blue

Maybe it's from feeling eternally pregnant (one full pregnancy with no baby, and nearing the end of the next pregnancy, no baby yet) but I've had a hard time really picturing this stretching, hiccuping thing inside of me being a real human that will actually come out and need to be taken care of, and will need his own stuff. It's also hard for me to imagine I'm having a boy. I guess that I'm still sort of in girl mode. Maybe that's why when we bought this house, every single wall was painted (including bathrooms) except for Tyler's room. He kept asking for me to paint it red (um, no) and I just kept holding off, wanting to wait until we knew the gender of our next child, whenever that would be.

A few weeks ago we decided to buckle down and turn Tyler's room into the "boy's room." There were two separate twin beds in there (for when Emma gets kicked out of her queen bed/room for guests) and his room is small so we needed space for the crib. Thus...bunk beds. I sure knew what I didn't want but didn't know what I did want. After a lot of failed craigslist searching, we headed off to the store and found one that we really liked.

That was a Saturday. The beds were being delivered on the following Wednesday. Spencer was so excited with the idea that they were being delivered and put together for us (hallelujah for no grumpy husband) that he didn't take seriously my out-loud thoughts that the room simply had to be painted. BEFORE the beds came. He didn't want me painting, and he sure didn't want to do it himself.

So, I took matters into my own hands on that Monday. There are only about 8 million shades of blue, so it only took me about 6 hours in the store and online trying to find the perfect one. Blue is a tricky color to work with, and it had to be perfect. I came home, put samples on the wall, went in to look at the different colors a few times throughout the day, and hoped Spencer wouldn't notice when he got home from work.

(Sometimes) I love his lack of observational skills. He didn't notice. But my sweet, easily-excitable children had to show him how "mommy had painted on the walls." Oops. He just looked at me, sighed, and said, "I guess we're painting." Now that he was on board, or I guess had resigned himself to the fact that I wasn't going to be told "no," I was ready to go. I bought the paint, did all the taping, and had the kids clear out all the toys. Spencer took out the heavy stuff and did the "hard" painting but still let me do some of the painting. And...I LOVE IT. The blue is absolutely perfect. We put the last coat of paint on about 8 hours before the delivery guys showed up. They got the bunk beds in, we figured out where to put everything else (i.e., the crib), and voila - the room was ready.

But...this week I was doing a lot of vinyl projects for a friend, and realized that while I had my stuff out I might as well put some up in the boys' room. So...I began my online search for cute phrases. It took me several days (man, I hate transfer tape) but it is DONE, except for a few things to go on the walls. And we're all pretty darn happy with it.

(It says "To become a real boy you must prove yourself brave, truthful, and unselfish." - Pinocchio)
Tyler loves that he gets the top bunk (until/unless he pees the bed, and then I'm kicking him down to the bottom). Emma loves that she has a "2nd bed" and that we let her sleep in there if she wants. I love that the crib is up, and really really hope that we can use it this time. And I also love that now we have painted every single surface of this house, in just under 13 months' time.

Now to get this boy here safely... if the number of doctor appointments I have is any indication, he's in good hands. I've still got a while but you never know...