The long and short of it

I have always been attached (unreasonably so) to Ira's long hair.  I loved how cute it was curly and long and floppy.  It just seemed like it was part of his personality.

For those who didn't know what Ira looked like as a baby (or 18 month old) here are some pictures for a refresher:

Just LOOK at those curls!

His hair also grows incredibly fast.  Like... he's 5 years old and has had his hair cut around 20 times... fast.  (Thank goodness for my sister who cuts his hair - I'm happy to pay her!)

Alas, we found out that when he goes to school in the fall, the school rule for boys' hair is that it "cannot touch the collar or the ears."  So I knew the day would come when we'd have to cut his precious locks.  And I'd really, really been dreading it.  You see, every time Mandy cut his hair short (which I'd had her do before just so she wouldn't have to cut it so often) I would CRY.  There I admitted it.  Perhaps I am vain or looks-obsessed or something, but it just seemed like Ira wasn't himself with short hair.  He wasn't that adorable, funny, floppy-haired little boy.

So, as you can imagine, Mandy wasn't real excited to do the "big boy" hair cut on Ira.  But he'd already changed in looks with his glasses, and I figured that I'd be a mess enough come the end of summer about him going off to school the last thing I would need then was for him to look like a totally different kid too.

So we decided to have her cut his hair short.  Shorter than she'd ever cut it before.  And let me tell you.  I LOVE it!  I didn't even cry!  It was definitely an adjustment at first (I saw him a couple times at Story Hour and was like "whose kid is that?" before I realized he was mine.)  And everyone that saw him for awhile after he got it cut seriously did. not. recognize. him.  But I love the cut.  I love how easy it is.  And I love how handsome he looks.

And truly, the thing that I think I was really mourning all along was not the loss of his curls or long hair, but just the fact that my baby boy is growing up.  And he's looking like a big kid now - and that's okay.  I'm proud of the boy he is growing into!    

My Valentine

So I know this post is like 6 weeks late, but hey, I'm catching up!

It's funny, when you're dating, Valentine's Day is such a big stinkin' deal.  Dinner, flowers, trinkets, what have you.  When we got married, Valentine's Day became much more laid back.  Quite honestly, I'm relieved.  The whole Valentine's Day thing just stresses me out a bit.  I mean, shouldn't we be showing each other (and our children) as best we can every day how much we love each other?  Not that a special day dedicated to love each year is a bad thing, it's just that, like just about every holiday nowadays, it has become SO commercial.  The commercials on TV leading up to Valentine's Day make me SICK.  As if most of the general population can actually afford to give their significant others jewelry "starting at $99."  Even if they could?  Is that truly the best way to show EVERY woman that they are loved?  And what I really love is that all these commercials are aimed at 1) making women think they need these things to be happy/feel loved, 2) making men feel like slackers if they do anything less.  And 3) where in the heck are all the commercials touting stuff for men for V-day?  Oh wait, it's not about the men?  Apparently Valentine's Day is not about BOTH people, just about the woman.  Am I making any sense?

For Valentine's Day, things were pretty low key around our house.  I made a pie (fail) for the family.  Andy left me post-it note love notes throughout the house.  Ira made valentines with the new construction paper we got him.  Ruby had crazy, "I wore pigtails the day before" hair...  And yet, it was one of the best Valentine's Days yet.  Not because of what we did in particular that day, but because of the things that we do to show each other our love every day.

Andy and I did "go out" for Valentine's Day the next weekend to our Natural Family Planning Office's "Night of Romance."  It is an event they put on each year around Valentine's Day.  We had tried to go last year, but it sold out.  This year, we got our reservations in early, along with 199 other couples.  It was held at the gym of a local parish.  They had everything decked out like Mardi Gras.  We got to get all dolled up (how often does that happen anymore?)  And we had a wonderful evening out meeting new friends, eating a delicious meal, hearing an awesome speaker and an awesome couple that sang about the TRUE meaning of love and marriage.  It was amazing to spend time around so many other Catholic, NFP-practicing, nursing, kid-raising, "trying to do the best they can" couples.  It was a romantic evening in the most "non-worldly" way!  We hope to make it an annual tradition!

Another hairy post

Ruby's hair (just like the rest of her) is just growing and growing. 

It gets really curly if we just "phff" it with our fingers after we spray it with water and comb it.

She also had her first ponytail the other day!

Okay, that last one makes her look really grown up!  Maybe I'll stay away from the single ponytails for awhile!  She has the rest of her life to wear them!  For now we'll rock the curly/barrette or piggy-tail look!

 Here's to good hair days!

CrAzY hAiR II

Hmmm, that fact that I have a post titled "crazy hair II" should probably tell you something about us...

Ira got into the headbands the other day and came out with this:

I can't imagine the headache you'd get from wearing those for an extended period of time!

Luckily, it was "off"ward and upward to bigger and better things - namely electrifying his hair in the tunnel from Christmas:

CrAzY hAiR

I must say, I LOVE having a little girl and I LOVE being able to do her hair!  Part of the fun of doing Ruby's hair though, is seeing what it looks like after we take the barrettes/elastic bands out.  I thought this hair don't was especially humorous!

Hair - The long and short of it...

So this post will be all about hair...

Just for kicks, I thought I'd pull out an old picture, from right after I delivered Ira. My hair was short.
After I had Ira, I decided to grow my hair out. (I don't know why, but I always pictured my hair being long when we had our second child - strange, I know, but whatever...) Nearly 4 years later, here is me, with my long hair, and our second child.
Ira, who just seems to be SO much bigger than he was 2 weeks ago has sprouted a mustache!
And Ruby must have dyed her hair dark in-utero, because every time I wash her hair, it seems to get a little lighter.
Have a great Tuesday!!

Sniffle...My little one is growing up!

I can't believe how stinking big Ira is getting. It's like every day something happens that makes me realize that he is no longer my little baby boy. Not that I'm not proud to see the little boy he's growing up to be, and he'll always be my baby, but seriously, he's just growing up so fast. What's prompting all this sentimentality you might ask? Well, Ira got his hair cut today.

Fortunately for us, my little sister cuts hair and does a fabulous job, so I never have any concerns of whether it's going to look alright, but tonight before she cut it, she said, "You know, his curls may be growing out" Seriously, I knew that curls do often do that, but I didn't realize it'd be happening now when he's only 2! Andy and I had already had this discussion about how long/short we wanted his hair and had agreed that we don't want it too short because we still want him to have some curl but then when Mandy (my sis) said about the curls possibly growing out it set me off crying... CRYING! Can you believe that? I mean, I'll admit, I cry almost every time that she cuts his hair short (it does grow really stinkin fast so we have her cut it shortish then let his curls grow back) because he hardly seems like Ira when he doesn't have a long shaggy mess of rumpled/curly hair. I feel like it's a part of his personality. My father-in-law teases me about it, which is fair, I know, it's only hair, but STILL! So anyways, Andy and I talked again and decided to have her cut it short but not too short. I love how it turned out and I haven't even cried since she cut it, but he just looks so so big with his little boy haircut.

Before haircut (taken on Christmas)

Big boy haircut

Side view

For those of you who haven't checked out from boredom yet, I'm almost finished. Tomorrow we pack for our big move. I can't believe it's already here (and yet it seemed like it would never get here too.) I'm so curious what Ira will think of it all. We've talked a lot about it trying to prepare him for it, but the whole experience will just be interesting with him involved. I'm hoping I'm not stupidly unstressed about the whole thing. I'll let you know tomorrow after we've packed how I feel.

Oh, and for all my thousands of devoted fans out there: the diarrhea smoothie worked GREAT! Ira hasn't had the scoots since he drank it! I'd say that worked!!!

Well, take care and if you get a chance pray for us as we start on this new adventure!

God bless!