Our little Miss Miriam was born Thursday December 3rd at 7:26pm. She weighed in at a whopping 6lbs 7oz and we love her. I’ll post pictures when I am home again and blogging from the comfort and familiarity of my own computer.

Thanks everyone for the well wishes.

At 2:00am last night we went to the hospital.

I wasn’t in labor. Disappointing and embarrassing. This is my third child, you would think I would know by now how labor feels…

So we went to Jack in the Box instead.

On our way home Richard said to me “If you were craving JITB you could have just told me and I would have gone.”

I’m glad he has a sense of humor.

Waiting for your body to begin a process that you have no control over and cannot predict is a true test of patience. It is especially difficult when you allowed yourself to have an expectation of when the life changing event would take place and those days came and went.

My solution is nesting of course. Projects. Luckily Richard was home with me all week last week and we were able to accomplish a lot. I am about 90% satisfied with the boys’s room and even Miriam’s room is well on it’s way to being finished. Here is the photo evidence of exhibit A and a sneak peek of exhibit B.

I decided that constantly nagging the boys to clean up their toys was a less effective way of keeping their room clean. So I keep most of their toys up on that high shelf and we rotate them. It is a much more managable supply for them and when they want a different tote of toys they have to have one to replace it.
Yep, it’s orange. Funny story. After painting the boys room a really bright yellow (three years ago), and our living room a more pale yellow (one year ago), Richard had had enough. He said to me “Just as long as you don’t plan on painting anything orange.” Sorry babe, love ya.
I’m still trying to figure out some wall decor, any cute ideas?

Richard has had this week off of work and I have been capitalizing on his company which has resulted in much less time on the computer. We’ve accomplished a lot and relaxed a lot. Very nice.

This morning I took the boys to watch Richard play in a Turkey Bowl. He looked like he was having such a great time I was glad that I didn’t go into labor last night on my two week mark. The boys were pretty cold at first but then decided to have a little football game of their own.

Now I have a few minutes while Richard continues his game and the boys warm up in a bath.

I’ve felt a little ungrateful this month as I have read the many gratitude posts on Facebook. I want to echo all those words. I too am grateful for my health, my family, my husband and the upcoming birth of my baby. I would say that those things go without saying, but I guess that is the whole premise of Thanksgiving. Giving thanks whether or not it seems obvious that we are thankful. I am indeed very thankful.

Happy Thanksgiving.

I know that is in direct contradiction to my last post about college football, and the truth is I’m hooked and have no plans to quit watching it. But on Saturday night when I was lying in bed, unable to sleep after an intense Oregon vs. Arizona game, I was reconsidering my feelings. I just get too emotionally involved.

My doubts about the sport started to come on Friday night when BSU had Utah State right on their heels during the first quarter. I got nervous. But then as the Bronco’s started to pull away the feeling of anxiety was replaced by pity for the poor Utah State team. It reminded me of last week when they were clobbering Idaho and there was Coach Akey telling his players to lift up their heads “‘cuz we’re still in this thing”. Sometimes I just wish both teams could win.

Then on Saturday after listening to the Ohio State vs. Michigan game in the car while I ran errands I was sure I needed to give it up. I walked into the house and told Richard that I’m much too emotional right now to be involved in these games. I couldn’t believe how frustrated I was that Forcier kept throwing interceptions, but that was when I could only hear about them on the radio. The minute I saw him on t.v. sitting on the bench with his head in his hands my heart broke. (I don’t even consider myself a fan of either of those teams and my heart was breaking?)

Then of course there was the Oregon/Arizona game. I thought I was rooting for Oregon until Richard told me that Arizona has never played in the Rose Bowl and I thought “How neat that Mark Stoops has turned down head coaching jobs to stick with his brother as defensive coordinator at Arizona, living a bit in Mike & Bob’s shadow”. It is all so complicated. In any case, after that game I was sure that the stress from college football overtimes was going to put me into labor.

In which case, maybe it’s not such a bad thing afterall. Bring on BSU vs. Nevada and maybe I’ll have a baby by the weekend!

After coloring with markers and coloring his hands with markers Eli decided he needed to wash them. Since discovering that he could reach the sink if he stands on the toilet, washing his hands has become a favorite activity. This allows me the rare blessing of being grateful for a small house because it is easy for Richard and I to hear the faucet running from anywhere in the residence. Usually our subconscious hears the water for a few minutes before it registers in our conscious mind that the water is still running.

After hearing the water running for awhile I went in to bring an end to the wasteful water washing. He became hysterical. No matter how much soap he used he could not completely remove the marker from his hands. I extracted him from the bathroom kicking and screaming because his poor little hands were turning to raisins and were swollen and red. I neglected to mention that from the toilet the only knob he can reach is for the hot water.
After letting his hands recover for a few minutes I let him resume washing one more time, but as you can see from the picture, when I interrupted his activity a second time the result was the same. It took him nearly 40 minutes to accept the present condition of his hands and regain his composure. (It was quite the meltdown.) I’m not sure if it was the marker on his hands that really bothered him, or just the fact that I wouldn’t let him wash his hands for eternity.

I hope this is no indication that I need to worry about future obsessive compulsive behaviors.

I love reading blogs about cheap ways for decorating. And I love spray paint. I went to D.I. and bought four picture frames. Three of them matched almost identically but one was missing the glass so I bought the fourth for only $.75 just for the glass in it. I spray painted them white and VOILA!

I love projects. Projects are an important part of my personal satisfaction as a stay at home mother, and also a small part of my self-confidence.

I’ve been busy with some projects lately and hope to finish them up this week. I’ll post a photo each day of what I’ve been up to.