Bye Bye Baby Hair

1st off let me just proclaim how absolutely excited I am that today my 2 year old received her 1st hair cut. I held on to every golden wave as long as I possibly could, but the time finally came to kiss those little baby ends goodbye! Maybe my extreme attachment comes from how hard we "worked" to get any hair on the lil' bald head in the 1st place. I kid you not, 1 year old birthday party if you even hoped to get a glimpse you had to bust out with a magnify glass. BUT she rocked that hairless noggin' & made it look pretty darn cute!!!

Anyway, after 2 weeks of preparation for the big day (No, not for me, Silly. For her, lol) it finally came. Aidann was a lil' unsure of the whole thing at 1st, but kept her cool. The lady lured her in by 1st letting her select any dvd she wanted from the "mighty cabinet of dvds". She careful glance over each & every box until she found THE ONE, Cars of course. Since their only video watching revolves around Sesame Street (with the one previous exception of watching Cars once) I was extremely tempted to help sway her decision in another direction but thought what they heck. Her day, 15 minutes at most. Then the hair cutting lady continued her efforts to try to win over Aidann by letting her select any booth she wanted.  She shocked me when she passed up the princess hair cutting station for the car themed one instead lol. We are talking Aidann here, all of these unconventional choices would not have shocked me in the least if we had been talking about Asher.

Well, a couple thousand pictures later we found ourselves with Aidann's new lil' hair-do (basically the same just shorter, lol) & a smile on her face as she received "princess glitter spray" in her hair & a sucker. I ever got  this official looking  "My 1st Hair Cut" paper with 1 of her beautiful golden locks inside. Overall, a great experience for all involved. Asher loved watching the whole thing & I am sure she can't wait until it is her turn. But mommy DEFINITELY can.

-M&M Momma

Asher, the Silly Sleeper

Positively Different

Although most of my elementary years were spent being home schooled, I did experience "real school" a few times off & on. It was in a about the 3rd or 4th grade at recess or something that a couple kids & I somehow got on the conversation on initials. Everyone was saying what theirs were. When it finally came to my turn I said "S.A.D.". At first the kids were kind of like "Well, that sucks for you", but it really didn't bother me. I was proud of my initials. From a very early age my mom recognized a "subject" that could potentially be turned around into something hurtful in the future & immediately started helping me to see it as something great & to even be proud of. I was named after my grandma who was a successful scholar & nurse that also speaks fluent Spanish (She's Irish!). My mom always told me she named me "SAD" because she was sad there couldn't be more lil' girls as special & fun as me. I was proud because I knew my name meant "princess full of grace".

I mean you could say, "Well, that's just initials", but there are a lot of other things we take so lightly that can prove to be extremely damaging later on. Sadly, a lot of times these days we can find ourselves joking with each other about things without maybe thinking 1st. Like from an early age sometimes it becomes a "thing" to tease your kid about their big head or freckles. While they are young it may be all cute & fun & games, but that stuff can turn into something much deeper in the future. A complex even! Of course you are "just teasing", but that's how insecurities start. And don't expect the kid to stand up & admit it hurts them or bothers them because usually they won't. Sometimes they will even laugh along with you when they are really & truly bothered. Its unrealistic to think that our kids will never run into situation where someone will hurt their feelings or tease them, but we need to start preventing it 1st in the home. It should be a safe place where they don't have to be on the defensive constantly. 
I remember dancing ballet when I was little & in one of my class the teacher was constantly harping on my big behind, "tuck it in, tuck it in" every 5 minutes. I grew self conscious thinking my rear was just HUGE & I was only 7 years old. It wasn't until much later on that I realize a larger behind can actually be considered as a good thing. People were also constantly pointing out how thin my hair was & it totally gave me a complex. 1 comment I never forgot was when someone called my hair anorexic. I mean really? Its just now in my twenties I have learned to just embrace my hair.

I look at my kids every day & focus on developing them on the inside 1st & foremost, but I also see their beautiful outward differences that God has blessed them with & I am already teaching them differences are a good thing!!! Light skin or dark skin, blue eyed or brown, short or tall. Their various talents & personalities are also beautiful, no matter how different they may be from each other

As parents we need to build our kids up, not put them down even if we are just joking. Maybe you have a kid with ears on the lil' bit bigger side, do your best to turn the potentially negative into something positive. Its no laughing matter!
-M&M Momma

Picture Pet Peeve

The following has absolutely nothing to do with my childhood. In fact, I think that I was pretty much born thinking constant flashes of light surrounding me at all times was pretty normal (much like my own kids, lol). But this problem is actually extremely common today, we are busy people & it is SO easy for life to just consume all of our time.Tell me if I am wrong, but doesn't it seem like when the 1st child is born it is all about capturing everything with the camera from their 1st smile to the 1st time they spit up lol. We are so bound & determined to freeze every important moment. Our video cameras are also constantly on hand to get the 1st few steps & 1st words. Some even take it a step further (like myself lol) & actually take their kid to the photo studio to professionally capture ever milestone (i.e. birthdays, holidays, etc). BUT it seems that for the majority, not all mind you, that as more & more children come into the picture the new ones tend to get their pictures taken less & less. It definitely takes more of a concious effort & preplanning to continue taking pictures & video. And then actually getting them all printed!?!?! It can definitely be a challenge.We have to force ourselves to put just as much effort into the 2nd child, 3rd, 4th. While they are young it may not seem to matter so much, but as they get older it will. Kids love to see pictures of themselves & watch themselves on camera. We would like to believe they are somehow magically going to remember everyhting fantastic that happened in their childhood, but they aren't. Pictures/video help so much & they will treasure it. I hear parents admit to it all the time, "Yeah, I take so much less pictures of so and so and it is so sad". My reply, "Try to do something about it. Decide today on out that you are going to make that lil' extra effort". I admit it, I don't get around to printing all of my pictures right away, but at least I have them saved for when I can. And baby books, you bet Aidann has 1 perfectly put together, every detail written in. BUT I still need to finish up my other girls (I highly recommend the baby book solution I posted in Creative Solutions with the footprints fyi). All of our children are equally as special & even though they do know this, we can show them. Take the pictures, save the artwork, keep the stories, make the movies.That was random, but still very necessary for all of us to consider. You don't have to go to my extreme obviously (along with being a bow-a-holic I am also pic-obsessed. 1 memory card every 2 weeks lol), but try to give the 2nd 3rd 4th kid the same effort to capture their childhood & many milestones, ya know?
-M&M Momma 

Banana Anyone?

My Loves

Crashing with daddy...And Elmo

Austin's new shoes, she CAN'T kick off. LOL