Category: School

I didn’t take my morning nap again today because of the cold front we’re waiting for. Mom just came over and she’s wearing a jacket, so maybe it’s already here. It was nice and sunny at 7:30 when I was dropping John and the kids off and when I went out at 9:20 after Mario left to work it was getting dark and windy. Thank God I packed them all (Mario and the boys) with jackets and jeans. It’s snowing in the Panhandle. I want snow…darnit.

Anyway, I had my 31 week appointment yesterday morning. I was prepared to be completely bored since they take so long so I took my Parenting magazine with me. I didn’t even need it. I sat down after I signed in, then moved because the air conditioner was pointing right where I sat and it was freezing. I sat in the bench seats next to this older couple and the lady quickly asked how far along I was. I told her 8 months next week and we proceeded to have a conversation about my pregnancy, previous pregnancies, her family, her children and how twins run in her family. It’s always nice to meet a total stranger and just talk like you’ve been friends forever. This has happened at that same office with three other girls I’ve met.

I was called in pretty quickly, if you consider an hour quick. I weighed 133.6 which means I’ve put on 2 1/2 lbs. in the last three weeks. I asked my nurse if that was okay and she said yes. So, so far I’ve gained 12 1/2 lbs. this pregnancy. I think I’m doing pretty good, considering just how much I really eat LOL. I walk a lot, so that may be “helping”.

Dr. C. joked around with me while I whipped out my camera. I planned on recording my sonogram the last time I went — had my memory card empty and everything — and totally forgot to do it. Not this time; this time I remembered. Good thing, too! I got to see just how big her head is, her face (which resembles Eenan’s sono at 8 months A LOT), her arms, legs, how she almost pulled on the umbilical cord (which I learned is what she’s doing when I feel those hard tugs), and her little private part! I finally have a picture of her little peach. So this is the 4th confirmation I have that she’s a girl :). You can see a few pictures I screen capped from the video in my Pregnancy Timeline page. I can’t tell you just how excited I am to meet her. The boys are, too; they’re constantly asking “how much longer till she comes out”.

She was measuring at 30 weeks 5 days yesterday and I’m 31 weeks 2 days. I hope this doesn’t mean it’s going to take her even longer to come out!

I’ll have another sono to make sure she’s doing alright at my 34 week appointment. I wonder what they’ll tell me. It kind of makes me uneasy that they haven’t strapped me onto the fetal monitor at all yet, but then again this is a different doctor. I’m just glad everything’s going smoothly :).

As I was walking out, I ran into a girl I met there. She had her baby last week on the 21st. He was so adorable; so small and his hair was stick-straight and he looked so new :). I can’t wait, I can’t wait, I can’t wait. I’m excited about everything: going into labor, where will I be when it happens, the delivery and finally holding her in my arms. I can’t wait to see the expression on Mario’s face and how the boys will take care of her and protect her. I know they’re going to be excellent big brothers. They’re so ready for her. We all are :).

I forgot to mention in my previous entry that on one of our many Target runs, I bought Alaethia her first outfit from me. She already has two from my mom and two from my mom-in-law. This was my first one. I *had* to get it since the blouse was on sale and the jeans were just too cute! There’s so many other things I want to get her, now that I know for *sure* she’s going to be a girl!

I already asked Mario if we could start setting up the crib, so I can see how much clearance there is between the trundle and the bottom of the crib. I want to get baskets to organize her sheets, diapers and all that stuff. I have so much to dooo!

I shall start with boxing up the rest of the crap I have in a corner of my room. I have to get that done today, no question. I already told Mario we’re taking it to storage on Friday when he’s off, so it needs to be done.

I also have to clean the whole house! Dad, my half-brother, his wife and little boy will be coming over on Sunday. I have a nephew–it’s weird to say it! And a neice on the way who will be here around the same time Alaethia will :).

Gotta pick up Jaylen!

[edit] Just got back from picking Jaylen up. I stopped by at Family Dollar to buy some slippers (that they, of course, didn’t have) and found Megaman action figures for the kids! Stocking stuffers — although I already gave them one each since Eenan got straight A’s and was student of the week and Jaylen is the best-behaved in class, the teacher’s new helper and always behaves well. And they only cost $2 each! This is an awesome day :).

I hope all the Mommys out there had a wonderful Mother’s Day!

Mine was nice and eventful. We woke up on Sunday morning and John, Mom, Mario, the boys and I headed to McDonald’s for breakfast. We went to visit Gramma afterwards. I was pretty disappointed by the nurse’s/CNA’s/supervisor’s service that day. Gramma had ants on the table beside her bed. I pressed the call button to have a nurse come over and help and nobody ever came. When I peeked out the door I could see all the nurses circled around the nurse’s station, chatting. The alarm sounds at the station; it doesn’t stop until you come to the room to turn it off. I started getting really frustrated thinking, “What if there was an emergency and these bitches never came to check on her?” I took a deep breath and calmly walked over to the station to let them know what was going on. I let them know how I was disappointed that they’d take so long, or rather not go check on her at all. The nurse that was in charge of her that day said (in Spanish, because she didn’t understand English), “I already checked on her. What does she need?” I told her, “So since you already checked on her you’re not checking on her again? What if there was an emergency?” She goes into the room and tells Gramma, “Sorry, Love, there’s nothing I can do about the ants.” And leaves.

We visit with Gramma a little longer and then I tell everyone I was going to put in a complaint. Mario and John scurry off as fast as they can to the truck, because it embarrasses them, how I “make a scene”. Well, I talk to their sorry excuse for a supervisor, who’s just as incompetent as the nurses, and basically tells me that I’m wrong, the nurse is right. So much for customer service.

We had time to kill before our movie, so we went to the mall. We got some iced coffees at Gloria Jean’s and walked around. We went to Circuit City afterwards, where Mario got himself some CDs. He kept telling me to buy myself something but it never fails that when I actually have money nothing appeals to me. All the cute shirts I liked at 5-7-9 before looked drab and boring. We went to Ross after Circuit City, where I always find something I like, but no such luck this time.

We met Mary and Noelia at the movies to watch The Wild–not my first choice. The kids had been wanting to watch that cartoon since it first came out and we kept promising to go but we never did. It was actually a cute movie–I thought I was going to hate it.

Mary had something to do after the movie, so she and Noelia left. Since Mario had promised Gramma dinner, something other than the bland, goopy stuff they serve her there, we bought her some barbacoa tacos and took them to her. After Mom fed her we left to have dinner ourselves. Mario gave me the choice, so I chose Johnny Carino’s. Mario was certain he’d hate it, because he’s not a fan of Italian like I am.

We ordered Calamari, which was great–even the kids were grabbing handfuls. I ordered Spicy Shrimp and Chicken, which wasn’t supposed to be “that spicy” according to the waiter. Mario ordered Lasagna, which he said would base his decision on whether we’d ever go there again or not. The kids ordered pizzas, which were actually whole medium-sized pizzas. Our meals came with soup, so we got the potato soup and it was delicious. Mario said it was the best he’s ever eaten. I’d never tasted it before at all, but I loved it. When our food came we were highly disappointed, although I was really trying to hide it since I was adamant on going there regardless of Mario’s warnings.

My “not that spicy” dish was the spiciest damn thing I’ve ever eaten. And it had a total of two measly shrimps in it. Mario didn’t like his lasagna at all, so he told me to have some of his since he didn’t want it anymore. It had this weird taste–an insane amount of oregano or anise, I couldn’t tell, but it was gross. It was less expensive there than it would have been at Red Lobster, my 2nd choice, though. Needless to say, first and last time at Johnny Carino’s.

We went to Wal-Mart to get house-cleaning supplies and groceries and then came home. It was 8:30 when we got here–we were literally in town all day.

I put everything away when we got here and sat down on the rug in front of the TV for some scrapbooking. Mario left to Chris’ so it was just me and Jaylen; I’d already put Eenan in bed for school the next day.

Mary had come by earlier and said to keep candles and flashlights out since we were under a thunderstorm warning. I thought nothing of it since just a few nights before we’d been under a warning, but nothing ever happened. Well this time, it did. The lights went out at around 11:30 or 12. Jaylen stayed near me while he lit the way with his Gameboy so I could light candles. I couldn’t find my lighter anywhere since Mario had taken it. Mario got here before I started panicking and we lit as many candles as we could. He gets a call from his Mom to move the van out of the carport and move the Equinox in. He went out there and I lost sight of him as soon as he walked out the door. The wind and dirt were flying around so fast and hard it stung when it hit you. And the noises! I thought it was a tornado for sure. We layed out the futon in the living room and brought Eenan over from the bedroom. We dragged Eenan’s twin into the living room and Mario and I layed there (just like when we first started living together!). We shut the door to the bedroom just in case the windows broke apart–it sounded like they were going to, they were rattling so bad. We went to sleep around 1:30 or 2, and the lights came back on at 3:15, according to John who was awake all night. When we woke up the next day we saw branches all over the yard, part of the wooden fence had fallen down. When I watched the news later they talked about a mobile home that had been thrown on it’s side and another home that had the roof torn off and was left tilted. They said it was only a thunderstorm with 60mph winds. I’d HATE to know what a tornado feels like. This was really scary.

As for today, I’m going to watch some movies I rented and finish with laundry. I feel so bored and I don’t know why :(.

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Jaylen’s party was on Sunday at Mr. Gatti’s and we all had a great time. Lucy didn’t get to go because of work, a few uncles were fixing Jose’s truck, and Maggie didn’t go at all (which I thought was pretty rude since I went to hers just the day before and she told me she was going!), but we still had a good turnout. We ate till we could eat no more and the kids all had fun playing games. It even came out to much less expensive than we expected.

The only bad thing that happened was when I lost Eenan for about 5 minutes. It was the scariest moment of my life. I dreaded the day that I’d feel that lost, helpless feeling because I was missing one of my children and couldn’t believe it was happening.

Yazmin wanted to play air hockey and since Mario was busy chasing Jaylen around, I asked Mom to watch Eenan for me while I played. When I bumped into Mom after Yazmin and I finished playing, she asks me if I’d seen John. I tell her no and notice that she doesn’t have Eenan with her but I figure he was at a game nearby and she was just checking up on John. I ask her where Eenan is and she says he’s probably with John. When she said, “probably”, I panicked and started looking for John. I see him and my heart sinks when I notice that Eenan’s not with him. I practically yell, “WHERE”S EENAN???”, at both of them. I was so pissed that Mom would just let him run off like that. I stomp off with my heart bursting out of my chest and searched everywhere I thought he’d be. I had visions of someone kidnapping him and a knot was forming in my throat. I walked up to the photo booth, one where it “illustrates” you like one of the famous painters, and just silently pray that he’s in there–by himself. You just never know these days. I look up at the little screen that draws the photo of you so that people outside can see the progress and I notice it drawing his little face. I pulled the curtain open and cup his face in my hands and ask him, “Why did you run away from Grandma?! You’re not supposed to do that, you know better!” His excuse was that “Grandma didn’t want to go to the photo booth” and he wanted to take a picture of himself, so he did. Please believe that I lectured that boy (and my MOTHER!) all the way home.

We rented a whole bunch of movies on the way home that day so that’s what Mario and I’ve been spending our time doing when he gets home from work. It’s really nice to just cuddle on the futon and watch TV together. It’s something I look foward to each day :).

Mayra, John and I drove to school together the next morning. It was fun, and Mayra and I got to chat about personal things and about just how weird it was going to be to get used to being home again instead of getting up and going to school in the mornings. We caught up on a math assignment we’d missed out on when we’d left to pick the pizzas up on Friday and then we reviewed for our Final the next day. Mayra and Lucy left together after school and were going to stop by Target since Lucy needed to make a payment. They call me to tell me about Lucy’s awesome gift idea for Mrs. C-R–a scrapbook! They picked some stuff up from the $1 Spot (gotta love the scrapbooking stuff they have there every-so-often) and I told them I had plenty of paper and accessories to complete one. We’d made plans to go watch The Pink Panther on Tuesday, but we decided to watch it here at my house and scrapbook all afternoon.

So we did just that. Since I thought we weren’t going to be allowed to use the computer’s calculator for the Final, John and I stopped by Wal-Mart the next morning to pick up a cheapy calculator. All I found was $10 ones so I scratched the idea since I didn’t want to spend 10 bucks for a calculator I was going to use once. (I could have used my cell phone but the darn battery was low.) Instead I stopped by the scrapbooking isle end cap and found some adorable scrapbooking stickers for $0.94.

We study the first period and I feel good and ready. Then I find out we’re allowed to use the calculators on the computers–great! We take the final the next period, and although I kept second-guessing myself I kept telling myself I would do okay.

John and I go to the Financial Aid office because they ask to see him. Turns out they’re trying to screw him out of an additional $100 enrollment fee (or something like that), and that’s beside the $20 registration fee he paid when he was enrolling. Supposedly his Financial Aid didn’t cover it, which is bull because nobody else in the whole class had to pay it seperately. I was so pissed we just left when we were supposed to talk to some ol’ broad.

We all meet up and drive to my house. I had the best time, ever. We watched The Pink Panther while eating popcorn and pickles. I was going to make enchiladas but the girls didn’t let me so we had corn dogs instead. After laughing our butts off at the movie (and waking John up with our hyena laugh :p), I left to pick Eenan up. When I got back, we started on the scrapbook. We each worked on our own special page to Mrs. C-R. It was awesome seeing the pages come together–we each added our own style to our “own” page, complete with a letter to Mrs. C-R. Here are “our” pages, with last names blurred out for privacy, of course.

We split the rest of the pages and put the finishing touches on them the next day. I went to Dollar General with Mom to pick up a few scrapbooking things (they have some pretty cute stuff, too!). Even the kids got into scrapbooking. They used smiley faces and shapey hole punchers to personalize their pages, which I will add to my own scrapbook :).

I couldn’t sleep that night just thinking about the next day: our last day together. Mrs. C-R. was passing out our Finals and grades: I got a 96 on the Final and a 97 as my overall math grade. My anal-retentiveness caused me to almost have a fit, as I’ve never gotten anything under a 98 as an overall grade. Mrs. C-R. goes over all the problems and I find out I have one of the ones marked wrong, right (I’d gotten 3 wrong). That brought my Final up to a 98 and my overall grade to a 98. I was thrilled :).

After that, we all just talked about how we were going to break down, and oh my gosh, what were we going to do?! I felt a little emotional, but thought I could keep it together. We ate donuts that Andria so kindly brought for everyone and Joe went up to the front of the class to say a few words about Mrs. C-R and the students. We worked on the scrapbook during our break, turning around every time we heard a noise thinking it was Mrs. C-R. When we went back, it was time for our Pinning–a little goodbye ceremony where they present us with a little computer pin and say nice things. Mrs. C-R said something nice about all of us. When she got to me, she said she wished she could have been the type of student I am when she was at school. I immediately developed a knot in my throat and felt even more emotional when I looked over at Mayra and Lucy and noticed Mayra’s eyes were all watery. She asked if anyone wanted to say anything and I did, so I went up there. As soon as I opened my mouth I started to bawl my eyes out. I felt so embarrassed, but I couldn’t help it. I took pictures of everyone as they got Pinned and Mayra took a picture of me with my tear-streaked face. Mrs. Keyes said a few things and then we took a group picture and we were off. We fixed up the scrapbook and put it in an adorable gift bag Mayra brought and all left for IHop. Joe didn’t go, which really sucked, but what could we do.

Traffic was insane since it was Administrative Professionals Day. Luckily, we found a parking space nearby and after waiting a few minutes we were seated. Mayra and I had a steak omelet, Lucy had this awesome looking quesadilla and John had a Rooty Tooty Fresh and Fruity AND a monster burger. And the boy finished everything. I felt nauseous just looking at him look sick. He didn’t stop till he put that last piece of hamburger in his mouth–ew. But anyway, we chatted and had fun and got sad and laughed. We gave Mrs. C-R. the scrapbook and she said she’d never received a gift like that and that she loved it. That made it all worth it :). It was so hard leaving everyone. We took pictures for as long as we could.

I miss seeing them already–Lucy, Mayra and Mrs. C-R. I was so used to getting up early and seeing them every day. I truly believe I enrolled in school when I did to meet them. They were supposed to be a part of my life and I hope we can continue to have this friendship till we’re little old ladies :).

I fell asleep when I got home that day. I was exhausted. I woke up at 3 and went to pick Eenan up, then we came home and John showed me a documentary about 9/11 called Loose Change 2nd Edition, which you can view on my Myspace. It’s a total must-see.

I woke up today feeling totally weirded out about just…being home. I got Eenan ready for school, ironed, dropped him and Sammy and Brandon off, came home and made breakfast and ate with Mario. John left to school (alone!) in the Sentra and Mario took off in the Equinox.

I had nothing to do so I thought, “Eh, I’ll just get online”. I was preparing to spend the morning pimpin’ my Myspace when I get a call from the nurse at Eenan’s school. She says, “Is this Eenan’s Mom?”

“Yes? This is she.” The first thing that popped into my head was, ‘Oh no, he’s hurt!’

“Eenan had an accident, Miss. He didn’t make it to the bathroom on time.”

I felt relieved and then panicked. “Oh my gosh. I don’t have a car right now. I don’t live that far, I’ll go walking, but it’ll take me a litle while.”

She says, “Oh that’s fine, Miss. I’ll keep him here in my office.”

I pump Jaylen up by telling him we’re going for a walk in his stroller. He loves taking walks in that thing (even though he’s 4 already) so he was psyched. As soon as we get ready, pack the bag with his clothes and get my stuff, we step outside…and it’s drizzling. WHEN. THE. HECK. DOES. IT. RAIN. HERE???

I find John’s keys to his Civic (which isn’t working well, which is why he’s borrowing the Sentra) and I spend 15 minutes trying to get “Vish” (John’s pet name for “her”) to turn on. Nothing. I throw my hands in the air in frustration and tell Mom, “Fuck it. Let’s go walking.”

Mom brings her umbrella over from her apartment. We’re all set and ready to go and what happens? It stops raining. Grr. We take off and power-walk to the school, uphill with me pushing 35 lb. Jaylen in the stroller.

My. legs. are. on. fire.

I tell the nurse about our misfortune and she laughs like it’s the most hilarious thing she’s ever heard. Because my luck’s funny like that. I start unpacking Eenan’s clothes and to my absolute horror realize I’ve forgotten his darn underwear. I look up at the nurse and say, “You’ll never guess what I did?”

Her eyes widen, like she knows exactly what I’m about to say. “What?”

“I forgot his underwear.”

We laugh nervously and I’m quickly trying to figure out what to do. Then I see my second-born sitting angelicly in his stroller and a light bulb goes off above my head. I coo, “Jaylen, Baby, come with me to the bathroom, please?” He looks up at me suspiciously, but follows me. The nurse catches on to what I’m about to do and says, “Miss, I’d do the same thing.”

I ask Jaylen to please sit on the bench in the bathroom and tell Eenan to strip down. I’m removing Jaylen’s shoes and he’s freaking out. I tell him I need him to take off his shorts because Nano needs his undies. He tugs back at his shorts and says, “No! They’re my underpants!” He wouldn’t surrender, so I did the next best thing: bribed him. I whisper in his ear, “If you give me your undies, I’ll give you a candy when we get home.” His eyes light up and he happily steps out of his underwear.

He always puts them on backwards and inside-out, so technically, they were pretty clean when Eenan put them on. God, I’m a terrible mother!

When they’re both dressed and Jaylen’s in his stroller again I get to talking to the nurse about enrolling Jaylen in school. Turns out he most likely won’t be attending school till he’s 5 and in Kinder. As much as it pissed me off before, I think it’s sort of a blessing in disguise since I was worried sick (literally) about who was going to pick him up and drop him off since Pre-K’s only half a day.

A little girl comes in and the nurse starts talking to her about her medication. Jaylen finds this the best opportunity to casually say, “I’m not wearing any undiepants.”

Everyone bursts out laughing. Quite an interesting morning. And here I thought I was going to be bored.

Tonight, Yadira, the girls, and Matthew came over and Mary treated us all to Whataburger. We ate and talked and laughed and Mario got home and reported that he did get his week off. If things go well, we’ll be going on a mini-vacation this weekend. Woo!

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