oh no we didn't...part II

I have been delaying this post for about a week or so until we notified our closest family and friends of the news first.  And now that just about everyone who needs to know first knows...we're ready to share the news that will probably make you all smack your foreheads and say, "are they insane?  seriously."

cause we got a puppy.

as in now we have 2 dogs
and 2 cats
and 4 fish
and a toddler
and i'm due with our second child in a month

let's just take a moment for you all to sit wide-eyed and in utter disbelief for a few seconds...because that's what anyone we've told already has done...with maybe an addition of a few choice words thrown into the sentence "are you ______(choose your expletive) kidding me?!"

Okay, now that we're all up to speed, let me tell you a little bit about what happened that would make my husband and I appear to have lost our flipping minds...

Last Friday (as in the first Friday of the month), after hearing about a l3 week old brindle pit-lab that was going to be taken to the pound unless someone could take her that day - Brandon and I conversed over text messages (hah, how official of us) and decided that we'd take her with the safety net that if it didn't work out (ie. Bullet went totally crazy, Booboo was in danger, we couldn't handle her, etc) we had someone else that would be able to adopt her after about 2 weeks when they moved into their new house.

So, after picking the pup up after work, we spent Friday evening introducing her to the already crazy house that we live in.

After a slightly anxiety-ridden first meeting of Bullet and the new puppy - in which Bullet followed her around and sniffed her an impossible number of times - it was clear that Bully boy was quickly falling in love with having a friend.  It was also clear that Greyson was quickly coming to think that we had somehow cloned Bullet and made him a "baby puppy."

So we've had her for about a week and half and Brandon and I have discussed and discussed and discussed again the pros & cons of keeping our new girl around the place.  (To try to win me over, Brandon also threw in the mix, "Think of the kindness, we've saved her life.  That's not 12 months of kindness, that's like 15 years of kindness")

So it seems that the fact that Bullet has become completely enamored with her - to the point that they just play together until they are both exhausted - has outweighed any of the Cons on our list.  Because, honestly, Bully has been a handfull since we've had him (to say the least) and the majority reason for that has been that we just can't get him tired and his pent up energy has meant chewed toilet paper rolls and pillows, stealing things that he knows he's not supposed to have, jumping on anyone when they walk in the door, and a whole pile of annoying Bully-traits.

And now that he has someone in his life that is ready to run and play-fight and steal his bones and snuggle up close to him...he has had a transformation in the last few days that we have been hoping for since we first adopted him.

So, even though we may have truthfully lost our minds

and even though everyone else may or may not think we need to get our own episode on animal hoarders

The truth is:  Trixie (or "Chicky" as Grey calls her) has kind of weaseled her way into all our hearts - most of all Bullet's...and we've decided that we're just going to go ahead and dive headfirst into full on circus-style living.*

*let's revisit this in about 2 months when I'm home alone with 2 babies and 2 dogs...I fully anticipate that I may just very well be singing a different tune.

oh no we didn't...

actually, we did.  After 21 months of his hair growing wild - we finally took Greyson for his first haircut this past Sunday.  Booboo's hair has always been a big deal when we take him out and about.  There have been too many times to count of women coming up to us and saying some sort of combination of the following:  "Oh those curls, I wish I had that kind of hair, should've been a little girl with that hair!"  My son's head has been quite the stranger magnet.

But the thing is...it was very quickly moving from adorable to Albert Einstein-y in the last few weeks.
 

what is going on with that awol curl?

We've also resorted to using grown up conditioner in it (which makes for its own problems when it gets in his eyes during the bath) and loading it up with detangler spray.  Finally, enough was enough - so we carted him off to the hairdressers for his first real* haircut.

*I say real, because I have had to remove a few dreadlocks in the past few months when its just become too curly and mangy to comb out.  hahha, oops.

before:  side view

before:  back view

before:  front view

Grey got a healthy dose of watering down before the hairdresser could do anything about tackling the combing out of that mess.  He sat really still and quietly the whole time though so as I flitted about him with my iPhone snapping pictures (after literally telling the stylist, "I'm sorry, I'm going to be one of those moms right now"), I was filled with pride because my baby didn't fuss or cry while a stranger held scissors unnervingly close to his little skull.  

Brandon and I agreed that part of the reason that Grey was so well behaved during his first haircut was the fact that at that very same moment, his Dadda was getting a hair cut too!  So from his seat, he watched how his dad behaved while getting a trim and since his Dadda was sitting still and being quiet - Grey just mimicked the same behavior and it was quick and painless.  

It didn't hurt either that there were only 2 other customers in the place (waiting in the lobby) and so we didn't have to wait at all to be seen and during the cut, Grey didn't have a chance to be preoccupied or distracted by other people.  Haircuts at noon on Sundays are the way to go from here on out!

ah!  those curls!!

Grey sat still and quietly.  Brandon chatted absently to his hair dresser about our old stomping ground while I stood around psychotically taking pictures with my gritting my teeth.  Not because I'm so crazy in love with his curls (they really are more of a pain in the butt) but because my baby was getting his first haircut!!  What's next, his first car?!  just kidding, but not really. 

When it was all said and done, the floor was covered in white blond ringlets and my baby had seemed to grow from 21 months to about 15 years old.  

after: side view

after: front view

The following photo comparison is not an optical illusion.  A mere 3 days had passed from when these pictures were taken...not 7 years.  How in the world did a haircut take my baby into real life child-land?  It's a little sad.  And a little exciting.  And a whole lot of cute.

And now that he looks like a big boy, he thinks he's allowed to give me looks like these...

...oh, excuse me...I don't care how old you get or how old you think you are, now that you have a cool short haircut like Dadda...I'm your mother and if I want to ask you to 'give your mumma a hugga hugga' while you're in the middle of doing something (like coloring) - i'm going to ask you.  And if you think you're going to give me this look, well then I'm just going to have to steal a hugga hugga myself.

12 Months of Kindness for 2012

It's the start of the new year which not only brings about resolutions (more on those a little later in the week), but also our time to reflect on the past year and think about how we can improve on being kind to others for the coming year.  We had a great and mostly successful 3rd year of our 12 months of Kindness tradition.  You can read all about our previous years of Kindness here and the idea behind it here. 

When we get ready to make our goals for the 12 months of Kindness, we make some considerations to ensure that our list is attainable for how and where our family will be during the different months of the year.  So for example, we need to make sure that our goal for February and March are decided while realizing we will have a very tiny new baby in our house.  And the goal for June needs to allow for Brandon's very busy work schedule while he opens a new store.  And in October, we'll be vacationing in the Dominician Republic - so could/should that be included in our month's kindness?  And Greyson will be older this year (thus a little more understanding of what we're doing) so can we include things that are geared toward his development?

After considering all the places we'll be or all the plans we have for the months - we then talk about the previous kindness months that we've enjoyed doing to make sure we slot them into months.  We also give new kindness ideas (some thanks to pinterest, of course) and add those to the list.  And then finally, we arrive at our big finale...which we're now ready to unveil!

We've kept some tried and true Kindness goals from years past (like Donors Choose, our scholarship, etc) and added some new goals (like the "house purge" and supporting local establishments).  We've also added mini-goals that apply to our March and April goals.  As the months come, we'll give more in depth updates and details to our Kindness progress, but so far, those mini goal lists look like this:

Some of our Kindness goals are fairly big undertakings and specific to us (like planning & hosting our Invitational in July and the Turkey Bowl in November), but we have had practice in getting this events organized - and I'm a little bit of a happy-to-pressure-myself-with-big-projects kind of person.  But 12 months of Kindness can be designed to fit your family specifically.

I recognize that not everyone has 20 million different causes in their mind that they want to help...so maybe your family's 12 months of Kindness could focus on one idea for the whole year:  like making your family/home more green a little each month - if you are most interested in the environment; or using the year to introduce your kids to their status as a global citizen and perhaps making a focus each month on different places around the world & their culture, practices, and holidays (um, that one actually sounds awesome...maybe when my babes are big enough to get it...hmm).  If you're concerned about a financial commitment for the year (definitely a concern in this day & age), it's certainly possible to come up with a full year of free acts of kindness (like refusing paper & plastic bags by always bringing your own when shopping, or introducing yourself to your neighbors).  Get your kids involved in the goals too - maybe they really love animals right now, do you know about how you can buy livestock for underprivileged families around the world ? Or think about visiting & donating to your local animal shelter.

No matter how big or small, making a goal to participate in acts of kindness and giving throughout the year is sending the message to your own family (and kids) and others around you that maybe what the world really needs right now - is a little more kindness to one another.

If you and your family decide to do 12 months of Kindness, please link up so that I can be inspired by your choices of kindness each month.  We're always looking for more ideas and it would be nice to see our collective effort in making this world a more kind place to live.

Here's hoping for a year full of Kindness and Love to you and your family!