Progress, I think...

With kids, you never know if you're making headway or not. You can hope, you can pray, and you can even squint really hard to see if it looks any better, but the truth of the matter is that you just. never. know.

And on to other fronts...

The boys are making genuine friends at church. For this, we're glad. We hope to start getting out more and making friends who live a bit less than an hour away. That'd be nice, but it's just going to have to wait until the weather clears a bit. I'd like to think of myself as a dedicated mother who would do anything for her children's well being and happiness, but in reality, I'm a wimp, and it's simply too cold and soggy to be out trolling for children.

The carpet people came yesterday and measured. They're going to work up quotes with and without installation. (That would be Zorak's Grand Idea! My arms and wrists still haven't recovered from yanking two gazillion square feet of subfloor, so I'm going on record now as saying that if we install this carpet ourselves, it's his knees doing the work! I'm gimpy enough as it is - I can't afford to be partially paralyzed from head to toe!)

We're still struggling with *how* to paint the boys' room. Their only request is that we use their favorite colors: the shade of purple on the Aussie hair products (the dark purple), "daffodil yellow", and some random shade of blue they haven't quite been able to explain yet. Zorak is a "white is good" paint person. He's trying to convince them that the walls should be a neutral color and they can paint the trim with wild and wonderful color! Wee! (Knowing that, for James, the words "neutral color" are synonymous with visual death, you can imagine how well that was received.) I'm the kind that would rather pluck out my own eyelashes than have to do something crafty and creative. So now I look like E.T. and the boys' room isn't any closer to being painted. Eventually, though, I will run out of hair and will be forced to face the room and paint. I'll let ya know how that turns out.

Miss Emily slept from ten last night until five this morning. As I changed the largest newborn diaper I have ever seen in my life this morning, I showered her with the kind of praise generally reserved for the dog when he pees outside! Bless that child and whatever it was that knocked her out. (I tremble to think it was the lack of caffeine... short-term, it's not so bad, but two years of drinking this stuff may turn me into a raving lunatic!)

We had our baby shower last night. It was very sweet, and truly wonderful. I was humbled to the point of tears on several occasions. They began by reading Psalm 139, and that pretty much started the tears flowing for me. Among the Very Darling Outfits, and Wonderfully Practical Items we received, the cutest was a little handmade bunny. I thought it was just a cute way to give someone a washrag, but three ladies burst out, "OH! A 'boo-boo bunny'!" Um, okay, what in the world is a "boo-boo bunny"??? (Yeah, for having four children, I'm horribly out of the loop on cute kid stuff, okay? Admitting there's a problem is the first step...) Turns out, it's got a spot to stick an ice cube in it's butt and you can use that for, you guessed it, boo-boos. Oh. Cool. Glad someone said something before I got it home and undid it. I'd have felt rather foolish to have a washrag with a bunny face embroidered on it, anyway. So, now that I know what it is, that is probably my favorite thing from last night. Very cute and creative. (There goes another hair... I hope nobody expects me to make one of these things!)

And that's pretty much it. Today is a day to rejuvenate and spend on the boys. They're so neat, and I miss so much among the paint cans and extension cords. Balance is important, too.

Kiss those babies!
~Dy