Hair Growth

Lucky you...this is not the unwanted hair growth blog post.  I just got to thinking about how much has changed in our routine in the past year and I wanted to see the difference it's made.  If any...

This past week while detangling Sadie's hair I spotted a nice set of curls about 2 inches long in my hand...my heart sunk.  I just broke out in a sweat.  It takes so much to keep Sadie's hair growing and healthy.  And it just breaks my heart when we lose some.  So the next day I went out and purchased two swim caps, one Lycra and one the typical waterproof cap.  Put the Lycra on first to keep from pulling at her hair, and then the waterproof silicone one on top. 

So to encourage myself I decided to start looking through pics a year ago to see how Sadie's head was doing.  Sorry that some of these are great pics of Sadie herself, but they show growth in length and thickening of her hair.  Yahoo! 

 This was exactly a year ago!  These are double rope twists with beads.  I am guessing she has grown at least 4 inches in her hair. 

 Here is Emery a year ago!  Now her hair grows like crazy, and because of it...I don't get so nervous when I see shed hair...nor when I detangle.  We'll get there Sadie, one day!!! 

 Notice on these two, above and below, you can see Sadie's scalp through her teeny weeny afro.  Wow!

 This one too!  This was late March!  UNREAL!!!! 

 And this is where we are now!  I am just amazed.  Here is what we have changed:

• She wears a sleep cap religiously when sleeping, napping and wrestling or tumbling.
• Satin in car seat back
• Apple Cider Vinegar in place of shampoo (we never really shampooed passed about age 18m)
• Detangling-I am embarrassed to say I wasn't really even detangling.  Her hair just wasn't long enough or thick enough...or so I thought.  We love our Tangle Teezer (yes even more than the Denman!)
• Coconut oil-I didn't know about coconut oil until last February people!!!  Wha?
• Protective styling-I didn't realize how hard it was on the hair to daily maintain an afro or puffs
• Homemade detangler as spritzer instead of just water to dampen
• And this is the first year we will wear a swim cap! 

I think the only things I was doing right were adding moisture daily, attempting a sleep cap and no shampoo. 

 This one shows great growth because she can actually wear a twist out! 

 This is going back 2 years since it was Emme's coming home picture!!! 

 And here is a good pic for showing Emery's growth!  It was this time last year Sadie loving cut Emery's hair!  I will never forget the heart attack I had this day.  Yowzers! I can't even tell where her hair was cut now!

Pictures...

 We went to Stone Mountain again...the kids love it and they got a new water play area that the younger 3 loved.  Owen opted to stay dry with mom and dad ;)

 Oh my word.  All of Stone Mountain Park heard our little bundle squealing with joy.  The workers couldn't help but giggle.  So glad I captured some of the smiles...

 Her dress was sopping wet.  Good thing it was HOT outside!  It was near 90 this day.

 Owen climbed the rock wall 3 times.  He was so proud of himself and so were we!  How did he get so big?   

 The girls just love to shop.  This is Sadie trying to skateboard in the Goodwill.  Sadie is getting pretty good at staying close and not being a little "Distructo".  But lil bit is every bit of two when we are at the store.  "No mommy", "Mine", "I do it", "I get down", "OUT peas"!  She runs, she pulls from the shelves, she destroys.  Iss no bueno.  Needless to say we've had to cut our shopping time short several times lately because "someone" isn't minding the rules.  Eh-hem.  No better way to teach 'em right? 

 This is day 2 of yarn extensions.  She loved every single day of the long hair and beads.  She clicked, she clacked and she swung those suckers smack dab in her eye several times.  But yesterday we took them out because the fuzz was more than I could handle.  I was so happy they held up for 15 days though! 

 Look at her!  Friday nights are pizza and movie night and we all just love it.  It just amazes me how much Emery has changed over the past few months (notice paci on plate-still struggling with it).  When she saw the others sit down for the picnic, she put her sweet leggies out and placed her plate right on top then parked her paci safely close by.  Gosh I adore her...and that stinkin' paci. 

Notice the boys shorter hair...we did summer cuts on Wednesday and they both love their new shorter hair.  More than anything...they love not having to detangle! 

Hair we go loopty loo!

If you cannot tell I am OBSESSED with these curls. Well the boys' curls too, but they don't let me take pictures of them ;) This was my first attempt at yarn extensions. They are holding great in Sadie's hair. They improved Emery's hold too, but she just doesn't hold a style as well as Sadie. I think it's that she doesn't keep her sleep cap on plus spends more time on her head! She also seems to be more sensitive to the pull of a style. I don't twist tightly, in fact its kinda hard to get a twist as tight as a cornrow, but she still got bumps at her hairline after 2 days.

Please excuse Emery's messy face. Evidently she ate the playdough I thought she was playing with! Doesn't it look cute though? Her first single ponytail! She looks so much older too. And as if I needed one more reminder that my baby is not a baby anymore...she slept in a big girl bed two nights ago. We decided to move her back to the crib because there is just no way she is big enough for a bed....right? I mean yes, all 3 of her older sibs moved by now. But she just looks so tiny! Ugh...

Eeeek. Blog fail

Sorry I haven't posted in so long! I am gearing up for the half marathon so running plus mothering 4 babes and being an awesome wife (totally kidding-I am only subpar) leaves little blog time!!!! We joined the Y!!! It has been so much fun for the kids to get to play basketball! What a great picture.

This is our new favorite hang out spot! Especially when the weather is too cold for the park.

I think they are worn out!! How cute is this?

And here's our little cheerleader! She loves banging on the seats!!!

A visit to the aquarium again. Isn't she crazy beautiful?!?!

I did Sadie's hair last Friday. I did flat rope twists up into one puff! I LOVED how it turned out! It officially lasted a week! Completely thrilled with that.

I think they feel comfortable at the aquarium, don't you??

MLK Jr. day parade in Atlanta! What a wonderful day to live in this city!

Sadie sporting her adorable faux frohawk. I LOVE doing her hair! She had so much fun watching the parade.

This was the closest we got to a family pic, thank you Owen for taking it!!!

HOW COOL! Not sure what group this was but they sang and stomped and there were lots of races amongst them...do you see Ebenezer Baptist Church behind them? This is THE church that Martin Luther King, Jr. himself preached at!

Oh man...I love this picture. I am quite certain that I have the best husband alive. He also is the best daddy alive. I am not partial at all by the way.

So you might be wondering...we were 2 of only a dozen other white people at the parade. As sad as I am that more of my Caucasian friends don't come to these parades, some comments from other patrons are less than encouraging. One guy was trying to sell me a picture of MLK so he hollered at me, "You look like you come to these things all of the time." What do I say to that? I wanted to yank him by the ear pulling him aside to remind him that my children could feel the stares and his comment did not help them feel like they belong here. Matter of fact, us being here was the complete reason MLK Jr spent his life preaching about love, acceptance and equal rights. Blake and I were so thankful that with each year that we go to the parade, or maybe as we mature, we feel more comfortable and sweat less ;)

Oh lands. This might just be an all time favorite pic of mine. How in the world am I so blessed?!?!

We HEART Curls!!!

I have been wanting to do a hair post...so here goes. As much as I would like to say I am 6 years into my hair care education, I am probably more like one year. I am such a beginner.

When the guys were born their hair didn't stay curly (except when wet) until they were 9+ months. And even though there was lots for me to learn about curls, I had no idea how easy their hair was!

Our routine for their biracial short hair is: wash weekly, but I mostly still just co-wash (conditioner wash, no shampoo) even for them. They sleep on satin pillowcases, but no sleep cap or durag. In the mornings while they brush their teeth I dampen their hair with my spray bottle with water and 2 tsp conditioner mix and add some type of curl activator or light hair lotion. Most ethnic products are too heavy and weigh their curls down or make them appear greasy. Then I comb through to separate the curls. If their hair is less than 4 inches I don't even need the Tangle Teezer, but sometimes they prefer it over a plastic comb.

For the girls...I have been blessed enough with some great friends that have shown me some wonderful blogs (right side column)! What I had learned about the boys hair (don't wash daily and certainly don't use shampoo daily) helped me a ton with the girls. And since Sadie's hair was so short and hardly grew for the first 2 years, it's been a slow go. We've found some great sleep caps both online and at Walmart. And I added satin scarfs to their carseats. I think all of these things have helped. Last winter I started twisting their hair for the first time...this was then!I am still twisting now...but it's neat to see how much their hair has grown and filled in. This is our set up for now. See my hair bag or as Blake called it my "traveling salon"? I found it at Walmart and it works great because of all of the pockets. It has rubber bands, beads, products, combs, brushes, scissors, barretts, bows, and our spray bottle. I LOVE my bag!!! The girls usually watch cartoons or a movie and Sadie painted and did crafts last time. We have snacks and drinks close. Before style time I have already washed, detangled and sectioned their hair in the tub the night before. The guys are usually at school when we do hair. This pic above is the first time I tried stretching on Emery. This is where you band the hair when it's damp and let it dry with the bands on so that their is not as much shrinking. It works pretty well! Look close at this pic and you can see how long her hair actually is when its stretched out!

I have had Sadie's hair braided a couple of times. Meaning I took her or had someone else braid it. I like this for a couple of reasons. 1.) Their braids stay in for WEEKS (3+), mine stay in for a week tops. The less you manipulate their hair, the less breakage and more growth you have. 2.) I learn new stuff by watching and going and asking questions. 3.) It's a great opportunity to form new relationships with people. Healthy, intimate relationships with other African Americans. But we can't do it all the time, or I don't want to. I think it's great bonding for me and the girls when I do their hair. I want them to know how much I love taking care of them and their hair. And it costs money to take them, so we can't do it all of the time.

This place I took her costs $55 for a whole head of cornrows. Luckily they didn't want to do her whole head because the hair in her "kitchen" is still very short and tender. Am I the only one that had to look up "kitchen"? Ha!! See how much you can learn!?!?For the girls, you really have to keep some type of moisture on it constantly. We love coconut oil at night or on braids...well pretty much anytime! It's amazing how soft their hair can be. And we found a new product at Target that I am in love with!!! It's great for a teeny weeny afro or for puffs. It's called Shea Moisture Curl Enhancing Smoothie and YUMMO does it smell good. I didn't think it was too costly ($10 for 12 oz) and it's a Fair Trade product!