The Saturday 7

1. The camping recap: we survived! No bears were spotted, and we actually had a really nice time. The weather was gorgeous, the pool was heated, and the campground was the cleanest I've ever seen. Plus, Levi and I didn't have to sleep in the tent!! Justin's cousin lives two minutes down the road and they graciously let us sleep in their basement. It was the best of both worlds.

Don't get me wrong. Moments of peace like the one above were few and far between. I still think camping with little kids is crazy. I had to carry Levi everywhere, he would only sleep in my arms, I couldn't just set him down in the dirt if I needed my hands for something. The girls are incredibly needy. Lena had a rough time being out of our normal routine and spent a lot of time hanging on me begging me to hold her (when I was already holding Levi). Lucy wanted to swim the whole time, but Lena would only go in the pool if I went with her. Justin wanted to fish the whole time. I wanted to sit and read the whole time. We definitely had fun, but once a year is enough. Haha.

2. Lucy is loving first grade.

They're all excited! Haha.

She marched right in on the first day and didn't bat an eyelash when I left. She's now completed two weeks and is still enjoying it. I'm amazed at how well she's doing with the transition to all day, every day. Last year, she only went three days a week, so I expected some pushback with waking up at 6:45 every day this year. But she bounces right out of bed and gets ready! It's actually been harder on me than her. Haha. I've been forcing myself to go to bed by 10 every night and I'm still exhausted every day. Although part of that is because of Levi's sleep regression . . .

3. I've been trying to break him of the swaddle habit, and it is still not going well. I wrote about our first attempts in his 6 month update, but we went back to the swaddle during camping. Starting Tuesday, we got back to it, and I started putting him to bed in a sleepsack with his arms loose instead of pinned down in the swaddle blanket. During the day he naps for about an hour at a time. During the night he sleeps for about 2 hours at a a time, then he wakes up, plays with his binky, talks to himself, and eventually starts crying. In the middle of the night, he wants to nurse back to sleep, but I refuse to nurse him every two hours all night, so I make him cry for a while. Nobody is getting any sleep. I just can't believe how long it's taking for him to get used to being unswaddled. I thought it'd be a couple days of transition, not a couple weeks! Last night for the first time all week he slept a 5 hour stretch, nursed, then went back to sleep for another 3 hours, nursed, then slept another 3 hours after that. It's ridiculous that he's still getting up twice, but it's better than the 4 or 5 times he had been doing.

I've also been trying to start a consistent bedtime routine that I do before every nap and at night. I sing three songs while holding him, lay him in the rock n' play awake, then rock him until he falls to sleep. So my next step will be breaking him of the rock n' play/being rocked to sleep. Maybe by the time he's 2 he'll be able to sleep in the crib in his own room. Ha.

4. I came across this article a couple weeks ago and identify with it SO MUCH. I could've written it. The first half is one of those same ole same ole articles about how motherhood is so hard and husbands have it so easy - the thoughts I find myself guilty of way too much. But the second half is profoundly true and all too often left unsaid - at least in my marriage. It was convicting for me, and something I've been thinking about a lot. I tend to dwell on the bad, while I conveniently forget all that Justin does for us. He works 40+ hours a week, he gives the girls baths, he folds and puts away laundry, he clips all 3 kids' nails, he puts Lucy to bed every night - and does Lena too on nights when I'm particularly fed up. Haha. He takes out the trash and does the dishes and wakes up at an ungodly hour every morning to provide for our family. Yes, my job is difficult and all-consuming, but he never leaves me to do it alone. He's always willing to help. I loved the line in the article when the author says (to her husband), "You’re so “chill” all the time because someone in this house needs to be, and it sure as heck isn’t me." Haha. I'm a disaster, so I'm thankful for a husband who is calm and steady . . . and involved more than I give him credit for.

5. Levi is loving all the new foods he's been trying. So far he's had peas, applesauce, pieces of peach, pear, and frozen banana in the feeder thing (I bought silicone ones that are so much nicer than the gross mesh ones), sweet potatoes, and green beans. He's getting much better at opening his mouth and eating off the spoon rather than just leaning forward and slurping when I force the spoon in his mouth. Haha.

We've also been working on getting him to sit on his own. It's not going great. Haha. One day this week, I took a picture of him sitting up so nicely:

Haha, the side-eye

Then a minute later, I looked over to see this:

Lol

 It doesn't bother him, though!

Happy upside-down boy

6. One day this week I was feeling caged-in at home, so I decided to take the little Ls thrift shopping while Lucy was at school. They did surprisingly well and I got some good deals. I managed to find myself 5 long-sleeved shirts (winter is coming), a $1 short-sleeved shirt, and of course a stack of books - mostly for Lucy. That girl is a reading machine and I love to fuel her obsession. :-)

I told Lena she could pick out one book for herself and she chose "Large Print Word Searches." Lol. She circles the letter L on each page and thinks she's hot stuff.

7. Pictures

His new lip thing

Lena's all packed and ready for camping

It started pouring just as we got home from grocery shopping, so we waited it out in the car. (She had a blue sucker at the store. Can you tell? Haha.)

Trying on her new school clothes from Aunt Niki

This is what he does anytime I get my face close to his. It's actually kind of adorable how he wants to hold onto my face.

Noticing the cute baby in the reverse camera.

Trying to eat the phone.