Adventures In Hair

The adventure really comes down to having enough bribes and just the right shows and movies to get us through.  I would do her hair all day long if I could, but its the begging to let me finish "just one more twist" that will drive me crazy.  She really does great most of the time.  This took 10ish hours and I would say 9 out of the 10 were smooth sailing.  She is a tv junkie, so getting to watch tv all day while I do her hair is a great privilege.  But that one hour was enough to give me a pulmonary. 

The idea was for me to do a great hair style that would last for weeks into my recovery.  This should do the trick.  Then when we take them out it should give me at least one more week of awesome twist outs.  I'm sort of giddy about what that will look like.  I love twists. 

Mezmur picked out the rainbow yarn.  I thought it would make it extra fun for her.  The goal is for her to love her hair and she sure loves her hair right now...especially the rainbow yarn. 

 

 I love that girl and her hair.

Me Now

No.  I'm not pregnant.  I just have the largest diastasis ever seen.  So large it "acts like a hernia."

Twenty days from today...it will be gone.  And my body will be replaced with the body I'm supposed to have.  I have to put it like that otherwise...it sounds like I'm pretty vain.  It is a cosmetic surgery after all.  It is "not medically necessary to repair."  Apparently, living with a huge whole in my belly allowing my organs to push forward protected only by a layer of "too thin" tissue is no biggie.  The only pain I get is from standing for too long.  My back starts to hurt and don't even get me started on when my bed mate (Mavis and Dan, but I'm talking about Mavis) kicks me in the stomach!  Yowza. 

I feel like the last eight years (It did get much worse after Mavis, but it has been since after Rhett) is just a season of my life and it's about to end! If only the medical field and insurance companies weren't run by men...then, maybe I wouldn't have to pay a crazy amount out of pocket for a necessary surgery.  Yes, half is covered (Which happened with a lot of work and effort from us.), but the other half is a tummy tuck (Which is a very necessary part of the surgery...trust me.) and nowhere in the history of tummy tucks will insurance cover it.  Which doesn't seem fair to someone like me where it is necessary because of a medical issue, but whatevs.  I'm just a lowly woman who chose to have a couple of biological children.

 

Right now I feel a combination of over the top giddiness and over the top nervousness.  I'm just nervous of the recovery...will it be quick and painless or linger on for months (or even a year as I hear is possible)?

 

One thing that has been super annoying over this season of my life are all the other woman who say, "That's what I have!"..as I look at their flat stomach.  No.  I am not trying to say I have it worse than anyone else, just that I'm an individual and what I have is unique to only me.  The most fun I've had with this situation was at Dan's work Christmas party.  There was a very pregnant woman who couldn't keep her eyes off of me and all the wine I was drinking.  Ha.

Rhett Turns Eight

R H E T T    T U R N S    E I G H T !

This is his "on" year for a birthday party.  He chose a Harry Potter themed party, but wanted to watch a movie with his friends.  No pinata, no games, no dressing up like your favorite character...that is all so "babyish" to this eight-year-old.

We decorated the cupcakes with Golden Snitches that we made out of Ferraro Rocher candy.  The party favors?  We went to Portland's Peculiararium for the party favors.  We searched for the most Harry Potterish things and we came home with 9 boxes of edible bugs, viles of unicorn boogers, and death mints. 

Rhett and I printed out some Harry Potter labels.  The kids got such a kick out of the Butter Beer labels!  It's the simple things, I guess.

Our Vernon owl fit the Harry Potter theme nicely.

I found this Hedwig at Goodwill a couple of months ago.  Rhett is not into stuffed animals anymore, but he liked this one.

Hedwig watches over the Snitches.  I tried to frost the cupcakes with gold and maroon...you know, Gryffindor colors, but they turned out orange and purple.  No one cared...I even let it go.  I also made the cupcakes from a box.  I've come a long way people....

We borrowed a projector and watched the movie on a big sheet in the Living Room.  It definitely made watching a movie more fun.  This was the storm before the quiet.  All nine boys watched the first hour of the movie without making a peep.  Then slowly...we lost them.  I would say only four watched the whole movie.  I still call the party a success!  Rhett had fun, although he doesn't show us that he is having fun these days.  A sign of weakness?

One boy ate the bugs!  I tried to tell Rhett that Henry's new nickname should be Cricket, but he thought I was being "dumb."

The day before his birthday we let him open his present.  Just look at that face...the face of a boy getting just what he's always wanted...the thing that "all" of his friends have.  The thing that I hated buying for him, but...look at that happy boy.  A Wii.

This boy is happy with it too.

 Rhett didn't want us to sing "happy birthday" to him, he didn't want me to bring treats to his class ("that's what all the little stupid girls do"), and his morning request was his very own latte.  Eight going on thirteen. 

He requested Pok Pok chicken wings for his birthday dinner.  He has very good taste and is very mature these days...until I tell him he has to get off the Wii.