Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Locks of Love

It all began about 2 years ago when Lexie made what seemed like a cute statement at the time, "I want to grow my hair down to my toes like Rapunzel." At the time she looked like this...
so we didn't think anything of it.

WELL...fast forward 2 years and her hair was, though not down to her toes, already at her waist!!!

This hair growth has not been easy - it's a pain to wash and dry, it is always getting in her face, she gets syrup and other food stuck to it, we find long hairs everywhere, and she's had to have gum cut out of it. However, all of that pales in comparison to the #1 worst thing about Lexie's long hair...the brushing! I absolutely DREAD brushing Lexie's hair. When Lexie wakes up there are always, without fail, knots in the back. As I carefully brush her hair I hold my breath waiting for the screaming, crying, and yelling which are sure to come. Depending on her mood there may even be hitting, kicking and escape attempts. As if that wasn't bad enough, I have to go through the the whole thing again after baths!

For this reason Dave and I have spent the last six months trying to convince Lexie to get her hair cut. We've explained about Locks of Love and how her hair can be made into a wig for another child. Last month I showed her the website www.locksoflove.org and we learned more about the kids who receive the wigs. We discovered that a large number of the children have an auto-immune disorder called alopecia. Alopecia, which causes the hair follicles to shut down, affects 4.7 million people in the United States alone. There are varying degrees of alopecia and unfortunately there is currently no known cause or cure for it.

Still, Lexie wasn't convinced so we decided to drop the subject for awhile. Imagine our suprise (and relief) when, a couple weeks later, Lexie said that she wanted to get her hair cut! I then suprised myself by becoming a little sad about the whole thing though I didn't let on to her. But I quickly snapped out of it and made an appointment, before Lexie could change her mind.

When the big day arrived Lexie was very nervous and sad. To be honest, I was nervous too. But it all turned out great and I think her haircut looks so cute!!!

BEFORE
AFTER

Afterwards when I asked Lexie what she thought of her haircut she said, "I like it, but I don't love it."

I just keep reminding her that she can grow her hair back (which she already plans on doing) but the child who gets a wig made out of her hair will never grow hair. Dave and I are so proud of Lexie and we think she looks great!!! Of course my favorite moment was this morning when I brushed her hair and it took about 2 seconds and there were no knots, no tears, and no screams! Life is good!

Saturday, April 5, 2008

Forgotten Memories

First I need to get this off my chest...I am SICK of Lowe's!!! We are just finishing up our basement and I think I've been to Lowe's (and/or Home Depot) 20 times in the last month! Lexie, who usually doesn't complain about going to stores, is also SICK of Lowe's. We went today and the worst news is we have to go back tomorrow! We ordered the counters today but the Lowe's we went to didn't have enough variety of carpet so now we have to go tomorrow to a different one!!! UGHHHH!!! Oh well, after the carpet is ordered I refuse to set foot in another Lowe's for at least a week!

On to the reason for my post...
Last night I started organizing a bunch of old notebooks/journals I've kept since Lexie was born. I've been dreading this task and have been putting it off for years. Well, it ended up being a lot of fun. I read about lots of things I'd forgotten about. Here are a few of the forgotten memories:

* Lexie used to call her pacifier "DAB-DA" - I can't believe I'd forgotten that!!!

* Lexie has the cutest dimple in her left cheek (4/5/03) - When I first read this I thought, "how sad, she doesn't have her dimple anymore." Well, was I ever wrong!!! I checked out her cheek and it's still there, as cute as ever! How wierd that I haven't noticed it in soooo long.

* "Oh Lexie, you're so pretty! Welcome!" (8/18/05) - this is what Lexie said the preschool teacher would say to her when she saw Lexie on the the first day. How cute is that!

* "Mommy, someday when I'm a mommy if my kid asks me for chocolate or sweets or whatever, I'm going to say "Yes." I'm always going to say yes. I'll teach them different rules. The rules are going to be - he can go to Burger King, I'll let him have treats every day (if they ask) and I'll buy them whatever band-aids they want!" (may/june 06)

* "Mommy, when will you be really old like Grandma and Papa?" (8/30/06)

Okay, I could go on and on and on but I think I'll end with that one! (sorry G'ma and Papa!) :)

Sorry I don't have pictures to add to this post - I need to download some but haven't had time to since we've been living at Lowe's lately!!! Hopefully I'll have something next week. Well, I'm off to uncover some more forgotten memories!