Category: Re-ment

I’m still alive. Just been enjoying summer and at the same time, trying not to go completely batty having all 4 (loud) kids home at the same time LOL. I took for granted just how peaceful it was when the boys were in school during the day. The girls would get to sleep without being bothered. I could nap if I wanted to. Emily would take her afternoon nap when she was supposed to. But now the boys are constantly yelling; at each other or just, you know, randomly. Poor Emily wakes up screaming every time. The boys love to play with Alaethia, but she’s a little diva and can only take so much of their energy LOL. She’ll smack them and squeal for them to leave her alone.

My favorite thing to do when I have a chance, of course, is to surf the web. I probably have plenty of time to update my blog, but right when I log in to WordPress I somehow get distracted and start looking for Re-ment stuff on Ebay. I’ve become quite obsessed with those little miniatures recently. I’ve got Rachel to thank for introducing me to the world of minis! Shoot, I’ve even got Mom and Mary collecting them!

Those are just a FEW of the gazillion things I’ve collected the past few months!

I also get distracted by browsing through people’s photos on Flickr, search for decorating ideas on Flickr or I’ll chat on Twitter. I hardly even use my Myspace or Facebook anymore, either. I guess whoever’s following me on Twitter has the most up-to-date goings-on of my life.

And when I’m not plastered to the laptop I’m reading. I’m still on Breaking Dawn. Crazy shiz happening in that book. I won’t go into detail so as not to ruin it for anyone, but it’s crazy. I still think New Moon was probably my favorite. I CANNOT WAIT for that movie! So many awesome movies are coming out in the next few weeks, too!

So yeah, I’m doing great. Loving the awesome new, comfy living room. Not enjoying the scorching heat; we’re probably going to end up having to get a bigger central air unit: this one doesn’t feel like it’s cooling much anymore, probably due to the extra square footage and the fact that the heat index’s been 105-116 the past few days. Bleh.

As for the kiddos, Emily’s such a doll. I never knew what people meant when they said they had “happy babies” until I had Emily. It’s so easy to keep her happy. I don’t even have a problem lugging her around with me everywhere. As long as she’s in her sling, nestled near me, she’s completely happy :).

Alaethia, like I mentioned earlier, is turning into quite the diva. Everyone’s amazed by how much she speaks “for a two-year-old” but it’s really nothing new to me. She’s been a chatterbox since she was around 7 months old. Mario says she takes after me LOL. She’s really into her Noggin shows right now, especially “Max and Ruby”, “Ni-Hao Kai-Lan”, “Wonder Pets” (she sings the song ALL THE TIME!), and “Backyardigans”. I’m not too fond of those last two, but what can I do? LOL

I definitely need to start sitting down with her and teaching her the colors and alphabet. She’s excellent with shapes but she’s still confused about the other two. As for potty-training, she’s a pro, though she still has her accidents at night but not too often, thank goodness.

The boys are doing great, when they’re not trying to smack each other. But I separate them and what do they do? They’re together 10 seconds later, like magnets. Jaylen’s had some anger issues, which I can only blame on “middle-child syndrome” but we’re working on it. I have noticed that he’s gotten better.

Eenan’s usually the instigator when it comes to their arguments and physical fights but he’s a lovable kid at the same time. He’s usually the one who tries to calm Jaylen and Alaethia down when he notices that I’m getting frustrated. He’s having to learn responsibility for a pet since he’s got Daisy and Lady to take care of now. He’s not too happy about it sometimes, but I remind him that they’re really cute and someone would really love to adopt them and he gets right on task LOL.

We took the boys to the library this past Tuesday and they each checked out a stack of books. They were all excited about it that day and read for a good hour without being “told” to, but the novelty wore off. Eenan’s been more reluctant about reading. I’ve got to get them on some kind of schedule so that they know when they can and can’t play video games and when it’s time to read and learn and go outside to get some exercise. I don’t want them to become couch potatoes, or act like it’s the end of the world when they can’t pass a level on a video game.

Mario and I are doing great, I’m thrilled to say. Ever since I stopped working and he went back to his old job we’ve been on Cloud 9 again, like nothing ever changed. We’re spending time together, he’s actually getting to see the kids and we watch movies in the evening in the new living room (which is almost complete; Mario just finished up the shelves, we just gotta paint them), either by ourselves or Jason, Mirella and Adan come join us.

I’ve become quite the social drinker (LOL) and we have a few cocktails before bed while we watch TV, chat, or surf the web when the kiddos are asleep. I love that boy :).

Noelia should be coming over tomorrow and we have a dinner to go to. I’m hoping I can get some cleaning time in and I’ve really got to spend that gift card Pete and Sally gave us from Pier 1! Maybe on Sunday, if Mario gets a chance between all that extra work he’s got. It’s all for the family LOL. He’s quite the popular one!

Tues., May 5th – I got the boys ready for school and stayed awake to search online for the perfect new upgrade to my Kodak Z650. Mario had been trying since Christmas to get me to find myself a new camera but I just felt way too guilty. Since Mother’s Day was coming up he told me, again, to pick out a camera for him to buy me. He said this time he wasn’t going to stop bugging until I got one so I said fine, if you insist, heh.

I originally wanted a 12MP Kodak with 15x zoom like Noelia and Andy’s (I forget what the actual name was), but I found an even more awesome one searching through Walmart.com! The Kodak Easyshare Z980. I fell in love. 12MP with 24x optical zoom?? Heaven!

Even though I shouldn’t have, I applied for the Walmart credit card because I’d feel better (i.e. not guilty for buying myself something so extravagant) giving monthly payments on it (with no interest!) than just slapping $400 on the counter in the store. Mario pushed me to get next-day shipping, which added $14 to the final purchase of $400.16. I loved the reviews I read all over the web about this camera; people compared it to Nikons and Canons that cost $1,000 more!

Emily was kind of grouchy that day and wouldn’t stay with Mom for anything. I don’t know what it is about Mom, or if it’s just that she is that attached to me, but she just doesn’t like Mom sometimes LOL.

Since it was Mario’s day off I went with him to Home Depot to get a few more “final” things for the living room; this time the materials for the doors. How many times have I said that already; that we’re getting the final things? LOL It’s never-ending with home improvement projects. Anyway, Mario was having a fit because he couldn’t find the proper door jambs and thresholds we needed for the doors. His way to do things is: if you can’t do/find something, you give up and stop/leave. That’s not how I roll. I searched and searched until I found the right parts, even though he kept threatening to leave me. Grr.

As for the potty training, Alaethia did somewhat okay. I feared leaving her behind with Mom while we went to Home Depot because I was afraid Mom would be too busy with Emily and Alaethia would have an accident. I sort of banned her from the living room because I was afraid she pee/poop on the sofa or rug LOL. She did have a few accidents, about 2 while we were at Home Depot and 1 poo accident. She left a nice dollop next to her potty chair. Lovely.

I spent that night updating my entries from the first week of April (right now, it’s July 9th and I’m barely updating for May, ha!) so I went to sleep pretty late. It was becoming the norm to sleep late, though. I’m just glad the girls are on my schedule and that Emily’s a pretty darn good sleeper for being 2 1/2 months!

Wed., May 6th – At this point I don’t even remember if I even got up to make Mario breakfast before he left to work that morning, but I do know for sure that I slept in till around 11am. I only woke up at that time because Elvira, my old co-worker and good friend, called my cell telling me she was driving around La Joya looking for my house. I literally sprang out of bed and washed up, brushed my teeth and hair, put on some decent clothes and frantically picked up toys and clothes and flung them into my bedroom. My dishes from the night before were in the sink and the floor wasn’t mopped. Why do I always get company when the house looks like hell, yet when I clean no one bothers to come over?!

Anyway, I apologized for my mess and was so glad for her company. We caught up on goings-on at work, I told her about labor/delivery and how wonderful Emily is and she told me about her daughter’s appointment in Houston about her seizures. Unfortunately the news wasn’t what they’d hoped for, so Sabrina would have to continue with her meds, which Elvira wasn’t happy about giving her since there are so many. I have to say, I admire Elvira; she has so much on her plate yet she’s always doing for everyone else and is always cheerful.

Elvira visited for 2 hours and left back to work so she could pick up Sabrina on time. Alaethia was well-behaved during the visit and even hammed it up and took pictures with Elvira and Emily.

She had two pee-pee accidents that morning. I didn’t know what to do to get her to stop peeing everywhere. I even went so far as to read back my old entries from when I was potty-training Eenan and Jaylen to see if I could get any ideas! I tried being patient with her, but oh my gosh, I was boiling inside. I didn’t know what to do!

As I was checking my e-mail I heard something on Headline News about Jon & Kate. I turned up the volume and couldn’t believe what I heard: he really was cheating! I followed this show from the first episode–no, from the first special they had about the sextuplets. I never really get into celebrity news, but I just love this show because it was sweet and it showed them doing regular family stuff and discipline (her kids actually stay in time out, what?!) so I was really heartbroken when I realized their marriage might just not make it with all the tabloid fodder and Jon’s behavior in general. See what I mean about getting into it? LOL

Anyway, upon checking my e-mail I noticed my camera would arrive sometime that afternoon! Woo! I took Emily with me to Mary’s house since I’d see the UPS truck better from over there and waited. Alaethia stayed here at home with Mom since her potty chair was in her room since she wasn’t making it all the way to the bathroom when it was in there. I was at Mary’s for about half an hour when I asked Mom to come over and wait with the girls (and the potty chair, heh) at Mary’s for the UPS guy because I had to pick up the boys. I asked Mom how Alaethia was doing and she said she’d gone in the potty each time she needed to pee and even pooped once! I guess she just needed a break from my “OH MY GOD!’s” when I’d find her drenched in her pee. Mom’s got a more gentle approach LOL.

I spent 2 hours perched on Mary’s sofa waiting for my package. I’d just tweeted at 5:59 about how impatient I was becoming and how I had to get dinner started when the UPS truck drove up at 6:01. I was so excited! My baby was here!

I couldn’t even walk the few feet it would take to get to my house; I opened everything up right then and there at Mary’s. Of course immediately after I stuffed everything back in the box and went straight to my room to start trying out the settings. This was shot from across my room, no joke. Look at how clear it looks!

The macro feature was amazing, and even more-so because it’s got a macro x2 feature! And the video! It’s HD quality and you can zoom in and out WHILE filming!

OK, enough of that, heh.

I’d taken Alaethia’s potty chair into the bathroom to get her used to going in there. She’d been doing great that whole day, ever since she was with Mom in the afternoon. She got a little excited though and kept asking to go pee because she was liking flushing the toilet LOL.

We got some awesome news that night. Chris and Nancy, after 4 years of marriage and trying those 4 years, finally conceived!! I’m so so happy for them and wish them all the best. It’s going to be so cute when Nancy finally shows because she’s super tiny! She’s even shorter than I am and much thinner!

Before I went to bed that night I ordered more Re-Ment sets! My Mother’s Day gift from Mom. And of course she ordered some for herself LOL. I ordered the Strawberry Picnic set, Strawberry Breakfast set, Antique Japanese set and the Old Fashioned Tableware set. I can’t wait to get them!

Thrus., May 7th – I heard a noise in the middle of the night (well, around 4am, really) and saw Alaethia get up and very sleepily used her potty. I took the potty chair into my bedroom just in case, and thank God I did. She was so cute; she kinda swayed back and forth with her eyes closed while she sat on the toilet, did her business and stumbled back into bed. It was the cutest thing ever!

Who knows if I woke up and turned off the alarm and went back to bed or if it didn’t go off at all, but I woke Mario up late for work. I hate when that happens because he’s running around muttering under his breath and I just feel all guilty and uncomfortable. Then I’m worried that he’s going to speed to get to work on time and get into a wreck or something, God forbid. When I called him later, though, he said he was a minute late but nothing dramatic happened.

Alaethia woke up nice and dry, I’m so proud of her. She’s got the general idea of potty training already, which means that it only took her 3 days to become potty trained! Keep in mind that this was the third time teaching her, though LOL.

I picked the boys up from school and they gave me their handmade gifts :). Jaylen gave me a cute tea pot card with a Lipton tea packet (aw!) and this cute card:

And Eenan gave me a poem with magnets on the back to put on the fridge and this awesome canvas painting!!

I need to find a nice frame for it and display it in the kitchen!

While I had all the kiddos there (the boys are hard to catch with the girls because they’re always outside playing) and took this picture with my new camera:

I can’t even articulate how absolutely blessed I feel. I love my babies! And my husband! And just everyone!

Just as I suspected, when I uploaded pictures to Flickr, it took an eternity! I can only download 10 or so pictures at a time at 12MP compared to around 50 6MP from my old Z650 camera.

One of the times Alaethia had to go to the bathroom she opened up the vanity doors and started messing with stuff under there. Gotta remember to get some cabinet locks. She started screaming when I took my nail polish bag away from her. She crossed her arms and yelled, “I’m running away!” I watched her to see what she would do and she did indeed run away…to my in-laws’ next door just like Eenan did when he was almost 3 LOL. Hilarious.

I spent the rest of the night cleaning up my desk. It’s insane how much crap I have.