The Saturday 7

1. We've been having so much sleep drama this week. I think it boils down to the fact that Lucy is a night owl and Lena is an early bird, so their sharing a room just isn't ideal. Tuesday night was the worst. Lena goes to bed at 8 and my goal is to have Lucy in bed by 8:30 (although it's usually more like 8:45). She's just not tired by that time though! She talks and plays and reads books and gets bored and goes up and down the stairs with absurd requests. On Saturday night, we found Lucy sleeping in bed with Lena and thought it was so adorable. I figured Lucy must have heard Lena crying and climbed in to comfort her.
When I asked her about it on Sunday morning, though, she admitted that she (Lucy) was scared so climbed in to a sleeping Lena's crib searching for comfort. Fortunately Lena slept through it that night. But she did not sleep through it Tuesday night. Lucy and I had a chat about respecting Lena while she's sleeping and I put Lena back to bed in the pack n' play in my room. Lucy didn't fall asleep until after 10 that night.

She doesn't take a nap and she's up before 8 most mornings. I don't understand why she doesn't need more sleep. Justin and I both require a lot of sleep to function. Why didn't our kids inherit that?? It's also frustrating that Justin and I get zero alone time. He gets up at 4:30 am for work, so he likes to be in bed by 9:30. When Lucy's up that whole time, we can't just chill together! Ugh.

2. And then there's Lena. I decided to cut out her morning nap in an effort to make her sleep longer at night. The first two days were pretty miserable (all day crying), but she did sleep in til 6:30 (as opposed to 6) in the morning. On Wednesday, I was exhausted and didn't have the energy to fight with her, so I let her have her morning nap. Thursday morning she slept 'til 7! So then I was confused. Haha. I did one nap again on Thursday, but gave in again yesterday. It's not worth fighting. Yes, she was up at 5:45 this morning, but I'd rather get up earlier than listen to her cry all day long. 

3. Ok, enough about sleep! Here's the craft Lucy and I did this week.


We learned about Naaman being healed of leprosy in the Jordan river. I found some inspiration on Pinterest, but finally decided to keep it simple. We colored an envelope blue and brown to illustrate the muddy Jordan. Then we drew a face on each side of a popsicle stick and Lucy went to town with the red spots on one side. She dipped the stick in the envelope 7 times, then flipped the stick over to show that he was healed! We talked about how Naaman was a very important man, but he was very sick and was going to die. He had the opportunity to be healed, but didn't like the instruction to dip into the muddy river. Then we talked about how God's way is the best and learned our verse: "God's way is perfect. The word of the Lord doesn't have any flaws." (Psalm 18:30a) 

4. I posted this article (The New Legalism) on facebook this week and was surprised by the amount of response it generated. The author basically posits that my generation's version of legalism is books like Radical that essentially say you're not a Christian if you're not living radically. My guilt and fear love that the author claims we can be Christians in the suburbs and it's legalistic to demand anything else. But I worry that he's just pandering to those of us who are uncomfortable with getting out of our comfort zones. I've been thinking lately that I don't want to be the type of Christian who does just enough to get by. Considering all the Jesus has done for me, why do I have the attitude of "I want to do as little as I can and still get into Heaven"?? But at the same time, I disagree with Platt's assertion that Christians have to live a radical lifestyle. I'm really coming to terms with the fact that at this point in my life my children are my mission field. 

5. We finally had a warm day this week! I think the high ended up being like 86*. Talk about extreme temperature shift! I pulled out the shorts for the girls and Lena thought they were so funny. She kept reaching down to touch her legs, then laughing like crazy. Haha.

6. We were able to spend lots of time outside thanks to the warmer weather. Lena is obsessed and runs to the door anytime anyone says the words "go" or "out." Haha. Here's a video of how she goes down the stairs. She likes to get a head start:

7. Lucy's birthday is tomorrow. Stay tuned for a sappy update entry. We've got big plans for celebrating. This afternoon we're going to Chuck E. Cheese. Tomorrow we're celebrating with our families. And next week is her Frozen themed friend party. I spent Thursday birthday shopping. I'm so astounded that every store is sold out of all their Frozen merchandise. Why don't they buy tons of it? It'll sell! I did manage to snag an Elsa dress that she's going to be thrilled with. And I got her other big request: the Snackeez.

She watches too much Qubo, where they have all those ridiculous infomercials, and insisted that she needed one. I looked on the website, but it's such a scam. They're buy one, get one free, but you have to pay shipping for both, and there's no option to just buy one! So it was going to be like $25. I finally got smart and searched online only to discover that they just came out in stores! So I headed down to Bed, Bath, and Beyond and got it for under $9 thanks to my 20% off coupon! Woot! She's going to be so excited!

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