Drywall, Day Two

The drywallers arrived early this morning and finished their part in about four hours. We have walls!

The plan is for the finisher to come the next two days to mud and tape the joints. The factory edge of drywall has a tape-sized depression to make the finishing even and easy. Pretty smart!

After they left, Phil wanted to do what he could to get ready for whatever comes after the drywall is done. The manufactured lumber above the windows and doors is unsightly, but parge-coating won't stick to it. So he dismantled the falling-apart chicken pen and stapled the chicken wire over the lumber.

The windows themselves will need drywall or wood trim or both. This is the part of the process that makes Phil feel like his head will explode. What is the priority? What is the sequence? How should he manage the details. Ugh!

As for the family, Caleb seems to have jumped ahead in his development in the last two days: more alert for a bit longer, head and neck more stable and less bobbly, wide eyes tracking and focusing. I took him to the hardware store on an errand for Phil, and enjoyed the comments from employees and patrons. (One of the employees is also named Caleb, and when a patron tried to figure out where the name came from—East of Eden?—and I summarized the Bible story, employee Caleb smiled and said, "That's who I was named for, too.")

After a few weeks of four hours of sleep and a bit of dozing, I had a nine hour stretch with only a few interruptions last night. And I took a nap, too! What a relief to catch up a bit.

The boys have had a great few weeks of Grandparent visits. From movies, walks, and excursions, they have now moved into books, soap ball formation, and endless games of schooling Grandpa in Connect Four and chess. And some things stay the same: Abraham shows his comic books, Caleb is never alone, Joe shyly contributes a bit to conversations, Isaiah has energy to burn, and Jadon is Jadon, running errands and being helpful.