The Grooming Post

I finally finished my bulk sized mint shampoo and conditioner. Thank heavens. I have moved onto a thick and delicious coconut shampoo and conditioner. I am now in tropical vacation paradise when I occasionally have the chance to wash my hair. I do have to complain that my hair has ridiculous bumps in it that I did not have before I gave birth to the little guy. Since he has come along, I've got these strange ski hill jumps that are close to my hair part. There is also a bunch of growing out fuzz like hair at the top that complicates matters. Anyone have any helpful thoughts on this predicament (it can not involve spending much time doing "things" to my hair)?

I have also been kicking myself to floss every night. I broke down and made a dentist appointment for myself last week. I have until the 19th of February to make it look like I've been flossing daily for the past few years. My last 2 dentist appointments were when I was pregnant with the babe and when I was pregnant with the little guy. I suppose I can look forward to some dental X-Ray fun as well. I'm sure the little guy is going to love being strapped into his stroller for the whole experience!

Moving along, I managed to get the little guy's nails cut today as I was putting him to sleep. It is apparently the only time when I can get near him with nail clippers. I am now responsible for 30 fingernails and 30 toe nails. I have to say that my nails are the ones that get neglected. When it gets bad I just hack them off with clippers and dream of a mani/pedi.

I am also just about to lose it with this whole winter dryness thing. I have 3 humidifiers running upstairs at night but still feel dry and static like. I did so much house work yesterday my hands were splitting open and bleeding in numerous locations as I ate my late dinner. It is just not pretty. There is not enough moisturizer in the world to keep my skin all soft and glowing right now. There is also not enough moisturizer to stop all the increasing number of lines on my face from appearing. I think I'm aging quite rapidly these days.

I will leave you on that note. Thanks for checking in!

A Love Story

The little guy will soon be 6 months old (June 24th), and as every parent has said at one point or another, I don't know where the time has gone. He is truly delicious and I am in awe.

A few exciting developments:

He has successfully begun eating carrots (7 days with no signs of any allergies). Yesterday he successfully ate green beans for the first time (6 more days to go until he is "clear"). Maybe next week he'll have some squash. The little guy is really liking his "real" food and gets all riled up at the prospect of eating. In fact he is pretty inpatient at times. All I can say is that his new style of poop is proof that we are making dietary progress!

This morning I went to give him a bath and realized he's pretty darn big and doesn't need the infant insert anymore. So he went in his tub in an upright position and even had a duckie to play with. He seemed quite pleased with the whole experience. I was too.

His little co-sleeper is still attached to my side of the bed. For some reason I can not take it down, despite the fact it has been over 5 weeks since he slept there (although I still see him twice a night to feed him!). I guess I can't face the fact that when I take it down, it will be for good. There is no turning back, and I truly am pleased that he is in his own room. It's just that I know it's the end of an era. We will not be setting up the co-sleeper again, and that's what gets me.

On another note, the little guy continues to become increasingly interactive and is quite in love with his big sister. She has an amazing ability to make him smile/laugh. And this, in turn, makes me smile/laugh.

I could go on and on but will spare you. I fall more in love with him every day and just wanted you all to know.

Some Random Updates

I broke down and swaddled the little guy last night. I thought it would be the answer to my prayers. It wasn't. He did a 3 hour stint (I gave up my shower so I could crash at the same time), and then proceeded to get up 3 or 4 more times before morning. Ugh. I am getting tired of writing about it and you've got to be tired of reading about it! Feel free to share your thoughts/suggestions with me.

In other news, our family has been bonding over BBQ. Last week we invested in our first real grown-up BBQ (a lovely Weber), and we celebrated with BBQ on Saturday and Sunday nights. All 4 of us sat at the table and had a few meals together. Eating with kids is rather distracted and at some points I had a baby hanging off me while I tried to consume overly dressed cheeseburgers. But that's OK, because it felt like we'd reached this new level of being a family of 4...we'd created our own family BBQ ritual that will carry us through the years. How lovely.

I had the kids Sunday morning (my husband also deserved a nice sleep in). After a little cartoon watching and Cheerio eating, I decided it was time to trim the babe's bangs. She's never been to a hairdresser and I've only ever cut her bangs when they get in her eyes. By yesterday, they were seriously in need of some snipping. A friend had just told me about an "easy" technique to cut children's bangs so I thought I'd give it a shot. It didn't work for us....most likely because the babe won't sit still. Needless to say, the bangs got shorter and shorter until I just had to stop. Those bangs are definitely out of her eyes now (similar to Jeannine Garofolo in one of my fave movies, Reality Bites). I take comfort in the knowledge that they will grow back. I was not destined to be a stylist of any kind.

I'm Losing It

A rainy Tuesday. Blah. One child standing next to me asking me to play/read/sing/talk with her and one child chowing down at the boob cafe.

So last night I washed my hair (which is newsworthy in and of itself). By the end of my shower I had collected the hugest wad of hair on the side of the tub. Gross...I know. Every time I thought the last clump had come out, another one followed. This continued out of the shower with the brushing and blow drying. It was just not pretty. I had forgotten how I lose my hair a few months after having a baby. Those are some weird hormonal side effects, no?

My daughter has just hit my son on the head. For the second time today.

The babe is in time out and it's not even 10am. It's apparently going to be that kind of day.

Good luck rainy day Mamas!

Bye Bye Shower Doors

I'm not sure if I've complained about our nasty glass shower doors. They've given me many a headache over the past year. There's just no easy way to give a baby a bath when there's glass doors in your face. They can only be moved out of the way so much.

Removing the frame and doors was going to be too expensive. I couldn't think of any other options...until I spoke with a good friend in Ottawa. He suggested we pop the doors out of the frame and put up a pressure mounted shower rod. Our landlords approved of the idea and came over last weekend to remove the doors themselves. Not only did they remove the doors, but they took them with them (which was a relief as I wasn't sure where I was going to store them)!

Bathing the babe has been much more pleasant now that we have access to the whole length of the tub. We still have the metal frame and track to contend with, but that's nothing compared to the previous situation. As the babe gets bigger and more squirmy, I'm so happy to have more space to work with. This bathroom is nothing to write home about, but it looks a zillion times better than it did.

The Hair Cut

My Grandmother used to cut my hair when I was a kid. There's many photos of me with uneven bangs, funky clothes and funny teeth (that part wasn't her fault). She probably thought she was doing a good job with my hair, and what does it matter at that age anyway.

Fast forward to yesterday morning. The babe is in her high chair and I'm trying to cut her bangs. The scissors on the Swiss army knife aren't cutting fast enough so I have to grab the real scissors. It was scary as the babe was squirming around and swatting at me. Apparently she's not such a fan of having her bangs trimmed.

It didn't turn out so bad (better than the first time when the crookedness was noticeable). I'm grateful she usually has curly hair as it hides the many imperfections. And hey, she can see now, which is pretty cool!

Grooming is a tough job and I understand why adults pay someone else to do it for them. But it may be a while before she's in a professionals chair. If you have any hair cutting advice or know of any good scissors for children's hair, I'd be very pleased to hear from you!