Simplifying....one kid at a time

So lately as most of you know, or might not know, our live has been extremely crazy busy. So today in my few and rare spare minutes I decided to simplify my life one kid at a time. Tonight I started with Alyse. Now Alyse was blessed (or in Ryan's words cursed) with a lot of hair, and not just any hair....really really thick hair. When I was pregnant with Alyse and after I found out that I was having a girl I kept saying, "Oh man I just want her to have hair...I don't want a bald baby girl." Well this baby girl was born with so much hair that she looked like a newborn baby wearing a toupee. Ryan thinks that I prayed a little too hard for hair. I look back at pictures and think...why didn't people tell me that she looked freaky. Everyone would always stare and say things like, "Wow, your baby sure does have a lot of hair" but I didn't interpret that like I should have. So anyway I am rambling...so tonight after Alyse got out of the shower and I had to spend 15 mintues combing and brushing out that thick mane of hair as she flinched and whimpered and cried...I decided...that's it, it's time to make my life more simple. So I cut it! I don't care that it's not perfect...I just care that it will save me time everyday (and right now time is a precious commodity) and save her tears (well hopefully a few anyway).

I put the hair next to a napkin to put the pile of hair into context for the length and stuff. That girl has a lot of hair!

Now my next trick...if I can find a way to simplify my life by getting Lexi to stop whining...any advice? :)

Tonsils

Today Alyse had her tonsils and adnoids removed. This is the before picture. She was pretty funny this morning. Believe it or not, she was very excited to be going the doctor and be getting her tonsils out. We have been talking to her about it a lot to help prepare her for it. All morning she kept talking about how she gets to go to the doctor and they were going to put her to bed and then she gets a popsicle. I talked to her about it a lot because I didn't want her to be scared....I didn't realize that it would make her get excited about the whole thing. This is a blurry but somewhat good shot of how big her tonsils were. Look at how red and huge they are/were. :) Poor girl couldn't eat food very well with those huge things in her mouth.
Alyse is just coming out of surgery and starting to wake up. She was pretty confused at first and really really drowsy. She had a slight allergic reaction to the anesthesia and her chest broke out in hives. So the doctors gave her benadryl to help with the hives. There were no other issues and so they aren't sure why she broke out. The benadryl and the anesthesia made her very, very tired.
On our ride home.
She has been just resting on the couch watching movies and being waited on. She has been taking advantage of having popsicles whenever she desires. Which is a good thing. I am just happy that she is feeling as good as she does and is able to keep stuff down.
September 2, 2008

Hair Today Gone Tomorrow

Look at how long Alyse's hair is and she is 3 years old. I guess it helps that she had a HUGE head start since she was born wearing a wig. :) Alyse got some paint in her hair when she was doing some finger painting and even after washing her hair a couple of times I couldn't get the paint out. So I decided that this was the push I needed to finally just get her hair cut.

I decided to be brave and try to cut her hair myself. This is the first haircut that I have ever done. I think I did a pretty good job if I do say so myself.




She is so cute! It is amazing at how much older she looks with her new do!

Four Eyes Are Better Than Two

Alyse found these glasses one day while playing and wanted to keep them so badly. So I washed and sanitized them and she wore them the entire day long. I put them on to check out the prescription (I didn't want her having poor eyesite due to me letting her wear these glasses) and didn't notice much of a prescription. And of course Lexi had to wear them too....she can't feel left out or different from her sister. Don't ask me why but they both absolutely love wearing these glasses. I just hope that some grandma out there isn't lost without her glasses. That would be really sad.

It's Potty Time!!

After much procrastination on my part, I finally decided to try the potty training thing with Alyse. It was such a challenge with Trevor and so I just dread this time of childhood. Many people kept politely (and sometimes quite forcefully) saying that it was time and that she was ready. We are now on 2 full days being diaper-free and accident-free. YEAH!! She is doing great! She loves telling everyone that she knows that she goes on the toilet and that she gets a gummy worm everytime she goes. Whatever it takes! :)

Picture Time

Alyse's 3 year old pictures. I try to get the kids' pictures taken every year for their birthday. (Try is the operative word here.) It seems to be an easy reminder that it is picture time again. Why is it that kids' always do the cheesey smiles when it comes time for pictures??? It is amazing at how they look the same to me day in and day out but then when I saw the pictures I was shocked at how old she is looking. She is growing up so fast!

Dressing Herself

Alyse is in the stage where she likes to dress herself without any help. Can you tell?