The Saturday 7
1. I've been a reading fiend this week. When we were at the hotel last weekend, I spent like two hours browsing the library's ebook selection and picking out books I wanted to read. Unfortunately, instead of "branching out" as was my intent with doing my "30 Before 30," I've backslid into my old ways. I think I read 5 or 6 Christian romances in the past week. I'm starting to realize it's not healthy, though. They make me super emotional. I really need to stop.
2. I've been feeling incredibly guilty about the amount of screen time my girls get, lately. So I decided one day this week that we were going to have a basically screen-free day. Lucy and I each got half an hour in the morning to check facebook and watch YouTube videos, but then the plan was to be done for the day. The morning went fine. We usually don't do much screen time between 10 and noon anyway. We did a little bit of school, played, and did chores. But the girls always have an hour of TV while they eat lunch. I knew Lucy wasn't going to be thrilled about giving that up. So I told her that I'd read to her while she ate. I found one of my old chapter books on a bookshelf in Lucy's closet and read half of it in the half an hour it took her to finish her macaroni. She loved it, Lena did surprisingly well with it, and I felt so much better about their brains not turning to mush. The afternoon was the real problem. Lucy "rests" in her room for exactly one hour, then comes bounding down the stairs bored and demanding to play. I, however, spend at least half of her rest time cleaning and eating my lunch, and am usually just getting settled with my book/computer/TV show by the time she comes downstairs. I caved on our "screen free" day and let her watch and hour of YouTube videos while Lena was napping, so I could have my "me time." Maybe that's selfish of me, but honestly, I've decided that an hour in the morning and an hour after rest time is not that bad. It's a huge improvement on what we used to do. So I'm trying to stick with that from now on. I've continued to read to her at lunch time and I'm trying to just let her be bored occasionally. I get so irritated with the constant pleas of, "Mommy, I'm bored! Mommy, play with me!" that I inevitably respond, "Just go watch TV." But I've really been trying to say, "Why don't you go play upstairs? Do puzzles? Color?" and just ignore her whining when she doesn't like my suggestions. Haha.
3. Potty training has not been going well. Haha. I truly think Lena's physically ready and has a full grasp of what's going on. But she's terrified of the potty chair. And I haven't been super consistent in making her use it. I try to have her sit on it before baths, when she wakes up dry after a nap, etc. But she really hates it. For the first time this week, she managed to squeak out a teaspoon worth of pee. I made a big deal about it, gave her candy, the whole nine yards. But she still refuses to try. I think we're just gonna take it slow for a while. Although I ran out of my AmazonMom stash of diapers that I bought months ago and actually had to buy some from the grocery store this week. That hurt.
4. We had a WIC appointment on Wednesday. Lena weighed 23 lbs (around the 20th percentile) and measured 32" (I think. I can't exactly remember.) which puts her just above the 10th percentile. Haha. Such a little shrimp. She has a doctor's appointment on Monday. We'll see how their numbers compare. I wonder if she's due for any immunizations. I think I'm going to decline the measles vaccine. That seems to be the trendy thing to do these days. (Totally kidding. She's already had it. After I did hours of research, of course. Kidding again. Annoyed with all the drama lately.)
5. I did start one non-romance book this week: Prayer by Philip Yancey. I majorly identify with what I've read so far. It's my dad's book so I don't want to mark it up. At first, I started writing down all the parts that stood out to me, but my hand kept cramping up, so I finally just started taking pictures with my phone. Haha. Digital age.
Something I really struggle with is how to cultivate a relationship with Jesus through prayer. It just doesn't make sense to me. As you'll see echoed in these next few passages:
The last one is a bad picture. Start reading at "Whenever."
This has been the most encouraging part so far. This is where I am. I'm aware of my lack of spiritual progress. I'm beginning to understand that most of my "relationship" with God is merely head knowledge. And logically, I know the way to repair that is through prayer. I'm hoping as I continue to read this book, I'll get more answers.
6. Now on to something much more trivial: hair. This was one of my timehop pictures this week:
My hair grows super fast. Thinking about chopping it all off again. I wear it in a topknot pretty much every day, but it's getting so long that it takes three hair ties to keep it all in place. I'm also playing around with the idea of getting a perm. Is there such a thing as a modern perm? I don't want the 90s spiral perm. I just want permanent waves/curls. Gonna have to do some more research on that . . .
7. So, do you want to hear about my newest medical problem? Haha. Last night as I lay in bed trying to sleep, I was suddenly overwhelmed by a feeling of a huge lump in my throat and pain radiating from my throat to my sternum. It didn't hurt to swallow, my breathing wasn't obstructed, I just felt like there was a massive lump in my throat. The longer I lay there, the more it hurt. Because the pain seemed to be following the path of my esophagus, I started wondering if it could be heartburn. I've never had heartburn - even when I was pregnant with my very hairy babies. I took some Tums and they helped the pain subside enough that I could sleep. This morning, I still feel the lump, although the pain in my sternum is pretty much gone. So I googled "lump in throat." There were actually a ton of results. One of the first articles I read was about how anxiety patients often exhibit this symptom. The article was written to doctors and said, "The best treatment is sympathy as there is not actually a physical remedy." Ha. Sounds about right. Just another thing that is all in my head. I read a few more articles though that refuted the claim it was anxiety-induced, rather calling it an effect of swollen vocal cords as a result of acid reflux. What do you know? How did I go from never having heartburn in my life to having it so severely it swelled my vocal cords? Ouch. I still haven't found a remedy. Guess I'll just keep popping Tums. Although WebMD also told me I probably have throat cancer, so maybe the Tums won't be all that helpful . . .
2. I've been feeling incredibly guilty about the amount of screen time my girls get, lately. So I decided one day this week that we were going to have a basically screen-free day. Lucy and I each got half an hour in the morning to check facebook and watch YouTube videos, but then the plan was to be done for the day. The morning went fine. We usually don't do much screen time between 10 and noon anyway. We did a little bit of school, played, and did chores. But the girls always have an hour of TV while they eat lunch. I knew Lucy wasn't going to be thrilled about giving that up. So I told her that I'd read to her while she ate. I found one of my old chapter books on a bookshelf in Lucy's closet and read half of it in the half an hour it took her to finish her macaroni. She loved it, Lena did surprisingly well with it, and I felt so much better about their brains not turning to mush. The afternoon was the real problem. Lucy "rests" in her room for exactly one hour, then comes bounding down the stairs bored and demanding to play. I, however, spend at least half of her rest time cleaning and eating my lunch, and am usually just getting settled with my book/computer/TV show by the time she comes downstairs. I caved on our "screen free" day and let her watch and hour of YouTube videos while Lena was napping, so I could have my "me time." Maybe that's selfish of me, but honestly, I've decided that an hour in the morning and an hour after rest time is not that bad. It's a huge improvement on what we used to do. So I'm trying to stick with that from now on. I've continued to read to her at lunch time and I'm trying to just let her be bored occasionally. I get so irritated with the constant pleas of, "Mommy, I'm bored! Mommy, play with me!" that I inevitably respond, "Just go watch TV." But I've really been trying to say, "Why don't you go play upstairs? Do puzzles? Color?" and just ignore her whining when she doesn't like my suggestions. Haha.
3. Potty training has not been going well. Haha. I truly think Lena's physically ready and has a full grasp of what's going on. But she's terrified of the potty chair. And I haven't been super consistent in making her use it. I try to have her sit on it before baths, when she wakes up dry after a nap, etc. But she really hates it. For the first time this week, she managed to squeak out a teaspoon worth of pee. I made a big deal about it, gave her candy, the whole nine yards. But she still refuses to try. I think we're just gonna take it slow for a while. Although I ran out of my AmazonMom stash of diapers that I bought months ago and actually had to buy some from the grocery store this week. That hurt.
4. We had a WIC appointment on Wednesday. Lena weighed 23 lbs (around the 20th percentile) and measured 32" (I think. I can't exactly remember.) which puts her just above the 10th percentile. Haha. Such a little shrimp. She has a doctor's appointment on Monday. We'll see how their numbers compare. I wonder if she's due for any immunizations. I think I'm going to decline the measles vaccine. That seems to be the trendy thing to do these days. (Totally kidding. She's already had it. After I did hours of research, of course. Kidding again. Annoyed with all the drama lately.)
5. I did start one non-romance book this week: Prayer by Philip Yancey. I majorly identify with what I've read so far. It's my dad's book so I don't want to mark it up. At first, I started writing down all the parts that stood out to me, but my hand kept cramping up, so I finally just started taking pictures with my phone. Haha. Digital age.
 |
| Yes. Precisely. |
The last one is a bad picture. Start reading at "Whenever."
6. Now on to something much more trivial: hair. This was one of my timehop pictures this week:
 |
| This picture was taken the day I got 10 inches chopped off my hair. |
 |
| This is almost a year to the day after my haircut. |
7. So, do you want to hear about my newest medical problem? Haha. Last night as I lay in bed trying to sleep, I was suddenly overwhelmed by a feeling of a huge lump in my throat and pain radiating from my throat to my sternum. It didn't hurt to swallow, my breathing wasn't obstructed, I just felt like there was a massive lump in my throat. The longer I lay there, the more it hurt. Because the pain seemed to be following the path of my esophagus, I started wondering if it could be heartburn. I've never had heartburn - even when I was pregnant with my very hairy babies. I took some Tums and they helped the pain subside enough that I could sleep. This morning, I still feel the lump, although the pain in my sternum is pretty much gone. So I googled "lump in throat." There were actually a ton of results. One of the first articles I read was about how anxiety patients often exhibit this symptom. The article was written to doctors and said, "The best treatment is sympathy as there is not actually a physical remedy." Ha. Sounds about right. Just another thing that is all in my head. I read a few more articles though that refuted the claim it was anxiety-induced, rather calling it an effect of swollen vocal cords as a result of acid reflux. What do you know? How did I go from never having heartburn in my life to having it so severely it swelled my vocal cords? Ouch. I still haven't found a remedy. Guess I'll just keep popping Tums. Although WebMD also told me I probably have throat cancer, so maybe the Tums won't be all that helpful . . .
2. I totally get you. We have been sick literally every other week since October, so I feel like all we do is watch TV because I don't have the energy or willpower to do anything else. I was doing really well for a while just allowing one or two shows a day for a while... I'd like to get back to that... but right now it just sounds too hard. :/
ReplyDelete7. I bet it is either anxiety or heartburn! Or heartburn exasperated by anxiety ;) Either one can feel like a lump in your throat. Try a liquid antacid and see if that does anything. My husband gets bad heartburn and that usually helps a lot!