First Official Haircut

Jenna got her first “official” haircut on Saturday. By “official” I mean that a professional was paid. We went to a salon that specialized in children cuts.  Since it was her first cut, they were going to do this big package with a before and after picture and a special lock of hair. Since we’d already trimmed her bangs a couple times, we already have a lock of hair and the before/after picture was just a quick b&a shot printed on a piece of regular paper. So, if you know Aaron and I, we figured we could save the extra $20 and take a picture ourselves. Heck, it was like pulling teeth for us to pay for the haircut! So, here’s a picture from last week (doesn’t the look on her face scream – get the bangs out of my eyes Mom!)

 

 

here is the big reveal!

Ends up, this place puts the kid in a chair shaped like a car, flips on Dora, and faces the kid toward a mirror. Smart folks, I tell ya! They also stocked the first half of the store with toys, tiaras, bows and candy.  Very smart indeed (not that we were willing to pay for any of it!). Jenna’s not interested in Dora, but she is interested in driving…and in Jenna, so the mirror and car (mainly just the steering wheel) were helpful.  She was a happy girl and held still when asked. We think the stylist felt bad for getting paid $17 for about 3 minutes worth of work, so she did a little side braid in Jenna’s hair. It was cute. Right now the way her hair grows, the top hair goes forward, like bangs, so for now, we need to keep it corralled with a bow, barrette, or pig tail, until it is long enough to go behind her ear. In the picture above, part of the non-bangs were missed in the braid, so it looks like she has a long spot in her bangs, but rest assured, they’re even and that rouge hair is kept pulled back.  Will we go back to the special kiddy hair salon? Probably not, but it was a good place to go for the first “official” trim.  I watched closely, so I’ll probably keep trying my hand at managing the bangs.  Hopefully by the time we need to cut the back, she’ll be older and I won’t feel bad taking her to a different, less expensive salon.

A Mother’s Day Message

I hope all the mothers out there had a wonderful Mother’s Day!

I awoke to Aaron and Jenna cooking French Toast for me.  I don’t often let Jenna help me cook, so I could tell she felt very special to get to help her daddy. Breakfast was delicious! Jenna gave me a cute card, that she signed herself and is going to get me a small greenhouse for the deck.  Aaron and I are growing a small container garden this year and hope to move into a raised bed. We tried growing a few plants from seeds, but it didn’t turn out well, so we’re hoping a greenhouse will help us next year. I’m excited to get it, even if we won’t be using it for a while.  Since it was a gloomy day, the three of us spent it inside – including two good naps for Jenna (Aaron and I watched a couple Netflix movies we’ve had for a long time). It was perfect!

Before becoming a mother I always imagined what it would feel like to love my child. Even now after having her I think my idea was pretty accurate.  My heart would be so full it would ache, my mind would constantly be amazed. Yeah, yeah, yeah. ;) What I didn’t realize is how your child truly feels like an extension of you. When she hurts, I hurt, when she’s happy, I’m happy. I always want to be near her and take care of her, teach her, dance with her, make silly faces with her. I never imagined that!  I’ve only seen it from the other side as a daughter – where you see yourself as an independent person, most importantly independent from your own mother!! Don’t get me wrong, I love my mom and unlike most girls, I really never went through much of a phase where I tested her (okay, maybe there were a few months when I was 11 or 12), but I have always wanted to be independent. I can still remember when I was growing up, my mom (the least morning person I know) would wake up before us, go cook breakfast (including making me something special like a burrito or pot pie because I “didn’t like any breakfast foods”), then knock on my door and say, “Good Morning Sunshine!” Every morning I would wait for her to come in before I got up, but one morning I decided that I didn’t need a wake-up call! I didn’t need my mom to make me breakfast! So I told her this. Oh so nicely. I could do it on my own, I really didn’t need her babying me. I couldn’t understand why she was upset. Hey Mom, I get it now! I dread the day my baby girl doesn’t need me to get her up, doesn’t need me to make her breakfast, but when it happens, I can hope that it is because I’m doing my job right. It is a cruel irony of life – being a mother. I can’t imagine the day that I can’t hold my baby in my arms, but I know it will come. I can’t imagine the day that she can buckle her seatbelt, but I know it will come. I can’t imagine the day she falls in love…and has a baby of her own, but I know it will come.  I want all of those things for her and I’m raising her to be able to make those decisions and feel confident and independent, but what I really want is for her to stay 17 months old and need me and want to lay in my arms before I put her in her bed at night! 

I am so blessed to have the Mom that I do. I’m sure you all know this, but to know her is to love her. She’s always been so present in my life. She volunteered at school, girl scouts, church, heck she even volunteered at sporting events! Sure there was a time or two that I wasn’t altogether happy about having my mom around so often, but I could count those times on one hand - the vast majority of the time, I was proud that she was there and proud that she was MY mom. I never doubted her love and have always valued her opinion (even if it was to tell me my boyfriend was a jerk – she was right BTW). Now as a mother, every.single.day I make decisions based on things she’s taught me or from advice she’s given me.  So, I just want to say Thank You Mom! I love you and am so thankful that I got you as my mom! I hope you had a wonderful Mother’s Day!

Saturday Morn

Jenna and I are having a lazy Saturday morning. We're watching Wonder Pets and eating breakfast in the living room.

Today we're going to Lowe's to get supplies to tile our master bathroom and some paint for Jenna's room (not sure if I posted about her room or not, but my first paint attempt went terribly wrong). Oh and we're taking Jenna for her first official haircut. We've trimmed her bangs a couple times, but she was younger and less mobile and I'm not sure I'm up to the challenge this time. We'll probably just have the ends trimmed and the bangs cut so they're out of her eyes. We're going to a salon that specializes in kid cuts. I really didn't want to go there at first, but I think it will be fun for the first time and hopefully we'll be able to get a few tips so we can cut it ourselves in the future.

Hope you all have a great Saturday

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood

Jenna and I enjoyed the fab (and nearly windless!) afternoon by taking a long walk. Jenna found all kinds of treasures along the way including rocks, sticks, grass and a leaf.

We hope you were able to enjoy this wonderful weather!

I scream, u scream, we all scream...

Aaron won a big award at work today. Yay! To celebrate I suggested we go out for Chinese buffet. Yum :)

Aaron decided to get a softserve cone on the way out and I decided to get one, too and made the mistake of letting Jenna try it on the way to the car. As Aaron was buckling her in, I sat down in my seat and quickly heard, 'Please mama, please.' Followed quickly by screaming. I said i'd share, but not if she was crying, so she calmed down and we took turns eating the ice cream. It's definitely not something she'll get to have often (and that I don't have often either), but she certainly loves it!

Just a fishin’

Last weekend Aaron went to the lake with his buddies for a fishing trip. The weekend before that he wanted to get the boat out to make sure it was running alright.  Now, if you remember, we bought the boat merely 3 months before Jenna was born. I went out once as a hugely pregnant lady, but haven’t been again since Jenna was born. I love to be out on the water, so I suggested that he bring Jenna and I with him on his test run.  I’m not so sure he wanted to, but he knew how badly I wanted to get on the water, so he obliged.

In preparation for the trip, I’d put Jenna’s life jacket on for a while in the evening. I’d tell her it was her boat coat and she thought that was funny, so she was happy wearing it. I like to think that the pink and princesses helped, too. :)

On the big day we took longer getting ready than was desired, but what can you do when a toddler is involved and it is the first time in the season for getting a boat out. Both scenarios just spell S.L.O.W. We finally got loaded and hit the road around lunch time.

I tried to get some pictures as we were loading the boat, but Jenna wasn’t very happy

She wanted Dad.

Much better.

We hit the water and found a fishing spot. I tried to put sunglasses on her, but she didn’t want them…until the boat started moving. She decided it wasn’t so bad to wear the glasses if it helped keep the wind off her face.

While Aaron fished I relaxed hovered over Jenna like a hawk making sure she didn’t find any stray hooks, didn’t try to reach into the water, didn’t step on fishing poles. Actually it was much easier than I expected. She was happy sitting in the driver’s seat and pretending to drive the boat. Seriously, she sat there for nearly 2 hours. A couple times she wanted a snack or drink, but that was easily taken care of. She did get up a couple times to check out fish when Aaron caught them. 

Yes, she touched it. No, she did not kiss it. :)

All in all, it was a very fun time. Since our trip, if she sees the boat in the garage, she gets excited and starts saying ‘boat? boat'? boat?’ as if she’s ready to roll!

Petting Zoo

My neighbor Jessica and I took the kids to the Deanna Rose Homestead petting zoo this afternoon. For those of you that don’t know, our neighbors have a son who is 6 months younger than Jenna.

 

The weather was great and although there were a lot of students on fields trips, we still had a fun time and the kids got to pet a few animals.

 

Here’s my favorite picture of the kids – they were checking out the chickens.