Category: Domestic-ness

I spent the whole morning cleaning, filing and throwing away papers (what do other people do with their statements and kids art and stuff?!) and desperately looking for my truck’s new license plate stickers. I’d bought them the very last day of August, when they expired, and kept asking Mario to please stick them on my window for me. I’d of done it myself, except Mario makes it seem all difficult; he breaks out the Windex and a razor. Anyway, I was near tears when Mario runs into our bedroom waving the papers. I was so relieved. I felt so guilty thinking I’d lost $75. Mario said he found it in my center console. And guess who put it there? HE DID!! He says he remembers me telling him to put them on my window and when he couldn’t find his razor he left them in the console. I could have strangled him.

I watched the Alvin and the Chipmunks movie with Alaethia during loads of laundry. She was quiet, observing, and then grinned when she saw the chipmunks singing. It amazes me that she likes movies rather than cartoons. She has her favorites, like Little Bill and Blues Clues, but she can actually make it through a whole movie, too. I don’t think the boys had the attention span for movies till they were around 3.

I checked my e-mail pretty late, around 5pm, and when I was going through the Sunday ads I noticed they had the Playstation 3 for the same price, but with a $40 gift card. I told Mario about it and he said, “Let’s go, then!”

We went to the store and got a $3 refund for some reason and the $40 gift card. It took a while, because the girl didn’t know how to do the return, but we got it nonetheless. Mario bought himself Iron Man for $19 and he bought me this cute, pink polka-dotted robe I’d wanted, aww. I finally have a decent short robe! All my other ones have been down to my ankles and/or fleece!

We got home and I took a shower. Elda had Alaethia with her for a while, because Alaethia loves to visit (probably because Jose buys her love with candies), and she brought her back and I bathed her. She fell asleep at 9:30, which normally I’d love but I was waiting for laundry. I hate that. It always works that way. When she actually falls asleep early, I’ve got stuff to do.

She was so cute lying on the couch with her babies. Babies being her plushies like her white seal (which she calls “Fishie”), her brown furry bear (named “Bunny”), her Doggie and several of the same bunny plush in different colors. She swaddles her babies in dish towels she finds in the kitchen, pillowcases or whatever small rag she comes across. I remember the boys were into stuffed animals, but not like her. She seriously takes care of them and needs to have at least two with her when she’s napping, sleeping in her crib or out somewhere.

She also loves human babies. She points them out in stores and has a fit if I don’t let her pat their hand (with their mommy’s permission) or wave at them. She’ll say, “Look at the baby, Mom!” She doesn’t think she’s a baby at all. I’m hoping this’ll make it easier on her when her baby sister arrives. We’ve told her about the new baby (who’s still nameless!) and she seems pretty excited. I’m praying I can give them both the attention they need as baby and toddler, and my growing boys, too.

I watched “The 1000 Pound Mom” or something like that, on TLC while I was waiting for the laundry. It was about this morbidly obese woman and how she was going to go through the weight loss surgery as her last resort, to live for her two daughters. She had complications and died. How very sad. I was in tears at the end when her older girl was crying. She was so young. I noticed she was always on Myspace, so I looked her up and it was sad to see that she’d actually signed on March 4th, which is the day she passed.

When I finally got the last load of laundry into the dryer I got into bed. It felt SO GOOD to just lay there. Alaethia woke up as soon as I was about to drift into sleep and was energized and ready to play. This was around 11pm. She stayed up till 1am, flailing her arms and squealing. Finally, I could sleep.

Only to be woken up by Mario–bless him—snoring like a dying rhinoceros at 4am. I tried ignoring it, pushing my pillow as far into my ears as it would go and eventually I even shook him so he’d turn over to a more comfortable, less snore-inducing position and NOTHING.

Alaethia even woke up and told him, “Be quiet, Daddy-O!”

Yes: Daddy-O. The boys jokingly call him that so she picked it up. She rarely calls him Daddy; it’s either Daddy-O, or Babe LOL.

I looked at the clock and it glowed 4:50. There was no way I was going to make it through that day.

Sun, Nov. 9th – We woke up with a cold and soggy bed. Alaethia slept most of the night (in our bed obviously) which meant I slept most of the night and I didn’t change her diaper. Just the push I needed to start laundry early.

We had breakfast at Mary’s, as we usually do on Sunday. I spent the whole day cleaning. The house was in desperate need of it; let’s just say I hadn’t had a chance to mop in about two weeks. Bless Mario—he tried watching the kids but he was also outside and playing on his laptop so, um, I could have used more help, heh.

Mario was going to bar-b-q for lunch, but since it was going to take a while I made hamburger helper and brownies. John came over and made me laugh for a while then Jennifer, Aide, Adan and Belle came over. I was washing the pile of dishes that had accumulated since the day before and although I felt awkward cleaning I had to. My feet were killing me. I timed everything so that I’d be done with most of the cleaning by 8’oclock. You don’t bother me at 8 o’clock on Sundays—Desperate Housewives is on. Mario lay on the couch with me and though I told him I still needed to bathe he walked to the bedroom, got nice and comfy and fell asleep. I was so pissed. I woke him and he reluctantly go up at 9 to watch Alaethia while I showered.

Mon., Nov. 10th – I had the mini vomits all. day. long. I’d started having never-ending heartburn the week before: even cantaloupe gives me heartburn!

I started going to lunch earlier, at 11:30, like I’d planned to. Going to lunch from 1-1:30pm (I have breakfast at 6am) just wasn’t cutting it anymore. It was cool going to lunch so late before, because then it felt like the rest of the day just whizzed by and by the time I knew it, it was 3:00.

Sometimes I wouldn’t even have a chance to have a snack at 9:30, so I’d be shaking and starving by the time Mrs. V. got back from her lunch. That’s what caused me to develop diabetes in May to begin with–totally not what I need right now during this pregnancy.

I had everything done around the house since the day before, so I got to chill out and upload pics to my Flickr. Well, I did have a bit of laundry to do, but that was it.

Mom and the in-laws bar-b-q’d outside, so I didn’t even have to make dinner. We got the final details down for Mario’s birthday on Wednesday, the 12th. I had the perfect idea for his present, and it was such a great deal at Walmart! Even better: Mary said we’d go halfers on it! I was going to call in on Wednesday since I had my glucose screening and it was going to take forever, so I could go shopping right after the appointment.

Tues., Nov. 11th – I had another one of those ugly, vivid dreams Monday night—only this time it was about Alaethia. It was a really long dream but the short version is:

We were at my school, which was some kind of dorm. We had a suite and the boys were already asleep, Mario was out and I already had the baby, who looked exactly like Alaethia only smaller. I was having trouble putting Alaethia to sleep (just like I was in real life that night) and when she finally went to sleep I sneaked off to pee. I washed my face and when I opened my eyes and looked in the mirror I saw something rush behind me in the reflection. I turn around and some brown, slimy lizard creature lunged at me and tried attacking me with these tiny, razor-sharp teeth. I was terrified and tried choking it but when it refused to give up I started banging its spine against the corner of the sink. When I felt it go limp I looked at it…and it was Alaethia, only much smaller and the same brown, speckled color as the lizard creature. I screamed in horror as I see her little head bob to one side and her arms hang limp. I kept telling myself in the dream that no, this creature was trying to trick me and make me believe it was Alaethia, but it wasn’t. As hard as it was for me to do I lay the Alaethia clone on the floor and scream for help. Someone was in the hallway and I asked them to please check if Alaethia was asleep in bed, it was an emergency. I kept watch on the creature, sobbing because I wasn’t sure what was going on, and I’d never forgive myself if this really was Alaethia. The woman helping me ran and checked and when she came back she was panting and said, “She’s not in bed! That’s her! Don’t hurt her!”

I turned and looked at the creature on the ground and my heart banged in my ears. I woke up after that and couldn’t sleep at all. It should be illegal to have dreams like that. I prayed and prayed to God to let me sleep and erase that dream from my memory. But when I finally did fall asleep I had another horrible dream, this time about some hollow, dying dogs that Jorge, Mario’s friend, had given us. That one was terrible, too, but nothing’s more awful than bad dreams about my kids.

I thought about the dream all day and almost started bawling when I told Mrs. V., and later Mrs. Ruiz about it. I texted Mario in the morning and told him about how awful the dreams were and what a crappy day I felt I was going to have. I even forgot to put on deodorant!

The day would have gone even worse had Mrs. V. not returned when she did from running errands around the school…I didn’t leave for lunch till 11:37. I was so glad she got back and once I actually had lunch, the day became a little brighter.

I got home and just wanted to chill out and relax, but I get a text from Mario letting me know he’s got his birthday off! There was no way I’d have a chance to buy his gift the next day and surprise him so I had no choice but to go to Walmart that same evening. I go online to check the prices one more time and realize I’ve made a huge boo-boo: the Playstation 3 bundle I wanted to buy him was only sold online. It wouldn’t get here till November 27th! I called around looking for other specials or bundles but had no luck. I was lucky Target had some available.

It took some convincing, but I finally got the boys in the Equinox. They hate going anywhere, especially to town, during the week after school. Reminds me of their father, heh. They were looking forward to spending the money they’d saved up. Eenan had $13 because he got $10 from the Tooth Fairy and I knew Jaylen had been saving money, but I had no idea how much. I took his word when he told me he also had $13.

We got to Target and I got Mario the console, the cooling bundle with remote, a Blu-Ray movie: Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and the 3-yr warranty. That’s really why Mario’s always wanted the PS3: for the Blu-Ray player.

The boys wanted to stop by Game Stop since they didn’t find anything at Target. Eenan bought himself a game for his DS and Jaylen got one for his beloved Game Cube. He passes me his little Transformers wallet and I unzip it. With our Game Stop discount his game came out to $9.50. I thought Cool, he’ll even have some left over. I look into the wallet and I don’t know whether to laugh or scream: there’s two dollar bills and the rest are pennies and quarters, mostly pennies. I glare at him and pull a $10 out of my wallet. He smiles.

I’m raising a con artist.

Sun., Oct. 26th – I woke up around 8:30 and I didn’t know why since I was still very sleepy after waking up twice during the night. I lied on my back and felt a huge lump on the right side of my belly. The baby was balled up there. When I pressed my hand to my belly to feel her, she freaked out and hid!

Alaethia woke up at 9:30 (she’d slept 12 straight hours!). She was peeking at me through the slats of her crib and I couldn’t help but get up, take her in my arms and cover her with kisses. We hugged tightly all the way to the living room and lay on the couch. She asked for a cup of milk so I got up and prepared her sippy and we cuddled some more. Mary invited us over for pancakes so we went over. Mario was still asleep. Alaethia didn’t really eat breakfast; she only actually eats breakfast when she feels like it. I still blame it on my mother letting her sleep till 11am all of last year while I was working and giving her “breakfast” at noon. Grrr.

We went to Sonia’s for her birthday that afternoon. The men were bar-b-qing on the huge grill outside. Andy and Noelia got Alaethia some cute Hello Kitty hair clippies and she wanted them on right away. We were outside for a while and then went to eat at Yadira’s next door since it was hot and there were tons of flies everywhere. The food was awesome. We chilled out for a while and then came home. I got everything ready for work the next day, including making lunch for both Mario and I at 10pm. Alaethia and I went to bed around 10:30, but didn’t actually fall asleep till 11-something since Alaethia was rolling around in bed. (Baby’s kicking right now…feel her hit one side, then the other :D). She slept all night again!

Mon., Oct. 27th – Back to work. Ah, Mondays. Luckily, once again it was a good Monday. Mario texted me during the day and asked if I wanted to go to Walmart, since we didn’t get to go during the weekend. I said sure. I did everything I needed to do, including dinner for the kids and Mom while we were gone and taking a shower so I wouldn’t have to rush later. We cashed his paycheck at the bank and were surprised to find that none of the phones were working–not the cell phones or land lines. It was really strange.

Tues., Oct. 28th – A nice cold front finally came in. It was the perfect day to wear slippers, since that day was Slipper Day for Red Ribbon Week. I was so comfortable all day. I almost felt like leaving them at work so I could wear when my feet hurt, but I’d feel funny, heh.

Wed., Oct. 29th – We were having a teacher-against-student basketball game that doubled as a canned food drive (that was your entry fee) so I tried being on top of everything all day so that I could just go to lunch and then go straight to the game without leaving anything unfinished.

I knew my plan wasn’t going to work out when my boss didn’t go to lunch till 12:15 and took 45 minutes instead of the half-hour we’re all supposed to take. So I didn’t end up going to lunch till 1:15 and by the time I got back at 1:45 it was kind of late. The game started at 1:30 and the boss kept talking to me about the upcoming field trip so I kind of had no choice anyway. Then she asks, “Weren’t you going to the game?” Um…I wanted to. But I just said, “Nah, I changed my mind.” When Jamie was passing by I just gave him the two cans and got back to work. What a bummer.

Thurs., Oct. 30th – The baby’s moving like crazy. I can feel her across my belly; from the bottom of the left side of my belly to the top of my right side, right under my ribs. Mario walked in when I was sitting in the chair in the living room with Alaethia asleep on my left side and he said, “Woah, your pansa’s really grown in the last three days!”

I’d noticed it, too. It was as though I inflated from one day to the next. It’s so relieving to feel her move more often now. Before I could really feel her move I felt apprehensive all the time, wondering if she’s okay. But now that I can actually do my kick counts (which I believe are what helped me realize I was going into premature labor with Jaylen) I can sleep in peace (well, when Alaethia and my bladder allow, heh).

Fri., Oct. 31st – Halloween! My kiddos were so excited, especially Jaylen and Eenan, who were wearing their costumes to school.

We had a Red Ribbon Week pep rally that also doubled as an assembly for Adrian, a little boy we’d been fundraising for with leukemia. A group of our most musical teachers got together and set up a band. They were so awesome. The kids were all into it. They were playing oldies, like “Johnny B. Goode” and one of our big, tough 8th grade boys got out on the floor and started doing The Twist! He was later joined by one of the teachers and another boy, Robert.

A while later three boys were beat-boxing, two of them being “troublemakers” who are always in ISS. They astounded everyone…they were really good! They even had some break-dancing going on, which took me right back to high school. Ah, memories.

When I picked up the kids and then everyone else started getting home, we all chilled out on the back porch. Elda was finishing up decorating for Brandon’s (Halloween) birthday party the next day, so we kept her company out there. Mario got home and we got kids dressed in their costumes—well, we tried to anyway– Jaylen threw a fit because he was sleepy and I “was taking too long”.

(boys pic will come soon…it’s on Mario’s camera)

After the boys were ready I went in to get Alaethia dressed up. Getting her dress and shoes on were easy…it was her hair that took forever! She kept squealing and crying and is not a fan of being sprayed with detangler, hair spray and smothered in gel. But once I got both braids almost even on each she made SUCH an adorable Dorothy! Add to that her picnic basket and plush Toto and OMG…I could have swallowed her whole!

After we mingled with everyone outside for a while more we got the kids in the truck and decided where to go. We stopped by Chris’ first, where we saw his whole family (I hadn’t seen Nancy in forever!) and Yadira, Jorge and the kids were there. Matthew made such a cute Buzz Lightyear!

We went to Chris’ neighbor’s house next. She gave the kids age-appropriate treats which I thought was really sweet. She talked to us for a while and the kids admired her eyeballs-in-a-jar and this creepy dude with red eyes.

I guess it was either the fact that it was football night or the economy, but there were hardly any houses giving out candy! The neighborhood we usually go to was empty. We only went to two houses there, one on the way home and the rest were around our neighborhood. Which I guess was fine anyway since we still ended up with 3 large Ziplocs full!

The kids really enjoyed themselves. Alaethia loved her actual first year of trick-or-treating. She clutched on to her heavy little basket and willingly went up to everyone asking for candy. When we were done we came home and chilled out with everyone outside. Cat, Annie and the kids were outside and so was Jose, Elda and their kids, Mary, Mom and the rest of us. It was a good night.

Sat., Nov. 1st – We didn’t do much most of the day. I kept reminding Mario to go pick up his paycheck but he didn’t want to, then put Adan in charge of picking his up when he picked up his own. Mario didn’t want to leave till he had his check cashed, just in case, so needless to say we spent most of the day at home. I was going to contribute a Kitty Litter Cake for Brandon’s party but I needed to get the supplies. By the time Adan brought the check and we left there was an hour till the party—there was NO WAY I was going to get shopping done and come home and bake the cake.

I was worried about the party starting and not being home to get Alaethia ready (the boys can ready themselves, really), but Mary and Noelia had gotten Aly ready, thank goodness. I think they even did a better job with her hair LOL.

Elda’s people started arriving but the rest of the immediate family stayed in Mary’s room. Noelia and Andy came over with their stuff and got ready here. Yazmin got here in her Dorothy costume and she hated it. They convinced me to dress up in it but I just looked like a really ROUND Dorothy so I said no thanks LOL. Noelia had brought an extra costume, a Flashdance one, so Yazmin wore that one. Annie was La Chilindrina, a character from El Chavo Del 8 and brought an extra costume of another character from that same show. Yadira was wearing a witch costume of Annie’s, but she didn’t like it so I wore that one and Yadira wore the extra one Annie had. It was hilarious LOL.

Adan, Aide and Belle came over, too. Belle looked adorable as Boo from Monster’s Inc. Adan and Aide were dressed up as Mobsters—too cute, and such a great idea since everyone seems to be obsessed with Mobster’s at the moment, especially my own husband!

Chris and Nancy were here, too—Chris was El Chavo and Nancy was a genie. She’s so tiny she wore one of Angela’s old costumes!

It was a fun night of chasing Aly around and mingling with everyone. We were all exhausted by the end of the night. Alaethia wouldn’t stop torturing poor Belle. Every time we heard a thud, we knew Alaethia had bullied her cousin again. She has this obsession with stealing her pacifier! She never even used one as a baby.

It’s great spending time with family. It’s such a pain that I don’t get to take as many photos as I used to or blog about my days like before, but at least I’ve got the memories :).

[This is the latest I’ve stayed up (willingly) on a work night in a while…I’m updating this on 11-10…you love how I’m updating a week late LOL. One day I’ll be back to normal again, I swear.]