The Saturday 7

1. I've already kind of failed on the Advent Activities. Every year, I try hard to make the activities simple and arrange them on our calendar based on what else we have going that day. I knew Wednesday was going to be crazy busy, so I had that night be "Christmas pizzas" since I knew we were going to have to eat dinner despite the craziness. I underestimated the amount of busyness though and ended up picking up pizza instead of making it ourselves. Still pizza night, right? Haha. And then last night was supposed to be Family Game Night, but I was feeling terrible, the girls were playing so nicely together, Lucy forgot to check the day's activity and I purposely didn't remind her. Oops. We did do our two day's of Nativity Devotions, though. They've been going well and the girls are excited to see who we're going to add to the Nativity Set each time. I've only written out the first three days, though, so I need to get to work on the rest. I have a procrastination problem.

2. The terrible 2s get a lot of hype, but everyone I've talked to say 3 is worse. (I think I blocked that out with Lucy. I don't remember.) Lena will be 3 in January and I think what they say about 3 is going to be true for her. Oy. My dad says she likes to be contrary. Everything is a battle. When I say "put on your socks" she says, "I don't wanna wear socks!" When I say "brush your teeth" she says "I don't wanna brush my teeth!" When I try to do her hair, she rips it out. When I try to put her coat on, she melts into a puddle on the floor. It is exhausting. I know all I can do is be consistent and choose my battles, but I'm really getting sick of it.

3. At the same time, she is totally adorable. Today, she and Lucy were reading to their stuffed animals. Every time Lucy stumbled over a word, Lena said patiently, "Sound it out." And she has suddenly latched onto the verse Ephesians 6:1. Lucy had to learn it at school a couple weeks ago, and I admittedly use it often in my parenting. So anytime Lucy is being disobedient, Lena pipes up, "Lucy! Obey your parents in the Lord!" Or even if she herself is being naughty, she'll mutter, "I need say my verse." Lol. It is precious. (And probably totally reinforcing legalistic tendencies instead of grace, but I'm trying my best here, people!)

4. Lucy has also been melting my heart lately. One day this week, I was putting on my make-up, bemoaning (in my head) the bags under my eyes, and Lucy randomly said, "Mommy, you're pretty even without make-up." That means a lot coming from her, because she looooooves make-up. Then on Thursday night, we did our Nativity Devotion about Joseph. I focused on the fact that he obeyed God and married Mary. We also talked about how God spoke to Mary and Joseph through angels/dreams, but he speaks to us through the Bible. So I looked up a bunch of kid-friendly commands in the Bible like, "Obey your parents," "Be kind and compassionate to one another" and "Serve one another in love." The rest of the night, Lucy followed me around asking, "How can I help serve you, Mommy?" That girl. She can be a major whiner and throw epic fits, but she sure does have a sweet side.

5. I've needed that sweetness lately, because I really struggled this week. I think I'm nesting a little bit, because I'm totally grossed out by the disgusting state of this house. But anytime I try to do anything about it, I get knocked down with intense Braxton Hicks. I feel like it's all I can do just to keep up with the laundry and cleaning up after the girls. Not to mention keeping them fed, and constantly refilling their drinks. I hate it, and feel like such a baby. I feel like people are rolling their eyes at me, saying, "how hard is it to do laundry?" But I seriously get Braxton Hicks from moving the laundry from the washer to the dryer. And, yes, they're not a big deal. I can power through them. But it makes me nervous when I start to get so many of them. On Tuesday, I made homemade play-doh with the girls. The first batch was a fail, so we made a second. I was trying to be a nice, fun mom, so I let them help a lot which resulted in a huge mess. I spent a good 30 minutes cleaning the kitchen after the 30 minutes or so we already spent making the stuff. By the time I was done with that, it was lunch time. I made them lunch, picked up the house, cleaned up the play-doh mess they made from playing with the play-doh in the dining room, and started a load of laundry. I thought I was going to die. The Braxton Hicks didn't let up the rest of the night. After Justin got home, I locked myself in the bedroom so I could lay on my left side for a while.

It's not like I'm doing any vigorous activity or scrubbing my floors on my hands and knees (even though that's what they desperately need). I'm picking up toys and making dinner and sweeping play-doh off the floor. How am I going to make it through the next 14 weeks??

6. This morning, I finished the devotional I've been talking a lot about. (Walking With God in the Season of Motherhood by Melissa Kruger - that's an affiliate link.) It was just an 11 week study, but I'm pretty sure that's the first time I've actually done a devotional book all the way through. Ha. Go me. I really enjoyed it and highly recommend it. I loved that the basis was falling in love with Jesus. Kruger posits that having a vital, living relationship with Him will naturally affect our parenting (in a positive way). She gives a lot of practical parenting advice, but repeatedly reminds readers that we can't do it by our own effort. We have to be infused by the Spirit in order to effectively parent and share God's love with our kids.

7. And now, for this week in pictures:

I had to go to the dentist on Monday, so Niki watched Lena. Lena insisted on bringing her backpack just like Lucy does when she goes to school. How cute is she??

The snapchat Lucy sent Esther a few days ago. Lol.

And then there's snapchats from Lena . . .

One of my bad days this week ended like this. That is a jar of peanut butter with an Oreo in it resting on my belly.  Last night, it was a pint of Ben and Jerry's ice cream (that I ate most of in one sitting). Stay tuned for the weight gain update tomorrow . . 

My $30 Black Friday dresser! It wasn't a lot of tedious work or anything . . .

But look how nice the finished product is!

And look at it all stuffed with little baby boy clothes!

I'm not used to such a lack of pink!!