The Saturday 7

1. We had a nice Easter with our families. I tried to do too much with the girls in the morning before church and ended up a little frazzled. Haha. They opened their Easter baskets first. They each got a mermaid tale blanket and bluetooth headphones. Of course, the bluetooth headphones aren't compatible with their tablets, so that was a bust! (It's a good thing they were just $5 from 5 Below!) Levi got animal crackers, yogurt melts, and Hot Wheels cars. Then we did an Easter egg hunt with our Resurrection Eggs. I've wanted them for a while, but couldn't rationalize the price. So I was excited to find a set for $1.90 when I was out thrift shopping a couple weeks ago!! After discussing the real meaning of Easter, we made resurrection rolls and cinnamon rolls. Then I got the kids all dressed up in their pretty outfits . . . and forgot to take a picture! I told you I was frazzled. We spent the afternoon with the VanderKoddes and the evening with my sisters and parents. It was a great day!

2. On Tuesday, I did my 5th annual "Day in the Life of a Stay at Home Mom." I love seeing how different and similar each year is. It's so interesting to see how my kids have changed in just a year. But some things never change - I still watch too much TV and spend too much time on facebook. I do a lot of making food for people and cleaning up. So much cleaning up. Seeing it all written out is quite validating. Haha.

3. I think that Levi might be dropping down to one nap. I usually don't transition my kids til closer to 18 months, but Levi seems to be doing it on his own. A few days this week, I've put him down for his morning nap around 9:30 and he's slept 'til 12 or 12:30! So he obviously doesn't go down for his afternoon nap after that and just stays awake until bedtime between 7 and 8.

4. One day this week, on the way home from school, Lucy randomly announced, "I'm so glad I live in this day and age instead of a long time ago." When I asked why, she said, "Well, first of all, because we have the Internet." Lol. Priorities. She added, "But also, because a long time ago, they used to kill the firstborn a lot, and I'm the firstborn!!" She also went on to say, "And they had to live in tents in the desert." Can you tell they've been studying Exodus at school? Lol.

5. I bought a jogging stroller last week. I'm so sick of my flabby post-baby belly, but dieting is not my forte. Lol. So I figured I'd try exercise. I really want to be a runner. I just lack the discipline to actually do it. I'm excellent at coming up with excuses . . . like, what am I supposed to do with my kids while I run? Hopefully the jogging stroller will help with that. Levi adores being outside and is happy as a clam if I strap him into the stroller and run with him. This week, I ran laps around our U-shaped driveway while Lena alternately ran with me and played in the yard. I have big hopes of taking the kids to the school track this summer and letting them go wild while I attempt to run with Levi. Someone hold me to that . . .

6. We've had a really frustrating week with potty training. It was going so well. I don't know what happened!! For a couple weeks, Lena happily wore underwear all day, and even started going to the bathroom by herself without my assistance! We even made a couple trips out of the house in undies with no problems. We were making such progress! But in the past week, she has suddenly regressed into wanting to wear a diaper all the time again. I have no idea what went wrong! I can't think of anything that would have triggered it. She's terrified that she's going to poop in her undies. She even went back to refusing to take a bath earlier this week because she didn't want to take her diaper off and accidentally poop in the tub. If I put a diaper on her, though, she pees in it. So I've been forcing her to wear undies and it is extremely traumatic. She wails most of the day, rolls on the floor screaming and crying. Today she was exclaiming, "I will die to death if I can't wear a diaper!!" She even refuses to eat while wearing undies because she knows that food will turn into poop. (And apparently she thinks that happens immediately, despite my assurances that it does not.) The girl has some serious issues. Again, I ask, is there such a thing as potty training counseling? She needs it!

7. Pictures: