A peek

I always feel a bit guilty after a sonogram---like I've cheated by peeking. We are amazed at what you can see with a 4D sono, though, and we definitely know who LT resembles! (That's his daddy on the left; we couldn't get LT that dressed up for this picture.) The little guy was hiccuping and swallowing, which is why his mouth is open. I met a mother who said her son hiccuped all the time and now is a big talker. We'll see. If the Owens is as strong in his vocal chords as it is in his appearance, we'll have a Talker Who Can Be Heard. 

Ah hA!

A little bit o' knowledge to share with my fellow ant fans: Darin came by and explained a few things about ant life to me. We are not the only folks in this area to have such a vibrant and healthy ant population. Apparently, this is especially common in rentals where people will use Raid or some other kill-on-contact spray to deal with ant problems. The ants, however, have some sort of brain (or maybe just self-preservation instincts), so when they are attacked with spray, they will bud, meaning the nest splits up into many new nests spread throughout the house. If this is repeated over several years, well, one can only imagine the lovely city of ants complete with suburbs that must develop.

The stuff that other guy came and put behind a few electrical outlets was probably a type of bait, but a rather strong one, since the ants would come out to eat it, die right where they were, and find other places to come in. So what Darin suggested to us was a non-repellant bait. This means the ants don't know it's there and it's very mild and target specific, so they walk over it, pick it up, bring it back to the little nest, share it with their ant friends, and slowly all DIE. BWAHAHAHAHA! He sprayed very thoroughly outside the house and inside. We had to move the furniture out from the wall and everything. He got windows, cracks, everywhere.

Two weeks should be the maximum amount of time the ants have left. If the problem is super bad, we may need another treatment. Darin did say that these sugar, or pharaoh, ants change their wants from time to time, sometimes they come after sugar, sometimes meat, sometimes nothing very apparent, so I was glad to know from a bug expert that these were not some hybrid super-ant that would continue to mutate into forms that would defy my best efforts to be rid of them. He also said that God knew what he was doing when he made the little guys small. He said they would take over the world if they were any bigger.

So, I feel very relieved being armed with some information and answers to my questions, and knowing that our house has been very thoroughly treated.

Conviction and on to other things

The book study I attend currently studies a book called Words that Hurt, Words that Heal. Today's first chapter focused on complaining. I can hardly remember what the second chapter was on because I am so convicted over the one on complaining.

I bet all of you are tired of reading about my ants. Hopefully I didn't run everyone off. :)

Yesterday I put together LT's crib/changing station with dust ruffle, bumper, etc. I assembled his swing and bouncer. I should put on some pictures soon. The church ladies showered me, Trey, and LT last Saturday, so we are abundantly provided for. I'm using a chest of drawers from my father's mother's house, but wanted to put in some drawer liners before I put all the soft, clean baby clothes and blankets in. Today I had the brilliant idea of using the tissue paper from all these gifts to line the drawers. I'm going to try it.

I bought this violet for Trey over a year ago to celebrate something or maybe just to bring him a happy. Well, after being bloomless for all that time, it has decided to bless us with some lovely color! I remember reading about African violets being rather particular about what kind of conditions they'll bloom under, but apparently this one likes being over my kitchen sink! My Grandma Bea always had blooming violets in her house, and I have never been able to get mine to bloom, so I am tickled pink, or purple, that this one has liked our move to Texas.

Here I am with LT this morning. Our resident photographer is out of town, so an obliging dish served as prop for the camera. I can't tell if he looks much bigger since the last picture. I suppose he is even if I'm not. He practiced gymnastics last night for quite a while. It's fun to pat him.

Arg.

The ants do persist. And one bit me today. They are getting desperate? I have seen them on clean counter, dairy products, meat and grease products, apple juice, mints, chocolate, the salt shaker, cardboard boxes, the sealed foil on a snack bar, my co-sleeper bassinet, my pillow, the sink, the window, the floor, my body, house plants, the coffee maker, the dresser, my bedside table. I guess you can tell from this that I've seen them in every room of the house, regardless of the presence or absence of food. They also seem to know now when I'm about to smash them, and they try to get away. They are also harder to smash.

I'm afraid they'll decide it's time for revenge, and I'll wake up one night covered in them.

Help?

Little Toot grows!

We had a check up with Dr. Blair today, and the Lord has blessed us with a very healthy pregnancy so far. Here is what LT looks like today:

See how big he's getting? We're so proud of him. We heard his heart, and it sounded so strong and steady.

Yay LT!

A new strategy

Well, the pest control guy just came by and put some kind of ant gel behind the outlets (you were right, April!) to help rid us of these pests. I wanted him to put it behind ALL the outlets because knowing our ants like I know them, they're likely to find another entry point; but after begging an extra room out of him (the room with all our baby stuff) and having him say how unusual it is for them to show up where there is no food (even though I've seen them in there---on baby stuff), I decided to zip it. We'll see how things go after a week or so.

Is it possible to have a crack free house? Imagine if you had a crack free house and perfect screens on your windows. You could have fresh air and NO BUGS. Sigh.

In other news, school is starting back tomorrow (originally they were going to be out until May 11), now that the president's budget has been passed with relatively little media attention, and we can quit worrying about the piggly flu. Hahaha. Well, I'm not really exposed to much media anyway, though I could be with the news sources available on the internet.

I've been thinking about doing more freezing of meals. Trey and I find that when I make a dish for just the two of us, we get tired of the leftovers after two days and then it goes bad. Too much wasted food. I suppose I just need to start freezing two thirds of the meals I prepare. I'm not having much inspiration with which meals TO prepare in the first place. I should make Trey come up with some. And I want to try the farmer's market here for produce, but I don't think they open until May 16. I think there is one a few miles south of us in Schertz.