Ten on Tuesday

1. Last night was one of those nights that makes you question how exactly you are going to survive parenthood. Zane woke up at about 10pm and we didn't get him back to sleep until around 4am. He was screaming, crying, saying ouch, pulling on his ears and throwing up any meds we tried to give him. Needless to say I had to call into work and did my nursing from home today. We went to the doctor and of course he has ear infections, so we have another amoxicillin prescription, which I am unsure about how I am going to get him to take. He slept the afternoon away while I awaited news from the Richards family about their new arrival. 

2. And the news was that baby Everett Ambrose Richards was born at 1:18pm, weighing in at 8lb 1oz and he is 20 inches long. I know some of you might be thinking that is a big boy, but he is the littlest Richards yet and absolutely precious. I adore his name, with Ambrose being in honor of my dad. It was our Grandfather's middle name and dad's favorite/alter ego at times (mainly for passwords to things) but it is a sweet reminder of him and oh so perfect for our newest nephew. I couldn't sleep this afternoon, waiting patiently by the phone for the phone call telling me that he had arrived. Here is a link to my sister's blog where there are more pictures, but here is my personal favorite, little Everett getting his first bath. I can't wait to kiss that little head. Welcome to world little baby Everett, you are loved by so many!

3. In other news Zane and I made it home safely from adventure camp, and boy did we have some adventures. I meant to do a whole post on it, and will, but I was beyond exhausted when I got home and now it's birthday week, so next week I will fill you in on all our fun. Suffice it to say if there was an adventure that could be had at the farm or surrounding area we did it. The kids were all troopers, playing well together, and behaving amazingly well behaved. Maggie and Zane are best friends and Brendan has truly embraced his role as big brother/cousin and resident helper. Here are a few highlights to tide you over until the actual post.

Brendan sporting his new hat that Grandma brought him from Ireland.

 The crew in their farm shirts.

 Maggie and Zane made quite the pair.

 Zane led the crew in numerous dances/sing a longs, this one at the splash pad.

Ready for a bug hunt

- To see the entire Adventure camp photo album you can go here.

4. Our flight home Sunday marked Zane's last free flight, super duper sad face. He does amazingly well on the airplane, having slept through probably 95% of all his flying time. He woke up with about 20 minutes left in our flight Sunday and thoroughly enjoyed looking out the window and reviewing the safety instructions in the seat back in front of him. He always gets all sorts of compliments on his good behavior and this trip he got a lot of compliments on his manners, saying thank you to the TSA is pretty much unheard of, except for Zane who thanked all of them.

5. Also on this trip I got a new Thunder shirt for the NBA finals. It was strange watching people in the airport, while sweating to death because the AC wasn't working, it wasn't a sea of red/orange like it usually is, but a sea of Thunder blue. I have mixed feelings about it since I haven't lived their since the Thunder arrived, but I am trying to support anything that is positive coming from my home state. So I will "Thunder Up" as they say, and did this evening in my new Thunder blue shirt.

6. Now we are in a mad dash/scramble to prepare for Zane's birthday party this weekend. I have given up on it being adorable, though I did enjoy researching adorable ideas, but I have no time or energy to do that. So Monday Zane and I bought Thomas decorations, because they are readily available, ordered a cake from a local bakery, and I bought him a few little presents online. The famous banner from last year is hung, as well as a Thomas one that I thought would be the length of the mantel and really is the length of the long wall that my big mirror is on, so that's where it went. The celebratory balloon wreath is on the door and now all we have to do is put our basement back together, clean our entire house, grocery shop, wrap presents, put up the rest of the decorations, and try to get our house to not smell like vomit anymore all before Saturday. Did I mention I work Thursday and Friday #impossible.

7. Zach and his dad did an amazing job sheet rocking the ceiling of our basement while Zane and I were out on adventures. Zach is still "mudding" and sandy, but tomorrow we should be able to start the clean up processes. He added recessed lighting on the other half of the basement, which makes it so much brighter and a light switch so you can turn the main lights off from downstairs instead of having to turn then off upstairs then hope you can find your bed in the dark (that one's for you mom). It will have to be painted at some point, but there won't be time for that before company arrives Friday evening.

8. The other project that is being wrapped up just in time for Zane's birthday is his long awaited train table. Zach had finished it awhile ago and over the past few days we have successfully painted The Island of Sodor on top of it. We did quite a bit of research, yes I googled Island of Sodor Topography, and I think it turned out amazing. Zach added the finishing touches of a light house, the Quarry, and labels of important areas, such as Brendham docks, Knapford Shed, Tidmouth sheds, the Quarry and Henry's tunnel, this evening. We love it, hopefully Zane does too.

9. Today I was also feeling pretty terrible, not sure why, probably lack of sleep, so Zane and I lounged around on the couch feel crummy together most of the day. At around 3ish I ventured out to get the mail and here is what the road in front of my house looked like. I was so exhausted that I just said, "huh that shouldn't be that way" and went back to the couch. This led to our water pressure being next to nothing all evening and all sorts of construction equipment driving past our house. I have to say water main breaks are a totally new territory for me having grown up in the country. However I am very familiar with having a muddy river next to my house, so it's all good.

10. Lastly, as most of you know, my brother is opening a spice shop in OKC. Savory Spices is looking to open in September, but the planning and preparations are well under way. You can follow his shop on twitter at @SavorySpiceOKC or "Like" him on facebook (not sure if I worded that right, I have to admit I have never been on facebook) under the same name. Mom and Able are currently in Denver at Spice Shop training. I saw the pictures/plans for the inside of the shop this weekend and it is going to be amazing. I am so proud of my big bro!