Chad's 28!

Well, our man is the ol' 2-8 today! He's the absolute best, I would definitely consider him one of the most exceptional human beings who has ever walked upon the earth, probably second only to Jesus. Yeah, I think that's a good description of Chad Richard Cisneros. Very accurate, if you ask me.

What to say about our guy! Well duh, he's the best husband and father, blah blah blah, but other cool facts about him include his love for his job, dog, yard, lawn mower, Oreo cookies, flashy socks, BBQ and pork enchiladas. He further enjoys playing hockey, driving cars made in 1999, helping his wife with home projects and using a compressor-fueled nail gun with gusto. Walking through Home Depot and Lowes gives him considerable joy, and hey, can't forget about the extensive Game of Thrones blog-perusing and speculation via very long text messages with other Game of Thrones super fans. I mean, need I go on? He's basically the most wonderful human.

Here are 28 wonderful memories I have with our guy:

1. That one time while dating where we drove down to SD talking about our future family even though we were, like, 20.

2.  Also while dating, our very classy "SWAT down" RV trips to the coast with a bunch of friends. Those beer bongs weren't going to drink themselves!

3. One of my favorite conversations you've ever had with my parents was when you were describing how your brother almost passed out while you guys were in New Zealand canoeing through the underground caves. My parents were like, this guy is hilarious!

4. When we drove to USC when I was 6 months pregnant with Carter and ate Tommy's. Life changing.

5. When I was talking to the ol' brother-in-law about you when we first started dating and I actually said the words to him, "NO, YOU'RE ACTUALLY GOING TO LIKE THIS ONE!" Bahahaha!

6. Meeting you on that bench at CSUF when we were blind formal dates and you had that crazy Greek Week mohawk and I looked like absolute poop. The reason I was bright red when I met you was because I was like, great, I'm meeting this guy and I haven't showered in a day or so. Wonderful.

7. When, at that formal where we were to be blind dates, you made a strong, opinionated comment on which shoes I should wear. You picked the silver pumps versus the black ones. I was like, wow!

8. When you were POSITIVE Dakota was a boy.

9. That one time where you came home to our apartment in Ladera and told me that escrow would be closing on our new house a week early and that you were going to swing through Home Depot so, "get ready!" Then I started silently freaking out and you were like, what's wrong with you? Hahaha!

10. When you raked our new house's grass in the rain! The best!

11. When I was trying to tell you I was pregnant and you kept completely missing the pregnancy test I had taped to the fridge!

12. When you gave me that questioning glance when I was trying to watch The Kardashians but the kids were awake and the content was less than appropriate a few weeks ago. Bahahaha!

13. When you hauled our first Christmas tree in Irvine up the ol' stairs to our second story apartment!

14. When I realized that you actually knew what you were doing in Europe and if I had been there by myself, I would surely have been dead by that point.

15. When we were living in Yorba during those first 11 months of marriage and you indulged in a bottle of wine for the first time since we'd been married. Bahahaha!

16. When we were at Disneyland recently and got to get into the park an hour early with the rest of the resort-stayers and we looked at each other while sprinting in separate directions to get our places in line with either kid! We were like, holy crap!!!!! This is nuts!

17. When you said, "Babe, he has your eyes," right after Carter was born - THAT'S AN ALL TIME FAVORITE MEMORY AND SHOULDN'T BE NUMBER 17 ON THIS LIST OF WONDERFUL MEMORIES. THE BEST!

18. When you got those headphones for your video games and asked if you looked dorky.

19. When you told Carter that we were going to buy him a truck the other day. Bahahahahaha omg, we were both like, why did those words just happen?

20. When you were laying sod in the front yard and that sprinkler exploded! Hahahaha!

21. When we agreed that Black Cherry is the absolute worst flavor in sparkling water. Our grunts of disgust!

22. That one time where you forgot that you had told me an ex-girlfriend's mom's pork chop recipe, and then suggested that I make pork chops like she had. CALLED YOU OUT!!!! Good thing I like you.

23. When you installed the light fixtures throughout the house the other day! We were so excited!

24. When you were wearing sunglasses indoors when we were building our original kitchen table here in Corona.

25. When you and Carter looked at each other after I announced that bebe 3 is a girl! You said, "It's just you and me, Carter!"

26. When you and I got really intense on Snow's adoption day because there were 5 or 6 people in the line in front of me and we were like, these bitches better move out da way!

27. When I wanted to go get the crib for Carter while pregnant and you were like, "Why? Let's just wait." What? Hahaha!

28. When I married you, you wonderful, smiling man you!

So obviously, he is the best. Woooooo!!!! Happy birthday, my man!

Okay, fully ready for Mitzi to go to heaven

Two days ago I wrote about how sad I was that we've definitively reached the very, very (VERY) end of our 1999 Mitsubishi Montero's life. Mitzi was a good, wonderful car to us, so I felt overly down about the end of her auto life, especially given that she had been HIT while innocently hanging out in front of our house at 4:30 am - what a way to end a long, fruitful life of driving the highways of the world.

So that was Monday. On Monday nights, Chad has hockey all the way in Irvine - a good 20-30 miles from us here in C Town. I had plans for a girl's dinner that night, so the kids and I headed out to OC in Vivi the Volvo, leaving Chad to get himself down to Irvine in Mitzi. A sort of last ride for her, if you will. Chad and I seemed perfectly okay with this - "Have fun at hockey tonight, babe! Be sure to be good to our girl Mitzi on the way down, she's been through a lot today! This will surely be her last hockey run." We were all smiles and hugs and kisses as we part ways that evening, me in a safe vehicle, Chad in Mitzi.

Then, at the end of girl's night, one of my friends whose husband plays on Chad's hockey team, let her know that the game had been canceled so he wouldn't be leaving the house (relieving her of babysitting stress). I thought, "Score! Chad will be home! How awesome!" I dropped the ladies off then headed to my parents' house to grab the kiddos, and then heave-ho'd on the toll road to return to Chaddy-o the Daddy-o.

When we rolled up onto our street, I noticed that Mitzi wasn't there. Dang, he probably didn't know that the game had been canceled. What a bummer, I thought. Poor guy, driving all the way there for nothing.

So I put the kids down, expecting him to stroll through the door at any moment. THEN, once settled in bed and ready to fall into a pregnancy coma of exhaustion, it dawned on me that CHAD HAD DRIVEN AN UNSAFE, FAULTY VEHICLE THAT HAD JUST GOTTEN INTO A COLLISION ALL THE WAY DOWN TO IRVINE AND HIS PHONE WAS BROKEN! His broken phone was why he wouldn't have known the game was canceled - he wouldn't have gotten the email! I couldn't reach him!!!!!!! He could have been dead at the hands of Mitzi for all I knew!!! At this point it was about 11:00 pm - these hockey games go very late so that's somewhat normal. But my concern was that the game had been canceled! Surely he knew that by then?!

I decided that if he didn't walk in by 12:15 I was going to start freaking out. Had Mitzi stopped on the 91? Was he in a ditch, dying somewhere? What if Mitzi just went out on the side of the road, but Chad didn't have a cell phone?!!!! How could he reach any emergency help???!!!! WHAT WERE WE THINKING ALLOWING MITZI A FINAL DRIVE DOWN TO IRVINE?!!!!!

Around 11:45, I decided that ANY lingering sadness of Mitzi's long life coming to an end needed to leave the ether. She was now an unsafe vehicle driving my man around Southern California. Either Chad was to give up hockey until he had a safe car to transport himself, take my car, or we were going to need to get a car within the next few days. NO ONE was going to be allowed to drive that old woman anymore, gosh dangit! In fact at this point, I was somewhat angry at the ol' Mitz! How dare she become so decrepit!

When Chad got home at 12:10 (once he got to the rink he decided he may as well stay and work out a little bit given the long drive to get there), I told him in quite the tone that he was no longer allowed to drive Mitzi to Irvine AND/OR work!!!!!!!!! He was to take Vivi, for heavens sakes! He kind of laughed and said that he would be able to take Mitzi to work because after all, he did need to bring her into the mechanic to get an estimate. I said okay, BUT THAT WAS IT.

Bahahahaha. Then he took Mitz into the mechanic and guess what? GUESS! Her very minor damage (a few dents on the hatch and back left side bumper) had TOTALED THE CAR! She is totaled! Can you believe that?!!!!! Those small dents would cost more to repair than all of Mitzi! Bahahahahaha! We COULDN'T stop laughing about how insane that fact was. I texted my mom and sister and they both said, "Thank you, 4:30 am lady who totaled your vehicle!" Bahahahahaha! How nuts!!!!!!

So anyhoo. Hahahahaha. I'm now okay with the auto heaven that surely awaits Mitz. It's her time. Good bye, sweet debt-free vehicle. You have been good to us.

An ode to the oldest car on planet earth

We have this car - she is a great grandmother of a vehicle if there ever was one. She was purchased just weeks after we started our humongous financial makeover in 2013 for very little money (and life changing Cisneros fact at the time: zero auto financing - tear! She was so significant is so many ways!). A little bit of love was put into this new Mitsubishi of ours, affectionately referred to as "Mitzi," in the form of tires and detailing, and she's been part of the clan ever since. She used to drive the kids and I to Stroller Strides everyday for a few years there, has made the trip from Mission Viejo to Corona and back several times and has lovingly sat in front of our house for many years now (3 years wouldn't qualify as "many years" for other cars, but for Mitzi? Oh yeah, "many years" is very appropriate), a sweet ol' guard dog, if you will.

Well. Mitzi was created and sold on an actual car lot in 1999. SHE WAS BRAND NEW IN 1999. Chad and I were legitimately 11 years old bahahahaha. I'm not even sure how many humans who know us know that that car wasn't even created in this millennium. But here's the thing! With her excessively cheap price tag, years of "life experience" and possible sheisty beginnings with us (hey there, Craigslist), she's been THE BEST CAR IN THE UNIVERSE!

Oh my goodness, that car!!!!! I've loved her since day 1! She has so much giddyup! You press on the gas, you GO. You lightly tap on the breaks, she stops. Someone taps your rear bumper, there's not a mark on her! SHE'S A DELIGHT! A WONDER! She's even good on gas! The ONLY thing that has ever been a concern with Mitz was her age... ahh, ageism. It's a real thing.

So anyway, when we moved very close to Chad's work and he turned in his leased car, we decided that he should be the one to drive Mitzi the 7 miles down the hill to the ol' occupation while the kids and I enjoyed our new(er) Volveezee on the highways that take us to Orange County. Chad too fell in love with Mitz! Then last October, her a/c died which was an obvious bummer, but at least winter was coming up! Not that big of a deal! We then never got the a/c fixed because it probably would have been more expensive than the whole car was worth bahahahaha!

THEN. Last Monday, just 7 days ago, Chad took Vivi the Volvo to work as her innards house more acceptable human conditions in 112 degree heat (and he would be driving people in it. Mitzi is always a big fat NO on those days). I told him not to worry about us, the only plans we had last Monday was to drive to dance and hockey way later on in the afternoon.

WELL! Come 3:30 when it was time to pile in the car to get to dance, Mitzi HAD to be around 130 degrees! NOT KIDDING. Her air obviously wasn't working and it was death outside. The kids and I were bright red as soon as we sat down on her seats. I debated not going to dance due to these wretched conditions, but then was like, "well, we do have hockey right afterwards, so may as well get this maiden hot voyage over with." So we precariously started driving down the street and I proclaimed that we HAD to have the windows open, however disgusting the air was outside. I then chose to take the freeway to dance, something we never do, but we HAD to have the extra air flow moving through! As we were turning from the 15 to the 91, I noticed that Kota had become quiet. I thought, "Oh freaking sheet, we are all going to pass out! Has Kota passed out!!!!" Luckily she hadn't, but that made me scared for our actual health statuses. We got to dance, all of us FIRE ENGINE RED. Everything about us was red and sweat was pouring off our bods. My friends there thought something was wrong with the pregnancy for gosh sakes! Hahahahahha! It was NOT okay.

I made the decision to swing by Chad's work directly after dance that day and then switched out the cars right there in the parking lot! It was a necessity! We simply COULD NOT drive to hockey in Mitzi. It was not an option. Then, when I got to hockey, I was so zapped from the 15 minute hell-drive to dance that I had no energy to cheer for my boy. He scored a goal and I was like, "yay." As I sat there unenthusiastically, I began to think about how that drive was legitimately scary (bahahahahaha). I started to seriously question the responsibleness of Chad driving Mitz to work and home in summer weather! That night, I told Chad that if he were to call me the next day from a car dealership because he was buying a new car, he would see no argument from little ol' me. So that happened.

Then! Later on during the week, some weird thing happened where the keys were accidentally locked inside of the car IN THE IGNITION! Once this was realized, Chad was in a whole other city with work people and would be ubering home, but when he asked if the kids and I would want to swing by where the car was parked (in work's parking lot) to retrieve the keys, the kids were already asleep. Soo...... we pretty much just decided that if a human being wanted to steal Mitzi that night, hopefully they would need her more than we would (OH MY GOSH). Next morning came around, and good ol' Mitz was still there, just hanging out, keys in her ignition.

Then! Chad tried to start'er up that morning after they were reunited, and she wouldn't turn on. We thought it was a dead battery, but AAA said she just needed a little jolt and was actually fine. Wow, we thought. What a warrior, we said.

THEN! This morning, Monday - a whole 7 days after hell-drive to dance, we got a nice ding-dong on our front door AT 4:30 AM!!!!!! Snow woke up and started barking, which scared the heck out of us because who rings a door bell at 4:30 am? A robber checking to see if there were people and/or a dog in there? After Chad returned to bed, my phone rang - our neighbor was calling to tell us that someone had HIT MITZI WHILE SHE SLEPT ON THE STREET IN FRONT OF OUR HOUSE!!!!! Oh my gosh, Mitzi! Holy crap, Mitz!

Apparently a girl had fallen asleep at the wheel, hitting Mitzi, which pushed our baby all the way in front of our neighbor's house. It completely totaled her car (not ours because Mitz is a champ) and there's a humongous oil stain where she came to a stop (behind Mitz). The poor girl hadn't been drinking, she was outrageously shaken (obviously). Her dad came down to talk with Chad and our two other neighbors, but it seemed like the vibe of the whole thing was very sympathetic toward the girl. All of this took place from 4:30-7:30 am. Mitzi is very banged up. One of her rear lights is sitting on our bathroom counter, a sad piece of our girl!

Once I got out of bed, I came out and semi-demanded that Chad take my car to work, but he told me that it was alright, she's just got a few dents and at least no one was hurt. I seriously think he was thinking of her poor feelings! Kind of like, "hey babe, this may be the last time I take our Mitz out, I'm going to be real nice to her" type things. Almost like an animal who is given a short timeline to live! (This is actually making me think of Snow dying which is very depressing.)

So Mitz is sitting at work with Chad right now. I'm so sad! She is so great! Truly like a dog who may be a pain in your butt (not that she's a pain in our butts, it's just her age!) but at the end of the day you would just DIE if something happened to your pup. I just talked to Chad a little bit ago and I told him that this was it, we were going to need to start looking for a new car - legitimately we don't want to be ignoring signs from God (we were both laughing when I said that but were like "for real though"). Like I DON'T WANT TO LEAVE HER AT SOME DEALERSHIP AND DRIVE AWAY WITH A YOUNGER, PRETTIER VEHICLE! THIS IS A REAL THING!

Anyway. Of course a report shall come when we secure a new member of the Cisneros clan. It's a necessity, but man oh man, I will miss Mitz and everything she is! Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

^^^That's her! But painted black... because some previous owner had her painted... if you open a door, she's white on the inside of it. Waaaaaaaaah!

The post which turned into the BABY LIST recording

What on earth has been going on up in here? Growing a baby, hockey, dance, gymnastics, extensive snapchat stories (nicole-cisneros hey-o! I'm pretty sure at this point no humans read this blog unless they're my buddies), dog beach visits... I mean, it's been a lot - and we're just 3 weeks into summer! Glorious! I have nothing of substance to write about, which again, end up being my favorite type of posts in the future. So what have we been doinnnnnnnng....

Well, right now I'm typing upon a new, farmhouse-esque desk/side table/hopefully make-up vanity which rests on Chad's side of the bed. Constructing this 20x43x31" wooden cuteness was on our "19 Weeks Until Baby" to-do list, and thus has been made.

We created the list when I was (obviously) 21 weeks preggo and let me tell YOU, it has TAKEN OVER MY LIFE! I can't live a single day now without doing at least a LITTLE bit which will contribute to checking SOMETHING off The List. It's become an imperative part of my life. The original list held 17 things (so doable!), but now she boasts 21 to-do's. We keep adding things! And the original 18 things were very broad (read: lighting in house). Okay, there were 5 rooms which needed lighting! So now, each bullet point houses several sub-bullet points. For example, under "curtains," there is now family room curtains, living room curtains, kids' room curtains and nursery curtains. We've checked off "family room curtains" and "kids' room curtains," but are a far cry from checking off the master "curtains" bullet point! I MEAN!!!!!!

And the reason I even made this farmhouse-esque desk in the first place, which originally was one of our last priorities on The list, was because we HAD to finish out the kids' room which NEEDED the dresser that used to be Chad's nightstand. So in my brain, to finish the kids' room, we had to move Chad's side table dresser, which meant I had to make the table in order to finish off the wonderfulness that is the kids' room but also not leave Chad's side of the bed high and dry. So there are at least two bullet points that we've been able to check off because they were intertwined, if not become psychotic over!!!!!! It's like a massive, person-who-enjoys-checklists wonderland of amazingness, even if it IS a bit of a demanding list (now) - aka slave-driver-esque. A sick part of me loves it!

So right now, I'm working on the new nursery. I feel as if I MUST do the nursery next because we have all of the materials needed sitting in the garage. In order to finish out the nursery, I'll be able to install the curtains in there, which will lead to a big fat CHECK MARK under the "curtains" sub-bullet point, "nursery room curtains!" BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! HOLY SHEET! I'M JUST NOW REALIZING THAT I'M A MONSTER!

But on the real, there's a secret thing that I haven't added to the list but is very much alive in my nesting brain. If I add it onto the list, Chad will see it and be like, "Nicole, come on. Get a grip. We are not doing THAT. Talk about unnecessary." But I CAN'T GET IT OUT OF MY MIND!!! Want to hear it?! Okay! So over several weeks while Chad is at work (HAHAHAHAHA OH MY GOSH, LISTEN TO ME!) I'm going to be making small trips to Home Depot to purchase very cheap 1x1"x12' boards which I will cut up using our new miter saw. Then (!!!!) I will create a GIGANTIC herringbone headboard for our master bedroom. I love our "headboard" which used to be our former kitchen table, but it drives my eye crazy that it's narrower than our Cal King. Apparently, our headboard MUST be the same width as our mattress or I simply won't be able to handle it. So yes. There's my secret project. I'm trying to force myself not to start on this psychotic endeavor until all of the other List items have been completed but.... clearly the nesting mind is an irrational one.

So because this blog is a magic space where once things are typed out and published they become a reality, I have to record our "19 Weeks Until Baby" list! Here goes!!!!

1. Curtains in house
   - family room CHECKED
   - living room
   - kids' room CHECKED
   - nursery

2. Rocker / glider

3. Crib

4. Heart monitor for baby

5. Pump

6. Baby shower / register

7. Older kids' room do-over CHECKED

8. Nursery

9. Vanity/desk/side table for Chad CHECKED

10. Lighting in house
   - family CHECKED, living, kids', nursery (all sub-bullet points! Bahahaha omg.)

11. Pantry organization (sliding shelves?)

12. School shopping for kids (clothes and supplies)

13. Bathroom fan maintenance

14. Kid swing for patio

15. Postpartum shopping for myself

16. Ergo baby carriet

17 WISHLIST ITEM: new carpets (probably not going to happen)

18. Ship lap fireplace CHECKED

19. More clothing hangers for all

20. Car maintenance (this was originally just for the Volvo, but this may be Mitzi's last summer with us. Tear! She's been so good to us, the ol' girl.)

21. Bass Lake trip organization

So you see! A bunch. 18-21 have been added on since the original creation. The baby-centered products are all things I don't think people will (or should have to) get for little ol' us. All wonderful. Now I'm going to go finish priming baby boo boo's nursery. Ta-ta!

A ludicrous dental story if there ever was one

Well gosh dangit, the dentist. The olllllllll' dentist. Going to visit the chomper doctor was such a miserable experience for me growing up, I've become numb to the experience. Every single time I go, there's something new and negative to report. A filling here, a filling there. "Looks like you've got a little gum disease, Nicole!" I've even had a root canal - THAT I GOT WHEN I WAS IN HIGH SCHOOL! That's sick! Anyway, don't like the place. When Chad and I got married, we had dental insurance and therefore went every six months. I started to have trust issues with our office though - they had Chad coming in every 8 weeks! How stupid, I thought! Those blood sucking, insurance squeezing liars! Chad's teeth were phenomenal, the man did not need to go in every 8 weeks - ha! So when it came time to renew the insurance, I told him to just skip it for a year - we were fine! That year turned into two... or seriously maybe three, I can't remember.

Anyway, last year, trying to be responsible adults, we got ourselves some good ol' fashioned dental insurance. Then, I never made ANY appointments. Not for me, not for Chad, not for our two children who's mouths were sure to be racked with bone loss (thanks to my 50% contribution to their genetic make ups). Last week, Chad and I were kind of laughing about how we just never made the appointments and how insurance renewal was coming up. Then he said, "Welp, we wasted a few hundred dollars this year with that insurance, having never gone in. What a bummer," which, if you know me, got my fire going. OH SHIT! I certainly was not about to squander money in the name of dentistry. So I immediately made appointments for all four of us before the end of our insurance year was up. Take that, dentists of the world!

So I go on in last night. Me, all by my lonesome, KNOWING that there was going to be TERRIBLE news waiting for me on the other side of this appointment. Surely my mouth was going to be bearing the Armageddon of tooth decay given my hiatus. It was a KNOWN. Simply a FACT. So I go in, fill out the paperwork, then head back for x-rays where I counted my own fillings, which came out to be less than I thought there were in there - cool! Legitimately I thought every tooth in my mouth had been drilled upon. So then we went back and my doctor had the hygienist test my gums for disease, which is exacerbated during pregnancy anyway so I wasn't worried about it. THEN the doctor came in to tell me what was up with my current teeth. Some maintenance on my existing fillings and possibly a crown, which I was actually fine with because that would mean I could get rid of the gross looking metal in there - it would be replaced with a delicate, beautiful white. Win!

THEN. THEN! THENNNNNNNNNN!!!!!! She tells me she was going to send in the office manager to go over how much everything will cost before anything is done. The lady comes in and starts spewing numbers. I was glancing at the paper, and in the TOTAL area I saw $400. So she kept talking and all of a sudden, at the very bottom, I see clear as day that all the work was going to come out to NOT $400, but 

FOUR THOUSAND THIRTY TWO DOLLARS AFTER INSURANCE!!!!!!!!!

Bahahahahahahahahaha! $4,032 after insurance!!! I started laughing and said, "I'll tell you right now, that's not going to happen, so is there anything you want to whittle this down to?"

"We can't do any of this unless you get the laser treatment which is the majority of the cost. You need to get rid of the bacteria under your teeth."

Bahahaha! Yeah lady, no I don't. Not that bad. Haven't humans housed bacteria in their mouths since the cave man days? What about the gingivitis on the May Flower? What was with this ludicrous level of cleanliness? Bahahahaha!

"Well can I get a cleaning today and then go over this with my husband?"

"Well you certainly can talk to the doctor about that." 

Doctor comes back in, right as I hear an advertisement for this laser treatment come on over the loud in-office radio. Suspicious, right????! Was there a commission to be made off this?

"I'm sorry, you must have the laser treatment. It's the only way. And this other gum treatment is a must, where we will give you local anesthetic."

"Yeah, I'm not getting laser treatment while pregnant and I will not be shooting myself up with local anesthetic either. Let's do a cleaning today and figure it out after that."

"No, if you let the bacteria stay there until after you have the baby, it will get into your blood stream and into the baby. If you wait the five months until your due date to get this taken care of, it will be WAY too late. Also, your insurance wouldn't pay for your cleaning until you get the laser treatment." Pretty sure I haven't been to the dentist in years, 5 months was nothing, sista!

"So woah. You're not going to give me a cleaning? Is there zero value in a regular cleaning?"

"No. Not today. But let me assure you all of the treatment is FDA approved, we will just need additional clearance from your doctor."

"Okay, I'm not doing $4,032 worth of work. Is there anything you want to cross off the list that I'll be showing my doctor to get the 'okay' on the fillings at minimum?" (I was asking her to cross off laser treatment permission and local anesthetic.)

"Well, we can just ask your doctor, you never know, he may say yes to all of it."

HYENA LAUGHTER.

Front office after a shocked-drenched walk from my dental chair to the front doors. The lady at the front stopped me:

"Wait! Let's put you down for 6 months out!"

"Well if I'm putting myself down for an appointment and I'm telling you right now that none of this except the fillings will be 'taken care of,' then what is the point? I'm not coming back in here if nothing is going to happen."

"Well it's always good to have you in the system."

Okay lady!!!!!!

Then I went home, all while texting my sister hilarious jokes about my $4,032 mouth. My brother-in-law asked me if I was getting diamond implants. Chad immediately asked me how expensive it was to get veneers and I answered, probably a few thousand, to which he said, "Let's go get fake teeth!" Hahahahahahahahahahahaha! 

Then we delved into the online reviews of this place, something I had lightly skimmed over initially. We found one fellow who was quoted $10,000 for a little plaque. Another guy was told that he wouldn't be able to get ACL surgery because his gums were slightly inflamed. Several people reported, in all caps, that their insurance never even covered what they had done because it was all cosmetic. BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

So we won't be returning there. 

_________________

But in good news, the kids' appointments showed ZERO CAVITIES AND ZERO GUM INFLAMMATION! I mean, woooooooooooo!!!! Thanks Cisneros clan, for the all-star genetics. A true proud day for a few Paplia offspring.

Which by the way, my parents were very diligent in their "taking the kids to the dentist" lives. We went every six months, were told to floss and of course, brushed twice a day for as long as I can remember. My faulty dental life is an enigma! I have no idea what the deal is. It's so annoying!!!!!! Oh well though! What can ya do?

  

Baby 3!

Baby on the way! Baby on the way!

Cisneros child nombre three will be heading to town this October! 18 weeks have already come and gone - how can that be? I still feel like the whole thing is so new. Almost half way there - what?! No. That can't be right! But yes, we're breaching the 5 month mark here soon and I just can't believe it. "Thankful" doesn't even begin to describe the emotions of the last few months - after the stress of the first trimester (following last year's sad event of our other third baby reaching angel status - so this is actually Cisneros child nombre four, but for earthly purposes, we shall chalk him/her up to tres, if only when talking to other people about it), and then the unexpected anxiousness that moved with me into the second trimester, the whole thing just accentuates all adjectives "thankful" related to a fine point.

We are all so thrilled - what a miracle it is to grow a baby. With Carter and Kota's pregnancies, that fact was taken for granted big time. This time around, with having miscarried and witnessing heartache in the realm of "baby" over the span of many friends and acquaintances, no little flutter of movement is felt without extreme gratitude. It's just so wonderful!

So how did bebe tres go down! Well, after the sad March news of last year, our doctor told us to wait 3 months (at the time I thought that was an eternity). Once three months passed us by, neither Chad or I felt like we were overly excited to start trying again, so we just didn't. Then, out of no where, I thought, WOAH IT'S BEEN SIX MONTHS, IF WE'RE GOING TO DO THIS, WE BETTER GET ON IT. THERE AIN'T NO WAY MAMA'S GOING TO HAVE A LARGER GAP THAN WE ALREADY WILL BETWEEN OUR OLDER TWO AND THIS POSSIBLE THIRD CHILD. NO WAY JOSE! So in September, we got to goin'.

Month after month went by... and no bambino, but I was so relaxed about the whole thing (for some insane reason. Who was I?). I was so chill! Then in January, Chad and I were standing in the kitchen making enchiladas enjoying glasses of wine and I said, "Hey man. If this trying business takes much longer, let's just call it quits. We've got two great kids. If we don't get pregnant by next month, let's go to Hawaii this summer and just commit to traveling once a year to cool places. I think that's a good plan." He agreed and we drank more wine. Then, two weeks later, I didn't get my period on February 4th, so a Target trip was made, pregnancy test secured.

AND IT WAS POSITIVE! The faintest little line, just like Carter and Kota's tests, showed up! I was like NO WAY.

So at this point, I was obviously "4 weeks" (2 weeks), and the anxiousness settled in. How did I know that this baby was okay in there? ANYTHING IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD could be going on in that uterus of mine. I called my doctor immediately and was told I wouldn't be seen until 8 weeks - 4 WHOLE WEEKS AWAY! My brain would surely go crazy in that time. But anyway, what could I do? I just booked the appointment and tried to be a calm human, not someone living in utter fear. So around 5 weeks, I said to myself, "Hey Nicole, chill out and be excited. Why dontchya go onto babycenter.com and take a look at how the baby is doing in there?"

BIG MISTAKE. Well of course, at that point, the baby was a (sweet) bundle of cells. CELLS! There are no baby features, obviously! The image of the group of baby cells sent me into extreme anxiety. I mean, ANYTHING could happen to any ONE of those cells and things could go catastrophically wrong. To make it worse, the description underneath the picture of the 5 week baby said, "If your pregnancy test was faint, and you take another one which comes out negative, then you may have had a miscarriage." WHAT. That could be determined via a few home pregnancy tests?!!!!!! AND MY TEST WAS VERY FAINT!

So I threw Kota in the car, bolted down to Target with the excuse that I needed to pick something else up while there, and then sped home to take the second test I had hurriedly purchased. The test came back with a stronger line, but I was still very shaken by my babycenter experience. I decided that I wouldn't allow myself to look at the darn website until out of the first trimester in order to avoid that level of stress. Oh! And the stress that it all caused, caused me MORE stress! I knew stress wasn't good for baby, but I couldn't stop stressing! MY GOSH!

So anyhoo, all is well now, after one horrific experience where the doctor couldn't find baby's heart beat on the doppler (but was able to find it on the ultrasound). We waited sooooooo long to tell people about this little one - that's why I think the whole thing feels so new still. It's such a gosh dang blessing! Woooooooo bebe 3, kicking away in there!!!!!

My apparent concern for Etsy sellers

IT'S A GLORIOUS EVENING BECAUSE I HAVE HAD THE HOUSE TO MYSELF FOR THE LAST 5 HOURS! IT'S RAINING! IT'S STORMING! CRAFTS HAVE BEEN EXECUTED! OUR MASTER BEDROOM'S LONE STARK WALL HAS BEEN ADORNED! I STARTED WATCHING THE MOVIE "JOY" AND THEN STOPPED TO TAKE A SHOWER AND CHECK SOCIAL MEDIA FOR FAR, FAR TOO LONG! I EVEN HAD A MOMENT OF EXTREME SADNESS BECAUSE I MISSED MY BABIES TOO MUCH AS I WAS SCROLLING THROUGH PICTURES OF THEM WHILE DEEP INTO SAID SOCIAL MEDIA DROWNING! THE HEAT IS ON! I'M IN JAMMIES AND IT'S 6:24 PM! IT'S ALL JUST TOO MUCH!

Okay, get a grip Nicole! Get a grip!

Alright but on the real, our master bedroom is officially FINITO. Now, per the rule I set for myself, we can move onto the next room that needs help! I always say that every room in our house is 70% done after the initial decorating spree (note: initial decorating spree that we actually LIKED), so now it's time to go through and finish the ol' girl up before doing heavy duty work. Next up! A wood panel wall thing in this random architectural square cut out we have in our hallway (I want to do this), then the family room where curtains and a rug are needed. After that, Carter's room needs some love. It's not bad, but it's not great either - a trip to Hobby Lobby and a stroll down the super hero or Star Wars isle for him is needed. See? Nothing is that big of a deal but we've learned that when it comes to "not a big deal" projects, it is ALWAYS a big deal. Slow and steady seems to offer the best results for us Cisneros's!

After that, the heavy duties: bathrooms. Y'all, I just don't really care about bathrooms! Every seasoned homeowner tells us that we should make the bathrooms our next priority because, eek, they are so outdated. It's true they are ugly as heck, but you're in there for such a short period of time! Ours are extreeeeeemely tiny, which will be great on the pocket book as far as heavy duty projects go, but that fact always makes be like, "yeeeeeeah but they're tiiiiiiiiiiny. Why do we need to redo them? If we redo them I want to have legit tile showers, porcelin baths, nice counter tops! Do we really need to save up for all that?? Blah!" Anyhoo, that will happen but not until decor is finished up.

Then flooring if we're still in the mood to invest more into this sweet little house of ours. I really want to do it though but I also really think kitchen counter tops would be a very sound investment. MY MIND!

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Okay, this is so random, but I must speak. So the craft I did to finish off our bedroom was a series of stained-by-myself, heavy duty doughlas fur 2"x 6"x 10'-cut-into-thirds-boards with a carefully painted-on design that I copied from Pinterest after constructing a stencil on my kitchen table. The project was very fun and mounds cheaper than what we were going to buy from Hobby Lobby yesterday and I daresay, I like it more than what we were originally going to get. In my excitement, I went onto Etsy to see what these type things would sell for. In ABSOLUTELY no way was I interested in creating these things and selling them myself, but just, you know! I wanted to see how much I'd saved, I guess! The whole thing cost me $17 so I was just snooping around.

For heavens sakes. People were on there selling these time consuming, painfully-thought-out projects for SO CHEAP. This is not okay. Some seasoned sellers had priced themselves a little bit more reasonably, prices one could tell had been conjured up based on their own seller's formula (price of materials, hourly wage paid to themselves, brain power logistics, those type things), but some sellers, less seasoned sellers (myself at one time when I used to sell items I had sewn), were priced as low as $15-20! FIFTEEN AND TWENTY DOLLARS FOR A SET OF THREE BOARDS. There was one person on there for $5! Now yes, those prices do not reflect shipping charges, but come on.

I'm the number one human being to understand pricing low so that way you'll get more traffic and sales (forget about the numerous studies that state that if you price yourself fairly you will actually sell more regardless of the few extra dollars you're asking from people - good buyers prefer quality!), but THAT low? No. It's simply not okay. Say like I actually did want to start selling those boards I had made because, if I do say so myself, they're pretty great quality and Pinteresty (palm slap to the forehead. Not trying to be a douche). I would literally NEVER sell them on Etsy after seeing what I just saw! How could an actual formulated sale price compete with a $5 price tag?

And here's the thing, oh listeners to this rant: pricing so low does NO ONE any favors. Not you, the low-pricer, not the gal next to you trying to sell a similar product, not your "crafter's bottom line," not your gas tank which takes you to Home Depot to get the materials (and the post office, if that's how you do your shipping!), not the time you take away from your kids or hubby during whatever hours you choose to craft - IT DOES NO ONE ANY FAVORS!

I remember when I started selling these little ties that I would make for baby and toddler boys, I would read multiple craft blogs about this wild world of "handmade goods" (and still do!). One of the posts I didn't understand at the time was this VERY successful crafter's abhorrence for Etsy or Big Cartel sellers who priced themselves absurdly low. She said it made all the rest of the people who are making a living out of their hobbies look like a**holes. At the time, I was like, "Hey sista, a gals got to start somewhere," but that was the wrong thought. Truly. If I had actually done myself a favor and factored in all of the things you're supposed to factor into pricing, who knows, maybe I wouldn't have gotten over it because the return was sooooooooo low (well that, and hey, I like to change my mind ;).

It's just ludicrous! And disclaimer: in some instances, those prices I was saying up there ($5-20) were for boards that were slightly smaller or flimsier than the wood I had used, but still, for a set of three items? It's the art work, time, meticulousness, energy and all things FOCUSED that needs to be paid attention to when one is selling their goods. It's important!

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Okay! That's enough out of this ol' windbag over here! Now the babies and hubs are home and I shall take up my spot on the couch so that we can watch The Incredibles. Cheers to houses being decorated and Etsy sellers being nice to themselves (and the marketplace)!