It is now safe for Lily to come. The flooding has subsided, the house has now had a deep cleaning (well, except the floors... I despise cleaning floors), and her room is officially finished.

For the last few weeks, due to boredom and nesting, I have been found in the nursery fiddling with an already complete room. Something didn't seem quite complete in there. I decided my wood childhood dresser needed to be painted. Blame it on the countless hours of HGTV that I have watched, but I decided to crackle it... with 2 crackled barstools under my belt, I felt very confident. It was probably divine intervention when I couldn't find any crackle medium at 3 different stores. However, I stupidly persevered and made a special trip into Austin to the mecca of all craft projects ...Hobby Lobby. Not being able to wait, I began to test painting the dresser IN the nursery. When the test patch looked terrible, I felt I needed a bigger sample to truly give it a chance.

Before I could stop myself... I PAINTED THE WHOLE THING.

I didn't take any photographic evidence of my failure, but imagine a nice wooden dresser. Now imagine what it would look like if the marshmallow man threw up all over it... and that's pretty close. There were huge gunks and globs dripping of the sides and the "crackles' were the size of canyons... and all of this was happening inside the house on the new carpet. I heard Jeff's footsteps down the hall and must have looked up at him with the same expression I had at my mom in 1st grade when caught in the bathroom just after I'd cut my own hair the night before the first day of school.

Anyway, I have been totally stressed out for the last few days fearing that I'd go into labor and Lily would have to come home to the ugliest nursery ever that had been fine just days before. So my first neurotic pregnant woman moment... (well, one of the few)... was to call my mom to come over at 8:30 pm with her electric sander, scraper, and paint stripper. Seeing that it was a disaster... Jeff had to volunteer to fix it the next day.

I could see the bitterness growing with each flick of his scraper, then, even more with the deafening buzz of the electric sander. He had, in fact, advised me to leave the dresser alone. Next time I'll listen to him.

The good news is... Lily's room is complete! Last night, I was begging her to wait. Now, I've already spoken with her that TONIGHT would be a great time... with the weekend here and the house clean for the Olsons. Keep your fingers crossed!

At this time, exactly 1 year ago, Jeffrey and I had just walked down the aisle and were enjoying our reception with all the people we love. Its weird how it seems like so much longer than a year... which could be because just 4 months in-- we skipped ahead to next biggest event after marriage. Funny that today, while eating our piece of freezer preserved wedding cake, I'm thinking... "What if Lily comes today on our anniversary... wait, was that a contraction!?"

If its true that the first year of marriage is the hardest, then we can DEFINITELY handle this. I can honestly say that I love Jeff more and more every day that I'm with him. Sometimes I miss the dating days when I'd re-apply make-up and perfume secretly in the bathroom at his apartment and even going to the grocery store together was new and exciting... but hearing him serenade me with "Blue Skies" today in a nasal, faux-operatic voice with his nostrils flared reminded me that we are in a different stage... and this one is fun too.

One thing about Jeff that I hate to love is that he always keeps me guessing. I'm constantly surprised by him . Most recently, Mr. "I don't show excitement", revealed that he researched, ordered, and read Don't Just Stand There: How to be Helpful, Clued-in, Supportive, Engaged, Meaningful, and Relevant in the Delivery Room. If that's not precious enough, he has already packed his hospital bag with several of my favorite snacks and other things the book suggested.
I am blessed to have him as a husband and Lily is blessed to have him as her dad.

Despite the fact that his ever changing and usually unflattering nicknames for me have settled right now on "Turd Ferguson", he will forever be my "Cute-head."

BABY POOL

Make your prediction for Lily's arrival date and weight!


http://www.expectnet.com


Go to the top left corner for invited guests box and type in the game name LilyOlson.

Due to technical difficulties... I have been unable to update for about a month. However, here are the important things that have happened in Texas Olson family life over the past few weeks...

I had a very nice shower hosted by Suzanne in May. Its always so touching when people go to a lot of trouble for you, but you almost feel guilty. It meant a lot to have people come down for it.

School is over!!! Although it seemed impossible, I, though 8 months pregnant, survived the last day with kids, packed up about 9 tubs full of books and teaching stuff, cleaned my classroom, and have still yet to recover from the back pain.

We've moved, we've decorated, we've planted flowers, we officially have a home. Small town life has already reared its ugly head in our struggle to get internet service in our "remote" location. The people in India have been less than a breeze to work with. I don't think I've ever seen Jeff so close to tears as the day our cell phone, internet, and home phone service all had problems. I will put up pictures of the house as soon as we have internet.

I got my 2nd 3D ultrasound to find that Lily has dimples and is a lot chubbier. She was priceless in the ultrasound. 7 trainees were all looking at her and she did something different every time... smiled, stuck her tongue out, sucked on her toe, posed on one arm (seen above), etc.

I've started my once a week doctor appointments to find that they are MOST unpleasant and that I am nowhere close to delivery. Lily weighs 6 1/2 lbs. and the doctor estimates that she'll be on the high end of 7 lbs at birth. Jeff is gone this week for his LAST trip I will allow before the baby comes. Although unlikely, I keep having horrible daydreams of being alone and driving myself an hour to the hospital with heavy contractions.

We successfully held my mom's 50th birthday party! Not a surprise, as planned, due to my dad's irrational fear of closing windows on his computer. I'm on it now, he's in Houston, and there are still about 27 things open. Therefore, it was not too shocking that my mom read his email from Suzanne and me. Anyway, I think it went well and she had a good time. She had a lot of back payment due from being the odd June birthday while the rest of us are in the same week in February.

Ode to my mother

Today, June 9th, my mom turns 50 years old. I've always known that she is an incredible person, but I think becoming a mother is making me so much more in awe of the woman that she is. I am so thankful for the example that she has set since the first day of my life. Knowing that I will soon have that tiny little person watching my every word and action is at times overwhelming and so humbling. I am just appreciative that I have had 24 years to watch the way to love my husband, teach my children, and serve the Lord in the way that I serve people. I aspire to be the kind of woman that she is.