Friday, January 23, 2009

Not going blonde yet and other updates

I decided to call Naturtint the other day to talk about my plan to go blonde. She said because I am currently a 5m I can't jump that many shades. The honey blonde I was going for next is about a 9m. So I am going for a 7m instead. They recommend only going a few shades lighter at a time. If 7m goes well, I'll try to go blonde in a few months. I am excited about the next color too. It is mahogany blonde. She said the honey blonde could have turned out pink! I guess that is not a big deal, but not what I am shooting for at the moment. I think I'll wait until I am 39 to try that. LOL.

We have a lot going here, but all is calm at the moment. I finished filing our state and local taxes today! Go me! We need the refund for our second used vehicle. I used Turbo Tax again. It worked out great last year for us too. Cliff used to be in charge of taxes, since he has a business degree he understands taxes better than I ever will. I only know enough to be dangerous. After I did them last year for us while he was in Iraq, I learned a lot and enjoy doing it. Cliff doesn't mind me doing them. I used to be in charge of filing our taxes about 7 or 8 years ago and I did them by hand or took them to a tax man. So, it looks like I am back in the saddle. They will be direct deposited and I hope that will happen quickly.

Cliff was accepted into the Air National Guard earlier this week. The weather job was taken and Cliff was really disappointed. He has to decide what job he is going to take. The one that has the most benefit is a job he really is not interested in AT ALL. It is a job he has had before and HATED. He is still going to college full-time and really busy with that 3 days a week. The Air National Guard would only be one weekend a month, and probably some initial training. He is nuts, I tell you! But that is my man. Where does he find the time and energy?

Both boys are doing awesome!! I am so grateful to be their mom. Every day gets easier and easier. Holden had the flu today for a very short period. He hardly stays sick for over 8 hours. Except when he has food poisoning, but that is another story. And thankfully that is over and happened months ago. It wasn't from my cooking.

Yesterday we had an awesome day at an indoor play place for kids. We had the whole place to ourselves and about 10 or 11 other unschooling/homeschooling moms with their kids. It was a warm and sunny winter day for Iowa! Now today is colder, and we had a nice quiet down day. Well, I wouldn't say we did nothing, but it felt good to just stay home. Camden and I did some origami while Holden took it easy. We have an origami calendar. This week there was a turtle and I fell in love with it! I made about 4 of them. Camden has loved origami for a long time. They both love paper airplanes as well. If we run into an origami we can't figure out, we just skip that one. That happens to me a lot.



Camden (4) has changed a lot this month. He is maturing in ways I never expected. He's still my baby though. I love it when he asks me to rub/tickle his feet the way he likes. That is a daily ritual. Cliff rubs his feet too. It is a great way to get Camden to relax and mellow out. He is a busy guy and needs incentive to take a break sometime. Mainly b/c Cliff or I need a break from the hecticness of his energy level at times. Another thing he hasn't stopped loving is my hair. He holds it and it is like his security blanket sometimes. When he is nervous, or wants to gain equilibrium, he fondles my hair. When he was a baby it used to bug me. And up until recently he used to play with my hair in his sleep. I got better at asking him nicely to please just hold my hair so I could sleep. The fondling would wake me up. I have had several moms comment on how he holds my hair between his fingers when he is sitting next to me. They have shared their hair stories and some asked why babies do these things. It is a neat topic to think about. I know it goes back to the beginning of time. I won't go into my explanations. Just use your imagination.

So back to Camden's changes. I can't explain the changes in him. They are happening so gradually I don't see it clearly. I stumbled on a blogged video of him from a year and a half ago. It was amazing to hear the changes in his speech even. He explains things to me and says very sweetly and clearly, "You know mama..." before about 5 or so things a day. And the things he says are so hilarous and smart too. Both boys have been telling me addition answers out of the blue. Camden knows how to type in passwords when we write them down for him. Camden tells me how many pages he wants me to read to him and from which book too. He is very particular. I have embedded a video I took of him in Texas last month when we played putt putt golf at 7 Acre Woods. He loves watching that video. He makes me smile from ear to ear.

Camden and Holden love to play World of Warcraft together. Holden begged me to play WoW with him again, and I started playing again this week for about an hour here and there. He plays it with Cliff about everyday. Except this week we had modem issues. We think that is fixed now. I hadn't been playing this month because I felt burned out on playing and had other things I was trying to get caught up on. Holden is interested in us reading a certain chapter book to him about a skull that reads the future. I can't remember the name of the book. Both boys have friends who come over about everyday. They are well liked, and for that I am grateful. One boy (age 11) in the neighborhood came over this week to show another friend who was here a paper airplane he made. And the older boy told me he couldn't believe we let our kids play World of Warcraft. I couldn't tell if he was jealous or being judgmental. I really didn't care. He stayed and played. He is a boy I like, but he doesn't come over much. He is a gamer too and we talked about games he has and games I want to get. He told me his dad plays WoW, but won't let him play or have his own account. The boy goes to school and probably doesn't have time for such things as WoW, even if his dad got him an account.

Time to cut this off. Life is good and we're incredibly thankful! I'll publish this, but proof it later. I am being summoned by a very handsome boy!

Love and laughter,
Heather xoxox

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