Isabelle turns six today, and I am happy but sad.  She is growing up so quickly that I don’t want to blink.  Today is her pool party, and so I wanted to write this before I started running around.

White German Shepherd

Originally uploaded by Anneli Cecilia

A scary situation happened this weekend. While I was in Philadelphia, I get a frantic call from my ex. We don’t speak so A. I knew something was wrong and B. It had to do with the children. I pick up.

“What’s wrong?”

“The dog bit Isabelle’s nose,” he replies.

When he told me last week that he had gotten a new German Shepherd, I worried. My ex tends to do things without thinking of the children. I wondered if he had gotten this dog from the animal shelter and if it had been abused. He said that his stepsister gave him the dog.

When we were together, he got a German Shepherd, Buddy, that had been abused. When Cebastian was born, the dog would freak whenever he was around him. However, he never tried to hurt Cebastian. The thing was that Buddy was an older dog, and this new dog is a puppy.  I love German Shepherds, and I love dogs!  I don’t want anyone thinking that this has to do with a hatred towards dogs.  It has to do with finding the right dog to fit into your family.  

“Is she ok? Was she messing with the dog?” I was panicking.

“She is crying, and I put ice on it. No, she was just sitting there and he went up to her and bit her nose and wouldn’t let go.”

“Are you taking her to the ER or the clinic?”

Silence.

“Ummmm…well are you?” I ask again.

“I don’t think it’s to do that.”

In other words, it will be such an inconvenience for me. He didn’t take her, and when I see her nose yesterday, it’s swollen and looks broken. I tell him what was the dog’s history. It seems that after the incident, he called his stepsister, and she told him that the dog use to be with a family with children who abused him. I was pissed. I ask him if she knew this, why would she give him this dog. Also, that knowing the dog came from an animal shelter, why didn’t he ask about the dog’s history. He gets pissy with me.

I try to explain to him that I don’t blame him or the dog, I blame the person, who knowing the dog’s history, puts him with someone who has kids. He thinks I am being irrational. Am I wrong to think that his stepsister was irresponsible to do this? Am I wrong to think that he should have asked about the dog’s history and taking my daughter to the clinic?

I have an appointment with the pediatrician this afternoon, so let’s just hope that it’s swollen and not infected or broken.

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.