Don't do it.

I speak from experience.

NEVER try to cut your own hair. I tried. I thought bangs would be 'fun.' They weren't. It just looked bad bad bad.

Why? I blame boredom. Chet was out studying late and so the most obvious thing to do with my time was to cut my hair. I chopped a layer at chin level. And the rest of it was still long. If you're thinking mullet, well, that's about right. After 5 days of ponytails I was ready. So I went to get a real haircut at a real salon. And came home with this.

The stylist did a pretty good job, considering what he had to work with.

And it was great to be out without the kids and relax. (Thanks, Mom!)

So. Deedo is crawling.

When I say crawling, I really mean army crawling. But he is fast. He knows what he wants and he goes for it.

And what he wants is trashcans and electric cords.

Not my first choice out of all the toys in the house, but to each his own.

I do not remember this crawling thing being such a sudden change with Sharks. With Deedo, it's been a shock.

One day, he was just sitting on the floor, playing with his toys, and the next I can't put him down without him getting into something.

He is still so little, I can't believe he is moving at all.

Some thoughts and ramblings on parenting

I have been realizing this week that there are two main points of change when you add a new child to the family. The first is when you bring him home from the hospital, and your old life is disrupted by the arrival of a little person! who is your complete responsibility. The task of caring for the physical needs of a baby is daunting enough; but we also have been given the responsibility of caring for their spiritual needs too. I think that during those early days, the physicality of the baby is at the forefront of the mind, because his helplessness is evident and he is fully reliant on you for everything. It is an overwhelming time, those first few weeks when you realize that this is life now, this is life with a family.

The second main point of change is when that child starts moving. No longer do you have a tiny baby, but now a little child who can move about freely with his own will. Though we have been praying for him since before he was born, this is when I begin to understand the enormity of what is before me in terms of raising him in the Lord.

Our God is good and richly blesses us through the gift of our children. I am so thankful that his Spirit dwells within me! I do not even want to imagine the struggles of parenting without that!

I have been reading Ephesians lately and I love the verse that talks about how we are sealed with the Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance. I think that is in chapter 1. A verse full of great comfort to me recently.

Conversations with Sharks, Part V

So Buddy, what should I write about today?

"ABCD AIG HIJA WM next time won't you sing with me?"

AIG? Maybe he really has been paying attention to the news.

The DMV must have bladders of steel

Let me start with this: it has been an ordeal to get our cars licensed here. Mostly my fault, but also our cars are old. Anyway, finally, on Saturday I went to the DMV with the kids to register our cars.

The whole way there Sharks was saying, "Potty! Potty!" which didn't bode well.

Thankfully there was a parking space right out front.

So, I lugged Deedo inside in his car seat (stupid idea, really - 17lbs of baby + a whole lotta car seat + my weak arms= pain and ridiculousness), and held Sharks hand as we raced to the front desk to ask where the bathroom was.

The lady told me that there was no bathroom.

I asked again, adding that Sharks was only 2 years old and just potty trained, and oh please tell me there's a bathroom?

Again, nope.

You realize that this means she must hold it all day long, right? I mean, if there really is no bathroom. (Maybe that is why the people at the DMV are always in such bad moods.)

So I lugged and lurched myself and the kids back outside. I figured he'd just have to pee-pee on our car tire.

Of course, I looked around to make sure no one was watching us. And thankfully the doors to the DMV had that mirror glass which you can't see through.

I plopped Deeds in his carseat on the hood of the car. Of course Sharks is too little to just whip out his little boy part to pee-pee discreetly, so I had to completely drop his drawers. And since the whole point of this rigamarole was to avoid him peeing on himself, I had to grab his arms and dig my knee into his back so that he could make it over his clothes and onto the tire. (Think Titanic, when they are standing on the ship with arms spread.)

But we did it.

Once we made it back inside, though, the other people waiting started grinning and laughing. But I was sure they hadn't seen anything because of the mirror glass.

And that is when I looked back at the door and realized that mirror glass only prevents you from seeing in, not out.

Oh. my. goodness.

The door perfectly framed our car, which meant that everyone inside the DMV witnessed our little pee-pee escapade.

And after all that our car still isn't licensed.

Conversations with Sharks, Part IV

Sitting next to Sharks on the steps.

Sharks: Mommy stinky.

Me: What?

Sharks: Stinky.

Me: What's stinky?

Sharks: Mommy stinky.

Me: I'm stinky? What stinks?

Sharks: Feet.


And that is what I get for telling him he has stinky feet every night when I put on his pajamas. I should have known he was planning to use it against me.

Conversations with Sharks, Part III

In the kitchen making dinner. I pull out a cookbook.


Sharks: Recipe.


Me: Yup.


(He grabs a cookbook from the shelf too).


Me: You going to make something? What recipe are you making?


Sharks: Oven.


Me: You're making 'oven'?


Sharks: Yes, making dup-cakes.