finchelover, If he is coming back each day,he is interested,Look for them in the morning,that is when there will be the most activity.The best thing for you to do is make sure no House Sparrows try to use the box. I would suggest you google "Sparrow spooker" and learn how to make and use one.See the link below ,there is alot of info on this site.You will learn when to monitor,how to monitor,how your house should be mounted ,ETC.You can also read up on the Spooker.Bluebirds can be very rewarding if you have the right info.Please have a look at the link below. Matt Here is a link that might be useful: CLICK HERE

Thanks everyone. I am hoping to keep the paint color the same, which is what used to be a kakki color. Don't know what the new name might be. I got a chip of paint and took it to wally world, but, it is too dark. So, I am going to take it back and see if he can lighten it up and if not, I'll just have to repaint the whole room, but still the same color. I don't have a plan. When Daddy came to live with us I bought a brown and tan with cream lace running thru it at K Mart. Jacklyn Smith. It looked manly, but I am using it b/c of cost. I'll just shooting from the hip on this one. I have some child hood things, jack-in-the box. a nice big long box of crayons, books etc. But I have darken the windows with back out drapes, underneath the blinds. On top of the blinds, I am using lace curtains, the ones that just come to the window sill. I Have pitcher and bowl sets, white pictures, and a yellow bowl and pitcher that belonged to my Grandmother. An old yellow tinted picture of cats that came from my Grandmothers, and a white framed picture that I had bought for Mama. The comforter has beige and browns and cream and some oranges. I used the browns and oranges for Daddy, but I think and am going to try to pick up bright yellow. When the lights go out, there is no light. That's the way I wanted it to be, so we could take turns getting sleep with Daddy at night. So, b/c it is so dark, the lamps and lights make a sweet glow, and I think the yellow would make it more feminine. All the furniture is solid wood, so that sets a manly atmosphere to some, but I love wood. I have an armless small leather bottom rocker that I am going to use, and a bright yellow printed quilt that I found. And some where there are going to be yellow roses!! This was the son's room of the previous owners. So, it is pretty boyish. I am taking the wallpaper border down from around the ceiling. That is making a real difference. Looks more feminine already. And I have some cream pillows that have lace and crochet, so I can probably find some yellow to throw in with them. That's all I have so far. In my mind any way, don't even have the furniture and we had a bad night and morning this a.m. with Daddy and we are not sure how the weather my be by tomorrow.

When I was 5 years old, my mother packed us up and moved 3000 miles away from my father and didn't leave a forwarding address. 25 years later, I found him, and moved in with him and his wife (a wonderful woman, who became one of my closest friends) for a year in order to get to know them as family rather than acquaintances one visits once in a while. My stepmother couldn't get over how alike we were, in temperament, tastes, and a variety of idiosyncratic behaviors. One day, she came home from doing some errands to find us sitting at the kitchen table lunching on thick slabs of his beefsteak tomatoes, drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with salt & pepper. bread and butter rounding out the meal. Regarding me with a rather dryly amused expression, she said, "I guess I know whose daughter YOU are!" The one food I actually associate with my father in childhood memory is yellow apples. All my life, if I ate a yellow apple, I thought of him, and no matter how good it tasted, there was something missing. After my mother divorced him, he would pick me up on Saturday and find somewhere to take me where we could simply hang out. One of our favorite spots was off a country road, where there was a very old, gnarled apple tree. In season, we would sit there and eat apples together, and discuss whatever weighty subjects children under the age of 5 discuss with their fathers. The apples were yellow, and no apple has ever tasted as good since. Our first meeting when I was an adult, I arranged to have in a restaurant. I was nervous and wanted a neutral ground. By the end of dinner, he convinced me to drive with him a short way to his home, so I could meet his wife, who was waiting up and hoping I would come. I followed him in my car, and at a certain spot, on a dark country road, he slowed, honked his horn and gesticulated wildly over the hood of his car to the right at I couldn't know what. It was the apple tree, and when I told him later that I'd spent all my subsequent years being disappointed in every apple I ate because it didn't taste as good as the apples from that tree, he laughed because that tree had been so old, even when I was young, that the apples had been small, tough and tart, but we ate them together because they were there. My Dad had been a paratrooper during WW2. He didn't talk about it often, but a couple of times he opened up. Once, he spoke of walking down an avenue in Italy, and passing a house surrounded by a low wall, and seeing an elderly man sitting outside at a little table. A young woman brought him out a bowl of olives, a tumbler of wine and a slab of bread. My father ended up trading a pack of cigarettes for a helmet full of those home made olives. I think that he must have been feeling quite lonely and homesick, because he could have bought olives anywhere, and at less expense than a pack of cigarettes, but the elderly man's look of contentment as he ate of the olives his daughter brought him while he sat in his own garden made them irresistible. While I lived with my father and stepmother, I got into the habit of driving a couple of hours down to Boston every couple of months or so, to buy food items I couldn't find in Southern Maine...and I'd stop at a little Italian grocery in the North End to pick up olives and bread for my father.

A little late to the party but what incredible and joyous news! I can imagine how thrilled you and your husband are and the doll story really made me smile to know that he's as thrilled and involved as are you. They sound like wonderful children. So sad about their eating problems in the past and yes it'll take a while to get over that but you're clearly taking great steps to help her and them settle in and soon they'll know that this is a different and better life. One suggestion, take it for what it's worth. How about letting them help plan out meals? Do a menu for a week or so and let them help. I would think that would relieve some apprehension about whether they will eat and it's never too early to let them help in their own way on the meal prep. BTW, don't forget about the library! That can be a regular outing. One thing I want to say though, there's a lot of comments and I'm sure even more thoughts about the natural parents and I want to point out how many people give children bad lives but WON'T give them up. I want to give credit that the mother realized she couldn't handle them anymore and willingly gave up her rights. That must be difficult to do. And the fathers gave up their rights too. Kudos to them too. I hope they're not left out in the cold. Not suggesting visitation or anything but maybe an update occasionally to let them know how the kids are doing could be nice. Just something to think about... not that there's anything else on your mind now!!! ;) They'll probably ask about their parents sometime and should know the full story age appropriate and I have confidence you'll do what you feel is right. I have the utmost confidence in you and your husband, respect for you for doing this and taking all three - not everyone would take on a chore like this, and it really is a win-win-win situation. For you, the kids and yes the bio-parents. Make that a win-win-win-win, since they didn't wind up in some shelter, orphanage or something. Really puts a warm fuzzy feeling in my heart. Good for you and all of you. So many things to do, so much fun too. Of course there'll be ups and downs but I can tell you'll do just fine and be one big happy family. My best to all of you!