For Love or Money

I have an inner battle going on. Here's how it started.

My sister told me she was planning to chop off all her hair. I gasped, "WHAT?!? Your long, beautiful hair that you just learned how to curl so perfectly? Why would you want to chop it all off?!?"

"I'm sick of it." She told me. "I'm always fighting against it when I'm holding my kids and it gets yanked on and I'm ready to donate it again."

We've done this before, you know. Maybe you don't know. But now you know we've donated our hair at the same time once before. Then we bonded when our creepy Locks of Love gratitude cards came in the mail.

I hung up the phone appalled for so many reasons. First, I couldn't believe she was going to chop her hair. Second, I couldn't believe she was going to do it WITHOUT ME!

She called me after it was done and told me how liberating it was to not have her hair constantly tangled in baby fingers. She told me she felt light and free.

The next week I noticed all the times Carson yanked on my hair. When I unsuspectingly found a short hairstyle I thought was adorable (ignore that Nicole Richie is the one sporting it):

I decided it was time to follow in my sister's footsteps and chop the required 10" off my hair for Locks of Love.

I hate my hair. I really do. I look like an Egyptian and don't tell me I don't. I refuse to wear my hair  down since the chop, so I'll live a life of nubby ponytails for the next several months until I can figure out how to unCleopatra my hair.

Anyway, hair grows. Here's my real dilemma: My ponytail has been haunting me.

It's been (I kid you not) sitting on my kitchen counter for the last week. I've been busy and haven't had the time to send it away to Locks of Love. And perhaps my subconscious is putting off finding that...delightful card in my mailbox.

With my deceased ponytail staring at me, one night I googled "sell my hair."

Twenty minutes later I discovered I could make around $200 for my locks.

So now I'm torn. I feel like a terrible person if I don't give my hair away. But hey...200 bucks. That could ease my conscience. Tell me you won't judge me if I don't give my hair to some poor, innocent child suffering a hair loosing disease who really needs my hair.

Or there's Option C -- Save my hair for when I inevitably get cancer and need a wig. Then my wig will be made out of my own hair! How awesome would that be?

Who knew getting a haircut was such a character assessment? I have a feeling my hair is going to be spending a few more weeks in the kitchen until I get this all sorted out.

The Big Cheese

How would I sum up Carson's Tenth month of life in one picture? I happen to have just the one:

Snotty, crabby, clingy and sick. For about the last three weeks. Get us out of winter already!!!

A few happy moments have managed to slip in here and there. Like that week he was obsessed with the couch and spent hours climbing and giggling all over it.

Carson is such a cheese ball! His personality has really bloomed this month and he's a goofy little guy! For example, this morning he woke up and gave me a series of irresistible expressions. Good thing I had my camera handy!

 (Dropped his cup and was trying to say "Uh-Oh" but can only ever get the "Uh" out.

 There hasn't been too much change in this month versus last month, but here are a few things:

• Sleeping through the night. Traveled well to Grandma and Grandpa Excell's house.
• Went swimming for the first time!
• Loves playing on the stairs.
• Stands on his own for longer periods of time.
• Loves the dishwasher.
• Eats a banana every morning for breakfast. Becoming a picky eater. Boo.
• Takes two naps a day.
• Got two more bottom teeth!
• Shakes his head at music...or basically any noise.

We love our Big Cheese.

Boys Rule

I have cute boy pictures to show you! Eli has turned into quite the artist lately. He discovered water colors one day while visiting the Golden family. They were such a hit, I decided it was time to purchase our first water color set.

One day I went into Carson's room to spy on him during one of his naps. He must have fallen asleep in the middle of his yoga workout.

Eli wore a bucket on his head for an entire day over Christmas break. He earned himself the nickname "Bucket Head." He continues to live up to his nickname:

I meant to buy Eli a nice train set for Christmas. I made the mistake of ordering his "big" Christmas train set online. When we got it, it was a little, dinky train set that held his interest for two minutes. I decided to make up for my Christmas mistake by buying Eli a real train set to get us through all these winter storms. He hasn't spoken to me since we got the train out of the packaging, he's been too busy playing. Success!

 Be prepared to be creeped out - One day last week I was getting ready to go to the store with the boys. I checked under Eli's bed moments before we left, looking for one of his shoes. We piled in the car and went to the store. When we got back, I was the first one in the house and I walked past Eli's room to find this:

What?? I started shaking and checking all the corners of our home for the intruder who busted into Eli's room clearly looking for the sack of hundred dollar bills he keeps hidden under his bed.

I asked Eli if he tipped the bed over and he calmly replied, "Yes. I was looking for my airplane." 

Can a toddler really flip a bed over? Not to mention flip it over without me hearing a sound? I have yet to find a logical explanation for this incident. Any insight would be appreciated. 

Moving on...I am so happy Carson fits in 12-month clothes because now I can finally buy him and Eli matching outfits!! I found some pajamas at Target, and couldn't resist buying them when I found a pair in each of their sizes. I'm a sucker for matching sibling outfits!

We have 1:00 church now, so Eli and I spend our mornings bonding and being cute.

This is what Eli does when he gets thirsty during prayers.

Carson in happier times. He and I have been sick for the past two weeks.

My kids don't wear clothes in the winter. Or ever. So what? Look at those thighs! They're so much easier to pinch when he's mostly in the nude.

Eli's friend has started coming to play with us a few times a week. Eli and him share a birthday, and they're cute little friends.

I think Carson was happy while I was taking this picture, but he looks a little angry/possessed to me now.

Here's our happy cheese ball. Cheese Ball is Carson's new nickname. We also call him "Giant Baby." Not because he's particularly large (which he is), but because when Eli's playing with his cars and Carson starts stealing them, I try to turn it into a game where Carson is the giant baby attacking the city. Eli never caught onto my game, and instead thought "Giant Baby" was another nickname for Mr. Cheese.

Pardon my instagram repeats. As I said there, "Not many people know that Carson is a snake charmer."

The boys are getting to a fun age where they are starting to actually enjoy each other! I love when they make each other laugh, or when they figure out a game they can both play. Here are some quick things they do with each other right now that I want to remember:

• The moment Carson makes any kind of noise from his room after he's been down for a nap, Eli will look at me excitedly and scream, "CARSON'S AWAKE!!" Then he runs up to Carson's room, charges through the door and climbs into the crib with him. Both boys jump around and giggle for about ten minutes. 
• Eli cannot leave Carson alone while Carson is eating. He has to be right next to him, particularly at dinner, touching all of his food. 
• Their favorite games are peek-a-boo and chase. Eli chases Carson with various items, screaming like a wild man, and Carson thinks it's the funniest thing ever.
• Eli always pats Carson on the back and calls him, "Cute little baby." It's so sweet.
• Carson loves to crawl into Eli's bed with him while I read stories to Eli before his nap.
• Carson has started fighting back. If Eli hits Carson, Carson flails his arms at Eli with a lot of force and a lot of anger. I fear the black eyes in our future.
• Eli freaks out if Carson starts crawling up the stairs without me or Jeff right next to him.
• Carson can say Eli's name better than Eli can. Eli still hasn't figured out there's an "l" in his name. Eli only calls Carson by his actual name when he's mad at him. Otherwise he calls him "Baby" or another nickname.
• We had their carseats next to each other for a couple of days and they held hands most of the time we were in the car. 
• Eli bites Carson's finger every time I leave them alone together for more than two minutes.

They are cute.

Twenty-Five with Hives

Hola. It's me. I've been MIA. I blame my children.

I had a birthday. Shout, "Hooray!" I had to pluck these pictures out among 300, so be prepared to be hit with a lot of Lucky Number 8 posts.

Let me start by confessing to those I love most -- my blog followers -- that I have ventured out of my comfort zone and made another bold fashion statement. You know. Like scarf wearing. These things are big and blog worthy in my book. I bought red pants folks. And I wore said red pants on my b-day because I love them so much. This is what happens when you get called to work with the Young Women I suppose.

I can tell you now because a year has passed, but last year was probably my worst birthday ever. Eli was a pill the whole day. This year was a different story. The kids were angels. Maybe my red pants mesmerized them into cooperation.

Although the kids were good all day, we aren't the type to risk taking them out in public to test their good behavior. No, we prefer our Olive Garden at home where the kids are free to scream their guts out, thank you very much.

What is this? For me? You shouldn't have.

I kid you not, moments before I opened this gift, I had this conversation with Jeff:

Jeff: I'm so sore! I went to the gym today.

Me: I'm jealous you can be sore. I haven't worked out in forever. This snow is killing me.

Fast forward five minutes -- I'm unwrapping a gym membership! My husband can read my mind.

He also got me (and himself) a water bottle. He was a bit more excited about these than I was. Apparently they are super great for protein shakes which I think are disgusting. We don't have any water bottles though, so I'm happy to finally have some!

Next we moved to the kitchen where my mind-reading husband was finishing up some tasty cupcakes.

Twenty Five. 

I put off curtain orders on my birthday evening so I could cuddle up with Jeff and watch our favorite shows together. I got tired really early and kept complaining about being cold. Then the next morning I was hit with a fever. Let me tell you, it knocked me out for three full days. On the morning of day three, I began to grow concerned when I noticed a rash on my feet, knees, elbows and hands.

Of course I immediately thought I had Scarlett Fever. Then I thought I had Pneumonia. Then I thought I had hand, foot and mouth disease. Then when the rash started itching it was self-diagnosed as Shingles.

Fear not. I am alive. The rash eventually faded with my fever, and the only logical explanation I can come up with is that I got a heat rash from having a fever for so long?? Anyone else have any ideas? 

In other body related weirdness, I have recently sprouted sideburns:

Can someone contact Heidi Klum and tell her to send some sideburns down a runway for me so that I don't have to spearhead this cool trend all by myself?

There are certain things people never tell you about having a baby. This is one of them.

Since there is no hope of my hair being cute any time soon, I've been focusing all my energy on making over my house! Being cooped up all winter has me pacing around thinking of all the darling things I need to get done to spruce the place up. Then this little gem arrived on my birthday and now my mind is really racing:

I am not going to do a big reveal until we get everything done (probably in the summer), but I'll give you a little taste of my latest projects. 

I have been DYING to have big, bold, striped curtains. I finally figured out the perfect spot for them -- on our sliding glass door in the kitchen. I love, love, love them! They add a lot of spunk to the room and look a lot better than what was there before.

This curtain was hard to get a cute picture of. I wanted to add a little more color to our living room. The pop of burgundy on the walls did the trick! The curtains have two vertical ruffles going down.

Pinterest helped me give one of my plain vases some personality with a little twine. Love the way this turned out.

I also made a maxi skirt:

And today the boys blessed me with long naps, so I was able to make 12 freezer to crock-pot meals! Reeeeeeally hoping they turn out.

Yaaay for birthdays and projects. More to come!