Category: MLV

We didn’t do much on Halloween night. It was actually kind of, dare I say it, boring?

I made the worm cups, which sadly were only enough for the kids since I didn’t buy enough chocolate pudding. Mary made Mummys, which are weeners surrounded by Pilsbury croissants. Mario said he’d try his best to get out of work early, but of course that didn’t work out so we didn’t end up going trick-or-treating. Every Halloween, when we’ve taken the kids trick-or-treating, Mario’s the one who drives and tells us which houses to avoid. I don’t know who the heck to trust in these neighborhoods, so I didn’t even try it. The kids didn’t mind though–Elda invited them to go trick-or-treating at her Grandma’s and other places, but they didn’t want to go. Instead we (Mom, Mary, Noelia, the boys and I) passed out candy to the kids of the neighborhood. Eenan was on a sugar high so he was screaming, “We have candy for sale, People!” and we kept correcting him that it wasn’t for sale and he was scaring the people away by screaming but he didn’t care. Jaylen saw a classmate and later on during the night Jason and Mireya brought Brianna over, who was a little Geisha and looked SO cute and like the real thing!

There weren’t any more trick-or-treaters after 8:30, so I brought the kids in and bathed them and put them to bed (which was really hard considering how much candy they’d had).

I can’t remember much from Wednesday and Thursday (damn this pregnancy amnesia). I think all I did on Wednesday (or was it Thursday?) was go to H-E-B to pick up the Whipped Cream I was missing for the pumpkin pie I was craving. Since I had Jaylen with me, he of course just *had* to ask for something so I got ice cream (chocolate chip cookie dough) and ice cream cups. He apparently forgot about them because he hasn’t asked for any till this day.

All I did on Thursday was accompany John and his death mobile car (with Jaylen in tow) to the Lube place to get some things done to his car. Of course it overheated on the way over there and that’s because we didn’t go far at all. Total of the three things John got done to his car? $59–and he still needs to get his radiator flushed which is another $65. I was so afraid we wouldn’t make it home on time to pick up Eenan, but thankfully we did.

I was so relieved when Thursday night came around because that means that Mario’s off on Friday and I’ll only have to cook enough food for dinner for only that night; I usually have to cook a meal plus some for Mario’s lunch the next day for work. It also means one more day for the kids to have school before the weekend comes along.

I made nachos that night (not regular nachos, these have beans, cheese, veggies, and ground beef) and had the kids fed by 7:30 (we usually eat at 8pm). I get a call around 8:30 from Mario: he’s done at work but is going to Jorge’s. NICE. I hate it when I make the effort to cook (which is like, every night) and he calls and tells me he’ll be home late. At least give me a damn courtesy call letting me know that I shouldn’t slave over the damn stove and the kids and I should have sandwiches or something.

I did everything that needed to be done that night, took a shower and was in bed trying to sleep by 11pm. I was exhausted but no matter how much my eyes wanted to shut and go to sleep, Alaethia was kicking and thrashing around in there like crazy so I could not sleep! I was up till 1:30, just laying in bed, wide-eyed hoping she’d get tired soon but she was just too active. I called Mario at 1:40 and told him to get home because he’d be dropping the kids off the next day since I hadn’t been able to sleep. I assume it would be okay since he’s so darn used to sleeping late and waking up early for work. He got home at 1:53, and I didn’t end up finally falling asleep till 3:30am.

The alarm went off at 6:30am the next morning. What does Mario do? Turns off the alarm and goes back to bed. I’m pissed of course because I’m so darn sleepy but get up and get the kids ready and drop them off. I was so mad at him, but the kids were more pleasant that morning than they had been all week so I stayed calm. I came back from dropping the kids off and took a long, much needed nap.

Mario and I both woke up at 11:15 and went to pick Jaylen up. Mrs. T. said she owed him a special present since he helped her with a bunch of posters. I don’t know what it was exactly that he did, I think it had something to do with coloring, but he was beaming with proudness. I’m so glad he’s comfortable with school now and actually enjoys himself :).

We picked up some Burger King for lunch (because it finally opened!) and came home. We chilled out, Mario and I had an argument, we cleaned out the turtle tank and then it was time to pick Eenan up. When I got back from picking him up, we went to Home Depot to get a new spray hose for the kitchen sink. The old one had totally died and stayed on making the water pressure an annoying drip. Mario installed the new one when we got home and it worked perfectly again.

Eenan slept over at Mary’s and Jaylen fell asleep early. The kids had eaten dinner early (Star’s burgers and an ice cream cone they had coupons for for having perfect attendance) and we ate some turkey pot pies. LOVE those things. We watched the most recent episode of Heroes and then put our three-shelf bookcase together for our bedroom. We’re getting a little more organized in there which is a huge relief. I still need to buy some baskets to organize the closet shelves better and some kind of vertical rack for my pj’s and t-shirts so I can get rid of the extra massive chest of drawers we have. We just aquired a brand-new bassinet from Yadira and a playpen from Big Mario’s friend (which is great since I lent Ricci the boys’ playpen back when we were still in speaking terms and never got it back) so we need all the space we can get. We’re doing pretty good right now. I still need to get the rocking chair back in there–eek!

We woke up early and I saw Mario off to work, then got the kids and myself ready so we could accompany Mary and Mom to the new Premium Outlets in Mercedes. It took forever to get there, a while to find them, and a bitch to find parking but it was worth it. The stores we got to see were great and we got great deals at KB Toys, where we found toys like Sonic the Hedgehog ones that the kids LOVED and had been wanting for a couple years now. I was disappointed that Old Navy wasn’t open and there won’t be a Sanrio store at all, but it was still cool.

We came back home to drop the boys and Mom off, then Mary, Yadira, Angela, Matthew and I went to Danett’s babyshower. It took so long to start, and there were ladies who were being evil about the games (Jesus, some people take shower games so seriously!) but it was alright. The food was great and we got to see Annie’s sisters, two of which are pregnant (one was the shower girl).

And now we’re home, and I should be getting ready for bed. Goodnight!

Everything that could possibly go wrong seemed like it did on Tuesday. Maybe I’m exaggerating, but it sure felt like my whole world was caving in.

The kids were awful in the morning (yes, awful). They took forever to eat and get ready, Jaylen didn’t want to eat because of his horrible cough (and his insurance doesn’t take effect until December, yippee!), I wanted to get them to school on time so Jaylen could at least eat whatever they had for breakfast at school but of course Eenan forgot his cap (and so did Jaylen) for Red Ribbon Week and made me come back home. I took them to their classes, late of course, and Jaylen had me stick around for a while. I felt so horrible that he was coughing so hard but he assured me he was okay. By the time I was walking out of the school it was 8:09a.m. and the hurricane fence gates at each end of the parking lots were closed. So of course, I had to push them open to get out. They had to have weighed at least 60 lbs. I’d been having pains in my pelvic area (further south, though) since last night. It was the most uncomfortable, shooting pain. I felt much, much worse after pushing the gate open. As soon as I sat down in the truck I felt a throbbing pain. Last time I leave the school that late.

I got home and started washing the pile of dishes that accumulated over two days. I told Mario about my horrible morning and he told me to just leave the dishes (again) and rest. “If you need me to come home because you don’t feel well, call me,” he said. As much as I wanted to just beg him to stay home and rub my feet and stroke my hair while I slept with my head on his lap, I sucked it up and told him I was fine.

I had a little bit of breakfast (didn’t even have an appetite all day actually) and washed dishes then just sat down and tried to get over the pain. I don’t remember the “round ligament pain” hurting that much with the boys. Every pregnancy’s different, I know, but it’s just so strange.

As much as I didn’t want to, I took mom to get her prescription at the pharmacy (which takes forever) and then to H-E-B to pick up some liquid stuff she needed to drink on Wednesday for a procedure she’s having done this morning. I got some sore throat and cough strips for Jaylen, but of course those didn’t work at all.

I stopped at the corner store before coming home and then we got ready to pick up Brandon. I thought Eenan had UIL but he didn’t. As he approached the car I noticed he looked really upset. Before I even asked what was wrong he told me he lost his jacket. Great. I asked for details, he said it disappeared from the pile of jackets during P.E. Why the coaches tell them to put their jackets in a damn pile is beyond me. He said he looked everywhere, and after talking to his teacher when we bumped into her, I felt horrible that he actually had been all around the school searching for it.

We were sent in all different directions to look through two lost-and-founds and had no luck. One of the coaches even opened their P.E. Storage room so that I could have a look around but there was nothing there. It pisses me off that some little turd stole my kid’s jacket. Maybe the kid needed it, but there are other places he can get jackets that are inexpensive, or even for free like at a church or something. Grr.

I got home and started sewing up Eenan’s old favorite Arizona sweatshirt. When our rats were still alive last year, Eenan had left his backpack and sweatshirt on the floor (as always) too near the rats’ cage and they dragged his sweatshirt in and chewed up the hoodie and a tiny part of the bottom. I figured I’d chop off the hoodie up to the part where they chewed it and I sewed it straight, making a new collar. I hand-sewed the chewed up part from the bottom and viola, new sweatshirt. Thank goodness it’s fleece; you can hardly tell it was ever torn.

I took the chance to cut/sew the hem on two of my maternity pants (and to my horror, realized my two other ones don’t fit anymore! My thighs must have grown :(.), fixed the hem on one of Eenan’s shirts and that’s about it. I’d made a mistake on my black pants so I had to start all over and that just frustrated me even more.

Thankfully, my dad-in-law and Jose were bar-b-quing so I didn’t have to make dinner. They invited us to get some food so I did. I figured I’d make Mario some sandwiches for his lunch on Wednesday since I didn’t have the strength to be standing in front of the stove.

Mario called and said he was going to Jorge’s for a while (which usually means he won’t get home till 12am) and I was too tired to argue with him about it. I got the boys into bed, gave Jaylen his nebulizer treatment, kissed them goodnight and tucked them in and came to the living room to relax. 2 seconds later Jaylen’s coughing this horrible, phlemy cough and I can’t calm him down. He won’t drink water and he won’t blow his nose to get the congestion out. Then he started feeling warm, like he was getting a fever. After he finally stopped coughing, I came back to the living room and just bawled my eyes out. I kept thinking about how stupid it was that his insurance didn’t take effect until December. It just pisses me off. I was so tired I called Mario and asked him if he’d please come home so he can watch Jaylen so I could take a shower and get to bed. He said sure, and he listened to me cry some more about how horrible I felt that Jaylen was sick. We hang up and Mary calls me a few minutes later and says she’ll lend us the money to take him in to the doctor. I told her I appreciated it, but I knew all they were going to say was to give him a nebulizer treatment and give him something like Robitussin, which I was already doing. She says it’s okay, go ahead and take him just to be sure. He was coughing so bad I was sure he had pnuemonia already.

Jaylen had already calmed down and was in a deep sleep when Mario got home. I cried some more and he just held me while I told him how crappy my day was. Now that I think of it, I hate how all these little things accumulate throuhgout the day and just put me in a horrible mood. I’m not usually like this. It really sucks :(.

Jaylen was feeling yesterday morning, so he went ahead and went to school. This time, I made sure we were out the door by 7:35, the latest. I dropped them off on time and came back home. Woke Mario up and he got ready for work. I finished folding all the clean laundry that was strewn around the living room and then relaxed. Mom got home from her appointment at around 11 and John got home from work a little after that. Mom stayed here, making phone calls while John and I went to pick up Jaylen and take him to the doctor.

We get there, I tell them our situation (will pay in cash, no insurance till December) and she says that fine, if it’s a lot of money for whatever they have to do we can set up a payment plan. Cool. Appointment is for 2pm, we have about 2 hours to waste.

We go to Mario’s work to see him and give him an update about Jaylen. He’s actually doing really good, but is kind of moody because he’s sleepy. We plan to meet in about half an hour to have lunch together at a park, so we’d go to the mall first to get some stuff John needed.

John gets what he needs, we get some Caramel Avalanches at Gloria Jeans (his treat) and Jaylen starts throwing tantrums, literally throwing himself on the floor because he wants a yellow balloon. Where he expected me to get a balloon from, I don’t know, but we searched around while John went to the game stores asking questions about the Xbox. On the way to the bathrooms Jaylen decides to scream his head off–partly due to his balloon tantrum and partly because the mall was so empty there was a wonderful echo throughout the building. Grr. Everyone was staring at us. I was so frustrated I loudly told John, “You’d think these people never saw a kid throw a tantrum! May their kids be brats in public as well.” I’m hoping I cursed them with that last part. Like dealing with a screaming kid isn’t hard enough, they have to gawk and stare.

Jaylen continued to throw tantrums until we left the mall. Mario called and we decided not to eat lunch together since it was already 1:30 and we had to be at the appointment at 2. We get there and although we have the very first appointment, they let another lady and her kid in. Grr. The nurse peeks her head out about 10 minutes later and tells me there’s someone else before us, they’d call us after them. I feel my blood pressure rising and John covers his face because he knows how much I hate waiting at doctor’s offices, especially if we get to an appointment early. I tell the nurse, “So what am I supposed to do then? Just wait? Our appointment was at 2.” It was already 2:17. She goes back in to the office to talk to someone and comes back and says, “You’re next ma’am.” Thank you. John laughs and says, “I bet you they heard you bitching and said, ‘She’s a vish. We better let her in.'” LOL

Once we’re in the room the doctor sees us pretty quickly. She checks Jaylen’s chest and has him inhale and exhale a dozen times. She puts him on his belly and pats him on the back a few times. Her diagnosis: bad congestion. Treatment: nebulizer treatments every 4-6 hours and some Robitussin with an expectorant and decongestant. Already doing that. Final cost: $70. I told Mary they’d tell us just that. I felt stupid for going in and now we owe Mary $70, but like Mario said at least we know he doesn’t have pnuemonia. No wonder doctors are so rich.

Mary got out of work early to pick Eenan up since we weren’t going to make it back on time and we came home. Jaylen did his homework, Eenan did his at Mary’s when he got home and I cleaned up a bit and relaxed a little. Eenan later tells me they had policemen at their school for Red Ribbon week and Eenan was chosen to hide in a box so the K-9 could sniff him out. He said he was scared, but he did good LOL.

Poor Mom–she looked so tired and just worn out from having to fast yesterday. She was on a liquid diet, which is supposedly fine even though she’s diabetic. Her procedure was this morning. I hope she does okay since she’ll be drowsy when he gets out.

I watched two of my favorite shows last night (America’s Next Top Model and Biggest Loser) while I made meatloaf and cheesy scalloped potatoes. Yum. I felt much better then the day before; I hadly had any pain in the pelvic area. I still wonder what the heck was up with that.

The kids and I ate dinner, I put them to bed (with minimal coughing from Jaylen) and then Mario got home. He ate dinner and we watched TV for a little bit. He went for a drive and I took a shower and then we went to bed. I really need to start getting to bed earlier (or sleeping during the day when I get the chance) because I’m constantly exhausted.

Eenan had to leave to school early for UIL practice, so he quickly had breakfast and got ready and Mary dropped him off for me. I got Jaylen ready and dropped him off. I wasn’t even there with him for 5 minutes today–he’s getting much better at the seperation anxiety thing. Eenan has practice again afterschool, so I need to remember to pick Brandon and him up.

I think I’m going to take an hour and a half nap while I can. John’s off work today and he’s going to want to go get his car checked at Oreily’s and then get his inspection. I better get some rest. Will post about the last two weeks later (I’ve been slacking on the entry for a while now. It’s saved in my Drafts =\.)