Playing with Lily's Hair

 Eleven and a half years ago, I gave birth to a wonderful boy. Two years later, I gave birth to another wonderful boy. The hair routine in our house has always been quite simple. Heck, half the time we don't even brush hair!
All these years I have been dreaming about fixing a little girls hair. I love braids, ponytails, and ribbon. I finally have my little girl and she came with her head shaved! I couldn't even put in a clip. The headbands with the big bows just aren't my style.

 Lily's hair final got to the point of being able to go into a band on the top of her head. I call this her "horn".

I tried the clip for the bangs, but Lily just pulls them out. If she doesn't pull them out, they just fall out.

Then, a dear friend sent me a link to a hair blog. This blog increased my desire to fix my sweeties hair. Of course, most of the hairstyles were for kiddos with long hair. I figured that I would just have to be patient.

And then I caught a random post by the author. She mentioned that she was babysitting a little one and there wasn't much she could do with her hair except for a rubber band braid. I had no idea what she meant by this but it gave me an idea.

I came up with this hairdo-

This style was kind of cute and kept her growing hair out of her face. I just didn't like how it was finished in the back.


I later attempted to add a ribbon. I wasn't very successful with this attempt. The ribbon came out as a straight line and was pretty blah.

I decided to stick with just the bands and ditch the ribbon.

On the blog mentioned above, I came across a fake french braid with a ribbon. I realized that this is essentially what I have been doing. Just without the ribbon tied throughout.

Here's my attempt at adding in the tied ribbon. I started off center and then across. Ending half way back with a bow. Much cuter this time, but can be pretty tricky with a constantly moving toddler.

My next attempt was two "french braids" ending half way. Oh my, did she look cute! I love how this one turned out. Just don't look closely. The braids aren't even due to the constant movement of the head!

Now, I love the ribbon, but it takes a good 15-20 minutes to fix her hair this way. Once she learns to sit still I will be able to do it lickity-split. I thought I would try to finish the "braids" all the way and skip the ribbon, hoping to cut down on my time.

 

Cute, but not as cute as the ribbon ones.

Poor thing has to suffer through me fixing her hair during breakfast. Now she is less inclined to sit in her booster seat to eat. LOL!

Overwhelmed

Confession time. I can't do it all. I am unable to keep all of my balls in the air. Actually, I have dropped them all and am stumbling over them. I admit that I am overwhelmed these days. I can not seem to stay on track. Laundry has been piled up on the floor for days. My kids have spent two nights in sleeping bags because I have not put their clean sheets back on. There is a constant pile of dishes in the sink. Toys are always underfoot. School seems to get done halfheartedly, and I struggle to find the time to check their work to make sure things are done correctly. Dinner is barely making it to the table, and I have been falling asleep on the couch at night.

It is difficult for me to admit that I can not do it all. You see, I have friends with twice as many kids that are trying to complete the same tasks as I am. I fear that they will roll their eyes when I say that I am overwhelmed and think that I should be able to get it all done. I only have three kids at home. It shouldn't be that difficult!

I woke up early this morning and the house is quiet, so I thought it might be a good time to analyze the situation and see why I am struggling. The constant mess in the kitchen is an easy, but costly remedy. Our dishwasher broke causing me to hand wash all the dishes. I didn't realize how much time that appliance saved me. We were holding out buying one because we are trying to pay cash for our next adoption. However, I think it is time to go out and purchase one. My sanity may depend on it! Problem solved.

The laundry pile is, most likely, the result of laziness. Once the load is done I should just put it away. Right? Sounds like an easy fix. The boys already do their own, so I am only doing three people's laundry. I believe that I need to go back to doing only one load a day. That would be much more manageable. Putting one load of laundry away should not be that difficult to do. Problem solved.

Toys being strewn all over the floor is the result of having a ping pong ball for a daughter. She does not stay focused on any one given toy for long. Being not yet two, she just drops the discarded toy wherever she is. It's just a phase that I need to patiently wait out. For right now, I need to step over the toys during the day and not feel that I am failing at keeping the house picked up. Before her nap and before Jon gets home, I can teach her how to pick up her toys. That girl really loves to play the clean up game and I need to take advantage of that. Problem solved.

School is a monster of a problem that has no easy answers. It is difficult to teach with a toddler roaming the house. Lily already spends 30-45 min. in the playpen each morning and I can not expect much more from her. I know that as she gets older it will get easier, but right now it is hard! We do spend time during her nap getting things done. The problem there is that I am exhausted and just want to rest.  What I really need is for someone to come over every day for an hour. That isn't going to happen, so I need to just put on my big girl pants and push through. Maybe I need to realize that this year we might not be quite as thorough as I would like. Problem solved.

With dinner, I just need to have a plan. Most of the time I do. I probably need to start prepping for dinner earlier in the day and not leave it to the last minute. One of the boys could play with Lily as I cook. I need to utilize them. Problem solved.

Being tired is the result of lack of self control. I have been staying up too late and not getting up in the morning. I have been sacrificing my quiet time in the morning for mindless activity at night when I should be sleeping. Spending time in the Word, prayer, and going for walks in the morning would start my day off right. Watching a stupid movie at night or roaming the internet does nothing for me. Problem solved.

Looking at things in black and white makes everything seem so much better. Already, I am picking up those balls and starting to juggle them again.

Pity

In a moment of desperation this morning, Lily and I escaped from the house and went for a walk. It was a beautiful day today and the walk cleared my head and gave me a little more of that patience that I am always striving for. As we were walking, I noticed a man in his yard decorating for Christmas. He was truly outdoing himself. His house looked very festive and I asked him if we could come come in for a closer look. I explained that my daughter couldn't see this far away and that she was legally blind.
 "Oh. How sad," he replied.
 His comment completely took me by surprise. I have never thought it sad that Lily had poor vision.

What is sad is that she will never know her birth parents.

What is sad is that she was rejected by her culture.

It is sad that the people in Tanzania with albinism are being killed for their body parts.

It is sad that children are being orphaned in Africa because of  AIDS.

There are so many more serious things in this world to be sad over. Her lack of 20/20 vision is not one of those. My daughter will live a life full of opportunity and love. She will still experience the beauty of this world.

I realized later that I need to be careful with my explanations. I should not have volunteered that she was legally blind. The word "blind" is scary to a person with sight. It would be scary to me to all of a sudden have vision like Lily's. She, however, knows no different. In the future I will just casually say that she needs to be closer in order to see well. It was a good lesson for me to learn while she is still young and unaware of my blunderings.

Silence

Silence is what we are receiving from immigration these days. Oh, how I love being at the mercy of others! I guess five years of waiting for Lily didn't teach me enough patience. God keeps putting me in a place of waiting.

Silence is what I am hearing from my dishwasher. It broke a month ago and I have been hand washing since. Hopefully we will be able to purchase a new one in the New Year.

Silence is what you hear from my sewing machine. Who has time?

Silence is what you hear from my flute. Hopefully that will change.

Silence is NOT what you hear in my house. All three of my kids and the dog are just plain noisy. Some days I would love to just put in some earplugs and continue with my day. However, I do think that I would miss all the chaos if it was not there.

Silence is what you hear come 10:30 at night. Good night.