New on Etsy: Unbutton and nurse your baby!

Just listed these little mamas in my Etsy shop. They are the first in a new collection of mamas I am making. These mamas are much smaller than my previous ones and are necklace charms instead of ornaments. The perfect accessory to wear to a nurse-in, breastfeeding support group, or everyday. More will be listed later--hopefully by tonight. Unbutton and nurse your baby!

And a shout-out to my mom: the buttons are from Grandma's button box. Thanks Mama!

I cut my own hair (with pictures)

I have needed a haircut for months. I hate going, though. It costs around $20 (after tip) for me to get a simple dead-end trim, and I refuse to accept that this is the way it has to be. I mean maybe if I was getting a whole new style I could see paying that much, but I just need two inches trimmed off, people! I'm not into expensive hairdos. I've never even had my hair dyed.

It's not just the money. I had a stylist I really liked and never thought I'd go anywhere else. She did a better job with my hair than most anyone I'd ever been to. Then one day she got sloppy. Her cuts weren't as good. I kept going until she started chit-chatting with the other ladies in the shop about how one of her relatives was such a lousy mom--for doing most of the things I think are good parenting practices. I never went back there again. I don't enjoy cattiness in a salon environment.

Nor do I enjoy having to explain that no, I do not want my hair shampooed, because I in fact never use shampoo. So just wet it please. I'd rather skip that whole conversation. Jordan teases that I "don't like talking to people," but that's not true! I do like talking to some people.

There is one lady right here in my town who has always done a great job on my hair and has very reasonable prices, but she is always booked solid for a few days whenever I call. For me, haircuts are emotionally cleansing and when I need one I need it NOW NOW NOW!

Anyway, my hair had been long and tangly and past ready for a spring trim. My split ends had split ends. So when we got home today, I ran upstairs with the scissors from my sewing kit and cut my hair. What did I have to lose? I was going to get a haircut one way or another. If my hair looked like crap I'd just go to a professional in a day or two, admit I so foolishly thought I could cut it myself, and pay the $20.

It turned out okay, though.

Before:

See how uneven it is anyway after it grows out for a while? How much worse could I possibly make it?

I wet my hair under the faucet on the tub and brushed it, then clipped up almost all of it on top of my head. I trimmed a couple of inches off the lowest section.

Then I held up each higher section to the lower one and trimmed it to match. Also, I angled the front pieces toward my face. This was the hardest part and I'm pretty certain I didn't do that great of a job. I'm also pretty certain it's not that noticeable.

Here's how it looked after a quick blow-dry. Looks a little uneven in the picture but it's really not. I checked that.

I like to play with my hair after a cut. So, hair accessory: yes or no? A little too Alice-in-Wonderland? (Alice is actually my middle name.) Jordan likes this hairdo.

Savings analysis: If you consider how much I'd be saving per year by cutting my own hair, it's not much. I only get my hair cut three times a year or so, which would come to around $60 a year. Less if I go to Great Clips. However, if you go by Amy Dacyczyn's method (from the Tightwad Gazette) of calculating savings per hour, it's pretty worthwhile. It took me a little less than an hour. Let's just say I spent one hour cutting my hair to save the $20 I would've paid to have it cut--and either way I would've spent that hour getting a haircut. $20 an hour and no time lost? I think I'll keep doing it. So long, Great Clips.

Gasp! Oh my goodness!

Last night we decided to do a bit of grocery shopping. We picked up bread, a Bi-Lo Meal Deal and a couple of other things. Then we went over to the peanut butter aisle and I saw it.

There was an audible intake of breath. "Oh my goodness!"

My heart beat faster. Every bad thing that had happened to me during the past week faded into nothing as my brain flooded with warm fuzzy happiness.

There were other shoppers around too who may or may not have been staring and laughing, but I didn't notice any of them.

It was just me there, alone with...

...the really really big jar of Nutella.

Here is how it compares to the regular jar (which, as you can see, I have scraped dry):

26.5 ounces of pure heaven. All I need now is a giant wooden spoon, my recliner and a good magazine. And maybe a glass of milk. Ohhhhhh it's so good.

Little Ivey D, has it been 9 months already?

I have been so slack in posting about her milestones!

In the past month or two, we have had:

1) Teeth! There are two of them!

2) Real crawling

3) The ability to go from one thing to another unassisted; basically, to play all by herself for a few minutes at a time (welcome back, my sanity!)

4) Pulling up on furniture and starting to cruise

5) Saying "hey," "mama," "dada," and shaking her head no

6) Waving--this started at the beach with my cousin Tricia

7) Pee-pee in the Baby Bjorn potty! EC is going somewhere!

8) My mom swears Ivey kissed her but she hasn't done it again since

Also, Ivey has started eating. She isn't too enthusiastic about it, but she will definitely decide for herself to take a bite or two of banana, chew and swallow. It's real eating--not the shovel it in, shovel it back in routine we foolishly did with Suzi. So far she's sampled a few different things but banana is the only thing she's eaten a significant amount of. My mom gave her plain baked potato at dinner the other night and she liked that. We don't trouble ourselves with making her three meals a day or anything yet, but we do give her opportunities to eat, especially when we're eating something she'd enjoy.

Days around here have gotten a little more tolerable with Ivey's ability to entertain herself. She can crawl around on the rug, sit up and play with a toy, pull up on the coffee table to see what she can find on it, and help herself to the toy box to see what strikes her fancy. She's getting too busy to yell at me anymore, unless she wants to be held or I try to stop her from doing something or change her diaper or have the gall to think I can put her down after I've nursed her to sleep. We still do have bad days, but I think things are starting to get better!

The other day I went to visit Carey and Caryn (my midwife and childbirth educator) and we discussed how it would help a lot to babyproof the whole area for Ivey. I did that for Suzi and now it's time to do it again.

And here are a few more pictures...

Little

Last night I had a few minutes while the girls were both asleep and Jordan was watching a movie, and I decided to see how tiny a clay mama I could make.

So far, this tiny.

She fits on my pinky nail.

I like her.

Then I tried to brainstorm a way to wear this little mama. What could I string her on? Hemp is a little too much. A silver chain is too fancy. Embroidery floss, while not my first choice, was a good start. I began making a regular bracelet, but a quarter of the way through I realized it was going to be little because I didn't cut the pieces long enough. Besides, it was looking an awful lot like a friendship bracelet and I'm not sure if people over 13 should wear friendship bracelets. So I told Suzi I was making her a bracelet and she was excited.

She told me she loved the bracelet--and me.

:-)

Happy Mother's Day!

So I finally went to the chiropractor and...

So far I am impressed. Although I always could have benefited from it, I was never inclined to seek chiropractic care because it had been ingrained in me from a young age that chiros are quacks. I think part of it may be the south, where anything new or unfamiliar is seen by many as dangerous, people are stubborn and loyal to their medical docs, and suffering is borne like a cross with some pain pills to take the edge off.

But the other day I woke up unable to turn my neck very far in any direction. It hurt. I couldn't even look down at the baby while she nursed. I had a cold too and worried on and off if I had meningitis. I had been planning to go see Carey at her new office but I couldn't drive and felt awful so I called to cancel and she encouraged me, for like the seventh time, to go see a chiropractor. I had been meaning to go for a long time but had financial concerns and just never got around to it. But this neckache had me calling Dr. Wickiser's office and begging for an appointment that day. I had to wait (they were in the middle of moving their office) and finally had my first adjustment yesterday.

When Dr. Wickiser showed me the x-rays, it was obvious things were a bit off. My spine was curved so that one shoulder was significantly higher than the other. (I wore my backpack on one shoulder as a child because that is what the cool kids did. I was not a cool kid so I don't know why I did it.) My neck, instead of curving forward, goes in a straight diagonal line forward. He told me my head was too far forward and the unnecessary strain of holding it up in the awkward position was hurting my back. Bottom line, my posture has always SUCKED and I thought it was because I was too lazy to stand up straight. I tried and tried! People told me to stand up straight and I could, for a while, but it actually made my back hurt to do it.

Then I got my first adjustment (actually three separate ones), which was a little nervewracking but not bad at all once I realized it wasn't going to be a big deal. It was no more traumatic than popping a finger. Dr. Wickiser said it would be normal to feel nothing, to feel sore, or to feel better so I walked hopefully out of the office wondering which it would be. By the time I got to my mom's house I realized I was sitting up straighter. Holding the good posture that I'd been after for years was actually easier. My mom told me I was sitting up so straight it looked weird and that's probably because she's watched me slouch all my life! There are several little differences I notice after that first adjustment, but in general it's easier to stand up straight than it is to slouch. I feel like a swan or a giraffe or some other long-necked animal.

I am also a bit sore and looking forward to my next adjustment, which is tomorrow. I'll be going in quite frequently for a while, and then I'll continue to go for maintenance visits. I'm excited to see how I feel in a few months!