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.