Going Blond

My husband is a very happy man at the moment. He has been asking me to go back to my natural blond (although I think if we let it really go natural now, it would be blondish gray) for a while and last night, it happened.
He had the day off yesterday, so...as organized as I am, I called to see if I could get an appointment with my hair dresser that day. Surprise, she had none. I then talked to my girlfriend who I think has done a great job on her hair and asked where she was working. Turns out she (Isabelle from Brooklyn, NY) has opened her own salon. Well, yeah, sounds good, so I call. Now I am thinking, there is nooooo way that she could fit me in today. She called me back and asked if I could come in by 5:30. I got there at 5:40, but only because I could not find the place.
Let the games begin! Now let me first start by telling you that my husband is with the girls...yes, both of them. AND, he is taking them to CiCi's Pizza. It's like a buffet pizza place. It is my older daughters school night there, so it is packed to the gills with crazy kids and cranky parents. My husband is very brave. That being said, let me continue...
...I sit in Isabelle's chair and she is looking at my very long very dark brown hair. I explain to her that I would like to get back to my more natural color, which is blond. She did not even flinch. She just started explaining the process of what she would like to do and how it works better than bleaching and how it will not be blond, but it's better for my hair. Then she tells me that I will be blond because she will then do "heavy foils"...I will explain later..to get the color I am wanting. Then I tell her I want to cut off about 5 inches and give it some style. OH! Did I mention that I had not had my hair cut in 8 months? Or how about the fact that I had been coloring it from a box.
Where was I? She wets my hair then starts the haircut (20 min.) then she gets the first round of whatever to slather on my hair. An hour later I am under the hair dryer thing (30 min) that looks like you are getting some sort of brain scan done. The whole time we have been talking and she keeps telling my how much hair I have. I know this, it's on my head. I wanted 5 inches off so I could loose some weight!
Now it's time to wash all that goop out of my hair. Now the real fun begins, heavy foils. She comes out with her color and her pile of precut foils and we begin. She put foils in every 1/3 of an inch. This took an hour and a half. Now halfway through this, my husband calls and I can hear our youngest screaming in the back ground. It is 8:20 by the way. "Aisling has just thrown up milk and pizza in her crib, how much long will I be?" is what my husband is trying to say through her crying. I am thinking...hmmmm...if I leave now I am going to look half zebra, CRAP! So I ask him some more questions and suggest getting her into the bath and see if that helps some and I will talk to Isabelle and see how much longer it will be. So I hang up and wait for Isabelle to come back, she was mixing more color because, "I have so much hair." She thinks we can be done in 30 min. Now we were only half way through the foiling process. I was thinking that was wishful thinking, but I passed that on. What do I know right? When she was done foiling my hair I was sure that I could contact aliens if I just squished my eyes closed really tight.
At 9:15 we start taking the foils in the back out. At 9:25 the rest come out and she washes my hair and puts the toner in. Now I am back under the brain scan dryer, looking at facebook and texting Pete to see how they are doing and telling him that I am not on my way home yet.
After about 20 minutes she takes me back for my third shampoo and seems to be happy with the results of the color...I am starting to feel hopeful, for many reasons.
She sits me down, and she tells me she wants to give me long bangs. I look at her like she is nuts. She says it will only take a few minutes and it will make me look younger. WELL, CHOP IT OFF THEN!!!! Who says no to looking younger?!
I Love my hair cut. I left the shop at 10:30. I LOVE my hair cut. My butt was however numb and not from the cold.
When I got home at 10:45 (I did not run any stop signs) Aisling was sitting (well really she was climbing around) in my husbands lap in just her diaper with her paci in her mouth. She trotted over to me saying, "Mamma, Mamman, dabbe blabber shubba biba", and pointing to her room. I am guess what she was telling me was, "Mamma, Mamma, some nasty stuff flew right out of my mouth and all over my crib. Please clean it up, I AM TIRED!" So we went into her room to inspect the damage. It was not too bad, so I handed Pete some clean jammies to put on Aisling and I started stripping the crib down and putting on clean sheets, washing the railing that it had dried to and then on to the carpet. I got that cleaned up while Aisling watch from the rocking chair with amazing interest and then told her to get her book out. I got her tucked in at 11:45.
I love my haircut...but I don't ever want to do that again!!!!!

Climbing Mt. Cribest

I know that no two kids are alike and that each marches to a different drummer...I just thought that two kids from the same two parents would at least be slightly similar. They do look like sisters, there is no mistaking that!
Our youngest daughter has, at 16 months, figured out how to crawl out of her crib! Now you need to understand that this is not just any little girl, she is a LITTLE girl. She is only 19 pounds and has JUST started to fit into 12 month clothing and wears size 4 shoes (not an easy size to find in a hard sole). I am so afraid she is going to break something.
Our older girl was slim too. She however was tall. She is the one who was quite happy in her crib up until she was potty trained-at 2 years old- and we decided that she needed to be in a "big girl" bed so she could get to the bathroom if she needed. I will also say that she went right to sleep in it and we did not have more than two nights where we needed to get up and put her back in bed. She was happy to sit in her highchair and watch me mop floors, hang out in the car seat while we did errands all over Stafford, VA, and when she was just an infant, hang out in her baby carrier on my chest and watch me teach horseback riding lessons.
So now comes the debate with my darling little daredevil...can she sleep in a toddler bed at this point? I do not think she can. She is our-all over the place, million miles a minute, jumping off furniture, scaling book shelves, cribs, and highchairs, walk up the stairs like a big person-child. She is so small because I can't feed her enough to keep weight on her. She still has a Pediasure filled bottle everyday because it's the only way to stay ahead of her calorie burning ways...what I would give to have that metabolism!

Well we tried the toddler bed tactic today. Want to guess how that went? I will tell you, NOT GOOD! After an hour and my desire to shower (have not had one in two days, yes I know, gross!) became overwhelming, I put the railing back on the crib and prayed very hard that she would be tired enough to just lay down and sleep. She did!!!
Now it's time to do the internet searches and find something to keep her in that blasted thing! !~Last night she climbed out of her crib at 3:30 and at 4:30....I finally got her back to sleep at 6, she woke up at 7!~
So far what I have found is a net that goes over the crib, like putting your kid in an enclosed cage. Somewhat fitting I guess, we do call her our little monkey!

The art of being a Drama Queen

I am sitting here with my daughter who is currently telling me why she can not help kicking the underside of the cabinets while she is doing her home work.
"My legs are too long to not do it Momma. Especially when I am stretching."
I have now relegated myself to three words..."DO YOUR WORK"
"But I don't know what the sentence I should write for, press, is."
"Do your work."
Now there is an ache in her had from being in computer class today..."Do your work"
This had been going on since 3pm when we got home from Rita's Ice Cream (which I am now wishing I had not done).
It really is an art form I think. First she starts by complying with my instructions and shows she is making an effort. Then she finds little things here and there to get upset about. The "A" is not perfectly straight, the "S" is too wiggly, then, the foot starts itching so she must get down and take her shoe off to fix that. While she is there her sister comes over and pats her on the back. This is excruciatingly painful and now she much break down into tears because nothing is going right.
"Go to your room and lay down until you are calm and ready to do your work."
Now the sobbing really gets going with spattering of wails. When she finally comes out she is all red faced and puffy eyed. She says she needs a tissue because her nose is dripping, and I cant do my work now because, "my head is throbbing."
"Get a tissue, go to your room and lay down until you are calm and ready to do your work." That is all I say...if I say more she will not be the only drama queen in the room. God grant me patience!
She is now here next to me "TRYYYYINGGGG" to do her work, in between aches, pains and the occasional messed up letter. Oh the teen years will be sooooo much fun. I do love her tenacity though!

It's Done

Well, after all the adds, negative and positive, and all the money spent (waisted) on everything from toilet paper to thousands in clothing; it's done. I will say now, I voted for McCain. He would uphold what I believe in...for the most part. I can not say that there is ever a candidate that has ever upheld all of what I believe in. But McCain came pretty close and I am sad that this country did not vote him into office. I am also sad that some of these people only voted for Obama because of his race, http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1124628/the_howard_stern_show_interviews_harlem.html?cat=75

But it is over and it's time to move on. I will be praying for Obama. I will be praying that he feels the weight of this responsibility upon his shoulders. I will pray that he really loves this country and he will start to show pride in it. For selfish reason I will pray that he will not make cuts that prove to hurt our military. Mostly I pray that he finds it in his heart to see between the party lines and not along them so he can do what is really best for us ALL and not let the very liberal left or the very conservative right cause him to put his back up in pride and make wrong decisions.

Happy Halloween

"Well, Halloween is done; The candy has been examined and partially consumed. The kitchen had been cleaned after 6 adults and 6 children descended upon it for a warm meal before a chilly night of candy hunting.

We had a great time with our friends from D.C. and from around the corner here to share in the festivities. It is always so much fun to see the kids playing together after being apart for so long. They jump back in with both feet, like they have never been apart.

My girls had a great time and were very darling in their costumes. Delaney was a Bee Keeper and Aisling was....well a bee. They were both very cute.

As I was dressing them I started thinking of my friend who has, 9, yes n-i-n-e kids. How do you get them all in their costumes and out the door? How do you decide on 9 costumes in the first place? So as I was dressing them and worrying about if they would be ready on time I thought of her, (thank you friend) and decided that I should relax and have fun, because I know she would be.

So now the pasta and pasta sauce with a hint of orange (that is a story for another day), dishes and candy have all been cleaned up and I am going to take a much needed nap...or not, Aisling just woke up. Oh well! Sleep later, play now.

What A Mess

Why is it that my darling 16th month old (as of today!, she is getting so big) has decided the way to show me she is done eating is by throwing any food left onto the floor?

Why is it that she thinks it's fun to unfold all the laundry as soon as I turn my back?

Why is it that as she is doing these things she looks so darn cute!

Cancer sucks

As some of you know, my mother has breast cancer...again.
I am at a loss as to how one reacts to the fact that you mother will die of cancer. Yes, I am not the only one who has had to deal with this realization. I know this. For now though, I feel like I am.
My husband is supportive, my friends (the very few that know) ask how she is and all the wonderful things great friends do. At the end of the day, when the kids are in bed and my husband is yet again in Norfolk, I am sitting here realizing that the woman who raised me and loved me...will not die of old age. She will not see her grandkids graduate from high school, she may not even see her youngest daughter graduate from college.
My mother and I have a...cautious relationship. We have hardly ever seen eye to eye, we move through our lives very differently and struggle to respect the others point of view. We are so alike yet so very different. Sometime I think that, yet juvenile, that there is still a part of me that wants to do the exact opposite of what she wants. Silly right?
As we have just in the last few years gotten to a point where we can exist within the same walls for more than 2 hours, I find it infuriating that we may not have time to move past all our crap and really be okay with each other. I am angry that my kids will miss out on their grandma like I missed out on both of mine.
It really all boils down to two words...Cancer Sucks!

My Poor Baby

It's Monday! Well it's almost Tuesday really. This weekend flew by. Pete got home Friday night, yeah, then Saturday went by...not sure what happened that day other than recovering from Fall Festival the previous night.
I am the PTO president for my daughters school. Yes! I know, I am nuts! As this is the only school we have expierenced to this date I have no basis of comparison, but I dont get how little parents want to be involved in their childs education. Anyhow, Fall Festival was Friday night and we have been getting ready for quite some time. I learned some lessons from last years events, so things did go smoother this year. THANK GOODNESS! I still did find at the end of the event that I had only been able to spend the last half hour taking my daughter around to the booths. She was not worried about it. She got her pizza and cocoa and did the cake walk (no cake for us, thank goodness) lolly pop pull, banana toss....you name it we did it. At the end of the night we closed up told everyone thank you and came home. Delaney was of course hopped up on sugar from her cocoa and I was ready to pass out. It's that feeling of running for miles and then just stopping in your tracks. Even when I dropped onto the couch; after getting jammies on the kids, brushing teeth, bedtime stories, switching the laundry and cleaning up dishes from dinner; I felt like I was still moving. Well all in all it seemed that everyone had a pretty good time.
So, Friday is gone, Saturday was all about playing on the floor with kiddos and sleeping when Aisling took her nap. Sunday we got up to go to church and Delaney had almost no voice and Pete had an upset stomach. Soooo, I played nursemaid instead. Why is it when mend dont feel good they fall on their faces? There is no middle ground. They are either fine or they have one food in the grave. I have my own suspicions on how "sick" he really was...I think the fact that I had been nagging him to mow the lawn had something to do with it. He will deny it until he actually has both feet in the grave.
Sunday has gone and most of Monday. I took both the girls to the doctor, Aisling had a well baby and then Delaney for her fever she got over Sunday night and the sore throat that kept her up for most of the same night. We managed that, Delaney has a virus of some kind and Aisling is ALMOST on the growth chart. HOORAY! She gained 6 oz. in three weeks, a personal best for her. We hit the dreaded Wal-Mart for more tylanol and some popsicles and spent the rest of the day at home trying to heal up.
Sadly, my poor baby is still not feeling herself. So instead of us all in our beds, I am on the couch next to a snoring Delaney praying that I can talk someone into bringing me some coffee in the morning (this is not going to be a tea day).
So to all the moms out in the world tonight, up with sick kiddos; I am right there with ya! Not much consolation...I know. She really is a great kid. I hate seeing her sick.