My Life As Someone Waiting for our Baby Girl to be Born

It's been over a week since my last blog, and I plan on writing weekly, but this past week has been kind of crazy as you read in this blog...

As most of you know Jenette and I are expecting our second daughter any moment now, we actually thought she'd be here by now, but we are still waiting. There has even been a couple false alarms, in which one night I left work early because Jenette was having contractions, but come to find out the contractions were not intense enough, not long enough, and too far apart. So I feel so bad for my amazing wife, she's been having contractions off and on for a week now. So Jenette has not been sleeping well at all. Now we had planned for "Baby Sister" (Gloria's name for her), to be here on February 18, but it's now February 24 and we are still waiting. The main reason why we thought baby sister would be here now is because of Gloria. 

Why do I say it's because of Gloria? Well let's go back a few years. Before Gloria was born, we had 3 miscarriages, so after the third we decided to go to the doctor to see what the problem was. The doctor informed us due to the fact that Jenette's uterus was not fit to carry a baby and that she most likely will never be able to have her own children and that we should consider adoption. Heart broken we stopped for coffee and just said well, "If God wants us to have a baby He will do it, if not lets adopt." That week Jenette found out she was pregnant again, and the doctor told us we'd be lucky if the pregnancy lasted 3 months after, 3 months we were told we'd be lucky if it lasted 6 months, after six months it looked like it was going to happen. So the doctor scheduled a plan c-section for November 17, 2012. Now during the time of being pregnant for Gloria and this baby Jenette has been miserable, being pregnant is not fun to her, yes she loves the kids but carrying the baby, has been terrible.

 Jenette reminds me of the character Wendy in the movie "What to Expect When You're Expecting." Wendy was a lady who wanted nothing more than to get pregnant and have a baby, and when she finally did get pregnant she was miserable. The best scene in the movie is when she is asked to speak at a conference on the "Joys of Pregnancy" but she then tells everyone exactly how she feels, including her husband, who she says; "I love you but sometimes I just want to punch you in the face." And yes Jenette has told me this. 

Here is a link to the clip (warning there is one foul word in the clip)

This is how Jenette feels about being pregnant

So jump ahead to November 10, 2012. As mentioned before Gloria's c-section was scheduled November 17. So on November 9, still a week away from Gloria being born we had dinner at home looked around our apartment and saw that it was a mess. So we planned for the next day to give the apartment a good cleaning. That night I went to bed early, because I was scheduled to be at work at 5 AM, this was during the time I was doing bookkeeping at Ralphs. So I went to sleep at 9:00. At exactly midnight Jenette woke me up and said; "I think it's time." So I called Kaiser and told them how Jenette was felling, they told me that was normal, and it probably was not time. Suddenly I thought I should let them know that the baby is breached and that her head is up. When they heard this and Jenette's symptoms they told me bring her in now. So we rushed to the hospital in Fontana, I downed a energy drink (which I never drink, and I still have the empty can). So we got there they took Jenette checked and felt Gloria's feet, so we had a emergency c-section. So at 2:14 AM on November 10, 2012, Gloria Rose Arellano was born. I'll never forget her screaming as she came out, they counted her fingers and toes, had me cut the cord, then handed her to me. What was crazy as soon as Gloria heard my voice she stopped crying. I felt bad because mommy was completely out of it, having gone through the surgery, so it was around 45 minutes before Jenette could hold Gloria. After that we went to another room where a nurse was there to assist with the breastfeeding, but Gloria got it right away and the nurse did not even need to help, and Gloria just kept on eating. I remember my sister-in-law (Deanna) text me; "How's it going?, I replied; "She she won't stop eating!". Deanna's response was great; "Yep she's Armenian". I feel bad for my daughters they are; Mexican, White, Armenian, and Salvadorian, so they will be bringing a lot of food on culture day at school. 

So jump ahead to today February 24, 2015 and we are still waiting, with the scheduled c-section for early tomorrow morning. We can't wait!

My Life as someone who use to hate Valentines Day

So my next blog I was planning on writing about how I was introduced and got in to heavy metal and hard music, but since we are close to Valentines Day, I decided to write this...

Just like the majority of single people I use to HATE Valentines Day, because it's just another day for me to be reminded that I was single. Sure I would just say; "Yeah I'm cool, now I can just stay home and do nothing for the night". But deep down I was thinking; "I wish I had someone to celebrate Valentines Day with." 

Of course there was elementary school, when every one received a Valentines card from each member in the class. We may have just put random Valentines in each classamtes envelope but I use to save the one, that was the most mushy and lovely for the girl I had a crush on, in the class (come on admit it we all did that). Not only did we all get Valentines, but it was a day, in which we got to eat; candy, cupcakes, ice cream, fruit punch, and if you were lucky and had a cool teacher you had pizza. So Valentines Day back in elementary school was a fun day. But after elementary school, Valentines Day just began to suck...

Once we all got into Jr. High and High School for those of us who were not really that popular with the opposite sex, Valentines Day was a sad reminder that you are not loved by anyone (that is someone who is not a family member; i.e, your mom). But at the Jr. High and High Schools I attended there would be Valentine grams you could buy for your "sweetheart" or for your secret crush, which then no longer was a secret crush. These Valentine grams would usually consist of a piece  or a rose, along with a little note. Of course all the popular, good looking kids would always get a gram. And of course there was that one girl (you know the one), who would get around 50 of these grams throughout the day, and her response was always, "Oh my gosh I can't believe it who would give me a Valentine gram". but her facial expression usually showed, "Look at me I'm so pretty." Throughout my Jr. High and High school years I never received one of these grams. One time one was delivered to me in my class (because they always had the cheerleaders deliver these sorry excuse for a fund raiser), but when I saw the name it said to, "Jason" but it was not Arellano, it was for another Jason in class, the girl then took it away, with a look on her face towards me that said; "I'm sorry" and gave the Valentine gram to one the other Jason in the class. So hopefully there are others out there who went through the same thing as me, if so I'm sorry and I know it sucks.

Now jumping ahead to our adult years as being single on Valentines Day. As an adult (for single people) on Valentines Day it doesn't get much better. Valentines Day for single people is pretty much "Single Awareness Day". Most of the time Valentines Day for me as a single guy was sitting on the couch eating, watching TV and movies. Now when I was working at a church they use to have a Valentines Couples Dinner. Being that there was couples there, that also meant people needed child care. So I would be asked to get help from others (which meant other singles) and watch the kids. Now nothing against those kids (I loved them all), but I have to be honest with you and for those of you who knew me then, I'm sorry, but I absolutely hated doing this. It was also real difficult to get people to help with this, because they would tell me the same thing I was thinking; "No, it's just a reminder that I'm single." And I would agree with them, on a few occasions I would have around 30 kids (ages 1-16, the teenagers would help out with the babies), all by myself. The night would usually consists of pizza and watching Veggie Tales. There were a few couples who would come up to me and say; "I'm sorry you have to do this, because you're just being reminded that you're single". And I would say, "Yep". So my days as a single would continue until the Valentines Day of 2010...

Jump ahead to February 2010. During this time I was on staff at Calvary Chapel Upland, I was in my office studying for teaching, when I was told there was a phone call for me. So I picked up the line and it was an old friend who use to attend CCU Kristen Lundquist. First she asked me how things were going with me, I told her they were fine. She then asked me a question that I had been asked way too many times before; "Sooooo are you seeing anyone". After she asked this all these thoughts were going through my head such as; "Oh great here we go again." Now in the past people would want to "set me up" with someone and usually this person was between 10-20 years older than me, had some serious issues, or was just straight out crazy. So when Kristen told me this was not optimistic at all. But as she was telling me about this girl, she actually sounded like someone who I'd like to hang out with and meet. So I got her phone number and email (by the way the little sheet of paper I wrote her name and email on I still have on my wallet), her name was Jeanette (later I found out she spells it Jenette). So after I studied I sent Jeanette (that's how I spelled it in the first email). From there I went to Upland Jr. High School to teach at the Bible club. I got back from the office and there was no email. The next day I did receive a email back from Jenette, from there we just kept on emailing each other back and forth for the remainder of the week. So we finally decided to have a date. Now because we both had busy schedules, the only evening we both had open the following week was Sunday February 14, 2010. So that day I will be honest I was nervous the whole day that I couldn't eat. So the time finally came to pick her up. Now through the emails, Jenette had mentioned a couple things. The first thing was that she said Valentines was just a normal day for her and that I should not do anything special and second she was a huge USC fan. When I told some lady friends this they told me, "No Valentines is not a normal day she does not mean that". So I went and bought her a dozen roses in USC colors and a USC plush football (which for me was very difficult to do being that I'm a UCLA fan). So I knocked on her door and was greeted by her roommate who informed me that Jenette was not ready (which is still normally the case now). After around 20 minutes Jenette came out, and I was blown away by her beauty, I went to shake her hand, but she gave me a hug, which in her family hugs are the norm. From there we went to Starbucks for coffee. Jenette got a tall decaf caramel macchiato and I got a grande americano (which kept me up all night). We ended up talking for almost 3 hours, it would of been longer but they were closing. So being that we were both hungry we went down to King Taco and ended up talking for another hour because they were closing too. Well to not make a long story even longer, it's now 5 years later and we've been married for 4 years and 3 months have a beautiful 2 year old daughter and a daughter to be born any day now. So in closing if you're single don't be discourged it will happen all in God's time, I thought it would never happen for me, but it did. So now I love Valentines Day and ever since then we always go to Starbucks and King Taco on Valentines Day, except for this year we found a new coffee place Auggies in Claremont. I consider myself so blessed to have a wife like Jenette she came into my life at the perfect time. I love her so much, for so much, but most importantly for being my wife and for being the mother of my daughter and soon to be daughters.

My Life As a So-Called Punk

So this is something I've been wanting to for a long time, which is writing a blog. Ever since I was in elementary school I have had a great passion, desire, and a love to write. In fact one of the things I wanted to do was to be a sports or music journalist, but God had different plans for me, which will be for a later blog. I have such a great desire to write I'm actually in the works of writing my first book, whether it gets published or not, to me I'll feel accomplished by just doing it.

Alright this first blog is just going to be introducing myself and just letting everyone know what this blog is all about, and I will also tell you the meaning of the title of this blog...

Well first off a little about myself I was born April 9, 1977 (Yes, the picture above is me as a baby, it's not Gloria), in Lynwood, CA. I lived most of my life in southern California (we moved a lot, which I will write about in a later blog). I graduated from high in 1996, from there went to Bible College, was in full-time ministry as a children's/youth minister for 12 years, got married on November 13, 2010, became a father on November 10, 2012, I've been working at Ralphs grocery store since April 2010. I know what you're thinking, "Why aren't you going into more detail about; Bible College, being in ministry, no longer being in ministry, getting married, becoming a father?" I will but all of those will be for their own blogs, because there is so much to write on each of those chapters of my life. Other than that if I ever have any spare time, I'm a huge (that's putting it lightly) LA Kings fan, and I love music; mostly, metal, punk, thrash, hardcore, and alternative music. I also have many other hobbies and activities I enjoy doing, some in which people have no idea.

   So what is "My Life As a So-Called Punk" going to be about? Well each blog I will be writing about my life. Such as getting married, becoming a father, working a crappy job. I also be writing about the many hobbies and interests I have such as; LA Kings, my love for music (metal, punk, etc), how I got into that style of music, and yes my passion for professional wrestling (yes, I am a life long wrestling fan). I will also write on a variety of topics such as; fatherhood, bullying, legalism, just name a few. I have so many topics running through my head, and I'm looking forward to writing them out and letting everyone read about it. I will also post some poetry I have written.

Now regarding the name of my blog' "My Life As a So-Called Punk". Well one day my wife and I were at a local carnival type of event, when we bumped into an old roommate of hers. So as we were talking she (the old roommate), was talking about how both of their lives have changed so much when she said; "Look you went and married a punk." It wasn't the first time I've been called that, I've mostly been call a punk by home school moms and super conservative parents and others, hence the name "My Life As a So-Called Punk." Yes I love punk music, but this blog is to show that I am much more than just a "punk", I hope you enjoy it and please share this with your friends and family.