THE HAIR

You've all seen pics of Seth's lovely locks. Ladies are particularly jealous of his perfect ringlets & he, himself, is rather proud of them as well. It's been a couple years since Seth has submitted to letting his dad near him with the clippers. Justin would just as soon shave it all off, like he does to Seth's little brothers, and start from scratch. But Seth's fragile teen-self-image would be shattered & he would probably hide from the world in his room until his beautiful mane grew back. I do my best to keep the clipper-wielding fiend away from THE HAIR, for as long as I possibly can. So sometimes I have Auntie Emily do it.....and sometimes I do it, even though I have no idea what I'm doing. Seth dreads the latter, but it's (usually) better than if Daddy were to do it.

 

 Seth has liked it when Emily's done it because she leaves his hair pretty long, but just trims the mullet-looking stuff off. But I kept forgetting to ask her. Justin's increasing threats of "trimming" Seth's hair, Marine Corps-style, were becoming a clear and present danger to THE HAIR.

                                                    Today I figured it was TIME.

                                      I told him to look at me, so he gave me THE LOOK.


As I cut, he kept gasping at the amount of hair falling to the floor & moaning, "my hair, my hair". I just kept telling him to be glad it was me & not his dad. I tried to leave it long-ish, but once I get going I can't stop until it's even. And with those kind of curls, I don't know how to tell if it's even yet or not. It's probably STILL not even............and I'll probably go to bed thinking about the spots I should have fixed. He was a little depressed after I finished cutting.



This is how much hair I cut off (minus the trash & dog hairs). To give you the proper perspective, this pile would fill up a large dinner plate. Though why hair would be on a dinner plate I have no idea.

 I think I actually did a darn fine job, if I do say so myself. And he still has lots of pretty curlie-Q's left. The ladies will still be jealous.

 He had this idea that only people with long hair could wear fedoras. And he MUST wear a fedora. I told him that he was wrong & that fedoras look just as nice with shorter hair. This pic proves me right.

                  Still a heart breaker. In the end, Seth was happy with his do...despite THE FACE. Mom-win.

The Best Birthday Present

 This is my little baby, Jarod. He is boy #2. It was his birthday yesterday. He turned 11. It was my birthday the day before. On April 4th (my b-day), 2000, I was in labor with this kid. If he had been nice to me, he would have come ON my birthday. Instead, he didn't come out until I had labored 30-plus hours, on April 5th. I had him naturally, of course, because I am Woman. Hear me roar. Justin was overseas on deployment in the Marine Corps. I thought I would be devastated that I couldn't have my husband with me during my baby's birth. But, once labor hit, as much as I loved my dear husband...........I forgot all about him (no offense, honey). Contractions are funny like that. I had a job to do & I did it. Rather well, if I do say so myself. My mama-in-law & sister-in-law were there & helped me through it. I couldn't have done it without their support. It was an Air Force hospital & the doctors & nurses were amazing. But the MOST amazing thing about the whole experience was when I held Jarod for the first time. I immediately noticed that he looked EXACTLY like my last baby (this became a pattern with the future children I birthed as well), Seth. It was incredible. How did I DO THAT? I also realized, happily, that I was thankful the doctor had not shot me in the head, as I had requested of him at some point during my 9 hours of transitional labor. I was completely overwhelmed, again, with the miracle of life & the existence of an amazing Creator. And then I noticed how alert & wide-eyed Jarod looked. When I would set him down, his eyes followed me around the room. When he heard my voice, he would turn his head to look at me. I fell completely in love with him. So did his big brother Seth. Jarod brought joy to our hearts, which we needed because we were missing Justin so terribly, horribly much. Poor Justin was field-training in Kuwait, when Jarod was born. The Red Cross notified his ship of Jarod's birth, but the message never got to him. He didn't know Jarod had arrived until 2 weeks later, when he was finally able to call me. And he didn't get to meet Jarod until he was 4 months old. Those would have been very tough months, but Jarod brought me comfort, laughter & soothed my soul. He was a gift from a loving God. A caress from Heaven. There was SOMETHING about Jarod. He looked so smart & wise & happy. When I looked into his eyes, I just KNEW something was going on in that head of his already. It turns out I was right. His gears haven't stopped turning since. He's really the most creative kid I've ever known. Every day he creates some new thing..........or SEVERAL new things. Where some people see a stick, he sees a picture frame. Where some see an egg crate, he sees a googly-eyed 17-legged monster. Where some see trash, he sees something he can mold into a special treasure. He is the artist of the family. He is the chef of the family. I can bribe him to do things for me by promising to let him bake something in my kitchen. He is sensitive, kind-hearted, funny & so sweet. With him being so artistic, naturally, I had to let him decorate (with the red letters, not the confetti) his own WalMart-bought home-baked, delectable, culinary-genius-of-a-cake.  
Yes, that says, "Jarod rocks". He has a healthy self-esteem to go with that creativity. 

                                                       This is how old I turned.

        This is how old Jarod SAID I turned. There's that humor.




Then he dug out aaaaallllll the old birthday candles & said I was THIS old. Funny boy, that one.

 
But then I got my revenge when I told him he was THIS old.......................




...........................plus 6. We didn't have an eleven.

 I had to let him play with fire this once...it being his birthday & all.

 That was our little family party, which was actually pretty big, since my sister & her kids are still here. He got legos from me & Justin. Today, we had our "Big Family Birthday Party" with my in-laws. Mom took us out for dinner & Auntie Emily & Auntie Sarah made a real, home-baked, delectable, culinary-genius-of-a-cake. And I forgot to take a picture, naturally. Jarod opened his presents from Grandma, Rara & Emmy. He got EXACTLY what he wanted:


a fedora & a bee-bee gun (which he will only be allowed to shoot with Daddy's help, so he doesn't shoot his eye out)....................

 ...............................and some totally awesome cooking stuff. He says he is going to shoot a squirrel & he knows just how he plans on seasoning it.

Thought I'd repost the cheese picture. He's even creative with Cheese Whiz.

                                            He has his own brand of humor.

                                                        He's a little wacky.

He's theatrical

                 He's a trend setter.

                                                    He's wise & witty.

His sense of humor can be a little morbid.

                                                                     He's cool.

                                    He is a helpful & sweet big brother.

                                         Did I mention his sense of humor?

          He's my baby, even though he's almost as tall as me now. I love him & I always will, even though he doesn't like my kisses any more. Happy birthday, Jarod Matthew! Thanks for almost coming on my birthday. I forgive you for the long labor. I love you. You're the best birthday present ever!



UPDATE:

~Jarod's arm was not broken badly enough to need a cast. He just has to wear a splint for 3 weeks.

~Toby is recovering nicely from surgery. He has not run away again. So far.