Sounds like a personal problem to me!

Okay, this is a weird topic. This has certainly never happened to ME before.....

....I think my hair is mildewy! EEEWWW! I am serious here! I cannot figure it out...

I did hear of this happening to a missionary friend previously----she had really thick, curly hair, and she lived in the tropics, for crying out loud! Right now it is forty degrees in the Lone Star State. Sheesh!

I am in a "long hair" season right now. You know what I mean---every few years, I grow my hair out, then after a couple years I get tired of it and bored, or I think I look frumpy, so I cut it off again so I can feel sleek and chic for awhile.....and then I get bored with only being able to wear it ONE way, so I grow it again......etc etc etc etc. You know the drill!!

Right now my hair is actually probably longer than it has been in quite some time. A week or so ago, I noticed a strange smell one day when I let my ponytail down. I had washed it that morning, blowdried it mostly-dry, and put it up out of my face. That night, I felt like it smelled strange when it fell towards my face when I let the ponytail down.

I asked Scott to smell my hair. Mistake number one! This man LOVES the way my hair smells when I return home from having it chemically worked on at the salon, okay? He did not notice any odd smells.....but *I* still did several days later!

Today, the same thing happened again! I dried it mostly-dry, put half of it up in a barrette, and went about my day. In the afternoon, I took the clip out, SAME THING! I asked my mom and Larry to smell it, and let's just say my mom was a bit over-the-top in her melodramatic reaction.

My hair is mildewed.
Anyone have any suggestions???
This really stinks!

Today's Quote

Okay, here's a great chuckle to start off your morning!

I was reading another blog this morning, another homeschooling mom, and her blog offered a chance to win a copy of the "Grammar Key" software. I was just pondering how best to instruct my two young men about the intricacies of grammar yesterday, so I was thrilled to see this contest---giving away 25 copies! (Guess that's a good chance, huh?).

The twins entered the room and asked what I was doing---I told 'em.
Patrick said, "What's 'grammar'?"

.....and Matthew answered, "It's the opposite of 'redneck'!"

(I don't think I need to make ANY more editorial comment on THAT one!! snort!).
:)

If at First You Don't Succeed.....

I am so happy tonight!

My dear friend from another list had her VBAC today! It is her 5th baby, and her 4th child was a truly emergent c/section (one of the few!) because of the threat of cord prolapse due to polyhydramnios (sp?). She emailed this morning a bit after 7:30 that she was having regular contractions and hoped it was the Real Deal, and her baby was born at 12:28 p.m.!!!

WOW!

I am sooooo relieved for her that she VBACed successfully. I guess part of ME is always really NERVOUS, having had FOUR stinkin' c/sections---and two of those were CBACs!

I'm wondering if there is a mental block for those of us who have never had a vag birth?Do you think that it presents a different challenge? Does the fear of the unknown hang us up somehow???I mean, my friend KNEW she could do it, because before her c/s she had successfully pushed out three babies.

I don't know if I'm making sense.....
I'm not even pregnant right now, but I think about this EVERY DAY.
I wonder EVERY DAY what will I do next time?
I question my past births EVERY DAY, and analyze what I might do differently next time....

Then I deal with all those around me who blindly (ignorantly?) schedule their inductions, not realizing or maybe not admitting that it GREATLY increases their chances of surgery. A friend of my mom has a pregnant teenage daughter who plans to induce her baby next week if it hasn't come by her due date!!!!! I am so appalled. That young woman could be changing her entire birthing future, having NO IDEA what her life holds down the road, how many babies she might have, or how many surgeries she could end up with because TODAY she is an impatient teenager who want to have Christmas pictures with her newborn.....I surely wish that *I* had never scheduled that induction with my first pregnancy!!! Four surgeries later, here I am moaning about it at midnight like a war veteran with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder!!!
...sigh.....
I really should stop ranting and GO TO BED! I think that's the best idea.......

At any rate, I am surely REJOICING for my friend Chelsey----welcome to the world, Baby Noah!!! Happy BIRTHday!

Laughing all the way, HA HA HA!!!

My children were busily writing letters for Language Arts assignment today. We have several people we needed to encourage (namely a nephew in the Army, currently serving in Iraq!). As they wrote, they frequently asked questions about spelling and grammar.

Patrick asked, "Mom, do we always capitalize the word 'Christmas'?"

"Yes, always!" I answered. "Can you guess why?"

The twins both answered in unison, "Because of His name, 'Christ'!!".

Always curious, Patrick had a new question: "Do we capitalize 'merry'?"

Again I said, "Yes, usually we do."

"OH!" he said, nodding in understanding "because it's his MOM's name, right?"

I couldn't help it. I cracked up! heehee

"..and the Conscientious Mom Award goes to--!"

My sweet girl, playing with things MEANT to be played with!!! heehee

Okay, this may not sound as funny READING it as HEARING it, but I hope I can adequately communicate the scenario.

This evening, I was home alone with Rachael briefly while Scott drove the other four children to the church to Royal Rangers/ Missionettes. I have a favorite chair in our den, that has a nice big matching ottoman, which is where our babies usually end up getting diaper changes.

Just after everyone left, I changed Rachael's diaper, and then I just laid back in my chair while she played for a few minutes around the ottoman. She bent down and picked up what I thought was a rock Jason found a few days ago that happened to be shaped and sized just like a matchbox car. She played with it, put it on the ottoman, played with it some more...

....meanwhile, I was thinking to myself "Wow, I sure can smell that diaper I changed! I guess I'll have to take out the trash...didn't think it would be so strong!".

Just as this train of thought progressed, I continued watching Rachael playing with the rock, and suddenly it broke in half! I sat up in shock that she could break apart the rock, only to realize that my daughter was PLAYING WITH A PIECE OF POO-POO that had fallen out of the diaper while I was changing it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I really don't know what else to say!
You never saw a baby's hands get scrubbed so fast!
I antibacterialized EVERYTHING in sight!
I emptied the trash!
...and then I realized how HILARIOUS this was and fell apart laughing until I cried. Of course Rachael joined me belly-laughing, which made it even funnier, because SHE had no idea with what she had been playing!!!

Just thought I'd dispel any thoughts of anyone nominating me for "Mommy of the Year" in 2007. Better luck next year! ;)

"Would you like fries with that?"

My former nursling and his sisters

I am definitely a supporter of long term breastfeeding. In fact, I have become quite the "Crunchy Mama" as my mothering career has progressed! I never knew I had it in me, haha. I breastfed my twins until they were close to three years old, and Natalie nursed until she was 18 months old (had to quit unexpectedly due to a NASTY yeast infection and Jason's imminent birth---had to heal up to nurse the newborn!).

I have nursed through my last two pregnancies, and until recently, Jason was still happily nursing, albeit only at bedtime. In July, I started preparing him for The End. I would say, "Jay, you are such a big boy! Just think, next month you will be THREE YEARS OLD! Wow! You will be so big, you won't need to nurse anymore---so after your birthday, no more nursing!". I told him this every night, while he was having his bedtime nurse. I thought he was "getting it". He would nod and agree that he was too big to keep on nursing.

When his birthday rolled around in August, he was indignant at the mere suggestion that he couldn't continue to nurse! He acted shocked and totally unprepared for this transition......I was disappointed, and beginning to be a bit frustrated. (After awhile, you know, you just kind of want your body back SOMEWHAT---and of course Rachael will still be nursing for a long time). Being the crunchy mama that I have become, I gritted my teeth and followed the advice of the LaLeche League: "Don't offer, but don't refuse." We continued our nursing relationship.

Finally, about a week ago, Crunchy Mama had had ENOUGH! I told Jason one night that he had one week left, and then that was IT. No more nursing!! I held my ground, too, even though for three agonizing nights he threw unbelievable oscar-winning fits at bedtime---AND told me "Mommy, I am mad at you! I do not love you anymore! You told me 'no more nursing'!". It is NOT fun for your sweet, adorable, normally affectionate 3 year old to tell Mommy he does not love her! My heart was breaking!.....but after about 3 days he got over it, and resolved himself to this new level of maturity. (He even told me he loves me again, whew!).

Last night as I was putting Natalie and Jason to bed, he asked me to lie down and snuggle with him for a minute. I climbed into the bottom bunk with him, having just finished clearing up the dinner dishes and putting the food away.

Jason said, " Mmmmm, Mommy, you smell good!"
I said, "Do I smell like dinner?"
He immediately said, "No, your nurses smell YUMMY!!!! The mommy milk smells good!"

I was crying I laughed so hard!
(I won't even get into where the conversation ended after that---let's just say I heard a long rendition of ALL our friends and family members, and which ones are blessed enough to have a male body part, HA!).

Out of the Mouths of Babes!!!

Here's an interesting (and ENCOURAGING for Mama Bee!!!) conversation we had in our van yesterday afternoon:

We were on our way to a picnic/playdate with some friends at the park. Patrick was playing with some coins he had discovered in the van seat. He asked, "Mom, why does our money say 'in God we Trust' on it?".

I answered, "Well, you remember as we began studying the history of America, our country was founded by Godly men who wanted this to be a Christian nation. They founded our country on God's Word and His principles. Unfortunately, we have gotten away from much of their plan!".

Matthew jumped in, asking, "Why have we gotten away from it, Mom?".

I said, "Because as humans, we have gotten away from God's wisdom and begun to think that we should depend upon our own wisdom."

Patrick immediately said, "Then that's NOT wisdom, that's self-righteousness!!".

Whoa!
I was so impressed with this astute observation, I am still pondering it!
Maybe SOME of the stuff I say *is* getting through??!!!! :)