Category: Shopping

I’m so sad. I was surfing through Pink is the New Blog and found out that Rev Run and his wife, Justine’s, newborn babygirl died shortly after birth via C-section. She came early and apparently suffered from omphalocele, a condition where the organs are outside of the body :(.

This is just devastating! Their whole new season was documenting the pregnancy of this baby; what will happen now? The cameras were there when they found out she had this defect and later died. I just can’t believe this happened :*(. Shouldn’t an AFP, amniocentesis or Ultrasound detect this type of defect????

Now I’m paranoid. I know I shouldn’t be worrying myself sick for nothing, but the maternal alarms go off at the drop of a dime when I hear about things like this. I’m especially paranoid because of my pregnancy with Jaylen but I’m so glad this pregnancy has been okay so far. I’m praying it stays that way.

Changing the subject, the Republicans are doing a great job with the gas prices–you know, for exchange of votes to stay in charge. We’re seeing gas prices anywhere from $2.09 to $2.12–and if you get gas at Circle K (Citgo) with their prepaid card, you get 3 cents off each gallon! How nice of those bastards (Reps) to conveniently knock down prices by .65 cents in two weeks. Weren’t we just in some kind of gas slump a while ago? Hmm…

Let’s see…as for this past week, because once again it’s been exactly a week since I’ve updated, lots has happened. I’ll try to turbo-summarize, although you know how hard it is for me to do so.

We got together for Isaiah’s birthday on Sunday. We had pizza and salad. We all sat around chatting for a while and then I moped around because I had to go to Target to get a few things and I didn’t want to drive (like a shower curtain rod since our other one wasn’t a curtain rod but a PVC Pipe–ghetto, yes and we never bothered to change it until it almost fell on me).

I ended up getting the curtain rod and 5-shelf bookcase for the kids that was on sale for $26. I still had all their books in boxes in our bedroom and it was quite unsightly. Mario needed a light for work, I needed refils for my Schick razor and the kids needed more cough medicine (Triaminic tongue strips)–so yeah, I spent more than I initially thought I would.

On the way home from Target, I get a call from Mario that he and Eenan were at Chris and Nancy’s, so for Jaylen and I to stop by after we dropped the moms and purchases off at home.

The kids were so well behaved that night; I was so proud. They did have a few moments where Nancy and I were talking and we’d hear a screech once in a while, but they’d quickly quiet down when told to do so. They were in her bedroom (where Nancy let them watch TV) and Zeus, their Chihuahua, was in there so they were really happy.

We ate (the men were bar-b-q’ing outside) and then watched Desperate Housewives. God, I love that show! Too bad I have to wait a whole week before another episode!

Mother had one of her dreaded 3-hour appointments at the Endochrinologist on Monday morning. I dropped the kids off, made Mario breakfast and saw him off to work, and then Matthew got here just in time for us to leave. It was super hot inside the office and Matthew hates feeling sweaty so I took him outside where it was actually nice and cool due to the rain and cool front that had rolled in overnight. All the benches that were available were sunny, so I asked a girl if I could share her seat and she said yes. Turned out that she was a girl I new who also has her kids in the same school Eenan & Jaylen go to. I would see her around and never thought I’d have anything in common with her–we were too different. She was the type of young mom who looked like she was a princess at home–nicely dressed from A.M. to P.M. and didn’t seem like she would do much at home just from her appearance. I’ve always had that bad habit, where I judge people by their looks; something I hate myself for. I sadly get this horrible trait from my mother.

As I spoke to the girl I realized we had so much in common, from the ages of our kids, to our ages, to things we liked. We even lived next door to each other for 3 years and didn’t even know it. And she’s a great mom–when Matthew started fussing she asked to hold him and put him to sleep in less than a minute. That’ll teach me to judge a book by it’s cover. That’s one of my New Year’s Resolutions for ’07–to stop judging people. It doesn’t hurt to start your resolutions early.

Mary had to do me the favor of calling Sonia for me that day to pick the kids up. There was no way I was going to make it home on time to pick them up. Thankfully John was awake so she left them with him. By the time we got home they were both done with their homework.

Monday was a stressful day for me, especially since I started getting sick (sore throat) and had all the kids to take care of that day.

I didn’t have Matthew on Tuesday, but I did have Brianna. At least she was on her best behavior. I had a chance to finish putting stuff away in the living room closet and freed up a lot of space around here. I was washing dishes around 7pm when Jason finally decided to pick up Brianna. I noticed he was in his regular clothes so I made a sarcastic remark about how late they let them out of work and it turns out he was off but had Seth (his nephew) with him all day. Um, hello? And you couldn’t pick up Brianna? I would have been in a much worse mood but like I said before, Brianna was behaving so I wasn’t in a hurry to push her out the door.

Wednesday was a pretty normal day, except that my cold was getting worse and I felt so tired. I left a note on my door (Sleeping: come back at 11:00), because if I didn’t mother would be knocking till someone opened the door. Yes, that’s one of the bad things about living next door to your mother and in-laws. My in-laws at least get the point; Mom, on the other hand, does not.

I had a hard time sleeping that night due to my horrible sore throat, so I felt really tired when I woke up on Thursday morning. I dropped the kids off and then ate breakfast so I could be ready for when Matthew got here. That child was fussy all day and does NOT like to be left sitting or laying down–he MUST be carried! I told him I was sorry, but in my house we don’t have babies stuck to our hip. I let him cry it out a few times (because I did have to pee a few times during the day) and he finally fell asleep once. Brianna was a little bad-behaved that day and kept bothering Matthew, even while he was sleeping. She was picked up on time that day, earlier even, so I was glad for that.

Big Mario bar-b-q’d that day so I wouldn’t have to cook–yay! We had pork ribs, though half the people eating thought it was beef, but I didn’t have the packaging anymore so I had no idea what it was, I just knew it was meat LOL. Mario got home really early that day so we ate and then stayed up watching TV. I recorded Grey’s Anatomy and Ugly Betty–gotta watch those soon!

I dropped the kids off extra early on Friday, since they had a Jamaica (Fall Festival) that day. They treat the kids who’ve been well behaved all 6 weeks, and both my boys were attending :). I gave them $1.50 each for snacks that they’d announced they were going to sell. I’ve learned not to give them any more, especially Eenan who’s easily conned out of his money. They were both excited to go, especially Jaylen. For the first time ever he was jumping around in class. Both his teachers were surprised and said, “What a miracle!” because he’s usually so quiet LOL.

I came back home and napped with Mario till I felt him get up at 10:30. I tossed and turned for a while longer and then got up. He was nowhere to be found. At exactly 11:00 he knocks on the door. Apparently he was going to surprise me with a cinnamon roll from Whataburger but as soon as he locked the door he realized he’d forgotten his keys and didn’t want to wake me so he waited…aww :). Since they weren’t serving breakfast anywhere anymore we stopped by McDonalds’s (yes, unfortunately we don’t have much of a choice–I can’t wait till Burger King’s finished being built!) and got cheeseburgers and fries. Then we picked up the kiddos and went to Mario’s work to pick up his paycheck. It’s been so slow at work, like there’s no work whatsoever, that he got one of the smallest paychecks so far this year. And we had our darn car payment! After paying all the bills, getting the windshield sticker for the truck, picking up a pizza for the kids (it’s tradition to go out to eat when he gets paid) and renting just one movie we’re left with almost nothing. It’s depressing. Thankfully we filled up both vehicles with gas and have a good amount of groceries. We just gotta pinch pennies when it comes to everything else. *cries*

We sat outside in the cool air (doused in Off since there’s mosquitoes galore!) and watched our turtles get some exercise in the kiddie pool while the cats tried batting at them with their paws. So cute! Mario left to Chris’ for a while and the kids watched Cartoon Network (they get so excited on Fridays) so I watched America’s Next Top Model while eating a slice of heaven Hershey’s Sundae Pie. Mario got back in an hour and we put the kids’ bookcase together. Okay, he put it together, I just made sure nothing fell apart on top of him.

He got us cinnamon rolls from Whataburger (it was only $3.00–we’re obsessed) and we watched Stick It, which was a pretty cute movie. Too bad I couldn’t enjoy my roll since my cough was coming on full-force and I felt nauseous because of my sore throat. I desperately searched for the print-out of safe medicines to take during pregnancy that the doctor gave me. Thankfully, the cough medicine I got for the kids (Dimetapp DM) was on the list so I had some of that and slept wonderfully. I’m not feeling too shitty today, thank goodness, since we have a baby shower to go to.

Then I plan to veg out on the couch, get better and watch all the shows my DVDr’s recorded for me.

First things first: I wanted to ask you guys, my readers, if adding an e-mail notification script for comments and e-mail subscription for when I actually update my blog would come in handy for you? I don’t want to go through the trouble if nobody’s going to use it, or worse yet, if you do and it annoys you LOL. Let me know, I’d greatly appreciate it!

Man, Channel 4 wasn’t lying when they said there’d be thunderstorms all night. Mario and I fell asleep around 11:30 pm, only after joking around, being annoying to eachother and joking about how our apartment was going to end up like the Winchester House since we have windows all over the house, but they’re all covered up because of construction and remodeling. He was also half-joking that I didn’t care about his well-being since he has a sore throat and I refused to sleep without the fan. I wasn’t going to suffer like the night before–I ended up having to sleep in the living room with the fan on full blast since I was sweating up a storm (and yes, the central air was on). It’s just my pregnancy making me get hot flashes.

Anyway, I fell asleep feeling cool and relaxed (I’m not a bitch I swear, I pointed the fan to my feet so Mario wouldn’t feel it on his face) and woke up in a startled jolt around 2:15 to crashing thunder. Since I’m a very light sleeper, every single thunder would wake me up and it didn’t help that my eyelids must be paper thin since I could see the lightning with my eyes closed O_o. I kept an ear out for the kids since I knew at least one of them would wake up scared half to death from the thunder. Sure enough around 3am Eenan tip-toed into the room and whispered, “Mama, I can’t sleep because of the thunder,” and proceeds to climb over me to sleep between Mario and me. We hardly had any space to move around, but I felt so bad for him I let him stay. He’s always been terrified of thunder. Jaylen on the other hand is such a heavy sleeper he slept through the whole thing! Thank goodness, too. I didn’t know where he’d fit on the bed!

As for the weekend, Mario and I spent all of Friday running errands like crazy. Elda watches Matthew on Fridays so I only had Brianna, but Mom watched her while we did everything we needed to do.

We had to rush to Home Depot, again, before we picked up Jaylen and Brianna to get some trim for the doors, 1/6 planks for the frames of the hallway entrance and the kids’ closets, paint, nail-gun nails, another door-knob, and I forget what other miscellaneous things we needed. Total cost: $260. Ho-lee-shit. Needless to say, we won’t be using that credit card anymore, no matter how much we “have left” on it.

Mario was a total turd to me that day. He was annoyed from the minute he woke up and kept taking it out on me, especially at Home Depot. He kept rushing me about adding measurements faster for the wood and kept stomping and huffing and being a big baby.

We got home on time to pick up the kids and left Brianna with my mom while Jaylen, Mario and I went to Target to get the games we’d promised the kids for good behavior. Jaylen picked out his, we got the one Eenan wanted and I whined about how I wasn’t going to be able to buy the amazing $104 4-in-1 crib I wanted from Target. I was going to use the credit card, but I restrained myself and we just left (we’re trying to get our credit cards paid off). Mario promised we’d get all the stuff we needed, no matter how much it cost. It just pained me that I could have saved $30 on it!

We picked up Eenan and Brandon, where Mario finally got on my nerves and I cried and told him off. I felt so embarrassed crying at school (hopefully nobody noticed) but I was so fed up and frustrated. He finally got the point and shut up.

Mom stayed with Eenan and the other kids while we deposited money at the bank, picked up a Miter Saw my dad-in-law was borrowing from his friend Ricky, bought some pork ribs for Mario and his dad to bar-b-q, then stopped by at Stars where I picked up a burger since I hadn’t eaten since 10am and was starving. When we get home Mario made himself some Jalapeño Tuna and said he didn’t get a burger since he didn’t want to waste money. I rolled my eyes, since he constantly buys cigarettes and buys beer every-so-often. He did every little thing he could that day to upset me and it didn’t stop later on while we were outside with our parents during the bar-b-q. I could have rung his neck.

He was finally in a good mood later that night while we were watching Take the Lead. He noticed I had my hand on my belly feeling the baby kick so he put his hand in place of where mine was. He finally felt the baby kick! I’ve been feeling her for awhile now, about a week and a half, but he hadn’t. His eyes widened when he felt her. He probably realized, as I did when I first felt her, that this is for real!

My dad-in-law worked on the trim and doors for our rooms and hallway all of Saturday morning. Everything looks SO NICE. I especially love the hallway entrance. All we need to do is buy more joint compound to fill in the nail holes and finish painting. Woo!

Mary got home from work (she actually had to go in on Saturday morning!) she called me over to her car so I could check out some baby things Norma C. had sent over in case I wanted them. I found that kind of strange, but went out anyway. I was so shocked to see my dream crib in her car! She’d told Mario not to let me buy it, to try anything he could because she wanted to get it for me :). How freaking sweet! I can’t wait till Mario puts it together!

Mom and I went grocery shopping at around noon, where I only spent $70 on a whole bunch of groceries and Mom bought me a whole bunch of things I’d been craving. She’s really into the superstition that a pregnant woman should always get a taste of something she craves, and hell, I’m not complaining LOL.

We rushed home and put everything away since I needed to meet Mary and the boys on time to go to the movies to watch Everyone’s Hero. It was a really cute movie. I didn’t think I’d enjoy it, but I honestly did. Next, the kids want to watch How to Eat Fried Worms. 😛

I don’t remember much from yesterday, except that we were lazy till 11am and actually got to sleep in (Mary had the boys). We went to Leo’s to get some tacos and muffins and just enjoyed our ridiculously fatty breakfast. At around 1pm everyone got here for Jose’s (belated) birthday celebration. Elda made Posole and it was good. Annie didn’t come over because she was hurt about something that happened last weekend. Always some kind of drama.

We stayed over there talking till around 4pm, and then Mario and I went to rent more movies and make a payment. We didn’t end up watching anything, but at least that gives us something to do when he gets home from work and we’re kid-free. I didn’t have to watch Matthew this morning so instead of sleeping, I swept and mopped. I need to eat lunch right now and then I’m organizing my bedroom. I’ve been so caught up with the kids’ room I’ve totally neglected ours.

It feels so fresh in the house (as opposed to how hot it feels even with the air on) and it feels great outside. I love rainy days :).

I’ll start with the lows, so that I can end this entry on a more chipper note…

First, I realized that I can’t take the teaching job and that realization sucks. I hate to go all “emo” as John would say, but it seems that everytime a great opportunity knocks on the door, I have to slam the door in it’s face.

I had to work up the courage to call Mrs. C-R and break the news to her. There’s just nobody who can pick the kids up for me. John volunteered to walk to their school and pick them up and bring them home, but I can’t do that to him. Not again. He made me the huge favor of babysitting the kids for me the 9 months I went to school and I can’t do that to him again. I can’t stop him from getting a job (which he’s in the process of doing) just so that I can go and persue something for myself. It’s his turn.

My interview was tomorrow at 2 p.m. She told me to call her tomorrow morning just in case anything changed, but the only thing I’ll be calling her is to confirm my unavailability. I felt so embarrassed and just plain terrible for having to back out. It’s not like I wanted to, but it’s out of my hands at this point. I wish I would have known sooner that there was no way I’d be able to do this. It really sucks.

Another thing that crapped on my day was that I had my doctor’s appointment today and I didn’t get any sono pictures of Alaethia :(. I took a CD-R in so that Dr. C. could record my ultrasound but it obviously didn’t work. The pictures saved in a .CIN format and I searched all morning for a way to convert them (or at least view them) with no luck. Poo. And she grew since my last appointment, too! I can already tell she’s going to be gorgeous :).

Now for the better things:

I had a little trouble getting Eenan to cooperate with me this morning, but eventually he gave in and got ready for school. Jaylen surprised me. I thought he’d fight me on going, but he asked, “Can’t we leave to school already?” when noticed I was taking “too long” to eat my cereal.

Eenan asked me to walk him to his class today, which made me feel like, ‘Yes! He still needs me!’ LOL. I gave him a kiss and he said ‘See ya’ to Jaylen and he went on his merry way.

It was Jaylen’s turn. I gave him a little pep talk on the way to the class.

“You’re going to be a brave boy for me today, right?”

He nods and smiles.

“You’ll be fine. You’ll have fun and be with your friends, like Brianna and I’ll be back for you before you know it, okay?”

He nods again and we get to the door. He gives me a kiss and I watch as he walks into the class. He turns and I blow a kiss to him and wave. As the door’s closing I hear him wail, “MOOOOM!” and I think, “Oh no, not again!”

He’s already in tears when he reaches me and says, “I forgot to give you a hug!” He hugs me and kisses my protruding belly repeatedly. He looks up at me, eyes filled with tears and says, “I don’t want you to leave. I don’t get to spend enough time with you!” I tell him, “It’s okay, Baby. You’re only here for a little while and you get to have fun! I’ll pick you up at 11:30, okay?”

He wipes his tears away and says, “But you’ll never come!” I laugh, wipe his eyes and tell him, “Have I ever forgotten you? No, right? You know I have to pick you and Brianna up. I promise I’ll come for you.” He wipes his face with both hands and we try again. I tell him to have a good day and say hello to Brianna for me, but she’s already sitting at the table eating her breakfast and yells, “Heyyy!” His teacher walks over to me with a huge grin on her face and says, “He’s doing better!” I nod, relieved, and proceed to tell her about his nosebleeds and not to panic if they happen. He knows what to do.

I left feeling so much better than yesterday. I got home and tried waking Mario out of his coma. Mr. Man was busy watching TV till 2:30 a.m. and then kept waking me up to, uh, “cuddle” from 4-5. I finally had to put my foot down and said, “No, means no!”

So needless to say, we were both tired and sleepy. He got dressed and got his stuff together and I sat on the couch to watch TV to help me stay awake. It was 8:25 a.m.; I had my appointment at 10. I ended up falling asleep. I had a feeling I should wake up at what seemed like just 15 minutes but the clock said it was 9:52! I got smoothed out my clothes, fixed my hair really quick and left. I didn’t even get to put make up on. I made it at 10:01!

I had a conversation with a girl I met there who’s 3 months along. She was there to maybe find out the baby’s gender (she wants a girl since she has a boy) and she congratulated me on my girl. We talked about our ailments and previous pregnancies. I didn’t get to ask her what she had, but I hope she got the healthy girl she wanted :).

I was panicking because they took much longer than they usually do today. They finally called me in at 11:12 and I stared at my cellphone till 11:20, when the doctor finally came in. He said we’d be doing the measurements again and the triple-screening (AFP).

We go into the room and I hand him the CD. He tells me he’s really not familiar with the machine, but we’d give it a try (great!).

He measured Alaethia’s head, torso, legs and checked out her spine and said everything looked great. She was moving around a lot this time; she was kicking her little legs, moving from side to side and either she sucked her thumb or touched her face–we couldn’t tell. I asked him to please confirm her gender and he took a still of her bottom. He points to the screen and says, “Ah! That right there’s her little vagina” LOL! I asked him, “So it’s okay to buy her clothes now? and she said, “Sure!”

I weighed 127.8 this time and the nurses said I’m doing great with the weight gain. They were surprised to see how gigantic I am now :P. They also asked about her movements and I told them that I didn’t feel them a lot, but I have been feeling little flutters and “spasms”. I’ve actually been feeling her move much more today. It makes me feel at ease knowing that she’s moving around in there. I was so worried before!

They took my blood (11:30) and I get out of there at 11:33. Thank goodness the school’s nearby; I made it right on time at 11:35. Jaylen ran to the door when he saw me and hugged me, then Brianna grabbed me, too. They were much better behaved today. I felt so overwhelmed yesterday (the kids + not being able to take the job + having to fix Elda’s computer + having to clean up after construction = emotional wreck). It was the cutest thing when Brianna started snuggling up with Mom and then she snuggled up with me. Mom called her my “new daughter” when we had to go pick Eenan up LOL.

John went with me since he had to drop off an application afterwards. It actually didn’t rain at 3 today (it rained both Monday and Tuesday and only at 3 O_o).

We dropped Brandon off at home, then went to Burger King. Got the kids some tenders then we went to get the boys’ haircuts. Jaylen was cooperative, Eenan was throwing fits. He loathes haircuts. He’s always afraid they’re going to cut more than they should, but we go to the same lady everytime and she knows how they like their hair. Didn’t stop him from getting himself into trouble and getting grounded for an extra day, though.

The lady and I spoke about how much the school district sucks, ideas why last year’s principal is now working at Target (no, really), and how the school’s construction is ruining her business. She even complimented my belly and said, “4 or 5 months right? It looks like you’re that far along.” She’s the only one who’s been right. Everyone else freaks out by the size of my stomach LOL.

I also chopped all my hair off on inpulse. Something just came over me. It used to be waist-length, now it’s a little under my shoulders. Crazy. I do love it though. It feels so much healthier. I was due for a haircut.

Mayra asked me about how remodeling’s going and it’s actually picked up speed a little. I helped my dad-in-law finish texturing the walls so now I need to paint. Hopefully those closets will be up in the next 1-2 weeks. I seriously can’t wait!

I also got my beige futon cover and clear frame magnets for my fridge from the ABC catalog. The living room looks like it got a makeover just by changing the cover and my fridge looks so organized and spiffy :).

Once the hallway’s done I want to buy a small mirror and table to give the hallway some life. If not, just this nice corner shelf where I can put some nice vases/trinkets.

At least I have my redecorating to keep me busy now that I’ll be home for this entire pregnancy.