tons of overtime (they were having this pain-in-the-ass show at the convention center that his boss waited till the last minute to tell them about) and of course we didn’t have much money. But we did go to one of our favorite restaurants, Kumori, for sushi.

As for yesterday, I took Alaethia and Eenan for check-ups at the doctor. Alaethia had her 2-year physical. She was such a good girl! She was excited about her appointment. She was very quiet and well-behaved when the doctor was checking her chest for her heart-murmur (she still has it so she’ll have another appointment with the specialist) and she didn’t even cry during her shot!

Eenan’s been having trouble with squinting at school so I took him in just in case and sure enough, he’ll be needing glasses again. He doesn’t want to wear them, I think mostly because there’s a class bully and he’s having enough trouble with him already. He hasn’t singled Eenan out; everyone has trouble with him. But still.

I got home and literally carried Emily around for about 2 hours. That’s the only thing about Emily: she’s a wonderful baby, but it’s hard to get things done because she wants to be held. And not just by anyone–it has to be me. It makes me feel great, that she knows when I’m holding her and that she wants to be with me all the time, but I do have to cook and clean the house once in a while!

I gave her to Mom to hold and started dinner. Jorge, Maggie and the kids were coming over so I made meatloaf, mashed potatoes, green beans and deviled eggs. It was the first time in a long time that I actually got to make a nice meal.

We chilled out eating inside and then we went out to talk with Mom and Elda. We sat in the new living room–well, whatever’s built so far of the living room LOL. Then we joined the guys (Mario, Jorge and Adan) outside and talked and joked till around 12:30am.

I was supposed to go to the doctor this morning so Dr. C. can assess the cyst I need removed from my wrist, and I did, but I went late since I didn’t have anyone to watch the girls while I showered. Mom came over around 9:45 and I left around 10:30. The office was packed and they weren’t seeing patients anymore so I’d have to wait till after 2 and go to Mission. I figured I’d pack up the router we’d just gotten last week (that really, really sucks) and return it at Target while I was already in Mission.

*whew* This feels good. To post an entry on the actual day OF the entry. I hope to keep up from now on!