January 17

Do you remember how Daisy used to have her own room? And it was darling, with a gallery wall and floral curtains and the loveliest pale Tiffany blue-meets mint walls? And then Eli was born, and he needed a bedroom, so we moved Caleb and Daisy into a shared room, and turned Daisy's old room into Eli's new room?

Yeah. I remember that. It happened at least six months ago. But aside from taking down Daisy's artwork and moving the crib into the room, we didn't do anything to make that room special for Eli. Finally, I told Chris that I needed Eli to at least have a not-turquoise room by his first birthday. I feel like that's a pretty fair thing to hope for. But it is really hard to find time to paint a room when the occupant uses it for two naps daily, plus nighttime sleep. 

Finally  I pushed the issue, and Chris decided to take the time today to make it happen. I took all four kids to church, and he stayed home to work on the room. We happened to be heading home at the same time that my mom was heading home from church, so she stopped by for a quick visit. The kids were thrilled!

The last time the kids saw her, Eli wasn't particularly impressed. Today, though, he lunged for her the moment he saw her. He had a lot of fun trying to fed his lunch to her!

"Hey, Grandma! Want my hot dog?"

"Try it! It's yummy!"

(Only he stuck his finger in her mouth, instead of the hot dog. Ha!)

After lunch, Mom put Lily down for her nap, I put Eli down for his, and Chris ran out to get paint for Eli's room. (We're just using the same coffee-with-cream color we used in Lily's room, so nothing too exciting. Still, it's better than turquoise!)

When Chris returned, Caleb and I went grocery shopping. We didn't take very long, and I was hopeful that Eli would still be napping when we got back. 

I know. It was a ridiculous thought. He was wide awake. I took Eli so that Chris could get back to painting, and over the course of two hours I put away all the groceries, made a veggie tray for small group tonight, and gave all four kids baths.

Eli was fussy and whiny (teeth? Too short of a nap? Hungry? Overstimulated? Who knows.) so I had to wrap him on my back to get the first few items done.

Sweet baby.

After everyone was bathed and dressed, I took all of the kids to small group and left Chris to continue painting Eli's room. When we got home, it was about 75% finished, and he will hopefully wrap things up during the bank holiday tomorrow. Then I can hang up the sweet mobile I made for Eli, and maybe find some things to put on his walls. I guess I need some picture frames; maybe I'll finally make a trip to our new Ikea!