The Saturday 7

1. Last Sunday, after what was hopefully our last sermon-at-home, we decided to go on a family fishing trip. We trekked up to my brother's house on a lake and rolled out our sweet fishing skillz.

We forced Lucy to come, but she sat up on the hill away from us the whole time. Sigh. We actually didn't have much luck with the fish anyway. Justin caught one fish, but the rest of us struck out. It was a beautiful day, though, and at least some of us had fun!

2. On Tuesday morning, I was helping Levi off the toilet at like 10 a.m. when I noticed something on his back. I thought it was a fuzzy, so I plucked it off without a thought, and was astonished to find this in my palm:

Here's the thing, people. I grew up in the country. We played in grass that was taller than our heads. We climbed trees and ran through wildflowers and rolled in the dirt and I never remember being checked for ticks when we came back inside. I didn't know that was a thing until I had my own kids and heard fellow moms talk about checking their kids. All I could think of (and the refrain that runs through my head every time I talk about this) is Brad Paisley.

Suffice it to say, I've never checked my kids for ticks. We live in town now. Justin keeps the lawn mowed. I've never even thought about it. I'm still flummoxed about how Levi could have picked one up. We hadn't been outside yet that day, so was it on him all night? You know he spends most of the night in my bed, right?? (#shudder) The tick wasn't fat, full of blood, or embedded in him, but I still stuck it in a plastic baggie and shoved it in my freezer to die a slow, cold death. (And to show Justin when he got home.) Gross, gross, gross.

3. On Tuesday night, my sisters, mom and I had girls' night! Libby and Niki's husbands were both out of town, so we partied hard by getting take-out Olive Garden, playing cards, and talking loudly over each other. It's the best. 😍 Ruby stayed with us, since it would be silly for Esther to pick her up from me, bring her home to Luke, then come straight back here. I snapped this sweet picture as Ruby was starting to get tired . . .

Snuggling with her sibling in utero . . .

4. Good news! The stay-at-home order was finally lifted!!!! We celebrated by going to the park for the first time in months.

I love this girl. <3

Let's talk about that last picture . . . What do you see when you look at it? You know what I see? Cellulite. A lot of cellulite. I know that I've put on a good amount of weight in the last few years. I had to buy new shorts this summer because I can't button my old ones. I don't step on the scale anymore because I can't handle the truth. But I also don't own a full-length mirror. And the mirror in my bathroom only shows from the hips up. I despise my stomach. I look more pregnant than Esther (who is almost 6 months along). But I've always taken comfort that I can hide my stomach with clothing. And I don't see cellulite when I look down at my legs. It must be something about the angle. I was astonished, looking at that picture, to see how bad they've gotten! But do you see what my shirt says in that picture? "But first, Dr Pepper." I want to lose weight. I've even been trying intermittent fasting by skipping breakfast and not eating anything until noon (although I drink coffee with lots of creamer, so that probably defeats the purpose). But I'm an incredibly emotional eater. Life has been isolating and hard the past few months, Lucy's behavior is off-the-charts bad, and what started out as intermittent fasting in the morning, a sensible lunch, and an avoidance of afternoon snacking inevitably ends up in binge-eating after the kids are in bed. No matter how much I hate my cellulite, I don't see that changing anytime soon. So I guess I'm writing this just so y'all know that I know . . . and I don't care enough to do anything about it. 🤣 I've probably shared these memes a hundred times before, but my enjoyment of them never ends . . .

5. Despite the lifting of the stay-at-home order, salons still aren't allowed to open. Justin finally got desperate enough to take matters into his own hands . . . literally. But first, Levi:

Before

During. Lol. He was not a fan.

After! When Justin was done, he said, "We need to tip Gabby (Levi's hairstylist) better." Lol.

Justin asked me to do his, but I am a major chicken (and he's a major perfectionist), so I just did the bare minimum for the places he absolutely couldn't reach on his own, then I held the mirror the rest of the time so he could see what he was doing. Lol. #worstwifeever

6. Today has been really hard. I don't know if Lucy is worse on the weekends or if I just reach my limit every 7 days or so, but Saturdays and Sundays always seem to be the worst. I actually started reading The Explosive Child this week because I'm at my wits end. It is spot on describing Lucy's behavior. I haven't gotten to the part that tells me what to do about it though. Haha. I picked up Parenting again today. I don't know why I can't just power through and finish one book or the other - especially when they're both so good.

After a morning fraught with tension, Lucy started texting me horrendously hurtful things, and I decided that was the final straw. We've been on the fence about taking away her tablet. She uses it to read a lot, and to chat with her friends on messenger kids. But it's becoming an obsession and a crutch. Today we finally confiscated it. You can imagine how well that went over. I feel like something has to change with her tablet usage, but I'm unsure where to draw the line. For those of you who let your kids chat with friends, how do you "police" it? Are they only allowed to chat at certain times? It's hard for me to crack down on her when she's acting friendly and nice - partly because the bad times aren't so fresh in my mind and partly in an effort just to keep the fragile peace. But I think she knows that and manipulates me with it. Ugh.

After our altercation, I told Justin I was going for a walk. Of course Levi insisted on coming along. It was nice, though - just him and me.

He started to complain about being hot and tired just as we rounded the corner to Tasty Treat. When he caught sight of the ice cream shop, he sighed with relief, "Oh good. We can rest here and get some ice cream to cool down." Haha. Your wish is my command, sir.

When we got home, Lena, my little empath, could tell that I was upset. She said, "Let's play the 'I Love You Because' game. We'll all go around and tell each other what we love about each other." 💗 She also orchestrated a grand show on the front lawn.