Calling on Extreme Makeover: Hair Edition

Some days I just need to storm into the office bathroom, pull down my pony tail, and give my hair a big shake. Today was one of those days. I find myself falling into the most boring hair rut possible; take a shower in the morning, part it to the right, pull it back in a ponytail and spray. It’s fast, requires only half a sleepy eye open, and makes me feel slightly more professional than doing the “twist and flop” on the top of my head.

However today I looked in the mirror and screamed (in my mind of course) “GO CHANGE YOUR LOOK”. So I shook my hair out to let the natural curl come to life then fastened it back into a half pony tail letting most of the hair fall down my back. In my mind I always thought once I had a professional job that I would start blow drying and straightening daily including the light curl you see the Super Professionals with; in the morning trying to get two people ready and all their bags that never, ever happens. The days I do make an effort it seems to go almost unnoticed. My office is 70% men who if offered a steak dinner couldn’t even tell you what I wore yesterday.

I’m tempted to chop it all off into a short bob like I wore it a few years back but the constant ringing of “all women just chop off their hair and give up once they have a baby” resigns in my head too strong. The days I do wear it straight I love it but what about the other 25 days of the month? How can I rock professional hair while still savoring my hours of sleep?

Let me tell you bout' his best friends.

This weekend I’m looking forward to one thing; seeing Moses face when he walks into his Grammie’s house and realizes his most favorite friends are here.

Keira Catherine and Camden Michael aka KiKi & Cam! They are my sister’s children who now live in Georgia (as Moses so often reminds me) and he only gets to see them every couple of months. She sent this picture last week via text before they went swimming. I cannot believe how grown up they are seeing as I clearly remember holding both of them the day they were born!


Last time they came Moses told me for a week prior that when they got here he was going to share his “cupcakes” and celebrate “Mosey’s birthday” because that’s what they did together the previous time they came. Every day for a week after they left he would wake up in the morning and walk out into the hallway anticipating them to be sleeping in his playroom. His school teachers say he talks about them on a daily basis hoping he gets to go camping with them like we did last month. He even goes so far as to be the first people he prays for at night.


To avoid getting asked on an hourly basis about their arrival we have avoiding telling Moses they are coming this weekend. When he walks into Grammie’s house Saturday he is going to be so incredibly excited to see who’s visiting. We have a family cookout planned for Memorial Day and for the first time ever Grammie and PopPop have offered to host a cousin sleepover Sunday night! They are brave but the excitement among the kids will be worth it!

We go together like a horse and carriage.

Sometimes married life at our house goes something like this.

Davy: “Hmmm I can’t wait to have one of those cottage cheese fruit doubles”


…. “Is it okay if I have the pineapple one”.


Me: “Oh…I guess. That was my favorite one…”


Davy: “But I don’t like peach or blueberry”


Me: “Ok fine have it.”


He then proceeds to sit next to me on the couch and starts to eat it.


Davy: “Hmmm that was so good”


I look over and notice the cottage cheese is almost gone but the pineapple is practically all there.


Davy: “Do you want a bite?” as he scoops out the pineapple bits.


Me: “You didn’t eat the pineapple bits!”


Davy: “Not really”


Me: “Then why did you eat one…? Why didn’t you eat the cottage cheese in the big container?”


Davy: “It was all gone”


Me: “What about those small single containers”


Davy: “No more”


Me: “If you didn’t eat the fruit section then why did it matter what flavor you ate!”


He then quickly starts eating the pineapple bits


Davy: “Ok look I’m eating it”


If he was my roommate I would start considering looking at subleases for the summer.

Good or Great?

The choice to be good or great. It was part of Sunday’s church message and really spoke to me. I can choose to give a little or give a lot. I can choose to be comfortable in my routine or break free and do something even better. After the message yesterday we decided it was time to step up our game and start attending Wednesday night service. We stopped going once Moses got on a steady 8pm bedtime schedule in fear it would throw his week off. I work until 6pm which means I’ll have to get home, scarf dinner, and walk out the door for another 2 hours. We also have a deep love for Modern Family and if we are sitting in church there would be no way we could watch it at our normal time. On the other hand, what if we are putting schedules, TV shows, and laziness in way of something we are missing that could be amazing. What if we really need to hear those messages or spend that time fellowshipping but instead we are sitting on the couch feeding our flesh. Moses going to bed one hour later won’t kill him, I’ll be able to rest after church, and Modern Family streams all week long online….our lives won’t be over to sacrifice our routine. Church is only the cornerstone to this revelation; put the effort in to make my marriage, my friendships, my body, myself not good but great.

Snack Happened [Itzy Ritzy Review]

If you’ve been around Moses more than 2 hours you’ll know the boy loves to snack! His favorite is bananas followed by (in no particular order) Anne’s bunny, Anne’s gummies, Pirate Booty, cheese sticks, and Kashi cheerios (or if he’s at Grammies house it’s Goldfish, Cheezits, Ritz crackers, and anything else his heart desires). When he was younger we used a hard plastic snack holder with a rubber lid but found that it a. only held a small amount of snacks and b. didn’t keep crumbs from falling everywhere. Lately we’ve been using plastic baggies but more recently I’ve stumbled across something so brilliant; reusable snack bags!

They fit perfectly into our “going green” lifestyle by being economically and environmentally friendly. Think about how many plastic snack bags I could save by just using one reusable bag!

I was so happy Itzy Ritzy sent me their “Snack Happened” bag in Urban Jungle Blue for review this month. I knew the brand name from my niece’s adorable car seat cover but I had no idea all the other great products they made. Snack Happens bags are FDA approved, CPSIA compliant, PVC- free, lead –free, and BPA- free. They are 100% cotton exterior, polyester & PUL interior. I love the zipper top closure and water-resistant interiors to keep crumbs, drips & contents securely inside.

I LOVE that they are PUL lined for easy clean up and machine washable for those days you think toting around blueberries is a good idea. The bags are 7x7 inches and get this, can fit a banana inside! Do you know how much easier this makes life to have one bag holding Moses’ banana and bunnies? If you can’t already tell from the picture their fabrics are so beautiful; they range from childish to neutral to chic and everything in between. From the beautiful fabric, lined inside, and zipper closure it really feels nice to hold with the appearance of store bought and makes the purchase justifiable.

Moses has loved carrying his around and I even used it last week to bring strawberries into the movie theater (zipper = quiet snaking). Itzy Ritzy wants all Busyland’s readers to experience how great their bags are by offering 20% off promotion code for all the readers good until the end of the month at Itzy Rity's site. Just type in BUSYLAND11 when prompted! I'll update the post with pictures of Mosey and his new bag but for now I wanted to get it up so you could all have time to take advantage of the discount! Enjoy!

Rashy

This seems irrelevant to even talk about now but I want to document it while it’s still fresh in my mind. Moses has always had sensitive skin; when he was younger there was a constant drool rash (as seen at his first birthday) and it seems to never stopped… just spread. After being outside for 5 minutes he is the color of roses and hot hot hot.
Last month we went on a weekend camping trip were we were outside 90% of the time. I made sure to apply sunscreen but after a few hours playing outside the heat on his cheeks never went away. Later that afternoon Moses was complaining how bad his bottom hurt and actually scratched it so hard it started bleeding. I felt terrible thinking he got sunburned and was stuck in the heat of camping. We took extra good care of his skin the rest of the weekend but Monday morning it was still there.
For the next week and a half his face and bottom only got worse; turning rough and chapped but continuing to look fleshy and sore. We tried Aveeno lotion and soap, rash cream, Neosporin, Benadryl…anything we could think of that would bring relief to our baby. With the rash spreading all over his chest and back and no luck with home remedies we made an appointment with our Doctor who recommended a dermatologist.
The dermatologist was able to examine the rash and prescribed us two thick creams to treat him topically. That afternoon we did our first treatment and within minutes his face was looking better. Needless to say the entire house was happy to see it working. It’s now been one week and I’m happy to say everything has cleared up. The dermatologist also took a skin culture and it came back saying there was some type of bacteria causing this rash.
We thought about it and can only assume the bacteria came from the lake water he swam in while camping. The lake was also filled with tiny leeches and putting leeches + dirty lake water together makes me also certain it was the reason for Moses’ rash.

What new shoes do to my emotions

This is my baby; you know the 9lbs 1 oz 20 inch long little guy I held in my arms over 27 months ago? The one who had fewer than 5 teeth on his first birthday and didn’t know what it meant to sleep through the night for a very, very long time. Well here he is sitting on the sidewalk at parent drop off this morning; hands on his knees as he gives me a silly smile.

 Yep, he’s rockin’ an FSU hoodie like he’s in the freshman class of 2031 already…that’s if he doesn’t drag out his college days win another National Championship for the Seminoles. And those new shoes on his feet…they’re a size eight. Not a 5 or 6 or 7 but a size 8. Holding the shoe in my hand in the shoe department of Target I couldn’t believe his foot would actually fit into a these size 8 boats. There was a tiny matching pair sitting next to him that he quickly explained were “for Baby Lyla” (his newest cousin) and the big ones “were for Mosey”.

We’ve finally broken all middle of the night waking up and have mastered the art of snuggling in the morning. If he’s up too early but not tired enough to fall back asleep on his own he’ll crawl into my side of the bed. My arm still curls around him nicely and he lets me tuck him deep into my chest. Sometimes he’ll fall back asleep but most of the time he’ll lay there quietly and enjoy the last little bit of peace before the alarm goes off. He constructs sentences and knows how to climb into the bathtub. He remembers to pray for every person (and sometimes non living things) he knows nightly and spouts off every store he knows as we drive down the street. He swings a bat like a champ, throws a ball harder and farther than any 2 year old I know, and has even taken up golf. I’ll continue to say it every week of my life I cannot believe how grown up my baby is.