A Bad Hair Year

Well, it's official--it's going to be a bad hair year for Talia. I officially ended my mourning for her hair this morning, but still have had twinges of sadness when I look at her without all her hair. Anyway, for those of you I haven't talked to--I got a call from my crying neighbor on Tuesday afternoon, telling me that her daughter had cut Talia's hair and it was "pretty short". Her daughter Sylvie, Talia, and another neighbor girl, Addy, were playing in Sylvie's room when the hair-cutting occurred. Talia's hair was in a ponytail, and they just cut the whole thing off, and then cut off whatever was left over. My neighbor had no idea that Sylvie had taken the hair scissors a few days earlier and hid them in her purse in her bedroom. Addy's hair also got cut, but not to the extent of Talia's. I went up to the room to get some of Talia's hair for her scrapbook, and the entire bed was covered in hair! What a mess! My neighbor was so upset--I can only imagine how bad she felt. She said that it took her about ten minutes to work up the nerve to call me. After collecting the hair and breaking the news to Chris (who was VERY upset), we went home and Talia fell asleep while I had a silent breakdown. Then I got a call from my friend, Collette, who is a hairdresser. She had heard the news from Chris, and she was on her way over to survey the damage and see what she could do to help. She offered to even it up as best as possible. So after dinner Tuesday night, we went to Collette's house so she could attempt to salvage what little hair was left. She showed me what I could do to make it look as feminine as possible and helped me feel a little bit better about everything--thanks a ton, Collette! Wednesday found us in the Cherished Moments boutique, picking out headbands, hats, bows, and flowers for Talia to wear.
Through this whole thing, Talia hasn't been too upset. She looked in the mirror Tues night while brushing her teeth and said, "Hey mom, I look like a boy", to which I replied that yes, she did, and that's why you don't let people cut your hair! She said, "I want to be myself again with long hair. We need to put it back on." And when she woke up Wed morning she was upset because her hair hadn't grown long over night. But now she just laughs when I tell her to put her headband on and says, "OK, I need to cover up my boy hair!" At least she has the personality to pull off a pixie cut!


The back of Addy and Talia after the hair cuts--Talia fared the worst by far!

Getting her hair "fixed" in Collette's salon. I'm so glad Collette took on the impossible task of trying to fix the mess--thanks a ton babe!

The finished product!

One of her new headbands. They look cute, as do the hats (thanks, Melissa, for lending us Ella's--it works great).

With such crazy fashion sense, who is even going to notice her hair?!

YOU WOULD CRY, TOO, IF IT HAPPENED TO YOU!

The neighbor girls decided to play hair dresser--the pictures speak for themselves. I'm trying really hard to keep it together, and not doing such a great job.

Cody's getting big!

Here's a few pictures to update you all on the baby!

He loves his baths!

He is starting to smile lots at us, and even giggles sometimes. He is ticklish under his chin.

Of course, if he is hungry or tired or has a dirty diaper or wants to be held, this is what he looks like!

He is getting so big! He has officially outgrown that just-barely-born look!

Cody Jacob

Cody Jacob, born 8/22, weighing 8 lbs 5 oz. Not as much hair as the other kids, but he sure looks like he belongs in our family!

He loves his binki, and sister Sarah loves him!

The day we brought him home from the hospital.

I had to put this picture in because I love Talia's face! She's so excited to have a baby brother!

Mommy means.....

Last week Sarah had a fever and sore throat for 2 days, and now Talia's got it. She was up 5 times last night because she was either hurting or had to go to the bathroom. She wouldn't eat much last night, but drank a ton, hence the frequent bathroom trips. Usually she'll just take care of herself at night, but because she was feeling sick, I got the privilege of being woken up to help because she felt she just couldn't handle it on her own. At 2:15 am, when we were on the third trip to the bathroom, I said to her in complete exasperation, "Talia, you can do this by yourself! You don't need me to help!" She looked at me, made an annoying sound like "duh" and said, "Mommy means you wipe me whenever I need you to."

The reason for my existence has never been stated so pathetically and yet so truthfully. I wanted to cry. So my question for all of you today is.... what does Mommy mean to you?

Yellowstone vacation

In front of Castle Geyser, which went off for at least an hour--it's the first time I've ever seen this one go off, and it was pretty cool!

In front of the entrance to Yellowstone--yeah!
The kids and I as Old Faithful is dying down--don't they look thrilled!
At the Canyon overlook--this is Chris's favorite part of the whole park. The kids thought it was cool, but I guess you have to be an adult to really appreciate how beautiful it is!

In July we took our family summer vacation to Yellowstone. The kids had never been before (well, I guess Robbie had been when he was 18 months old, but that doesn't really count because he can't remember it) and they were way excited to see the geysers and animals. Their favorite part of the trip was seeing all the animals--buffalo, elk, eagles, coyotes, squirrels, deer, etc, etc. We didn't see any bears or wolves, but we did see some great movies about them! As far as the geysers, the kids thought they were way overrated. After we watched Old Faithful, Robbie's reaction was, "That's it?!" They actually liked Castle Geyser a lot better because its eruption lasted a lot longer, and they thought the paint pot stink was disgusting and cool at the same time. We covered most of the park during the 3 1/2 days we were there, including visits to Mammoth Hot Springs, Tower Falls, the Canyon area and Upper and Lower falls, Yellowstone Lake, the geyser basins around Old Faithful, Hayden Valley, and I forget what else. I also forgot how freaky it is to stand at the top of those huge waterfalls and watch all that water drop off to the canyon floor below--it gave me the heebies big-time, and Chris kept a SUPER tight grip on Talia while we were at Upper Falls. We went to some ranger programs at Madison Junction and Canyon visitors center, saw movies and other cool displays at other visitors centers, and drove A LOT!!! We saw an IMAX movie on bears, which was awesome, and the kids did the Junior Ranger Program and got their ranger badges! The kids were real troopers, considering how much time we spent in the car, but we did have a few episodes. For the first time on any of our vacations, we had some major meltdowns--by the kids, as well as by mom and dad! Thank goodness the hotel had a pool that we could play in at night--that always seems to make everything okay! The only real drawback to the trip was on Chris's end--he was DYING to fish, but since fly fishing is not really a family activity, that was shot down by the rest of us; he had to deal with fruitlessly gazing upon the fish-laden waters of Yellowstone and dreaming of future man-trips where the only purpose of the trip is to fish. Maybe I'll let him have one of those trips this fall--Ill have to see how well he helps out with the baby and the kids to determine if he earns it or not! (FYI--he's not going to be happy with me saying he has to "earn it", but we all know that's how it really works, don't we!!)

Oregon wedding trip

Okay--now I'm attempting to play catch-up with my blogging, and I'm blogging about a few of our summer trips and fun times. Chris and I flew to Oregon in June for my brother's wedding. Jen and Brian were great to stay with the kids, so I was looking forward to some R&R away from home before the baby comes. Anyway, the trip started out with an airline aborted takeoff (like, the nose of the plane had literally started to lift off the ground, then came slamming back down and the plane braked hard to a stop) because of mechanical problems. We had an hour delay while they switched planes. We should've just given up right then and gone home, because the rest of the trip wasn't a whole lot better. When we got to Oregon, we went to dinner with two of my college roommates, and that was the highlight of the trip. I hadn't seen Rebecca in eight years, and it's so fun to see how everyone changes but yet doesn't change that much. Anyway, we enjoyed a great evening with Becca and Kim and their husbands--and if you gals are reading this, I love you guys, and I did send the roommate letter to Stacie! Anyway, from there the trip seemed to go downhill. The next morning we were totally shafted by my siblings, who all went to breakfast but apparently didn't feel the need to invite us. That didn't put me in the best mood, and by thr afternoon of the wedding my allergies were in full attack on whatever was in the wonderful Oregon air. By the evening of my brother's reception, I was sneezing CONSTANTLY, could barely breathe, and my eyes were red and swollen. The allergies continued the rest of the trip, and I spent part of one night and another afternoon in the hotel room with a cold washcloth over my eyes. All in all, it was rather miserable. Chris didn't fare much better, and his allergies were just as bad as mine. Needless to say, we were rather glad to come home and get away from the Oregon pollen count! It was great to see my brother get married, and I'm so happy for him and Katie, but I have no desire to visit Oregon in June ever again!