New year, new haircut

My hair had been bothering me for a bit. Probably getting a bit too long for me (it tends to look better a little shorter, even though I do like it long), getting really damaged with lots and lots and lots of split ends, and just seeming a little blah. So yesterday I decided to join the massive throngs who didn't have work or school and go get my hair cut.

I don't have a regular stylist here, partly because I don't get my hair cut often enough, and don't really like spending a lot of money on myself. So I went over to the new Great Clips by my house (always a bonus when you can get a haircut for $6.99) and waited there for the hour or so they said it would take. I didn't mind waiting. I got to sit and relax away from the kids for a bit, and it was fun watching other people get their hair cut. And interesting watching some of the hair styles people would walk in with. I always wonder if the stylists cringe when they have to give a woman a mullet, don't you?

So anyway, I told the stylist who got to do my hair that I wanted to start off with taking about 4 inches off, then I wanted to put some layers in it. She did just that. Ended up doing the layers on top a bit shorter than I had pictured, though, so I guess I should have said I wanted long layers. That's okay though. It's nice to have a change, even if I'm still not totally sure if I like it. I do, but I don't. I may just have to get used to the change. I'm sure I'll like it when it grows out a bit. That's the nice thing about hair. If you don't like a particular hair cut, you can just wait and it will eventually grow out.

So anyway, here are a few pictures of me with my new hair. The first couple are from last night before I styled it (I love my flat iron), and the rest are from this morning after it's been styled.

Alex's 5th Birthday

Yesterday was Alex's 5th birthday. Since it's so close to Christmas, we try to make it fun for him. We also take down our Christmas decorations the day after Christmas so that it won't be Christmas anymore, it's Alex's birthday.

Alex was very excited when Ben told him happy birthday in the morning. He told me, "Ben said happy birthday to me because it's my birthday already!"

After making the boys clean up their toys in the morning, which took much longer than it should have, we took everyone to McD's for lunch so they could play on the playground. They didn't think it was very funny when we were almost there and told them that it looked like McD's was closed and we'd have to just go home. They had a really good time playing and eating at McD's and weren't even upset when we said it was time to go.

When we got home, I got started on making Alex's birthday cakes. He wanted cupcakes and a round cake. He told us on the way home from McD's that it's a cake when it's round and has frosting on it. He didn't know what it would be called if it were rectangle without frosting. Alex helped me do the cake mix and then kept asking me later if they were done yet so he could eat them.

Here are the finished cakes, kind of my own version of a cake wreck, since it ended up going a bit lopsided and the frosting was melting on me. Alex wanted a blue cake with a lion on it, but I didn't really have time to do a lion, so I just did a blue cake.



While I was letting the cakes cool before frosting them, I wrapped the presents Chris picked out for the boys to give to Alex for his birthday. As I finished, Bryce took Alex to the store so they could let Alex pick out his own birthday present. He ended up picking out a nerf-type tommy gun and had wanted to pick out something for his brothers, so he decided to use half of his birthday present money to go in on a present for the family. He's a very nice and thoughtful kid.

This is what he picked out to get everyone. They're like the rock 'em sock 'em robots, but more fun since they move around:


After Bryce and Alex got back, which was just as I finished frosting all the cakes, we had Alex choose what they wanted to eat for dinner (he chose dinosaur chicken), then let him unwrap his presents and then we sang happy birthday to him so he could blow out his candles and we could eat his cake and have root beer floats.

Alex seemed to really enjoy his birthday, and enjoys being a big 5 year-old.

Here's what Alex looked like when he was 2 weeks old:


And here was Alex on his birthday with his cake:


Here's Alex and his presents:




Here's Alex blowing out his candles while we were singing to him:


Here, they're ready for their cake:


Chris, Alex, and Ben enjoying their cupcakes:


Daniel is enjoying his cupcake:

Christopher's follow-up appointment and some random pictures

On Monday I took Chris to the urologist for his post-op doctor visit. At first he was a little nervous about the idea of going to the doctor again. He would ask us, "Are they going to put more stitches in me?" or "Are they going to stick another needle in me?" When we told him that no, they were just going to look at where the stitches were and make sure it was healing the right way and that they would probably let him pick another toy from their treasure chest, he wanted to leave right then. We got there a little late because the light was out by the freeway, so traffic was really backed up, but it wasn't too bad. Shortly after we got there, the nurse came out to get us to take Chris to the bathroom to give them a sample. He thought it was pretty fun to pee in a cup. After going to the bathroom though, he decided that the appointment was done and it was time to go. I had to tell him that it wasn't and he had to still wait for the nurse to take us back to the room. She came out a couple of minutes later and we waited in the room for a few minutes for the doctor to come in. When the doctor came in, she looked at Chris's incision and said it looked perfect and he was healing just as he should. Chris was pretty happy that he was done and ran out to the treasure chest, where he grabbed a pair of sunglasses and a toy whistle thing that was in the shape of lips. So Chris is done with the urologist and hopefully won't (and shouldn't, since complications are pretty rare) have any more problems with it.

Here are some pictures that I took of the boys and some the boys took of the boys:

Ben's self-portrait with goggles on:

Daniel posing for the camera:

Daniel lying on his bear rug. He does this a lot:

Ben with the bear on him:

Ben carrying the bear:

Alex cheering:

Alex carrying the bear:

Christmas

Okay, I'm going to finally post some pictures from Christmas. The boys all had a really good time and probably got way too many presents. They spent the whole day playing with their new toys and haven't gotten tired of them yet, so I guess that's a good thing. :)

Here's all the loot by the tree:

The new train:

The new tents:

The boys looking at their new train:

Chris by his tiger rug and other presents:

Alex and Chris with some presents:

Daniel's 18 month check-up

I took Daniel in for his 18 month check-up today. His appointment was scheduled for 11:00. I guess 11:00 is code for 12:00 in this doctor's office, since it was after 12 when he finally came in the room. I was really glad I didn't have Alex and Chris with me, since they would have been going nuts by then. Daniel was pretty easy to entertain, so at least it wasn't a totally unpleasant wait.

Daniel now weighs 24.7 pounds and is holding steady at about the 30th percentile. They measured him at 33 1/4 inches, which is in the 75th percentile, but I don't know how accurate drawing lines on the paper and then measuring the lines is. It did seem like the nurse measured him a little long.

He's getting over the cold that he's had for the last month, but is otherwise healthy and happy and developing right about where he should be for his age. He only had his second dose of the flu shot today and no other shots, so if they hadn't run out of the flu shot last month and had to cancel that appointment, he wouldn't have had any shots today. He definitely didn't think getting the shot was fun, but he was pretty good for it.

Daniel was definitely ready to go when we went, but he did stop by the nurses' station, since he knows they have suckers there. So he got his sucker and was off. He wanted to walk the whole way and didn't want me to pick him up. He was laughing the whole way to the van.

This is a fun age, in my opinion. I think the best part was being able to put him in the nursery last week for the first time. He did really well and just sat down in a chair and got ready to play and didn't care when I left him there. I'm hoping that this next Sunday goes as smoothly, especially since Bryce and I are actually teaching our classes at the same time right now, as Bryce's primary class will be moving up to Senior Primary, so they're getting them used to the change.

Now, assuming he doesn't get any ear infections or major illnesses or the like, Daniel won't have to go back to the doctor until he's 2. I'm so used to having to take him in almost every month with his colds and all that it's strange to think that we could actually go that long. Hopefully we actually can.