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Baby Mine

I am sitting on Joshua’s bed as Jonah lays across me, nursing ardently before bed.  The room is dark, his blankie lays across his chest, and he is focused on the task at hand.  I’ve got one arm under his shoulders, and one arm under his bum, and his long no-longer-a-baby-legs hang off my lap and dangle heavily in the space between the bed and the floor.

How did it come to pass that my baby no longer fits snugly in my arms?  It seems like yesterday that his little body barely spanned the width of my chest when he curled against me to nurse.

Sleepily he reaches out with his left arm and grabs my hair, running his hand the length of it.  He pushes my face to the side so he can get to my ear, makes a grab at my earring.  Recreational activities, fighting sleep while he nurses.  Funny baby, I am still his favorite toy.  I am wearing my glasses tonight and he gets them about half off of my face before I can pry his fingers off of them.  Giving up, he turns his attention to his own ear – like his older brother, he plays with it when he’s tired.

I kiss his face and stroke his hair, I kiss his little fingers and bury my lips in his chubby cheeks.  I love my sweet baby boy so much it hurts.  Just yesterday I was complaining as I was pumping out a bottle of milk so Bobby and I could go out, but I will be sad when he weans. He’s my last little nursey baby.

How did he get so big? He will be 13 months old this week.  Soon he will be too busy to cuddle his mama, to play with my hair, to want to be mine and to want me to be his.

He unlatches himself and gives me a milky, sleepy smile.  I squeeze him tight, kiss those pink cheeks again, and gently place him in his crib with his bevy of blankies.  He rolls over, gripping one tightly.

Good night, baby mine.  Try not to grow too much tonight while you sleep.

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I am in an abusive relationship with my keychain.

Man, you can tell from the title that this post is going to be a winner.

It’s true – my keychain is abusive. It hurts me and I keep coming back.

Here’s the offender:

Not that you can tell from that fine piece of photography, but it is made of a thin wire rope. Quite frequently a strand of the rope breaks, and a tiny, unnoticeable metal splinter pops up and pokes the crap out of my hand. It is super awesome… I’ll be walking along, minding my own business when I reach for my keys and stab myself. It draws blood! And also lots of cuss words.

This will happen three or four times in a row, and each time, I vow to buy a new keychain. But then that particular pokey part will break off, and the keychain doesn’t hurt me anymore. So memories of my wounds fade, and I begin to think that my keychain is not so bad. Eventually, I forget to buy a new one.

And then, for no particular reason, it will turn against me and sprout a new needle. I curse and bleed and vow to throw it in the trash, but then…

It’s a vicious cycle, really. If I had to guess, I’d say it has been going on for a year. That’s right, I’ve been carrying around a keychain that regularly makes me bleed for a year.

As my dad would tell me, I have rocks in my head.

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Things I Love Thursday: Sedu Hairstyling Products

I hate my hair.

I addition to it being not curly but not straight, gray, and all around annoying, it is so thin on the top front of my head.

It makes me cringe to call attention to it, but take a look…

The thin part on the top of my head is the bane of my existence. I’ve been trying to do things that will make it better (or at least hide it)… vitamins, different shampoo, styling products, etc. A year or so ago I discovered something that did help quite a bit – highlights. I had resisted highlights for so long because frankly I was cheap, but once I got them I was hooked. So every few months, I grit my teeth and hand over my credit card to the girl at the salon. Expensive? Sure. Worth it? Definitely.

I’ve come to terms with the expense. Just recently I told my sister that the only way I’ve found to make my hair situation better is to throw money at it. It was then that I had a revelation – I was getting pricey cuts and color and using high-end hair goo, but I was using cheap hair appliances every day. My hair dryer and straightening iron together probably didn’t cost $50, and it seemed entirely possible that better models would produce better results. I started scouring the internet and found folica.com. Not only do they have every hair tool anyone could ever possibly need, the customer reviews are amazing. These people are serious about their hair! Since I was clueless, the reviews were a big help to me.

I reached out to the people at folica and they were nice enough to send me the Sedu Revolution Pro Tourmaline Ionic 4000i (say that 5 times fast) hair dryer for review.

This hair dryer is definitely an investment – the regular price is $200 (although it’s on sale for $159.99 right now), but I love it. It is a serious machine – according to the website, the air comes out at 80 mph. It has an on/off button for the ionic generator, which is great when you’re going for a smooth, straight look, but not so much when you’re looking for volume. It’s got 6 different speed/heat settings and a cool blast button as well.

I can seriously tell a difference in my hair when I use this dryer, as compared to my drugstore model. I’m not sure how to describe it, but it leaves my hair more fluffy (in a good way) and full, which is critical for hiding my thin spots! I also love how quickly and thoroughly it dries. Kate has really thick hair (lucky girl) that’s below her shoulders, and most of the time she and I lose interest in getting her hair dry when it’s about half way there… the Sedu Revolution cuts the time it takes in half, so she is no longer going to bed with a wet head.

I liked this new hair dryer so much that I asked Andy to buy me a professional-grade flat iron as a Christmas present (and by asked I mean sent him a link with a coupon code for $25 off if he ordered it that day. Which he didn’t. So I did. He stuck it in a gift bag on Christmas Eve, though, so it was still technically a present). After scouring Folica for the perfect model, I decided on a Sedu 1.5 inch flat iron.

The flat iron came in a set with clips, a heat mat, Sedu Antifrizz Polishing treatment (which I am obsessed with) and a black clutch for travel. It’s regularly $244.98 (*gulp*) but thanks to some CRAZY sales they had going on, I managed to score it for about $80. Even that is about 4 times what I’ve ever spent on one before, but it is worth every penny. It makes my hair so straight and smooth, I feel like I just came out of the salon.

These new toys have made such a difference in how I feel about my hair and about myself as I head out the door every morning. Like I said – Expensive? Sure. Worth it? Definitely.

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I’m linking up to Things I Love Thursdays at the Diaper Diaries!

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