Risky Business

Sorry, ladies, you are not about to see pictures of Tom Cruise dancing in his underwear and a white shirt. What a great movie--every kid should operate a prostitution ring in their own house, but I digress. This risky business has to do with my hair. If you know me well, you know that I like to change my hair. I get some sort of rush from walking into the salon looking one way and coming out totally different. My hair has been every color of the rainbow from bleach blond to dark, dark brown and even red--much to the chagrin of my husband and father! Sometimes I'll play with the length. It's nothing for me to go in and chop 6 inches off my hair without much forethought. But the overall style or cut of my hair has remained pretty similar--very simple and easy to style.
And so, when I went to Lewisburg to get my hair done on Thursday, I knew it was time for change. I had to try out a new girl this time since my former hair dresser decided to stay home with her children--I'm really happy for her, I promise! Anyway, I told her I was sick of my hair being so long and heavy, and that I needed a change. Well, she delivered! She chopped off at least 5 inches of hair and gave me some really cool swoosh-across-my-forehead bangs. I felt so in style as I left the salon! I got to my mom's house, and she and my sister raved about how much they liked my hair. Even David liked it. Whew, I thought. Another hair risk successfully completed--until this morning.
You see, the risky part of this haircut is that I veered from my usual hair CUT and stumbled into an actual hair STYLE. Again, those of you who know me well can tell where this is heading. I am not one for hair maintenance or styling tools and gels. Just let me blow it dry a little and I'm set. I could set world records for fastest woman to get herself ready to go. But not with a hair STYLE. The problem with a hair STYLE is that you have to fix it every day. Yikes, why didn't someone warn me? So, to make a very long, and slightly pointless, story short, I am having a little bit of difficulty learning how to maintain an actual STYLE. So, wish me luck as I've already burned myself once with the flat iron (yes, it's possible, so stop laughing at me!). And no, I'm not brave enough to post a picture of it yet, but maybe later--depends on how these swooshy bangs are looking.

our newest bad habbit

Life with a toddler is never boring. There are always new things to learn and do--some good and some bad. Just in the last few weeks, Campbell has learned to say "night,night," tell you what the cow, lion, and duck say, feed himself with a spoon, and walk pretty much where ever he wants to go. Those are all so much fun to watch and show off to other people. What a sense of pride you feel when your child learns something new, unless he learn this habbit.
Campbell's newest bad habbit is peeing on whomever is lucky enough to change his diaper. While changing a newborn's diaper, one expects to get peed on--or worse, but as the child gets older, those episodes are usually less frequent. This is what Campbell had done, until one day when Campbell, Jamie, Russ, and I were at the mall. I was changing his diaper at Parisians, and Jamie yelled, "Watch out, he's peeing!" We all jumped and laughed and thought it was funny. Well, apparently Campbell thought it was a little too funny because now he strains to do it each time you change his diaper. You can see his little tummy contracting and watch him hold his breath straining to get just a little bit out. And when he does, boy does he think it's funny! Some people don't believe me, until they witness it for themselves. My in-laws had Campbell Friday night while David and I celebrated our anniversary, and Campbell peed on my mother-in-law no less than 5 times! You tell me that's an accident.
And so, my question to you is the same question everyone poses to me when I tell them about this new problem--What can I do about this? I mean seriously, how does a 13 month old have that much control over his...faculties? I can only imagine what the people in the pediatrician's office would say if I called in to ask about this problem! Any ideas are welcome. At this point, I'll try anything.

the toddler diet

I have done it, ladies (and gentlemen, too). I have come up with the newest and best diet around. It's called the toddler diet. It's very simple, once you get started. To begin, you just have to have a baby--very simple, right? Then you have to raise that baby for about a year--no problem, huh? Then comes the diet.
You see, toddlers don't understand that when Mommy eats something, she doesn't want to share. So anything you eat, the toddler wants to eat. And since we all want our sweet little darlings to stay away from the chocolate addictions of Mommy's, your snacking and eating habbits must drastically change. I went from eating cocoa krispies and those extra sugary milk and cereal bars, to eating whole grain waffles for breakfast. And if your toddler is like mine, he is a garbage disposal and will eat your waffle, too.
And so, all you need to do to lose weight is follow these three easy steps:
1. have a baby
2. raise him/her for a year
3. share all your food with him/her

Ok, in all seriousness, my eating habbits really have changed a ton. If I never eat another whole grain waffle again, it will be too soon. OK, I hear my little garbage disposal calling me again. Bet he's hungry!

world record

I guess since I haven't posted in almost a month, I am going to have to write the world's longest post to catch you all up on what's been going on.

First, Christmas. We had a great Christmas this year. We started out in Lewisburg and had Christmas with my family. We visited with all Campbell's great grandparents and enjoyed staying with my parents. My mom, sister, and I cooked a big dinner on Christmas Eve, and we feasted all night. It was so much fun to see my nephew Russ and Campbell together in their mathching outfits. They'll probably kill us later for dressing them alike, but we love it! Here they are under my mom's tree, and here's a picture of my mom, dad, and the boys. I don't have too many more pictures from that night because my camera started acting up--could be user-error, though!

Then we went home and on Christmas morning had our own little family Christmas. I must admit that David and I thoroughly enjoyed our Christmas Eve duties, and we look forward to many more late nights putting together all sorts of fun toys. Santa brought Campbell a zebra he can ride on, a bunch of books, and a basketball goal (not sure if the goal is for Campbell or for David!) He was really excited when we brought him downstairs on Christmas morning. Here are a few pictures from our little Christmas celebration.

And then later Christmas Day we went to David's parents' house to celebrate with the Sciortinos and then the Campbells. We had so much fun hanging out in Nashville, too. The best part was that David'grandmother, who has been in the hospital or nursing home since September, was able to join the festivities for a little while. She is doing much better, and we look forward to celebrating at her house in Kentucky next year! And here are a few pictures from this part of our Christmas. Can you believe how many people were at the Campbell family celebration?

Then we wrapped up our holiday season with great New Year's weekend. We celebrated my mom's birthday on the 30th. I won't tell you how old she is, but I hope that I look half as good as her when I'm her age! I made her a chocolate cake, it was not the most beautiful thing you've ever seen--sorry, Mom! But we had fun just the same. i still don't know how to rotate the pictures. Sorry again, Mom!

Also, Andy and Bethany, our friends from Georgia were in town. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of them. I'm so mad, but trust me, they're cute!

And so this concludes the longest post in the history of the world. I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful family, on both sides, full of love, laughter, and so much fun. I pray your holiday season was as wonderful as ours was. I look foward to 2007, but I have to say that 2006 will be hard to beat.