Nothing More Exciting Than Parenting
Sat., Dec. 27th – I woke up, ate breakfast, and got to cleaning. I played with Aly and checked the movie times for Tale of Despereaux. We hadn’t been to the movies in a while and though we never finished reading the book, I really wanted to see the movie during the holidays. Plus, the kids wanted to go, too LOL.
We watched Wall-E while we waited for the time to pass. Mary brought in bag-fulls of stuff Yvonne sent for Aly, like Princess bags, Sesame Street toys, a helmet and pads. She had a blast looking through everything, like it was Christmas all over again.
We braved taking Alaethia with us, since she is getting a little older and can actually watch a movie now that she actually has somewhat of an attention span. I was sure to pack her diaper bag with her Gerber Stars, yogurt bites and other snacks.
When we got into the theatre, it was dark and they were already showing the previews. She kept saying—loudly—”Why’s it so dark? I can’t see!” It was funny, but everyone kept turning to stare.
Even though I tried fishing everything out of her bag to keep her busy before she started screaming, she was really talkative and wouldn’t sit still. Mario wanted to get up and leave, but I told him to watch the movie and be quiet; she was tired and just needed to be rocked to sleep. She talks a lot when she’s sleepy, like her Mama, heh. But sure enough, after some rocking she was fast asleep. I got to enjoy the rest of the movie. The kids and I didn’t get very far in the book, but from what I read and saw in the movie, they’re completely different from each other!
We went to Target then Walmart to cash Mario’s pay check after the movie. We bought some meat from T-Rey’s (gosh I hate how meat markets smell, especially when I’m pregnant) for yet another bar-b-q. We got home and I started cleaning. I still have a lot to go. I mainly organized things, in my room and Alaethia’s. When I got tired I went outside with everyone. Aly was moody so I went inside to Mary’s with most of the women. We ate and talked and then I came back to my house since Aly still felt warm. Since the last time she’d gotten a fever she’d only get them at night, and only for a while. This time she’d gotten it earlier though and she was hysterical. I couldn’t understand what was wrong with her. She’d kind of rub her ear, cheek and the side of her neck, but when I’d ask her if her ears, throat or teeth were bothering her she’d scream no. The little canker sore she’d had was totally gone, too, so it wasn’t that.
I was up all night with her. She’d fall asleep but then would wake up crying and screaming her head off. I felt like I was going insane. It didn’t help that she’d gotten ahold of a Lysol wipe earlier during the evening (Mario took them out and I forgot to put them back in the drawer =/) and I was afraid she’d gotten an upset tummy in case she’d put it in her mouth. Heck, I was afraid the chemicals were ripping up her insides! I asked her if she’d been sucking on it but she just smiled and said “no”. I called everywhere, including the number on the Lysol package and the Poison Control Center and nothing was open. I couldn’t believe it. I gave her a little bread and milk (the usual foods they tell you to give them when they ingest something they shouldn’t) and started doing research online. Every site I went to said there wasn’t any harm if ingested…but do call an ambulance if you get the liquid in your eyes!? How strange.
After another hour and half of Alaethia screaming her head off I called Mario and asked him to come in at 1:30. Why should I be the only parent worried sick? Hey, I want to be outside relaxing with everyone, too. So, reluctantly, he came in, complaining the whole time of course. She was so hysterical by the time Mario came in that she cried threw up from crying so much. We stayed up till around 2:15am and I woke up with her every hour after that. Tomorrow would definitely consist of a trip to her night/weekend doctor.
Sun., Dec. 28th – It was Grandpa D’s birthday. We woke up super late, around noon for being up with Aly all night. The tamales I was going to help Mary, Elda and Mom with were already done. We had some of the tamales, cake and sang happy birthday and excused ourselves to take Alaethia to the weekend pediatric clinic. I couldn’t remember what time they opened, but thankfully they’d been open an hour when we arrived. There weren’t a lot of people in the lobby, so that was good. The nurse told me I’d have to call her regular doctor and ask for an authorization. I found that a little strange since it’s usually the office that has to call. So I called and sure enough, the CSR that answered told me to ask the office to call and ask for the authorization themselves. So I did, even though the guy looked a little annoyed about it.
It took about 10 minutes, but he let me know that Dr. C. gave them the okay to see her. We entertained her with her Spongebob Magna Doodle and Gerber Stars while we waited.
Once we were in the room they let us know that she had an ear infection in both ears, the left one being severe. They prescribed cough/congestion medicine, Motrin for her fevers, some ear drops and an antibiotic. We had to go all the way back to McAllen to Lee’s Pharmacy because it was the only pharmacy that was open after 6pm. As soon as we got home, we gave her the meds. She wanted to go to her room to watch a movie (Terabithium or Wizard of Oz, one of them) so we made her all comfy and she relaxed. I was really behind on dishes and was about to start washing them when Mario told me to sit down; we had a movie date. We watched Journey to the Center of the Earth and then Baby Mama. I removed my acrylic nails while we watched Baby Mama. It took forever, but it felt so good to have them off. I can only have fake nails on for so long.
We paused the movies several times because Alaethia needed this or that so they felt like they were really long LOL. I started cleaning after the movies finished. I stayed up till 2:30 with Aly who refused to fall asleep and then passed out. She was still feverish, but she slept much better than the night before. You have no idea how glad I was to be on vacation; there’s no way I’d be able to stay up with her that late when it was a work night!