DC Femella

When I found out that I was having a boy, I knew that my queasy stomach would have to endure many injuries.  The first visit to the emergency room was no fault of his own.  His father decided to cause a huge car accident on the highway when Cebastian was two.  His left eye was completely shut for a few weeks, but he was young, so it healed nicely.

The second trip to the emergency room was with his father (again).  He slashed the back of his leg with a broken garden pot.  He needed a few stitches, and he still has the scar to prove it.  

The third trip to the emergency room was when my mother was taking care of him.  He was racing around in the backyard when he got a tree needle stuck in his head.  This freaked me out because you could see it embedded in there, and I was afraid he would need some major brain surgery (call me paranoid).  The doctor pulled it out, some blood gushed out, and he got a couple of stitches.  

This weekend we avoided a fourth trip to the emergency room, but we came close. He was outside with his cousin when I hear Cebastian come in crying.  One thing about Cebastian is that he used to cry all the time when he was a baby, so I guess he got it all out because he never cries.  You know that if he does cry, then it must be something huge.  I looked at his elbow and it was just a ruby-red gash.  I almost fainted while cleaning it up and applying medication.  I took the shirt off (I should have cut it cause I wasn’t sure if he broke it or not), and I saw that his entire left side was covered in scratches and there was a huge gash covering his entire bottom side.  Luckily my mother was around because I couldn’t hold the tears anymore.  

He was crying the entire time, and I just held him.  When he calmed down, Cebastian turned to me.

“Mommy?”

“Yes, babe?”

“Can I sleep with you tonight?”

“Of course!” 

I better enjoy it because there will come a time when he will no longer need me as much.  I better get use to these incidents because he’s getting older and is heavily getting into sports.

Before the sunset, the kids play in the sand

Originally uploaded by joaobambu

I am currently trying to figure out what I’m going to do with the kids in the summer. It’s strange to me now that I am in the school-aged phase that it’s a huge deal what summer camps you choose for you kids. Every mother I speak to always adds “And what summer camps are you putting your children in?”

I know that Cebastian is going to an overnight camp for a week, and Isabelle might go to the one at her school. We might go to Italy (or definitely, a public beach). However, after that, i am pretty much clueless. The problem lies on how much these camps want. The cheapest camp is $340 a week. Let’s do the math:

$340 * 2 (kids) * 4 (weeks) = $2,720 a month

This is close to $3000 because this doesn’t include supplies and activity fees they love to add to this number. Also, my ex isn’t the type to really help. I can just see that conversation:

“Eric, I probably need a little extra for the kids’ summer camps.”

“Ummm…I give you child support, so sorry, take it from there.”

My coworker says that our neighborhood has a half-day summer camp that has tennis, pool, and walking on nature trails. However, I am pretty uncomfortable paying lifeguards to watch my kids until I get home. They are watching everyone else, so what happens if they miss my kid? I don’t know…maybe I am paranoid. I think if all else fails, the kids will go to Isabelle’s school, which is Cebstian’s old school.

I want my children to have a fun summer, but do I really have to pay this money for them to have fun? These summer camps know that working parents need to place their kids in something, so they are upping that price like crazy to kind of screw us. I really don’t know what people are living paycheck-to-paycheck do.

For school-aged parents out there, what are you doing with the kids this summer?

Started today at 7:38 PM

Thanks Adriana!!!!!

Here you go mommies – a different kind of survey for a change – it’s all about your first born! Just copy and paste it in a new note for yourself! Then Tag your friends.

1. WAS YOUR FIRST PREGNANCY PLANNED? No, but I was super happy that it did.  I was told by doctors that I wasn’t able to have children.

2. WERE YOU MARRIED AT THE TIME? No

3. WHAT WERE YOUR REACTIONS? I was happy because I always wanted to be a mother and thought I never would be able to.  I remember when the doctors told me that I made my sisters promise to have a baby for me when I was in my thirties.  Therefore, I was elated.

4. WAS ABORTION AN OPTION FOR YOU? No

5. HOW OLD WERE YOU? 22

6. HOW DID YOU FIND OUT YOU WERE PREGNANT? I instantly knew that I was because I felt different.  White discharge started coming out, and I started researching about it.  I knew that I was.

7. WHO DID YOU TELL FIRST? Kristine

8. DID YOU WANT TO FIND OUT THE SEX? Yes.  When I was a kid, I was famous for poking holes in the Christmas presents to figure out what they were.  There was no way I could wait close to ten months to find out.

9. DUE DATE? October 13, 2001 and July 12, 2003

10. DID YOU HAVE MORNING SICKNESS? Not with Cebastian.  With Isabelle, I vomited like crazy.  I even vomited lobster, which made me sick in so many ways.

11. WHAT DID YOU CRAVE? I was a vegetarian with both.  I craved raw, red meat.

12. WHO/WHAT IRRITATED YOU THE MOST? My mom and ex.  I also was irritated with all the metro riders.  Rude asses in DC.

13. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CHILD’S SEX? A boy.  I wanted all girls, but now I can’t imagine life without him.

14. DID YOU WISH YOU HAD THE OPPOSITE SEX OF WHAT YOU WERE GETTING? YES.  I wanted three girls.

15. HOW MANY POUNDS DID YOU G AIN THROUGHOUT THE PREGNANCY? With Cebastian, I gained 25 pounds.  With Isabelle, 60.

16. DID YOU HAVE A BABY SHOWER? Not with Cebastian.  With Isabelle, I was forced to have one.  I made my older sister promise to make it very adult and not so babyish. =P

17. WAS IT A SURPRISE OR DID YOU KNOW? I had to know because I am the type who doesn’t believe in celebrating things like society deems to celebrate.

18. DID YOU HAVE ANY COMPLICATIONS DURING YOUR PREGNANCY? With Cebastian, no.  With Isabelle, I was bedridden at seven months.  I could barely move and it was ridiculously boring.  I want to have two more and are afraid that if I had complications at 24, I am going to have really bad ones now that I am over 30.  My older sister was at the hospital two weeks after having my nephew last year (she was 35), so I am freaked.

19. WHERE DID YOU GIVE BIRTH? Cebastian – INOVA Alexandria; Isabelle – Mary Washington Hospital, Fredericksburg, VA

20. HOW MANY HOURS WERE YOU IN LABOR? Cebastian – 17 hours; Isabelle – 2 hours

21. WHO DROVE YOU TO THE HOSPITAL? Cebastian – Kristine; Isabelle – my mom

22. WHO WATCHED YOU GIVE BIRTH? Cebastian – My two sisters and mom; Isabelle – My two sisters, mom, and ex

23. WAS IT NATURAL OR C-SECTION? Natural

24. DID YOU TAKE MEDICINE TO EASE THE PAIN? No.  I had Scoliosis as a child and had to wear braces, so I don’t let anything come near my back.

27. HOW MUCH DID YOUR CHILD WEIGH? Cebastian – 9lbs; 2oz; Isabelle – 9lbs; 8oz

28. WHEN WAS YOUR CHILD ACTUALLY BORN? Cebastian – October 12, 2001 and Isabelle – July 11, 2003.  I’m good

30. WHAT DID YOU NAME HIM/HER? Cebastian Averyian Polastre and Isabelle Victoria Polastre.  I named Cebastian the Russian way cause I was taking it at the time.  Isabelle was after Salma Hayek’s character in “Fools Rush In.”  She was going to be Torrance, but a week before I had her, I changed it.

31. HOW OLD IS YOUR FIRST BORN TODAY? Cebastian is seven now.  I can’t believe how time flies.

I know that I can’t imagine life without them and don’t really remember life before they arrived.  They are my companions, friends, and life.  The only time I feel at peace is when they are near.

The “trying to get out of school” excuses have begun.  Last week, the kids had two days off because of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Inauguration.  This week, Cebastian had two Teacher’s Work Days plus a snow day.  Even though school was two hours delayed, today was the first day of school in what seemed like forever.  I woke Isabelle up first.

“Good morning!”

“Mommmyyyy, my ear hurts too bad,” she wailed.

After hearing this excuse and falling for it two times already, I was not about to make it a third.

“Nice try, but get up.  Your ear does not hurt.”

She stopped, huffed, and replied, “Ok.”

I headed to wake Cebastian up.

“Morning!”

“Mommy, can you call my teacher and tell her that I am too sick to go to school.”

“How are you sick?”

“I’m coughing too much,” he said.  He forced himself to cough twice and looked at me like he had fooled me.

“If you are sick, then I guess you will be in your bed and just staying there for the rest of the day.  No TV, no games, nothing.”

He thought about it for a minute.  “Fine, I will go feed Haji.”

I don’t know how my mom dealt with three girls without going insane.  I remember all the excuses I used so I wouldn’t go to school.  It has now made me somewhat of an expert in dealing with my own children and their attempts to play hooky.  They can’t beat the Master.  Been there, done that.

After going grocery shopping, Cebastian, who doesn’t have school for two days due to parent/teacher conferences, and I went to his teacher conference. She said he is excelling at school, and that his behavior is getting better. I was pleasantly surprised. He was waiting outside the classroom for me. He asked me how he was doing?

I said, “Cebastian, you are doing amazing in school, and Ms. Seidel says you are doing better with your behavior.”

His response? “Mom? Don’t you feel sorry that you doubted me.”

I started laughing, and I said, “Sorry Cebastian, I shouldn’t have doubted you.”

He said, “That’s ok mom, I forgive you.”

Hahahahahaha….Crazy kid.