Week in the Life: Sunday

With Sunday, the Week in the Life comes to a close as we celebrate nursery work day with our friends.

6:45 am - Brent and I literally groan as B shows up asking to play Wii.  We acquiesce, but go immediately back to sleep.

8:00 am - 9:30  We realize M has not appeared and B is apparently watching cartoons solo.  We ponder getting up and eventually give in around 8:30.  We then discover that the Wainrights have already left Tulsa and maybe we should pull ourselves together. We all get dressed, make coffee, figure out how our Google Offers work, determine our printer is really and truly broken this time, and the boys go and get doughnuts using our Offer.  By the time they return, M and I have cleaned a bit more out of the nursery and the Wainrights arrive moments later.

9:30-11am - We eat doughnuts together and watch the kids playing happily.  We settle on a paint color and Chrissie and I head out, in sequence, to Home Depot, Michaels, and Lowes.  We have landed on roughly a maximum of three things we might be able to achieve that day in nursery prep. 1) Paint the walls; 2) Replace pulls on the changing table; 3) make map art---maybe start putting things back together... this plan would,  be a bit too ambitious....

Random aside - I loved what a great time M and Serenity had together today.  They played so well and so independently today in so many ways.  There was lots of dress up and imaginations -- just awesome. 

11:00am - 1pm back at the house, I am surprised by some lovely new decorations both for the day and the baby's room.  We clean everything out of the nursery and tape off the room.  Alisha joins us in progress and Tracie arrives shortly thereafter.  They all start to work painting while Brent, Eric, and I watch the kids.  Emily and Molly join us during the painting, but Molly is having a hard time letting go of Mom.  Jennie and Corwyn join the fray shortly thereafter.  I attempt to install the pulls on the changing table--2 of which work fine, the remaining three will require some different screws or nuts or something to work properly.  Next, I work on painting the canvas edges for the map art.   I am incapable of not working while others are, but can't be in the paint fumes so these are my side projects.   

  Brent orders pizza from Humble pie and takes our kids out to get it.  When the first coat is done, we eat pizza together and have a little "reveal" -- problem.  It is very close to as bright as B's room which has been annoying me for the last four years in its, well, brightness.  So..... we decide we have to get new paint.  We pull samples, talk it over and Tracie and I get more paint and more supplies.  

1-4:30 pm - The Hoppers join in just as the paint switch is happening. About four of our helpers go back into the painting fray, with Brent joining to help with some tall projects.  The new color is much lighter.  What color it is exactly is under much debate.  It is... blue/gray/white/green --- depending on light and who you ask.  Much more neutral.  Tracie and I go back to buy a second gallon as this color is not covering as much as the bright version below it.  Chrissie, Jessie, and Jennie continue with the map project that I had begun before the paint run.  The Norman folks start to head back as their littles get tired and the third round of paint commences.  By 4:30 - the Hoppers leave, the paint is up, and 2/3 of the maps are finished. 

4:30-6:30 - Tracie and Chrissie do some touch ups on the room, while I finish the maps.  It is clear that nothing is going to be dry enough to move things back in.  We ponder how to arrange various decorations  and start cleaning up, feeding kids, and prepping the Wainrights to return home. My favorite part is somewhere in here B goes and checks on the room and tells me the wall color is great-- just the color of all those maps we've been working on. There could not have been a better thing to say just then after all the paint color chaos and lack of consensus throughout the day about what color it is exactly and if it is ok. 

6:30-8:30 - Tracie and I talk, clean the kitchen and dining room.  Look at the walls some more, and pull the tape down from the top edge of the walls--- along with paint off the ceiling :(  This is a problematic as our ceiling touch up paint met its untimely demise at B's birthday party in January so we can't fix it until we buy more and can't move anything back in or hang anything until that painting task is done.  It was sort of a melancholy way to end a busy day.  We do bring all the dry map art into the room and watch M run around for awhile as Brent shuffles the kids through their night time ritual.  The kids go to sleep and Tracie and I talk a bit more. 

 M is pretty sad and needs me to come lay with her awhile.  She wants to know why Serenity can't play again tomorrow.  Says she missed me today and wants tomorrow to be family day.  I'm not sure what family day means, but we do get to play with cousins in the afternoon so maybe that will work.  Tracie heads home after being my diligent helper all day and worrying about things I don't (like my baseboards). Thanks lady!

8:30-10 - Brent does the dishes and I putter a bit more.  We each have just a bit more sugar before watching Thursday's Daily Show/Colbert Report while I blog.  I chat once more with Chrissie (gchat) and Tracie (phone) to round out our day together as they each check in with some ideas or encouragement.  I think Tracie may rejoin me in a week or so to help with whatever final push we need to pull things together a bit more.  For now, Brent and I are resting and maybe heading to bed early as tomorrow is full too --- School/Work, then Orthodontist apt for B, then cousin play time into the evening.   Tuesday is gymnastics.... so maybe by Wednesday we'll just do nothing in the evening before another busy weekend next week. 

Thanks to all of our friends that helped us with nursery prep today.  It was a ton of work and so much appreciated.  We literally could not have done it without you.  Thanks also to all of you following along with our Week in the Life this week.  I hope you had a great one and that these posts are a useful insight or memory for us in years to come.