The "Saturday" 7

We had another week full of activities to keep us busy while Justin was gone.

1. 4th of July Celebrations: on Sunday, we went to my Uncle Joel's house with the extended family. He has a huge, beautiful pool that Lucy loved. She swam for 6 hours - with only one, 20 minute break to eat. I used to do the exact same thing in that exact same pool as a kid.

Lena has a newfound fear of swimming pools, and she literally didn't leave my side the entire time we were there. She stood at the ladder screaming when I got in the pool, but refused to go in with me. My poor anxious children. She was also very grumpy all day.

We stayed for sparklers and fireworks. The girls enjoyed the sparklers.

But Lena and Levi were both terrified of the big fireworks. I ended up sitting in the house with them. Big shoutout to my mom, sister, and nephews, who helped me juggle all 3 kids all day.

2. On Monday, my immediate family came over to play cards. Lucy recently bought some water balloons at the dollar store and really wanted to have a water balloon fight. I told her Monday would be perfect - when my nephews came over. Only one nephew showed up at first, and the water balloons were kind of a fail. Haha. The girls just can't throw them hard enough to make them break. They bounced off Tristan every time they threw one. Haha. But they thought it was hilarious.

 We played cards and ate food all day. My favorite past time.

3. On Wednesday, we had another pool playdate with friends. It was the same story as Monday. Lucy swam for hours. Lena clung to me and whined. Levi adored being outside. We had to stop at the Pump House afterward, since we were in the area:

 4. Thursday was pool day number 3. (It's been wicked hot and humid lately.) This time, we met up with my sister and nephews at Justin's grandma's pool. And this time, Lena actually got in with me for a few minutes. Progress!

Levi took his first dip in the pool, too. He was not a fan. Haha. He screamed as soon as his toes hit the water.

Lena in the baby pool: safety first!

5. After the pool, Niki and Tayton were going bowling, so we joined them!

Lucy loved helping Lena

This is when Lena knocked down a bunch of pins at once. I wish it wasn't so blurry! They were both so amazed!

Lucy said her favorite part was running back after she threw the ball. Lol. Weirdo.

6. After a long 10 days, Justin finally came home yesterday afternoon!!

Lucy wrote "Home" and "daddy." Lena wanted to write some letters too.

Overall, Justin's long absence wasn't too bad. We stayed busy and found stuff to do to keep our minds off it. The worst part was bedtime. I'm so thankful for my parents' help. And also very thankful Justin is finally home. He had a blast in Wyoming. The trip went very well, he got to see all kinds of gorgeous scenery, fish to his heart's content, and climb a mountain or two.

7. I decided to go on a diet this week. At first, it wasn't that bad. I've found a few healthy-ish meals that I like, so subsisted on them while Justin was gone and I wasn't cooking real meals.

Spinach/strawberry salad with grilled chicken, feta cheese, and homemade strawberry dressing.

I'm trying not to do anything drastic because 1. I know I won't stick to it if it's a major change, and 2. I'm Levi's sole source of nutrition. I did a bunch of research about dieting while breastfeeding and decided to aim for about 1800 calories a day. That probably seems like a lot to you hardcore dieters, but that is a serious reduction for me. I'm hungry most of the time. I'm constantly telling myself "no" and forcing myself to stop eating long before I want to. I get one can of Dr Pepper a day, and I'm eating normal food. No cutting out carbs or sugar or anything ridiculous like that. I usually eat a couple small snacks a day. I'm not totally depriving myself. But I still hate it with a fiery passion. And I'm constantly second guessing whether it's really worth it. So I have a fat belly. So my jeans still don't fit. So what? #fatandhappy has always been my life motto. Why change now? Ugh. Stupid 30 year old metabolism.

8. Just a couple bonus pictures:

I think Levi's starting to look a lot more like Lena. (Although he has Lucy's darker skin tone.)

The girls begged to have a sleepover while Daddy was gone. It took f.o.r.e.v.e.r for them to fall asleep, but look how cute they are.

This was a different night (yes, she has a problem with sleeping with headphones on). I feel like she's growing up so fast and looking so old. But when she's sleeping, she looks so little somehow.