Category: Friendship

Alaethia woke me up at 3:30am for some milk and I couldn’t sleep from the horrible stinging pain in my lower abdomen. I had an immense urge to pee and still, nothing. I didn’t fall asleep till around 4:30. I felt like death warmed over at 5:20 when my alarm went off. I was going to try and tough it out till today, the day of my actual prenatal appointment but no…I felt awful and called in. I couldn’t get any actual sleep since I had to wait till 6am to call Mrs. V. about my absence and then wait till 6:30am to report my absence.

Jaylen woke up before I even went in there to wake him up. He had diarrhea. He said he was too sick to go to school and had stomach cramps…then asked if he could play video games. Um, no. I told him he could stay, but no games since he was to use that time to recover from illness. At the last minute he decides he wants to go to school, so fine. I told him to call if he still felt ill. Mary took them to school and I got to sleep for 30 minutes before Alaethia woke up. Good thing she was in a good mood.

I made chorizo and egg tacos for breakfast and coffee. I woke Mario up, who freaked out because I was still there (he thought I was waking him up at 6 LOL). I got dressed and ate and left to the doctor after Mario left to work.

When I was signing up and saying hello to everyone I asked if I could have my prenatal appointment that day since I was to have it today anyway. They said sure.

Took an hour and a half for them to call me in, but I didn’t mind too much since I was reading. I had to squeeze my legs together from the pain though; I still felt as bad as the night before.

They called me in and I got weighed (133.4 *gulp*) and gave them a urine sample. When the doctor came in to see me he said I must barely be getting the infection because hardly anything came up in the specimen! Shoot, if that’s how it feels when it’s barely starting out, I don’t even want to know what a full-blown UTI feels like! I only ever get them when I’m pregnant, and never have they felt like this!

I took out my camera to take video of the ultrasound—because today was the day I’d find out the gender!! The doctor starts rolling the wand around my belly, taking measurements, showing me the beautiful heartbeat and showing me various parts of the little body. And yes! He starts looking for the privates; every which way he’d move the wand, trying to get a view from every angle. But Baby wouldn’t let us see! Dr. C. even went as far as jiggling my stomach back and forth with the wand to wake up the baby, but nope, nothing worked! He said we’d check again in two weeks when they do the AFP.

They gave me my antibiotic prescription and let me know they were moving offices by my next appointment…to MISSION!!! Not cool. I hate driving all the way over there and it’s going to be so inconvenient; I’m going to have to call in half a day for every appointment! I’m going to test it out my next appointment and see if I get there on time (by 4:00) after picking the boys up at 3:20. It takes about 20 minutes to drive over there…no, maybe around 25. I might just make it.

On the way to the pharmacy I call Mario and let him know how his baby wants to keep us in suspense. I call Mary to tell her the same (I didn’t call Mom because she won’t hear me over the phone; would rather tell her in person). 5 minutes into our conversation she asks if Jaylen’s called. I tell her no, he hasn’t, and then the other line beeps. It’s Jaylen’s school nurse; she’s got him in the office because he feels sick again. I told her I’d be right there.

After I pick Jaylen up and we park in the drive way I get a phone call. It says District of Colombia. WTF? I answer and it’s the Border Patrol investigator trying to get ahold of Mario. I give him Mario’s cell number.

I’d spoken to Sally the day before and we’d made plans so that she could come over and pick up Bobo, Jose’s goose who will now be Sally’s, and we made a date to meet at Olive Garden. Mario promptly calls me back after speaking to the investigator asking for a favor: ironed clothes dropped off at his job site because he was meeting with him in person. I ironed his clothes, quickly ate lunch, and unfortunately had to cancel plans with Sally since I was going to be driving back and forth all over the place. We decided Sunday would probably be better.

Jaylen went along with me and he fell asleep on the way. I think that’s why he likes to be in the car…it helps him sleep. We dropped Mario’s stuff off and he and Jorge showed us the massive house that’s their current project: a 5 bedroom house on two lots in a fancy subdivision. I’d love to see it complete! We went back home and chilled out for a little bit and then picked up Eenan.

I didn’t get to rest at all, but I was feeling much better by the end of the day. Poor Mom and Mary had both caught Jaylen’s 24-hour bug, so they weren’t doing too good. When Mario got home he told me how the investigator said it’ll be another 5 days of the background check and then a month or less till they call him to the Academy. I’m so nervous!!

My appointment went really well the last day I updated, aside from feeling incredibly annoyed by that woman. People never really bother me, because I can usually block everyone out, but she was so loud. Anyway, I weighed in at 127.9, so I gained about a pound and a half. Dr. C. did a sono and I saw my lil’ one’s heart beating for the first time! It was lovely. It confirmed everything for me and gave me a sense of relief. And we saw him/her moving! I’d never seen them move so much at this stage, ever! The little arm nubs were moving up and down; it was the cutest thing. As for my blood work: everything came back healthy and normal, even my blood sugar! Laura said it’s like nothing was ever wrong with me. As she escorted me down the hall she put her arm around me and said I was an inspiration, especially because Mom’s sugar’s been very good, too, since I found out I was borderline diabetic. I can safely say I’m not diabetic right now, though I still have to be careful. You can see the full update here

I came home and showed the kids the sono pic and spent some time with them before John and I met Mario at Target during his lunch. We were on a mission to find a sports coat, so he could return his suit. We found nothing. We went to Ross right next door, which was actually Mario’s idea. I hadn’t even thought of Ross! We found a nice coat and shirt right away. He kissed me goodbye and I dragged John to the maternity section to hopefully find some clothes, but I only found a plum colored blouse and some maternity sweat pants.

We went to JC Penny next to return his suit and look for a matching tie. It took forever trying to find something that was half-decent and matched the shirt, especially since the coat looked green in fluorescent lighting, brown in natural light. I finally decided on an off-white/light yellow shirt and matched a tie. I was starving by the time we left the mall. I wanted Kumori but John didn’t want to go so I settled for Taco Bell. We took Mario a drink to work and showed him his new duds. He was satisfied, thankfully. We made one last stop at Hancock Fabrics to find some maternity panels for my pants. A nice lady helped me find the panels. I asked if they were demi panels and she said they were. Cool. Got some nice fabric for new curtains for the kitchen since I want a change. I’ve had my cherry theme in there since 2002 or so!

Mary was going to mail out Mario’s documents for Border Patrol on Thursday, but he forgot to sign 4 sheets. So there I go, dragging John along with me, all the way to McAllen to get them from Mary, take them to Mario to sign and mail off. Well, that’s the plan. What really happens is all the ladies I speak run into want to talk about the baby and Mario going to the BP Academy. Usually I don’t mind, but I’ve only got 40 minutes to get everything signed and sent off.

Get to Mario’s, who’s in a bad mood, and he signs everything. Mail everything off Priority at the post office and then rush to Hancock Fabrics (rush because John’s being a pain) to return the maternity panels because they ended up being these huge things that I’d have to sew into an oval in my old pants. No thanks. Too much work. So I returned them and bought the upholstery for the kitchen chairs instead, which is a beige vinyl. I learned my lesson: no non-washable fabrics for these chairs! The boys stained them all in a week when we first got them!

Mario had his oral interview on Friday. We woke up super early and I made him breakfast. I made myself some, too and stayed awake because I couldn’t sleep from the excitement. I finally did fall asleep around 8am, for about an hour before getting a call from Sally. She wanted to meet up for lunch. I quickly got up, cleaned up, took a shower and got ready to go. Mario called with the awesome news that he’d passed that part of the process! I made some quick lunch for everyone from the shredded chicken we had left over from the chalupas I’d made the night before. Sally arrived and we went to eat at Chili’s, talking about her and Pete’s upcoming wedding (yay!!!), my pregnancy and everything else in between.

Mary, Mom, the kids and I all went to the outlets the next morning to exchange the boys’ shoes for smaller sizes. Everything went smoothly and thank God, they had their sizes available (the last time they didn’t, hence going back this time).

We ate at Long John Silver’s (always a treat because we don’t have one nearby). Alaethia ate really well. It’s always great to see her eat because she doesn’t always want to eat actual FOOD.

We took Mom and the kids back home so I could go shopping for work clothes. I got a nice amount of maternity clothes for work that’ll look great even while I’m at this awkward stage where my old clothes don’t fit and maternity clothes are still too big. I got a shitton of clothes at Ross and only spent about $70! When we got home Mom already had her specialty made: burritos! They were SO GOOD.

On Sunday, we went to Target, Payless (where I got new ballet flats and Mom got me a new purse for work and shoes for Aly), met Andy and Noelia and went to the mall and I can’t even remember where else. Oh yes, and I picked up my makeup bag at Sally’s. Quentin is so big already with the most beautiful gray/hazel eyes! I chatted with her and Pete for a bit and she’s so sweet: she bought me a few maternity things and threw some extra stuff in! I love that girl :).

I did nothing on Monday, on purpose because I had to do laundry, clean the bathroom and get everything ready for work. I watched The Wizard of Oz with Alaethia, which is her favorite movie of the moment. Well, it has been for about a month. She’s in her “favorites” stage. She’ll watch it all day if possible and sings ‘la, la, la, la, la’ during the Munchkin song. For about a week I’d have to sing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” to her in order for her to fall asleep. She’s got her favorite stuffed bear, named Bunny. Her favorite blanket (that sounds like Bacon when she says it). Her favorite drinks are owanjuice (orange juice) and milk.

I had trouble sleeping last night, because of Alaethia, of course, who woke up 3 times and because I had to pee. I got ready just in time and got to work right on time. Eenan was the only kiddo awake to see me off, aww. I got to work and said hello to everyone and Mrs. V. got there a few minutes after I did. They were waxing our floors so there was furniture everywhere but it was really nice to be back. We quickly got to looking through inventory and checking off a mental to-do list while we walked around. We were looking through the laptops when she asked how my summer was and I found my chance. I told her I had a surprise. She stops what she’s doing, looks at me and says, “You’re pregnant!” and I say, “Yes, I am!” She hugs me and I tell her how I found out and my reaction and everything. We talk about maternity leave and then she asks what I’ll do afterwards. As nervous as I was to hear her reaction, I told her I didn’t think I’d be going back because Mom couldn’t watch both babies. She tells me, “As a mom, I’d stay home and take care of the babies. If I’d had the choice I would have stayed home. As an employer–” and she writhes and clutches her fists and throws them into the air in frustration LOL. She continues, “I’d stay home. Family comes first. You do what you need to do.” I could have thrown my arms around her and hugged her…and bawled. It went so much better than I thought it would. I’m seriously lucky to have her as my boss *tear*.

I spent a few hours putting Newberry labels on books then helped the office staff with 6th grade registrations. The principal taught me how to use the program really quick and he was impressed with how quickly I caught on (he told me himself during lunch *beams*). After lunch, which was some delicious botanas they ordered for us, I went back to help and then was sent to the office since Vero, who was manning the phones, had an emergency. I spent the afternoon reading the news (with the principal’s permission) and answering phones and taking messages. It was such a good day, really. Hope tomorrow’s awesome, too. Just 3 more weeks of work and then we have a 3-day weekend, heh!

I haven’t updated because I’ve been out and about. Friday, the 25th, we lazied around the house and then John, Alaethia and I went to Kumori. I called first to make sure they were open since some parts of McAllen still didn’t have electricity.

I wasn’t too happy with my visit that day. They were packed, so I wasn’t too bitchy, but they took forever to bring us our Miso soup, which made Alaethia throw a fit. Not even the chopsticks were keeping her busy. Then they took forever with the food and never came around to refill our lemonades, which they’re usually right on top of. Alaethia was not happy in her high chair so we tried eating as fast as possible so we could leave. She’d done so well the last time we took her LOL.

On Saturday we didn’t go anywhere since we were having a get together for Elda’s birthday, which had been on the 23rd but we were in the middle of a hurricane so we didn’t do anything. I contributed a Dump Cake (really have to add that recipe; it’s more delicious than it sounds!) and we had Shrimp Cocktail as the main course, yum. Mario got to Yadira’s early (where we were having the party) and I get a text from Maggie inviting us over for brisket that Hiram was making. We picked up some sodas and went over. Alaethia stayed with Mom (the mosquitoes were awful and her bites get really infected), Eenan slept over at Mary’s as always and Jaylen had gone with us but their boys were with their grandma so poor Jaylen was bored. Well, somewhat. He got to play games on their computer and then went outside to the garage with us where Jorge let hi play Guitar Hero. Jorge is obsessed with it! Jaylen caught on pretty fast.

We woke up late Sunday morning and browsed through the ads online, fed the kiddos and then Mario and I went on a date. We ate at Whataburger and then went to the movies. We watched Step Brothers, which was kind of disturbing and so ridiculous it was funny. John was going to go with u