Category: Yay!

The last time I posted I was a nervous, bumbling wreck…and I was freaking out for nothing!

Well at first it didn’t seem like it. I was home all day Tuesday, the day of the test. Mario was out having a stressful day himself on his day off. I showered, put my wet hair in a pony tail, picked up the boys from school and got home to blow-dry and straighten my hair. And what happens? The power goes out! The first thing I think is, “OMG! The boys’ test is at 6! The light better come back on by then!”

Mom checks at her apartment: no light either. I call Mary to tell her about the problem and she checks with the city. Sure enough, 1,000 customers in the area don’t have power. GREAT! John was working so I couldn’t even go to his house to do my hair there! I was moping for an hour and FINALLY, the light comes back on! I do my hair and then Mario and I go to McDonald’s to get dinner (nuggets for everyone, bleh now that I remember…). Yadira had agreed to watch Emily while we tested so Mom could go watch us test. So I was still getting ready and still had to drop off Emily. Mary went ahead and took the boys to their test a 6, since I was running late and traffic was awful. Once Emily was dropped off, Mario, Mom, Alaethia and I went to the school.

It was around 6:15 and the test hadn’t started yet. I was rushing for nothing, but I was glad we were there and actually acquired seats. I grew more and more nervous as the boys’ test went on. But I told myself to suck it up and just do it. The sparring would supposedly only go on for about 30 seconds. As long as I slid back and kicked once in a while and just generally kept myself from getting hit my arm and knee would be fine.

The boys did excellently. Jaylen remembered to squat more during the Horse Stance and Eenan kicked high. They did great in sparring and broke all their boards. Eenan broke one with a Chito-chagi (sp?), which is a straight up-and-down kick. It took two tries, but he did it! The little girl (who’s Jaylen’s age) that was a blue-advanced going to red belt couldn’t kick one of her boards with the Hetsu. She wasn’t using the correct technique so she kept hitting the board with her ankle repeatedly. I felt so bad for her :(. At least she can execute the Hetsu for the most part; that’s the kick I fell flat on my back trying to do and I’m terrified of doing it now.

Ernesto gave Eenan all A+ and Jaylen got all A+’s except for his punches. But that’s something he can easily work on.

I ran to the pizza place across the street since the light in the bathroom at the school went out. I was so embarrassed but I HAD to go. I ran back when I was done and bought some shin guards since I didn’t want even more bruises up and down my legs. I was so nervous, and it didn’t help that my whole family was there and the place was FULL of spectators. It was the largest audience I’d seen during one of my tests.

So we’re going through the test. Do the basics: horse stance, side punch, low punch all the kicks. I do fine in the one-step sparring and chagiderio. AND THEN it’s time for the sparring part. I fixed the knee pad I’d put on over my welt and bruise, took a deep breath and began to walk to Mario and my stuff so I can put the shin guards on and Ernesto stops me. He asks how my wrist is doing and I tell him that it still hurts and try and turn it and wince. He’s thoughtful as he looks at my wrist and says, “No. I don’t think you should spar. The last thing we need is for you to get even more hurt.” I’m completely shocked and glance over at Luis, who’s got a smirk on his face and probably thinking, “You got lucky!”

I ask Ernesto, “Are you sure?!” I didn’t want to look like a wimp! “I can…keep my arm close and try not to block with this hand.” He says no, but I owe them sparring twice next test. I didn’t know whether that was a good or bad thing LOL.

When the girls are fighting I can’t help but think, ‘Dammit! I could have taken them!’ Oh well. Next time.

The board-breaking is next and I execute all 3 kicks flawlessly. I broke one with a side-kick, which I’d already done before and did well, too. A chito-chagi (straight up-and-down kick) and the last one was a mula (donkey kick where you spin around and kick under your body). I did the mula really well, thank goodness! That’s the one that I was most nervous about!

We get our usual helpful lecture on what we need to work on before we get our belts and then we got our belts. It’s the best feeling :). We took pictures with the group and we get our stuff together and go. I tell Mario how excited I am that I broke the boards so well and can’t WAIT to see the pictures. He says, “Um. I didn’t take video.” WHAT?! I couldn’t believe it! The screen-caps I could have gotten from them would have been so awesome! Oh well. I tried not to be TOO upset.

The guys promised that by next test in June I’d be ready for sparring. Darnit, I better!!

Sun., Apr. 26th – Mario and I got up as early as possible (at 8:30) and got ready. I called Mom to watch the girls and Eenan and Mario and I dropped Jaylen off at CFF. We went straight to Walmart to get the red paint for the flatscreen/entertainment wall and then to Home Depot, where we bought more joint compound for the texture on the walls, painting supplies and the taupe paint that’ll go throughout the rest of the living room. I can’t remember what else we bought, but it was, luckily, the last things we’d need to get the living room finished up.

We realized we were cutting it close, so I called my dad-in-law to please pick Jaylen up from CFF. He did and then at 11:30 I gathered the boys and we went to church. Yes. I finally made it to church after, what? A year? Awful, I know.

After church we went home, then I dropped Eenan off at CFF and Mario and his dad were already starting to work on the texture of the walls.

When I came back from picking Eenan up Big Mario had set a chair and table with my laptop on it in front of the windows in the nook. I. Loved. It. I could sit there and watch the kids playing on the deck! There was a nice breeze and I sat with Emily on my lap watching Alaethia blowing bubbles. It was the best.

Everything went so quickly! By the time I knew it, the texture was dry so I changed and helped Mario primer the walls. We ate lunch and then Mario went to take a nap. Jorge called about an hour & 1/2 into his nap and told us the Lumber Liquidators place, where he got his laminate hardwood floors, was having a huge sale. Mario got up in a flash and, all paint-spackled as we were, went to the place.

I couldn’t decide what color of laminate wood I liked and then we saw the perfect one. It took some doing, but the guy gave us a really good price! We had to buy 10 boxes; he gave us 5 for $1/sq. ft. and then the other 5 boxes he charged at $2.19/sq. ft. The original price was $2.79–we got a steal!

When we got back home I had the dreaded task of helping Eenan finish his castle model project. I don’t know why I say I “helped” him…I mostly did the darn thing on my own since I didn’t want him to burn his flesh off with the glue gun. We got all the walls glued in and then he had the task of painting it gray. We needed to get a brick pattern going on, so I cut a little square out of one of my new dish sponges and I had him blot the square into black paint and onto the walls in a brick pattern. It ended up looking really awesome. He had to get into bed at 9:30, but I stayed up finishing the details till midnight. I am SO GLAD that I’m not working anymore!

Mon., Apr. 27th – John invited me to Kumori so of course I said yes and got ready. Mom and Alaethia stayed at home happily watching Noggin while Emily went with John and me. I had my Fiesta roll and ordered an Omega roll for Mario and took it to him at work. I didn’t get to chat with him long since we were rushing to get everything done and pick up the boys on time.

We stopped by Walmart and one of the first things I did was pick out the nook wall color. Mario wanted cocoa brown, but all they had were reddish-brown colors. Still I ended up finding one I liked:

Since Mario wanted cocoa brown I got the Hershey’s syrup I already had in the cart and matched it up to the last one, Sienna Redwood LOL.

It took a while longer to shop around since they’re remodeling the store. I’m assuming it’s going to look a lot like the new one in Penitas. It was hard to find some stuff. Still, I finished up with the shopping and was thrilled that I stayed within my budget!

Emily woke up and started grunting for her bottle as I was paying. She usually does that. I tried fumbling for my wallet and making her bottle until I made John take over. At least she didn’t scream her head off like the last time!

We got home and I unloaded the car, put the perishables away and went off to get the boys. As I was sitting with them watching TV I started feeling a little more and more nervous about the swine flu. Everyone was panicking. I couldn’t even find little bottles of Germ-X at the check-out and I think two cases had already been confirmed in Starr County. Or was it Cameron. Either way, both counties are in the Valley and that was just too close for comfort.

I ripped myself away from CNN so that I could start cooking. I stuck Emily in her sling and cooked and did laundry just fine. My back was hurting a bit by the time I was done, so I handed her over to Mom and washed dishes.

John came over before I was even done with dishes to print a report at Mary’s. Dork kept talking in a Forrest Gump voice and telling me, “Hurry up…Jannay,” because my middle name’s Jannet and he thought it was hilarious. So I started calling him John-nay LOL.

I was running all over the place doing stuff for the kids and Mario and I finally, 3 hours after I made dinner, got to sit down to eat.

I chilled out watching TV and surfing the ‘net that evening with the girls. Mario was off somewhere, probably outside with Adan or at Adan’s. Alaethia came up to me and asked me for milk. When I said she could have some and got up to pour her some she said, “Thanks. You’re a super good friend, Mom.” She says the cutest things, that girl!

Tues., Apr. 28th – Mario was off that day. We woke up late, as usual and Mom was already chilling out outside. She offered to watch the girls since we needed to go to Home Depot, yet again.

First we stopped at WB though, since we hadn’t eaten breakfast or lunch. I ordered a WB Jr. with bacon and cheese. I couldn’t eat in peace since the darn bacon smelled weird. Mario said it smelled fine. I pulled most of it out and prayed that I wouldn’t get sick with food poisoning.

When we were on our way to Home Depot I texted John to ask him WTF was up with the stinky bacon at his workplace. All he texted back was: “I tell you not to eat there” LOL

We got to Home Depot and went straight to the lamps and lighting. We needed a nice lamp for the nook area and we found the perfect one. It was actually two of them for $14.87!

We looked around and I fell in love with the bathroom lights I want to install when we re-do the bathroom…again.

We got the rest of the stuff we needed, mostly painting supplies, and went home. I picked the boys up and Mario stayed behind installing all the outlet covers and so on.

Emily had woken up with a little bit of congestion that morning out of nowhere. By the afternoon the cold was progressively worse so I decided to take her in to the doctor before she really couldn’t breathe well at night.

As I’m driving into the parking lot I think, “Shit!” I don’t ever think I’d seen the parking lot that full of cars, and I’ve gone to the doctor when it’s packed. I was lucky to get the last parking space. I walk in and my friend Elisa’s at reception. She puts her hand on her hip and says, “You’re not here because of Swine Flu, are you?” I laugh and tell her no, that Emily just has a cold, no fever. It hits me; no wonder the doctor’s office was packed! Everyone there thought they had swine flu!!

I had Emily in her car seat and the car seat on my lap since there wasn’t any space on the bench I was sitting on to set it down. As heavy as it was, there was no way I was going to put the car seat with her on the floor because there were kids running around everywhere. This woman next to me, with three little girls, kept telling her (mucusy) kids to look at the baby. So of course they began putting their hands into the car seat to touch her. I almost hissed and told them to back off because she was sick, because apparently none of them thought that they were. When I’d finally had enough I texted Mario to please bring me Emily’s sling. I hadn’t brought it with me because it had been in the dryer. He brought it to me and helped me lug all my bags and the car seat to the car and helped me with Emily while I got her in the sling. I couldn’t thank him enough. I’d only taken out the most important things from my bag, left it in the car and only took Emily in the sling, her diaper bag and my book. Much better. And you can bet the kids didn’t try sticking their hands in the sling!

It was the longest wait ever. I even finished Eclipse while I was there! Emily was the very last patient, even though I was 4th to the last to sign in. Apparently the 3 people behind me had kids with fevers so they were taking them in first. We didn’t end up leaving the office till 6:20. They close at 5:30!

Mario had painted the nook wall with the brown color while we were gone. Although it wasn’t the paint we’d originally envisioned for that space, it came out looking pretty sweet.

Mario tried rounding up some of his friends to start installing the wood floors, but of course that didn’t happen. It makes my blood boil. Mario is always going above and beyond for his friends when they need help with stuff, no matter what it is, but when he needs something, are they there? That’s a big NO. He hates it when someone calls him up asking for help and I start bitching that he shouldn’t help them because of this or that. I hate being so mean and cynical, but I already know how some of his “friends” are after all these years. That’s just how Mario is, though. He’s nice. He wants to be there for people. I just wish some people would feel the same way about him!

The only person who did show up was Chris. He helped Mario install a part of the floor, about 3 rows since it was really late. Somehow–even though Mario works 10-12 hour days–we were going to finish up that floor that week.

So I guess it’s safe to say that it’s going to take me forever to “catch up” on my backed-up entries. I update almost daily, believe it or not, but I update to a super-long Word document since I’m trying to keep the entry numbers in order. Screw that, I say. I’m just going to update again starting from today and worry about adding the backed-up ones when I have a chance (which isn’t too often because of Emily and Alaethia LOL).

I guess I feel like I *have* to remember everything 1) because Emily’s my last baby and 2) because I was so caught up with work and life in general when Alaethia was a baby and I feel like I missed out on a lot, entry-wise and milestone-wise. I don’t even think I ever got to add the entry about her first birthday party! 🙁

So far, things are going really well. The boys are wonderful with Emily, especially Jaylen, who’s a really confident big brother. If she starts crying while she’s in her bassinet or swing and Jaylen notices that I’m busy, he’ll gladly unfasten her from the swing and carry her or pick her up out of the bassinet. It’s amazing watching him with her. Eenan’s good with her too, but he gets a little more nervous when she cries.

Alaethia’s also very good with her. She has her moments when she gets over-excited and starts patting her a little too enthusiastically on her head (ack, the soft spot!) but for the most part she’s great. I think she’s finally realized that Emily’s a real baby and not a dolly.

Emily’s pretty awesome at night. She has these little bouts of complete awakeness sometimes for about 2-3 hours straight, but she’s getting better. She’s my first baby to actually have a pattern. I know exactly when she’s going to be awake and asleep at night and during the day. She’s really happy and easy to care for for the most part.

The only problem we’ve been having is that, yes, a week after I stopped breastfeeding she started having trouble pooping. She’s 5 weeks old this week, as of yesterday, and she’s finally doing much better in that department.

Speaking of, she turned a month old on the 24th!

Isn’t she a beauty?? So far, everyone says she looks like me, but I don’t really see it except for maybe our noses LOL. And maybe the skin color, but she’s still lighter than me. She’s light like Mom and Gramma.

My dad-in-law was going to surprise us with a new addition to the house, a bigger living room! He decided to tell us about it because he thought we’d get a bit suspicious when new walls started going up LOL.

I’m so excited! Big Mario designed the room (it’s part of the old party porch, heh) and Mario’s designing the whole entertainment part of the room. That corner where Mario and his dad are standing in the photo is where the built-in entertainment shelf will be and there’ll be another on the opposite side (the south wall) for books and picture frames and whatnot. I really can’t wait to see it done, though there’s a lot to do, like leveling the floors, removing that darn tree stump:

and sanding the hardwood floors and varnishing them before the insulation and drywall goes up.

Mario and I celebrated our 10th Wedding Anniversary on the 27th. We didn’t get to do much because he was working tons of overtime (they were having this pain-in-the-ass show at the convention center that his boss waited till the last minute to tell them about) and of course we didn’t have much money. But we did go to one of our favorite restaurants, Kumori, for sushi.

As for yesterday, I took Alaethia and Eenan for check-ups at the doctor. Alaethia had her 2-year physical. She was such a good girl! She was excited about her appointment. She was very quiet and well-behaved when the doctor was checking her chest for her heart-murmur (she still has it so she’ll have another appointment with the specialist) and she didn’t even cry during her shot!

Eenan’s been having trouble with squinting at school so I took him in just in case and sure enough, he’ll be needing glasses again. He doesn’t want to wear them, I think mostly because there’s a class bully and he’s having enough trouble with him already. He hasn’t singled Eenan out; everyone has trouble with him. But still.

I got home and literally carried Emily around for about 2 hours. That’s the only thing about Emily: she’s a wonderful baby, but it’s hard to get things done because she wants to be held. And not just by anyone–it has to be me. It makes me feel great, that she knows when I’m holding her and that she wants to be with me all the time, but I do have to cook and clean the house once in a while!

I gave her to Mom to hold and started dinner. Jorge, Maggie and the kids were coming over so I made meatloaf, mashed potatoes, green beans and deviled eggs. It was the first time in a long time that I actually got to make a nice meal.

We chilled out eating inside and then we went out to talk with Mom and Elda. We sat in the new living room–well, whatever’s built so far of the living room LOL. Then we joined the guys (Mario, Jorge and Adan) outside and talked and joked till around 12:30am.

I was supposed to go to the doctor this morning so Dr. C. can assess the cyst I need removed from my wrist, and I did, but I went late since I didn’t have anyone to watch the girls while I showered. Mom came over around 9:45 and I left around 10:30. The office was packed and they weren’t seeing patients anymore so I’d have to wait till after 2 and go to Mission. I figured I’d pack up the router we’d just gotten last week (that really, really sucks) and return it at Target while I was already in Mission.

*whew* This feels good. To post an entry on the actual day OF the entry. I hope to keep up from now on!