A few months ago my dad moved out of his house and was getting rid of most of his furniture. Since I've never had a nice bedroom, and being the oldest sister living in the country, I felt justified in speaking his bedroom set. My sisters were very gracious about it. I've wanted a nice bedroom for a long time. My bed didn't even have any sort of a headboard or anything, just the mattress and box springs, and two mismatched broken down dressers. So I was THRILLED to get this set, and I also got the matching bedding. I was so happy. I love being in my room now. It feels so different, it even feels cleaner, and I'm much more motivated to make the bed.

The problem is at the head of the bed there's this big mirror. After we got the set I noticed fingerprints on the mirror every time I went in there. I'd go get the Windex and clean them off. This would happen several times a week. I finally got sick of it and lectured the kids to stop mucking up my mirror. Surprisingly, they minded.

A few weeks ago I was reading my friend Heidi's blog. She had a link to this woman's blog who had just had a traumatic experience. She had briefly left her baby alone in the tub and when she came back he had drowned. By some miracle they revived him at the hospital and after a couple of weeks he made a full recovery and returned home. I became obsessed with following her story. It was every mother's worst nightmare, and I'm so glad it was a happy ending for them. Her story changed me. Ever since reading it I have been so much more grateful for my children and have tried to practice lots of patience and not sweat the small things. I've done well. I would like to say it's a permanent change, but we'll see. I'm not too hopeful. It's too bad that it's human nature to need to nearly lose someone to show them just how grateful we are for them. I will keep it up as long as I can, though. I walked into my bedroom a few days ago and glaring out at me were several little handprints, all over the mirror. Now they make me smile every time I see them. I'm going to leave them there.

My sweet Trevor had his birthday party today. We had the usual crowd over and enjoyed Trevor's requested dinner of Chinese food. He definitely has the most developed taste of all my children. He turns 10 years old this week! I love this kid so much. He is the sweetest thing. He has the shortest fuse of all my kids, but definitely the shortest turnaround time. It takes him minutes to get over something. He is the best big brother. He cares so much about his younger brothers and really helps to look out for them. I love his tender heart. Great-grandma wasn't able to come to his party because she's pretty sick. Trevor was a little glum all day, and when I talked to him about it tonight he finally admitted that he was scared his grandma was going to die.

For his birthday he got money and some puzzle toys from Great-grandma (she sent them with Grandpa Greg) and a basketball and scooter from his parents. Grandpa Greg will take him for his birthday outing when they can arrange a time.

So glad this boy is in our family!

What is up with my nearly-four-year-old getting an ear infection?! (Thanks, Det and Kenny) Lame. Jace was up half the night last night because his ear hurt so bad. It's frustrating being up half the night and knowing you have no choice as to when you get up in the morning. I am SO grateful that Jeremy found a job so quickly, but I won't lie. It was so convenient having him, for lack of a better phrase, at my disposal. Three weeks ago I wouldn't have worried about being up half the night, I would've just planned on sleeping in and having Jeremy take the kids to school. But with his new job he has to be to work before they go to school. So it's back to the grindstone for me!

In all seriousness, we feel so blessed that Jeremy was able to find a job so quickly. He got the offer three weeks ago and started last week. I'm so proud of him. I think that getting a new job has a lot to do with luck, but Jeremy really worked hard. He was in his office several hours a day, sent out lots of resumes and went on lots of interviews, and did a great job of networking himself.

So I'll just deal with the next couple of sleepless nights while the ear infection heals, because that kind of stress is a lot more manageable!