First Sonogram for Baby 3

The baby is about 7 weeks, and about the size of a grain of rice, yet has a heartbeat. Amazing!

Baby 3 Sono 1

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Good Week

In contrast to the rough week last week, this week has been especially good.

I saw the OB yesterday and we got to see the baby, who is the size of a grain of rice, and it's little heart was beating. Hearing that is so amazing, considering it's SO small. We saw Charlie at that point and were amazed as well. The creation of life is incredible to me, and never gets old.

Oh, and the dr had good news, too. While the cyst had been growing, which is not good, it's now draining, which is good. Thank You, Lord! If the cyst had kept growing, it could've become life threatening to me...

And Tuesday we actually had a few hours break from the rain, so I ventured out to the zoo. Normally we're there every week, but this summer, it's been months since we've gone, due to the rain. But I'm not complaining....we've yet to hit 95 degrees this summer, which is extreme, because usually we're in the 100s for most of the month of July! Anyhow, it was overcast, cool, and perfect for the zoo. The boys had a blast, and we even all took a long nap when we got home. :)



[The boys love the little kids' area of the zoo, which has a small stream for the kids to swim.]



[Chance made a friend, and Charlie demonstrates how a sloth climbs a tree.]


One other story before I go. Charlie told Chance yesterday, "Go away, I don't like you." He didn't say it in anger, just calmly, which was even more alarming. So I asked him why he would say that, and he said because Chance will want him to share his toys. So I talked to him about how mean that was, and then he says, "But Mommy, I don't like you either. I only like Daddy." That's probably not the best thing to say to an emotional pregnant woman. Then he starts in on how he doesn't love us as well. I felt a little overwhelmed, not sure how to handle this one. I did put him in time out to think about it for awhile. Then I asked him how he'd feel if Daddy said that to him, and he said he'd be happy. And that Daddy would still play legos with him (he's convinced nothing would stop Chuck from playing legos...smart kid!). Sigh. Anyhow, he happily went back to playing, and got himself stuck in a basket and asked me to help him out. So I told him I couldn't help him because he didn't like/love me or his brother. So he went back on his previous thoughts. Not sure if this is something I should be worried about (or if that was the right way to handle it). I just think he's too young to say things like this! But maybe he's not...

Finally Better

I hate leaving a blog post on such a negative note without following up when things are better. And they are...



Chance's diarrhea cleared up on Sunday and he is back to normal. Here are ways I know he's back:

1. After each meal, he methodically climbs into each chair around the table to inspect each person's plate, in case there are left overs he might like.

2. He's jabbering up a storm. Today his new words were "Peacock" while watching an Elmo show, "cold" as he touched something in the fridge, and "light" as he pointed to the doctor's instrument.

3. The chase is on...Charlie and Chance are back to playing and running around the house again.

Now if only I can get him to sleep past 7 AM... ;)

By the way, we saw the ENT who said his ears look great, tubes are still intact, and we don't need to do a tonsillectomy until the strep becomes an issue. Good news, indeed!



And about Charlie, today was a benchmark. We actually put on the "big boy underwear" today! He wanted to wear them to Chuck E Cheese, where we went to celebrate Charlie's recent accomplishments in potty training. Unfortunately he wet himself a little as we were leaving...maybe we're not quite ready for going out in public yet.

And as for me, there are more subtle signs of pregnancy. My stomach has been a bit uneasy. I've been a bit more sleepy than normal. And chocolate has become a good friend!

*sigh*

Ok, so I've lagged in blogging this week not only because I was out of town, but because it's been a rough week that I'm not sure I'll want to remember. Chance, as I said in the last post, was sick. But he's had ear infections before, so I knew that once the antibiotics started, he'd be fine. But actually, this time he was worse. From the morning after the first dose he's had diarrhea (and still does, 7 days later!). I still went to see my family, but as his symptoms worsened, I decided to cut it short and come home early. On the way there I stopped halfway at a McDonald's to let the boys play and eat lunch, but that ended when Chance came from the playscape covered in poop! It was definitely one of the most embarrassing moments of my life.


[My brother shows us his crab traps. He and my mom live on the Bay near Galveston.]


[Granny gets a sweet greeting from Charlie.]


[Charlie holds a crab for the first time...]


[Then Charlie threw the crab back into the water! LOL]

We enjoyed some fun moments with family, and even went to the circus and Chance surprisingly did great then. But he also began vomiting one night, and I knew we should've stayed home. *sigh* Anyhow, I stopped the antibiotics after only 4 doses (2/10 days), yet he's still recovering. It seems to hit hardest at night/early morning. My sweet husband even took part of Friday off so I could recuperate. Thursday I started Chance on probiotics and pedialyte, and he seems to be getting better. And thankfully, his ear doesn't bother him much, although I don't know if he still has the ear infection. We go to the ENT on Monday to get it checked out.

On a side note, while I understand that antibiotics are necessary sometimes, and I'm thankful we have them, I'm so tired of them! I took them way to much over the 2 years that I was carrying strep (and none of the 4 ENTs I saw seemed to understand that carriers can't be cured by antibiotics), and now there are certain kinds that Chance is resistant to...which I think is because I took so much while I was pregnant with him. And now he's been on them at least a dozen times in his 18 months for ear infections and strep. And just this week, my obstetrician said I'm positive for Group B Strep, and I should take an antibiotic now. I did research and found out it'd be pointless, and I'd still have to have it injected during labor. So I decided not to subject this baby to it as well. Not to mention, I was basically overdosed on antibiotics with my tonsillectomy which led to a week of incredible fatigue, and now Chance is reacting with this diarrhea, vomiting, and dehydration. Seriously, I'd rather deal with an ear infection than the side effects of antibiotics! Ok, I'll stop ranting. Maybe I only know enough to be dangerous, but my point is, don't take an antibiotic every time the wind blows...even if the doctor hands it out. Do the research.

Anyhow, here are the good things about the week.

~Charlie has been pottying more. Chuck has really gotten into giving him legos as leverage, and it's working!

~Today, Charlie pretended to "go to work" and then came home with a "prize" for me. He told me it was a candy bar, but I couldn't eat it until I went poopie on the potty!

~Charlie has been the redeeming factor this week. He's been very well behaved and helpful! He also greatly enjoyed visiting my family and going to the circus. Today he asked if he could go back to Granny and Bubba's house tomorrow.

~Chance has a new phrase: "What was that?" although it sounds more like "Wuhwuzzat?" He says it at the funniest times. He also says "Thank you" which sounds like "dank coo" often, which melts my heart!

Little Signs of Life

Well, I'm starting to feel pregnant, a little... I was a bit queasy this weekend, and maybe a little more tired than normal. Thanks to Chuck's willing support, I got a couple of long naps in. I also enjoyed a Chocolate Smoothie from Taco Cabana a little more than normal. :) Those are REALLY good, by the way.



Chance hasn't been feeling so well either. Friday he began running a fever, and would wake up a time or two during the night. So Sunday I took him to a Pediatric Urgent Care (I love those things!!), and found out he has an ear infection. It was hard for the doctor to see if his tube is still in because of all the wax in the way. But once we get the infection cured, he'll get to see the ENT to check it again. But at least we had 6 months without ear infections!

Charlie had a good weekend, with lots of time with Daddy and some success in potty training. Because Chance was sick, Chuck stayed home with him and let Charlie and I go to church together. Afterwards I had to go to the restroom (this is also becoming more frequent!), and Charlie watched 3 young girls go in ahead of me. So to my surprise, he refused to come in with me! He's growing up!! Just a week ago I had to talk him into wearing clothes outside (I run a nudist colony with potty training). He could not understand why the neighbors would want him to have clothes on! But now, he won't go in a girls' bathroom...

Today I have lots to do (like I really had time to blog, haha!) to get ready for tomorrow. I'm taking the boys to the coast to see family thru Friday. So I'll be out of pocket for awhile...

Charlie's Dental Visit

So today we finally got Charlie's teeth "fixed." We got up at 4:30 am and went to a surgery center. It took the dentist nearly 2 hours to do everything, but it's finally all taken care of. This was the first time for Charlie to be "under" with anesthesia, and he did pretty well. From the moment we got there until we were finally done, all he could say was, "I wanna go home." Thankfully, he was on a sedative that will help him not remember the incident, so hopefully he won't have aversions to the dentist or surgery in the future.

Chuck's parents came in and took care of Chance for me, which was a huge help. It's so nice to finally have that over with. And Charlie enjoyed not one, but TWO bowls of ice cream to celebrate teeth that won't abscess! Needless to say, he was bouncing off the walls by the afternoon.

So now, Charlie has "caps" on his two front teeth, which are whiter than the rest of his teeth, so he looks a little funny. I'll get a pic up soon of it. Hehehe.

And, to follow up with our big announcement, here are the two main questions I've been hearing:

"How are you feeling?"

Fine, amazingly. That is how this pregnancy is different. With both boys I knew I was pregnant because I was very cranky and tired. But not this time. I took a pregnancy test completely expecting it to be negative. I then waited until I could see the doctor before telling everyone because I wanted to make sure everything was ok. My thought was lack of symptoms = hormone problems. But God put my worries to rest when my doctor said I'm actually less likely to miscarry because I have a new cyst that's giving me extra pregnancy hormones. So I'm "super" pregnant! Ha! So I have no clue why I'm not irritable and tired, but I'm not complaining, either. ;)

"Why does Chuck have the same shirt on in both birth pics?"

Because I wanted a "relaxed" feeling in the delivery room. And yes, he'll be wearing it again in March! heheh.

I want to say "Thank You" to everyone who has replied with many well wishes and congratulations. It's been so encouraging to know so many care! It's been a great joy today to get sweet messages in the midst of dealing with a groggy and irritable Charlie. :)

Big News!

Maybe it was all the newborn-holding I've been doing. Or maybe it was the fact that Charlie's been telling me he wants a baby sister. Or maybe it's just that God knows what's best for us, even if we didn't have it planned...but we're expecting again!



Am I disappointed? Many people have probably heard me say in the last year that I'm not wanting a third child anytime soon. I was completely content (and felt like my hands were full) with two. But I've also said "It's really up to the Lord." And so it is...and I'm not disappointed. Of course, how could someone be disappointed about having another baby? :) Both of ours have been such gifts, I know that this third one will be the same. I'm just having to run on faith now, leaning on God for support, peace, and strength. That's a good thing. And while the next few years will probably be even more stressful, at least it's a happy stress, and I know the results will be worth the extra effort. And besides, the more kids, the more grandkids, right?! :)

The only thing that stopped me from making permanent decisions to be done having kids was the idea that I might regret it someday. Our "plan" (hahah- God laughs at plans!) was to either not have any more, or if we wanted more later, we'd be putting at least 3 years between Chance and the next two...that's right, TWO. I had figured I'd space the second and third out, but have #3 and #4 within 2 years of each other...just like Charlie & Chance. BUT obviously, God has shown us that His plan is different. Of course my thought already is, I think we're done after this one! ;) Maybe I should keep my mouth shut before God humbles me again! Hehehe!

So, will we finally get a girl? We shall see. I know a God who listens to our prayers...and I think Charlie has already been praying. And my dad had been praying for grandsons, but I got him to agree to stop that once we learned my sister was having his third grandson...so the odds are in our favor! hehe! Truthfully though, I'd be just as happy with a boy. In fact, I'm not sure I wanna have a daughter going thru adolescence and not loving her momma someday ;) But once again, "it is up to the Lord." His Will is best and we're truly just resting in His plan, although we don't see the full picture.

And by the way, I saw my gynecologist this morning, and everything looks fine. I'm due March 14, 2008. And she said because this pregnancy is so different (in symptoms), it just may be that it's a girl!? Imagine that?! I thought it was just an old wives tale. We'll see in a few months...

Mako Highlighter for Komodo Edit

Update: I have recently moved blogs, and the download for the Mako highlighter has moved. It can be downloaded here.

I have been using Komodo Edit for my web development at work. I'm really beginning to like it. The JavaScript and HTML code completion and linter help me a lot, and the python support is very nice. Plus it has VI key bindings that actually work decently! I've also been playing around with Pylons and Mako more and more but, unfortunately, there is no Mako highlighter for Komodo.

So I sat down Sunday night and started hacking, and a few hours later I had a working Mako highlighter. At first it was a bit daunting, but a blog post by Eric Primislow, from Active State, made things a bit easier. If you are interested in making a code highlighter for Komodo, I highly recommend his post.

I figured that someone else might be able to use this, so I have posted the initial release here (v 0.1.1). All of the highlighting seems to work in my templates, and basic code folding works for most of the template items, except for the Python blocks.

There are still a few areas that could use some improvement. I hope to have better folding soon. I have figured out how to add HTML and CSS auto completion for the templates, but I haven't figured out how to have it automatically installed yet. It would also be nice to add some templates and code snippets as well.

If you use it, please leave me a comment, and please let me know if you find any problems or have any suggestions.

New Song

Tonight at church I learned a new song. Here are the lyrics:

Let my life be Your love song
Everyday sing to You
May my heart always please You
As a sweet offering
I am satisfied in You
Come be glorified in me
All of my life You've been faithful
My Savior my King and my Friend
All of my life I will lay down
To love You with all that I am

Pretty cool, huh? Just FYI, it's called "Love Song," written by Glenn Packiam and is on an album by "Desperation Band."

Tonight's church service was so great. It was one of those where you think, "Ok, God, I get it. This service was tailor made for me." The songs, the sermon, it all addressed things we're specifically going through right now. Thank you, Lord.

We also sang an old favorite hymn of mine called "Blessed Assurance." Again, here are the lyrics:

1. Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
O what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
born of his Spirit, washed in his blood.
Refrain:
This is my story, this is my song,
praising my Savior all the day long;
this is my story, this is my song,
praising my Savior all the day long.

2. Perfect submission, perfect delight,
visions of rapture now burst on my sight;
angels descending bring from above
echoes of mercy, whispers of love.
(Refrain)

3. Perfect submission, all is at rest;
I in my Savior am happy and blest,
watching and waiting, looking above,
filled with his goodness, lost in his love.
(Refrain)

These songs made me think about how, if God would've done nothing else in my life after He granted me salvation, that still would've been more than enough. The fact that I could stand in front of the Great Judge on Judgment day, and He would pronounce me as pardoned, pure and blameless because His Son had already taken my punishment...really is more than I could ever ask for, or deserve. That's why I like the line in the new song, "I am satisfied in You; Come be glorified in me." God has given me so much more, grace upon grace...A family, friends, etc. It's very awe-inspiring!

Anyhow, to hopefully balance the venting of my last post, things have been going better. No more sleepless nights so far! Charlie's still needing a lot of discipline (I won't go into the cornstarch incident today...) but overall we're surviving. ;)

And to end on a happy note, here's Charlie boxing on the Wii tonight.

Charlie Discovers Wii Boxing

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Mr. Mischievious

Charlie has been Mr. Mischievous lately. Here's what I mean.

~A few days ago, while Chance and I were sitting at the table eating spaghetti, Charlie crawled under the table and was quiet for a few minutes. While he was literally at my feet, he was dumping out the parmesan cheese and playing in it. See his hand print? Also, notice the jump rope he's managed to tie securely to our table's leg.



~Everytime I turn around, I find a new mess he's made. He has emptied drawers of clothes, gotten screws and bolts and scattered them, etc. I feel like I cannot leave him unattended for even a minute! You'd think he was a 6 month old, not a 3 1/2 year old.

~Potty training: Everytime we're home I make him go diaperless so he'll use the potty. Well, he's also hidden behind the couch and peed on the floor, and yesterday he found a bowl and peed in that instead. Now he begs to wear diapers, but I'm holding my ground. He's plenty capable to do it, so we're just gonna bite the bullet and force it now.

~And let me tell you about yesterday. Being the 4th of July, Chuck was home from work, so he took Charlie to see Ratatouille at the movie theater. Charlie had been acting hyper all day so I didn't make him take a nap. Big mistake. One hour into the movie he starts crying to go home. Then he throws an all out fit in the theater because Chuck won't let him play arcades. So on the way home he falls asleep, and we put him in bed. That was at 6:30 PM.



We thought maybe he'd sleep thru the night, but at 10 PM he woke up due to loud fireworks outside. So I let him sleep in our room on a pallet.

I went to bed at 11, only to have him wake me at 11:30, saying he needed me to put his diaper back on since he took it off to go potty. He then takes it right back off and goes again. Repeat this times three, then I tell him to put on a pull up so he can put it back on himself.

At midnight he wakes me because his leg's hurting (growing pains?). I massage it, he goes back to sleep.

1 AM, the leg hurts again, so I tell him to walk around and eat a banana (potassium deficiency maybe?).

2 AM I wake up because he's playing in things around our room. He's rolled up a rug, and now he's getting into Chuck's chess set that he knows is off limits. So I put on Toy Story and tell him to watch it (since he's wide awake), then come back to bed.

3 AM he wants me to fix him a bowl of cereal. I tell him to just eat it dry.

4 AM I wake up to check on him, and find that he's pulled over the barstool to climb on top of the fridge in order to get into the candy. Big NO NO with those almost-abscessed teeth! There are candy wrappers all over the house. I tell him to go get in his own bed, so he throws a big fit, gets a spanking and FINALLY goes to sleep.

And I had to get up at 5:30 AM to go run, so it wasn't a good night. :(



~He's been breaking all the rules lately. There are so many things that he truly knows not to do that he's been doing. Talk about testing his boundaries...again!! I just don't get it...I'm so weary of disciplining him with time outs, spankings, etc. And I'm having a harder time staying cool, because the discipline doesn't even seem to sink in. I often have to repeat myself a few times when I tell him something because it's like he doesn't even hear me.

Sorry if this is all venting, but the terrible 3's are really killing me lately ;)

~One funny story. Charlie had some legos that he said was a gun, and was shooting it around. Then he said it was an ice cream and pretended to eat it. The best part: "Mommy, this is my ice cream...but it doesn't have any sugar!" Even his imaginary food is sugarless!

~And some good news. Next Wednesday Charlie is scheduled to have his dental work done in the hospital! I cannot wait to get that behind us, and be able to have a little sugar every now and then. Although I must say, this has made me realize how I was way too lenient before, and how he eats more now that he's not full on sugar. So it's been a good experience in that respect.

Tammy Visits

This weekend Chuck's youngest sister (and my Dr. Pepper Buddy :-P) Tammy flew in from Tennessee to visit, and meet all the new babies. So we headed up to Austin and spent some family bonding time. Of course, I took pictures. ;) I'm not happy with my indoor photo taking, but I guess it was good practice.







Coincidentally, it has flooded there, on Lake Travis. We went to friend's house, whose first story was almost under water. We're actually on their second story deck in these pictures!


Chance was checking out baby Elijah.. he kept trying to put his pacifier in his mouth!


And pictures like this make me think, when did he become a kid?! He's so big now!

And speaking of Charlie, we were bombarded with "Why?" all weekend. For instance: I'd tell him, Brother has to take a nap. Why does brother have to take a nap? Because he's tired. Why's he tired? Because he got up early. Why'd he get up early?.... I guess the Lord wants me to learn a little more patience. ;)