Adventures in La La Land

1. I haven't been able to sit through the service at church much recently thanks to sick kids and nursery duty. But I was finally able to hear the whole message on Sunday. God knew I would need it for the rest of my week. We're learning about Israel's first kings, and this week was about Saul's jealousy of David. Pastor Chris emphasized that jealousy and envy can fester and become bitterness. As was Saul's case, it can literally lead to madness and open the door for demonic oppression. But it also just makes you an unhappy, un-likeable person. I've always struggled with jealousy, and this week was hard. I heard of a few friends getting amazing jobs, making lots of money. And then I saw some people from my past that are very successful and beautiful. It'd be one thing if I could tell myself these people are all greedy and mean-spirited and selfish, but they're not. They're all sweet and kind and deserving. I've been constantly reminding myself to ...

Levi is 16 months old today and I realized I haven't written an update recently. So here it is! At his 15 month appointment, he weighed 20 lbs and was 29 inches. He's mostly wearing 9 month or 12 month clothes. (His swimsuit is 3-6 months and fits just fine. Lol.) He wears size 3 diapers. He has 4 top teeth and 4 bottom teeth (the bottom right just came in). One of his molars came in months ago, the other 3 have been poking through over the past week or two.  He can say 4 words: uh-oh, hi, bye, and num-num (for food). Lena had 20 words by this age, and Lucy (who I considered delayed) had 10. Trying to remind myself he's a boy, a third-born, and laid-back. He doesn't do animal noises, but he does make a car noise.  We've been working on body parts. He can do eyes and nose. Sometimes he'll identify his belly, feet, or head.  He folds his hands when I say "amen" and sometimes he stops mid-meal to fold his hands as if to ask m...

1. I read 6 books this week. Hahaha. Now that you've stopped laughing at that owl . . . I read a series by Kristen Heitzmann (one of my favorite authors) in high school, but the library doesn't carry it and I haven't been able to find it elsewhere. So imagine my excitement when I came across the first 4 books at a thrift store for $4! I binged on them this week. Then a book I ordered came in at the library, so I read that. And then a friend gave me a book I've been waiting for forever, so I devoured that as well. Needless to say, I didn't sleep much this week. And my kids watched more TV than they should. 2. I also really struggled with depression this week. I'm worried it might be related to my reading binge. I felt guilty for ignoring my kids, but not guilty enough to put down my book. And then I hate myself for choosing books over my kids. So then I try to rationalize it by telling myself it's good for them to be bored and I'm not their pl...

I went to a baby shower recently where the women discussed how they could count on one hand how many times their husbands had given their kids baths or put them to bed by themselves or changed dirty diapers. And I realized anew how blessed and grateful I am for my husband. Justin can (and does) do everything I do with the kids. He had almost no experience with babies before Lucy was born, but he learned as we went. He changed those gross dirty diapers in the hospital. When I cut Lucy's finger the first time I tried clipping her nails, he took over - and I haven't clipped any nails since then. He's always helped with baths, but when I was hugely pregnant with Levi he took over full time (I couldn't lean over the tub), and he still gives more baths than I do to this day! We put the kids to bed together every night, but if ever I'm not home or not feeling well, he is 100% capable of doing it himself. He has his own songs he sings to the kids, he climbs in their b...