Our Lily

On the 23rd of October Matt, Ian, and I went in for my 37-week check up.  After waiting for over an hour they were just going to send me home because the doctor had been called away on an emergency.  So before leaving I asked if they would just listen to the baby's heartbeat.  I had felt kind of funny all day.  I had been having increasingly more contractions over the last couple of days.  Also, I had been having these sneaking feelings that I should be more prepared for the baby to come.  But, since Ian was two weeks overdue, I pretty much ignored my feelings to "get ready now".  Anyway, the baby's heart rate was too high.  So they monitored me in the office for a while.  Then they had another OBGYN take a look at me and listen.  Before I knew it, we were on our way to St. Luke's hospital, just across the street, to be monitored.  They put me on an IV and after a couple of hours the baby's heart rate was fine but I was in labor.  I was having four-minute contractions and not dilating.  

We were not prepared.  Ian was with us and we didn't have anything for going into the hospital.  While Matt took Ian to a friend's house to spend the night, my doctor, who had been monitoring me at the hospital, came in and told me that we'd be having the baby that night.  When Matt had left with Ian we were under the impression that we'd be going home after a little more monitoring.  So I called him on his cel and told him that the plan had changed.  By 7pm I was signing admission papers and being prepped for surgery.  By 8pm I was lying on the operating table soon to meet our new baby.  Lily arrived at 8:09pm healthy, screaming, and pink.  And, she came with a bunch of dark hair.  After they got her cleaned up Matt went with her to the nursery.  I spent the next hour getting sewn up and trying not to go into shock.  I don't know why but I was a lot more freaked out then when I had Ian.  I spent the next few days in the hospital and then got released on Friday the 26th of October.  We are so happy with our new little girl.  We love her so much.  And we are especially happy that she came early so that we could enjoy her sooner.  She is very sweet and mellow.

We have been very blessed to have Matt's mom, Jeanne, with us since Lily was born.  I've had a harder time recovering from Lily's delivery because I kept trying to pick Ian up when I first got home from the hospital.  After hurting myself and seeing my progress grind to a halt I realized I had to take it easier and stop lifting Ian.  So I had to turn it all over to Grandma.  Jeanne became the mother of our home and did a great job taking care of all of us.  I can't thank her enough.  On top of all that, I got the worst breast infection I ever had.  Jeanne had to take care of both the kids and me while I recovered from that.  Having Jeanne with us was really great because she got to spend a lot of special time with Ian.  Ian, of course, has been having a difficult time not being the only child.  He seems to have a genuine affection for Lily, he just doesn't like having our attention divided.  Ian was cheered greatly when his "Papa", Matt's dad, John, came to visit this past weekend.  We didn't really go anywhere because that's when I had my breast infection.  However, John was busy enough while he was here building the most awesome doll house for Lily.

So my mother, Joann, and I want to express our deepest heartfelt gratitude to Jeanne for coming for three weeks to take care of Matt, Ian, Lily, and I.  And I want to express my sincerest gratitude to all our family and friends who have prayed for us, brought us meals, wished us well, and who have called or written to express their love and support.  This means so much to us.  We have loved hearing from you and have greatly enjoyed sharing this happy time with all of you.

Grandma Jeanne went home yesterday so now I am at home figuring out how to shower, eat, and get things done with two kids in tow.  It's a lot fun and I enjoy the new challenges.      

Think Pink

I know this is a bit earlier than my normal update but I just wanted to let everyone know how the ultrasound went.  We had our 36-week check-up on Monday.  The baby looks good and healthy.  Currently the baby weighs a little over 6 pounds, which is good.  In addition, I asked them to check the sex again and our baby is still a girl.  As everyone knows I've been very skeptical of this because of what happened last time.  But now I am pretty convinced that we are in fact having a little girl.  Of course, we couldn't be happier.  Mainly we are just thrilled to know she is doing well.  We could see her face pretty good in the ultrasound and she looks really pretty.  We are so excited.  Ian has no idea what's about to happen.  Although, we have been talking to him about it since the beginning.  I have felt the baby move a lot less lately, but that's probably due to the fact that there isn't much room in there.  Over the last week or so I have felt increasingly more cramped for space.  Otherwise, I feel really great and power walk 2 miles a day.  

In other news, as all of you may know, I've been trying to think of ways to bring more money into the house.  I've been trading stocks since April and that's going really well.  In addition to that I came up with another idea that I'm trying out.  I buy iPod's off of Craigslist for cheap and then sell them for a profit on eBay.  It looked really promising, since I could make 30-40 per iPod after I pay my eBay fees and such.  So I began listing my iPods and that's when the fun started.  My first iPod sold easily and made a $30 profit.  However, a major problem soon reared its' hoary head.  The buyer paid $150 more for the item than agreed upon and required shipping to a "cousin" in Nigeria.  Also, the buyer's English was poor and they didn't understand U.S. geography.  Although the buyer's address stated they lived in Vermont, the buyer referred to him/herself as residing in Texas (the street they lived on was Texas Hill Rd.).  I called Paypal and was able to confirm my suspicions, that this was in fact a scam.  Of course, I didn't send the iPod and I alerted eBay...yada, yada.  But, that wasn't enough for me.  No!  I was mad.  So I sent an email to the phony Paypal address, called the thief by name, admonished him for being a criminal, and exhorted him to change his ways.  This didn't go over so well.  And in retrospect I realize it wasn't a good thing to do.  I unwittingly called down upon myself the wrath and fury of angry Nigerian criminals, pricked by the truth (doubt it), and desirous to wreak havoc upon my unsuspecting eBay profiteering. 

Back in the saddle, I put a second iPod up for auction a few days after these unfortunate events had unraveled.  My auction was soon ending.  It was going great!  Then, the last minute, the Nigerians swooped in and bid $600 for my $200 iPod.  Of course this ruined any further bids that might be legitimate, as no thinking person would pay so great a value for an iPod (maybe if it were owned by Elvis).  I got the eBay police on it and they discovered, as I already knew, that the bid was placed with a stolen account.  The Nigerians clearly did it just to ruin my auction and cause me to incur high fees from eBay.  The fees were refunded, but now I feel marked.  So I've been doing multiple chats with eBay security representatives, or whoever, trying to straighten out this debacle.  I've been trying to convince them that the Nigerian Electronic Mafia is targeting me and eBay needs to do something, like let me change my userid.  I will say this about ebay, their web-based help is about as useful as stereo instructions written in Japanese.  Oh well, that'll teach me to act in anger.  Then I look at my husband, the calm and still lighthouse he is, and realize how badly I really need to let him rub off on me.  He already has but I've still got a long way to go.  

So all this happened around the time of my birthday.  I was a bit embittered at the loss of some extra cash right now.  But, my birthday was so great that it cancelled out all the evil.  My husband made it such a great day for me.  I've never had such great birthdays in my life till he came along.  And I tell him I don't need presents because he's the best present I've ever gotten and I don't need anymore.  He made me a great breakfast, took me to dinner, rubbed my feet, and gave me gifts too.  I got perfume, anti-aging face lotion, and hand-made computer generated coupons.  As he said, it was my "pretty, pretty, birthday",  i.e. sorry your so fabulous with child that feeling pretty is a forgotten concept.  Matt makes me feel pretty, though.  Just one among so many reasons why I love him so much and why he's my best friend.  And now we get to have a cute little girl.  My life couldn't get any better!

"What???"

Would you believe I was actually in the kitchen with Ian when this occurred?  I don’t think I had my eyes off him for more than 30 seconds.  That’ll teach me to pay attention to what I’m doing when I’m chopping vegetables.

Where do I begin?  This has been an awesome summer!  The Lingards visited in mid-August and we had so much fun with them.  They were a complete joy to have.  It was great to see Thomas, who recently returned from Africa.  Aside from the funny accent, he’s pretty much the same, only even cooler than before.  Ezra is 2.5 now and he’s a riot.  We really loved getting to know him.  It was especially fun to see Ezra and Ian together. 

The Lingards rented a beach house at Quintana Beach and we spent 5 wonderful days there lounging, sunning, swimming, and playing.  Matt brought his kayak and we all took turns paddling around.  It was so much fun.  Even Ian and Ezra got to take turns.  We also got to spend a little time around Houston with the Lingards.  It was great because Ian got to know his grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousin.  We look forward to next year’s adventure, which consoled us when it was time for them to go. 

In other news, life has been good for us.  At the beginning of September we were without a car for a week.  That was really difficult but interesting.  Matt rode the bus to work and I had to ride the bus to my doctor’s appointment.  What a day that was!  Three hours of bus riding plus three hours for my appointment.  My doctor was running REALLY late.  As soon as I arrived they suggested I come back, but after all my effort to get there I said I’d wait.  So Ian and I walked to Rice to see Daddy.  All and all I have to say he was a really good little guy considering the long day.  Also, the car thing prompted us to begin re-thinking our finances and plans.  No solid conclusions yet, but we’ll let you know.  

As of this Monday there will only be 6 weeks left in my pregnancy.  It’s really flying by and I’m so glad.  We got Ian’s room all set up with a cool car bed and the baby’s room is set up too.  I just hope that we do have a girl or I’ll be putting stuff away again.  In 3 weeks we will have our final ultrasound.  At that point I will believe whatever they say we’re having.  For now I remain a hopeful skeptic.  

In Ian news...he is doing great.  He knows a lot of body parts, several signs, and is very eager to communicate.  He is very bright and understands everything I say to him.  He’s a genius!  What can I say?  Also, he will be a dragon for Halloween.  Grandma Chase bought him a costume and Mommy is really looking forward to Halloween.  It remains my favorite holiday.  (See new photos on Flickr for a sneak preview as well as the chicken costume that didn’t win.)  

We are all looking forward to Christmas as we will be spending it in Utah this year.  We will bless our baby there and anticipate seeing a lot of the Chase’s there as well as Lingard/Neville’s.  The blessing will likely be Sunday Dec. 30th in Kayesville and my sisters will be hosting a baby shower the day before in Sandy.  

That’s all for now.  Love you all...E   

P.S. My birthday is October 11th.  Just thought I’d remind everyone. 

Havin' It Large!

The last month has been extremely busy for us.  First Grandpa Chase visited with us for a few days in the middle of June.  While he was here we went to Sonic every day and got $0.99 root beer floats.  Believe me, they taste way better than the more expensive root beer floats Sonic wasn’t selling.

About a week after we had Grandpa, Earl and Sarah, their three boys, my sister, Cathy, and her grandson, Cameron came to visit.  The three older boys were here to enjoy NASA Space Camp.  They had a blast!!  (No pun intended.)  While they were gone during the day we had our fair share of fun with Ian and Aaron.  We went to the Natural Science Museum, a kids play area at a mall, Battleship Texas, the beach, and I can’t even remember where else.  We really had a great time and enjoyed all the visitors we had.  

The best thing about having our family was that Ian had four cool older boys (4-10 years old) to play with.  It was great!!  In fact, I believe Ian was so inspired that he finally started walking two days after they left our house.  Of course, he started off with a Frankenstein walk.  But now he’s really getting around great.  He seems to really be enjoying his new form of mobility.  

The day after the Fourth of July, Ian and I flew to California to visit the Chase’s.  We stayed at Grandma and Grandpa’s house and had a great time.  Ian really loved having a giant new house to explore.  But his favorite thing of all was when Grandpa would take him to see the horses in the back yard.  

While we were there we got to spend time with Uncle Eric, Uncle Craigie, and Aunt Cathy and their families.  We even got to spend a couple days with Patience and her kids.  Ian loved seeing Cameron again.  He also had a great time playing with Peyton, Ella, and Madison.  

We went swimming, to the mall, to a water fountain, and for a couple carousel rides.  Ian went on his first ever carousel ride, which he loved.  Patience bought him his first ever candy.  It was a giant, red, ring pop and he absolutely loved it.  He pretty much devoured it in no time, while still managing to get it all over his face and clothes.  And Ian got to play in a splash fountain with his cousins and Mommy’s best friend’s kids for the first time ever.  He was a little unsure at first.  But once he got the idea, Ian ran around charging into the bursts of water while laughing gleefully.  

All in all it was a great trip!!  Ian also loved spending time with his cousins Katelyn, Shelby, Davis, Ryan, Jennifer, and Laura.  Although these kids are older, they were really good with Ian and played with him and had a lot of fun too.  It was so fun to see everybody.  We wish we could see them more often.  

Happily the fun doesn’t stop there for us because we are now looking forward to our visit with the Lingards in August.  We are so excited to get to see Thomas again (after more than 2 years), and of course everybody else too.  We think Ian and Ezra will have a lot more fun together this year since they are both well beyond the Object Permanence stage.  Anyway, that’s all for now.  We’ll give an update after our next batch of visitors.  We are so excited!!  

Oh yeah, we were told we are having a girl a few weeks ago.  But I’m not convinced.  We’ll be having another ultrasound on Monday so I’ll let you know.  Bye. 

All Kinds of Mobility!

Lots has been going on around here.  We visited the doctor in March and found out we’re having another baby.  I am due November 12th and we are so excited.  Since 5 weeks into the pregnancy until the present I have had horrible morning sickness.  It’s been worse than I remember with Ian.  Matt has been so wonderful cooking and helping out around the house and with Ian.  Fortunately though, I am finally starting to feel better.  At least there are days when I feel good as opposed to feeling sick everyday. 

We celebrated Ian’s 1st birthday on April 23rd.  We just had cupcakes and presents.  Ian mashed his cupcake all over his hands and tray and then didn’t seem to like the mess.  He was more interested in destroying it than eating it.  Also, he liked opening presents.  He just didn’t like us taking his new toy away so he could open the next one.  

The Saturday before Ian’s birthday we went to the Colorado River and went canoeing.  We have been searching for out-door activities we can do with small children.  We bought a baby PFD, borrowed a canoe, and set out paddling.  It was actually a lot of fun and worked out really well.  Ian didn’t like the bulkiness of his PFD though.  Also, we learned that we have to tether anything we give Ian to the inside of the boat.  He likes to throw things overboard.  We had a fun time retrieving his bottle,  which happened to be the only one we had brought with us.

A couple weeks later we received a child’s bike seat from John and Jeanne.  We spent a whole Saturday building our bikes (they were disassembled from the move) and then figuring out how to attach the seat to one of our bikes.  As Matt says, “It always takes 10 times longer the first time you do something”.  Anyway, we took our bikes to Rice University and biked around the campus perimeter, which is gorgeous.  Matt’s tires were losing air and Ian hated his helmet, but our first bike ride went really well.  Since then we’ve gone every Saturday and we really enjoy it.  And, of course, now that we’re all set up it takes no time at all to get out the door. 

Ian hasn’t started walking yet but he gets around.  He crawls really, really fast and he sometimes is known to travel by bike, canoe, and jogger, in addition to the conventional automobile.  He’s taking even more notice of Roxy.  He likes to crawl all over her and she just tries to get away.  Also, he’s become very attached to his dog blanket.  He asks for it all the time.  And then when he gets it he clutches it, strokes his face with its’ ears, and makes these little sighing noises.  It’s very cute.  But we will be in big trouble if the dog every goes missing.

I’ve posted new photos on Flickr.  You can check them out by clicking on the photo link on the “About Us” page.  Also, look for a video of Ian’s birthday in the next couple days.  That’s all for now. 

Ian's 12-Step Program

A lot has happened since I last blogged.  Most notably, we had Jeanne (Matt’s Mom) with us for 8 days in February.  That was so much fun.  We really enjoyed having her.  While she was here we made great use of our Texas State Parks Pass and went to Varner Hogg Plantation (There was only an Ima Hogg, no Ura, Craig).  We also explored in full the USS Battleship Texas and visited the San Jacinto Battleground, site of the famous battle with Santa Ana.  In addition we went antiquing, to the MAC store, the Houston Holocaust Museum, and the Houston Zoo.  Whew, we were all over the place!  Having Jeanne here gave us a great excuse to forsake work and just get out and go.  

In Ian news...Ian has finally started signing.  Yes, after months of faithfully signing words like “milk” and “more” Ian started signing back in February.  I started making signs while speaking certain words when Ian was 4 months old.  within a couple months it was clear that Ian understood the signs, but he didn’t make the signs.  I knew he understood milk because making the sign elicited an excited response similar to Pavlov’s dogs.  

In short order he seemed to have a signing explosion once he learned to make one sign.  His first sign was “dog”.  Within a couple weeks of that he was signing “bird”, “more”, and “milk”.  He has also added “fan” and “light” to his repertoire.  Presently we are working on “drink”.  

Incidentally, his favorite sign is “more”, which seems to usually mean, “Give me some food!”  Ian wakes up from his nap and looks at me very matter-of-factly while signing “more”.  Sometimes he applies “more” to other things.  Like when Daddy tickles him or spins him around he often asks for “more”.  So “more” is sort of a catchall that refers mainly to food and sometimes to a thing or action he wants. 

To get Ian through church or car rides we usually bring little snacks for him.  We discovered these Annie’s Bunny Grahams that he loves.  In the last couple weeks, however, we’ve noticed that Ian always wants “more” of these Bunny Grahams.  In fact, he seems to prefer them to anything else we feed him.  As we started to go through a box a week we realized that he was addicted to them.  The little bunnies were even spoiling his regular meals.  So yesterday we decided NO MORE BUNNIES.  Cold turkey.  We cut him off and so far he seems to be doing really well.  Now when he asks for “more” I scoop him up, put him in his chair, and give him a meal.  He can snack on Cheerios, but that’s it! 

Bunny-Free one day and counting!  We’ll let you know how it goes. 

Movin' Right Along

With each passing day Ian grows a little more independent. He has truly discovered why it’s so cool that he can crawl. This past week he has started venturing out into other rooms of the house. He wants to explore, open cupboards, and take things out. For us this means that the game has changed, yet again. So Ian is helping us learn the new rules. Also, it seems like every few days he starts the process of cutting a new tooth. All in all Ian is an absolute delight. He laughs and smiles easily and has great balance. We think he’ll take after mom and be skateboarding by the time he’s four.

Here in Houston it is absolutely soggy! We had a brief reprieve from the rain over the weekend but then the rain returned in full force. So basically Roxy is totally shack whacky because I haven’t been able to get her out for a walk. Still we love it here and are enjoying the novelty of this experience.

Matt and I are still enjoying budgeting together. We’ve learned that we make about $500 less per month than we did as students both working. We couldn’t figure out why things seemed tighter even though we were spending far less than we used to. Bingo!! Duh! Even though we feel greatly blessed and very wealthy. We both feel like we have everything we ever wanted and we lack for nothing. We truly feel rich.

Still the realities of our income vs. expenses pose some wonderful challenges, even opportunities. How can we reduce our expenditures and save money? Well, we’ve looked at our gift budget and decided we could be more creative. So, “Family, you can look forward to some pretty nice home made creations and bargain buys!” Also, there’s thing like yogurt and croutons, which I’ve decided that I can add to our repertoire of home made goods.

I made home made yogurt from organic whole milk this past week. It rocks! It’s way better than any yogurt I’ve ever purchased. Ian loves it. I am going to buy 2% milk and start making it for the whole family. This brings the cost of our yogurt down to like .30¢ per 6 oz. as opposed to 90¢ for good organic yogurt. And then I mix in some home made jam or other fruit into the yogurt and it’s so sweet and delicious. You don’t even need an incubator to make yogurt. But lucky me, my Mom bought me one a while back. If I can just perfect the art of boiling milk then I’ll be good to go.

If I can think of any other money saving or procuring tips I’ll pass them along. Until next time...be happy and have fun!

The Week In Review

 

It’s been raining a lot here in Houston.  The forecasters have been threatening sleet since yesterday but we haven’t seen any here yet.  It seems like the storms they predict bypass us or weaken by the time they get here.  Although, it is colder than I like right now (in the 30’s).  

This past week end we did chores around the house since the previous week end we went camping at Brazos Bend State Park.  That was our trial run at camping with a baby and it went really well.  I figured out that I don’t enjoy camping in temperatures much lower than the 50’s.  So last week end was perfect.  We also discovered that Ian doesn’t sleep well in unfamiliar places so we have to work on that.  Also, we love our new tent that we got for Christmas.  Thanks John and Jeanne!

Our new hobby is finances.  I spent this past week researching and learning about stock investing.  I plan to do some paper trading for a while.  Once I get the hang of that we’ll start investing for real in the stock market.  In addition, we plan to begin our retirement saving this month.  We have developed a strict budget, which enables us to save.  Rather than feeling restricted by our budget, we have felt greatly empowered.  Also, we feel budgeting has improved our communication.  We are truly committed to living debt free and are so excited by the challenge of living within our means.  This requires us to be more resourceful and creative.

As far as Ian goes, he is crawling all over the place.  It took him a few days but he finally realized what the ability to crawl really means to him.  Now he knows it means liberation.  It seems like he is now in a state of perpetual motion.  He even crawls around in his crib.  Both of us are learning that this can be treacherous.  Twice yesterday I rushed into his room in a panic.

The first time I found him standing up, holding onto the rail.  The second time I responded to a distress cry.  In his explorations he had unwittingly lodged his arm through the slats of his crib and panicked when he couldn’t free it.  Suffice it to say, we have resurrected the video monitor and have affixed it to his wall so that we can see what he’s up to when things get a little too quiet.