Mystique SPEAKS again!

In high school drama, my friend Theo named my inner diva . . . Shaniqua Mystique. I decided to drop the first name, for P.C. reasons. However, Mystique sounds a bit shady on it's own. Ah well. It's funny because in college, my guy friends always talked about the big ole diva that lived somewhere inside of me, waiting to come out. I would practically whisper anytime I was singing, but they knew. Oh they knew. And with time, I found her through writing honest songs that I could sing with passion.

Anyways, Mystique had taken a little hiatus from her writing career in the hubbub of motherhood. It's funny how many people ask me "Written anything lately?" . . . like it's a greeting. Everytime I said no, and explained about being busy and blah blah blah, I felt ashamed. I actually felt scared. What if I never wrote another song?! It is a fear of mine. I've always felt like my next song will be my last.

But today I sat down with the guitar. The house was quiet. Steven was out climbing. Davie was napping. And I was writing . . . finally. Actually, I had written much of the song in the car. But I sat down and put it all out there.

If you'd like to hear - come on out to the Advent art show at Convergence on December 11th!

"How do you feel about Sharon Osbourne, Stevie?"

So, I DID get my hair cut short. Jenna did such a wonderful job. I left feeling sassy and chic. Everyone loved it, including Steven. Then I went and did something I've been known to do . . . I dyed it.

I dyed it a dark cherry brown. The color is very beautiful, and I loved it when my hair was longer. But there was something off about it. I loved the color, I even though it was flattering with my skin and eyes, but something was definitely off.

This morning I figured it out. I look like Sharon Osbourne! You see I have VERY thick hair. When it is cut short, it looks even thicker. When it is cut short and dark, it looks RIDICULOUS! It kind of looks like a hair piece or a helmet or something. It is so sad to me, because it was DARLING before. Why did I do this to myself?!

Tomorrow's goal is to successfully strip the color off my hair and dye it back blonde. Good thing it is already short . . . that way if it falls out, it won't be as drastic to me.

A Rebellion Against Feminism?

I've heard women complain about their husbands input on how their hair should look or what clothes they should wear. I must be strange - because I so badly want to know Steven's opinion on these things. I ask him so many times what length does he like my hair the best. He always answers, "I like your hair however you wear it." What do I do with that! "No, what is your FAVORITE way?" I demand. "I like it how it is now." So the other night I told him I was going to get hair extensions (knowing he'd hate the idea). He finally revealed that he didn't really like my hair long. He liked it short. FINALLY!!! And here I was keeping my hair long and annoying because I thought men (my husband) liked long hair. I'm going to get my hair cut within the next week and I'm so excited to do something that makes me feel pretty and special for my husband.

Now if we could just agree on clothing.

Steven often tells me what he doesn't like in the clothing department. I like that he is opinionated, although I don't let on. If he only knew that I would let him do ALL of my clothes shopping . . . but I'd be afraid he'd buy only climbing gear, haha. He has excellent taste and he knows me well. I'm lucky to have him.

So, although I think those women have a right to choose their own hair cut or color or whatever, I am glad to know what my husband's opinion is . . . and I'm glad that his opinion isn't a bad one.

Success!! Sort of . . .

I'm really afraid for the whole speaking too soon thing to happen, but I have to share our break through!

As some of you know, my mommy mind has been occupied for a few months now with getting this child to drink out of anything other than a bottle. It took forever for her to not get angry when she even saw a sippy cup. But now that she is 14 months and knows how to get liquid out of one, I figured we should start getting less dependent on bottles. I researched hours and hours online and in books and with mommy friends on how they did it. I thought gradual sounded good, but I didn't think Davie would go for it. I thought cold turkey sounded miserable for a few days, but at least it would be done with. So after talking to Steven about it, I decided in a week or two we'd do cold turkey - but there's just too many things going on right now to try it.

Last night was one of my nights to sleep with my grandmother. Steven was going out of town this morning, so I took Davie with me. She sleeps in a pack and play in the closet and usually does well enough. My nephew Max was there too, and my mom gave him a sippy cup of hot milk before bed. Davie saw him drinking it and wanted it BAD!!! So we quickly grabbed an identical one and put some warm formula in and gave it to her. She loved it. WHAT?! No kicking, screaming, crying . . . like I had experienced any time I even showed her a cup when she was hungry. She went to sleep last night a little late, but not fussing. I was worried about what would happen in the middle of the night if she woke up wanting a bottle. But I figured if she could give up her last bottle of the evening without a fight, then she can do this. So she woke up a couple of times, the last of which she would NOT go back to sleep. For an hour and a half I offered her the sippy cup. Rejected. I also offered her a bottle (with the nipple hole stretched bigger) full of very watered down formula. She didn't want it either. Finally, I let her cry HARD for about 4 minutes, and then she was out til morning.

So for now, we have been bottle-free for about 22 hours. By the way, if you were wondering, the cup that won her over is some Playskool brand with a hard spout and a flip top spout cover that she likes to play with. She also likes anything with a straw.

Although I didn't get much sleep last night between her and my grandmother, I feel like it was worth it to keep that going.

Meet the Flintstones!