Too Much?

For the first year of A’s life she had only enough hair to smooth with your hand. It wasn’t enough to make a pony tail until she was 16/17 months old. I was excited to “style” her hair with little braids, pony tails, two strand twists, and anything else I could think of. We reached a point in the early fall that I needed to budget 30mins in the morning to do her hair – what little hair there was. I’d been reading natural hair blogs and trying to do protective styles on A’s hair; the problem was that no style lasted more than a day and although I was careful I still saw more hair in the brush than what I was comfortable with.


So now that I’ve done a little bit more reading online ;) I’m taking more of a laid back approach to A’s hair. I’m going to treat her hair more like I treat my own in terms of styling and manipulation. No more tight pony tails and perfectly sectioned parts. Last week I used the tightly curly method to define A’s curls and have been finger parting and two strand twisting them at night to keep the curls from frizzing out. In the morning I refresh the curls with my leave-in water mixture and seal with my coconut shea soufflé. I have been decorating her hair with head bands and barrettes.

I am in love with A’s defined curly fro. I hope my enthusiasm is contagious.

Akon - Oh Africa

This is A's favorite video these days.  She literally has me play it 50 times in a row. 
I just thought I'd share :-)



I am glad that her first association with Africa is a positive one.

The New Normal

It’s true that you forget the pain of child birth after about a year. You also seem to forget the pain of recovery and the sleep deprivation. Was it this bad last time? I suppose the answer is yes and no. I did have to deal with a newborn and all the fun stuff that goes along with that but now I have the added pleasure of a toddler and all the fun stuff that goes along with that. No sleep at night and no sleep during the day. Yay! (sarcastic enthusiasm)

This is what all the moms of more than one were talking about, Mommy boot camp. I had a moment last month when hubby was out of town. A didn’t want to sleep and E didn’t want to sleep and it was 2 am. At one point they were both crying and I was totally overwhelmed and also started to cry. A stopped crying and began rubbing my leg saying “it’s okay Momma, it’s okay.” My cousin informed me that, at the point you are comforted by your toddler you have officially been inducted to the world of mommy hood. I guess I’ve arrived.

I wonder when I will go from surviving to living and enjoying life. I hit an all-time low yesterday. A friend brought dinner for me (thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!). I knew she was coming all day and still made no effort to change out of my pajamas and what’s worse (in my opinion) my house was a mess and I still invited her in. I mean food on the floor, old dishes in the sink, toys everywhere mess. I have no shame. Hell I’m tired all the time. I don’t feel like cleaning up. My garbage can has been on the curb for 4 days now and I don’t care. I don’t feel like doing A’s hair and I don’t feel like brushing my teeth. I’m going to have a fun time explaining that last one to my dentist in a couple of weeks. I was able to sneak a shower yesterday and couldn’t believe my luck. This isn’t living.

I know it will get better, but that doesn’t make it any easier for me right now. Or maybe that is the attitude that is messing me up. Maybe it won’t get easier; maybe (hopefully) I will get better at managing our time.

My New Favorite Fruit

When I was a kid my mom and I would walk by the tropical/exotic fruit section of the supermarket and experiment with fruit that we had never seen before.  I loved the way star fruit looked.  Actually I really loved the name :o).  I remember getting a star fruit from the store but having no idea how to eat it.  I think we peeled off all the skin and cut it in slices. LOL.  By then there wasn't much fruit left to eat.

I met my friend the star fruit again on vacation with Hubby in Jamaica.  We were at a friend's house and they had a star apple (or fruit as we Americans call it) tree in their yard.  Hubby picked a couple of ripe ones and just started eating them like, well, like apples.  I also started eating some like apples and it was much easier to enjoy this way.  They taste tart but in a sweet way.  Kind of like lemonade with just a little sugar, but in a tropical way - if that makes any sense?

Here in the states I buy them ever so often (they are pretty expensive) but I have been lucky enough that my organic produce delivery service has started carrying them for a much better price than the local supermarket.  The only thing I do (after washing) is cut the edges of the star points off and enjoy.  A just loves them too!  I can't wait until we live in the Caribbean and can enjoy this treat on a regular basis.

New Year’s Resolution

Happy Belated New Year everyone, I hope last year was as productive and enjoyable as you hoped it would be and that next year will be even better. At New Year’s dinner this year when everyone was declaring their resolutions for 2011 I found myself at a complete loss. Be a good mother? Exercise more? Eat better? No, those all rang cliché to me and not a “new” goal. I know that this year is going to be a tumultuous one, having just given birth the week before to a beautiful baby girl, E, and with the prospect of an international move on the horizon and everything that goes along with that. It seemed unrealistic to expect to achieve anything more ambitious than survival.


That being said, after a couple of days of contemplation I decided that my resolution this year would be to keep up appearances. It may seem vain and superficial but looking good makes me feel more confident and I know that even though they shouldn’t the world judges people based on looks. I don’t want to be one of those women people feel sorry for because they’re always wearing pajamas. I don’t want to be martyr mom who takes care of everyone but themself. That’s okay, I don’t need that cross to bare.

I recently had a fashionista friend help me audit my wardrobe and while she decided that I should keep my collection of T-shirts, they were relegated to the category of workout clothes. Ha! They were the lynchpins of my daily mom uniform.