On Hair

Two reasons I put off Abram's haircuts as long as possible:

1. He usually ends up in tears due to Ben holding his head still while I attempt the scissors...(we don't even dare to try the noisy clippers!)

2. I usually end up in tears (well maybe not "usually" but it's been known to happen :) because he always looks older, plus, every single cut mark is visible due to his fine, blonde hair....

but...

you know you've been a delinquent parent when your two-year-old wakes up one day and says, "Mommy, I need a hair cut because my hair is in my eyes!!"

So last week I jumped on his willing attitude, 

put Aila down for a nap, 

found some train cartoon on youtube (and possibly bribed him with a few chocolate chips),

and snipped away.

It took about an hour, but he did such a great job staying still

(as long as I didn't get in the way of his cartoons)!  Big breakthrough!  No tears for him or me...however, I think Ben is mourning his long locks more than anyone :)

BEFORE

AFTER

After almost three years, I think we're officially over traumatic haircuts with him.

Good thing Aila's not a boy!

....on second thought, her mullet may need a snip or two...

This was a month and a half ago; it's even longer now!

And just for fun, some blurry hair accessory shots:

Both my babies' hair makes life so much more interesting. :)

Half A Year Old

Our sweet Aila is 6 months old today!

She is so adored at our house.

We call her Sweet Aila-girl,

Aila-Baila,

Missy-Lou,
Aila Babes,

Sweetie-Pie (but Abram only lets Ben use that one), and

Chubba-cheeks.

She is rolling all over the place and scoots in circles, but not forward or backward yet.

She looooves Abram, and he's so good with her.  He'll lie down next to her and she just touches his head, pulls his hair, pulls his shirt, etc., and she laughs at him a lot, sometimes for no obvious reason.  It's so precious.

I love her chubby little cheeks, chubby thighs, hand dimples, brown eyes (they've turned brown over the last couple months), little toes, and crazy hair (still the first thing everyone notices).

I love how she can communicate with me even though she can't talk yet, through her smiles and body language...waving her arms, scrunching up her face, kicking her legs...

and I can't help but kiss her head and smell her sweet baby smell every night when I check on her before I go to bed.

Oh, sweet baby girl, how I love you!

5 Months and Other Things

I love the 5-6 month stage!  With both my babes I've felt a whole lot more like myself at this stage.  I'm so grateful to be a mother to two sweet angels who help me become better.  Being a mom is hard work, but truly the best thing ever!

Other October Happenings  

My mom flew out to Cali for a girl's weekend with her mom & sisters.  Lucky for us we got to drive down on the Sunday to see her!

Sonoma County fall vineyards...Highway 12 down to Napa is my favorite drive.

Abram gets lots of reading time at Grandma & Grandpa Eide's house

I keep hoping I can be a little smidgen of the amazing mother I am blessed to have.

Walks to the park...this particular day was pretty chilly, but we live 3 blocks away from this park and we love it!

I spy Abram

Our street

Pumpkin muffins...I was pretty impressed at his cup-filling skills.

 We scored a new dining table and chairs for $150!  We were in desperate need of one.  This isn't a great picture, but it's a solid oak table with two leaf extensions, and we have two extra chairs that aren't pictured here.

A Happy Halloween!

This was our first year trick-or-treating.  I'm pretty sure Abram is sold.  It took a lot of convincing to get Abram to wear a costume (he must take after his mother...), but after explaining the treat concept, he was on board, and even let me spend 5 seconds drawing a nose & whiskers on him!  Turns out the doggie costume I got from Goodwill 2 years ago for $2.00 finally paid off!

We went around the neighborhood with some church friends who have a 3-yr-old boy, Hudson.  Abram's tentativeness only lasted a couple doors, and after that had no problem ringing doorbells and saying, "trick-or-treat," & "thank you!"  It was too cute!

I know all these pictures are probably overkill, but I just couldn't help it.  My happy little giraffe and eager-for-candy puppy-dog.

Aunt Kate's eyes.

Cheeks, anyone?

When she gets excited, she makes this face, and puts her chin down, which makes her cheeks squish out....love love love it.  Makes me laugh every time.

Abram just wanted to run, run, run before we went trick-or-treating.

Carefree & happy.

Cheeeeeeeese!

For some reason Abram reminds me of Josef in this...poor baby girl was so tired.

Hudson and Abram

Our whole trick-or-treating gang!