I’ve made little secret that I’m not exactly happy with my current hairstyle.  It was a big change, when I had it cut back in July.  And, as luck would have it, the postpartum crap-hair hormones kicked in about a WEEK after my cut.  So not only did I get a much shorter, thinner and shocking hairstyle than usual, but a week later about 30% of my hair fell out.  Well, not all at ONCE, but you get the idea. 

So basically, my hair looks like crap pretty much ALL THE TIME.   It’s dull and lifeless (the thyroid could be contributing to this, which would make sense since my fingernails are all fuxed up too).  It’s too short to do pretty much ANYTHING with (the power of the ponytail has been wrenched from me and I am sad).  My ends are split and damaged and fringed and awful but I don’t want to cut them because that’ll make my hair even SHORTER and that’s not the right direction I want to go in.  (Now, I know that trims help your hair grow faster, but with all the different layers and everything, I just can’t ask Kile to trim it for me.  And I’m FAR too cheap and poor to go get it cut now.)

So what did I do over the weekend?  I got some haircolor.  I had a coupon for Ulta that I figured would work very well for getting some nice haircolor.  And I hoped that maybe a new color would help me hate the hair less.  No way would it make LOVE my hair, but tolerate?  I could go for that.  And this kit was nice, it came with highlights to put in after the color and all that.  And my husband is a saint and did it for me since I am absolutely useless at coloring my own hair. 

And it is rather different.  Exactly what I wanted.  It’s a dark red with lighter highlights, a much different look than I have been sporting.  And each time I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror, I think, “Wow!  Look at that color!”  Which is a lot better than catching a glimpse and thinking, “Oh my god, my hair looks AWFUL.”  So that right there?  Is improvement.  

Last night, for the second time in three days, Evie slept in her crib until 5am.  

!!

She cried when I first put her down and didn’t stop after about 5 or 10 minutes so I retrieved her, nursed her some more, and tried again.  Kile and Harry both were out in the loft at the time too, watching television and playing Halo and the lights were on and all that good stuff.  So I had to walk by them to get her to her room and she was thinking, “Hey, I wanna join the party!”  Also, she had drowsed off while nursing the first time and I think she actually falls asleep in her crib better if she doesn’t also fall asleep while nursing.  

The next attempt, she cried again but this time for only about five minutes.  And then she was quiet.  ZOMG.

I didn’t make the same mistake I made on Sunday night where I went to get her if she was only fussing.  But, looking back, I’m not sure ever really fussed.  In fact, Kile went to peek in on her when we went to bed at nearly midnight (what is WRONG with us?  what do we have against going to bed at a reasonable hour??) and she was fast asleep.  

I actually thought it was earlier than it was when she woke up.  I listened to her fuss for a few minutes until it was clear that she was not going to fall back asleep.  In fact, as soon as I brought her back into bed with us and got to nursing her, she fell right back asleep.  I imagine I could have put her back in her crib then, but I like being able to cuddle with her, at least a little bit.  Though I think I’ll have to toughen up in a couple months.  

But that’s not the end of it!  She went back to sleep after I nursed her at 5am and I woke up, as I always do, when Kile got out of the shower a couple hours later.  I nursed her again at that point and… she went back to sleep.  She NEVER does that.  Here it was 7:30 and she was sleeping MORE?  In fact, she didn’t wake up until after Harry left for school, at nearly 9am.  Wow.  

I hestitate to call the battle “won” at this point.  And, according to Kile, his parents are coming this weekend so she’ll be back in with us for a couple more days (I always worry about consistency, but I imagine it’ll all be okay).  But these are definitely some wonderful steps in the right direction.  Sleeping, on her own, in her own crib, without nursing, for NINE hours… well, that’s something I can get behind.  Way to go, Evie! 

I don’t know how much stock I put in such things and some of the results don’t QUITE hit home… but for the most part I think a lot of this is true.  Except where it says I like people.  I’m pretty sure that’s not right.  Have you SEEN me at Walmart?  That place is a prescription for homicidal rage, it is.  (If you want to take this quiz too, check the link at the bottom.  Yeah, you gotta read ALL THE WAY THROUGH IT.  No cheating!)

Your result for Are You a Jackie or a Marilyn? Or Someone Else? Mad Men-era Female Icon Quiz…

You Are a Doris!

Take Are You a Jackie or a Marilyn? Or Someone Else? Mad Men-era Female Icon Quiz at HelloQuizzy