Never Again

Never Again will I try to cut my own hair. I used to cut it all the time. I must have been in high school when I started. My sister and I would cut each others' hair all the time. I started going to a salon to get it cut after I got married. Oh how I got out of practice. We did a budget about a year ago and I was horrified at how much money I was spending on my HAIR! Thankfully my brother's girlfriend cuts hair, for fun, and has been willing to cut my hair since. She always does a superb job too! Anyhow, I hadn't seen her in a while (she's back in school and I don't visit my parents when she's there) and really needed a hair cut. SO....I got the great idea that if Adam could do the one part that is hardest to see, I could do the rest. WRONG! We totally cut it too short and had to have an 'emergency' hair cut. Thankfully my brother's girlfriend doesn't live TOO far away from me. Anyhow, my hair is much shorter than I would have ever asked for (not her fault). Thankfully it grows fast and will be about where I would have wanted it cut by the time our family pictures roll around (in two weeks)! Good thing I did it this weekend instead of next!

The Essence of Autumn

I love what Autumn brings: the cooler weather, the rainy days that make you want to curl up next to a fire and read a book, the change of color in the world outside, the earlier evenings, people wearing sweaters, and the sweet aroma of dinners cooking. There is something enchanting to me about the earlier, darker evenings. I must have always loved it because I get butterflies in my stomach when I’m out and about in the evening during the sun’s last rays of light. I love to see the dreary clouds and people walking briskly with sweaters and coats on. What mesmerizes me the most are the cars and their headlights. I love to see a line of lights, they make me think of two strands of Christmas lights winding perfectly spaced on a Christmas tree. Always two sets of lights though, one of white and the other of red. Every now and again you get the blinking yellow light as a car signals to turn left or right.

Autumn must be working her way into my blood. Tonight I thought a perfect autumn dinner would be appropriate. Thank goodness for food storage because I had everything on hand for this perfect dinner. I made a spiced ham complete with pineapple, mashed potatoes, green beans, and baked apples. One of my favorite memories while dating Adam was that his mom used to light candles for dinner when they had chili. So, I thought I’d bring that tradition on into our family. Our dinner was complete with candle light. I’m always a little nervous making something new, but Adam and I were both very pleased with how dinner turned out. Too bad it’s not about 50 degrees outside! However, we did get to enjoy fresh air.

Officially and Finally

I have officially and finally lost my 'baby' weight. Every last ounce I gained during my pregnancy is finally off. I think it would have taken me less time had I started working harder a whole lot sooner. Sure, there were pounds I gained after I went back to work after Haydn was born, but all those are gone now! Now I have to lose my 'stress' weight from three surgeries and moving. After that weight is gone I will need to work on my 'marriage' and 'college' weight. More exciting than losing the weight is seeing the numbers of inches lost going up and up and clothing sizes going down and down. =) And yes, I do blame my different life events for why I gained weight and I plan on losing them all (not the life events, just the weight)! Now to celebrate...without food!

Innocent Injuries

A couple nights ago I decided I would try to go running with Haydn (in a stroller of course). I've taken a few weeks off due to injuries and illness so now I have to start over to prevent injuries again. I digress... Haydn had been running around in just a diaper and shirt, so I really needed him to get some pants on before we left. He was in a really great mood and was jumping around. I asked him to step into his pants and he came over, put his hands on my shoulders and attempted to hop into his shorts. And that is when it happened. When Haydn jumped up, he smashed the top of his head into the bottom of my chin. I proceeded to bit the entire inside of my mouth until it bled. My tongue got it on both sides and bled. I thought that was the extent of my 'injury' but I learned last night that it was not the case. I have a bruise on one side of my tongue and another one on my the inside of my cheek on the opposite side of my mouth! I know he didn't do it on purpose, but it hurt none the less.

Yet Again...

Adam is in Columbia again helping his brother-in-law. I really do not like those trips. I get very lonely even though I have Haydn here. I feel like a single parent when Adam is on these overnight trips. I start to feel sorry for myself that my husband is gone and that I have to do everything by myself, including taking the trash out. I'm not afraid of cleaning and taking care of my home, or raising Haydn mostly by myself. I know that it is a sacrifice Adam makes for our family. He works a lot of hours and is always willing to help when needed.

To get myself out of the 'poor me' attitude, I think of single mothers. It makes me thankful that I am not a single parent and that I do have Adam to help me the majority of the time. Adam is a great father and a wonderful husband. I have to remind myself that at least he's only gone two nights instead of forever.

Even with those thoughts, I still feel lonely.

Serving Others

The Boy Scouts of America have been sponsored by our church for a very long time. A large portion of the young men in our church also participate in Boy Scouts. This weekend they had a camp out and needed an additional leader just for today. Adam got up bright and early, on his day off, and went to help. Adam is always volunteering to help when he can. He does not have a lot of spare time to do much, but is always willing to help. This is an attribute I love very much of my husband. I'm so thankful for his example and his willingness to always serve others. I'm also very thankful that Haydn has a good example to follow.

Finally...

After three days of being sick, waking up sick in the morning and going to bed sick at night followed by sleepless nights, I am finally on my way to getting better! The last three days have been pretty rough. I have no idea what it was I had, nor do I wish it on anyone. I have not been down this long since I had the flu just a few weeks after Haydn was born. By no means was it as severe, but debilitating none the less.

Haydn was the best through it all! We had our rough moments, but overall he let me relax when I really needed it. (After all, a mother must go on even when she's sick.) One of the evenings while Adam was working, I let Haydn play outside. My head had been pounding so hard, and no relief in sight, that I could not longer stand the sound of his voice ricocheting off the walls any longer. Not that it was bad, but anything sounded 10 times louder than what it probably was. Anyhow, after letting him play outside this is what I found....




Okay, so it's not really what I found. I was a little too slow to getting or thinking about getting the camera to get a picture of Haydn. Just as an image you can think of, he looked like one of those little boys who worked in the coal mines sorting coal. But, this is what his clothes and the bath tub looked like after his bath. He really is 100% boy!

Adam was a trooper too. I think I felt the worst last night. After a very long day at work, Adam came home and made dinner for us all, let me go to bed and took care of Haydn the whole evening! My two guys are the BEST!

I'm still not back to 100%, but at least I can read something and comprehend it as well.

Now, to get the house back in order from my little 'vacation.' Wish me luck!

Life Vest Sleeping

I should have known that he was going to fall asleep any minute by the look on his face in this picture. That squinting look is not flash induced either. (Look how brown his arms and legs are! He definitely does not get that from me!)

Here's that photo I mentioned a few days ago of Haydn in his life vest. He watched the water themed Baby Einstein that day, so maybe he was afraid of a great flood.

Haydn's Too Cute

Today I was dressing Haydn for church and he's not complete until his hair is combed. He has to use "Daddy's comb" for him to be willing to comb his hair, which isn't that bad since it's just a comb. Anyhow, when I comb his hair I have to wet it down with water. It started sticking to his head and looked like what my brother-in-law calls "Poindexter". So I put the comb under the hair that was plastered to his head to lessen the Poindexter look and this is what resulted.

Doesn't he look happy here?

Don't worry, he didn't go to church with his hair like that!

Comedian

Haydn has discovered that if he does something we find funny, we'll laugh. He'll then proceed to do what he thinks we laughed at over and over again. Last weekend we went to visit one of my best friends and her husband. Haydn quickly became the husband's shadow. He warmed up to him because the husband asked for a 'five'. By the end of the weekend, Haydn was giving everyone a 'five' anytime someone asked for it. Again, it's probably because we laughed at it he first time. Anyhow, last night he did something to make us laugh again. I will warn you, it's not as funny describing it as seeing it. Adam asked Haydn for a 'five' again. Haydn just looked at him and then looked at me. So I asked him for a 'five'. Haydn proceeded to look back and forth at Adam's hand to my hand. What was so funny was the jerking movement of his head. He was exaggerating his head movement. We both started laughing and Haydn continued to do it the rest of the evening. He'd be sure to stand where moving his head back and forth could be exaggerated. Funny kid!

Today we are getting together with Adam's mom, step-dad, sister and her family along with a cousin and a few other people. His mom and step-dad are staying the night up here but opted to get a hotel with a pool so the kids could swim. The guys are going to a football game (they do this every year...I hear it's the last time this game is going to be played up here) and the women are staying back with the kids so they can swim.

Haydn LOVES to swim. We told him that he gets to go swimming with Grandma Nene. So yesterday he found his infant life vest and wanted me to put it on him. He waddled around the house for a while in it and once he fell over. The life vest did it's job, he couldn't flip over and be face down! Of course he couldn't get up at all either. When I got him back on his feet, he took me to the door to get to the car. He was whining "Nene...Nene, now....Nene!" Haydn doesn't say his grandparents' names that often so I thought my mother-in-law would love to hear him saying her name. So we called her and I told her about what Haydn had done. The phone call wasn't that long and by the time I hung up, Haydn was asleep in my arms, with his life vest still on! I laid him down so he could take a nap. I guess he's afraid of a big flood or something. =) He only slept for 40 minutes. When he woke up I took the life vest off and his shirt was soaked! Sadly, he didn't go back to sleep until we put him down for the night.

Another sad note, I didn't get to take a picture of him sleeping with the vest on with my camera. My camera died from the time I took pictures of him standing in his life vest to when he fell asleep. However, I did get it on a cell phone and a video. I'll post the pictures I have as soon as I figure out how to get the pictures from the cell phone to the computer.