Picasso I am not

The past couple of weeks have been a busy time for us as we prepare our home for two new family members. A few weeks ago Gina and I made a trip to Richmond to buy some baby furniture we saw advertised on Craig's List, so now the room that used to be our study is officially a nursery with two cribs, a changing table/dresser, a wardrobe and a gliding rocker. Gone are the sports pennants, our college diplomas, pictures of Old Main and Raley Chapel, and my beloved picture of Fenway Park (go Sox, by the way). Despite my lofty intentions, Gina has convinced me those are not appropriate wall decorations for newborns.

My most ambitious nursery-related endeavor, however, has been to repaint the entire nursery. Looking back, I had the perfect window of opportunity to do this during the brief time between when I moved the "study" furniture out and moved the baby furniture in. In case you've never painted a room before, it's much easier to do when there is no furniture to compete with. But alas, I didn't think that far ahead. I was probably more interested in watching a football game or something at the time. So, this weekend I decided to avoid the school work waiting for me and take advantage of the extra hour on Saturday night by painting a room. We picked out the paint on Friday, which is a light green and a light tan for the trim. I can't recall the exact name of the color ... probably Amazon Mist or something like that. If I named hues of paint, I would opt for "I just smoked my first cigar" green and "there's no way you are coming in my kitchen with those socks on" brown. With a name like Amazon Mist, no one can really dispute it unless they have been there (which I have, and I still can't dispute it). But if I say, "It's green, like the color of my face after dipping Skoal for the first time," there's a chance people can relate. Never mind marketing strategies; it's all about keeping it real.

Anywho ... I got a late start on the project Saturday after doing some other work around the house that morning and Gina and I meeting some friends for a birthday lunch. My intent was to start the painting, go to bed at a reasonable hour and finish it at a later date. Well, as is the case with almost every project I start, I couldn't think of a place to stop once I started. I use this as my justification for procrastinating. Honestly, procrastination is my built in defense mechanism to avoid working myself to death. I'm like a sled dog, only with less endurance and tolerance for cold temperatures. Well, just a few minutes shy of 2 AM (which was really 1 AM), the whole room was painted and the furniture was put back in its rightful place. I am glad to have that job behind me, though I still have a stack of school work waiting for me. But it can wait. Otherwise, I wouldn't get to enjoy the weekly reading/writing/grading marathon I've grown so fond of.

Speaking of health, Gina is doing well and continues to expand more each week. We had another ultrasound last week, and they told us the boys are both just shy of 2 pounds each. We have also noticed the power of their kicks increasing each week, so we may either have a couple of soccer players or the next Bruce Lee/Chuck Norris combo. One of them was posing very nicely for the camera, but the other one refused to let us look at his face. And in case you think one of our sons is a jellyfish, that's just the back of his head.

I guess that's all the news for now. Keep checking in for updates and more photos!