The Saturday 7

1. Well I survived my week off of facebook and Pinterest. I didn't particularly enjoy it. I missed it a lot. Apparently I'm just not one of those people who enjoys "unplugging from the world." And I don't know how much it helped my depression/comparison issues. I just find other ways to compare myself. In church on Sunday, there was a girl on the praise team who is my age, has had 2 kids, and is a size zero, always wears such cute clothes, and can style her hair so amazingly! I had to close my eyes during all the worship songs because otherwise I just stare at her the whole time feeling ugly and inadequate. The issue isn't facebook. It's me. Still trying to figure out how to fix that.

I didn't have a huge surge of productivity, either. I did spend more time reading my Bible, and Lucy and I did some pretty stellar M crafts, but I didn't even crack open a single book or do any more cleaning than usual. Part of that was because of number 2 . . .

2. We spent a ton of time in the pool this week. The weather finally warmed up, and my sister came over almost every day with her day care kids. Last weekend, Lucy wore her life jacket and clung to Justin for dear life, screeching every time he let go of her. But on Monday, when Lucy's friend Addy (who's 2.5) hopped in the pool with nothing but swimmies on, Lucy took one look at her and decided she wanted to try that too! At first, she clung to me, but eventually she realized she could stay afloat and maneuver herself around the pool by kicking her legs. She was so proud of herself, and so adorable!

Ever since then, she's been obsessed with swimming. One night she wanted to go in the pool, but it was too cold for me, so I told her she'd have to do it by herself. She put those swimmies on, climbed into the freezing cold pool without so much as a wince, and swam laps around the pool all by herself. Haha.

3. On Monday, I was out by the pool for 5 straight hours and got a wicked sunburn. I was more careful in the sun after that, and actually put on some sunscreen. On Wednesday, I noticed my arms breaking out in hives! I've never had a reaction to anything in my life. I figured it was the sunscreen or some kind of sun poisoning. I put some hydrocortisone cream on them, and they were gone by the next morning. On Thursday, I wore a different kind of sunscreen and didn't spend nearly as much time in the sun, so I was surprised when the hives came back! I did some Internet research and came across the term photodermatitis. I think I must be having a reaction because of the medication I'm taking. I'm on a few different medicines since this time last year - a bunch of vitamins, but the most likely cause is my birth control.  :-/ Last night the hives were so bad, I took a Benadryl to help me stop itching. Ugh. I might have to call the Dr and see if I can get on a different kind of BC. Otherwise I'm just going to have to stay out of the sun all summer! What fun is that?!

4. Lena got into a very bad habit this week of waking up at 5:00 am every day! She eats at midnight and 4:00 am, but then randomly wakes up at 5 talking and playing and ready to get up for the day! She usually goes back to sleep by 6, but I'm really not a fan of being awake from 5-6 every day! Last night, I even kept her up an hour later than usual, but she only slept 'til 5:30.

5. I made a delicious crock pot meal this week. It's been really hot, and we don't have AC, so I didn't want to use the oven. This is a recipe I pinned a long time ago, and finally got around to making. Easy, pretty cheap, and delicious!

Slow Cooker Chicken Cordon Bleu

6 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup
1 cup milk
4 ounces sliced ham
4 ounces sliced Swiss cheese
1 (8 ounce) package herbed dry bread stuffing mix
1/4 cup butter, melted

Mix together the cream of chicken soup and milk in a small bowl. Pour enough of the soup into a slow cooker to cover the bottom.
Layer chicken breasts over the sauce.
Cover with slices of ham and then Swiss cheese.
Pour the remaining soup over the layers, stirring a little to distribute between layers.
Sprinkle the stuffing on top, and drizzle butter over stuffing.
Cover, and cook on Low for 4 to 6 hours, or 2 to 3 hours on High.

6. We finished making our Summer Bucket List! It's not nearly as pretty as some that I've seen on Pinterest, but who's comparing, right? ;-)

We'll be checking "baseball game" off the list tonight!

7. Justin's and my 8th anniversary is one month from today. I'd really like to go do something, but I can not get Lena to take a bottle. My mom tried it one day this week, but Lena just screams bloody murder! I really don't want to buy a bunch of different bottles/nipples. I have very little faith that she'll take anything since she wouldn't even nurse the other day. I had just gotten out of the pool, so I must have been too wet/cold/chlorine-smelling for her. So finicky!