15 inches

forgive the vanity...

I chopped my hair off.  I started threatening to nearly six months ago, needing to give myself plenty of time to get used to the idea.  And that was always the plan: grow it out, donate, grow it out, donate.  But when it came time to cut, I really had to talk myself into it.  I like my long hair.  It's healthy and thick, reaching just past my waist. I know my husband and kids like it and I feel like it's my telltale feature--the unique and beautiful thing that makes me stand out.

But it was also driving me crazy.  4 days a week it's pulled into a tight ponytail and braided to keep it out of the way for kick classes, running or lifting.  Otherwise it gets stringy and sticks to me and makes me nuts.  It was taking nearly an hour to blow dry and style.  Beautiful yes, but time consuming.  and pretty only for about one day a week.  It sheds.  It was giving me headaches.  It falls in dirty water as I wash dishes.  I've accidentally smacked people with it turning my head too fast.  And recently, I gave myself whiplash when I jumped into the truck and slammed the door too fast, leaving my flowing hair to get caught and jerked backwards.

But here's the best part: I know this little girl.  She's 9 years old and has Alopechia, which means she's completely bald and will never grow hair.  Her family is working with a company that will accept hair donated on her behalf and use it to make her a wig.   I didn't know it at the time, but they only need two more ponytails to have enough.  My hair is so thick, it was cut and donated as two sections, and hopefully, will be enough.  :)

So with the 12 inch long donation, plus some for styling and layering, I cut about 15 inches off.  It's still long, reaching past my shoulders and now is a more "fun" cut, with long layers and texturing (something I didn't want to do with super long hair because it makes it look more thin).  It's lighter and lower maintenance (blow dry and style in 20 minutes).  It's also curly once again without the weight to pull it down (although I do still prefer it straight).  My six year old was ecstatic to find out my hair is curly just like hers and my 4 year old loves that our hair matches (same length and similar cut).  They know our young friend that I donated to and they were excited about it. 

I did before and after pictures but then didn't post them because I was still a little in shock (weird, I know.  after all, it was my choice) and looking at the pictures made me second guess (not that I could do anything about it).  But given a little time, I love it.  Yay for short(er) hair! 

Now to grow it out and do it all again.

April

April ran away from me like a run away freight train.  I have no excuses.  I resign myself to being content with a monthly catch up post.

The sun is out, spring is here (with occasionally cold spells and beautiful snow flurries).  The girls love to have picnic lunches at the park and we spend most afternoons there.  There’s almost always neighborhood kids to play with and we have a great time in the sunshine.  We found ourselves quickly impatient with our unfinished yard and mountain of rocks.  Our sincere first attempts at removing the rock ourselves made no noticeable difference whatsoever so we began seeking professional help.  We’ve met with many subcontractors for bids on the various work to be done and are putting together our plan.  Here’s to hoping it goes smoothly and quickly.

I planned and prepared for a fantastic Easter weekend.  My parents and siblings all planned to visit us for a fun filled weekend with lots of activities including family pictures and a neighborhood egg hunt, for which I was the committee chairman.  But the well laid plans evaporated quickly when my out of state sister couldn’t get work off, another sibling cancelled unexpectedly and then husband’s uncle passed away suddenly and we made the decision to attend the (out of state) funeral.  So I called up some neighborhood friends to help finish preparations for the egg hunt.  (We had a great girls’ night filling 1600 eggs, plus I later heard the event was a great success!)  We initially planned to take the girls with us, but eventually decided to have them stay with Grammy and Papa.  (They had a great time!  They got to go to their cousin’s birthday party, play Easter games at Grammy’s, attend a city hunt, play with cousins, attend church with Grammy and Papa and even got a visit from the Easter Bunny there.  I’m pretty sure they didn’t even miss us.)  So we turned the kids over to my mom, loaded up and drove 10 hours west.  It was very boring.

We spent the night at Husband’s Aunt and Uncle’s house (different side of the family but conveniently close where we needed to be).  Despite the midnight hour, they were still awake and ready to party.  We talked over ice cream and settled in for a few hours of sleep.  We drove the remaining two hours, arriving just in time for the funeral service.  It was a beautiful service with lots of family and stories and missionary spirit.  We spent the afternoon at the family’s home, having lunch and lounging and talking.  In the early evening, there was a brief exodus to the beach (only a picturesque 20 minute drive away) and then met everyone for dinner.  We stayed late, enjoying our time with cousins until again we returned to his Aunt and Uncle’s home where we had stayed the previous night. 

We spent Easter morning there, attending church with them and have a quick but wonderful Easter lunch.  It was wonderful to talk and relax for awhile before resigning ourselves again to the 10 hour drive that took us home to our kids.

L had another opportunity to perform with her dance team at the Company Showcase Night.  The competition teams each preformed their routines as well as soloist performances and a special spotlight on the graduating seniors.  She loves any chance to dance and had a great time.

The next day was a very eventful one—husband left early to go with his mom to the hospital for a craniotomy (brain surgery) to remove the main tumor.  I stayed home through the morning to take care of the girls and get them through their morning routines.  E got to go to music class but I was so impatient I finally checked L and A out of school early so I could take them to the sitter.  Then I joined the entourage waiting at the hospital.  The doctors soon reported that everything had gone fabulously well with no complications or concerns.  (Since when is brain surgery “simple and straightforward”?)  We stayed until evening, being able to see her, talk with her and get her settled into her ICU room.

We took the girls to see her two days later.  They couldn’t visit in her room but she was feeling pretty great so she asked us to bring them to visit in the waiting room.  The girls were eager to see her, full of questions and generous with gentle hugs.  But they quickly got restless and began rearranging the couches to be their pretend zoo.  We ventured upstairs to the bistro (their food is far too tasty to be called a “cafeteria”) to have dinner.  That started out great but ended dramatically when A spilled a cup of piping hot tomato soup into her lap, burning her arm, leg and torso.  Grandpa was the fastest to react, dousing her with a pitcher of ice water.  It was messy but did the trick and she had no lasting burns.

Grandma was doing so well that she was sent home the next day with strict instructions to take it easy.  She’s recovering well, not wholly without complications but doing great overall.  The next step will be radial surgery (a large, very focused dose of radiation treatment).

Somewhere in there, I ran my first half marathon: the Tulip Half.  I woke up ridiculously early, picked up my best friend and we drove together to the race.  There we met my cousin/close friend/the guy who got me started running in the first place and another one of his running friends.  It was a gorgeous course, through a beautifully landscaped garden with tulips in full bloom.  We ran alongside water features and a golf course with picturesque mountains as the backdrop to it all.  Unfortunately, it rained the entire time and was freezing cold.  Nevertheless, we joined the mass of people at the starting line and took off.  I fell in behind the 10:00 pacer (the guy holding a sign advertising that he will run a 10 min per mile pace, there to help runners pace themselves) and settled in.  My bf unexpectedly took off, wanting to challenge herself and her previous race times.  But me being a first timer, I was more timid and decided to stick with my training pace time.  Fortunately, my cousin stuck with me and stayed with me the whole course.  He’s a lot faster than me but it was a difficult course with a lot of elevation change, plus he felt ill prepared and knew he wasn’t going to set any personal records so staying with me sounded like more fun.  So we jogged together, talking the whole time, admiring the gardens and cursing the hills (ok, I cursed the hills, he’s a very experienced runner who took it all in stride).  I was very wet and soggy and got really sluggish by the end.  I cheered myself up by blaming it all on him, chatting with other runners and dreaming of the French toast awaiting me at the finish line.  Once we saw the 13 mile mark, I told him to take off and he did, sprinting in to the finish line where we waited for me.  I finished my first half marathon (13.1 miles) at 2 hours and 10 minutes.  I stopped, received my finishers medal, and my legs promptly turned to jello, threatening to buckle at any moment.  But we stretched, collected some post race treats and quickly piled into our vehicles.  We didn’t stay at the finish line party, mostly because we were freezing and wet.  Instead we stopped at Kneaders and quickly made our way home where I rewarded myself with a long hot shower and a pedicure.

A few days later, I felt like I was transporting myself back in time as I joined three of my college roommates and longtime friends to celebrate a wedding.  One of the girls was getting married (second marriage, after the first ended badly with an unfaithful spouse) and with little family support, had no plans for her last night as a bachelorette.  So we booked a room at the Hilton and celebrated together.  The bride (and her adorable daughter) didn’t arrive until late, having underestimated what it would take to move out of her previous apartment, but we had a late dinner at PFChang’s and then settled into the hotel room.  We played a few bridal shower/bachelorette party games, indulged in a mountain of chocolate, talked and laughed and reminisced for as late as we could.  Truth be known, I fell asleep first (which would have NEVER happened in our college days).  But in my defense, it was 3:30 am.  We woke up early the next morning so I could do the bride’s hair (she looked stunning!) and drop her off to the temple while we hurried to finish readying ourselves and meet her there. The wedding was beautiful and was such an incredible experience.  She was positively gorgeous and radiating happiness.  After the ceremony, I teamed up with the groom’s sister as their photography team and got some beautiful and fun pictures.  We joined everyone for the luncheon and soon sent them on their way, off to DisneyWorld for their honeymoon.

Happy to report that our new sleeping training plan for E is going well.  Since moving her to a toddler bed, bedtime went from magically easy to extremely difficult.  One of us has to sit in her chair until she falls asleep.  It wasn’t a problem at first because I was spending that time answering emails and such but it was taking longer and longer each night.  Plus, she always woke up by midnight and would end up in our bed anyway.  So with some bargaining and bribing, we’ve gotten her into better habits and am crossing my fingers that it stays that way—in hopes that I can have some productive time in the evening again.

            A is in a rough patch with frequent tantrums and commonly failing/refusing to use words to express herself. Instead she just screams or cries.  At other times, she is so good at expressing herself and she’s the most polite when it comes to taking turns to speak.  She generally holds back rather than trying to talk over her sisters.  Unless she’s really mad or simply doesn’t get her way and then she just screams.  I’m hoping that with some more one on one time and better redirection, we can get through this quickly.  She also responds really well to affection and loves to cuddle so I’m trying to be more intentional about building that up during our positive moments.

            I think L is doing great, but is pretty burned out.  Summer will be a welcome break from school and some of the demands of our usual routine.  I feel like she must be burned out because she’s especially emotional and prone to tears over seemingly insignificant things and has occasionally even admitted to being tired and fallen asleep mid-movie during our afternoon quiet time.  She keeps asking for a day to sleep in and celebrates the afternoons when we just stay home and play with toys or watch movies.

  

            The next month is going to be busy.  May brings the end of school with programs and recitals and field trips and lots of fun adventures.  It’s going to be exciting…