Donna, thank you for cheering me up! What will you be doing for your birthday? Yesterday I did go to the supermarket again and to the florist. DH helped with the cleaning: dusting the living room, vacuuming the couches and scrubbing the bathtub. I swiffered the floors and did the rest of the dusting, mopped the tile and terrazzo, cleaned the living room balcony, changed my DD's bed and did another load of laundry. We had maybe an hour to rest and were on time for my brother's engagement, were we had a great time. (Oh my new SIL has a so different style in her home! More glamorous and much more loaded than ours. That was interesting to observe - hope gift giving will not be too difficult!) Today after coming home from church, feeding the girls and putting them down to nap, I'll have to finish polishing the kitchen (that counter/tile thing), do some touch ups, clean the balcony again, change our bed and bring down the bedspread, also tidy my nightstand and bookcase, bring down the rest of the couch pillows and put them in place, and, finally, bring out the nice tablecloth/napkins/flatware and arrange them on the table along with plates and glasses. We'll order in pizza and salads. Oh, I'll need to go and pick up the birthday cake too. After having the girls, I don't feel like cooking for a crowd anymore (we'll be 13 people altogether). After our guests leave, we'll have to mop the whole apartment, as we are a no shoes home but we'll be making an exception this time due to the new additions to the family... end of a long day. The previous night I didn't sleep much or well (got up and came here at 6am) due to excitement and I expect the same for tonight - then the work week begins. Sorry for writing a book and THANK YOU ALL for letting me come here to vent and think in writing. Maria

Ok, I have cut up the material for cover #2 and will drop it off at the sewing place tomorrow morning. It feels great! And, can I add a silly brag? The last time I had the cleaning lady over for the annual ("fall") deep cleaning, she commended on how clean our apartment was. That was a "pick me up"! Maddiemom, could you please elaborate a bit on what you wrote above? "I found that the benifits of a well attached child have lasted way past childhood." Thanks. Carol, you are right up to a point: DH does pitch in, but he could surely do more. I am trying to please him, but not "overly" and he is a tiny bit demanding, but not as much as it may come across. Yes Greta, I think he doesn't fully realise what it means to take care of a baby all day long and I don't really like to ask him to take some things on as his responsibilities, as he's working full time and is under constant pressure at his work. I prefer to ask him to help occasionally with different things. I wish I could simplify ironing. It is worse because we don't have a dryer or the space for it, so we spin to take the water off and hung to air dry. DH can't wear non cotton shirts, as he gets hot easily and even if he could, we can't afford to replace his shirts. As it is now, I iron 3-5 shirts a week, one every morning About the grocery store... I like to go with the baby when I can (nice weather etc) but it's a bit stressful going when DH comes home and cooking afterwards, especially if the baby didn't nurse right before I go and/or didn't nurse sufficiently. I'd love it if he would do that, but feel it is too much to ask of him. He does drive to a bigger grocery store further away a couple of Saturdays or Fridays every month to get a few special things we don't get near home, or things like cleaning products in bigger amounts/lower prices. Thank you all for your responses! Maria

Well, the Rachwell Ashwell Shabby Chic curtain that I admired in my brother's home looks like Shabby S*** in this room. Oh well, at least it's only temporary! I spoke to the designer yesterday and she's pulling together fabric samples for me. So far she seems to favor the idea of a simple Roman shade with contrasting banded edges, and that's one idea that I've had since the beginning, so I'd be on board. Still eager to see what other choices she comes up with though. Having the fabric on the window is weird (and it doesn't fit perfectly, but like I said, it's temporary). It does make me feel a lot more secure in the room, since there's no longer that gaping black hole of a window to contend with when it's dark out.

Don't know. I came late to the party about the transfer. I was WonByHerWits on the old GW. I had created a houzz account as DYHGarden, not realizing the two were merging. Since WonByHerWits (the registered name of my late, great greyhound) is no longer here, I'm okay with DYHGarden.