May 16

Today was a productive day: in the morning, Chris and the girls ran to Lowes while I removed things from Caleb's walls, and when they returned, I managed the children while Chris painted Caleb's room.

Did I mention this? That we bought bunk beds and Caleb and Daisy are going to be sharing a room? Because we did. After much discussion and comparison shopping and hemming and hawing, we finally pulled the trigger. Last Saturday, I had an online shopping spree and ordered bunk beds, a mattress, waterproof mattress covers, sheets, and quilts. Things began arriving on Wednesday, with our final shipment coming yesterday. But since Caleb's room is blue and blue doesn't work with our color scheme (red, lavender, and gray by default, since those are the colors of the quilts the kids chose), we decided to paint first. 

With Chris and the girls gone, I began removing things from the walls. Eli cooed at me from Caleb's bed, and Caleb watched anxiously as I worked. Eventually, he told me that it made his tummy feel sad to watch his room go away. Poor kid. He has been so excited about the change that I didn't even think about how hard it would be for him to lose the room he has lived in for the last three and a half years. We talked for a bit about how sometimes we can feel both excited and sad at the same time, and that change can be hard, but it will be a good change. I also explained to him that we will be putting his stuff back up on the walls; it will just be in different places, and with Daisy's stuff added in. By the time Chris got home with the paint, I think Caleb was okay. Looking back, I'm really thankful that the girls were gone so that Caleb and I could have that conversation without any distraction.

Then Chris got to work. We have repainted 7 rooms and a hallway in this house, so Chris is getting pretty good at painting. Still, it took him a solid 6 hours, possibly more, to get the room done, and we still have to paint trim. Caleb's last day of school is Thursday, so I don't want to do anything to potentially disrupt his sleep until then. That means building the bunk beds and making the switch will happen next weekend, hopefully. I also have long-term plans for semi-built-in bookcases and closet organization, but those will have to wait until the local Ikea opens and our finances recover from all of these purchases.

When we learned we were pregnant with Eli, our initial plan was for Daisy and Lily to share the queen bed in Daisy's room and Eli to move into Lily's room when he was around 6 months old. But as Eli rapidly approaches that age (he'll be four months in just a few weeks), we realized that having Lily and Daisy share a bed would mean lots of sleep disruption for Daisy. So instead, Daisy and Caleb get bunk beds, Lily will move into Daisy's room, and Eli will move into Lily's room. Eventually Caleb will get his own room again and the girls will share the bunk beds, but for now this seems like the best option.

So while Chris painted, we played. At one point, I asked Caleb to write a note for me on the chalkboard wall, then left the room. When I came back, I found this:

It says:

Daer momy

I lik you!

and lov 

you!

Caleb

I cannot believe how far this kid has come this school year, My heart melted at such a sweet note, and it also swelled with pride at the fact that he is writing sentences like this. It is so cool to watch him learn to read and write!

After lunch, I popped in a movie (Caleb and Daisy chose Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back) and tried to put Eli down for a nap. I thought things were going well, and then he spit up. All over the place. And just when I thought he was done, he spit up more. Luckily, most of it missed me, but it was a huge mess all over the bed. Eli has been doing really well lately with the spit up, so it was pretty disappointing. As I changed the sheets, I realized that I needed to take a picture to capture it for posterity.

This is my baby who spits up all over the place and makes me change my sheets several times a week. 

At least he's cute, right?

And at least we have really good waterproof mattress pads. Seriously, I think that's my new advice for all new parents: buy waterproof mattress pads for every bed your baby might touch. You will never regret it.

While Caleb and I were getting his room ready for painting, I went through his clothes and pulled everything that was too small or out of season, then got out all of his summer clothes and put them in the wash. Lily discovered this linen shirt and decided it was her new dress.

This child kills me. How is she so funny all the time? I know parents shouldn't have favorites, but at this moment she is the child that is the most fun the largest percentage of the time. 

In this ensemble, she has shoes (she can now go find a matching pair and put them on her feet by herself), Caleb's shirt, Caleb's hat, a water bottle, and a rattle of sorts that Caleb made at school.

Underneath her shirt dress (could we just belt it and call it that?), she has a t-shirt and skirt that she chose and put on almost all by herself; she just needs a little help getting the skirt up over her cloth diaper bottom. This girl is independent, gaining skills (and words, and teeth) almost daily, and so sweet and snuggly. She is by far the most chill of our children, and she's so darn cute. We are blessed to have a Lily in our lives! Ah, but who am I kidding? We are blessed by all of our children.

Really, it needs no qualifiers. We are blessed.