Hair Help Needed

Ok, I could probably use some advice about my own 'do, but this time I'm talking about my daughter. So here's the situation: she's never had a haircut, and lately, it's looking a little rough around the edges. It isn't exactly growing in evenly: it's long in the back (think rat tail - New Kids on the Block style), growing over her ears, and still pretty thin on top. Sometimes it happens to lay ok, and looks fine. Other times I feel like people must think I don't comb it.






So here's the dilemma: do I cut it or let it grow? I would like it to be longer (hello!? pigtails!! I want to do pigtails!!), but I don't want it to look scraggly in the meantime. And I hear a rumor that if you cut it, then it will really grow in. Is this true or just Hair Mythology? And if I decide to cut it - do I take her somewhere or do it myself? I don't have the first clue about how to cut hair (well, I do cut Brian's, but please, that hardly counts).






I've also tried putting "pretties" in her hair (little barrettes), but she takes them out the moment we get in the car and I can inevitably only find one of them. Any advice on taming the toddler mane would be appreciated...

A reunion of sorts

Once upon a time, Brian was a kid in Small Town, Kentucky. And there was a family who lived next door, whose kids were the same age as Brian and his brother, and they grew up together. They played, they traveled, they did scouts, and they crashed the neighborhood pool. Then they went away to college, got married, and had 2.2 kids. So now that everyone lives in Ohio and Kentucky again, we all met up in Cincinnati at the Children's museum for a reunion yesterday. It's really nice to spend time with people who were so influential in Brian's life, and to see how everyone is raising families of their own now. And of course, Katy had a BLAST. Including her cousins (some of her favorite people), there were 6 kids in attendance, and she loved the museum. She could've stayed there for days. Here are some highlights: (in the photo above, one family is missing. We were bummed that they had to leave early, but 'tis the season for sick kiddos)

I think it's a rule that every Children's museum has a place where it's impossible to keep your kid dry...

Katy's cousins Kimmy and Leah were at her side the entire afternoon, helping her through every adventure...they are very good cousins (and will be good babysitters someday??!)

Mmmm...sketties...we only had a brief meltdown, but I expected we wouldn't get through the day without one.

And this was the highlight of the day: Katy kept saying "more side, more side..."

A leetle more bargain talk, a random question, and an apology

I promise this won't become a trend on this blog - always talking about the latest deals I've gotten - but I just have to tell you about this CVS'ing thing I've picked up on - and then I'll shut up! I swear!!

On the Money Saving Mom blog that I mentioned the other day, the author talks alot about CVS, and how she basically "works the system" to get all of her toiletries and some groceries for FREE. I'm not kidding, you should see some of the stash she gets - huge piles of stuff for 75 cents, etc. So she teaches people how to do this in a little thing she calls "CVS 101" on her site. So I read it, and I decided to try it for a couple of months and see if it works for us, and if it's worth the effort. It's a lot of work and planning and thinking ahead about stuff that you may need in the next 6 months, etc. And to get it for free, you do have to do some coupon clipping, of which I am not in the habit of doing. But even without coupons, you can get some really good deals. So last night I went and felt like I had succeeded in working the system. The cashier told me that it was like organized crime. Here's why:

I got:

6 12-packs of Diet Pepsi

1 8 oz. bottle of Purell hand sanitizer

1.5 liter bottle of CVS mouthwash plus extra small bottle

1 stick men's Speed Stick deordorant

This is a total of $44 worth of merchandise at regular price. I paid $10 out of pocket, and I got $15 in Extra Care Bucks, which is like cash to spend at CVS on your next purchase. So it's kinda like I made $5 on the deal. And seriously, some of the women over at the MSM blog would've gotten all this for about 15 cents and somehow made $30 in Extra Care Bucks, but I'm still learning. Isn't it intriguing?

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So yesterday I met this dad of 2 young boys, and upon noticing my belly, he asked me when I was due.

"March," I replied.

"Oh, really? March what?"

"26th"

"Oh...(sly grin)...so maybe March, maybe April."

Ok - why would someone say this? Okay, yes, technically, this baby could be born in April. And the thought has occurred to me. But would you say to a pregnant woman, "Hehehe...you might go more than a week overdue...you sucker."?

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Finally, I was just looking over my posts for January, and it appears that I've been doing a lot of rambling and not as much reporting about my cute little toddler. So sorry about that, I will make a concious effort to capture some good material over the next week. More to come!