Halloween and In Between

Sun., Oct. 26th – I woke up around 8:30 and I didn’t know why since I was still very sleepy after waking up twice during the night. I lied on my back and felt a huge lump on the right side of my belly. The baby was balled up there. When I pressed my hand to my belly to feel her, she freaked out and hid!

Alaethia woke up at 9:30 (she’d slept 12 straight hours!). She was peeking at me through the slats of her crib and I couldn’t help but get up, take her in my arms and cover her with kisses. We hugged tightly all the way to the living room and lay on the couch. She asked for a cup of milk so I got up and prepared her sippy and we cuddled some more. Mary invited us over for pancakes so we went over. Mario was still asleep. Alaethia didn’t really eat breakfast; she only actually eats breakfast when she feels like it. I still blame it on my mother letting her sleep till 11am all of last year while I was working and giving her “breakfast” at noon. Grrr.

We went to Sonia’s for her birthday that afternoon. The men were bar-b-qing on the huge grill outside. Andy and Noelia got Alaethia some cute Hello Kitty hair clippies and she wanted them on right away. We were outside for a while and then went to eat at Yadira’s next door since it was hot and there were tons of flies everywhere. The food was awesome. We chilled out for a while and then came home. I got everything ready for work the next day, including making lunch for both Mario and I at 10pm. Alaethia and I went to bed around 10:30, but didn’t actually fall asleep till 11-something since Alaethia was rolling around in bed. (Baby’s kicking right now…feel her hit one side, then the other :D). She slept all night again!

Mon., Oct. 27th – Back to work. Ah, Mondays. Luckily, once again it was a good Monday. Mario texted me during the day and asked if I wanted to go to Walmart, since we didn’t get to go during the weekend. I said sure. I did everything I needed to do, including dinner for the kids and Mom while we were gone and taking a shower so I wouldn’t have to rush later. We cashed his paycheck at the bank and were surprised to find that none of the phones were working–not the cell phones or land lines. It was really strange.

Tues., Oct. 28th – A nice cold front finally came in. It was the perfect day to wear slippers, since that day was Slipper Day for Red Ribbon Week. I was so comfortable all day. I almost felt like leaving them at work so I could wear when my feet hurt, but I’d feel funny, heh.

Wed., Oct. 29th – We were having a teacher-against-student basketball game that doubled as a canned food drive (that was your entry fee) so I tried being on top of everything all day so that I could just go to lunch and then go straight to the game without leaving anything unfinished.

I knew my plan wasn’t going to work out when my boss didn’t go to lunch till 12:15 and took 45 minutes instead of the half-hour we’re all supposed to take. So I didn’t end up going to lunch till 1:15 and by the time I got back at 1:45 it was kind of late. The game started at 1:30 and the boss kept talking to me about the upcoming field trip so I kind of had no choice anyway. Then she asks, “Weren’t you going to the game?” Um…I wanted to. But I just said, “Nah, I changed my mind.” When Jamie was passing by I just gave him the two cans and got back to work. What a bummer.

Thurs., Oct. 30th – The baby’s moving like crazy. I can feel her across my belly; from the bottom of the left side of my belly to the top of my right side, right under my ribs. Mario walked in when I was sitting in the chair in the living room with Alaethia asleep on my left side and he said, “Woah, your pansa’s really grown in the last three days!”

I’d noticed it, too. It was as though I inflated from one day to the next. It’s so relieving to feel her move more often now. Before I could really feel her move I felt apprehensive all the time, wondering if she’s okay. But now that I can actually do my kick counts (which I believe are what helped me realize I was going into premature labor with Jaylen) I can sleep in peace (well, when Alaethia and my bladder allow, heh).

Fri., Oct. 31st – Halloween! My kiddos were so excited, especially Jaylen and Eenan, who were wearing their costumes to school.

We had a Red Ribbon Week pep rally that also doubled as an assembly for Adrian, a little boy we’d been fundraising for with leukemia. A group of our most musical teachers got together and set up a band. They were so awesome. The kids were all into it. They were playing oldies, like “Johnny B. Goode” and one of our big, tough 8th grade boys got out on the floor and started doing The Twist! He was later joined by one of the teachers and another boy, Robert.

A while later three boys were beat-boxing, two of them being “troublemakers” who are always in ISS. They astounded everyone…they were really good! They even had some break-dancing going on, which took me right back to high school. Ah, memories.

When I picked up the kids and then everyone else started getting home, we all chilled out on the back porch. Elda was finishing up decorating for Brandon’s (Halloween) birthday party the next day, so we kept her company out there. Mario got home and we got kids dressed in their costumes—well, we tried to anyway– Jaylen threw a fit because he was sleepy and I “was taking too long”.

(boys pic will come soon…it’s on Mario’s camera)

After the boys were ready I went in to get Alaethia dressed up. Getting her dress and shoes on were easy…it was her hair that took forever! She kept squealing and crying and is not a fan of being sprayed with detangler, hair spray and smothered in gel. But once I got both braids almost even on each she made SUCH an adorable Dorothy! Add to that her picnic basket and plush Toto and OMG…I could have swallowed her whole!

After we mingled with everyone outside for a while more we got the kids in the truck and decided where to go. We stopped by Chris’ first, where we saw his whole family (I hadn’t seen Nancy in forever!) and Yadira, Jorge and the kids were there. Matthew made such a cute Buzz Lightyear!

We went to Chris’ neighbor’s house next. She gave the kids age-appropriate treats which I thought was really sweet. She talked to us for a while and the kids admired her eyeballs-in-a-jar and this creepy dude with red eyes.

I guess it was either the fact that it was football night or the economy, but there were hardly any houses giving out candy! The neighborhood we usually go to was empty. We only went to two houses there, one on the way home and the rest were around our neighborhood. Which I guess was fine anyway since we still ended up with 3 large Ziplocs full!

The kids really enjoyed themselves. Alaethia loved her actual first year of trick-or-treating. She clutched on to her heavy little basket and willingly went up to everyone asking for candy. When we were done we came home and chilled out with everyone outside. Cat, Annie and the kids were outside and so was Jose, Elda and their kids, Mary, Mom and the rest of us. It was a good night.

Sat., Nov. 1st – We didn’t do much most of the day. I kept reminding Mario to go pick up his paycheck but he didn’t want to, then put Adan in charge of picking his up when he picked up his own. Mario didn’t want to leave till he had his check cashed, just in case, so needless to say we spent most of the day at home. I was going to contribute a Kitty Litter Cake for Brandon’s party but I needed to get the supplies. By the time Adan brought the check and we left there was an hour till the party—there was NO WAY I was going to get shopping done and come home and bake the cake.

I was worried about the party starting and not being home to get Alaethia ready (the boys can ready themselves, really), but Mary and Noelia had gotten Aly ready, thank goodness. I think they even did a better job with her hair LOL.

Elda’s people started arriving but the rest of the immediate family stayed in Mary’s room. Noelia and Andy came over with their stuff and got ready here. Yazmin got here in her Dorothy costume and she hated it. They convinced me to dress up in it but I just looked like a really ROUND Dorothy so I said no thanks LOL. Noelia had brought an extra costume, a Flashdance one, so Yazmin wore that one. Annie was La Chilindrina, a character from El Chavo Del 8 and brought an extra costume of another character from that same show. Yadira was wearing a witch costume of Annie’s, but she didn’t like it so I wore that one and Yadira wore the extra one Annie had. It was hilarious LOL.

Adan, Aide and Belle came over, too. Belle looked adorable as Boo from Monster’s Inc. Adan and Aide were dressed up as Mobsters—too cute, and such a great idea since everyone seems to be obsessed with Mobster’s at the moment, especially my own husband!

Chris and Nancy were here, too—Chris was El Chavo and Nancy was a genie. She’s so tiny she wore one of Angela’s old costumes!

It was a fun night of chasing Aly around and mingling with everyone. We were all exhausted by the end of the night. Alaethia wouldn’t stop torturing poor Belle. Every time we heard a thud, we knew Alaethia had bullied her cousin again. She has this obsession with stealing her pacifier! She never even used one as a baby.

It’s great spending time with family. It’s such a pain that I don’t get to take as many photos as I used to or blog about my days like before, but at least I’ve got the memories :).

[This is the latest I’ve stayed up (willingly) on a work night in a while…I’m updating this on 11-10…you love how I’m updating a week late LOL. One day I’ll be back to normal again, I swear.]