Mommy Makeover

So I have really long hair. I'm talking down to the top of my butt. It hasn't been cut since August 2010!!


I know most of you are yelling at me saying " you are supposed to get your hair trimmed every couple of months! Shame on you!!!" Believe me I know this, I just haven't had the money to spend on myself without feeling guilty. I also didn't have the guts to cut my own hair... Until last night.

After looking at my split ends and totally damaged hair over the past few months I just grew repulsed by it. I knew the only option was to (da da da) cut my own hair. I found this great video here on Youtube. Farah Dhukai is awesome! She has her own blog where she gives more detail on her videos and methods. I suggest watching her videos for great tutorials if this is your first attempt at taking on your own hair.

Anyways, I watched her video three times before I went into the bathroom with a pair of scissors and an army of hair ties. Clips would have worked better, but I'm poor and I use what I have. I kept having to run into the living room to check the video to make sure I didn't miss a step. But after probably thirty minutes I finished!

I do feel like I could put some more layers in the back, but I am super confident in cutting my hair into long layers!!!


Here is the before (and please excuse the cliche mirror/ old school myspace pic style. It was the only way I could get a full shot of the hair) It was so heavy and poofy!





And here is the After!



It may not be the greatest, but I like how I didn't ruin the layers around my face, and how it is not as heavy, and most importantly more healthy!!

I will absolutely be cutting my hair myself and much more often. Just because I am a mom doesn't mean I have to let my self go and neglect my needs. And just because I am poor doesn't mean I have to look it haha.

Oh and I was able to get some pictures for the free collage from Walgreens. Today is the last day to take advantage of that deal. So go do it!

Laters!

Ok guys so Mothers Day is coming up this Sunday. You know, in case some of you weren't up to date and all. Anyways, I'm sure most of you are trying to do some cool and creative stuff for a unique gift. Well if you want to do something special AND cheap I suggest you head on over to Walgreens photo center before 11:59PM central time this Saturday. They are offering a free 8x10 collage for mother's day! They do this a few times a year with collages and other size prints. I love taking advantage of them to get my pictures printed off for free! (I have a quite a lot of photos to get printed off) All you need to do is go to the site and make your collage. Enter the promo code COLLAGE4YOU at checkout and be sure to select pick up and then choose your store. It's that simple! I am in the process of getting a few new pictures of the girls for my Mom. This is what I am working with...

Finger in mouth,


Not looking at the camera,


Closing eyes,


And lastly bug eyed baby!


Child photographers have a gift I must say. I have to go make my collage, you should too!

Laters!

Hello Lucy

Ok so I recently mentioned that I finally gave birth to baby girl number two. She came just 2 days early. It was a very CRAZY experience to say the least.

You see, with Luna I had to be induced. It was the perfect labor. I went in that night and gave birth without breaking a sweat (thanks to the lovely epidural). Lucy on the other hand was a complete different story.




So the morning that Lucy decided to come I wasn't feeling very well. I had been cramping all night having some mild contractions. But they didn't seem to be labor pains, or so I thought. I never experienced natural labor before so how was I supposed to really know? Anyways I took a shower and got dressed trying to soothe the cramping. After a few hours I got a little worried. I started Googleing what labor feels like and started freaking out. My husband kept saying "you aren't going into labor, and even if you are your contractions aren't that close together." I knew he was wrong, so I woke up my sister in law to tell her I was in labor so she could get the two little ones ready so we could go to the hospital. You see here on the military base Stephen and I can't get on base because we do not have military ID's. With only one vehicle my sister in law had to go. She always takes forever so I thought I would get her up early enough to get us to the hospital with no problem. Well... during the time it takes for everyone else to get ready my contractions went to only being a couple of minutes apart and extremely painful. The whole drive there was excruciating! I never wanted to have a kid naturally, but I had no choice.

Once I got there I had to set in ER until someone came from the maternity ward to get me. I thought it was never going to end.I kept begging for an epidural. Once I finally got in the room I was informed that I had no time for one. Then she came! Fortunately I wasn't one of those ladies that have to be in labor for hours and hours! Lucy was 8lbs. 1oz and 19 1/2 in long.

Here is Lucy and I right before we came home.


And this is Luna meeting Lucy




Now I have two little girls, and I can't wait to watch them grow up!

The Calm After the Storm...

And by storm I mean shit storm. Wow, so I really intended to get this blog going for some time now. I started right before the birth of my baby girl Luna, but my life has just been completely whacked out for some time now. WE have been through some crazy lows. We have been homeless in a shelter looking for work in a "not so striving workforce" city. After failing to make any progress we flew out to California to stay with our family on a military base. Things got pretty crazy here too. My sister in law decides she wants a divorce, so she kicks her husband out. After that my husband and I take care of her four children and our own child while she lets her life crumble around her. I'm also 8 months pregnant at this time, did I mention that? After months of putting up with an alcoholic, taking care of all the children, and taking care of the house, I finally had my second little girl and my sister in law ends up getting arrested. It sounds sad, but it isn't too bad. Stephen started taking online classes and my brother-in-law moved back in and is taking care of his kids. Now we are planning our next move. We haven't mapped out our plan yet, but we have a few options. There is the plan to go back to West Virginia... but we haven't had too good of luck there these past few years. The next option is to go down to New Orleans and for Stephen to do construction with his uncle (if there is available work), or possibly get a job on the river. Then we are thinking about maybe going somewhere that is cheap to live and start over. Washington seems to be the area of interest for that one. I prefer the west coast for it's "green" living and progressive ideas. West Virginia is full of conservative, religious folk which doesn't suit my interests. The south I have never lived in but it doesn't appeal to me either. I hear of a lot of racism and fighting. I'm just anxious to get started with my life though. I know we can do great things, we just have to stop getting ourselves in shitty situations. I'm excited, and at this point I don't care where we move as long as we are together :)



This is little Miss Luna a year later! She has grown up into a little sweetheart at 16 months old.



This is the new one that I mentioned. Her name is Lucy!